Product Placement in News Shows; Now There’s a Great Idea!

Just when you think we’ve plumbed the depths, we sail off another shelf into deeper waters…
According to today’s New York Times, there’s a growing trend of product placement on morning news shows at local television stations.  The report leads with the Las Vegas Fox affiliate that places McDonald’s breakfast drinks in front of its anchors [...]

20th Century Boy

Yes, it’s more than a song by T-Rex last heard in a Suburu commercial, it also apparently describes presumptive GOP nominee John McCain’s grasp of and involvement with our digital age:

Q: What websites if any do you look at regularly?

Mr. McCain: Brooke and Mark show me Drudge, obviously, everybody watches, for better or for worse, [...]

More on military analysts mess

The good folks over the The Uptake have more good info on the NYT article exposing Pentagon PR work and the military analysts who’ve been all over the news media for years.
And an earlier post here lays the foundation.
If you’re not familiar with the Uptake, become so.

The Gag Order on Debating the Sadr City Century

The Democrats continue to question Senator John McCain about his comment about potentially keeping troops in Iraq for as long as 100 years. The latest example:

And the media continues to criticize Democrats’ criticism of McCain’s comment? For instance, New York Times columnist Gail Collins recently wrote:
The story that McCain said he was prepared [...]

If You’re Not Outraged….

Doug Stone’s “Where’s the outrage?” posting on MinnPost today, coupled with Dr. Loveland’s musing on the state of the newspaper industry, has put me in a bit of a grumpy mood this afternoon. If an article as well-researched and well-placed as the New York Times’ analysis of the Pentagon’s use of retired military officers [...]

‘Obliterated’: The lines between government and journalism

Oh, how I wish I had time and the brain power to really dig in to this piece from the New York Times, a 7,700-word analysis of the current administration’s efforts to use major media outlets to further it’s own agenda. I haven’t even read half of it yet, but I know it bears sharing [...]

Apologizing Spitzer Style

Governor Spitzer’s just-concluded appearance in which he announced his resignation effective Monday was classic Spitzer…aggressive, to-the-point and blunt. He provided no details of his “failings” as he termed them - clearly has drawn a line that says “we’re not going there” - and also made it clear at several points that he’s removing [...]

Tag-Teaming the Spitzer Story

The latest word - at least according to the New York Times - is that no resignation announcement is expected today from Governor Spitzer. While that’s not terribly surprising, what really caught my eye about this article was the list of Timesmen and Timeswomen engaged on the story:
“Danny Hakim reported from Albany and William [...]

Obama, change and personal safety

A short while back, the New York Times carried a piece about concerns over Sen. Obama’s safety as he gets deeper and deeper into his run for the presidency. This wasn’t the first story I had read about this, but it’s the one that got me thinking the most.
So as I read the article, I [...]