“His colleagues at other news organizations know it. His friends at the network, were they real friends, would try to talk him out of this disastrous state of denial.” I am going to be brief here because for anyone closely following the story of the Benghazi talking points these facts are well known. And if [...]
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“When the users know more than the journalists, what are good journalists supposed to do?” These are lecture notes and links from my presentation to the editors of Quartz, May 13, 2013. The ideas that I share with you tonight originate in a personal obsession of mine that is now 14 years old. It dates [...]
“To some degree they have achieved what Tim Russert of NBC News had when he was host of Meet the Press. Sitting down for an interview with Swisher and Mossberg is a thing you do to show that you are a serious player…” Quick: How many shifts in power can you spot in this one [...]
A post that arises from a certain image I have of disaffected newsroom “traditionalists,” who look upon changes in journalism since the rise of the web with fear and loathing. It is not addressed to particular people but to a climate of mind I’ve encountered a lot in blogging about all this since 2003. Look, [...]
Romney’s chief strategist Stu Stevens is trying to re-litigate a campaign ad suggesting that Jeep was shipping factory jobs to China. Why? I speculate. “Lie of the Year,” people in the establishment press called it. As bad as it gets. To which professional strategist Stu Stevens, head thinker for the Romney campaign in 2012, says: Nonsense, [...]
The outlines of the new system are now coming into view. Accuracy and verification, fairness and intellectual honesty–traditional virtues for sure–join up with transparency, “show your work,” the re-voicing of individual journalists, fact-checking, calling BS when needed and avoiding false balance. For about 20 years (yikes!) I have been trying to move American journalists off [...]
“We, the journalists, have part of what it takes to create an informative and exciting site. You, the users, have the other part.” Yesterday, Andrew Sullivan announced that he’s parting ways with the Daily Beast and taking his blog, The Daily Dish, independent. Truly independent: no advertisers! (Though he hasn’t ruled that out for the [...]
“I was not there to question people. I was there to allow the candidates to question each other.” Yeah, we saw that, Jim. Will Martha Raddatz of ABC News take the same approach in tonight’s Vice Presidential debate? Warning! This is a synthetic product. All the answers are Jim Lehrer’s words quoted verbatim. Click on [...]
Soledad O’Brien makes political television slightly realer-er when she comes ready to fight on air for a documented fact. Yes, I have a clip to show you. The fact checkers in the press have spoken on a key Republican Party claim: that President Obama has gone around the world “apologizing for America.” Here are the speeches [...]
“Professional journalists, whose self-image starts with: ‘We’re a check on…’ had to decide what to do about the truck that just ran their checkpoint, carrying the brain trust of the Romney campaign, laughing at how easy it all was.” This week, one of the presidential campaigns said: “We defy the fact checkers. Your move, journalists.” [...]