The Kicker

Yesterday, the Publishers Information Bureau released its report tracking magazine ad sales during the second quarter of 2008. The news is, as is generally the case when the news in question combines “journalism” and “ad revenue,” not good. Magazine sales fell, overall, more than 8 percent in the second quarter of 2008. Here are the […]

Think Progress (via Matt Yglesias) has a list of some of the more egregious moments of political reporters publicly crushing on John McCain. Without further comment: McCain barbeques: “He was wearing a sweatshirt with a lithograph photo of his family — like a Christmas card picture. So just another grandpa at the grill.” [Mike Allen, […]

Our minds are already “down there” today, so why not have a look at what my colleague just called “the best news graphic ever” (scroll all the way down to the end of the article).

After reading today’s New York Times editorial about the recent study implicating prescription pills as a way to eliminate child obesity, I noticed the most popular Times articles this morning: It would seem that readers have a case of the munchies (see the first, second, sixth and eighth most read), not to mention an unhealthy […]

This marks the third time* this campaign season the press has had to tackle the question of How To Report A Reference To Certain Manparts. Back in April, the head of the Sheet Metal Workers’ Union described Hillary Clinton as a person with “testicular fortitude.” In early May, James Carville said if Clinton “gave [Obama] […]

The Boston Globe‘s Brian Mooney shows how the spin flows with a minute-by-minute chronology of A Day of Campaign Spin (in this case, yesterday, when both campaigns were frantically spinning reporters on their economic plans). Mooney, in his words, “provides a case study in the spin and pushback that occurs out of public view as […]

Pollster’s Mark Blumenthal awards Worst In Show to the Associated Press’s interpretation of its own poll (not to mention the poll itself) which we wrote about yesterday– the one about pet-owning Americans preferring McCain to Obama. Something about how there may be reasons to support McCain that have nothing to do with his turtles, Cuff […]

There will be no more interviews with Barack Obama’s adorable young daughters, Malia and Sasha. No more chances to find out that Malia is fantasizing about decorating her bedroom in the White House or that Sasha hates when her dad squashes her shoes with a careless toss of his giant travel bag. When asked if […]

How’s this framing of The Candidates Dueling Economic Plans for the press giving McCain a “mad pass” (Josh Marshall’s words) on his pledge to balance the budget? From the Associated Press‘s Nedra Pickler: Barack Obama says John McCain’s plan to balance the budget doesn’t add up. Easy for him to say: It’s not a goal […]

That recent A-1 New York Times photo of the crying baby in leg casts that stopped me (and, not surprisingly, many Times readers) in my tracks? It seems we were misinformed. Per the Times‘ correction today: After the picture and an accompanying article that also described the injuries were published, The New York Times took […]

The New York Post reports it was “inspired by sexy CBS reporter Lara Logan’s recent foreign affairs” (presumably its own reporting on the matter). “Inspired”… to open a Baghdad bureau? “Inspired” to “come up with 10 on-camera male journalists” — now that takes some shoe leather — about which to poll readers on “who makes […]

David Corn’s first-hand experience has him wondering over at Mother Jones: Is the McCain campaign screening reporters [on its conference calls with aides and surrogates], and, if so, on what basis? A reporter for a progressive media outlet says that he has tried at least half a dozen times to ask a question on a […]

Last week, I complained about Howard Kurtz’s handling of all the recent Lara Logan-related news. Basically, Kurtz reprinted five juicy paragraphs of the New York Post’s story for Washington Post readers before adding, helpfully, that it was “not much of story.” This week, Kurtz does his part again to keep that “not much of a […]

No fair! CNN is inflating the Coop’s grades with their tricky program-naming scheme! So tattled MSNBC and Fox News to Nielsen, apparently complaining that CNN is “upping the average [ratings]” for Anderson Cooper 360 by titling their 10pm hour during elections nights “Anderson Cooper 360” rather than “special coverage,” which is how Fox News and […]