Intelligence Squared is a wonderful program on NPR that features Oxford style debating among experts on various topics. This month, the show, hosted by ABC News correspondent John Donovan, featured a debate on whether to repeal “Obamacare.” Arguing for the repeal was former U.S. Rep. John Shadegg (R-Arizona). As Donovan introduced Shadegg they had this [...]
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A Long Walk Through Tripoli
February 28, 2011
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A rugged, crumbling wall surrounds the old city of Tripoli, Libya. The wall abuts the Corinthia Bab Africa, a luxury hotel with a beautiful view of blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The hotel was sparkling new and built to attract Westerns willing to do business with the regime of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi. And by [...]
Read more The Dictator’s Son: Libya, Democracy & Public Relations
February 22, 2011
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Here are my notes from my first impression of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s second son, Saif al-Islam. At the time, July of 2007, Saif al-Islam was Gaddafi’s favorite and his likely successor. I wrote: “A rather dim-witted, disinterested brat. A bit distracted, but very stylish.” But I added later: “That first impression was dead wrong. The [...]
Read more Has Blogging Entered its Twilight?
February 22, 2011
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The answer is no, absolutely not. But I’ll get back to that in a moment. The blogging is dead meme has been around for a few years (I first read about blogging’s demise at ReadWriteWeb in 2007). So it isn’t a surprise that the New York Times recently tackled the issue and declared: “Blogs were [...]
Read more Traditional Media Becoming Obsolete, Not the Media Itself
December 20, 2010
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Here are the facts: Newspapers circulation numbers are falling like a rock. The New York Times daily circulation in 1990 was 1.1 million and is now less than 900,000. The Los Angeles Times circulation dropped from 1.25 million in 1990 to less than 600,000 The big three TV networks accounted for more than 45% of [...]
Read more Journalists Should Stop Interviewing Journalists
November 16, 2010
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Journalists interviewing each other as part of news coverage and analysis has become an epidemic. It is particularly egregious on TV and on the radio, but print and online publications share the blame as well. It is a terrible practice and undermines journalism. Contrary to what many journalists believe, they are not the experts in [...]
Read moreNewspapers Spin the Bad Circulation News
October 27, 2010
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How bad is business in the newspaper business? The Audit Bureau of Circulation released a report this week that newspaper circulation had dropped 5 percent in the last six months. However, the bureau noted that the bleeding was less severe than in the previous six months. This was greeted by the nation’s daily newspapers as [...]
Read more3 (Other) Reasons Why Journalism is Broken
October 5, 2010
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Pundits spend a lot of time lamenting how the Internet has undermined journalism. There’s an argument for that. But there’s a better argument that the web has revealed some long-time industry flaws that have slowly been eroding the public’s faith in journalism for many years. Last week, a Gallup poll showed that 57 percent of [...]
Read moreTechCrunch, AOL & Disappointment
September 29, 2010
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I’m disappointed by the sale of TechCrunch to AOL. TechCrunch, for those not familiar with it, is one of the most influential technology blogs in the industry. The site, which aggressively covers technology start-ups and social media innovation, regularly gets about 2.3 million visitors a month, according to Compete.com. TechCrunch, under the domineering direction of [...]
Read moreIt Must be True. I Read it on the Internet!
September 1, 2010
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Here are a few things that I’ve learned on the Internet: President Obama was born in Kenya and is not an American citizen The Holocaust never happened. The Democrats tried to create “death panels” for the elderly in their health care overhaul bill The September 11 terrorist attacks were plotted and by the Bush administration [...]
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