Gatekeeper

Scott Brown's Twitter trouble

Sun, 27 Jan 2013 22:16:26 GMT

Most politicians delegate their Twitter account to platitude-producing staffers, all of whom excel in a genre of writing I think of as Bland Earnestness. Im looking at you @MarkeyMemo, @JohnBoehner and @DevalPatrick. After U.S. Sen. Scott Brown lost his bid...

Manti Teo hoax a failure by major media

Tue, 22 Jan 2013 13:48:01 GMT

In all the media ruckus over the story of Notre Dame star linebacker Manti Teo, who made up a story about the death of his girlfriend, one obvious fact has been little remarked upon: the complete failure of a surprisingly...

Start your own hyperlocal radio station

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 15:45:19 GMT

In a little-noticed action just after Thanksgiving, the Federal Communications Commission opened the door for hundreds and hundreds of community groups and nonprofit organization to start hyperlocal radio stations. Until its November decision, the FCC had prohibited low-power FM stations...

Hunting the spectral sources who mention candidates

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 14:14:31 GMT

Over the past few weeks, The Mentioners have been busy. You know who I mean those ghostly presences who mention that so-and-so should be considered a candidate for such-and-such an elective office. In a Friday op-ed, the Globes Lawrence...

Pundit Prediction Scorecard: Rating 25 election oracles

Wed, 07 Nov 2012 15:34:23 GMT

I compiled a list of pundit predictions the day before the election using Google searches, an article by Evan Hughes at The Awl, an article by Adam Pascik at New York Magazine, and The Washington Post Outlooks Sixteenth Crystal Ball...

Too many stories and useless speculation about political polls

Mon, 22 Oct 2012 13:04:02 GMT

All models are wrong, but some are useful. George E.P. Box, past president of the American Statistical Association As I write this, a search of my Twitter timeline for poll turns up seven tweets about six different polls, including...

Howie Carr says Mitt Romney is a phony

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 16:27:01 GMT

Howie on Warrens House of Lies shouted the front page on Sundays Boston Herald, and house of lies did duty as a heavy-handed pun: Howie Carrs column featured a comparison (and photos) of Warrens and Republican Senator Scott Browns houses....

Watching the post-debate TV analysts

Thu, 04 Oct 2012 05:08:54 GMT

I spent an hour after last nights debate flipping through the news networks for the part of a presidential debate that matters most: what the post-debate analysts said. It took just about that long for the conventional wisdom that...

CNN values a scoop more than simple human decency

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 13:09:16 GMT

Journalism ethics have been much discussed, taught, argued about and codified. I can understand why, but Ive always believed the first word in the phrase journalism ethics matters far less than the second. If you want to be an ethical...

Fact-checkers blurring the line between facts and meaning

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 13:28:12 GMT

Never have journalists and non-partisan organizations published as much fact-checking of candidates speeches, TV ads and press conference statements as this election season, and for the most part the fact-checks provide a useful and valuable service to the public discourse....

Boston Globe, local pundits treat plagiarism case too lightly

Mon, 10 Sep 2012 13:33:58 GMT

I had not intended to write about the Globes plagiarized August 17 editorial, even though the Boston Herald whacked me upside the head for not doing so, because I had just written two blog posts about the Fareed Zakaria plagiarism...

The sad, inevitable decline of The Boston Phoenix

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:01:11 GMT

Some time this month, The Boston Phoenix as weve known it for more than 40 years will cease to exist. A new publication created from the merger of Stuff Magazine and The Boston Phoenix will take its place a...

Zakaria, Lehrer and journalisms terrible, horrible, no good, very bad week

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 16:55:48 GMT

Twenty-seven percent of Americans, according to a December 2011 Gallup poll, rate the honesty and ethical standards of journalists as low or very low. Real estate agents and bankers (bankers?) get about the same rating. After this past week, Im...

Fareed Zakaria: Another plagiarism scandal, another wrist slap

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:20:07 GMT

Those of us in journalism had barely finished wincing our way through The New Yorkers Jonah Lehrer fabrication scandal he had to resign in disgrace when the eminent and ubiquitous Fareed Zakaria got caught plagiarizing. Theres a difference:...

The media loves Olympic sports

Tue, 31 Jul 2012 20:16:32 GMT

My sister, whose young daughter is already an accomplished gymnast, is going to give me an earful when she reads this, but here goes: Is gymnastics really a sport? Or is it a sport? The American Heritage Dictionary (the best...

WBUR, WGBH stalemated in Boston public radio war

Tue, 24 Jul 2012 20:31:22 GMT

Out running errands at 11:30 Saturday morning, I tuned the car radio to the always amusing Wait Wait Dont Tell Me on WGBH-FM. While I was in the supermarket, though, I missed part of the show. No problem. At...

The media keeps calling Obama-Romney campaign nasty it isnt

Mon, 16 Jul 2012 13:45:48 GMT

Perhaps journalists most popular adjective to describe a campaign is nasty (dirty is a whole 'nother level) even when the campaign isnt nasty. Theyre doing it now, in the presidential campaign between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Over and over...

Get ready for Thursdays Supreme Court media frenzy

Wed, 27 Jun 2012 13:39:22 GMT

Reporters, editors, producers, commentators, talk show hosts, bloggers and about a billion PR people will be setting their alarms extra early tonight: The Supreme Court is expected to hand down its decision on the constitutionality in whole or in...

WGBH cuts back jazz programming: No place for music on public radio?

Fri, 22 Jun 2012 22:00:55 GMT

Bostons WGBH-FM announced two days ago a major cut in its jazz programming, replacing Jazz on WGBH With Eric Jackson, which runs Monday through Thursday nights from 8 p.m. to midnight, with more news and talk. Erics show will be...

BIO 2012 convention bars some, but not all, media from keynote event

Tue, 19 Jun 2012 19:33:32 GMT

The Globe reported a couple of hours ago that BIO 2012, a trade association's annual convention for the biotech industry, barred reporters from mass-circulation publications from its keynote luncheon at the Boston Convention & Exhibition Center today but allowed reporters...