Author Archive
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Campaign Desk
Who Will Be at the Table? Part VIII
May 8, 2009 11:56 AMDuring the campaign, Barack Obama promised his cheering crowds that, when he rolled up his sleeves to work on health care, he would “have insurance company representatives and drug company representatives at the table. They just won’t be able to... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Memo to Journalists: Move Beyond the Beltway Babble
May 7, 2009 10:49 AMAt this point in any debate over health reform, journalists inevitably get lost in all the wonk talk, the economic calculations, the political prognostications, the fancy rhetoric that disguises hidden agendas, the Capitol Hill guessing game. It’s easy to forget... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part II
May 4, 2009 02:01 PMThree years ago, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a far-reaching health reform law that politicians and the media hailed as a model for other states and the federal government. Indeed that law has become the major blueprint for health system... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Baucus Watch, Part VIII
April 28, 2009 02:45 PMAs chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus holds the keys to health care reform; any health care legislation must pass through his committee. So what he says or doesn’t say is important to those following the twists... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A Laurel to the Eagle-Tribune
April 24, 2009 12:51 PMThe grassroots army is on the march. On Wednesday, Campaign Desk reported that health insurers have called up the grassroots reserves to help fight their battles over health reform and Medicare Advantage plans. But oops! The... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A Dart to the Buffalo News
April 24, 2009 12:47 PMThe Dewey Square Group must have been pleased as punch to see the Buffalo News’s coverage of its Medicare Advantage community meeting, one of six held around the country since the middle of April. As Campaign Desk points... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Who Will Be at the Table? Part VII
April 22, 2009 12:29 PMDuring the campaign, Barack Obama promised his cheering crowds that, when he rolled up his sleeves to work on health care, he would “have insurance company representatives and drug company representatives at the table. They just won’t be able to... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
60 Minutes and The Nation Shine on Health Care
April 14, 2009 02:41 PMPoliticians and journalists take note. In the last several days, a segment on 60 Minutes and a personal story in The Nation have shown what’s wrong with U.S. health care in no uncertain terms. The public... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Hiding the Messenger
April 13, 2009 10:55 AMThe big news in health care last week, at least for the cognoscenti, came from the Lewin Group. Lewin reported (PDF) that if, under certain assumptions, Congress enacted a public plan to compete with commercial insurers, premiums for... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Laurel to the Tampa Tribune
April 10, 2009 08:26 AMWe were pleased to see the Tampa Tribune publish a smart, enterprising story that took a different angle on an important facet of health reform. Richard Mullins’s piece on Medicare Advantage plans, something of great interest to Florida... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Excluded Voices
April 8, 2009 01:05 PMThe past year’s health discussion has been remarkable for the narrow range of ideas and opinions that have floated down to the man on the street. Journalists have sought out the same organizations and sources for their stories, offering up... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Obama AWOL on Health Reform?
April 6, 2009 09:30 AMRobert Pear of The New York Times, who almost always can be counted on to let the world know the latest political think on some legislative matter or other, gave us a good update on health reform the... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Sick Around America
April 1, 2009 02:39 PMIt is not clear what message Frontline wanted to deliver in last night's Sick Around America documentary. The show, conceived as a sequel to its acclaimed Sick Around the World special, was a limp, flat journalistic effort that did nothing... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Some Big Dots to Connect
March 30, 2009 09:26 AMIn the past week or so, the media—at least those outlets that still cover health reform somewhat regularly—offered up some reasonable journalism about Beltway health reform politics. There was just one problem: ordinary people outside the Beltway may have needed... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Baucus Watch, Part VII
March 30, 2009 09:18 AMAs chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Max Baucus holds the keys to health-care reform; any health-care legislation must pass through his committee. So what he says or doesn’t say is important to those following the twists and turns... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Insurers Have a New Idea
March 25, 2009 09:52 AMThe AP moved a story yesterday afternoon reporting that members of two health insurance trade associations, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, are now willing to phase out the practice of charging sick... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
What Are Insurers Up To?
March 25, 2009 09:43 AMTwo views of the insurance industry lobby emerged in the press the last couple of weeks—one an AP puff piece bordering on PR for the industry trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), and the other a thoughtful,... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Massachusetts Health Reform Archive
March 23, 2009 02:05 PMHere are the links to every entry in Trudy Lieberman’s “Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts” series, in descending order. 03/03/10: Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part X - Unintended consequences for low-income workers 11/04/09: Health Reform... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Health Reform Lessons from Massachusetts, Part I
March 23, 2009 12:48 PMThree years ago the Commonwealth of Massachusetts enacted a far-reaching health reform law that politicians and the media hailed as a model for other states and the federal government. Indeed that law has become the major blueprint for health system... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Laurel to The Philadelphia Inquirer
March 18, 2009 02:20 PMA couple of decades ago, journalists at every paper and TV station, following the lead of The Wall Street Journal, began to personalize their reporting by starting with a little story that seemingly drew readers or viewers into the piece... Continue reading
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Desks
The Audit Business
- Audit Notes: pyramid people, Disney and ABC, no USA Today paywall Roddy Boyd digs into a diet-shake pyramid scheme
- Hot air Rises Above on CNBC An anchor pins a minor dip in stocks on the TV appearance of a minor politician
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: Fri 3:00 PM
- Must-reads of the week
- The media news cycle is bananas
- Pass the #popcorn
- Must-reads of the week
- Tom Rosenstiel leaving Pew
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
