The Kicker

Last night CBS showed Katie Couric asking the spectacularly unbriefed Sarah Palin about her Charlie Gibson-era claim that being able to see Russia from Alaska had something to do with foreign policy credentials. You can watch the clip below. I can’t believe that there’s not a better answer than the one Palin gave here, and […]

Or, you know, not. According to figures released yesterday by the marketing info firm TNS Media Intelligence, “ad spending during the second quarter of 2008 was off 3.7 percent versus last year, the steepest quarterly drop since 2001.” All forms of advertising are affected. Specifically, per the TNS report, – Magazine ads fell 1.8 percent. […]

On Monday’s Campaign Desk, I suggested that mainstream journalists–who, in their zeal to provide balanced, sober, and non-panic-inducing coverage of the financial crisis, often erred on the side of callousness–would do well to take a cue from Bill O’Reilly. And, specifically, from the pundit’s particular strain of impassioned, indignant populism. Well. That strain has, apparently, […]

Ever wondered how the campaign and the economy’s woes intersect in any pragmatic way in the lives of average voters? The Times provides one answer.

Newsweek has a pretty interesting (although slightly peg-less, given its bare mention of the unmentionable Palin coverage) article on the National Enquirer’s post-Rielle, post-Internet role in the media landscape. But this paragraph is just soo huffy: Yet even when the mainstream media followed the Enquirer into the muck, it did so tentatively. Recall that in […]

A few weeks ago, former Gallup Poll senior editor David Moore appeared on On The Media to talk about how “polls inaccurately portray a consensus on issues the public often knows little or nothing about.” When asking respondents to choose between two options, pollsters force people to make a snap judgment on subjects they may […]

Well, everyone, looks like we have ourselves a bailout deal. The Washington Post reports, House and Senate negotiators emerged from a closed-door meeting today and said they have reached agreement on basic principles governing a massive financial rescue plan that they hope to pass soon. This is news that many Americans will be greeting with […]

From today’s front page (online version) of the Anchorage Daily News: 1) “Legislators lock horns over Palin inquiry” (Highlight: Hmmm. The headline?) 2) “Palin blessed three years ago to be free from ‘witchcraft’‘” (Highlight: The pastor, before so blessing Palin, preached that “We need God taking over the media.”) 3) “Botanical garden closes after bear […]

Early this week, McCain and his legion of loyal supporters reveled at yet another one of Senator Biden’s blunders after his primetime interview with Katie Couric, “Joe Biden Behind the Scenes.” Here’s Biden: When the stock market crashed, Franklin Roosevelt got on television and didn’t just talk about the, you know, princes of greed. He […]

…is how New York Times TV ctitic Alessandra Stanley, in her mostly-positive review today of The Rachel Maddow Show, describes Maddow’s peers at the cable network. Writes Stanley: Her program adds a good-humored female face to a cable news channel whose prime time is dominated by unruly, often squabbling schoolboys; Ms. Maddow’s deep, modulated voice […]

Michael Miner, the Chicago Reader‘s longtime media critic has a thoughtful piece today on the dilemma that The Chicago Tribune–under new Zell-tastic ownership–faces in either sticking with their unbroken record of backing Republican presidential candidates or endorsing Obama, a fresh-faced hometown pol whom they’ve strongly supported in the past. I’m not at all sure the […]

Everyone’s talking about what David Letterman said about John McCain last night. Nutshell: McCain canceled his scheduled Letterman appearance at the last minute to, per Dave, “race back to Washington,” only to then sit for an interview with CBS News’s Katie Couric, snippets of which Letterman aired –including bits of McCain having his TV makeup […]

Katie Couric asked a follow-up question. When Gov. Sarah Palin, Couric’s interviewee on CBS Evening News tonight, failed to answer the question before her (“You’ve said, quote, ‘John McCain will reform the way Wall Street does business.’ Other than supporting stricter regulations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac two years ago, can you give us […]

As far as the Chicago Tribune is concerned, Hillary Clinton is still in contention for the presidency. According to this roundup of “Profiles of 2008 presidential candidates,” the gang consists of McCain, Obama, and Hillary. And Clinton’s face, alphabetically I presume, sits above Obama’s. Oops!