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Columbia Journalism Review content tagged Campaign Desk

1. February 25, 2011 11:02 AM

   “Tweaking” Health Reform

   Who pays the price for the changes?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   Lost in MSM coverage of the president’s budget and hype over a government shutdown has been reportage about the various “tweaks” to the health reform law. Kudos to Merrill Goozner of the Fiscal Times, Megan McArdle at The Atlantic, and Timothy Jost writing for Kaiser Health News, for their enlightening commentaries. Who will pay the price for these changes? Why,...

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2. December 1, 2010 10:00 AM

   “I will separate his head from his body”

   Communications director wants to plug leak with machete

   By Joel Meares

   It seems Governor Paterson’s communications director Peter Kauffmann has a bit of the Rahm Emanuel in him, if this e-mail exchange with Albany reporter Elizabeth “Liz” Benjamin is anything to go by. Benjamin, then reporting for the New York Daily News, told CJR she has “no fucking clue” what the e-mail was about or who the “dem operative” in question...

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3. December 1, 2010 10:00 AM

   “Not Putting This In An Email”

   She must have known

   By Joel Meares

   Perhaps Albany reporter Elizabeth Benjamin had an inkling that Governor Paterson’s communications director Peter Kauffmann’s e-mails would one day go public. Either way, in this exchange from Albany she showed wise restrain in choosing to take to her phone to discuss a sensitive matter after Kauffmann (presumably) replied to a voice message with a quick e-mail. Benjamin's response? If only...

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4. June 27, 2011 05:13 PM

   Globe Delivers its Verdict on Romneycare

   A good—if imperfect—example of policy-oriented reporting

   By Greg Marx

   On Sunday, the Boston Globe published the second installment in its two-part series on “Romneycare,” the Massachusetts health care overhaul passed in 2006. Though not as buzz-worthy as the first part of the series — which tracked the back-room negotiations in which then-governor Mitt Romney came to support the program, and particularly the controversial individual mandate — the article offers...

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5. December 6, 2010 01:09 PM

   USA Today’s Mixed-Up Message

   What exactly did the deficit commission do?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   On Friday, USA Today reported that the president’s fiscal commission “approved a plan today to cut federal deficits by $3.9 trillion over the next decade, providing momentum for future spending cuts and tax increases but falling short of the super-majority needed to prompt immediate congressional action.” The story’s lede conveyed that the commission had “approved” the package of budget cuts...

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6. March 17, 2011 01:41 PM

   WaPo’s New Opinion Tabs Miss the Mark

   A flawed way to quantify ideological diversity

   By Ben Adler

   The Washington Post, as part of its ongoing web redesign, unveiled an addition to its online opinions section on Monday. Now there are tabs for left-leaning columnists and right-leaning columnists; you can even subscribe to ideologically segregated RSS feeds. The change drew jeers from wags such as Gawker's Hamilton Nolan, who complained that the tabs will allow a reader to...

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7. May 25, 2011 12:54 PM

   A Beat Memo on Medicare

   Is the Ryan plan really so novel?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   Perhaps no other health issue is as important to so many Americans now and in the future as Medicare. In this ongoing series, “Covering Medicare,” we will follow the reportage and offer Medicare beat memos from time to time. A few weeks ago, Amy Goldstein of The Washington Post gave her readers a short Medicare history lesson. She harkened back...

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8. March 3, 2011 12:48 PM

   A Big Omission at NBC

   Whatever happened to Social Security?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   NBC Nightly News took on retirement income the other day and found most Americans’s savings will come up short. The segment drew a bleak picture of the amount of money people have saved for retirement versus the amount they will need in the future. The picture was bleaker still because the story left out any reference to Social Security—even though...

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9. November 24, 2010 09:44 AM

   A Curious Omission at the Times

   Three Social Security proposals, or two?

   By Trudy Lieberman

   It was puzzling to see Jackie Calmes’s brief story in The New York Times last week with its provocative headline: “Deficit Panels Go Where Politicians Won’t.” That, of course, conveyed the notion that politicos may be shying away from taking the tough steps necessary to cut the deficit. But there are tough steps a-plenty in a proposal put forth by...

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10. December 1, 2010 10:02 AM

    A Lecture for the New Media Set

    Kauffmann on John Koblin's Tweet and "journalistic integrity"

    By Joel Meares

    I’m going to guess that Paterson communications director Peter Kauffmann is more your leisurely Sunday Times reader than your short-is-best Twitter fiend. He showed his stripes in early February when he issued a curt knuckle-slapping to then New York Observer media reporter John Koblin. Koblin, you might recall, was one of the first reporters—along with then New York Daily News...

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11. July 18, 2011 02:33 PM

    A Medicare Miss at the LA Times

    Some fact-checking, please

    By Trudy Lieberman

    Medicare is a bear to write about. It’s tough for beneficiaries to understand, and unclear news stories only serve to compound their confusion. That’s what last week’s LA Times story on Medicare costs did. The paper’s thesis was that seniors’ medical bills “could jump hundreds or even thousands of dollars,” and the top supported that storyline. A Medicare expert from...

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12. May 16, 2011 03:52 PM

    A Medicare Referendum? Not So Fast

    Polls in N.Y. special election tell a more complicated story

    By Greg Marx

    The future of Medicare is one of the biggest, most fiercely contested questions in American politics these days. And with a special election coming up in a congressional district in western New York next week, the candidates there have spent a lot of time debating a Republican plan that would transform the federal health care program. So is the election...

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13. December 16, 2010 10:34 AM

    A Midsummer Donation Spike, With Context

    Reports from recent campaign finance reports

    By Liz Cox Barrett

    There is much that can not be found in publicly available federal campaign finance reports: the identities of all the entities and individuals whose funds fueled the surge in third party ad spending this year; or, a true tally of how much, in all, was spent on the midterm election. Still, there are stories to be told from these disclosure...

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14. April 4, 2011 12:29 PM

    A Missing Health Policy Story

    A “study says” piece gets short shrift

    By Trudy Lieberman

    The most underreported health story of this past week was, in my view, one that came out of the RAND Corp., the Santa Monica think tank known for its thorough, leading edge research on health policy. Before the words “health policy” throw you into a snooze, dear reader, let’s look at what the study showed and its implications for how...

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15. April 27, 2011 12:13 PM

    A Missing Medicare Link from The New York Times

    Covering Medicare, Part II

    By Trudy Lieberman

    Perhaps no other health issue is as important to so many Americans now and in the future as Medicare. In this new series, “Covering Medicare,” we will follow the reportage and offer Medicare beat memos from time to time. Medicare was big news on the political circuit yesterday, with Florida congressman Allen B. West getting, shall we say, pushback from...

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16. March 29, 2011 04:23 PM

    A New Entry in the Health Care Lexicon

    Beware of “centralized medical planning”

    By Trudy Lieberman

    Lawrence Hunter, a contributor on Forbes.com, took on President Obama the other day, listing a number of White House initiatives that he apparently doesn’t like. The post is predictable, given Hunter’s pedigree—he once worked for conservative former New York congressman Jack Kemp, was an advisor in the Reagan administration, and is a former vice president and chief economist for the...

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17. May 4, 2011 06:07 PM

    A Photo of History Being Made (Up)?

    Spot the presidential address reenactment photo!

    By Liz Cox Barrett

    One of the images below is of President Obama delivering his historic "justice has been done" address live to the nation on Sunday night. The other image is of President Obama re-reading a portion of that address in front of a group of photographers shortly after delivering the full address to the nation (so that the photographers could get a...

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18. May 23, 2011 03:02 PM

    A Second Look at NY-26

    New polls suggest a role for Medicare, but reasons for caution remain

    By Greg Marx

    A week ago, I called for more restraint in press coverage of tomorrow’s special election in NY-26, which the press has eagerly framed as a referendum on House Republicans’ controversial plan to turn Medicare into a voucher program. With some new polling data in over the weekend, it’s time to walk back parts of that post — but also to...

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19. July 20, 2011 02:32 PM

    A Shout Out to The Palm Beach Post

    A rare glimpse into the ways of for-profit health care

    By Trudy Lieberman

    The Palm Beach Post deserves kudos for exposing how Florida governor Rick Scott conducted the business of his urgent care clinics in the state, and what his actions reveal for health care to come. Scott is something of health care’s bad boy, having gotten into trouble running Columbia/ HCA, the giant for-profit hospital chain owned by the Frist family of...

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20. January 25, 2011 01:00 PM

    A Shout Out to David Gregory

    For pinning down Eric Cantor on Meet the Press

    By Trudy Lieberman

    David Gregory’s Meet the Press interview Sunday with new House Majority Leader Eric Cantor should be required reading in every entry-level reporting class. Gregory showed what it means to follow up on questions and keep pushing until the interviewee answers the question that was asked. That kind of follow-up has been lacking in much of the reportage I have examined...

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