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Articles by Gal Beckerman | Email the Author

 

1. Behind the News

   Harper’s Races Right Over the Edge of a Cliff

   March 8, 2006 11:13 AM

   The essay on AIDS in this month's Harper's magazine by Celia Farber starts off like a scientific whodunit -- as Farber herself puts it, the tale she tells sounds eerily like the "Constant Gardener," the recent movie based on a... Continue reading

2. Politics

   Another Law Not Worth the Paper It’s Written On

   March 3, 2006 04:46 PM

   Both the Washington Post and the New York Times write today about a Guantánamo Bay detainee's claim in court that he has suffered what his lawyer is calling "systematic torture." The case is particularly interesting because Mohammed... Continue reading

3. Behind the News

   Either the Washington Post Missed It by a Mile, or Everyone Else Did

   March 1, 2006 02:47 PM

   We did a double-take yesterday when looking at the near-banner headline on the cover of the Washington Post, "Toll in Iraq's Deadly Surge: 1,300." We knew it had gotten bad in Iraq last week, but not this bad. Other news... Continue reading

4. Politics

   A Reporter Returns From Iraq An Optimist

   February 24, 2006 05:17 PM

   Everyone sees the Iraq that they want to see. This has been the case ever since America invaded three years ago. Either it's a relentless bloodbath, a hopeless chaos that America can only exacerbate, or it's a burgeoning democracy, a... Continue reading

5. Politics

   What’s Really at Issue in the Ports Deal?

   February 23, 2006 12:49 PM

   In the middle of the political maelstrom yesterday over President Bush's decision to go forward with handing over management several major American ports to a United Arab Emirates-owned company, there were few answers to the most critical questions about the... Continue reading

6. Behind the News

   Another Inexplicable Silence on Guantanamo

   February 21, 2006 12:18 PM

   When the UN Human Rights Commission last Thursday released its report on the conditions at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, alleging that "torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" was taking place and that the camp... Continue reading

7. Behind the News

   Sites Dives Into Israel and Environs - And Comes Back With Fresh Stories and Insight

   February 16, 2006 12:38 PM

   We have to admit that we were a bit skeptical when Yahoo! launched its Hot Zone site with the goal of sending intrepid and multi-media reporter Kevin Sites to "cover every armed conflict in the world within one year,... Continue reading

8. Behind the News

   That Ain’t No Ranch Hand, Boys ‘n Girls

   February 14, 2006 01:26 PM

   Yesterday we were forced to ponder that age-old philosophical question: If the vice president shoots his hunting buddy in the forest and only a Republican supporter and lobbyist is there to see it, did it actually happen? As... Continue reading

9. The Audit

   Columnist Sneers, Business World Keeps on Blogging

   February 10, 2006 04:34 PM

   Swimming out here in the blogosphere, it's easy for us to forget how threatening blogs can seem to traditional media. CJR Daily has a lot of respect for the ever-maligned "MSM" -- no doubt, bloggers wouldn't have much to do... Continue reading

10. The Audit

    BusinessWeek Has a Big Idea

    February 7, 2006 06:29 PM

    We're all in favor of journalists with contrarian points of view. Indeed, we suspect that the American press would be a better institution if more of its members did something other than spout the commonly accepted wisdom. But when a... Continue reading

11. The Water Cooler

    The Man Who Brought Blogging to Iran

    February 3, 2006 06:17 PM

    Hossein Derakhshan (Photo: Lisa Goldman) Hossein Derakhshan is an Iranian-Canadian blogger whose blog, "Editor:Myself," helped ignite what has been a surprising blogging phenomenon in Iran... Continue reading

12. Politics

    Army of Bloggers Pounces on Muslims Upset With Comic

    February 2, 2006 02:17 PM

    We have some advice for the PR department of Islamic fundamentalism: Get yourself some bloggers. The blogosphere's response to the political firestorm ignited by a Danish newspaper's decision to run a series of cartoons caricaturing the... Continue reading

13. Blog Report

    The State of the Union, Reflected in a Fun House Mirror

    February 1, 2006 01:11 PM

    There's nothing like a State of the Union address to expose the Rashoman-like quality of the blogosphere: different bloggers watching the same speech will seem to remember different parts -- or none at all. To the American Traditionalist... Continue reading

14. Magazine Report

    On Oprah, Frey, Henri-Levy and Unreal Reality Shows

    January 31, 2006 11:54 AM

    With Oprah flaying James Frey alive on nationwide TV late last week, truthiness is in the air. Stephen Colbert's portmanteau seems to have struck a chord with Americans, describing something we've never really had the word for: the state of... Continue reading

15. Blog Report

    The Woodruff Story: Snark Takes a Rest, Anger Doesn’t

    January 30, 2006 11:59 AM

    Considering the blogosphere's conflicted relationship with what its more rabid members derisively call the "MSM," it's not surprising that news of a roadside bomb severely wounding ABC anchor Bob Woodruff would get fingers typing. Most bloggers simply offered... Continue reading

16. Behind the News

    The Orange County Register Gets It Right

    January 26, 2006 11:11 AM

    When was the last time that you read an article in the newspaper that started like this: She showed up unannounced on the front porch of her father's house in the early 1960s carrying two battered suitcases and... Continue reading

17. Politics

    Time Pulls a Big Tease On Us

    January 24, 2006 10:43 AM

    There was something strangely missing yesterday from Time magazine's breaking news that it had discovered photos of the president fraternizing with disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff: what was missing were the very photos in question. This was how... Continue reading

18. Politics

    Asking the Wrong Questions About Abramoff

    January 20, 2006 03:59 PM

    In his New York Times column today (for Times Select subscribers only), Paul Krugman ends with an admonition to his fellow scribes. First, he describes how most coverage of the Jack Abramoff affair has missed an... Continue reading

19. Politics

    Reports on Wiretapping Suits Leave Us on Hold

    January 19, 2006 11:50 AM

    Why would President Bush want to eavesdrop on Christopher Hitchens? To bask in all the glorious things the lefty-cum-neocon has to say about him? To crib some talking points? Maybe to meet some of his Iraqi and Iranian comrades? <br... Continue reading

20. The Audit

    Mysterious Company Remains a Mystery

    January 13, 2006 04:59 PM

    This week's Fortune offers a tantalizing glimpse of a company we are dying to read more about. Bearing the alluring headline, "Secret No More: Inside the Pentagon's Iraqi PR Firms," the magazine's story seemed to promise a comprehensive look... Continue reading

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