Tags

Columbia Journalism Review content tagged Campaign 2012

1. April 17, 2012 04:09 PM

   EXTRA Unpacks the Media’s Medicare Coverage

   Are journalists writing for doctors or for patients?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   I don’t know Amy Poe, a writer and Medicare consumer based in Little Rock, Arkansas. But I like a piece she wrote for EXTRA, a monthly magazine of commentary and criticism of the press. I suspect most Beltway reporters and those who toil in smaller circles don’t know much about FAIR, a progressive media watchdog group that publishes EXTRA. But...

   Continue reading
2. December 8, 2011 02:14 PM

   Morning Edition Connects With Regular People

   But is anybody listening in Washington, DC?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   The other day NPR did some solid man-on-the-street reporting, and found—as we have found in our ongoing Town Hall series—the public is disconnected from Washington politics. Reporter Andrea Seabrook visited Cincinnati and asked those whom she met about their opinion of Congress. It was hardly shocking to learn it was not very high. Danny Korman, a small businessman who runs...

   Continue reading
3. January 4, 2012 12:46 PM

   A Good Payroll Tax Piece from the Post

   Finally, some balance from WaPo

   By Trudy Lieberman

   At last The Washington Post, which shaped much of the media coverage of the defcit and entitlement discussion last year, has produced a very good story about Social Security. This one offers another take on the Democrats’ drive to extend the payroll tax for the next two months. The message of Jia Lynn Yang’s piece: cutting payroll tax contributions to...

   Continue reading
4. February 27, 2012 04:29 PM

   A Medicare Memo to Campaign Reporters

   Tailing Mitt on Medicare and Social Security, too

   By Trudy Lieberman

   Dear Colleagues: I have just returned from a reporting trip to Southeast Arkansas, where the folks I visited have very little. They certainly don’t have good health. Some are crippled by bad knees messed up from on-their-feet jobs. Most have diabetes. Some have had strokes. They are lucky, though, that they have Medicare. Without it, they probably would have died...

   Continue reading
5. December 20, 2011 12:18 PM

   A Presidential Debate Abroad?

   An argument for holding a foreign policy debate in a foreign country

   By Justin D. Martin

   Every fourth fall, more Americans watch presidential debates than just about any other live event in the US but the Super Bowl. The contests are by far the most-watched political events in this country. More than 50 million Americans watched the first debate between Barack Obama and John McCain in September 2008, while 63 million paused for the second live...

   Continue reading
6. November 15, 2012 01:12 PM

   An election post-mortem on Medicare coverage

   Coverage? Yes. Guidance? Not so much

   By Trudy Lieberman

   In mid-August, when Paul Ryan burst on the scene with his voucher scheme for Medicare, the 47-year old program suddenly became hot news. Until then, the media had paid scant attention to Medicare, except in the fall when they served up some “how-to” stories for choosing new Medicare Advantage plans. This time it was different. Ryan’s plans for transforming Medicare...

   Continue reading
7. July 1, 2011 11:36 AM

   An Underwhelming Bachmann “Gaffe”

   By Isabella Yeager

   Perhaps predictably, many in the media have latched onto presidential candidate Michele Bachmann’s latest gaffe, in which she apparently confused beloved actor John Wayne with hated murderer John Wayne Gacy during the course of a television interview. But some of those accusing Bachmann of this embarrassing misstep have taken certain liberties in linguistics or in logic to make their points....

   Continue reading
8. July 12, 2011 03:52 PM

   Bland Brand, Bad Buzz

   For Pawlenty, “the headlines are a killer”

   By Erika Fry

   In recent weeks, you may have noticed something of a Tim Pawlenty pile-on in the press. (Collectively, it sounds something like this: He’s boring! He’s losing!) On July 2, Nate Silver, on his New York Times 538 blog, pronounced T-Paw the “RC Cola” of Republican candidates (i.e. indistinguishable and in need of re-branding.) Pawlenty, wrote Silver, “has to compete against...

   Continue reading
9. December 21, 2011 03:16 PM

   Bloomberg Takes on the Big Lie of the Crisis

   By Ryan Chittum

   Bloomberg takes a crack at knocking down what Barry Ritholtz correctly calls the Big Lie of the crisis, that government regulation—not private sector recklessness—caused it. This falsehood has taken hold on a big chunk of the right, which is fighting a rearguard action against the notion that markets can have catastrophic failures. Fundamentalism is kind of a problem when facts...

   Continue reading
10. May 31, 2011 04:58 PM

    Campaign Strategies

    How should the media determine the sort of coverage a candidate deserves?

    By The Editors

    In one of the posts on Herman Cain's candidacy discussed on Campaign Desk Tuesday, Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight calls for more discussion about the quadrennial issue of how much coverage the press should devote to different presidential candidates: This is a question, however, that needs to be discussed more openly. What are the appropriate criteria by which the press should...

    Continue reading
11. May 31, 2011 04:08 PM

    Covering the Cain Campaign

    Herman Cain's probably not a serious candidate. That doesn't mean the press shouldn't cover him.

    By Greg Marx

    If you headed out early for the Memorial Day weekend, you probably missed an interesting bit of blogosphere back-and-forth about how seriously to take Herman Cain’s run for the White House—and, more broadly, about how the press should cover presidential campaigns. Cain, for people who haven’t heard of him—which means most people—is an African-American pizza chain CEO-turned-conservative talk show host...

    Continue reading
12. August 23, 2011 12:15 PM

    Covering the Fringe Candidates

    How should the press decide which dissents to take seriously?

    By Greg Marx

    Jon Huntsman’s campaign for president doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, so why does he retain his commanding lead in the magazine profile primary? At his Atlantic blog, Conor Friedersdorf has some sharp thoughts on the appeal of the erstwhile ambassador to China—and, in particular, why Huntsman fares so well with the media compared to the similarly doomed Ron Paul...

    Continue reading
13. September 14, 2011 12:01 PM

    Deep Health Care Problems under Rick Perry’s Watch

    Deep in the heart of Texas

    By Trudy Lieberman

    With the media hyper-focused on Texas governor Rick Perry’s not-too-flattering comments about Social Security, health care in his state seems like a woeful orphan in Medialand. That’s why Noam Levey deserves a shout-out for his recent Los Angeles Times story dissecting what’s really happening in Texas when it comes to caring for the sick. Levey presents a devastating account of...

    Continue reading
14. June 14, 2011 12:42 AM

    How to Dodge Debate Dodges

    CNN debate demanded one simple phrase

    By Clint Hendler

    Last night’s CNN debate drew the respect and attention that the first debate, hosted in early May by Fox News, just couldn’t muster. This time, front-running Mitt Romney was on the scene. He was joined by the recently humbled Newt Gingrich and by newcomer Michele Bachmann, who stole a moment to announce that she was just about ready to announce...

    Continue reading
15. July 5, 2011 02:34 PM

    How to Understand the ‘Invisible Primary’

    An interview with Georgetown professor Hans Noel

    By Greg Marx

    The 2012 Iowa caucuses are still seven months away, but Republican presidential hopefuls are already well into the “invisible primary”—a tumultuous time of speechmaking, fundraising, coalition-building and constant travel, as they seek to boost their name recognition, stand out from the field, and secure the GOP nomination once the voting begins. This part of the campaign looks very different than...

    Continue reading
16. June 20, 2011 05:11 PM

    Huntsman as McCain Redux

    And why the similarities create perils for the press

    By Greg Marx

    Jon Huntsman may be stuck at the bottom of early polls for the Republican nomination for president, but, as CNN’s Peter Hamby noted on Twitter this morning, Huntsman has already won another category — “the magazine profile primary.” Hamby’s Tweet was likely prompted by Matt Bai’s 6,000-word New York Times Magazine profile of the Utah governor-turned ambassador to China-turned Republican...

    Continue reading
17. August 8, 2011 01:03 PM

    Is Tim Pawlenty For Real?

    The StarTribune suggests maybe he isn’t

    By Trudy Lieberman

    The Minneapolis StarTribune’s piece on presidential hopeful Tim Pawlenty is the kind of story voters can expect to see at this stage in the presidential campaign. The story investigated the candidate’s health care stance, flip-flops and all. The ex-governor apparently is a chameleon changing colors whenever it suits his political purpose. Kudos to the StarTribune and reporter Kevin Diaz for...

    Continue reading
18. June 9, 2011 12:49 PM

    Jon Huntsman’s Vision for the Future of Medicare

    Whose moral obligation is it?

    By Trudy Lieberman

    Potential presidential candidate Jon Huntsman’s recent Wall Street Journal op-ed was thoroughly predictable, containing lots of the acceptable phrases for GOP discourse: stuff about not underestimating the “seriousness of the responsibility,” the need to “make hard decisions now,” “reforming entitlement programs,” Paul Ryan’s attempt “to save” Medicare, “the inescapable reality that we have too few workers supporting too many retirees.”...

    Continue reading
19. January 16, 2012 12:34 PM

    Legal Immigrants Win in Massachusetts

    But the political press misses the story

    By Trudy Lieberman

    Today we begin a series of occasional posts that bring Campaign Desk readers up-to-date on the workings of Massachusetts health reform and how the press is reporting on them. A few years ago, Bay State lawmakers, with the blessing of Gov. Deval Patrick, tossed some 30,000 legal immigrants off of the state’s health insurance plan, barring them from receiving subsidies...

    Continue reading
20. May 26, 2011 03:12 PM

    More from Candidate Pawlenty

    A glimmer or two of context from the media

    By Trudy Lieberman

    It’s hard to know what to make of Tim Pawlenty, the Gopher State’s ex-governor, tramping around the country building his presidential campaign. Was/is he a state budget fixer-upper? A Tea Party sympathizer? A foe of Social Security and Medicare? A parrot for Republican rhetoric? The media, to their credit, are starting to answer some of these questions, although covering his...

    Continue reading

1. 1
2. 2
3. 3
4. Next »