We spend more time with social media news than mainstream news
Americans spend just a fraction of online time with news compared to social media | Poynter.. The above link by my friend and sometimes editor Steve Myers at Poynter points out some great research by Nielsen about our online habits. We spend more time socializing online than we do [...]
News media’s 2011 bridezilla moment in 9/11 anniversary coverage
Not for a second would I ever suggest I feel anything but the deepest sympathies for those lost and those who lost and I really think everyone was touched by what happened on September 11, 2001. But I must voice a dissenting opinion on the news media as a whole industry for how every editor [...]
Like science and politics, journalism and belief don’t mix
Science deals in reality, and it isn’t there to make you feel comfortable about things. Belief is how you explain the un-explainable. And it must change as new evidence becomes available. A fantastic Op-Ed by Krugman today: Mr. Perry, the governor of Texas, recently made headlines by dismissing evolution as “just a theory,” one that [...]
Science, journalism and politics – fact-based media should disavow make-believe
The politicization of science has always confounded me. It is common, from the catholic church telling us that the sun wasn’t in the center of the solar system or creationists telling us that human evolution didn’t happen from a common primate ancestor, or the fossil fuel industry telling us that climate change is not happening. [...]
Balance is biased. I declare war on varnishing the truth.
Perry criticizes government while Texas job growth benefits from it – The Washington Post. Don Graham said in a facebook post promoting this story above: “Mike Fletcher’s careful reporting provides a different take on the Texas job-creation story. This is a balanced piece and gives Perry and Texas due credit for its business climate and–in [...]
Cut-Cap-Bait-Switch: Stealing from the elderly to pay for rich tax cuts
This graph from Sunday’s New York Times is making the rounds, even showing up at the competition like the Washington Post. This is good. Because it shows very clearly what’s going on. Because of the charged atmosphere of what constitutes opinion and what is observation in today’s journalism culture, it is hard to get [...]
osama bin laden was not hitler and other talking point and tweeting tips
ok. so i’m hearing a lot of things today from tv pundits and pipers on twitter after u.s. special forces and intelligence agencies were successful in targeting and killing osama bin laden yesterday. there’s a lot of homer simpson like USA chanting, patriotic chest thumping, deposing despot, toppling tyrant, and all that kind of talk. [...]
How the journalist prom got out of control – The Washington Post
Dana Milbank: I don’t fault any one host for throwing a party, or any journalist for attending. Many of them are friends. There’s nothing inherently wrong with savoring Johnnie Walker Blue with the politicians we cover.But the cumulative effect is icky. With the proliferation of A-list parties and the infusion of corporate and lobbyist cash, [...]
The Civil War wasn’t civil. Discuss.
150 years ago, the United States broke apart and entered a brutal civil war. Today there is a debate about what the war was really about, slavery or states’ rights, but let’s be clear about that states’ rights thing…. it wasn’t about states’ rights other than the central right that those states would kill for [...]