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Showing posts from 2008

Farewell, Sweet Prince

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We don’t get many mentors. There are parents, sure, and for some the parents we wish we had. A fortunate few get a great teacher who just keeps on teaching long after you have parted company. In our professional life, it is even less likely that someone will have the generosity and temperament to take in interest in a pup without any house training in whom they somehow see some promise. I am among the luckiest. My mentor was a man named Arthur Spiegelman. Art’s importance to journalism, and to the world he made a better place with his fearless, righteous and unfailingly accurate reporting, is legendary to those of us who worked with him and not nearly well known enough to everyone else. Arthur died on Saturday after a long bout with lung cancer. Illness made it impossible for him to speak, depriving those around him of his incredible conversation and infectious laugh. But Arthur was receiving calls, made to a cell phone of a close friend at his bedside, who would hold it up to his ear

What’s The Story, Pulitzer Folks?

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The Pulitzer Board has decided to open up qualifying publications to include some web sites , which is a step in the right direction. But it continues to exclude magazines, broadcasters and their respective websites -- which seems painfully quaint. The Pulitzer Prizes are meant to celebrate journalism — well, U.S. journalism, but that’s another story. When they were created newspapers were arguably the best gene pool of quality journalism. They were also a major source of slipshod, opinionated, careless writing — which does nothing to explain the Pulitzer Board's current Two Internets policy. The term "Yellow Journalism" was coined during Joseph Pulitzer's New York City newspaper war with William Randolf Hearst, for heaven's sake, an era which saw tabloidy excess that would make today's least conscientious blogger shudder. But — and it seems almost ludicrous to argue what seems so obvious — newspapers are no longer the exclusive or even main conduit for qualit

Sunday in the Perk with MSNBC

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NBC, Third Floor Originally uploaded by John C Abell Apparently all is forgiven at MSNBC even though I won't soon be forgetting my embarrasing faux pas with Contessa Brewer . I got a call Saturday afternoon from a producer for an 8:30 a.m. Sunday hit. The call went straight to voicemail. So did the followup call from the wired.com publicist, on vacation in Florida. I was not playing hard to get. I was in a matinee performance of "Equus" with the family on my daughter's (day after) birthday. When I finally powered up my mobile they were still interested in having me on and, since I have become increasingly enamored of the sound of my own voice (and maybe enjoy the application of professional makeup just a little bit too much, though not to a Sarah Palin degree ) I was glad this opportunity had not passed me by as I tried to process Harry Potter as a sexually confused teen . I gratefully accepted the car both ways and, since we had just been in town all day and my daug

Perfect for Whom?

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Mad Men is one of my favorite shows, so much so that I don't even trust it to the perfect television nanny that is TiVo. The series is an iPhone obsession I treat myself to for my Metro North commute, which runs parallel to the Ossining-to-Grand Central Terminal route Don Draper take when he bothers to go home (which isn't often, as it happens). I don't need to explain the obsession to people in the know. But I have some personal reasons, too: It takes place at a time in my native New York City that was a Golden Age, during the afterglow of World War II when the Greatest Generation was giving way to a bunch of Boomers who would shepard this nation to a period of great prosperity and fairness. It was the Boomers who decided that Gays were not "perverts" -- as described by one Mad Man -- and who changed the world just enough so that a black man who's greatest realistic aspiration might have been to operate an elevator at Sterling Cooper could now imagine bec

Watching Obama

President-elect Barack Obama is announcing his economic team, and taking questions, as I write. He is doing his very best to maintain the fiction that there is only one President of the United States at one time, and that he is not it. It is difficult not to see the night-and-day difference in this appearance and those in similar situations by many past and current holders of the office. It's easy to still be wowed by the man; he will be handled with kid gloves for a while, especially until he is actually president in fact. When Keith Olbermann and especially Chris Matthews lose their youthful crushes on Obama then we'll see the sparks that are necessary to keep everyone honest and working hard. But, watching Obama's first press conference as whatever he is, I had a thought: As well as he worked the room to get elected, and to achieve all the pre-conditional things that positioned him to vie for that office, Obama has been the recipent of some incredibly good luck. When he

Wired-o-Nomics: Too Big to Succeed?

It seems like forever but it has actually been only been 52 days since Congress thought the better of providing any bailout money to financial institutions to stave off global economic ruin. They heard the arguments for and against, checked the election calendar, and voted down a $750 billion package. The market immediately tanked . The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed more than 600 points the next day to close at 10,365 (which frankly seems pretty bullish these days). So lawmakers took another look at it. They heard the arguments for and against, checked the election calendar, watched with as much amusement as the rest of us I hope when John McCain "suspended" his campaign to take charge of things, and voted up a $750 billion package. The market immediately tanked. On Thursday the Dow was down 33% from the day the original bailout plan was rejected a mere seven weeks earlier. This is called, in polite company, the law of unintended consequences. It’s called less pleasant th

Wired-o-Nomics: Wall Street Bonuses and Abortions

Ever since Congress threw $700 billion at financial institutions to help prop up the economy there have been a handful of reports about idiotic corporate expenditures , like $500,000 off-sites. These incidents speak to a massive disconnect with reality and create a public relations challenge but, like congressional earmarks, the money involved is relatively insignificant . More serious is the question of whether Wall Street Masters of the Universe should get bonuses this year, at least at those institutions receiving taxpayer money. These year-end bonuses involve staggering amounts: in 2006, USA Today estimated that the collective pool was just a hair under $24 billion , which "works out to an average bonus of $137,580 for every person employed in the financial services industry." In ordinary times we mere mortals may merely be disgusted by this sort of excess. This year, it isn't just about other people's money. Now, it’s ours. And our representatives have a comp

Hits & Misses on MSNBC

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Contessa Brewer on set, MSNBC Originally uploaded by John C Abell On Saturday I made two appearances on MSNBC, subject Barack Obama -- the tech president. I gratefully accepted the Town Car for the 30-mile trip and brought the fam to along for a day in the Big City, punctuated by my two brief appearances on the TV. It was a quiet day in the studio: We had the green room to ourselves (though a page told us that Beyonce was in the building for her SNL gig later that day) and the halls were mostly empty, except for several tours ambling by perhaps disappointed there wasn't anyone famous in the green room. I try to be casual about these things, the better to suppress the nerves. But this was only my second time around as a talking head and I may have come off as a wee bit too casual. In makeup, a woman who clearly worked there and was going to be on the air sometime soon graciously walked over and introduced herself as I was about to be layered with foundation. "Hi! I'm Conte

A Tribute to Greatness

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“Great” is one of those words that we simply use too often. Like the phrases some Oxford people think we have all heard enough , loose usage has devalued it into a pejorative, turning "great" into a lesser compliment than the equally diluted "awesome." I have a soft spot for greatness. It is the genuine weakness that a parent has for a child or any one of us for a savior. I will spare myself further humiliation by mentioning no objects of my admiration. Except for one. A few months ago a great man, friend and colleague died. David Mitchell and I collaborated in a world that had yet to coin the phrase “virtual meeting." In my 26 years at Reuters, I never met him or even saw a picture of him. That is, until someone else I have never met and do not even know provided me with a happy snap of Mitchell in 1976, three years before our first encounter. Last June I wrote a remembrance of Mitchell on a Reuters alumni site , and repost it here in a slightly different for

Voting.

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Voting Machine Originally uploaded by John C Abell Voting today was the easiest experience I've ever had: no lines, no poll watchers, lots of friendly volunteers. (Also, no free coffee or "I voted!" stickers, but you can't have it all.) Our district is sparsely populated; we are told that there are 800 registered voters here in the 11th district of Westchester County, where we have lived for only a few weeks. About 500 is the most any have ever turned out to vote, they tell us; I ask if they expect to break that record today, and I get forceful, pronounced, silent nods. Another reason why it was so easy? The voting machine was a fine beast of a thing, a relic from a simpler time when machines did the work that circuit and main boards are expected to now, with disputable success . Some solutions are better mechanical than electronic, I believe, and this is one of those areas (also, try digging a ditch with a computer). The machine's caretaker was delight

Now Would Be a Good Time to Rob the Place

Through a series of events -- some personal, some professional, some opportunistic -- the bureau will be empty tommorow, with all of us scattered about takin' care of business remotely. It's no big deal; our brosephs over at Ars Technica don't even have an office. Their newsroom is an IRC channel, which is much cooler than we will ever be. We do all have iPhones now, however, and there is serious talk about all us having beards, too, which would be tough on Meghan . It sort of all started with that video by CEOs telling people not to work for an hour and vote . I passed on doing a story about it because most states (or all) require employers to give their workers time off to vote, so, thanks for nothing. And why give Trump more air time. More to the point, most people don't live near where they work, so having an hour off to vote only makes sense if you come to work late or leave early. And Chris said he'd need six hours to vote, and that pretty much kills the day.

Shred for the Lord

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We don't do a lot of gadget-type stuff out of the wired.com bureau in New York. Lately it's starting to show. Eliot Van Buskirk, who edits our music blog, Listening Post , has had a toy on his desk for weeks. "Guitar Praise" promises to let you "Strap on the guitar and play along with your favorite bands -- tobyMac, Skillet, Stellar Kart, Newsboys -- and more." Yes, this is "Guitar Hero" for the devote. We can't wait (appearances to the contrary notwithstanding) to fire it up and experience the "Unparalleled Game Play" which includes: Onscreen lyrics emphasize Christian themes (which makes perfect sense), and Power duel mode sends surprises to mess with your opponent's play (which sounds downright unChristian to me) This thing has become the Christmas gift you don't want but can't bring yourself to tell mom you'll never play with ever and would die if your friends found out you had one. But the truth is that, er, mor

I Couldn't Be Less Proud

A couple of years before I was axed at Reuters in a reorganization putsch our very savvy Editor in Chief was asked a long question at one of those town-hall-like meetings with the staff I can't imagine any senior manager looks forward to. The gist was, what do we have to be happy about, what with all the cuts and lack of optimism. His answer was brief: "Be happy you have a job." The questioner (one of my direct reports) and I, and our four other colleagues didn't appreciate how much we should have taken that particular advice to heart. After all, we were the golden children whose product had unbelievable margins well after the internet news contraction: we were the innovators, the go-to trusted team. It can happen to anybody. It's happening now, again, in Silicon V/Alley, as VCs keep their powder dry in an industry where nurturing the possible is still a lengthy and expensive proposition. We are keeping track of this, in a horse-race sort of way, with the wired.c

Hello, I Must Be Going

The careful reader (you two know who you are) have probably noticed a couple of things: this blog looks a little different, and I haven't been posting much lately. Let's tackle the easy one first: I meant to change the look, but did not do so an orderly fashion by, you know, saving templates and boring stuff like that. So there are design elements in this off-the-shelf template which I will probably change, because I can't leave well enough alone. But the idea is to get back to basics and shake off all the load-heavy eye candy crap. The tougher one: I used to tease my good friend Katie King about not blogging. I thought it was especially funny that she didn't blog because she a) taught her GWU journalism students that they had an obligation to blog, and b) because she was also a corporate consultant whose mission was to evangelize to her clients on the need to ... blog. My goads were unfair (the best ones are). She was working, hard, and I wasn't, at all. I needed t

Print's Advantage Over Digital (Really -- It Has One)

I was on a panel the other day, subject of "The Future of Journalism" (yeah, I know, that narrows it down to about 72 panel discussions in New York City this week alone) and the conversation drifted as it almost certainly did at the other 71 to why there will always be a demand for magazines, books and even newspapers, when all are available digitally. Read the entire Epicenter Blog post here .

Yahoo Give Carl Icahn +2 Invite: Your Table is Ready

C arl Icahn doesn't have to storm the gate after all -- he's been invited into the big house. Is Yahoo letting a fox into the chicken coop? Is this all about keeping your friends close and your enemies closer? Or ... has Yahoo effectively inoculated itself against unpredictable sturm und drang by throwing Icahn and his 5% stake a bone? Read the entire Epicenter Blog post here .

Yahoo: We Want You, We Want You Not

A lot of propaganda is thrown around in ugly proxy wars, most of which can be safely ignored. Some of us can't afford to avert our eyes, and every once in a while we see some genuine comedy in them thar missives, like today's SEC filing by Yahoo. Read the entire Epicenter Blog post here .

My Excellent MSNBC Adventure

I did a couple of appearances on MSNBC Saturday morning -- I was meant to do three, but the car they sent for me (I love saying that) was late. The subject was Friday's release of the iPhone 3G, which required me getting an iPhone 3G, which took more than six hours and which I chronicled on Twitter . The talking head thing was all new to me, but the experience is not unfamiliar to the smallish crowd of local regulars: you are well dressed only from the waist up (one woman actually wore shorts) and you sit in the green room chatting amiably with each other, including your on-air adversary if you have one. Every once in a while somebody comes in and says, "You're up" and you are led to a sound-proof room with a chair and a table and a light in your face (think: film noir police station interrogations). There is a camera pointed at your face, you are told by the control room the name of the person whom you will greet in the next few seconds as if you are old buds and th

Farewell, Fake Steve, We Hardly Knew Yee

I t could just be the latest prank within a prank that Fake Steve Jobs specialized in but this has the ring of truth: Fake Steve Jobs -- aka, Dan Lyons -- is "sailing away." Read the entire Epicenter Blog post here .

Media Death March: Piling on the Nupes

T he depressed newspaper industry is old news of course but Alan Mutter, who blogs at Reflections of a Newsosaur, noticed a depressing pattern in the last report of "short" market activity: there were some pretty big bets that newspaper stocks would go down. Read the entire Epicenter Blog post here .

Farewell to Norm -- er, Jack

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I finally understand -- in a visceral way -- why the Bush administration has been so intent on preventing the public from seeing any military funerals. I just attended my first one, and though it was brief, it was easily one of the most moving ceremonies I have ever witnessed. We bade farewell to my father-in-law the other day and, as a veteran, he was entitled to a committal ceremony and internment at a military site. Two non-coms and an officer officiated, Army Rangers all. We watched as they moved in the precise, small steps of this respectful ritual to whispered orders they have uttered and obeyed hundreds of times, as they saluted the remains for what seemed an eternity, then slowly unfurled a US flag, presented it and just as slowly folded it into a tight isosceles triangle; as they rotated it three times to methodically crease its vertical edge with white-gloved hands; as they smoothed the surface of six framed white stars on blue; as seven rifles fired three times overhead, e

Memo to Bill:

Dude, you did your best. Nobody can accuse you of throttling back or showing any hesitation about muscling Hillary into the White House. Hell -- if anything, your occasional over-the-top jabs at Barack are all the evidence anyone could need that you have met your poli-marital obligations. Setting yourself up for "that man crazy!" from time to time is a great way to prove this ain't no half-hearted debate society resolution for you. But now it's time to reveal that secret I think I guessed at last January . You're off to a sloppy start: I know there is thunder not to be stolen from the Hillary & Barack show later this week, but don't do this through a spokesman anymore . Also, don't use words like "obviously," which everybody knows is a way of boasting about not concealing a grudging admission. It's been a tough year. It'll probably get worse before it gets better, before you can continue your dream retirement of going wherever you wa

NBC Plays It Safe By Tapping Brokaw for "Meet The Press"

In a bid for stability over reinvention NBC has tapped former nightly news anchor Tom Brokaw to take over hosting duties for "Meet the Press," the Sunday public affairs program whose long-time moderator, Tim Russert, died unexpectedly 10 days ago. NBC said Brokaw would moderate MTP through the 2008 presidential election. The choice of gravitas over what might otherwise be seen as an attempt to attract another -- or at least an additional -- demographic is significant because NBC has an unusually deep bench of seasoned on-air political interviewers and commentators who ply their chair-bound trade nightly on MSNBC -- unlike any of the other networks, who do not have cable counterparts. Continue reading on wired.com's Epicenter blog.

Oh Hai! Icahn Haz a Blog? LOLWUT??

Y ou know you wish you could quit Yahoo. But how can you put your feelings into words in a way that would make Stewart Butterfield proud? You can't. But Wired contributor Mat Honan -- the man behind Barack Obama is your new bicycle -- is here to help with the "Yahoo Resigner."  Continue reading on wired.com's Epicenter blog

Icahn Blogs Generalities, Silent on Yahoo

T he long-awaited blog by Carl Icahn went live sometime yesterday, but there isn't a single word about Yahoo from the man who would control it. Huh? Continue reading on wired.com's Epicenter blog

Obama Opts Out of Public Funding

T he knee jerk reaction is to see this as anti-populist, sleazy, business-as-usual. Only someone who doesn't need $80 million turns down $80 million. And there is the matter of Obama's agreement to accept public funding (and forgo private money), posited by John McCain. McCain, a genuine campaign-finance reformer (for which he is reviled by many fellow Republicans) pushed that pawn at a time when his fortunes were not good and Obama's were unpredictable. So, the old pol is a man of the people, and the change agent is just another politician who does what suits him, like those Republicans who got elected on a term-limits platform but decided, after their two terms, that their work was not yet done. But as Frank Rich keeps telling us, these are not times in which the old prism works. Obama is a shockingly viable candidate -- his viability is shocking -- to a degree that belies even the recent history of this nation. Among the other things he has already done is this: prove th

AP vs. The Bloggers: A Portentous Sideshow

T he AP probably had no idea it would create such a firestorm in the blogging community by telling the (aptly named) Drudge Retort to remove seven headlines and story briefs from its site. Media commentator Jeff Jarvis tried to mediate, and then lost his temper. Michael Arrington urged a boycott of the AP (wonder how that went over at AP member the Washington Post). The AP says it plans to meet with the Media Bloggers Association this week to find a way through this thicket. I'm sure this skirmish over links and intellectual property will sort itself out after the requisite level of shouting, breast-beating, and expressions of indignation. And nothing important will have been resolved. Let's turn this flame war into a teaching moment. Continue reading on wired.com's Epicenter blog

We Don't Need No Stinking Numbers

J ay Rosen and many other press critics have long decried (terrible word, but very handy in journalism) reporting about elections as a horse race -- the obsession with numbers and what the numbers mean and what other numbers would mean. Part of the criticism is that it is lazy. And it is. I'm neither proud nor ashamed of admitting that, very often, the stories I enjoyed writing most were based on clear facts from a printed page that I could attempt to explain in prose poetry. And there are no clearer facts than those expressed by numbers. Ask any math teacher. The other criticism is that it squeezes out reporting on "things that matter." We talk about how well candidate Jones has done in the latest poll, so we don't report about candidate Jones's position on health care. Health care is hard. Have pity. I've been modestly sympathetic to the view that horse race coverage ill serves the electorate but, as with anyone who has a mild addiction to politics, I do enj

Great Scott! Why Wasn't I Informed Immediately!

W hat's fascinating about the Scott McClellan stuff? I'm not sure. After about a week of digestion I'm left with the impression that he's a pitiable child who has come to the embarrassing realization that he was the last to know what was going on at home. Of course this is no trite family matter since his home was a White House which intimidated press, pundits and most nay-sayers into believing (or at least not questioning) the premise that going to war with Iraq was a strategic necessity. This is not to say that I agree with any of the hand-wringing Republicans who are "puzzled" and say don't recognize the Scott they know. These non-denials are trivial truths, since they tell us nothing. Of course they are puzzled. Of course they don't recognize him. Scott was a puppy, happy to be petted and fed and stroked as and when master so deigned. That he's now trying to be Cujo -- or at least Underdog -- is puzzling and not like him at all. McClellan was a

[Fill in Time Period Here] is An Eternity in Politics

N obody has a monopoly on the use of convenient wisdom -- political or biblical -- but it sure seems like everybody has forgotten a very important truism: "[fill in time period here] is an eternity in politics." Yes, it would be nice to have a clear Democratic field, so the nominee can focus fire on John McCain who, for all of his prowess and charm, seems to be a target-indicator machine. Yes, the longer the intramural games wear on the wearier the victor will be for the nationals, and the greater chance that more weaknesses will be exposed for the competitor to exploit in big game. But we are being treated to one of the greatest experiences of this nation's democratic process that anyone alive has ever seen. Books (good ones) will be written about campaign 2008. And we, the people, are the winners. The system is working exactly as it was meant to: it is empowering voters in states that hold primaries and caucuses months after Iowa and New Hampshire and forcing candidates

Geraldine and Barack, By the Numbers

I wonder if Geraldine Ferraro thinks she was the most qualified Democratic vice-presidential prospect in 1984 even after, as Maureen Dowd puts it, "she helped Walter Mondale lose 49 states." Or maybe she's right and Black is the new black. Maybe the stars have aligned so much so quickly that running for president as a Black man finally is an advantage. But then ... here's how Ferraro doesn't hedge her bets : She told (Dianne) Sawyer (on GMA) she was trying to say it's a good thing that Obama was where he was. Ferraro said she was saying that "the black community came out with ... pride in [Obama's] candidacy. You would think he would say 'thank you' for doing that, instead, I'm charged with being a racist." Hmmmm ... wouldn't that be the same black community that has given every Democratic presidential candidate the same 90% backing it is giving Obama? His getting it in the primaries before the Democratic nominee gets it in the

Brothers & Sisters, Unite!

As a fan of Barack Obama I must say I'm not offended by Hillary Clinton's offer to share a ticket with her rival. It struck me as just plain, old good politics -- and a tactical error Obama should exploit by saying exactly the same thing. Here's why: the backlash to Clinton has been because of previous trash talk about Obama. How can she consider a running mate who lacks even her manly bona fides -- and even worse, she says, those of evil Republican John McCain? But, if Obama holds Clinton to her offer to consider teaming up it makes it virtually impossible for her to go negative. The latest tortured explanation as to how Obama might after all be ready to be commander in chief on day one (as he'd need to be as VP, a heartbeat away from the presidency) came from Clinton spokesman Howard Wolfson on Morning Joe: there's a lot of time between now and the nominating convention in August. Joe Scarborough later wondered out loud if that meant they'd be sending Obama to

Washington Post Ombud Rips 'Women are Stupid' Piece

A lot of people thought the Washington Post opinion piece by Charlotte Allen – you remember, the one where she riffed on how women are weak and stupid after all -- was outrageous. Well, so does the Post ombud. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

When is a Citizen Journalist not a Citizen Journalist?

There are plenty of people who really don’t like the term “citizen journalism,” but Todd Wolfson has a pretty interesting reason of his own for his displeasure with that appellation: plenty of the people he is training to make video reports for the Internet aren’t citizens at all -- at least of the United States . ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Anonymous Sources Ruling 'Draconian and Perhaps Unprecedented'

In a ruling USA Today describes as “draconian and perhaps unprecedented,” a judge has ordered one of its reporters to reveal the names of confidential sources or pay more than $45,000 out of her own pocket – without help from others, including her own newspaper – and to do so immediately, even pending appeal. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Scotsman Reporter Stands By 'Monster' Quote Decision

Gerri Peev, the Scotsman reporter who quoted Samantha Power as calling Hillary Clinton 'a monster,' said she could not 'in good conscience' have agreed to keep the remark off the record. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Newspaper Cartoonists a Dying Breed

Newspaper editorial cartoonists are a dying breed and those few who are still around are no longer expected to be in the forefront of pointed political debates and crusades ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Reporting the Truth May Cost Florida Paper $18 Million

Florida’s Pensacola News Journal is fighting an $18 million jury award won by a man who alleged that its reference to an unflattering but true incident in his past violated the legal concept of “false light.” ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Bank Drops Wikileaks.org Lawsuit

The Swiss bank which obtained an injunction that 'shut down' wikileaks.org – before the judge reversed himself for probably violating the First Amendment – has now withdrawn the case. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Memory Sticks Revolutionize Cuba

The New York Times is reporting that despite heavy-handed attempts by the Cuban government to put an air gap between the Internet and its citizens – the better to cripple the crowd – technological disruption is winning again. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Take Me Out of the Ballgame

Like a modern-day land grab, news organizations and professional sports leagues are fighting over who gets to do what online with the sights and sounds captured by reporters covering games. While this may appear to be a crass battle over money, it does affect freedom of the press in a meaningful way. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Medill Professor See Double Standard in Quotes Incident

An investigation by Medill’s provost may have cleared Dead John Lavine of a breach of ethics in the use of anonymous quotes, but not everyone thinks the matter should be closed. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Fight! Fight!

You think the press is biased? You’re right. But it isn’t for Barack Obama or John McCain. No, what the media won’t tolerate is peace and quiet. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Medill Dean Cleared of Ethics Breach

Medill Dean John Lavine has been cleared of any wrongdoing for the use of anonymous quotes in an alumni newsletter. The announcement was made in a letter to the Medill community on Friday from Provost Dean Linzer, who said in effect that he considered the matter closed. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

I'm a Blogger. I'm a Journalist. Blogger. Journalist.

What’s the difference between a blogger and journalist? Ask that in the wrong company and you’re likely to get your head handed to you. Same was true years ago but now the reason is diametrically opposed: there is more than a general consensus that the distinction is somewhere between trivial and non-existent.( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

The Trouble With Harry

The professional British media organization which crafted and policed a nation-wide wide agreement not to report about Prince Harry’s deployment to Afghanistan tells the story behind the story today in the Guardian. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Linda Greenhouse to Leave the Times

A t the risk of gushing, Linda Greenhouse's decision to leave the New York Times has left me very depressed. Her departure is not a death in the family but it is always a passing of note when a writer who has defined her beat in the best traditions of writing and reporting decides to get off the bus. Greenhouse, who has worked at the paper for 30 years and is the dean of the Supreme Court press corps, is an appointment read for me. I like the law anyway and the Supreme Court especially -- of course I read " Becoming Justice Blackmun " and am reading " The Nine " right now -- but her abilities transcend the subject matter. Her prose is consistently clear and diligent and spare, at any length. She eschews the soft lead so common elsewhere in the paper (and elsewhere) but does not rigidly adhere to the 5Ws . Great writers can pull that off, but she is a professional driver on a closed track: do not try this at home. As a reporter, Greenhouse leave no relevant sto

Puppies, Iraq and Fuck You

Y eah, I love this debate. I wrote at the Committee of Concerned Journalists on the naughty word controversy ( What the $%*&#! Did He Say ) and how newspapers perpetuate a silly standard of keeping foul language off their pages even if the foul language is the story (btw,the clip doesn't make clear what prompted Sam Zell to curse; it was the reporter who asked the question walking off before he had finished talking). But the merit of the question is fundamental. And I don't think there is an easy answer. Unlike, say, the Big Three automakers it is too easy to blame newspaper executives for failed strategies that have left their businesses struggling; while Detroit is similarly saddled with legacy issues that new players were fortunate to be able to avoid, it is also true that US carmakers missed and dissed trends that invited nimble competitors to flourish. But people still buy cars, so at least the automakers don’t have to start making bicycles, gyrocopters -- or frozen pi

100% Buyer, 0% Seller

J eff Jarvis asks a provocative question (imagine the odds): What will the "distributed university look like?" Start here: Why should my son or daughter have to pick a single college and with it only the teachers and courses offered there? Online, they should be able to take most any course anywhere. Indeed, schools from MIT to Stanford are now offering their curricula the internet. Similarly, why should a professor pick just from the students accepted at his or her school? Online, the best can pick from the best, cutting out the middleman of university admissions. Looking way out into the future (but, hey, Sam Zell is saying that nupes will be OK — in 30 years! ), I wonder if we are rubbing up against forces that will expose the limitations of the free market as it relates to supply. If aggregators become the dominant publishers but do not participate in news gathering, what happens to reporting? If it is a practical truth that any movie or book can be obtained easily and

You, Sir, Are the National Enquirer Of ...

w hen you really, really want to insult a news organization you accuse them of being no better than the National Enquirer, it seems. But it looks like we set some kind of record for this invective in the past few days. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

I Know You Are, But What Am I?

w hen a story isn't a story but it generates a lot of stories, nobody looks particularly good. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

NYT Ombud Chides Paper Over McCain Story

N ew York Times Public Editor Clark Hoyt takes his paper to task for its original John McCain story as well as the Friday follow-up . Hoyt concludes that the newspaper didn’t have enough to report that top McCain aides had become “convinced” the senator’s was having an intimate relationship with a lobbyist, that they story did need that angle to make its points and that including it had invited distraction from what was otherwise “a good story.” ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

McCain Times II: The Story Shifts

The New York Times insides its second-day McCain story, writes around the romance angle and offers no new reporting about the bombshell affair allegation which caused a substantial reaction from media critics and thousands of New York Times’ readers. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Medill Dean Apologizes for 'Poor Judgment'

Embattled Medill Dean John Lavine has apologized to faculty and students for "exercising poor judgment" but says he did not make up the anonymous quotes in an incident which has brought criticism from his colleagues and unwelcome press scrutiny. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Should Newspapers Endorse Candidates?

Newspapers have long endorsed candidates. Has the time come for this practice to end? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

McCain Article Makes the New York Times the Story

The New York Times is the story after running a front-page article in which anonymous sources allege some top advisers to John McCain "became convinced" during his 2000 presidential campaign that the candidate’s relationship with a much younger female lobbyist "had become romantic." Do they "have it?" ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Yeah -- This is Important

Silly enough that 'bad' language is deemed unsuitable for most daily newspapers. Now the Chicago Tribune's Public Editor has taken owner Sam Zell to task for cursing -- in the newsroom. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Get Me Re-Write! What -- We Don't Have One?

How many editors is too many editors? How many is two few? Is there a 'Just Right?' In a time of cutbacks and Internet-inspired casualness are editors expendable -- or are they needed more than ever before? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Multimedia Literacy is Not Optional

The method you use to tell a story tells a story of its own: about your fears and your strengths and your comfort level using unfamiliar tools. It’s a small wonder that newsrooms may be eager to take refuge in the familiar, but that has to change. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Reinvent Journalism in 10 Easy Steps

We love lists. Lists are good. List provide a nifty, economical way to provide words to live by or talking points for further discussion. So here are the Top 10 ways you can reinvent journalism. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Medill Faculty Criticize Dean Over Anonymous Quotes

Some tenured faculty have now openly criticized Medill Dean John Lavine over his use of anonymous quotes. They assert that the incident has become a 'crisis' for the prestigious j-school and that Lavine's explanations are 'at best inadequate.' ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Angry Journalists. Who Knew?

Angryjournalist.com may not solve your problems, but it's better than keeping it all bottled up inside -- or taking a baseball bat to the next person who smilingly tells you that you didn't get into journalism for the money. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

To TV or Not To TV

On demand TV is eating into television viewership. Are local TV stations starting to feel the same pain of an online migration that newspapers have been enduring for years? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Dumbing Down, or Reaching Out?

Telling a story on a whiteboard may not sound like great TV. But CBS News may be onto something. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Voting Ethics, Continued

Chris Cillizza, blogger of washingtonpost.com's "The Fix," wades into the 'should journalists vote' by asking his readers what they think. Their reply: Vote -- and get over yourselves. ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Anonymous Quotes Make Medill Dean A Story

In a letter to the alumni magazine Medill's dean quotes a couple of students, anonymously. A student journalist tracks down every student who could have been one of the quoted, and they all say it wasn't me. Will anything good come of this? ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Crime, and Punishment

MSNBC's suspension of David Shuster raises issues about the role of campaigns in election coverage and, more broadly, how news organizations should react when a subject goes beyond expressing indignation about a transgression to try to influence how the offending reporter will be punished ( Committee of Concerned Journalists )

Be Careful What You Wish For, John

T he snarky Romney sore losers -- did anybody with a brain think he ever had a chance, really? -- who dissed a winner for thrashing their boy may have been on to a little something: Mike Huckabee was much more appealing than Mitt among Republicans, so, it follows that if he had never been born more conservatives would have voted for the born-again Mormon. McCain, the reasoning went, was able to run up an unprotected middle while Mitt and Mike blocked (both on the ... right? ... time to retire the metaphors). But now there is a new reason to beat up on Mike: by continuing to strongly challenge McCain he is embarrassing the presumptive Republican nominee, showing him to be a weakling even among the people most likely to identify with him. Collegial Mike's presence had given McCain undeserved cover and now the ingrate doesn't have the decency to just step aside. Instead, he is busting another myth by proving that McCain really doesn't have wide and deep support -- Hey! Just li

Go, Hillary?

N ot that she seems to have any choice in the matter, but Hillary's mantra that she'll show us who's boss March 4 -- wait for it -- is beginning to seem more Giuliani-esque with each passing day. How can she lose here, there and everywhere for a month and not seem like a loser? If Obama does as well in Virginia, Maryland and DC today as it seems he will, has won more states and takes the pledged delegate lead, won't that have a demoralizing effect on Hillary's numbers in Ohio and Texas? If you can win, you try. Rudy didn't make losing, and not competing, sexy in Florida. Hillary won't want to bring that sexy back.

You Be the Judge

The Fed cut, as reported this morning (emphasis added): NEW YORK ( Reuters ) - Stocks headed for a slide at the open on Tuesday as fear of a recession gripped investors, prompting the Federal Reserve to slash benchmark U.S. interest rates by 75 basis points in a surprise intermeeting decision . NEW YORK ( AP ) - ... The Fed's move was unsurprising , given that world stock markets were falling precipitously the past two days, and that U.S. stocks had tumbled last week amid growing fears of a recession in the United States.

Explaining Away Polling Failure

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Joust Originally uploaded by _mpd_ L ots of humility today from pundits and pollsters about how wrong the New Hampshire polls were on the Democratic side -- from Chris Matthews soulfully telling Clinton's communications director "I will never underestimate Hillary Clinton again" to John Zogby 's instant analysis that "We seem to have missed the huge turnout of older women that apparently put Clinton over the top." In an interesting little item on the Huffington Post a commenter observes: "No one is talking about how the polls actually nailed Obama's number. Obama didn't lose this election. He stayed steady and Hillary surged ahead." Many narratives will be challenged in the coming days and will be replaced by other convenient narratives. Among the most curious, and none-too-subtle, is that the bulk of spot reporting appears to assert that Clinton's victory was a "surprise." This, even though there is no evidence that Clinton