The Kicker

Pop quiz: Let’s say you need to undergo a coronary bypass. And let’s say you learn, through a Google search from your hospital bed–thank goodness for your BlackBerry!–that the doctor the hospital has assigned to your surgery took six years, rather than the normal four, to complete med school. And that she obtained her M.D. […]

What’s that line about the best way to a man’s heart being through his stomach? Well, apparently the best way to explain the current financial crisis to readers/viewers is through that same route. This morning, CNBC turned to an olive grower and distributor in California who can’t get the credit she needs to expand her […]

Who doesn’t love a Voltaire quote? Here’s one of my favorites: …the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. So what would Voltaire make of “Morning Joe: Election Extra,” running on MSNBC as I type? Joe Scarborough isn’t participating. And it’s 2pm in MSNBC’s New York studios. I guess it is […]

Ah, the style feature. Sarah Palin is approaching the debate podium, y’all, so call in the body language experts, the voice modulation analysts, and the communication consultants. A 2,040-word missive in the Washington Post explains to the watcher of tomorrow night’s debate not only what to expect (she’ll wrinkle her nose!), but also how to […]

Gwen Ifill has done solid, important journalism. She’ll likely be a good, tough, and neutral moderator to the vice-presidential debate. Let’s set that aside, for now. Conflict of interest is often about appearances. There appears, to us, to be a conflict in Ifill moderating tomorrow night’s vice presidential debate. Here’s why: – Ifill’s upcoming book […]

Give John McCain credit for taking the time to meet with The Des Moines Register‘s editorial board. It may not be the friendliest territory, given that they endorsed Kerry, Gore, and Clinton in the last three presidential races. The paper has released short videos of their conversation, which you can find via search at the […]

Congratulations to Susan Paterno on the dismissal of the defamation lawsuit the Santa Barbara News-Press filed against her based on her piece, “Santa Barbara Smackdown” (in the December 2006/January 2007 American Journalism Review and well worth a read) in which she describes how “the wall separating the executive suite from the newsroom” at the News-Press […]

Media members the world over, your sense of self-worth should be just a little bit higher today: Sarah Palin doesn’t hate you! Or resent you or fear you or think she’s better than you or whatever! She actually kinda likes you! So much, in fact, that she reads all your work. Literally all of it. […]

… because he feared being made to walk the plank… I’ve found it a bit of a challenge (being on dry land…land far, far from the coast of Somalia) to keep my inner-child at bay while following this Somali-pirates-hijacked-Ukranian-freighter-which-happened-to-hold- $30-million-worth-of-weapons story. I know it’s a serious problem. (The AP reports that 62 ships have been […]

Yet more evidence that Campaign 2008 has gotten rough: Gwen Ifill–notable for the dual distinction of being both the moderator of Thursday’s vice presidential debate and a Washington insider who is respected by pretty much everyone–has broken her ankle. Seems she took a spill at home, after tripping and falling down stairs. Per TVNewser, which […]

MSNBC’s Contessa Brewer is right now reporting live from Wall Street (outside, on a street, in downtown Manhattan). She is there, she says, to talk to “real people” leaving work. Find out what they’re thinking. Except that Brewer’s first interview subject (oh, the perils going live with the man-on-the-street interview) doesn’t “work here” on Wall […]

If wishes were horses then beggars would ride. And if cookie sales were votes, reports KTAR radio in Phoenix, then Obama landslide! (Oh and also: this voting booth/bakery is across the street from Obama’s Phoenix campaign headquarters.)

"Chaos" and "defiance" rule the day

Jayson Blair makes two appearances in the current issue of New York magazine (the “40th Anniversary” issue). See the list of “What Became of Ten Memorable Headliners (He’s the fourth name down. Blair — who, New York reminds readers, “fabricated stories; precipitated the fall of the editor of the New York Times” — is now […]