Lester Feder : Author Archive : CJR

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Campaign Desk

Jon Stewart’s Never-Never Land
November 1, 2010 01:43 PM
The first irony of the major outlets’ prohibiting their employees from attending this weekend’s Stewart/Colbert rally is that their effort to preserve impartiality was, in fact, an admission of bias. Unless I missed the memo, no such edicts preceded Glenn... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Glenn Beck Reimagines Whiteness
August 31, 2010 01:18 PM
It’s rare that an event can provoke columns that carry such contradictory teasers as “Don’t ridicule Glenn Beck’s tribute to MLK: Celebrate it” and “Drowning out the hate hustlers: Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck cannot steal America’s soul.” The... Continue reading
Behind the News

Michael Kinsley vs. Factual Accuracy
September 4, 2009 02:14 PM
In an op-ed published in today's Washington Post criticizing The New York Times's published corrections, columnist Michael Kinsley officially went off the deep end. He argues that publications should not worry about spelling names right or correctly identifying... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Hertzberg’s Zeal
May 7, 2009 11:00 AM
There are few things less satisfying than beating up on a Self-Satisfied Yankee Elitist who is proud to be a Self-Satisfied Yankee Elitist—it has the unfortunate effect of making him even more satisfied with himself and his elitism. But when... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Grassley to Limbaugh: Keep Distorting Health Reform
March 19, 2009 11:57 AM
Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and others recently launched a smear campaign against a provision in the stimulus bill designed to gather research that will help doctors and patients choose the treatments that work the best, and... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Obama’s Asterisks
February 10, 2009 01:55 PM
When Health and Human Services nominee Tom Daschle withdrew from consideration last week, the press began debating whether the Obama administration was observing the spirit of its ban against lobbyists in government, even if it was largely honoring its letter.... Continue reading
The Observatory

Lead Pipes vs. Crack Pipes
January 28, 2009 12:58 PM
Yesterday, The New York Times brought readers the best kind of health story: a crisis that failed to show up. Despite hyperbolic headlines in the 1980s predicting a generation of inner-city children irreparably damaged by intrauterine cocaine exposure,... Continue reading
Overload!

Disaster Reporting through the Ages
December 18, 2008 12:08 PM
The day after a massive storm hit Galveston, Texas on September 8, 1900, the headlines outside the region were tentative. "Galveston May Be Wiped out by Storm," wrote the New York Times. The Washington Post reported on the... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

The South Will Rise Again
November 13, 2008 01:32 PM
The Deep South went Republican in 2008, missing the memo from the rest of the country that this was a Democratic year. The New York Times' Adam Nossiter argues that this "could spell the end of the so-called... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

“The Special Pride That Must Be Theirs”
November 10, 2008 10:36 AM
"You're being racist," said the daughter of New York Times columnist Judith Warner in response to her mother's comment about "how particularly earth-moving this election was for black voters." Warner reported this exchange in Thursday's "Domestic Disturbances" column... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Rally Killer
October 30, 2008 02:58 PM
Contrasting Obama rallies that "often look like Benetton-colored billboards" with McCain events characterized by pompoms and flag pins, The New York Times's Mark Leibovich argues on today's front page that these rallies are snapshots of two Americas. "What can... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Tracing GOP Turnabout
October 27, 2008 01:13 PM
In today's New York Times, John Harwood writes a most curious synopsis of the past four years of American politics. The GOP, he says, went from the verge of a permanent majority to the precipice of political irrelevance. "How... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

The Politics of Symbolism
October 24, 2008 10:21 AM
It is ironic that conservative commentators, led by radio personality Rush Limbaugh, dismissed Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama as a racist act at the very moment several Republicans are hunting for votes using racially charged rhetoric about... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Islamophobia and the Op-Ed Pages
October 22, 2008 04:22 PM
It's hard to compete with Colin Powell, especially if you're a small media watchdog group. But the former Secretary of State did in a few sentences what the progressive group Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting has been trying... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Abortion and the Anecdotal Lede
October 17, 2008 03:30 PM
In her syndicated column today, Ellen Goodman contrasts the relative success of the gay rights movement with the defensive crouch in which many abortion rights advocates now find themselves. "The fear-mongering of the 'Gay Agenda' is now the wedding registry... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Faulty Plumbing
October 16, 2008 03:42 PM
Earlier today, CJR’s Megan Garber was right to fault the media for being distracted by the humor of the "Joe the Plumber" story. But I don’t quite agree with her suggestion that the media should have used him as... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Taking It To The Streets
September 24, 2008 01:23 PM
Despite the buzz surrounding the current presidential campaign, historical trends suggest a sizeable portion of the American public will not vote this year. Journalists can claim a good deal of the credit for the public’s disconnection to national... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Palin’s Old Time Religion
September 9, 2008 04:08 PM
On the final night of the Republican National Convention, vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin attacked Democrat Barack Obama’s apparent disdain for small town values. Two days later, the Washington Times’s Web site ran a story that showed small town... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Palin Meets The Press
September 4, 2008 01:38 PM
Last night, the Republican Party officially nominated Senator John McCain for president of the United States—but you wouldn't know it to look at this morning's news. The front page of Google News's elections section this morning offered this snapshot: vice-presidential... Continue reading
Campaign Desk

Privacy For Palin?
September 2, 2008 05:08 PM
The liberal media is under-reporting the personal life of Sarah Palin and her children, complains the conservative Media Research Center—at least, that was their complaint in May. "The national news rarely covers much from Alaska," Tim Graham wrote in an... Continue reading

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