One of the more cynical definitions of "consistency" is that it is the hobgoblin of little minds and that the truly brilliant can hold innumerable, contradicting beliefs. Well, that sort of attitude may give solace to the elite, but it's unsatisfying and downright dangerous when you're trying to create public policy -- or save Social […]
Los Angeles Times columnist Margaret Carlson's response to the CBS News forged memos fiasco is to blame the Bush administration for lying and/or punishing people for telling the truth. However, in her zeal to really stick it to Republicans, Carlson peddles a long-discredited lie. In the Bush administration, you lose your job not for lying […]
I've got something for New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd to ponder: Maybe it's just you.
Steven Vincent, the author of the must-read book on Iraq "In the Red Zone," notices an interesting dichotomy in the media describes people. Once again, the same media phenomenon: take a "nationalist" gunman, put a mask on him and set him in some Spanish speaking country and he becomes a "paramilitary"--or, as Newsweek has it, […]
One of the problems newspapers sometimes encounter is a disconnect with the communities they cover. It's not an uncommon occurrence for any large company, but it can be especially damaging to newspapers who need to tell the stories of a diverse audience. At least once a year at The San Diego Union-Tribune the paper's editor […]
By way of the Media Research Center, the founding producer of "60 Minutes," Don Hewitt said the following at a Monday morning meeting at CBS: Does anybody really think there wouldn't have been more scrutiny if this had been about John Kerry? Exactly. That's the bias issue in a nutshell.
One of the items that has been the subject of guffaws and charges of "whitewash" on the right side of the blogosphere regarding the independent report on the CBS forged documents fiasco is the "finding" that there was no political bias behind the "60 Minutes Wednesday" report. Both Dan Rather and Mary Mapes were asked […]
I spent most of yesterday with Madeline, the world's greatest niece, so I haven't really had nearly enough time to read through the fake Bush Guard documents report and its various appendicies. However, for the Columbia Journalism Review and other individuals who read only the primary report and note that the report doesn't say the […]
CBS News has finally released its report on the fake Bush National Guard documents story. The complete report, 200+ pages worth and affiliated documents, can be found here. CBS has fired four people, including producer Mary Mapes, but not anchor Dan "you can take it to the bank" Rather. I'll read the report today and […]
On Friday, USA Today broke the story that the Education Department had paid syndicated columnist and radio/TV pundit Armstrong Williams $240,000 to promote the No Child Left Behind Act. Tribune Media Services, Williams' syndicate, subsequently fired him. (An apology from Williams can be found here.) Let me first reveal that I have never been paid […]