Reading Time: 2 minutes There’s some fancy footwork going on, but the New York Times doesn’t seem willing to deal with it head on. Let’s consider a short section of an article on the New York Times’ website, headlined U.S. Plans ‘for Worst’ in Gulf, Seeing Risk in Leak Strategy. The section deals with BP’s culpability: Mr. Dudley denied Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes Just read breaking news that the Texas Rangers baseball team—the entity that put George W. Bush on the path to the presidency–has filed for bankruptcy. According to Bloomberg News: The Texas Rangers, the Major League Baseball team controlled by billionaire Thomas Hicks, filed for bankruptcy after the planned sale of the team fell through. The Arlington, Texas-based Read More
Reading Time: 3 minutes Recently a New York Times Magazine article profiled Cass Sunstein, the most powerful man in government you never heard of. And it absolutely buried the lead—the main reason to take an interest in this fellow. Under the decidedly benign headline “Cass Sunstein Wants to Nudge Us,” we learn that Sunstein, a close friend of President Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes I’m constantly struck by ways in which the privileged and the powerful manage to define the terms of discussion. Things like “welfare reform” and “compassionate conservatism.” Hard to be against those things, unless one knows something about what the nasty business they really involve. Thus, I was intrigued by a recent essay from Martin Lobel, Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes A recent column from Nicholas Kristof illustrates, almost inadvertently, why the rise of new, less cautious media organizations (like-well, whowhatwhy.org) is so crucial. Headlined “New Alarm Bells About Chemicals and Cancer,” the essay describes a new report on cancer from a presidential board …warning that our lackadaisical approach to regulation may have far-reaching consequences for Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes An article about financial reform legislation seems too little, too late—and points out the need for better journalism in this area. Headlined “Senate Financial Bill Misguided, Some Academics Say,” this New York Times article of May 3 was buried on Page A16 of the paper edition, and easily missable on the website. Note the warning Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute What if many, even most, of the detainees at places like Guantanamo turned out to be innocent? What if the physical and psychological trauma to which they have been subjected, and the resulting generation of rage at the United States, was all unnecessary? Would that be a big story? Well—duh. Yet check this out: Col. Read More
Reading Time: 2 minutes Did you hear the one about Jenna Bush interviewing Bill Clinton? No, this is not a joke. Last year, NBC’s Today Show hired George W. Bush’s daughter, Jenna Bush Hager, a teacher, as an occasional correspondent. She recently sat down for a chat with Clinton. It was aw-shucks softball all the way. One revealing thing: Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute A little-noted presidential golf outing opens the door to an intrigue-filled world of financiers, murky international interests, money-laundering, tax evasion, and politics as not-so-usual. — Last August, the presidential press corps followed Barack Obama and his family to Martha’s Vineyard for their brief vacation. The coverage focused on summery fare—a visit to an ice cream Read More
Reading Time: < 1 minute Timeless morsels are, well, timeless. Hence, I bring to your attention this phase from an early-March article in the New York Times. The reporter, writing about the Iraqi elections, noted [T]he elections may be a cautionary lesson, as politicians struggle to cobble together a coalition to rule. Iraq’s politics are more vibrant than the institutions Read More