Month: October 2012
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New at CJR: The misguided backlash against Nate Silver
My new column at CJR challenges the recent wave of misguided attacks on Nate Silver, whose estimates for the presidential race are generally consistent with other forecasting models and betting/futures markets. Here’s how it begins: Who will win the presidential election next Tuesday? Until recently, the market for analysis of questions like these has been
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New at CJR: The misleading momentum narrative
I have a new column up at CJR exploring why reporters have been mistakenly reporting that Mitt Romney has “momentum” in the presidential race. Here’s how it begins: On Thursday night, Politico beat a retreat in the great momentum debate of 2012. The site’s Glenn Thrush and Jennifer Epstein opened a big state-of-the-campaign story with
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New at CJR: All good debate coverage is local?
My new CJR column contrasts the pathologies of national presidential debate coverage with the generally more substantive and informative coverage of two recent debates here in New Hampshire. Here’s how it begins: If you cover politics for a national publication, the story of the debates so far has been President Obama’s supposedly lackluster performance and
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New at CJR: Enabling the jobs report conspiracy theory
I have a new column up at CJR assessing coverage of Friday’s jobs report. Unfortunately, far too much coverage gave voice to the conspiracy theories that started circulating rather than ignoring or casting doubt on them. Here’s how it begins: Media ethics pop quiz: When conspiracy theories started circulating on Twitter claiming that Friday’s jobs
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Understanding the “Romney won big!” narrative
As promised, I watched the debate last night without looking at Twitter, reading live blogs, reading emails, etc. Here’s what I saw: Unspun view of the debate – sticking by my pre-debate take: these are skilled pols who didn’t get here by accident. I saw nothing that would change race dynamic. As in most aspects
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New at CJR: Breaking the pack journalism paradigm
I have a new CJR column up warning journalists about converging on simplistic debate narratives based on campaign spin. As a remedy, I offer a tongue-in-cheek suggestion that news outlets should send a reporter into isolation to write up the debate without access to any other spin. What would happen? Here’s how it begins: As