Author Archive
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Campaign Desk
When is News Fit to Print?
November 10, 2009 04:53 PMUpdate, 11/11, 1:09 p.m.: Kamran Pasha has posted a reply in the comments section below. One of the cardinal rules of the news business is: don’t run with material you can’t confirm. But another is: when big news breaks, don’t... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Another Reason Not to Rush to Judgment
November 6, 2009 04:00 PMHere’s another reason to be wary about jumping to conclusions about the shooting at Fort Hood: Bill Sparkman. Sparkman is the part-time Census employee whose body was found near a cemetery in rural southeastern Kentucky on Sept.... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Jumping to Confusion
November 6, 2009 03:45 PMIt’s been just over twenty-four hours since Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire on his fellow soldiers at Fort Hood—more than enough time, clearly, for our pundits to begin opining on what it all means. And though those interpretations are... Continue reading
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The Kicker
The Election’s Meaning Has Never Been Clearer
November 5, 2009 09:53 AMToday’s New York Times: “Democrats to Use Election to Push Agenda in Congress” Today’s Politico: “Election result: Red-state Dems worried, rethink agenda” Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Tea Leaves, Tarot Cards, and Ballots
November 4, 2009 03:20 PMThe coalition of media outlets pushing back against over-interpretation of the national significance of off-year elections lost a key ally today. Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal offered a worthwhile reality check on the hype surrounding the voting, but, <a... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Pushback on Polls’ Portents
November 3, 2009 03:23 PMWith the off-year Election Day now upon us, press outlets as diverse as Fox News and The New York Times are continuing to overemphasize the broader significance of today’s contests. (The lead headline at NYTimes.com all... Continue reading
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The Kicker
More Thoughts on Off-Year Elections
November 2, 2009 03:03 PMA few further thoughts re: my Campaign Desk post on how the media strains for meaning in off-year elections: First, the fact that a local outcome doesn’t hold great significance for divining the national mood doesn’t mean it’s... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Press to Cliché: We Just Can’t Quit You
November 2, 2009 02:31 PMOn Tuesday, November 3, voters around the country will go to the polls to elect officials in a variety of races. These campaigns, known as the “off-year elections” because of the absence of regularly scheduled federal contests, are mostly obscure.... Continue reading
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The Kicker
New Press Angle: Obama Had It Right, After All
November 2, 2009 10:14 AMA little less than two weeks ago, I wrote a post noting the press’s love for stories about how the president is bungling his approach to Congress: whether he is, at a given moment, adopting an assertive public... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
More on the Karzai Connection
October 30, 2009 05:01 PMWhen I compiled my round-up of responses to the New York Times’s story on the CIA-Ahmed Wali Karzai connections, I hadn’t yet seen Jeff Stein’s interesting contrarian take, given the following subhed by Foreign... Continue reading
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The Kicker
CJR Flashback: Jim Brady Q&A
October 30, 2009 02:37 PMAt Slate, Jack Shafer simultaneously boosts his curmudgeonly critic credentials and pays a compliment to the new leader of Allbritton Communications’ planned local news site in D.C.: Who doesn't adore Jim Brady, the former executive editor of... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
“Dr. No” Gets a Pass
October 30, 2009 12:24 PMThe front page of today’s New York Times features a profile of Tom Coburn, the proudly obstructionist Republican senator from Oklahoma. Though Coburn is a staunch social conservative (according to the story, he favors the death penalty for... Continue reading
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The Kicker
A Maybe-Not-So-Important Question
October 28, 2009 06:25 PMA Politico story that was briefly leading the site this evening addresses one of the not-so-pressing political issues of the day: Joe Biden’s polling numbers, which are in a sharp and apparently mysterious decline. It’s one of those... Continue reading
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The Kicker
The Karzai Family’s Defense
October 28, 2009 01:11 PMGerald Posner of The Daily Beast has the companion piece to The New York Times’s story about the CIA’s relationship with Ahmed Wali Karzai—interviews with both Ahmed and Mahmoud Karzai, Hamid’s other brother, who deny the... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Karzai Connection
October 28, 2009 01:09 PMToday’s New York Times leads with an extraordinary article reporting that Ahmed Wali Karzai—the brother of Afghan president Hamid Karzai, suspected of being a significant player in that country’s lucrative drug trade—has been on the CIA payroll for... Continue reading
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The Kicker
A Big Day in Afghanistan News
October 28, 2009 09:55 AMIf you’re at all interested in the war in Afghanistan, today’s New York Times is chock-full of must-reads. In addition to the blockbuster lead story reporting that Ahmed Wali Karzai—the brother of President Hamid Karzai and a suspected... Continue reading
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The Kicker
Post Profiles First Official to Resign over Afghan War
October 27, 2009 11:14 AMIf you’ve been online today you’ve probably already seen the link, but Karen DeYoung’s Washington Post profile of Matthew Hoh, a State Department officer who recently became the first U.S. official to resign over the war in Afghanistan,... Continue reading
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The Kicker
What Do Voters Crave?
October 26, 2009 05:26 PMThere’s a lot to like in Matt Bai’s well-written New York Times Magazine story about Jon Corzine and the New Jersey governor’s race: a pithy explanation of the state’s financial woes; an interesting meditation on politicians as civics... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Invisible Influence
October 26, 2009 02:41 PMSarah Palin is unavoidable. Not content to take over our dreams, the former governor of Alaska has conquered the best-seller charts with her new memoir (even if her sales numbers have slipped slightly from... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Chamber of Confusion
October 23, 2009 03:39 PMOn Oct. 8, The Wall Street Journal published an article about a feud between the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Apple, which had recently left the Chamber due to a disagreement over the group’s position on climate-change policy.... Continue reading
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Desks
The Audit Business
- The impossibility of tablet-native journalism Why Murdoch’s The Daily didn’t make it
- Anti-paywall dead-enders Why worry about evidence when you can argue against straw men?
The Observatory Science
- Dull news from Doha UN climate summit a ho-hum affair for the press
- Highway to the danger zone Following Sandy, HuffPo and NYT dig into the folly of coastal development
Campaign Desk Politics & Policy
- NBC News sets good example for Medicare reporting People perspective leads to clear explanation of impact of proposed changes
- In Pennsylvania, a niche site with wide reach PoliticsPA drives political conversation in Keystone State
Behind the News The Media
Blog
The Kicker last updated: Mon 11:37 AM
- Farewell to The Daily
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
- Pass the #popcorn
- Must-reads of the week
The Future of Media
News Startups Guide last updated: Thu 10:24 AM
- TRVL A free iPad travel magazine
- TheDigitel A small chain of local news sites/ aggregators in South Carolina
