Uncategorized
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On the Media interview on Romney and Bain
For those who are interested, I did an interview with On the Media’s Bob Garfield about my CJR piece on the dispute over Romney and outsourcing at Bain Capital: An addendum: People seem to be having difficulty holding two seemingly contradictory facts in their minds at the same time: 1. The claims made in President
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New at CJR: Arbitrating the dispute over outsourcing
I have a new column up at CJR on the need for better media coverage of the Obama campaign’s claims about Mitt Romney outsourcing jobs. Here’s how it begins: Last Tuesday, the Obama campaign released a new ad here and in eight other swing states that distorts the facts in a Washington Post story to
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New at CJR: The search for a post-decision narrative
I have a new column at CJR on commentators’ efforts to frame the Supreme Court’s ruling on health care reform as an important event in the narrative of the 2012 election. Here’s how it begins: Yesterday’s Supreme Court decision upholding most of the Affordable Care Act has vast implications for health policy in this country
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Thomas Friedman’s law of cliché recycling
It’s not Sunday without the comic stylings of New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, who drew a bizarre analogy yesterday between Moore’s law and the effect of social networking sites on political leadership: In 1965, Gordon Moore, the Intel co-founder, posited Moore’s Law, which stipulated that the processing power that could be placed on a
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New at CJR: The tautology of candidate “confidence”
I have a new column at CJR on how Mitt Romney has increasingly been portrayed as “confident” since his campaign chances have improved. Here’s how it begins: One of the most frequent problems with campaign reporting is the way that journalists construct candidate-centric narratives that coincide with the ups and downs of the race. We’ve
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New at CJR: Do campaign gaffes matter? Not to voters
I have a new column at CJR challenging claims that gaffes affect election outcomes and therefore deserve saturation coverage. Here’s how it begins: Since Friday, the national political conversation has been dominated by a debate over the importance of President Obama’s statement, at a White House press conference, that “The private sector is doing fine.”
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New at CJR: A guide to responsible birther coverage
My new column at CJR is a visually annotated guide for journalists of how to provide responsible birther coverage without reenforcing the myth. Here’s how it begins: In a series of media interviews conducted before a Las Vegas fundraiser with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, Donald Trump singlehandedly put the debunked birther movement back
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New at CJR: The over-covered image war
I have a new column at Columbia Journalism Review on the way the media has overhyped the risk that Mitt Romney will be “defined” in early campaign skirmishes. Here’s how it begins: The message war in the presidential election got underway in earnest last week, with the Obama campaign releasing a new attack ad and
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New at CJR: The predictable failure of Americans Elect
I have a new column up at Columbia Journalism Review on the failure of the independent group Americans Elect and the pundits who overhyped the group’s efforts. Here’s how it begins: On Thursday, the board of Americans Elect folded its presidential nominating process after the set of declared candidates repeatedly failed to muster the support
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The importance of NSF funding for political science
Last week, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sponsored an amendment in the House that would prohibit National Science Foundation support for political science. Other political scientists have already written eloquently about the important research that NSF grants have supported. I thought I would build on their points by highlighting how work I have featured on this