Who are journalists, and what do they do? The old-fashioned idea that a journalist is a mere reporter (or recorder) of the news has been replaced in recent years by the idea of a journalist as a writer first and … Continue reading →
Austin Bay has written an article that is both thoughtful and thought-provoking. It covers a great deal of territory quickly and concisely, which is what Bay himself did on his recent whirlwind visit to Afghanistan and Iraq. The article contains … Continue reading →
I know I’ve written quite a bit about the book Radical Son, in which David Horowitz details the process by which he changed from activist leftist to neocon (see here and here for examples of my posts). But the book … Continue reading →
In my recent “change” post I mentioned in passing that I still read the New Yorker, despite my disagreement with almost everything political in it. I wrestle with the fact that I continue to support them by subscribing, but I … Continue reading →
I know it’s tiresome to keep pointing this stuff out, but this was what met my eyes when I looked at my computer today, “US launches 2nd Iraq operation; 50 rebels dead.” Oh, that Reuters; oh, those “rebels”! Despite the … Continue reading →
I think this article by Dr. Sanity is very–sane. She has done some original work here, analyzing the complex interplay between terrorists and the press and comparing it to the suicidal gestures of Borderline patients and the reactions of their … Continue reading →
I’m reading a book I find exceedingly fascinating. It’s called American Brutus, and it’s a fairly new biography of John Wilkes Booth, by Michael W. Kauffman. John Wilkes Booth and Lincoln are two figures about which most of us think … Continue reading →
In my previous post on the Koran/urine-splashing incident, I spent some time wondering why this story got so much coverage. Some things were fairly obvious: yes, the MSM seems determined to report anything that might reflect badly on Bush and … Continue reading →
The subject? Today’s elections in south Lebanon. The assignment? Compare and contrast: Here’s exhibit A, an article submitted by Reuters, via Yahoo News. Here’s exhibit B, an article submitted by IC Publications (I’d never heard of them before, but they … Continue reading →
Cannibalizing from my own comments again, from Roger’s: As I went to my computer today, and my home page came up (Yahoo news), and I saw that the lead story (AP, naturally) was headlined, “U.S.: Gitmo Quran Was Splashed With … Continue reading →
I’m not surprised that USA Today seems to be leading the pack in curbing its use of anonymous sources (see this earlier post of mine for a discussion of the history of the anonymous source). After all, its founder, Allen … Continue reading →
The following is a portion of a comment I wrote during this discussion over at Roger Simon’s. Roger had posed the question “what is ‘fair and balanced’?” The context of the query was that he and others are engaged in … Continue reading →