Author Archive
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Campaign Desk
Would the GOP turn away from the uninsured?
August 3, 2012 11:26 AMNPR’s Julie Rovner deserves a shout-out for identifying what may be the GOP’s new thinking about healthcare—abandon the goal of covering more people with health insurance, and, as a political strategy, paint that goal as some kind of Robin Hood... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Does journalistic ‘balance’ hurt America?
July 31, 2012 06:51 AMThomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, are savvy political scientists who know Washington politics well. And they have been regarded as middle-of-the-road... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Medicare and misinformation
July 27, 2012 06:50 AMTwo weeks ago a Midwest businessman sent an email to a long list of his senior friends warning that their Medicare Part B premiums would reach $247 a month by 2014. “These are provisions incorporated in the Obamacare legislation,” he... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
False balance and the Medicare scare
July 26, 2012 06:51 AMLast Thursday the president made a campaign stop in Florida, and—surprise, surprise—he talked about Medicare. Or at least he talked a little bit about Medicare. And in in the name of political balance, the press screwed it up—a lot. ... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The specter of ‘Socialized Medicine’ rides again
July 23, 2012 06:51 AMNow that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and its system of private insurance, private doctors, and subsidies to buy coverage is firmly in place, we thought that old health care bugaboo about “socialized medicine” might... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A hunger for the food-stamp story
July 19, 2012 02:50 PMThe press has shown only sporadic interest in the farm bill, a vast, important piece of legislation that must be considered every five years and is now moving through Congress. As CJR put it in an editorial two... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The healthcare whatyamacallit
July 17, 2012 06:50 AMThe Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act handed journalists something of a semantic dilemma. What do we call the sanction against people who do not buy the required health insurance? Is it a tax or a penalty? What... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Palm Beach Post exposes a hidden menace
July 11, 2012 11:01 AMReporting on tuberculosis is not most reporters’ idea of a glamor assignment. It’s an ancient disease, drug companies aren’t keen to develop blockbuster medicines, and, anyway, few people get it, right? Wrong. A powerful expose by Stacey Singer,... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
A sober look at healthcare after the ACA
July 9, 2012 06:50 AMChad Terhune’s piece, “Supreme Court’s healthcare ruling: The outlook for California,” offered a clear-eyed look at the repercussions of the Supreme Court’s decision on the healthcare reform law. It presented a realistic assessment of what Obamacare might really... Continue reading
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Swing States Project
Spinning the Supreme Court’s healthcare decision
July 5, 2012 02:42 PMIn the days before and after the Supreme Court’s decision, spin doctors were hard at work peddling their experts, positions, and takes on what might happen, and then what did happen and what might happen next. This is all to... Continue reading
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Swing States Project
Climbing the Medicaid mountain
July 3, 2012 03:03 PMThe Affordable Care Act envisions a major expansion of health insurance in America, with some 30 million Americans gaining coverage. That figure includes some 17 million people with low incomes who were to get health insurance via an expansion of... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Romney’s ‘job killer’ narrative: time for an X-ray
June 25, 2012 06:50 AMONNtv.com, which bills itself as Ohio’s channel for news, is one of the latest media outlets to casually pass along one of Mitt Romney’s favorite campaign messages—the one that blames Obamacare for "killing jobs." ONN reporter Jim Heath,... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
Whaddya know—advertising works!
June 22, 2012 11:09 AMIf anyone ever doubted that advertising works, the latest example of its persuasive power, documented in The New York Times Thursday, should prompt them to reconsider. A piece by Abby Goodnough strongly suggests that money spent by opponents... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The failure to explain health reform
June 20, 2012 06:51 AMIf the Supreme Court rules the health reform law or its central feature—the individual mandate requiring people to have health insurance—is unconstitutional, much of the public won’t shed a tear. The Affordable Care Act remains about as unpopular as it... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The brave new world of health insurance exchanges
June 18, 2012 11:05 AMNew York Times reporter Abby Goodnough’s piece last week about the health insurance exchange in Massachusetts is instructive—especially since other states are trying to set up their own versions of these shopping bazaars where the uninsured can buy... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The Times finds the people angle on Social Security
June 15, 2012 11:15 AMIt was good to see The New York Times publish the kind of story we have been urging—one that describes the struggles of seniors forced to take their Social Security benefits early, risking the quality of the rest of their... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The word on the street: insecure
June 12, 2012 12:23 PMLast week I found myself in Omaha, at the city’s Old Market, hoping to visit with some of the locals about the upcoming election for another CJR Town Hall. As usual, my sample was not scientific, but it... Continue reading
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Behind the News
What was CNN Money thinking?
June 8, 2012 07:00 AMIt’s hard to say what was the point of CNN Money’s latest contribution to the retirement debate. The site's Q&A with Stanford University psychologist Laura Carstensen, called “It’s time to rethink retirement,” did little to clarify for its... Continue reading
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Behind the News
A superb expose about an unsafe medical device
June 7, 2012 11:25 AMTony Saavedra and Courtney Perkes, reporters for The Orange County Register, deserve a laurel for their superb piece about harmful medical devices that have gravitated into widespread use with minimal oversight by the Food and Drug Administration, and... Continue reading
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Campaign Desk
The word on the street: frustrated
June 1, 2012 11:00 AMLast week a NBC News/Marist poll showed President Obama and Mitt Romney locked in a tight race in Florida and Virginia while Obama led by six percentage points in Ohio, another swing state.The top issue: the economy; voters... 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
