Seven weeks after former President Nixon’s funeral on April 27, 1994, Hunter Thompson published his own obituary for Nixon, “He Was a Crook,” on June 16 in Rolling Stone magazine. In it he blamed the practice of Objective Journalism for enabling Nixon to climb to the Oval Office: “It was the blind spot of Objective Journalism’s rules and dogma that allowed Nixon to slither into … [Read more...] about Reality journalism: Keeping up with the candidates
Good Clinton v. bad Clinton
Writing about Marie Antoinette, Judith Thurman commented in a 2006 article in the New Yorker that the woman famous for a remark she never uttered ("Let them eat cake”) is “periodically reviled or celebrated.” The same could be said about the media's treatment of Hillary Clinton since she stepped into the national limelight as Bill Clinton’s wife during his 1992 bid for the … [Read more...] about Good Clinton v. bad Clinton
Charlie Hebdo haunts the media
When Islamist gunmen killed 10 journalists and two policemen in January at the Paris office of Charlie Hebdo, the satirical magazine firebombed in 2011 for its irreverent cartoons of the prophet Muhammad, media reaction to the massacre immediately after was best summed up by the headline of an article in Reason magazine: “I’m all for free speech and murder is wrong, but…” In … [Read more...] about Charlie Hebdo haunts the media
Clinton courts the heartland
Soon after Hillary Clinton announced her candidacy on April 12 for the 2016 presidential race, she and an entourage of advisers and Secret Service agents took off in a van named Scooby, after the 1970s animated Scooby Doo show, to meet the folks of the heartland. Stopping off at a Chipotle restaurant in the Toledo suburb of Maumee, Ohio, USA TODAY … [Read more...] about Clinton courts the heartland
A divided media reports: Did Obama lay an Easter egg?
The conservative and right-wing media were offended. The liberal and left-wing ones were amused. At the center of the tempest in the Easter basket were remarks made by President Obama at the April 6 prayer breakfast in the East Room of the White House. Four days after the jihadist terror group Al-Shabaab killed 147 students at Kenya’s Garissa University, many or most … [Read more...] about A divided media reports: Did Obama lay an Easter egg?