This is a commentary on the discussion in the NYT about balance. The conclusion is valid, given what I've read elsewhere (i.e. I can prove it) and is well-written, but the author himself fails to support his conclusion by any linking to evidence for his arguments. It might have been nice to acknowledge the writings of Rick Hasen, who wrote back in February "there is no good evidence that impersonation voter fraud, the only kind of voter fraud an ID law can prevent, is a real problem." I've provided the link to that post on his own blog, as well as to a guest post and to his book which came out in August. Hasen is Chancellor's Professor of Law and Political Science at the University of California, Irvine School of Law and ... More »

In her introduction Goodman raises interesting facts about Koch and where he diverges from the GOP's platform (his support for gay marriage and tax increases) and then shows her attempts to be more than a stenographer by asking Koch a question...There is a link to the whole show at the video and there is a transcript for this segment.

It's interesting to contrast the local multimedia story with the feel-good one by CBS which caught my attention on the feed because of the topic. I like that this story provides so many facts omitted by other: the name of the company, the founder's background, his family's support both financial (the bank which foreclosed on the property sold it to his parents' company) and non-financial ( his father was the one who informed him that the property was available.), the government's support (the Council of St. George's support for a Community Development grant and load, the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development, designation as a "Pine Tree Zone business yielding tax breaks) etc. There is one sentence that ... More »

Milbank seems to write this just to be contrarian of any praise for Frank upon his retirement. The reporter he quotes seems to have been playing gotcha and Frank wasn't cooperating. Milbank has been one of my least favorite writers ever since he penned this gem http://newstrust.net/stories/23964 with the "clever" lede, "Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee. Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee. " For an analysis of that piece, see http://newstrust.net/stories/23965/

Not much substance here...and the disclosure that PolitiFact is planning a partnership with POLITICO is relatively buried in the sixth paragraph.

The author uses a number of specific details to bolster her arguments and writes in an engaging, although partisan fashion.

An early morning overview of the debt talks, but also other matters before Congress w. links to articles the author finds of value.

I like how Democracy Now provides both a video and the transcript. Sayles is a thought-provoking filmmaker (who also has authored several books.) Goodman takes an hour to let him cover a wide range of topics in depth. The emphasis is on his recent book a Moment in the Sun and on his upcoming film (due in August) Amigo, which is set in the Philippines during the U.S. occupation. There is also a clip from his film Matewan, which deals with the attempts to establish a union and led up to the War on Blair Mountain--Sayles tells of the current import and how some in WV are fighting to save the historic site from mountaintop removal coal mining.

Kushnick is a telecommunications industry analyst who serves as the broadband and telecommunications expert for Harvard Nieman’s Foundation for Journalism’s Watchdog. There's a lot to mull over here. It would have been easier to evaluate if he had linked to sources--pretty odd that Alternet doesn't take advantage of hyperlinks.

Provides the reader w. information on how organizations are evading disclosure of campaign contributions in the psot-Citizens United landscape. The author is a s a rising senior at Syracuse University, where she is studying journalism and political science. She has served as managing editor of The Daily Orange, Syracuse's independent student newspaper.

Talk about straw man arguments. The author turns a valid compliant that the Huffington Post business model relies on most of its writers being unpaid into an argument that since he and a few others are paid, the detractors are fools or liars? No real information here about how much of the content is paid for or at what rate and condescending to boot.

Long-time activist Belafonte puts his finger on what is missing--but part of this lies w. Obama who, for instance, locked single-player advocates out of the talks leading up to the health care legislation.

There were several items of interest: That there are nearly 400 million people over the age of 60 and, "partly because of the one-child policy, a declining number of working-age people to care for them. " That China anticipates that 3% will need to be in nursing homes. But what is missing is whether 3% will cover the number of folks who will need help. And where the money will come from, given that China's safety net is frayed. This article raised interesting questions in my mind, but didn't really answer them. Instead it seemed somewhat scattershot and I'm wondering if it went beyond the news release the reporter received.

Not so much journalism as a Senator trying to rally the troops. My favorite point: "No chairman should be soliciting sign-off from the corporations that his agency is supposed to regulate -- and no true advocate of a free and open Internet should be seeking the permission of large media conglomerates before issuing new rules. "

All this does is draws attention to the NYT story and provide a couple of links in the first paragraph to BOA's other woes. As such it may be valuable to those who only read the HuffPo, but it is derivative in the worst way.