Author Archive
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Magazine Report
Facing Subpoenas, Reporters Medicate Selves
January 10, 2006 02:54 PMIn the event that members of the MSM were feeling at all optimistic at the start of this new year, here comes both New York-named weeklies to remind them to be afraid ... very afraid. New York's Phillip... Continue reading
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Behind the News
“World News Tonight” Fails to Implode, Critics Disappointed
January 6, 2006 10:44 AM"Good luck, kiddo." So said Charles Gibson (the 62-year-old almost-anchor of ABC's "World News Tonight") to 43-year-old Elizabeth Vargas (who, in the end, got Peter Jennings' old gig -- or half of it, at least) on the morning of her... Continue reading
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Behind the News
“If You Use My Name, They’ll Make Fun of Me”
December 28, 2005 08:30 AMOur most recent award for Best Explanation for Why A Source Requested -- And Was Granted -- Anonymity in a News Story (a.k.a. Anonymice Award) went to the Los Angeles Times' Ralph Vartabedian back in October. Vartabedian's source (an... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Reporters Face Bad Commute, Bad Numbers and Bad Fashion
December 21, 2005 02:58 PMAs day two of New York City transit strike dawned, the New York Times was not alone in "flooding the zone." The city's tabloids, too, are providing an abundance of strike coverage. The New York Post,... Continue reading
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The Audit
Who Needs Facts? Flashy Headlines are Much More Fun
December 8, 2005 07:01 PM"House party is over," declared CNN in a headline on its Web site this morning, pointing to the UCLA Anderson Forecast, a widely-watched report on the U.S. economy that includes predictions for the housing market. If... Continue reading
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The Audit
Talkin’ ‘Bout MySpace Generation
December 7, 2005 06:09 PMLast month, BusinessWeek loved baby boomers. We know this because it published a cover story called "Love Those Boomers!" There was a cartoon middle-age man and woman windsurfing across the front of the magazine, illustrating that people between the... Continue reading
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Blog Report
It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like … Some Sort of Holiday
December 7, 2005 02:59 PMLast week, the Washington Times did some war reporting -- on the "War on Christmas," that is. Today, DC's other daily enlists, reporting -- as we noted in Monday's blog report -- that some of the... Continue reading
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The Water Cooler
Stan Tiner on Calling for Help in a Headline, Editing the Daily Disappointment, and Forming a “Newsroom Trust”
December 2, 2005 01:09 PMStan Tiner Stan Tiner has been the executive editor and vice president of the Sun Herald in Biloxi, Mississippi since May 2000. Although Biloxi was... Continue reading
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Blog Report
Bribing Iraqi Editors? Hey, No Big Deal
December 1, 2005 12:41 PMBuying the news: Big deal or no biggie? Of ongoing reports that the Pentagon hired a PR firm to offer Iraqi newspapers cash to run positive stories ginned up by the flacks, Steve M at The... Continue reading
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Blog Report
The MSM: Where Bad Reporting - and Cuteness! - Abound
November 30, 2005 03:37 PMIn honor of our newest section, The Audit, we'll kick off today's Blog Report with a look at a couple of bloggers' beefs with business reporting. Multi-tasking, Mark Noonan at Blogs for Bush uses an... Continue reading
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Magazine Report
War and Teas
November 29, 2005 03:29 PMYes, you've seen Seymour Hersh on television talking about his latest New Yorker piece. No, this does not justify your flipping past Hersh's article in the magazine in order to get straight to work on this week's Cartoon Caption... Continue reading
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Politics
Partisan Infection Strikes Medical Coverage
November 23, 2005 03:18 PMWhat's news: early next year the FDA and the CDC will next convene a "scientific meeting" to discuss the "medical mystery" surrounding the deaths of four California women, each who died several days after taking Mifeprex (aka, RU-486 or the... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Air Traffic, Out of Control
November 22, 2005 07:36 PMIt was a mixed blessing for cable news yesterday when a corporate jet in Oregon developed landing gear troubles soon after takeoff. The upside: dramatic live coverage sure to draw viewers -- almost like a police chase in the sky!... Continue reading
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Politics
Plenty of Access, No Intelligence
November 17, 2005 05:54 PMWith the Bush administration back in campaign mode, we were hoping that the White House press corps would not also begin behaving as though it were in the middle of a political campaign (transcribing -- but not taking... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Dropping the (Soccer) Ball
November 16, 2005 04:17 PMCJR Daily frequently laments the state of the morning network news shows. And just when we think these shows have hit bottom (remember Toilet Seat Man?), we tune in and are promptly proven wrong. A sampling from... Continue reading
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Politics
What Isn’t Reported Counts As Much As What Is
November 15, 2005 04:34 PMYesterday, the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) released an investigative report describing as "unusual" the process by which the Food and Drug Administration in May 2004 decided to deny over-the-counter status to the emergency contraceptive drug, Plan B... Continue reading
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Behind the News
What’s That Flushing Sound at NBC?
November 10, 2005 05:27 PMThe rules of morning television news, NBC's Katie Couric told Ken Auletta earlier this year, require -- among other things -- that you shouldn't "make people feel uncomfortable." "But like everyone who works in morning television," Auletta... Continue reading
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Politics
A “Hit-Back”? How Can I Help?
November 9, 2005 03:32 PMTypically, reporters make some sort of effort -- transparent though it may be -- to conceal the fact that they're being used. Yesterday, CNN's Dana Bash made no such effort. And while we're tempted to cheer her... Continue reading
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Behind the News
Men - What Good Are They, Anyway?
November 8, 2005 05:44 PMTelevision news loves nothing more than a quick stop-'em-in-their-tracks report on the findings of some newly published -- often health-related -- research study. In the past month, according to Nexis, the phrase "a new study shows," "new research suggests" (or... Continue reading
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Politics
Bush In Clover - Or Is It Poison Ivy?
November 3, 2005 07:34 PMOn the same day that the Associated Press ran a story declaring that "Bush Allies Say He's Lost His Way," the forecast in the Washington Times called for sun (headline: "Clouds Clear Quickly for Bush"). The Associated... Continue reading
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The Kicker last updated: Mon 11:37 AM
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