Month: February 2004

Not making excuses, but …

From the NY Times preview the book by Jayson Blair, who … admits many of his deceptions in a forthcoming memoir but writes that they were fueled by ambition, cocaine and alcohol abuse and an undiagnosed condition of manic depression.…

Winkie’s in Tokyo

Sid recounts his arrival halfway around the world: I feel kinda worldly having gone from Hurricane, W.Va., to Tokyo within 48 hours. One day I’m scrapin’ possum off the highway for dinner and the next I’m at a cozy little…

Lots o’ Haiti links

Liz Donovan has amassed a passel of them. I noticed a bunch of looters pictured on the New York Times homepage this morning, which had me picturing the exultant beneficiaries of the revolution: HER: “Soon we will be free of…

Staying on message

CJR’s Campaign Desk recounts a White House news briefing exchange that would be funny it were in a sitcom. The final tally? When discussing gay marriage McClellan employed the phrase “sacred institution” nine times during the 36-minute briefing. Close cousins…

Trudeau’s contest

E&P talks to “Doonesbury” creator G.B. Trudeau about his offer of 10 grand to anybody who can prove Bush served in the Guard while working on a political campaign in Alabama. Trudeau had one more comment about the contest: “We’re…

Facts on fonts

Which is better, serif or sans serif? Answers abound at Testy Copy Editors

Google bombs

Missed this one at Media Bistro last week: Sad to say, plugging Google in a story has become almost a telltale sign of sloppy reporting, a hack’s version of a Rolodex.

Nitpick of the day

From the story on the BaltSun’s new editor, in Editor & Publisher. The most unique move, creation of a demographics beat, is based on the paper’s need to improve coverage of the city’s changing population, the editor said. Two points:…

Those old, old newspapers

Maud links to a story saying author Nicholson Baker has penned an art book devoted to the old New York World. She also links to the American Newspaper Repository, which despite the unappetizing title has some very tasty examples of…