A couple of additional thoughts on the Newsweek Koran story fiasco. You clearly see two kinds of criticism of the news magazine and reporter Michael Isikoff. One school of thought focuses more on the journalistic failures and what it says about the quality of reporting and corporate fail-safe systems supposedly in place. Yet another is emerging on talk radio and on many … [Read more...] about Shifting Perceptions On Newsweek

America's love-affair with Today anchors Katie Couric and Matt Laurer may be coming to an end if the latest ratings are any indication. NBC's Today show, the venerable cash-cow, prestige morning show that has dominated the network ratings for most of its half-century existance is now beating ABC's Good Morning America by a hair as thick as the hair underneath William Shatner's … [Read more...] about NBC’s Today’s Rating Lead May Vanish Tomorrow As ABC’s Good Morning America Gains Fast

Starting in September it's likely you'll find the New York Times playing a much smaller role on Internet weblogs and the overall conversation for a reason: it now wants money for it to participate. Starting in September, Salon reports, the Times is going to offer — or should we say "require" — TimesSelect to get its columnists online. These columnists have played a … [Read more...] about New York Times Opts Out Of The (Free) Conversation

Blogger and journalism professor Jay Rosen has the ultimate analysis of the Newsweek Koran story fiasco. His conclusion: Newsweek was doing Take-Our-Word-For-It journalism. And, increasingly, it seems like Jay Rosen is right. Trust Me Journalism is a kind of journalism that boils down to this: trust us because we're reporters. Trust us because we work for a prominent news … [Read more...] about Was Newsweek Doing “Trust Me” Journalism?

Our occasional linkfest directing you to posts from ALL OVER the Internet. Links are NOT restricted to one political viewpoint and don't necessarily reflect the opinion of The Moderate Voice or its always-independent Guest Bloggers. SPENDING TIME WITH "THE FILIBUSTERS": Pennywit (which we think should be Pennywise because he makes so much sense) has a must-read post of … [Read more...] about Around The ‘Sphere

From Newspeak Magazine, FRIDAY: NEWSPEAK MAGAZINE'S PROCTOSCOPE: "News reports that really stick it to them." By Miguel Isacough Investigators probing police abuses at a rowdy bar mitzvah in Bridgeport, Connecticut have confirmed some infractions alleged in a Temple Mishkan Beth El fund raising letter that surfaced late last year. Among the previously unreported cases, … [Read more...] about Torah Used As Kleenex By Detectives (Investigative Report)

After issuing an apology that was basically a retraction, then insisting it wasn't a retraction, Newsweek has finally done it: it has USED the "R" word and issued a definitive retraction. And, in doing so, it could mean that in the case of the story that claimed the Koran had been descrecrated, heads will roll (no pun intended). Why? Because the first error was the leaky … [Read more...] about Newsweek Uses “R” Word And Retracts Koran Desecration Story

Many bloggers such as this one got TONS of emails linked to articles in German. And it was part of a new kind of spam — political spam: Some e-mail inboxes filled up with German-language spam over the weekend, as the well-traveled Sober virus was apparently turned into a propaganda machine by its author. Sober has infected millions of computers around the globe since it … [Read more...] about German Political Spam Is Sweeping The Computer World

A new poll finds a big gap between the public and a group of journalists surveyed — and it'll provide plenty of talk radio, cable and blog material for years to come. In one finding, 43% of the public says the press has too much freedom, while only 3% of journalists agree. And just 14% of the public can name "freedom of the press" as a guarantee in the First Amendment to … [Read more...] about BIG Gap Between Public And Press

The controversy over Newsweek's story about alleged desecration of the Koran is very much alive. Yesterday the magazine issued a de facto retraction in the form of an apology over the report that had sparked riots in Afghanistan and cost more than a dozen lives. But the magazine's mea culpa reportedly doesn't go far enough for many in the Arab world, the White House and for … [Read more...] about Newsweek’s Apology Doesn’t Satisfy Government, Arab Critics Or Blogosphere

Unfortunately, time-consuming problems related to a dying computer prevented me from posting much here or on my own weblog, Random Fate, the past several days, so I have not been as responsible a guest-poster as I would have liked to have been here. I extend my apologies to both Joe and the audience here. Perhaps the missive I have posted today on the recent Newsweek … [Read more...] about An apology, and a commentary on the recent Newsweek reporting issue

Afghanistan's opium crisis might become an opportunity (paraphrasing the Chinese proverb), if only the country had enough resouces to monitor and regulate the plant's production for legitimate drugs. But it seems our government is none too thrilled with the idea, which is sad but not surprising, given the history of bipartisan shrillness against any drugs with illicit usage. … [Read more...] about A drug issue all Americans can get behind

Be sure to read our extensive roundup of blog reaction to the Newsweek retraction. That link will take you to the post put on this site last night. It's a big journalistic issue so we'll keep adding to the blog reaction roundup at the bottom of yesterday's post throughout the day. If there's a new twist on the story we'll do it as a separate post. Also, be sure to check out … [Read more...] about A Reminder To Readers

A new study in effect says drinking alcohol hurts women more than men: they can get hooked on it faster and suffer brain damage sooner. Times Online reports: A brain-scan study found evidence that women are especially vulnerable to the harmful effects of excessive drinking. The charity Alcohol Concern said that the findings were alarming in the light of reports of increasing … [Read more...] about Drinking Hurts Women More Than Men

On Friday afternoon, I had the great honor of speaking with former Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) for an interview over at my blog, Basie!. Dole and I talked about a number of issues, ranging from his new book to telecommunications reform to Social Security. The former Senate Majority Leader's thoughts on the lack of bipartisan comity on the hill are particularly … [Read more...] about A Conversation with Bob Dole

The United States has drawn a line in the sand for North Korea on the subject of nuclear testing. Sort of... What the U.S. has done is to warn North Korea that there will be consquences if it conducts nuclear tests....but it doesn't give any hint of what the dire consquences are. The New York Times reports:The Bush administration on Sunday warned North Korea for the first … [Read more...] about U.S. Warns North Korea : Unspecified Penalties If Nuke Tests

Newsweek has now basically said "Never mind!" in what is essentially a retraction of a report claiming that interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had desecrated the holy Koran — a report that led to angry riots in Afghanistan and more than a dozen deaths. Here's the key quote from the Newsweek in what is effectively a retraction:Although other major news organizations had … [Read more...] about Newsweek Apologizes For Riot-Sparking Koran Story

It's somewhat comforting to know that Iraq's homegrown reporters provoke just as much irritation from the locals as they do, well, everywhere else with government of, by and for the people. It's a sign of progress when ordinary people aren't afraid to criticize the media (usually because it's not state-controlled anymore). But it's not limited to claims of bias and … [Read more...] about Weapons of mass disgust directed at reporters

I attended the Free Muslims Against Terrorism rally in Washington, DC yesterday. See my photos and narrative on the event's success here. Other pictures - some from speakers I missed, as I arrived late - are here. … [Read more...] about Anatomy of a Muslim-led anti-terrorism rally

Egads, I've been hit with a sea of spams — from Germany. I can't read many of them (they're mostly links to various articles but one is English and I may post it on Dean's World) since most are in German. But I thought I detected a sentence in there that said something about sending me to the showers. So here's a hint to spammers: if you spam in foreign language it'll … [Read more...] about Spamming Me In A Foreign Language