Journalism
Matt Drudge Flamed for Blowing Prince Harry's Cover
Matt Drudge reported yesterday that Prince Harry was fighting in Afghanistan, news that was being kept secret by the British media to prevent him from being targeted by the Taliban. I awoke this morning to a bunch of misdirected hate mail intended for Drudge, sent to me using the news tip box on the Drudge Retort. If my inbox is any indication, Drudge must be getting hammered this morning for breaking the news: You suck! Reporting on his service is well within you rights. It is also sleazeball ... (read more)Vicki Iseman Misses Chance to Rebut Story
The top Google result for the name Vicki Iseman is currently her biography page on Alcalde & Fay, the lobbying firm she serves as a partner. The page was erased today but can be viewed on Huffington Post. Alcalde & Fay has issued a statement denouncing the New York Times story suggesting an inappropriate and possibly romantic relationship between Iseman and Sen. John McCain during his 2000 presidential campaign: The allegations and malicious innuendo reported by the New York Times yesterday are ... (read more)Lisa Schiffren: Obama's a Secret Commie Baby
Even though it's a product of the conservative National Review, I read The Corner because it's a great format for political blogging -- a bunch of writers of similar politics sharing links and exchanging ideas with each other. I wish there was a liberal counterpart that took the same conversational approach. (There's also nothing better than watching them suffer in real time on election night when the vote doesn't go their way.) Sometimes, all that like-mindedness draws out ugly sentiments a ... (read more)Weblogs Win Long Bet with New York Times
The Long Bet Foundation, the group that sponsored a five-year wager between blogging evangelist Dave Winer and New York Times executive Martin Nisenholtz over the journalistic value of weblogs vs. the media, announced today that it has declared a winner. The foundation used the same source I did to pick the top five news stories of 2007 -- a vote by Associated Press editors and news directors -- and reached the same conclusion: Weblogs won. Adding up page rank winners blogs win 4 to 1. Adding ... (read more)10 Years Ago Today, Matt Drudge Broke the News
On Jan. 17, 1998, Matt Drudge reported that Newsweek had spiked Michael Isikoff's story about President Clinton's sexual affair with Monica Lewinsky, the first shot in the war between the corporate and cautious culture of mainstream journalism and the completely bonkers blogosphere. Six weeks later, I registered Drudge.Com. It's hard to believe that Matt Drudge remains one of the most important journalists in the U.S., 10 years after he nabbed somebody else's scoop. I wish someone had told me, ... (read more)Long Bet Winner: Weblogs vs. The New York Times
In 2002, blogging evangelist Dave Winer made a long bet with New York Times executive Martin Nisenholtz: "In a Google search of five keywords or phrases representing the top five news stories of 2007, weblogs will rank higher than the New York Times' Web site." Today, Associated Press editors and news directors chose the top 10 news stories of the year, which makes it possible to determine who won the bet. AP's No. 5: Chinese exports The Times ranks 20th for the Nov. 30 article China Agrees to ... (read more)First, Let's Shoot All the Photographers
The Lane Hartwell photo controversy is becoming a Venus morontrap. In the comments on TechCrunch, Robert Scoble flew into its maw and is being broken down into his constituent parts and digested by enzymes: I think it really is lame to take pictures of people (who don't get a cut of the profits) at parties, without being commissioned, and then send in invoices for that work when it gets used in a parody video. If photographers are getting paid to take pictures of me, why shouldn't we get a cut ... (read more)Hugh MacLeod Ages Like Fine South African Wine
It's funny what people reveal about themselves online. Read my blog for any length of time and you can probably figure out my uneasy Michael Corleone-like relationship with journalism, the field I majored in and subsequently escaped. I can't decide what to think about my long absence from the profession or the fact that I don't seem to be missed. Read online marketing guru Hugh MacLeod, the guy who plies bloggers with a South African wine in the expectation they'll sing its praises, and you ... (read more)CNN's Self-Importance is Beyond Debate
At last night's Democratic presidential debate in Las Vegas, CNN moderator Wolf Blitzer spoke for more time than five of the seven candidates, repeatedly getting in the way of substantive discussion by reducing issues to yes/no options. But it wasn't until the audience got its chance to ask questions that the CNN team demonstrated how inflated in self-importance our leading broadcast journalists have become during presidential campaigns. After a commercial break, undecided voter LaShannon ... (read more)Exclusive: Techbloggers Have Sold Their Souls
On WebProNews, Robert Scoble demonstrates why the leading techblogs are becoming less critical and more susceptible to hype -- they're bargaining with PR flacks for exclusives: I've noticed that PR types are getting very astute with dealing with bloggers lately and getting their wares discussed on TechMeme. First they'll call Mike Arrington of TechCrunch. Make sure he's briefed first (Mike doesn't like to talk about news that someone else broke first, so they'll make sure he is always in the ... (read more)
Social Media
Subscriptions
Blogroll
Projects
Statistics
This blog has been published since Nov. 7, 1999 (a span of 8,960 days).
Thank you for visiting Workbench.
