‘I’ve dreamed a dream’

It’s always easier to cry ‘that isn’t news’ and to condemn the ‘media’ in general.
But make no mistake about it, the overnight celebrity of Susan Boyle — aka ‘the woman who shut up Simon Cowell’ — is very much news.
No, her story isn’t as critical as the global recession. Her story won’t save lives or [...]

The 10 most overlooked stories of 2008

Newsweek takes its annual look at the stories that were glossed over or ignored completely in favor of a pregnant man and Casey Anthony.
The Iraq War, horrific violence in the Congo and President Bush’s expansion in AIDS Relief funding unfortunately made the magazine’s “10 Most Overlooked Stories of 2008.”
Sad sidenote: The ‘most viewed’ Newsweek stories (at the time of [...]

2009

The economic meltdown. The Obama-McCain campaigns. Financial bailouts. Plummeting consumer confidence.
This blog missed all of those stories – but with 2009 just hours away also comes a promise to follow the news, scrutinize the news and demand the news inform rather than entertain base impulses.

JonBenet: Still dead.

Somehow, someway JonBenet Ramsey is back in the news.

She shouldn’t have been news in 1996. She shouldn’t have been news outside of Denver. The story should have been buried before JonBenet was.
And it’s NOT news today. This is a case study of news judgment gone insane.
But according to MSNBC, the top news of the day is the [...]

Tim Russert: 1950-2008

Remembering a man whose body of work set the standard of determining ‘what is news’ – and whose style established a new standard for thorough, insightful, thoughtful and reliable journalism.
If it’s Sunday …

More on ‘Prince Harry-Afghanistan’ media embargo

Here’s some more points of view on the ‘Prince Harry in Afghanistan’ embargo:
“Prince Harry blackout sets a bad media precedent” – Marketwatch’s Jon Friedman: “The argument goes that it was in Britain’s national interest to keep Prince Harry’s whereabouts hidden. What bollocks! Sorry, but this doesn’t seem like a case of national security. I don’t [...]

Nelson Muntz on the newspaper biz

And now, a thought on the current newspaper industry from the ‘I Ching’ of our society … The Simpsons
The ‘E. Pluribus Wiggum’ episode had this little piece of wisdom regarding the media’s election primary coverage…
“What about the media? They’re not covering the issues – they just want to declare a front runner and go back [...]

The name, face of a ‘monster’

Now here’s a problem that vastly pre-dates Omaha mall gunman Robert Hawkins.
Does simply covering the shootings play into the delusions of grandeur of a suicidal gunman?
A local pundit recently put in his two cents on the matter.

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 [...]

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 [...]