Category: Media Beat column

An Associated Press dispatch from a Thai fishing village summed up the media spin a few days ago: “Former President Bill Clinton’s voice trembled with emotion as he and George H.W. Bush put aside their once-bitter political rivalry…” Ever since his initial checked-out responses to the catastrophic tsunami two months ago drew worldwide derision, the…

When I think of newspaper journalists who became authors and had enormous impacts on media criticism in the United States, two names come to mind. One is George Seldes. As a young man, he covered the First World War and then reported on historic events in Europe for the Chicago Tribune from1919 until 1928. Seldes…

Since the 1950s, many young Americans have first encountered critiques of mass media in the pages of Mad. With its intricate cartoons and satirical sendups, the monthly magazine gained a reputation for skewering politicians, advertisers, TV shows and a variety of print outlets. One of Mad’s recurrent shticks has involved making fun of gaps between…

Curiosity may occasionally kill a cat. But lack of curiosity is apt to terminate journalism with extreme prejudice. "We will not set an artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would embolden the terrorists and make them believe they can wait us out," President Bush said in his State of the Union address. "We are…

"The story today is going to be very discouraging to the American people," President Bush said at a news conference Wednesday, hours after 37 American troops died in Iraq. "I understand that. We value life. And we weep and mourn when soldiers lose their life." How long will the U.S. news media continue to indulge…