Right about a year ago, journalists and people who obsess about journalism were talking about the New York Times‘ online paywall, its rules, its porousness, its ethics and its chances for success. We’re almost a year into the wall’s existence and it’s still there. The New York Times is still there. It has, it says, almost half a million …
News Media
This American Life‘s Apple Retraction: The Danger of Truthiness
It turned out to be a big day for Apple in more ways than one. This morning, its stores began sales of its new iPad models to enthusiastic crowds. And earlier today, Public Radio International’s This American Life issued a …
CNN Poaches Palin From Fox (For a Few Minutes)
CNN deployed its resources across the country for yesterday’s Super Tuesday primaries and caucuses, as far as the vast state of Alaska, to which it sent a single camera crew. And of all Alaska’s cities and towns from which to cover Alaska’s Republican caucus, it happened to pick Wasilla, because of—oh, no particular reason, right? As …
Limbaugh and the Imus Effect: Has Rush’s Mouth Written a Check His Sponsors Won’t Cash?
Rush Limbaugh‘s repeated, ugly insults last week against Sandra Fluke — a Georgetown law student who testified in favor of insurance coverage of contraception — were terrible on plenty of levels. They were sick: the idea of …
Andrew Breitbart, 1969-2012
Maybe the most telling thing about the news that conservative blog impresario Andrew Breitbart had died was that as word spread on Twitter this morning, many people passed it along with the caveat that it might not be true, …
Election Watch: Hell Fails to Break Loose in Michigan
That sound you heard after 10 pm ET last night? It was the sound of all hell not breaking loose in the Republican primary. Mitt Romney was declared the winner of the Michigan primary, sparing us–or depriving us, depending on your tastes–a weeklong (at least) orgy of speculation on the political shows of whether Romney was in a …
Twimmolation Alert: Roland Martin Gets His Ascot in Hot Water at CNN
The broadcast of the Super Bowl inspired hundreds of thousands of tweets on Twitter, and a few of them just got analyst Roland S. Martin suspended from CNN. The political commentator was criticized by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance …
State of the Union: A Call for Unity, in a Political Package
One of the running narratives of Barack Obama’s administration has been how much it should mirror, or avoid, the acts of the last Democratic administration, Bill Clinton’s. In his State of the Union address last night, at least, Barack Obama became a Clintonian, at least in style. Like Clinton’s SOTU speeches, Obama’s was long (just over …
The Morning After: Come Back, Loud Debate Audiences! All Is Forgiven!
In the first umpteen Republican debates of this primary season, the crowds watching had as much of an active role as the participants, driving the energy of the debates and sometimes the day-after discussion. Whether it was booing a gay soldier or cheering the death penalty or going hog-wild over Newt Gingrich’s lambasting of CNN’s John …
Debate Watch: You Come at the King, You Best Not Miss
It’s become a cliché to say that each Republican debate is the most important yet—at least since the last Most Important Debate—but last night’s showdown in South Carolina had a strong claim, coming after Rick Perry’s drop-out, Rick Santorum’s retroactive win in Iowa and Newt Gingrich’s twofer of climbing ahead in the polls while an …
Dead Tree Alert: Truth Vigilantes, Attack!
Last week, New York Times public editor (the equivalent of an ombudsman) Arthur Brisbane wrote a blog post asking whether, in covering the campaign, reporters should challenge in the body of their straight-news stories statements by candidates that are dubious, distorted or outright false. Or as he put it—in a headline that generated …
Romney Didn’t Win Iowa After All. Is It Too Late To Change the Story?
Remember that narrow, 8-vote win Mitt Romney scored in the Iowa caucuses? The one that launched him on a 2-for-2 run in the first two GOP contests, building his momentum and underscoring his case as the inevitable nominee? Turns …
Not Allowed to Vote for Stephen Colbert? Oh Yes You Cain!
As we’ve known for a while, Stephen Colbert‘s satirical run in the South Carolina GOP Presidential primary has one minor hitch: you can’t vote for him. That is, the filing deadline to get on the ballot has passed, and the state does not allow write-ins. The ballot is locked. But last night, Colbert announced on the Report that he’s found …