Note to Kate Klonick: as you linked, Charlie Savage wrote that story for the Boston Globe, not the New York Times.

Posted at August 21, 2008 10:57 PM in response to He's Baaaack: Civil Rights Commission Hires Spakovsky to Work on Voting Rights

Unfuckingbelievable.

I wrote this a couple of years ago, and the world yawned. They might as well have appointed David Duke -- no one is lifting a finger to stop them.

Posted at August 21, 2008 10:50 PM in response to He's Baaaack: Civil Rights Commission Hires Spakovsky to Work on Voting Rights

The property report for that address, indicating that the current owners have been there since 2000. Found some Hungarian and Russian web pages with someone by the same name associated with a tourism/hotel developer, but that might not be relevant.

Posted at June 15, 2008 3:47 PM in response to Russian Group Had $97M Deal With U.S. Missile Defense Agency

John McCain, as chairman of the Indian Affairs committee, sat on over 700,000 documents related to an investigation of Abramoff and his associates -- documents that more likely than not would reveal all sorts of connections and criminal activity, though possibly outside the scope of the committee's investigations.

We need to see these documents before November elections!

Posted at June 9, 2008 11:40 PM in response to McCain Camp: Advisor Linked to Abramoff No Longer with Campaign

Seconded. It's never to late to start telling the truth.

Posted at June 6, 2008 4:28 PM in response to Tales From Inside the Editorial Board Room

After reading How Mayhill Fowler got online scoops on Obama and Bill Clinton in today's LA Times, where Mayhill Fowler says this,

"Of course he had no idea I was a journalist," Fowler said by phone from her Oakland, Calif., home, recalling her close encounter with Clinton as a "citizen journalist" for the Huffington Post website. "He just thought we were all average, ordinary Americans who had come out to see him. And, of course, in one sense, that is what I am."

I take all the onus off of Bill Clinton and shift it to Mayhill Fowler and HuffPo. My apologies to Mills and Clinton for making the assumption that Fowler would be recognizable.

Posted at June 6, 2008 3:54 PM in response to BILL CLINTON'S REMARK: WHEN "GOTCHA" JOURNALISM CROSSES ETHICAL LINES

The answer to WHY OH WHY:

Because it sells - they give the people what they want in order to make money.

It is not a waste to Huffington Post when it increases their revenues and/or draws attention to their business.

Posted at June 6, 2008 12:30 PM in response to BILL CLINTON'S REMARK: WHEN "GOTCHA" JOURNALISM CROSSES ETHICAL LINES

amplification - item #2, after watching various experiments in "pro/am citizen journalism", I believe it is a load of garbage. The cons outweigh the pros, so to speak.

Corporate or traditional media wants to stop the hemorrhage of readers going to new media sources, to bloggers. Those bloggers who aspire to high quality get sucked in by the promise of greater access, when they should be continuing to work on their own and stake out their own place in the new media world.

Posted at June 6, 2008 12:25 PM in response to BILL CLINTON'S REMARK: WHEN "GOTCHA" JOURNALISM CROSSES ETHICAL LINES

clarification - item #3, "he should have known" = "Bill Clinton should have known"

Posted at June 6, 2008 12:17 PM in response to BILL CLINTON'S REMARK: WHEN "GOTCHA" JOURNALISM CROSSES ETHICAL LINES

1. Citizen journalists are not professionals.

2. The term "citizen journalist" is poorly defined at best and an oxymoron at worst. In the case of Huffington Post's model, it is not even close to pure, as editors have the final say in what gets published.

3. After Obama received the Fowler treatment at a "no press" fundraiser, he should have known that anything he said was to Fowler was fair game. She should have been on his radar; in fact, he probably knew full well she would print what he said.

4. The beauty of blogging is the freedom to say what one wants and allowing the readers to judge whether content is worthy of attention. Blogging also allows the writer to set their own standards, which can be low or high; again, it is up to the reader to judge whether or not the material is worthy. The reader's freedom of choice is what makes blogging work, and what hurts traditional media.

If I were you, I'd be as upset about being used by a for-profit corporate media organization as about Mayhill Fowler's work. Readers aren't stupid, and those that don't like what she's done will stop reading. If people stop reading her work, Huffington Post will stop publishing it or promoting it. But if people keep working hard for nothing and giving away their work to Huffington Post, they'll continue to abuse their position in the marketplace and take advantage of altruistic bloggers who flatter themselves as journalists.

Posted at June 6, 2008 12:16 PM in response to BILL CLINTON'S REMARK: WHEN "GOTCHA" JOURNALISM CROSSES ETHICAL LINES