Friday, 30 November 2007

The Press

Can you say "secretive?"


CNN lays down some limits on reportage:

The St. Petersburg Times first asked CNN executives in July to be allowed to watch the video selection process for tonight's CNN/YouTube debate.

It took until Nov. 19 to get clearance.

The time and place was not revealed for another week...

Among the things the Times agreed to before it could enter what a CNN executive called its "undisclosed location:"
  • No video recording.
  • No audio recording.
  • No mention of the specific questions producers are considering.
  • No pictures of the video screen where the questions are being reviewed.
The Times also said it would not publish the fate of specific questions.
- Aaron Sharockman, "Peek inside CNN's inner sanctum"

Wow, lots of conditions!  Somebody might think they had something to hide.



Link via: Romenesko

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The Press

Just ignore it, and maybe it'll go away


Today:

SO I LOOKED IN EDITOR AND PUBLISHER and there's nothing about the CNN planted-question scandal. There's one story on the debate, but it's a puff piece about a cartoonist getting his video in. Then I looked at Poynter and all I could find was this piece on covering the debates. But I'm not seeing anything about the planted-question scandal. I'm not seeing anything at the Columbia Journalism Review site, either. Journalism, cover thyself! - Glenn Reynolds
Yesterday:
JUST HEARD A LENGTHY NPR STORY ON THE YOUTUBE DEBATE, with a live followup from Mara Liasson -- and it omitted any mention of the planted question issue. - Glenn Reynolds

Reminds me of Rathergate.


Previously:  Actually, it's perfectly consistent

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The Press

Ad revenue: Think it feels bad? It's actually worse.

Missed this week-ago post by Alan Mutter that inflation-adjusts newspaper advertising figures.

...1997 sales, stripped of inflation, would be worth $53.8 billion today in constant dollars.

If you subtract this year’s likely $42.7 billion in print-ad revenues from the constant-dollar value of the sales a decade ago, the difference of approximately $10 billion means that today’s revenues are nearly 20% lower than they were in 1997.
He has a scary chart which makes the decline easy to see. (Look at 2000's revenue peak, which would have been about $59 billion in 2007 dollars.)  Ouch!


Elsewhere:  On a trip to Detroit, Jeff Jarvis notices the changes.

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Thursday, 29 November 2007

The Press

Actually, it's perfectly consistent


Choose questions from Democrat operatives for the Democrat debate.
Choose questions from Democrat operatives for the Republican debate.

#7
On November 29th, 2007 at 1:52 am, DocattheAutopsy said:

...5000+ videos submitted.. and we get one working for Hillary and another working for Edwards. What are the odds?

Now we just have to find the one working for Obama.

#8
On November 29th, 2007 at 1:55 am, Michelle Malkin said:
Now we just have to find the one working for Obama.
See the update. David Cercone, the Log Cabin Republican questioner, is a declared Obama supporter with a blog at Obama ‘08.

Glenn Reynolds:
Message to CNN: It's called Google. Use it.

Pathetic.

UPDATE 071130 02:39: Later Reynolds:
Using Google for plane tickets is okay. But next time, try using them for . . . Googling.  [bolding mine - o.g.]

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Saturday, 24 November 2007

The Press

Well, this will certainly help their credibility


The San Francisco Chronicle deceives its readers through comment-deletion trickery

Why, that's deceptive and underhanded-- something that one of those sleezy bloggers would do! Like Think Progress, maybe?

Via: Instapundit, LGF

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The Press

Name that mayor


The New York Times parodies itself:

Homicides [in New York City] began falling in the early 1990s, when Raymond W. Kelly first served as police commissioner, and plummeted further under subsequent commissioners. Mr. Kelly returned to serve under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg in 2002, the first year there were fewer than 600 homicides. There were 587 that year, down from 649 in the previous year.
Tom Maguire:
Geez, I'm straining to remember who was Mayor when the murder rate plunged. They mention Blomberg, but I'm sure someone preceded him...[1]

You know, if I wrote a story featuring a newspaper so partisan that it would go to similar lengths to avoid favorabe mention of a political opponent, editors would probably reject it as being totally divorced from reality.


------
[1] Maguire lists the figures in his post. Interestingly enough, although the murder rate began falling under Kelly, the two largest drops in the period 1990-1996 (385, 384) came in the first two years of “Mayor Whatzisname’s” first term, when William J. Bratton was police commissioner.

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Monday, 19 November 2007

The Press

Another reason why people despise journalists

Let me get this straight: The newspaper didn't publish the names of these evil cretins, even though everyone involved already knows those names. But they published the exact height and weight of the dead girl so we can all calculate her BMI and judge her accordingly. Excellent. I need to go barf now. -- "3CARDKITTY" commenting at jezebel.com
Well, dead people can't sue you, right?

Later: The fact that local and federal "authorities" can't seem to find anything to charge the perpetrators with[1] (especially when compared to the creativity of similar "authorities" when their target is someone they want to "get") just adds to the distastefulness of the whole situation.

From: Romenesko

Elsewhere:

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Friday, 16 November 2007

The Press

When is a blog NOT a blog?


When the Washington Post hosts it?

Michael Silence says he isn't edited. And I wonder how much editing Lileks has to put up with.

Via Insty

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Thursday, 08 November 2007

The Press

Another great moment in business journalism

Today’s Wall Street Journal has an article (“Cable's Picture Gets Fuzzier,” by Dionne Searcey, Wall Street Journal November 8, 2007, page B3) about the market hit Comcast stock has taken, and the company’s plans to respond to competition by telephone companies.

It's 1/3 of a page– about 1200 words.

Guess which two words appear nowhere in that article.

Unbelievable. (There’s this, too.)

Previously:

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Friday, 02 November 2007

The Press

Post moves good news... to page 18


Leaving room for Churk Schurmer's no-comment on page 1.
Don Surber has the details.

Previously: GAO confirms trend, WAPO: "Z-z-z-z-z-z-z"

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