Calame Wants Answers, Bloggers Want More

On Sunday, the New York Times’ public editor came out swinging over the paper’s handling of its wiretapping story, and bloggers were quick to add their own opinions.

By Paul McLeary   Jan 2, 2006 at 02:13 PM

On Sunday, the New York Times' public editor, Barney Calame, came out swinging, revealing that the newspaper's management, in the... More

A Bad Year? Yeah, But, Oddly Enough, Good Work Kept Popping Up

Surveying the year-end lists by media critics, we found ourselves dismayed that so little of the good work done by journalists came through.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 29, 2005 at 03:16 PM

With the exception of ourselves -- who are a cheerful lot, unfailingly kind to small children and dogs and always... More

GM Hits Rock Bottom, Detroit’s Reporters Never Leave Cubicles

As the fortunes of General Motors take a turn for the worse, reporters in the automaker’s hometown, Detroit, aren’t working their sources to get the scoop.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 21, 2005 at 06:20 PM

General Motors has certainly seen better days. Not only has the company's stock price fallen 50 percent over the past... More

Jack Abramoff’s Press Corps

Now that Doug Bandow has become the latest pundit caught with his hand in the cookie jar, we’re starting to learn just how many other writers and think tanks staffers are on the take from special interests.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 21, 2005 at 01:20 PM

Now that Doug Bandow has become the latest conservative pundit caught with his hand in the cookie jar, we're starting... More

Stock Traders Say Grinch to Steal Christmas, Reporters Write it Down

‘Tis the season for simplistic media stories, so perhaps it’s unsurprising that the retail sector’s complicated variables proved too much to tackle for the nation’s business journalists.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 20, 2005 at 05:47 PM

The nation's retail sector is famously fickle, and explaining its ebbs and flows is no easy task. This is especially... More

The Dark Prince Is Gone - Or Is He?

With the announcement that Robert Novak is moving to Fox News we wonder: can Roger Ailes convince Bob to tell us what he told the special prosecutor about the Valerie Plame affair?

By Paul McLeary   Dec 16, 2005 at 05:35 PM

With the announcement today that CNN is not renewing Robert Novak's contract, and that Fox News is bringing him aboard,... More

They’re Coming Out of the Woodwork

Two columnists turn out to have been cashing checks from scandal-plagued lobbyist Jack Abramoff. Who’s next?

By Paul McLeary   Dec 16, 2005 at 04:41 PM

It's beginning to get tiring, watching the outing of a steady parade of journalists who turn out to be on... More

NPR’s Dvorkin’s Dubious Exercise in Labeling

National Public Radio’s ombudsman, Jeffrey A. Dvorkin, posted a curious piece of ombudsmanery yesterday concerning NPR’s habit of turning to think tank flacks for commentary.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 15, 2005 at 03:57 PM

National Public Radio's ombudsman, Jeffrey A. Dvorkin, posted a curious piece of ombudsmanery yesterday concerning NPR's habit of turning to... More

The Best of Several Bad Options Is Still a Bad Option

Cable services shouldn’t let the Federal Communications Commission bully them into offering “family-friendly” programming packages.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 13, 2005 at 05:10 PM

After staying quiet for the last couple months, the Federal Communications Commission seems to finally have awakened, squinting and tossing... More

Wherein We Learn More of the Propaganda Machine

Each time the Bush administration has been caught manufacturing news, top officials claim ignorance and innocence. But the more we learn about the latest payola program, the less likely that seems.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 12, 2005 at 01:53 PM

Two weeks ago, when the Los Angeles Times first broke the story of how the U.S. military is paying under... More

Anthony Shadid on Reporting in Baghdad and Telling the Story of Ordinary Iraqis

By Paul McLeary   Dec 9, 2005 at 05:33 PM

Anthony Shadid, foreign correspondent for the Washington Post, has reported from the Middle East for a decade. He has... More

Remembering Lennon, and Trying Not to Forget Pearl Harbor

By Paul McLeary   Dec 8, 2005 at 11:19 AM

As we poked around for some blog posts about the 25th anniversary of John Lennon's death, it was striking how... More

In a Close Call, Tribune Co. Almost Meets Its Public

The annual Manhattan meetings of newspaper executives trying to impress stock analysts aren’t where we usually look for fireworks — until MoveOn.org tried to crash the party.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 7, 2005 at 03:21 PM

No one can accuse us of not loving a good media spectacle, but the annual meetings in midtown Manhattan of... More

Rummy’s Compassionate Side Comes Out

The Secretary of Defense, it turns out, really just feels sorry for those confused reporters working in Iraq.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 6, 2005 at 04:09 PM

After all this time, it turns out that Donald Rumsfeld actually feels sorry for all those befuddled reporters in Iraq.... More

Iraq, Vollman and Resurrecting a Forgotten Conservative Icon

Time looks at the insurgency, New York Review reviews Vollman and conservatives bite back.

By Paul McLeary   Dec 6, 2005 at 12:53 PM

Time's Michael Ware, the magazine's Baghdad bureau chief, takes on an ambitious story this week, tackling the changing face of... More