Journalism

Tina Brown compared bloggers to the East German secret police in Sunday's Washington Post: We are in the Eggshell Era, in which everyone has to tiptoe around because there's a world of busybodies out there who are being paid to catch you out -- and a public that is slowly being trained to accept a culture of finks. We're always under surveillance; cameras watch us wherever we go; paparazzi make small fortunes snapping glamour goddesses picking their noses; everything is on tape, with ... (read more)

2005/03/21

All of My Distortions Lack Purpose

Dick Rogers, ombudsman of the San Francisco Chronicle, compares bloggers to the ink-stained wretches in his profession: Other [bloggers] poke at contemporary issues but toss responsibility out the window. Five minutes with an Internet directory such as www.globeofblogs.com will turn up blogs that don't even bother to guess at the truth. They traffic in falsehood, innuendo and purposeful distortion. Journalism? I sure hope not. I challenged him in e-mail to name five actual weblogs that run ... (read more)

2005/03/15

If you're not already panicked enough about the "overdue" killer flu pandemic, Guardian science editor Robin McKie offers a new periodic cause for alarm. Every 62 million years, the species of Earth suffer a mass extinction: After analysing the eradication of millions of ancient species, scientists have found that a mass extinction is due any moment now. Their research has shown that every 62 million years -- plus or minus 3m years -- creatures are wiped from the planet's surface in massive ... (read more)

2005/03/13

I Blog For Short

New York Times: On the Web log, or blog, he chronicles his daily life, his small victories, his disappointments, his liberal views on politics and the health of his pets. Washington Post: Mosteller's supervisors and co-workers at the Durham, N.C., Herald-Sun were well aware of her Weblog, or blog. ABC News (Australia): The lanky, sandy-haired writer composes a frequently updated Internet journal -- weblog, or blog for short ... Maine Today: Hands-on science experiments, creating an online ... (read more)

2005/03/10

The First Blogger Died in 1794

The patron saint of weblogging is Harbottle Dorr, a little-known figure from early America who was writing a hyperlinked daily journal on current events two centuries before the technology existed: On January 7, 1765, in the middle of the Stamp Act controversy, Boston shopkeeper Harbottle Dorr took the current issue of the Boston Evening-Post and commented on its contents in the margins. Every week thereafter, he collected one or both of the Evening-Post or the Boston Gazette, (sometimes adding ... (read more)

2005/03/08

The Meek Shall Inherit the Press

From the New York Times: The White House official who briefed reporters on the speech said Mr. Bush would take detailed positions on Social Security in coming weeks and months, but only to the extent that doing so would help Congress move forward. The official, who spoke before an auditorium full of journalists, insisted on not being quoted by name. Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said the goal in not allowing the use of the official's name was to keep the focus on Mr. Bush. ... (read more)

2005/02/02

Tony Kornheiser vs. Jacksonville

Tony Kornheiser wrote a column in the Washington Post ripping Jacksonville as a Hooters-loving, foul-smelling, remote city of doublewides that only got the Super Bowl because Tuscaloosa was booked: Jacksonville is where Pat Boone was born (sometime around the Martin Van Buren presidency), and where the Southern hair band .38 Special got together. Somehow it doesn't sound like hip-hop. It's more like I-Hop. As a seven-year resident, I'm more offended by Kornheiser's laziness than anything he ... (read more)

2005/01/28

The Lord Works in Mysterious Weblogs

Two years ago, Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Ron Martz was embedded as a journalist in Iraq when two soldiers travelling with him were shot. He wrote a first-person column that thanks God for providing him with human shields: I prefer to believe it was the hand of God that put them there, one behind me, one to my left. They were there to protect me. ... Had they not been there, I most likely would not be now typing this. Less than 30 minutes after the two soldiers joined me, both were ... (read more)

2005/01/27

A sneer from political reporter David Halbfinger about Bob Somerby, the publisher of the media criticism site Daily Howler: I've never followed this blog, and am pretty sure I don't know anyone who does. You gotta love a New York Times reporter who concludes that if he doesn't know something, no one else does either. ... (read more)

2005/01/22

With all the accusations of bias and sloppy war reporting, the New York Times doesn't get enough credit for being the weirdest newspaper in America. Reviewer Ned Martel on the PBS cooking show Everyday Food: [Co-host Allie Lewis] demonstrates a forced beginner's pluck, and she reveals a brittleness when she's trying to be soft. When musing over her al dente sautéed snap peas and radishes, she takes a moment to mock her mom's lifelong preference for canned vegetables: "In fact, my mother would ... (read more)

2005/01/18

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