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High Time We Set the Record Straight on Newspaper 'Myths'

Thu, 23 Apr 2009 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Donna Barrett - Apr. 23 (Opinion) - Let's set the record straight: Newspapers still enjoy considerable readership and deliver strong results for advertisers. More Americans read printed newspapers than watch the Super Bowl. More Americans read printed newspapers than own dogs. Newspapers and their Web sites reach a larger audience than ever before.

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Attack on Gaza: Self-Defense or Mass Murder?

Sun, 28 Dec 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell - Dec. 28 (News Analysis) - In the usual process, the U.S. government -- and media here -- are playing down questions about whether Israel overreacted in its massive air strikes on Gaza, while the foreign press, and even Haaretz in Israel, carries more balanced accounts. The early reports on Sunday already reveal the bombing of a TV station and mosque and preparations for an invasion.

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Local Newspapers Cover Rising Number of Racist Anti-Obama Actions in Small Towns

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Dexter Hill - Nov. 13 (News Analysis) - many local newspapers around the country have covered recent incidents of racially motivated reactions to last week's election, from flags hung upside-down to the dangling of nooses and cross burnings. As we noted last week, a couple in northern New Jersey who had an Obama sign on their front lawn woke up to find the charred remains of a cross. Local residents today announced a "unity march" to protest the still-unsolved incident.

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The End of 'Objectivity' in New Journalism Era: A Good Thing?

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Joe Strupp - Nov. 12 (Special Report) - Paulson's challenge is one that more and more print journalists are confronting as they are asked to write news stories, blog items, do analysis (often minutes after an event has occurred) and, in many cases, provide commentary for radio, television, and even online outlets. As newspaper Web sites blend in more with blogs that do not hold to the same journalistic rules, there is greater pressure to "write like them" — and sometimes cut corners on the principles of objectivity and balance that have been the oft-stated mainstay, for better or worse, of newspaper news coverage.

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Ongoing Tally Of Newspaper Endorsements--Obama Leads 170-69

Sun, 26 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Dexter Hill, Greg Mitchell - Oct. 26 (News Report) - After a busy weekend, the Obama-Biden ticket maintains its strong lead in the race for daily newspaper endorsements, by 170 to 69, an almost 3-1 margin and an even wider spread in the circulation of those papers --see full tally below, as of last Friday.

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Why Media Can't See the Trees for the ACORNs

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Glenn W. Smith - Oct. 16 (Opinion) - The media attention granted the right-wing attacks on ACORN begs the question: why does it seem to be a greater sin to be suspected of voter registration mistakes than to publicly engage in voter suppression efforts?

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Shocker: Tribune Co. Gives Notice To Drop AP

Thu, 16 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Joe Strupp - Oct. 16 (News Report) - Tribune Company has given a two-year notice to the Associated Press that its daily newspapers plan to drop the news service, becoming the first major newspaper chain to do so since the recent controversy over new rates began. Tribune, which owns nine daily papers including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune, joins a growing list of newspapers that have sought to end AP contracts, or given notice of that, following plans to introduce a new controversial rate structure in 2009. The notice was given earlier this week.

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Newspapers Deliver Millions of 'Terror' DVDs to Subscribers -- In 'Swing States'

Sat, 13 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell, Joe Strupp - Sep. 13 (News Report) - Despite some protests from Muslim and liberal activists, the newspapers -- all hard hit by drops in ad revenue in recent months -- have explained that the DVD does not violate their usual standards; see our exchange with The New York Times below. A spokesperson there said the Times last Sunday inserted 145,000 DVDs in its papers delivered in the following markets: Denver, Miami/Palm Beach, Tampa, Orlando, Detroit, Kansas City, St Louis, Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Milwaukee/Madison. Note: These are all in swing states.

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Arrests at RNC Slammed as Goodman Arrest Video is Seen 500,000-Plus Times

Wed, 03 Sep 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Dave Astor - Sep. 03 (News Report) - In a statement released this afternoon, the NAHJ called on "police and local and federal officials to respect the First Amendment right to free speech and free press of journalists doing their job, especially as it relates to coverage of recent political conventions and the surrounding public protests. Reporters have a duty and a constitutional right to be present at sometimes volatile events and situations, and to inform the public." The NAHJ noted that an ABC News producer had been arrested at the Democratic National Convention in Denver last week, and that the four journalists arrested Monday also included an Associated Press photographer (Matt Rourke) as well as two "Democracy Now!" producers (Sharif Abdel Kouddous and Nicole Salazar) Goodman was trying to help. They were released with charges that included suspicion of felony riot and misdemeanor interference with a police officer.

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Fox News Airs Revised Photos of 'NYT' Staffers -- Sifton Calls It 'Disgusting'

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Joe Strupp, Greg Mitchell - Jul. 02 (News Report) - The Fox News channel has gained wide attention today in the blogosphere for airing photos of two New York Times staffers that appear to have been doctored to portray the Timesmen in an unflattering light. The photos depict New York Times reporter Jacques Steinberg with yellowed teeth, "his nose and chin widened, and his ears made to protrude further," according to a statement today by Media Matters for America. The other image, of Times television editor Steven Reddicliffe, with similar yellow teeth, as well as "dark circles ... under his eyes, and his hairline has been moved back," according to the Media Matters statement.

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Military Told Media and Family That It Was 'Friendly Fire' -- But It Was Murder

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - Jun. 21 (News Report) - There is no excuse for the U.S. Army's shabby treatment of Kamisha Block's parents and others who cared for her. Her commanders knew right away that she had been killed by a fellow soldier in Iraq, who had been harassing her. It was a standard murder-suicide. Incredibly, the Army first told her parents that it was an accidental death due to friendly fire.

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Behind McClatchy Layoffs -- A Mountain Of Debt

Tue, 17 Jun 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Mark Fitzgerald - Jun. 17 (News Report) - For instance, even as Moody's Investors Services was nudging McClatchy's corporate debt rating to the edge of junk bond territory, and warning that it likely would downgrade its credit further, the ratings firm had kind words for the publisher. "Good reader demographics and the depth and quality of reporting in local markets drive demand from advertisers, which along with the company's strong cost management deliver above average industry margins that support the cash flow," wrote senior analyst John E. Puchalla and Corporate Finance Group Managing Director Alexandra S. Parker.

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Tom Brokaw's Disturbing Defense of the Media and Iraq

Sat, 31 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell - May. 31 (Opinion) - What is most appalling, however, is that it took McClellan's book to produce a debate about this tremendously vital subject at all....[in the] coverage of the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war back in March, the media reviewed every aspect of the war and pointed fingers everywhere, except at the media. There was almost no self-assessment, after five years of war.

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New Study Calls 'Embed' Program for U.S. Media in Iraq a 'Victory' -- for the Pentagon

Wed, 14 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell - May. 14 (News Report) - Debate over the "embedded journalist" program run by the Pentagon since the weeks before the Iraq invasion in 2003 has long raged, with some claiming that it gave reporters valuable close access to action while others saying that the journalists were severely compromised within it. Now sociologist Andrew M. Lindner, writing in the spring issue of the American Sociological Association's "Context" magazine describes what is billed as the only sociological study to date of the substantive content of media coverage during the first six weeks of the Iraq war. Lindner found that journalists embedded with American troops emphasized military successes more often than they covered consequences for Iraqi citizens. "The embedded program proved to be a Pentagon victory because it kept reporters focused on the horrors facing the troops, not the horrors of the civilian war experience," wrote Lindner, who is completing his doctoral dissertation at Penn State University. "The end result: a communications victory for an administration that hoped to build support for the war by depicting it as a successful mission with limited cost."

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AP Launches Mobile News Network

Tue, 06 May 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - May. 06 (News Report) - The Associated Press today debuts its Mobile News Network, a multimedia news portal targeted at wireless users for accessing international, national and local news content anytime and anywhere from the cooperative and its members. The web application is optimized for use on iPhones and accessed directly at www.apnews.com or via iPhone web application pages at www.iphone.com/webapps. The new service offers a full multimedia experience, from photo galleries of sports events to spot video coverage of the presidential campaign. Users can select news from their hometown, business destination or favorite cities, share stories, photos and video with friends and rate the information they receive.

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Locy, Former 'USA Today' Reporter, Using Her 'Anthrax' Contempt Case To Teach J-School Students

Sat, 15 Mar 2008 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Joe Strupp - Mar. 15 (Interview) - Locy says the timing is somewhat of a surprise given that Hatfill's attorneys had said two months ago they were ready to go to trial. "They said in January they were ready to go without my information," she said. "Suddenly, now it is crucial. That raises a question. It is either crucial or it isn't.... this case points out the need to require judges and lawyers to pursue all other avenues for information before going to reporter sources.

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Benson, Ex-Mormon Cartoonist, Says Romney Not Telling Truth

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:00 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Dave Astor - Dec. 20 (News Report) - "When Mitt says he belongs to a church that doesn't tell him what to do, that's false; it's a 24/7, do-what-you're-told-to-do church," asserted Benson, who won the Pulitzer Prize for editorial cartooning in 1993..... Benson -- who was contacted by E&P for this story -- said journalists have basically given Romney a free pass on the "fundamental contradiction" between being an observant Mormon and a U.S. president. "Most journalists don't know about actual Mormon teachings and practices," noted the cartoonist, adding that they instead see the religion as perhaps "strange" but "rather benign."

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Bill Clinton, on 'Charlie Rose' Show, Suggests Obama Not Ready

Sat, 15 Dec 2007 04:35:01 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell - Dec. 15 (News Report) - NEW YORK In a surprisingly frank interview with Charlie Rose on his PBS show late Friday night, former President Bill Clinton declared that his wife was not only far better prepared ...

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'Wash Post' Cartoonist Mocks Own Paper Over Obama Story

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 09:12:51 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell, Dave Astor - Dec. 01 (News Analysis) - NEW YORK Tom Toles, the Pulitzer-winning editorial cartoonist for The Washington Post, has never been afraid to take on his own paper's coverage in the past (as E&P has documented) and he does it again today, joining a blogosphere chorus of critics of a story about Barack Obama. Toles told E&P today he had received no negative reaction from Post editors so far. He said this is the latest example of the creative freedom given him by the Post, which often publishes editorial content (on topics such as the Iraq War) more conservative than the cartoonist's views. It all started yesterday with a front-page story by Perry Bacon that, to many readers, seemed to needlessly -- not to say, unfairly -- play up completely unfounded rightwing rumors about Sen. Obama. The piece opened: "In his speeches and often on the Internet, the part of Sen. Barack Obama's biography that gets the most attention is not his race but his connections to the Muslim world. "Since declaring his candidacy for president in February, Obama, a member of a congregation of the United Church of Christ in Chicago, has had to address assertions that he is a Muslim or that he had received training in Islam in Indonesia, where he lived from ages 6 to 10. While his father was an atheist and his mother did not practice religion, Obama's stepfather did occasionally attend services at a mosque there. "Despite his denials, rumors and e-mails circulating on the Internet continue to allege that Obama (D-Ill.) is a Muslim, a 'Muslim plant' in a conspiracy against America...." The Toles cartoon shows a reader looking at an article in an unnamed paper with the headline: "Obama's eating of vegetables fuels rumors about him."

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Montel Williams Threatens Reporters, Apologizes

Sat, 01 Dec 2007 19:17:43 -0800

Editor & Publisher - Dec. 01 (News Report) - SAVANNAH Talk show host Montel Williams has apologized for an angry confrontation with reporters who said he threatened them. Williams -- in Savannah to promote a program giving free prescriptions to low-income people -- became upset with a reporter's question Friday and terminated an interview. When the Savannah Morning-News reporters later returned to the hotel for an unrelated assignment, he approached one of them -- high school student Courtney Scott, an intern at the newspaper. "As we were preparing to film, Montel walked up with his bodyguard and got in Courtney Scott's face pointing his finger telling her 'Don't look at me like that. Do you know who I am? I'm a big star, and I can look you up, find where you live and blow you up,'" said Joseph Cosey, a web content producer for the newspaper. "At this time he was randomly pointing at all of us."

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First FAS-FAX Numbers: Many Top Papers Take Big Hits

Mon, 05 Nov 2007 16:59:38 -0800

Editor & Publisher - By Jennifer Saba - Nov. 05 (News Report) - NEW YORK The Audit Bureau of Circulations released circulation numbers for more than 700 daily newspapers this morning for the six-month period ending September 2007. Of the top 25 papers in daily circulation (see chart, separate story), only four showed gains.

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CPJ Issues Warning On Press Crackdown in Pakistan

Sun, 04 Nov 2007 00:00:00 -0700

Editor & Publisher - Nov. 04 (News Report) - The government of President Pervez Musharraf should withdraw the severe restrictions it has placed on Pakistan's news media and allow independent television and radio stations to resume coverage of the country's political crisis, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today. "President Musharraf's drastic steps to silence news coverage make a mockery of his often repeated claims to have fostered free and open media," said Joel Simon, CPJ's executive director, in a statemetn. "We share the fear that many journalists have expressed to us--that critical members of the press will be silenced by being thrown in jail, as has happened to opposition politicians and critics in civil society." ABC News reported later this afternoon: "As Pakistanis awoke Sunday to a strict new political reality, the most visible sign of emergency rule was the harsh clampdown on the private media. Pakistan's Electronic Media Regulating Authority (PEMRA) issued an order that bans the media from making any reports 'that defame or bring into ridicule' President Pervez Musharraf, his administration or the military. "Any editor who violates the order can face up to a year in jail or a 5 million rupee fine ($83,000). "In a speech to the nation on Saturday night, Musharraf said he invoked emergency powers in a bid to control a pro-Taliban insurgency that's spinning out of control here. But immediate actions by his government instead appeared to target the media, opposition politicians and the judiciary....

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Ousted 'Star Tribune' Editorial Editor Says Global Issues Are Important

Thu, 27 Sep 2007 10:25:04 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Joe Strupp - Sep. 27 (News Analysis) - NEW YORK During her 14 years running the editorial page of the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, Susan Albright always saw the paper as a major daily worthy of national and international issues. "My general approach is to have more of a big city metro paper role in my mind," Albright said a day after the paper announced she was leaving in a dispute with Publisher Chris Harte over editorial topics. "That means the idea of presenting local, some national and some international." But Harte, who recently took over for ousted Publisher Par Ridder, had different views. He apparently wants an editorial page with more local focus, something Albright did not want. "I can see how a new publisher might want someone to carry on their vision," Albright told E&P. "I think Chris should talk about what he wants." Harte's office declined to comment beyond a release issued earlier today in which he stated: "We have a professional disagreement about the role of the editorial pages and how they should be edited. The main shift I want to see is toward even more locally focused editorial pages.

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Two of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote 'NYT' Op-Ed Die in Iraq

Wed, 12 Sep 2007 05:25:02 -0700

Editor & Publisher - By Greg Mitchell - Sep. 12 (News Report) - The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago. Now two of the seven are dead. Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident in western Baghdad, two of seven U.S. troops killed in the incident which was reported just as Gen. David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress in the "surge." The names have just been released.

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Not Exactly a Shock: Gordon of 'NYT' Offers Defense of 'Surge' Progress

Fri, 07 Sep 2007 19:42:55 -0700

Editor & Publisher - Sep. 07 (News Analysis) - Michael R. Gordon, whose articles have continually backed the U.S. involvement in Iraq -- going back to his faulty WMD reporting before the war -- appears on Saturday with another major piece given prominent play by The New York Times. Gordon's looks at the much-disputed numbers on the alleged drop in violence and death in Iraq since the "surge" began and comes out on the side of those who claim much progress. The numbers, however, have drawn criticism from many others at rival news outlets in the past week. Gordon doesn't buy the criticism but does offer these words of caution: "Can the drop be sustained over the coming months, especially with the approach of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month in which violence has often increased"

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