Susan Q. Stranahan : Author Archive : Bios

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Articles by Susan Q. Stranahan | Email the Author

Politics

The Power of the Written Word
June 17, 2005 03:29 PM
Pressure is building on the White House to devise an exit strategy for Iraq, and new polls show that public support for the administration's handling of the war has dropped dramatically. In large part, Americans' perceptions of the... Continue reading
Behind the News

Hey, This Reporting Stuff is Easy!
June 16, 2005 04:01 PM
The latest example of "Your Tax Dollars at Work" comes to us via the Chicago Tribune, which reports today that the U.S. Department of Agriculture "has churned out three dozen radio and television news segments since the first of... Continue reading
Magazine Report

Gitmo, Families at War, and Chasing the �Bubba� Vote
June 14, 2005 12:39 PM
Leaping into the Guantanamo story, Time devotes its cover feature to a secret interrogation log of the man known inside Gitmo as Detainee 063, but whom intelligence officials believe is the so-called "20th hijacker," a Saudi deported from the... Continue reading
Behind the News

Those “S” Rivers All Sound the Same, Ya Know
June 13, 2005 12:12 PM
The current edition of Time magazine features a story whose headline screams "Are These Towers Safe?" Accompanying the story about how America's nuclear reactors are vulnerable to terrorist attack is a stunning nighttime photo of "the Limerick nuclear power... Continue reading
The Water Cooler

Jerry Kang on TV News, Viruses and the Public Interest
June 10, 2005 06:31 PM
Jerry Kang Jerry Kang is a law professor at UCLA, who lectures and writes about civil procedure, race and communications. A graduate of Harvard University and its... Continue reading
Behind the News

Printing Charges Versus Finding News
June 9, 2005 02:58 PM
As the government wound up its eight-month racketeering trial against the tobacco industry, Justice Department lawyers surprised everyone by announcing yesterday they would seek just $10 billion from cigarette makers to finance stop-smoking programs -- not the $130 billion that... Continue reading
Behind the News

It’s Called: Pick Up the Phone and Ask Questions
June 8, 2005 01:03 PM
When last we visited Toledo, all that was missing was about $13 million of $50 million in workers' compensation funds, entrusted to a GOP bigwig and coin dealer to invest. But that was last week. And it amounted... Continue reading
Behind the News

Still Crazy, After All These Years
June 7, 2005 04:38 PM
Some days, reporters ought to just forego their paychecks; the fruit is hanging so low it practically falls into their laps. Yesterday, Benedict Carey of the New York Times had one of those days, and he took full advantage this... Continue reading
Politics

The Other Nuclear Option
June 7, 2005 12:58 PM
Every once in a while, it's worth taking note of the subtle -- but important -- consequences of shrinking news budgets and dwindling staffs. The key consequence, of course, is that things just don't get covered. Even in the good... Continue reading
Behind the News

Keeping It Brief on Michael’s Briefs
June 1, 2005 03:44 PM
Okay, time to confess. (If Mark Felt -- or his lawyer, or his family -- can do it, so can we.) Every once in a while we let our eyes glide away from stories about Social Security, Iraq, filibusters,... Continue reading
Politics

Blade Kicks Some Bigfoot Butt
May 31, 2005 01:38 PM
Now, it's a big story. We're referring to Coingate. On Saturday, The New York Times reported on the rapidly unfolding political and legal scandal in Ohio involving a Republican bigwig and millions in missing rare coins he purportedly was... Continue reading
Blog Report

�Did So!� �Did not!�
May 26, 2005 12:50 PM
The blog world today resembles a playground full of third graders, with both sides stamping their feet and shouting "Is not!" "Is so!" Of course they're tussling over the implications of news accounts (here, here, here and... Continue reading
Politics

Dueling Prayers, Congress Gets a Spine, and Why We Love Baseball
May 25, 2005 12:16 PM
Has Congress found a backbone? Joe Gandelman of The Moderate Voice thinks so. And that may well change the political anatomy. Coming on the heels of the surprise check-mate of the administration and its Senate allies by moderates on... Continue reading
Politics

Fortifying the Firewall
May 24, 2005 04:09 PM
BP, the giant oil company, has adopted a �zero tolerance� policy for bad news. Ad Age reports today that BP has informed print publications that its ads must be removed from any edition containing �objectionable editorial coverage.� According... Continue reading
Blog Report

Mea Culpas All Over the Place
May 23, 2005 11:54 AM
We didn't even have to check our calendar today to realize it's a full moon. What else can explain the blogger love-in with the MSM? Kevin Drum at Washington Monthly's Political Animal offers this advice to Newsweek about its... Continue reading
Behind the News

Managers Manage the Managers Managing the News
May 20, 2005 04:30 PM
Back in the old days when you wanted to know what Liz and Richard, or Charles and Diana, were up to, you had to hope for a crowd at the supermarket check-out line. There, furtively, you could get your fill... Continue reading
The Audit

Birds On a Wire Fly, Fly Away - in Different Directions
May 18, 2005 05:23 PM
Television executives are beginning to see the handwriting on the wall, and it's spelled W-E-B. While their print counterparts have been watching the Internet eat their lunch for some years now, the network poobahs are just now realizing that they're... Continue reading
Magazine Report

Religion as Business, The Spy Who Loved Us, and a Report for the Ages
May 17, 2005 12:56 PM
Old-time religion these days looks a lot like a business, replete with marketing tools and branding strategies that would make a Harvard MBA green with envy, writes William C. Symonds, in Businessweek's current cover story, "Earthly Empires." Symonds introduces... Continue reading
The Audit

Don’t Take These Guys With You To The Track
May 11, 2005 02:58 PM
In George W. Bush's words, here's why voluntary personal retirement accounts are a good idea: "Your money will grow, over time, at a greater rate than anything the current system can deliver -- and your account will provide money... Continue reading
Politics

Before the Ink Is Even Dry
May 9, 2005 12:41 PM
We've noted here before the fancy footwork of New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller, who can and does glissade with the agility of Ginger Rogers around the Times' rules limiting anonymous quotes. Our favorite so far, as regular readers may... Continue reading

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