Across The Media Universe: The iPhone Is Like A Rare Diamond Edition
"This program shouldn't have to resort to segments that are longer on emotion than news," he said. He did suggest, however, that his may be a minority opinion: "Perhaps America craves the spectacle of furious mothers railing against a flawed legal system."
"The Great And Terrible [Steve] Jobs": On the Media's Bob Garfield, noticing that the unveiling of the iPod was received by the public much like, oh, I don't know, the Beatles' first appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, asked Wired's Mac columnist Pete Mortenson this question: "When the 2,000 journalists are standing there in the midst of this frenzy, what happens to their skepticism?"
Said Mortenson: "As soon as he held up the actual iPhone, it all dropped away, and everyone wanted one. It's embarrassing, but you can't help but feel sucked into it."
Mortenson later suggested the most amusing aspect of all the breathless coverage: "What's really funny is that all of the incredibly positive coverage that the iPhone has received has come with barely anyone actually touching it. You know, it's a device that's about manipulation with your fingers, but at Macworld, Apple keeps it under lock and key. It's in a glass case, like a rare diamond. You can't really find flaws with something when you've only seen it demonstrated by the great and terrible Jobs."
The State of the Union is…: Gear up your State of the Union drinking game materials, America. Next Tuesday is the big day. And with that, the Atlanta Journal Constitution's Window on Washington blog has some news for you: "If history is instructive, it's a good bet [President Bush will] assure us that the state of the union is strong."
Let's go to the transcripts:
Bush 2006: "Tonight the state of the union is strong, and together we will make it stronger."
Bush 2005: " … the state of the union is confident and strong."
Bush 2004: " … the American people are showing that the state of our union is confident and strong."
Bush 2003: "In a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is sure; our resolve is firm; and our union is strong."
Bush 2002: "As we gather tonight, our nation is at war; our economy is in recession; and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers. Yet the state of our union has never been stronger."
From President Bill Clinton we got much of the same, except for in 1994, when there was no mention of the union's strength, "perhaps because of TelePromoter screw-up at start of speech," writes AJC.