All Blog Posts from Public Eye

Welcome to the snowglobe that is Washington, DC this morning.

(Yes, those of you playing “Holiday News Bingo,” feel free to block off the center top square.)

And one of the minor little media flurries we’re mucking through? A dubious Washington Post front page story last week entitled “Foes Use Obama's Muslim Ties to Fuel Rumors About Him.”

According to to The Politico the piece has become a huge point of contention:

The Washington Post is accustomed to criticism of its coverage from the right and left blogospheres, but a Nov. 29 front page story about Barack Obama’s rumored Muslim ties came with a twist: Many voices within its own newsroom joined in the firestorm…

Since Thursday, there have been angry e-mails, Hamilton said, and allegations that the Post is swift-boating the Illinois senator by discussing rumors at length, without mentioning whether they’ve been thoroughly discredited by other media.

The Columbia Journalism Review folks jumped in as well:

In the front-page piece, [author Perry] Bacon muses over how the chances of Barack Obama getting elected president might be affected by the fact that he’s not Muslim. Seriously. To build his case, Bacon stumbles artlessly through all manner of rumor, innuendo, and xenophobic smear—never bothering to refute any of it, even though there is plenty of well-documented evidence to knock down much of this stuff.

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On yesterday’s “Reliable Sources” – after Howard Kurtz put himself on the not-so-hot seat and fielded questions from Gail Shister, David Folkenflik and Frank Sesno about his book – a discussion was held regarding a certain conservative blonde author that made news last week. (Again)

She was the topic of conversation due to her comment on CNBC’s “The Big Idea With Donnie Deutsch” that Jews need to be perfected, territory well traveled by Eric Deggans down at the St. Petersburg Times last week.

(Much like I did with a story about a certain intolerant religious sect in August, I’m not going to add a news clip to this author's stack by naming her.)

But back to the “Reliable Sources” conversation. The panel discussed the concept of whether or not to give this particular author airtime, with Sesno adding:

I think we have a responsibility to challenge her when she says these things, to force her into a corner and at some point to say, "You know what? This is not credible anymore. You don't deserve this real estate, because all you're trying to do is outrage."

The kneejerk response to this, of course, is “Preach on, Frank!” But then if you break down the metaphor of airtime as real estate, his argument loses a bit of “oomph” – particularly if you look at TV news programming like the board

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Book publishers aren’t known for being coy. When they’ve got a book coming out that they want you to know about, they’ll carpet-bomb you with more information than you could ever care to ask about.

So it was ver-r-r-r-r-y curious when a Simon and Schuster representative contacted me via an alias e-mail and said – with the surreptitious nature of a corner drug dealer – “Free Press has an embargoed book coming out soon that we’d like to send to you. Do you have a mailing address where I can send that within the next few weeks?”

Hmmmmmmm. I tried to find out what the hubbub was about, but the book representative wasn’t taking the bait.

But in the days since, it’s all become clear. Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz has a book out today called “Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War.” The Post featured an exclusive excerpt yesterday.

(Yes, I realize this is the second post today about a book. What is this, Book TV?)

So I caught up with Kurtz – who is in the middle of a media tour, including “The Daily Show” – via e-mail and asked him a pair of questions about the book...

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This week’s budding controversy at The New Republic is an interesting example of how journalism has changed in the Internet age. The rapid-fire pace of news gathering and disseminating has sped up the entire journalistic process ... and its detractors.

For example, check out this week's timeline in The New Republic case. The magazine – which fell prey to a dishonest contributor a decade ago, a story made into the movie “Shattered Glass” – is facing new allegations.

Saturday, July 21: The Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz reports on allegations being made about The New Republic’s “Baghdad Diarist” – an ongoing series (3 so far) of reports filed by a soldier in Iraq. Critics had begun to assail the contributor for potential falsehoods in his reporting

Tuesday, July 24: The New York Times advances the story, featuring a quote from the magazine’s editor committing “the full resources of the magazine” into investigating the concerns.

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In Howard Kurtz’s piece today, he writes of a growing trend in MediaLand: E-interviews.

He writes:

In the digital age, some executives and commentators are saying they will respond only by e-mail, which allows them to post the entire exchange if they feel they have been misrepresented, truncated or otherwise disrespected. And some go further, saying, You want to know what I think? Read my blog.

You might think this is taking things a bit too far, but it makes a lot of sense. When you’re contacted by a reporter, you want to come across as more knowledgable than the next guy. And clever. Clever’s very important. (And if you get really good, maybe Syracuse will give you your own department.)

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"…all the commentary I've seen and in analysis on the air today, it's all about what the prosecutor did wrong, how the legal system didn't work -- very little about the media's role here in pumping this up into a national frenzy. The legal miscarriage of justice in this case, Paula, ended today. But the media miscarriage and the stains from that are going to linger for a long time."

--Howard Kurtz, talking about the media's culpability in the Duke rape case last night on CNN.

"Hey Howie -- just thought you'd like to know that in the bars and diners and gyms across America, nobody is talking about the so-called feud between Clinton and Obama. It's just you media pinheads that think it's a big deal."

--A Columbus, Ohio resident, commenting in a Web chat with Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. Responded Kurtz, in part: "It was an absolutely legitimate story. Having said that, the story ran its course days ago and we should give it a rest."

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"Hey Howie -- just thought you'd like to know that in the bars and diners and gyms across America, nobody is talking about the so-called feud between Clinton and Obama. It's just you media pinheads that think it's a big deal."

--A Columbus, Ohio resident, commenting in a Web chat with Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz. Responded Kurtz, in part: "It was an absolutely legitimate story. Having said that, the story ran its course days ago and we should give it a rest."

Ragging on reporters is turning into a complicated racket.



Case in point: a story in today's edition of The New York Times about Howard Kurtz of the Times' archrival, The Washington Post.



Consider this: you are now reading an item in a media blog about a story in a newspaper about a reporter who writes about the media for another newspaper and talks about the media for another network.



If you care to comment in my entry, you will be commenting about an item in a media blog about a story in a newspaper about a reporter who writes about the media for another newspaper and talks about the media for another network.



If I respond to your post, I will be…. You get the picture.



It is easy and tempting to merely make fun of this kind of gazing at a navel-gazer's navel-gazing. But wait: I may have a point beyond comedy!



As self-involved as the Times' piece on Kurtz and this little piece right here may be, it all adds up, I am beginning to believe, to something like a free market, checking-and-balancing press police system that may -- may -- benefit the reporting business at a time when economic market forces are all scary.

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