Sean Taylor – victim of fatal shooting, character assassination

“Sean Taylor was not a good citizen. … Did his past catch up with him?”
This was the “eulogy” that one Seattle-area radio talk show host made for the slain NFL player. (Background: Taylor, a safety for the Washington Redskins, died Tuesday morning of massive blood loss after being shot in the leg. At the time [...]

The Most Useless Star in Hollywood …

The first thing I do when I walk into work is glance at what’s running on CNN on the lobby TV. It’s more of a reflex than anything else.
Today I stepped into work a little earlier than usual, so I didn’t expect to see ‘Showbiz Tonight’ on the boob tube. Today’s riveting topic: ‘Who is [...]

‘Floundering’ Fred fights Fox (sorry for the alliteration)

Republican candidate Fred Thompson recently said that Fox News’ coverage of his campaign has been anything but fair and balanced because he says Fox always routinely describes the Thompson campaign as ‘floundering.’
Thompson recently made the remarks in a recent appearance on ‘Fox News Sunday’ – but this is not about taking shots at Fox News, a network [...]

A moment I’m thankful for …

It’s moments like this that sustain my belief in the general wisdom of journalists and maintains my belief that the trend toward ‘info-tainment’ can be righted …
MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski is co-host of the network’s ‘Morning Joe’ program – and her stand in the name of ‘what is news’ is one of – if not THE [...]

Part of the Problem – Not the Solution

Given a long enough time line, all those who purport to report the news fail the journalism gods. I am no different …
Friday afternoon I was tasked to write up a short story write on what could only be referred to as …weak news. In short, it’s the story of a Seattle to Vegas flight [...]

News roundup – 11.16.07

Here’s the lowdown on what the big three networks thought was top news last night (in the order stories were presented) …
CBS Nightly News: Bonds indictment, Veteran’s suicide on the rise, Army desertions up 80 percent since the 80s, Dems debate in Las Vegas, Jena 6 protests in DC, Bangladesh storms, possible new photo of Abraham Lincoln [...]

The evil ‘Killer Cold’

The AP is floating around a story about an evil, mutated variant strain of the common cold known as the ‘Adenovirus’ … which has killed people already … a whopping 10 people … over 18 months … (Link to ABC News version of the ‘killer cold’ story is here)
Yep. This is most certainly NOT a [...]

News roundup – 11.14.07

Here’s the lowdown on what the big three networks thought was news today (in the order stories were presented) …
CBS Nightly News: GAO report indicates flaws in airport/airlines safety, Mortage filings on the rise, Avandia’s new warning indicates risk to heart, FDA may create new class of drugs, foreclosure rates surge in the third quarter, [...]

The elements of journalism

A Seattle Post-Intelligencer columnist, writer Robert Jamieson, briefly addressed the definition of ‘news’ in his column yesterday while writing about the disappearance of a local high school and college basketball star.
(Background: Seattle-area resident Amanda Knox, a student at the University of Washington, was arrested in Italy recently … suspected of murder by way of throat [...]

News roundup – 11.12.07

Here’s the lowdown on what the big three networks thought was news today …
CBS Nightly News: San Francisco oil spill, Report on ‘open’ adoptions, Bhutto under house arrest again, the secret tunnels of Gaza, governmental corruption on tape, crime crackdown by curfew and one family’s sacrifice for the military.
NBC Nightly News: Airlines brace for Thanksgiving [...]

Redesigning news

It’s been in the works for a while, but MSNBC.com has finally launched its redesigned home page. The whole process is being documented at ‘Alpha Channel,’ an MSNBC blog and the site’s new, customizable features will be rolled out in the coming weeks.
Ostensibly, the new look is ‘all about presenting the daily mix of breaking news [...]

Front-page blunders

‘Realtor to the stars’ Linda Stein managed the Ramones and before becoming the real estate agent to Madonna, Sting, Billy Joel, Steven Spielberg and Angelina Jolie. Well, that’s before she took a blunt object upside her head and neck. She was found dead in her $3 million Manhattan apartment.
The arrest of her former aide in [...]

Lou Dobbs & the observer effect

Watching ‘Lou Dobbs Tonight’ on CNN on a nightly basis alone substantiates the necessity and relevance of the continued pursuit of this blog’s mission statement – ‘what is news?’
Honestly, the show could be repackaged as ‘Lou Dobbs Soapbox’ and the only difference is that title would be a little more accurate – Dobbs would NOT have [...]

Three stories. Three TV stations. Three different leads.

This inaugural entry could not have come at a better time …
An integral (and sometimes unfortunate) aspect of my job is to watch the local, Seattle-based TV newscasts at 5 PM. All three network affiliates blast their sounders and preview the stories they’re following – this is often a daily case study in the ‘what [...]