The Blogging Journalist

The Chicago Tribune Makes History By Endorsing Obama

It is historic for the Chicago Tribune, one of my hometown newspapers, to endorse a Democratic candidate for  President of the United States. Before endorsing Barack Obama, today, October 17, 2008, the paper had never done so in its 161-year history.

"This endorsement makes some history for the Chicago Tribune," the publication said in an editorial headlined "Tribune endorsement: Barack Obama for president. ". This is the first time the newspaper has endorsed the Democratic Party's nominee for president."

The paper chose the right moment to do so.

Meanwhile, the Tribune Company-owned Los Angeles Times has also endorsed Mr. Obama. See "Barack Obama for president."

According to Kevin Roderick at LA Observed, "For the first time since backing Richard Nixon in 1972, the Los Angeles Times editorial board has publicly endorsed a candidate for president. It's also the first time ever that the paper endorsed a Democrat for the White House."

Technorati Tags: Chicago Tribune's Obama Endorsement

David Gregory is Now MSNBC's Lead Anchor on Election Coverage

The New York Times reported September 7, 2008, that David Gregory has replaced Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews as MSNBC's lead anchors in the "cable news channel’s coverage of the [presidential] election." See "MSNBC  Takes Incendiary Hosts From Anchor Seat."

I think it's a good move. Both Matthews and Olbermann are quite opinionated, which last week resulted in unnecessary and embarrassing on-air arguments.

Technorati Tags: Keith Olbermann,Chris Matthews,David Gregory,MSNBC

Some Papers are Cutting Back on Daily Campaign Reporting

Jacques Steinberg reports in the March 26, 2008, edition of The New York Times that, "In the weeks leading up to the 22 Democratic nominating contests [in the United States] on Feb. 5, and in the weeks since, few newspapers beyond The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times have sought to shadow the candidates on a near-daily basis."Steinberg notes:

Among the newspapers that have chosen not to dispatch reporters to cover the two leading Democratic candidates on a regular basis are USA Today, the nation’s largest paper, as well as The Boston Globe, The Dallas Morning News, The Houston Chronicle, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, The Miami Herald and The Philadelphia Inquirer (at least until the Pennsylvania primary, on April 22, began to loom large).

The Times said, "For firsthand, daily dispatches from the campaign trail, most of the others have relied heavily on reports from the wire services, including The Associated Press, Bloomberg and Reuters; a handful of Web sites; and video captured by camera-toting producers from the television networks and cable news channels."

I think local blogs fill in pretty good when candidates venture into various cities. Papers such as The Times just makes getting campaign news convenient. However, you don't need them to stay informed.

If you want to read more, see "The Buzz on the Bus: Pinched, Press Steps Off."

Technorati Tags: Newspaper Campaign Coverage,Jaques Sterberg,The New York Times

Political Reporting is Now High-Tech

The January 16, 2008, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has an informative feature about journalists "on the press bus on Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani's three-day, 700-mile tour of Florida this week."

According to Post-Gazette Political Correspondent Mackenzie Carpenter, who "is on the campaign trail in Florida:

Journalists aboard the Giuliani juggernaut may still get a little punchy after a long day -- Monday night's schedule stretched 16 hours to nearly midnight -- but for the most part, they're a serious, hardworking bunch of 30-and-early-40-somethings who face pressures unheard of just a few years ago.

Carpenter said, "The insatiable demands the 24/7 news cycle -- print, Web blogging, "v-logs," video for television, audio for radio and live stand-up -- is a far cry from "The Boys on the Bus," as reporters on a presidential campaign were described in Timothy Crouse's classic 1972 book, hunched over their portable typewriters banging out one story before that night's deadline."

By the way, "The Boys on the Bus" is one of the best books I've ever read on reporters covering political campaigns.

If you want to read more of Carpenter's article, please see "High-tech changes reporters' lives.

Technorati Tags: Mackenzie Carpenter,Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,Political Reporters,Boys on the Bus,Timothy Crouse.

PolitiFact.Com and The Fact Checker

CHICAGO, USA -- "Bloggers have performed an invaluable function since their emergence in the media world a few years ago," Ed Laskey noted in a September 19, 2007, post at American Thinker headlined "WaPo following in the footsteps of bloggers (updated)."

Laskey said, "Whether it is uncovering the forgery of the RatherGate documents, the fauxtography that is propaganda in the service of terrorists, revealing and publicizing the odious practice of earmarks, the bias that has corrupted the media-the quest for truth is what has driven the best of the bloggers."

"Now," he added, "the Washington Post joins the campaign: today [September 19, 2007] the paper starts a new feature-The FactChecker, which will be focused on examining  the veracity of claims made by politicians."

As is noted at the end of Laskey's post, the St Petersburg [Florida] Times has a similar service at PolitiFact.com. 

Technorati tags: PolitiFact.com. The Fact Checker, St. Petersburg Times, The Washington Post, American Thinker, Ed Laskey

The Press, Blogosphere Showed Less Wariness at 2007 YearlyKos Convention

PressThink editor Jay Rosen, a journalism professor at New York University and one of the foremost analysts of new and old media, has produced the best analysis  I've read so far on press coverage of the YearlyKos Convention held in Chicago this past weekend. Writes Rosen in an August 5, 2007, post at PressThink headlined "Why Do We Suck? and Other Questions Political Journalists Asked Themselves at YearlyKos":

I've been reviewing the press coverage, blogging and video from the Yearly Kos conference in Chicago, trying to make sense of what happened between the press and the liberal blogosphere at this event. My main conclusion: more respect expressed for the blogosphere, and a little less wariness between the two groups. (But let's not overstate it.)

Can it be said better that? Perhaps. But when I read Jay's post, my conclusion was: Damn! This man is good. By the way, the post was also published in The Huffington Post, where Jay also blogs.

Technorati tags: Jay Rosen, PressThink, The Huffington Post, YearlyKos Convention, Political Journalists, The Liberal Blogosphere

Are New Books On Hillary Simply 'Cash for Rehash'?

Washington Post reporters Peter Baker and John Solomon reported May 25, 2007, that "The Clinton camp hopes to brush off "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Carl Bernstein, and "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton," by Jeff Gerth and Don Van Natta Jr. "as mainly rehashing old news.

"Is it possible to be quoted yawning?" asked Philippe Reines, her Senate spokesman, Baker and Johnson writes, adding: "If past books on [Hillary] Clinton were "cash for trash," he added, "these books are nothing more than cash for rehash."

The Post writers report that, "Howard Wolfson, a campaign spokesman, pointed to previous reports on some of the elements in the books to make the point that there was nothing new.

"The news here is that it took three reporters nearly a decade to find no news," he was quoted as saying "Two overwhelming Senate victories in the toughest media market in the country demonstrated that voters have put these issues behind them."

Running for a senate seat is far different than running for the presidency and New York is not the rest of the country, although some of the state resembles small town America where many people have a tendency to take a more moralistic approach, even if their own lives are scandalous. But Wolfson already knows that. It doesn't matter that there is nothing new. What matters is that the old was brought up at all.

Bloggers are going to dissect the books. And no one should be surprised or get upset if reporters and bloggers ask Clinton about old and new revelations during her campaign stops. With these two books, they have an excuse to do so. She'll just have to deal with it and move on.

On the other hand, Bloggers and media critics favorable to Clinton will make an effort to discredit the books and the authors, especially the book Jeff Gerth co-authored. The former Standard Oil employee has made some big blunders along the way. Anyone remember the Wen Ho Lee case? So-called mainstream Media (MSM) will be severely criticized for reporting on the books. But that's good. That's what the so-called Market Place of Ideas" is all about.

Also, anti-Hillary bloggers and critics will likely take a "see, I told you so" approach. "She's a liar and a schemer. It must be true, Carl Bernstein said so."

So, what politician isn't a liar and schemer on occasion? It's a rough game. Besides, it's not that simple folks. We all are complex beings with healthy and bruised egos, psychological needs, flaws and good points that make us seem irrational at times and lucid at other times. And many of us like gossip. It's called being human. 

As for the books, I intend to read them before I take a critic's approach to them.  

Technorati tags: "A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton, Carl Bernstein, "Her Way: The Hopes and Ambitions of Hillary Rodham Clinton, " Jeff Gerth, Don Van Natta Jr., Washington Post, Peter Baker, John Solomon, Media Matters for America