http://www.cjr.org/ en Copyright 2008 Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:17:53 -0500 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/?v=3.2 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss I just put up a piece that criticizes Howard Kurtz (and others) for not giving the straight dope on the true findings of the Alaska legislative report on the Palins' efforts to have their ex-brother-in-law fired from the state trooper force. In my article, I note that Kurtz was kind enough to mention my story from... http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/doing_the_digging.php http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/doing_the_digging.php The Kicker Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:17:53 -0500 Ask any public relations hack, and they’ll tell you that Friday night—especially if it comes before a long weekend—is a magical time. So on Friday afternoon, when a bipartisan committee of Alaskan state legislators unanimously voted to release an investigator’s report on Sarah and Todd Palin’s efforts to remove their former brother-in-law from his job as a... http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/palin_broke_the_law_says_inves.php http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/palin_broke_the_law_says_inves.php Campaign Desk Mon, 13 Oct 2008 17:00:59 -0500 The New York Times and The Washington Post both printed articles this weekend on the Bradley Effect and its forecasted impact on this election. The Bradley Effect, of course, is the theory that black politicians are likely to do significantly worse in elections than exit polls would indicate (by as much as 6 or 7 percent), and is named after... http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/the_bradley_effect_redux.php http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/the_bradley_effect_redux.php Campaign Desk Mon, 13 Oct 2008 16:02:07 -0500 Politics, especially in the few weeks before an election, is full of semantics, but this year seems particularly fraught. Take as just one example the Talmudic discussion over the government’s gigantic financial package to stanch economic bleeding. Is it a “bailout” or a “rescue”? And does it really matter what it’s called? Let’s look at the different dictionary definitions, and... http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/rescuing_the_bailout.php http://www.cjr.org/language_corner/rescuing_the_bailout.php Language Corner Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:13:39 -0500 A WSJ opinion piece today, “A Capitalist Manifesto,” strikes me as well-worth reading. True, the author, Judy Shelton, sets up a straw man: that the country’s “founding economic philosophy is in deep trouble.” There’s really no sign of that. But she goes on to lay out what strike me as entirely levelheaded principles, including, fine, that it’s... http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/what_she_said.php http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/what_she_said.php The Audit Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:22:51 -0500 From the Washington Post's Dan Balz: But there ought not to be any moratorium on asking hard questions of both candidates right now, and especially of the Democratic nominee who sits in the pole position heading into the final three weeks. There "ought not to be" such a moratorium (and, presumably, there isn't one although if there is... http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/oh_theres_been_a_moratorium_on.php http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/oh_theres_been_a_moratorium_on.php The Kicker Mon, 13 Oct 2008 14:06:29 -0500 Megan recently explored the trouble with Andrea Mitchell reporting, as she does sometimes on MSNBC, on the current financial crisis (a take that NBC News's Steve Capus yesterday told The New York Times was "overly simplistic.") Speaking of, Fox News's Greta Van Susteren today offers a simple solution to all this, blogging that she sees no problem... http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/mr_andrea_mitchell.php http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/mr_andrea_mitchell.php The Kicker Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:44:22 -0500 “John McCain’s health plan would reduce the ranks of the uninsured by about 21.1 million people if fully put in place by 2010, while Barack Obama’s would reduce the number by 26.6 million, an analysis predicts.” That was the lede of an AP story that circulated last week. Those numbers come from a study done by... http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/let_the_crystalballing_begin.php http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/let_the_crystalballing_begin.php Campaign Desk Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:24:38 -0500 Covering suicides has long been considered a delicate subject among newspaper editors. There are internal and industry-wide guidelines that offer suggestions for treating the subject carefully; the aim of these considerations is to prevent additional suicides via the so-called "copycat effect." Because of this, suicide stories are rare in the media, with most publications avoiding them unless the deceased... http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/suicide_watch.php http://www.cjr.org/behind_the_news/suicide_watch.php Behind the News Mon, 13 Oct 2008 12:00:44 -0500 Journalism at this late stage of a presidential race usually doesn’t provide much more insight into the human condition than what can be dug out of campaign machinations, horse-race jockeying, and polls, polls, polls. So it’s somewhat startling (in a good way) to read George Packer’s deeply reported piece “The Ohio Vote: The disaffection of Ohio’s working class” in... http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/packer_piece.php http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/packer_piece.php The Audit Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:36:11 -0500 In high school, Maureen Dowd confides in her New York Times column yesterday, Dowd "translated swatches of Julius Caesar's 'The Battle for Gaul' from Latin to English while nibbling cheese crackers." Now, we get to! (Dowd penned the second half of her column in Latin...ish). Oh, you studied German in tenth grade? Slacker. Allow the blogosphere to help. Ablative... http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/column_pairs_well_with_cheezit.php http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/column_pairs_well_with_cheezit.php The Kicker Mon, 13 Oct 2008 11:10:52 -0500 Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin's fiancé, "agreed to talk" to the Associated Press's Adam Goldman ("despite the presidential campaign's advice in the days following Gov. Sarah Palin's nomination to avoid the media.") Reports Goldman: Johnston is an avid hunter. He's dark haired, tall and muscular, sports a bit of stubble and drives a red Chevy Silverado truck. He'd be the... http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/the_aps_exclusive_with_wasilla.php http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/the_aps_exclusive_with_wasilla.php The Kicker Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:59:20 -0500 Clark Hoyt on election coverage in the New York Times: Through Friday, of 270 news articles published in The Times about the election since the national tickets were formed in late August, only 29, or a little over 10 percent, were primarily about policy substance. And that is a generous tally that includes some very brief items. A... http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/nyt_ten_percent_policy_substan.php http://www.cjr.org/the_kicker/nyt_ten_percent_policy_substan.php The Kicker Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:33:42 -0500 CNBC’s Charlie Gasparino tosses off a boneheaded column today in the NY Post suggesting the market is cratering because it thinks Barack Obama is going to win the election. And, as it looks increasingly likely that Obama will be that man, the markets are casting a vote of "no confidence." To be fair, McCain hardly instills confidence among the... http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/audit_roundup_obama_and_the_cr.php http://www.cjr.org/the_audit/audit_roundup_obama_and_the_cr.php The Audit Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:27:30 -0500 Tom Brokaw is rapidly making up for lost air time by building premises on sand. Conventional wisdom piles atop conventional wisdom, none of it substantial, none of it justifiable, all of it delivered with sonorous assurance from the font of incontrovertible lore. On "Meet the Press," Brokaw played a clip from the last McCain-Obama debate: MR. BROKAW: Health care, energy,... http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/sunday_watch_101208.php http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/sunday_watch_101208.php Campaign Desk Mon, 13 Oct 2008 09:10:39 -0500