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“It’s not that we control NewsFeed, you control NewsFeed…” Facebook: please...
Of course Facebook doesn’t “edit” NewsFeed in the same way that a newspaper editor once edited the front page. It’s a very different way. That’s why we’re asking about it! I’ve met some of the people...
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On the deep grammar of the White House Correspondents Association Dinner
“The Washington press corps is like that big extended family with a terrible secret that cannot be confronted because everyone knows how bad it would be if the discussion ever got real.” Have you ever...
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Campaign reporters: you are granted no “role in the process.” It is your...
Forget it: there is no guaranteed “role.” That’s a fiction you and your colleagues created to keep the game the same every four years. So Chris Cillizza of the Washington Post — whose mission in life...
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The announcement that NBC did not make about Brian Williams getting a second...
They had an opportunity to rid themselves of toxic anchorman syndrome and credibility collapse via celebrity behavior. But no… This from Jonathan Mahler is dead on: NBC’s handling of Mr. Williams...
View Article“I need people who can make good decisions without tilting it toward the...
I often ask editors and executives at news companies what kind of people they’re looking to hire. These two answers I get a lot. The first: “Know any developers who want to work in news?” (No, sorry.)...
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Huffington Post says it will frame Trump’s campaign as entertainment. I...
“Newsrooms should be more up front with us about how they classify the candidates. Can’t even take the guy seriously? Tell us!” This was the entire announcement. Lets look at it again: [Huff Post...
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With its curation product Twitter becomes an editorial beast. Does this beast...
At a recent event produced by the NY Daily News Innovation Lab, I had a chance to interview Adam Sharp, head of news, government and elections at Twitter, and Niketa Patel, news partnerships manager....
View ArticleBlogging is doing your work in public.
Fair warning: self-referential post. Not into granular reflections on shifts in blogging practice? Best to turn back now. If you are, well— Best I have seen at it is Melody Kramer, recently of NPR,...
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So I will try to explain why the Trump candidacy has been so confounding to...
Those “laws of political gravity?” They were never really laws. From a week ago on Twitter: @jayrosen_nyu @alansmurray the press mostly just doesn't have the gatekeeping power it once had. (And of...
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Tone poem for the “leave it there” press
When journalists try to distance themselves from our hyper-polarized politics something has to be said. Here is my little attempt to say it. This person — a political journalist: intelligent, informed...
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“Influential news outlets have set aside traditional notions of balance…”
Something happened in journalism two weeks ago that I want to examine before we all forget about it and election season rolls on. On December 8, Ben Smith, editor-in-chief of Buzzfeed and before that a...
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The Adelson forces buy a newspaper, journalists fight back: a journal of my...
The family of billionaire Sheldon Adelson bought the most widely-read newspaper in Nevada, the Review-Journal. They then tried to conceal this act. These are my posts, as I’ve followed and tried to...
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Journalists as ‘hit squad:’ Connecting the dots on Sheldon Adelson, the...
In which I give my opinion — an educated guess — about what I think happened, and call on GateHouse Media executives to level with us. It’s been more than three weeks since Politico’s Ken Doctor,...
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“We temporarily lost our minds.” Some thoughts on SB Nation’s Daniel...
This is a key moment for Vox Media and its internal culture, which has been one of the company’s strengths. Vox can emerge a better, wiser, tougher company but only if the truthtelling is real— and...
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A few things to keep in mind when you’re angry, frustrated, or bored with...
This began as an email I was going to send to a reporter who asked me for comment on the complaints of Bernie Sanders supporters about unfair treatment. I decided to post it. I do realize it will...
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“Depends on your point of view…” These are weasel words for political...
I often comment on the absurdity of the relentlessly down-the-middle approach cultivated by CNN, PBS, NPR and other “mainstream” news organizations. I don’t trust this style. I think it is practiced in...
View ArticleFacebook backs off on the View from Nowhere
Today Facebook released a document it calls: News Feed Values. It’s a start on beginning to define some editorial priorities. Even a start — and that’s all this is — is news, though. Because for a long...
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To have a prayer of meeting the interpretive challenge posed by the Trump...
Last week in the Washington Post I said that journalists covering the candidacy of Donald Trump may have to come up with novel responses. Here I elaborate by asking you examine this image: That’s the...
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Getting granular with NPR’s culture of timidity
NPR would not call it plagiarism when Melania Trump’s speech to the Republican convention took passages from Michelle Obama. But there was a revealing moment when its people defended this policy...
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Asymmetry between the major parties fries the circuits of the mainstream press
And five other ideas I use to interpret campaign coverage this year. On the eve of the first debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, I thought I would write down some of the precepts and...
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