Fox News does not prepare you for questions about news: The study concludes that media sources have a significant impact on the number of questions that people were able to answer correctly. The largest effect is that of Fox News: all else being equal, someone who watched only Fox News would be expected to answer […]
Media
Posted inMedia
YouTuber Sagely Advises “Watch the Background”
I’m sure there’s a very important and tragic story being reported here—but it’s kind of hard to concentrate with that shirtless dude in the background. Note to person who filmed this: Thank you SO MUCH for advising me to “Watch the background.” Otherwise, I may have missed the subtle shirtless dude falling out of a […]
Posted inMedia
Things Get Pretty Exciting over at Bloomberg TV
Guys! As a newspapering person, I realize that sometimes the news moves a little too quickly to make sure everything is exactly right—but take it from someone with experience in this arena. There’s only one thing to really remember: ZIPPERS UP, SKIRTS DOWN. (In this reporter’s defense, she made a remarkable recovery.)
Posted inMedia
Another Amazing Column from Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Neil Steinburg
Chicago Sun-Times columnist Neil Steinberg’s editors asked him to find and profile a busy stay-at-home mom for Mother’s Day. Neil put a call out on his Facebook page for a woman with three or more small children. He heard about a woman with four children under the age of five—including one set of triplets—and she […]
Posted inMedia
What’s He Building in There?
Sometime this summer, Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh is expected to launch his new site, Circa. Circa is supposed to be a reimagining of news sites for the web. Of course, news has been reimagined for the web dozens of times now, and the most successful reimaginations to date involve aggregating un-reimagined news sources as a […]
Posted inMedia
The Economist Weighs In on Bullshitgate
This line stung: “A couple of weeks ago Dan Savage… gave the right a gift.” I certainly did, Economist, and I certainly regret it. But The Economist calls bullshh… comes to my defense: However poorly Mr Savage may have been treated in high school, it was not by the students in the audience, and they […]
Posted inMedia
Savage’s Great New Shitstorm
A couple weeks ago, Dan Savage delivered a keynote address at the National High School Journalism Convention, during which he spoke some true (if expletive-ridden) words about what the Bible has gotten wrong throughout history. Then came this top headline on the Drudge Report: “Anti-Bullying Speaker Curses Christian Teens.” Here’s video of what Dan said […]
Posted inMedia
WWeek Publisher Defends Free Ads for Wife’s AG Campaign
In his epic nerd rant yesterday, Mercury Senior Editor Erik Henriksen noticed something curious about Willamette Week‘s endorsement spread this week: It sat directly next to a full-page ad on behalf of publisher Richard Meeker’s wife—attorney general candidate Ellen Rosenblum, whose race the paper’s editor and co-owner, Mark Zusman, has declined to cover. It wasn’t […]
Posted inMedia
The Daily Show on Fox News’ Sudden Love for Romney
You’ll laugh till you puke. The Daily ShowGet More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook
Posted inMedia
Conservative Provocateur Takes on the Bus Project
Yesterday, the Oregon Tea Party released video of chat it recently had with James O’Keefe, the activist whose videos—cobbled through the use of hidden cameras and some painstakingly thought-out editing—wound up embarrassing and/or annoying NPR, ACORN, and others. O’Keefe’s latest target? He says it’s the Oregon Bus Project, the group that Jefferson Smith founded before […]
Posted inMedia
Congrats, Sis! The Stranger Wins a Pulitzer!
A hearty and well-deserved congratulations to our sister paper The Stranger up in Seattle, and associate editor Eli Sanders (whose stories and blog posts also occasionally run on Blogtown and in the Merc) for winning a Pulitzer Prize for Journalism in the “Feature Writing” category! Here’s what the Pulitzer peeps had to say: For a […]