Behind the News RSS
Fri, 16 May 2008
Making it in (and out of) Myanmar
CNN's Dan Rivers, now safe, speaks with CJR
By Posted at 11:06 AM
Aid workers aren’t the only ones having trouble getting into Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis. The nation’s secretive military regime is withholding visas from journalists and going to unusual lengths to root out those foreign reporters who manage to slip into the country. CNN correspondent Dan Rivers, just back from Yangon, Rivers spoke with Mariah Blake about close calls, lucky breaks,... Read More
Wed, 14 May 2008
Stars and Stripes forever
By Posted at 05:01 PM
In January, I wrote about the complicated contracting relationship between Stars and Stripes, the military-backed paper that insists on its editorial independence, and “America Supports You,” a Pentagon public affairs initiative created under Assistant Secretary of Defense Allison Barber that’s been described as a pro-war propaganda.
While details weren’t clear, the paper, which operates with a freer hand in... Read More
Mon, 28 Apr 2008
Before Benedict
There’s nothing new about the press’s adulation of the Pontiff
By Posted at 09:05 AM
Jon Stewart had a lot of fun mocking the media over the fawning coverage they gave the pope's recent visit. Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee parodied the ecstatic inarticulateness of commentators by telling Stewart that “to witness the pope's visit is a transcendent experience” that “transcended even my most reverential witnessing.”
And it’s true. A papal visit seems to... Read More
Tue, 22 Apr 2008
Dancing with the Stars: The Trade Summit Edition
When Bush and NAFTA dance together, the president leads
By Posted at 03:08 PM
I’m here, with political reporters, in New Orleans—where, for the past two days, President Bush has been in summit meetings with Felipe Calderón, president of Mexico, and Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada, discussing NAFTA. The NOLA setting is, of course, fraught with meaning, particularly for President Bush, and the summit provides a much-needed opportunity for both the president and... Read More
Mon, 21 Apr 2008
The Papal Visit: By the Numbers
Counting the coverage of Benedict XVI's U.S. trip
By Posted at 04:31 PM
60,000 rough number of people who came to see Pope Benedict XVI celebrate Mass at New York’s Yankee Stadium on Sunday
57,545 seating capacity of Yankee Stadium
128 references to the Popemobile in the past week, in print media (newspaper and wire service) coverage of Benedict’s visit
2,095 Popemobile references in television and radio coverage
175 references, in... Read More
Thu, 17 Apr 2008
Newspapers' Sad Sisters
On the (empty) floor at NEXPO
By Posted at 12:22 PM Comments (1)
NEXPO, still the largest newspaper equipment trade show of the year, kicked off Saturday at D.C.’s massive Washington Convention Center. In years past, it had been a place where companies would spend upwards of a half million dollars to cart in, assemble, and thoroughly hock entire working presses to clients from around the country. Firms would attempt to one-up each... Read More
Thu, 10 Apr 2008
The Rather Suit: What Was Dismissed
...and what remains
By Posted at 05:18 PM
As has been reported here and elsewhere, Justice Ira Gammerman—the judge hearing Dan Rather's lawsuit against CBS—today issued a motion to dismiss four of the seven counts of the suit. The three remaining counts, however, encompass the $70 million in damages—$20 million in compensatory and $50 million in punitive—that Rather is seeking from CBS.
Gammerman dismissed the claims... Read More
Wed, 9 Apr 2008
Flame-aganda
By Posted at 11:29 AM
Pop quiz! Match the headline to the news outlet that produced it:
1. Security concerns high as Olympic torch arrives in San Francisco after chaos in Paris relayRead More
2. San Francisco Protests, Vigil Surround Olympic Torch Relay
3. 3 layers of cops to protect torch
4. Security Tightened As San Francisco Girds for Protests Along Olympic...
Fri, 4 Apr 2008
Dr. King's Last Moments
Memphis magazine provides a moving tick-tock
By Posted at 01:17 PM
Much of today’s coverage of the fortieth anniversary of Martin Luther King’s assassination examines the reverend’s legacy through the telescopic lens of American culture: from the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis has grown a forty-year-old dialogue about race and equality whose rhetoric is often as lofty as that of the man who inspired it. And rightly so: lyrical... Read More
Tue, 1 Apr 2008
Newsflash: HUD Scandal Broke Last Fall
National Journal series was largely ignored by rest of the press
By Posted at 04:20 PM
Yesterday, Alphonso Jackson, Bush’s HUD secretary, resigned. “His tenure,” as the AP put it, was “tarnished by allegations of political favoritism and a criminal investigation.” On February 4, The Washington Post began a series of embarrassing articles based on public court documents filed in Philadelphia. Jackson stonewalled a congressional committee, and senators called for his resignation.
Typical D.C. scandal cycle,... Read More
