I'd like the panel to discuss the conflict of interest re: the New York Times Jerusalem Bureau Chief Ethan Bronner. Bronner's son serves in the Israeli Defense Forces and readers alerted the New...
Archives for September 2009
The post-newspaper age?
posted by Ralph Ranalli on September 30, 2009
What do Mark Twain and newspapers have in common (besides his many articles)? You can find out when our own Dan Kennedy and Globe Editor Marty Baron take part in a Ford Hall Forum event tomorrow night provocatively titled: "Public Accountablity After the Age of Newspapers."
Marty and Dan will be on hand to discuss and illuminate remarks made by Paul Starr, a Princeton University scholar who earlier this year wrote an essay in The New Republic under the headline: "Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to a New Era of Corruption)."
As always, I'll be looking forward to Dan's take. And if I know Marty, expect an early assertion that news of the demise of the Age of Newspapers has been greatly exaggerated.
More information about the event, which is being co-sponsored and hosted by Suffolk University Law School, can be can be gleaned from the Ford Hall Forum web site. Also, we'll try to get video from the event in this space posted sometime Friday.
New York appellate court throws out Dan Rather lawsuit against CBS
posted by Ralph Ranalli on September 29, 2009
Dan Rather's $70 million fraud and breach-of-contract lawsuit against CBS has been thrown out by a New York state appellate court, which rejected Rather's claims that the network improperly elbowed him off the air after a story about President George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard.
Los Angeles Times reports that the New York Supreme Court appellate division found that CBS did not violate Rather's contract because it did not require the network to actually put him on the air, only to pay him his $6 million annual salary on an accelerated basis if it didn't. Rather's claims that CBS's actions damaged his future earnings potential were dismissed as too speculative.
Rather had alleged that the network's former parent company, Viacom, pressured commissioned a "sham" investigation by former US Attorney General Dick Thornburgh into the Bush story that was designed to appease the White House and its allies in Congress, not find the truth.
Rather was the lead reporter in a 2004 "60 Minutes" report about Bush's military service, which included four memos attributed to a former Texas Air National Guard Commander. Questions about the authenticity of the documents were raised, and CBS News ultimately said it could not prove that they were real and called the airing of the story a "mistake."
The Thornburgh report did not ultimately decide the authenticity of the documents either, but charged that the story violated CBS's responsibility to be fair and accurate. Four CBS staffers were either asked to resign or were fired, while Rather stepped down as anchor of "The CBS Evening News" a few months later.
A possible breakthrough for GlobalPost
posted by Dan Kennedy on September 28, 2009
David Carr’s report in the New York Times that Boston-based GlobalPost will partner with CBS News strikes me as a potentially significant development.
It’s unclear from Carr’s story exactly how much use CBS intends to make of GlobalPost’s journalism. But this could be just the boost that Phil Balboni, Charlie Sennott and company need to keep GlobalPost moving forward.
Particularly eye-catching were a couple of numbers. GlobalPost is reportedly attracting 400,000 unique visitors per month, which appears to impress Carr, but which strikes me as dangerously low — even if it’s as good as could be expected for a new project. (For purposes of comparison, the Boston Globe’s Web site, Boston.com, attracts between 4 million and 5 million unique visitors each month.)
Even worse, only a few hundred people have signed up for premium (paid) membership.
Anyone who’s perused the site, though, knows that GlobalPost’s journalism is both engaging and substantive. With network news divisions cutting their international reporting to the bone, GlobalPost has a real opportunity.
Radio News: WGBH buys WCRB
posted on September 25, 2009
WGBH purchased classical music station WCRB-FM this week. WGBH management plans to convert WGBH-FM into an all news and information format during the day. What is the significance of the move and can the market support it?
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ACORN files a lawsuit
posted on September 25, 2009
The community advocacy organization ACORN is suing the filmmakers who secretly videotaped workers condoning illegal activities. The suit centers on a Maryland law making it illegal to tape someone without consent. They’ve asked for a temporary restraining order to keep the video from being aired anywhere. When and under what conditions should journalists use hidden cameras?
The Boston Globe Reader
posted on September 25, 2009
The Boston Globe is offering an electronic version of the paper that’s different than its web site. Panelist Dan Kennedy likes it so much he cancelled his daily subscription to the Globe. What will GlobeReader mean for the future of the print edition? Plus the latest on the sale of the newspaper.
Journalism school enrollment spikes
posted on September 25, 2009
The newspaper industry is in peril, television has been downsizing. At the same time, there has been a spike in applications and enrollment in journalism schools. What’s behind the rise and interest in journalism schools when media jobs are disappearing?
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Today's Beat the Press
posted by Ralph Ranalli on September 25, 2009
Is it Friday already?
Here's the rundown for this week's broadcast edition of "Beat the Press."
Panel: Emily hosting, Joe, Callie, Dan, and Jon Keller in the guest chair.
Topics: WGBH buys WCRB-FM and takes on powerhouse WBUR in the daytime radio news market, the latest on the Boston Globe soap opera, ACORN fights back with a lawsuit against conservative filmmaker James O'Keefe, and journalism students enrolling in bigger numbers, striking a blow for optimism.
Any thoughts?
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Katie Couric's web presence: "What the heck?"
posted by Kara Miller on September 25, 2009
"Gosh, we've got this wild, wild West of the Internet," Katie Couric says during her first Facebook chat, "Unlimited real estate - doesn't mean anyone's looking at your house. But what the heck?"
It's an awkward, somewhat brave Facebook foray for the flip-flop-clad Couric (who claims she had to ditch her painful heels). But it's also part of a strategy.
The CBS evening news has lagged behind ABC and NBC almost since the beginning of Couric's tenure in 2006. During the 2008-2009 season, for example, Couric raked in just over 6 million viewers, while ABC logged close to 8 million, and NBC topped the competition with nearly 8.7 million. More important, perhaps, Couric did relatively poorly with viewers between 25 and 54 (1.8 million, as opposed to 2.36 and 2.6 for ABC and NBC respectively).
So Couric - who, with Diane Sawyer's arrival, will no longer reign as the only female anchor - is looking to establish a presence online.
(Click "continue" to read more)
Spin control - one newspaper at a time
posted by Ralph Ranalli on September 24, 2009
Numerous resident of Taunton (Mass.) called police earlier this week, complaining that a mysterious man in a tan van had been stealing home delivery copies of the Taunton Daily Gazette, stealing bundles of papers outside of local stores, and buying up stacks of papers at local stores.
The paper reports police detained 46-year-old Roland Hill, who was featured on that day's front page in a story detailing how he and his wife Mary had been arrested by police on numerous child-abuse related charges.
Police let Hill drive away after he produced receipts showing that he paid $21 for some of the papers in his posession. No new charges have yet been filed against Hill, who is already facing counts of aggravated rape and child assault, the paper reported.
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