And other scare-making takeaways from Bush’s address

Should Andrea Mitchell be reporting on the economic meltdown?

Hey, Ron Fournier! You know that whole “accountability journalism” thing you’re trying? Well, there’s a fine line between accountability and mockery. Take this little gem of a lede (h/t: TNR) from your organization’s assessment of Sarah Palin’s most recent TrooperGate turnabout: ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — Less than a week after balking at the Alaska Legislature’s […]

The American Society of Magazine Editors has named the finalists for its annual magazine cover art contest. “Cover of the Year” finalists below; full list of finalists here.

In which we have to ask, yet again: "Where’ s the outrage?"

…The Wall Street Journal! Per the paper’s analysis of the Bush administration’s proposed $700 billion mortgage buyout plan, currently under review in Congress: “The debate could expose a peculiar irony in the government’s rescue planning, because taxpayers are now both creditors and debtors in the housing mess.” Both creditors and debtors. Peculiar irony, indeed.

A quick-spreading fire can be a cautionary tale

An ad for a panel hosted by Mediabistro:

Call it the Goldilocks approach to political journalism. Many campaign-related articles we read are too cold (informative, maybe, but not terribly readable); many others are too hot (readable, maybe, but not terribly informative). The ones that strike a balance in their temperature–like “Moo,” Timothy Egan’s masterful treatment of Sarah Palin’s gubernatorial record, currently the most-emailed […]

Newly posted on Slate is an essay–a kind of analysis-meets-memoir–about Growing Up Alaskan. It’s a nice piece, evocative and full of rich detail, that paints a portrait of both the particularities and peculiarities of a culture that, apparently, it’s now our patriotic duty to be fascinated by. The essay is by turns touching and probing, […]