Today South Carolina Republicans vote in their state’s presidential primary. Polls indicate it is a two-man race between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. Gingrich apparently has been given a boost by the most recent Republican candidates debate. Gingrich was asked about the recent comments of his ex-wife, who said he asked that she agree to [...]
Posts Tagged ‘News media’
Newtered
Posted in Politics, tagged Conservatives, Mitt Romney, News media, Newt Gingrich, Politics, Republican Presidential Candidates, Republican Presidential Debate, Republicans, South Carolina on January 21, 2012 | 1 Comment »
Cain And Italy
Posted in America, Politics, World, tagged America, Herman Cain, Italy, News media, World on November 8, 2011 | 2 Comments »
The news coverage for the last few days has been dominated by allegations of sexual harassment by Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain. The steady drip, drip, drip of new information and accusations has knocked all other news off the front page. I don’t mean to downplay the importance of dealing properly with incidents of sexual [...]
Winners And Losers And General George Patton
Posted in America, Movies, Politics, tagged America, Debt Ceiling, Movies, News media, Patton, Politics, President Obama on July 31, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
As President Obama and congressional leaders work feverishly to negotiate an end to the debt ceiling impasse, I am sure most Americans are keeping our fingers crossed that the parties reach a meaningful agreement that allows the country to avoid a ruinous default and credit rating downgrade. If a deal is struck, news media pundits [...]
Casey Anthony And Anthony Sowell
Posted in America, crime, tagged America, Anthony Sowell, Casey Anthony, Class, crime, Murder, News media, Race in America, Trials on July 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
I didn’t pay any attention to the Casey Anthony trial, although I was dimly aware that cable news shows were paying huge amounts of attention to the trial of a young woman accused of killing her two-year-old daughter. In the wake of the jury verdict declaring Anthony not guilty of the crime, the media focus [...]
Weiner’s World, Finally Resigned To The Inevitable
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Anthony Weiner, News, News media, Politicians, Politics, Scandals, Shock jocks on June 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Anthony Weiner finally recognized the unavoidable result of his ill-advised behavior and resigned today. His announcement of his resignation turned into something of a circus, complete with hecklers, catcalls, booing, and cheering. It brought to an embarrassing end the latest mystifying political scandal. What lessons can be learned from this sordid story? Two points seem [...]
Olbermann Is Out
Posted in Politics, TV, tagged Countdown, Journalism, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, News media, Politics, TV, TV News on January 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Last night MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann had his last broadcast as host of the show Countdown. The end of his show and his career at MSNBC was unexpected — so unexpected that the network continued to run a promo for his show 30 minutes after he announced his departure on air. We’ll hear a lot about [...]
A Stunning Assault On The Citadel Of Media Objectivity
Posted in America, Humor, Politics, tagged America, Chris Matthews, Countdown, Humor, Journalism, journalistic ethics, Keith Olbermann, MSNBC, News media, Politics, Rachel Maddow on November 5, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Today MSNBC indefinitely suspended Keith Olbermann, the host of the cable network’s Countdown program, after it learned that Olbermann had made contributions to three political campaigns — all for Democratic candidates. I applaud MSNBC management for acting promptly to safeguard the network’s hard-earned reputation for objectivity and balance in its coverage of American politics. It [...]
Pundits Galore
Posted in America, Humor, TV, tagged America, CNN, Election Day 2010, Election Night, Humor, News media, Pundits, TV on November 2, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
We’ve been channel-surfing tonight on this Election Night, flipping between CNN, MSNBC, and Fox. All of the stations feature pundits, of course, but CNN seems to have an unworkably large number of them. Good Lord! It’s unbearable! How many are there, anyway? They seem to be rotating them in and out, like they are players [...]
An NPR Disappointment
Posted in America, TV, tagged America, Juan Williams, National Public Radio, News media, NPR, TV on October 21, 2010 | 1 Comment »
I am a National Public Radio listener. I almost always listen to Morning Edition on the way to work, All Things Considered on the way home from work, and the NPR lineup on Saturday morning. I’ve heard Juan Williams express his opinions on NPR countless times. When I heard that NPR had fired Williams for [...]
Katrina’s Five-Year Anniversary
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, Hurricane Katrina, Louisiana, New Orleans, News media, Politics, President Bush on August 29, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It’s the five-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The media usually cannot resist anniversaries, particularly when there is powerful film footage to show, and this one is no exception. This CNN story on the anniversary is typical — a rehash of what happened, some hand-wringing about it, and plenty of retrospective blame being put on President [...]
The Prez And The Press
Posted in America, Politics, tagged America, News media, Politics, President Bush, President Kennedy, President Obama, Press Conferences on March 8, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Some members of the press are raising questions about President Obama’s lack of formal, prime-time press conferences. Indeed, he has gone longer between such conferences than did President Bush before him. Most people probably will find this hard to believe, because President Obama seemingly has been all over the television screen since his inauguration. Most [...]
Home To Roost
Posted in America, Healthcare Reform, Politics, tagged America, Congress, Health Care Reform, Healthcare Reform, Jack Cafferty, News media, Politics, President Obama on January 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The strong reactions, from some quarters, to the behind-closed-doors negotiations over the “health care reform” legislation are a good example of how politicians, in this media-saturated age of stored video and cell phone cameras, should be careful about the promises they make. During his presidential campaign, President Obama repeatedly told people that health care legislation [...]
Let’s Get Small
Posted in America, Politics, tagged Fox News, Hannity, Journalism, News media, Politics, President Obama, The O'Reilly Factor on October 21, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I am a bit mystified by the White House’s decision to criticize Fox News, describe it as “not really a news organization,” and try to marginalize it. I understand that the Obama Administration does not like the coverage they are getting from Fox News and therefore is trying to impugn Fox’s credibility as a news-gathering [...]
Non-Journalism
Posted in America, tagged America, Chamber of Commerce, CNBC, Hoaxes, Journalism, News media, newspapers, Ohio State University School of Journalism, Reuters on October 19, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Today still more members of the news media — in this case, Reuters and CNBC — fell for a hoax. On the basis of a dubious press release, they reported that the Chamber of Commerce had changed its position on climate change legislation. CNBC read the fake press release on the air, and Reuters reported [...]
The Budding Power Of New Journalism
Posted in America, College, Technology, tagged ACORN, America, Fear and Loathing on the Campaign Trail, Hunter S. Thompson, Internet, Journalism, News media, Ohio State University School of Journalism, Technology, The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe on September 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Back in the 1970s, when I was a student at the Ohio State University School of Journalism, there was a lot of talk about the “new journalism.” At that time, “new journalism” referred to writers like Tom Wolfe and Hunter S. Thompson who wrote from uniquely personal perspectives and, in the case of Dr. Gonzo, [...]
