Some Lileks reaction

MinnPost.com media/politics writer David Brauer notes the return of Lileks to the pages of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, then concentrates on the political aspects:

James Lileks will return to Strib column writing.  And this time, the portfolio might include politics...

In the past, Lileks has given me the impression he'd rather gouge his eyes out than become a political lightning rod in the hometown paper...  So let me stress that I don't know whether Hugh Hewitt listeners can take heart.

There follow three paragraphs of speculation about how the advent of a (putatively) political Lileks could leave the Strib with “two conservative columnists and one liberal,” and what might be done to mitigate such an horror. Seems a bit premature, as the first column is yet to appear.

Brauer does raise an important point, in this era of the ever-shrinking news hole:

How does the addition of columnists affect the Metro-section story counts and space?

Later:  Brian Lambert at MplsStPaul Magazine quotes Lileks:

“No, no politics.  There's enough of that out there as it is.  These will be basic stories, stories not precisely what I've been doing in this market.  It'll be a metro column, maybe a little less domestic than what I've been doing.”

Previously:   Psssst... don't tell anyone

Via:  Poynter via jek

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Name That Party: Spitzer vs. Craig

Interesting comparison Oh what the heck:  It’s time once again for yet another example of the usual stuff, as NewsBusters commenter “Mr. Shy” runs the numbers for party identification in the coverage of the Democrat governor Eliot Spitzer’s resignation, compared to that of Republican Senator Larry Craig:

[For] seven selected major online news sites:

CNN
MSNBC
CBS News
ABC News
NY Times
Washington Post
CNBC

Comparison:  Spitzer’s resignation and Craig’s resignation (or related article at that time)...

SPITZER:

“Democrat” - 1
“DNC” - 0

CRAIG:

“Republican” - 16
“GOP” - 4

Some R's and GOP's are right in the headline, some in the subhead, some articles have up to 4 instances in the first few paragraphs, and one paragraph injects the word 3 TIMES!

What's more hilarious -- although, really, it makes me that much more ill -- is the one D mention is to annouce Spitzer's successor, which is uplifting news (legally blind black man, etc..)

(He has all the links, too.)

Via: Radio Equalizer

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Psssst... don't tell anyone

Blogosphere's favorite columnist gets column back.


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