MEDIA LOG BY DAN KENNEDY

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Notes and observations on the press, politics, culture, technology, and more. To sign up for e-mail delivery, click here. To send an e-mail to Dan Kennedy, click here. For bio, published work, and links to other blogs, visit www.dankennedy.net. For information on Dan Kennedy's book, Little People: Learning to See the World Through My Daughter's Eyes (Rodale, October 2003), click here.

Friday, March 12, 2004

DELAY, DECEIVE - AND SELF-DESTRUCT? Salon today leads with a long piece by veteran Texas journalist Lou Dubose on an investigation into House majority leader Tom DeLay's vaunted fundraising machine. This is potentially devastating stuff - though Dubose thinks DeLay himself is unlikely to be the target of any criminal probe, this could be embarrassing enough that it makes him a serious liability to the national Republican Party.

As Dubose observes, campaign-finance laws in Texas are so loose that you really have to work hard to run afoul of them. What Travis County district attorney Ronnie Earle is investigating is whether the DeLay machine - which funds Republican candidates all over Texas - violated a law against spending corporate money directly on election campaigns.

Naturally, the Republicans are responding by trying to pass a state law prohibiting Earle from investigating political corruption.

MUSH FROM THE WIMPS. National Journal media critic William Powers pokes fun at Boston Globe ombudsman Christine Chinlund for agonizing over a recent Pat Oliphant cartoon that struck some readers as anti-Catholic. (Via Romenesko.)

And now some mush from this wimp: I think I'm more with Chinlund and editorial-page editor Renée Loth than I am with Powers on this. Cruelty in cartooning can be great, but Oliphant's was gratuitous. Yes, I laughed, but I'm not a Catholic.

THE STATE OF GAY MARRIAGE. The Phoenix's Kristen Lombardi argues that yesterday's action by the constitutional convention - pushing forward an amendment to ban gay marriage but to create civil unions - is actually a huge step forward for the gay-and-lesbian civil-rights movement.

Read it, especially if you're feeling depressed.

posted at 11:56 AM | comment or permalink

Thursday, March 11, 2004

"MUHAMMAD HORTON." As Media Log is wont to say, you can't make this stuff up. One of the new Bush-Cheney ads, titled "100 Days," accuses John Kerry of being soft on terrorism - and it uses the image of a shifty, swarthy-looking man, obviously meant to evoke an Arab, to drive the fear home. Watch it here.

Via Josh Marshall, who in turn links to Ryan Lizza's post on the subject.

posted at 10:00 PM | comment or permalink

CON-CON COVERAGE ON BOSTONPHOENIX.COM. If you're following the constitutional-convention debate over gay marriage in Massachusetts, have a look at the Phoenix's running coverage.

We've got pictures, too. Go to bostonphoenix.com and scroll down a bit.

posted at 6:52 PM | comment or permalink

NEW YORK OBSERVER NAMES MEDIA CRITIC. Washington City Paper senior editor Tom Scocca has been picked by the New York Observer to replace media critic Sridhar Pappu, who recently left to become a staff writer at Sports Illustrated. Scocca, who was a feature writer at the Boston Phoenix in the mid 1990s, is the co-creator of "Funny Paper," an arch take on the world of comics.

Scocca e-mails Media Log: "I'd better start writing the column before I start talking about it." He plans to move to New York at some point after he wraps up his duties at the City Paper. He can be reached at tjscocca@mindspring.com.

Oddly enough, Pappu is a former City Paper intern. For that matter, Slate media critic Jack Shafer and New York Times media reporter David Carr are City Paper alumni; City Paper founder Russ Smith writes media criticism for the New York Press (which he founded and has since sold) and, occasionally, the Wall Street Journal. Another former City Paper intern, Josh Levin, writes the magazines column for Slate.

posted at 4:36 PM | comment or permalink

SALON UPS THE ANTE. One of the more heartening media developments of the past year is the revival of Salon, the pioneering webzine that downsized and struggled through the dot-com bust. With new funding in place, Salon is now opening a revived Washington bureau, to be headed by none other than Sidney Blumenthal, ex of the Phoenix, the New Yorker, and the Clinton White House.

Salon is also publishing excerpts from a new book by former Boston magazine editor Craig Unger called House of Bush, House of Saud, and is partnering with MoveOn.org, the London Guardian, and the new liberal radio network, Air America.

Timothy Karr reported the details earlier this week at Mediachannel.org. And here is Salon editor/founder David Talbot's letter to readers.

Salon and Slate are the two big survivors of the mid-'90s new-media boom. With Slate occupying much the same neolib-cum-neocon ground as the New Republic, Salon's renewed relevance is welcome news to everyone on the left side of the political spectrum.

NEW IN THIS WEEK'S PHOENIX. The battle against broadcast indecency has media moguls running scared, as they are all too willing to sacrifice free speech on the altar of corporate empire-building.

Also, for the past six years, one of the Boston Herald's favorite targets was Mike Barnicle. Until now, that is.

posted at 1:32 PM | comment or permalink

Wednesday, March 10, 2004

BLOGGING AT THE GLOBE. Well, not quite. But the paper is cautiously starting to offer Web-exclusive content from some of its marquee names. Here is an online column by Scot Lehigh, posted yesterday, on the vice-presidential sweepstakes. Here is one from Tom Oliphant, posted last Thursday, on how John Edwards made John Kerry a better candidate.

This is definitely a step forward, but I'd say the Globe has a way to go. The Lehigh and Oliphant dispatches read exactly like their print columns. Maybe there's a case to be made for that, but, in general, Internet content works best when its shorter, faster, and looser (in tone, not with the facts) than what's available in print.

It would also help if this stuff were easier to find. As best as I can tell, the only way to look up Web-only political commentary is to follow this link, and then scan down for the magic words "Web Exclusive."

A LESS-THAN-EARTH-SHATTERING CHANGE. A few people have asked me why I haven't written yet about the redesigned Boston Globe Magazine. Partly it's because I want to see a few issues before I try to make an assessment. Partly it's because the redesign wasn't quite as dramatic as it could have been.

It looks nice, and there's a lot of new, short, consumer-and-advertiser-friendly stuff at the front of the book, which was predictable. Dave Barry is still there, so I'm happy. It's bigger, and bigger is better, especially in an era when other major metros have canceled their Sunday magazines. That's all to the good. But it will never be as influential (or controversial) as the New York Times Magazine. And I have no doubt that the Globe's best journalism will continue to be reserved for the paper, not the magazine.

Click here for the Web version.

THE FAT OF THE LAND. Imagine if a Democrat said what the Globe's Mary Leonard reports about Health and Human Services secretary Tommy Thompson and his new anti-fat campaign:

Thompson said Congress should consider giving tax credits to Americans who lose weight, and he proposed that health insurance companies reduce premiums for people who keep the pounds off.

Rush, Hannity, O'Reilly, et al. would be ridiculing the hapless secretary without mercy. And they'd be right.

posted at 9:03 AM | comment or permalink

Tuesday, March 09, 2004

THE AGELESS DANIEL DAMON. Last October 31, Boston Herald reporter Tom Farmer wrote about Peter Damon, an Army sergeant from Brockton who lost both hands in Iraq when a helicopter tire he was working on accidentally blew up. Farmer reported that Damon and his then-girlfriend (now wife), Jennifer Maunus, had two children - "Allura, 6, and Daniel, 18 months."

On November 27, the Herald's Jessica Heslam did a follow-up, reporting again that the couple's children were "Allura, 6, and Daniel, 18 months." Scientists are not sure why Daniel Damon did not get a month older in a month's time.

Then, today, on the front page of the Herald, brand-spankin'-new columnist Mike Barnicle wrote (sub. req.) in his debut that the now-married Damons are the parents of "a daughter 6 and a boy, 19 months."

Obviously someone is wrong, and it's not necessarily Barnicle - although, for obvious reasons, he is the one who's being watched the most carefully. The Herald needs to run a correction. And I'm curious, to say the least, as to whose reporting gets corrected.

DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT HISTORY. To read the coverage of Barnicle's return to the Boston newspaper wars, you'd think the only things he'd ever done wrong were to rip off a few lines from George Carlin and to write a column about kids with cancer without checking his sources all that carefully.

Barnicle has been writing a column for the New York Daily News for five years now with no apparent incident, and it's unfair to bear the guy ceaselessly back into the past (that's, ahem, a semi-literate reference to F. Scott Fitzgerald). But let's not gloss over the past. Barnicle had been credibly accused of plagiarism on several occasions during his quarter-century career at the Boston Globe - including by the late, great Mike Royko. Barnicle attributed a racial slur to Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz (no witnesses, naturally) after Dershowitz dared to criticize Barnicle's buddy Bill Bulger. (The Globe ended up paying a settlement.) And, in the early 1990s, Boston magazine turned up a number of columns that appeared to be partly or wholly fabricated. You can read all about it here.

After Globe columnist Patricia Smith was forced out for fabricating characters and quotes in June 1998, the end came quickly for Barnicle. In July, my friend Bill Kirtz, a journalism professor at Northeastern University, reported in the Quill, the magazine of the Society of Professional Journalists, that Barnicle had once plagiarized from A.J. Liebling. Then the Herald reported the Carlin incident, which led to a suspension and a nationwide campaign among Barnicle's media buddies to save his job.

Finally, I reported on Kirtz's allegations, digging up evidence showing that, in a 1986 column, Barnicle had apparently lifted direct quotes, complete with idiosyncratic spelling, from Liebling's 1961 biography of Louisiana politico Earl Long, The Earl of Louisiana. An advance copy of that story was released to the local and national media early in the afternoon on August 19. Within a few hours, Barnicle was gone, with the Globe announcing that it had uncovered yet another instance of journalistic malfeasance: a column about kids with cancer that appeared to be partly or wholly fabricated.

Barnicle deserves to be judged on his current work, not what he did six or 18 years ago. But let's get the record straight, shall we?

By the way, here is a worthwhile piece by Kirtz on his own 15 minutes of fame as the man who discovered the Barnicle-Liebling connection.

posted at 9:22 AM | comment or permalink

Monday, March 08, 2004

HERALD UNION CRITICIZES BARNICLE HIRING. This just in (1:13 P.M. UPDATE - This is a slightly revised version of the Guild's earlier statement):

This announcement comes as an obvious shock and disappointment to Guild-represented Herald staffers dedicated to upholding the highest possible journalism standards while competing to keep the Herald a viable daily in a tough two-newspaper town. It wasn't long ago that the Herald took an aggressive role in helping expose the numerous transgressions - among them plagiarism and fabrication - that led to Mike Barnicle's rightful banishment from the Globe. We have great respect for Publisher Pat Purcell and Editorial Director Ken Chandler, but as hard-working Guild staffers we cannot remain silent in the face of such a troubling decision.

Tom Mashberg, reporter
Newsroom Steward
Boston Herald

Lesley Phillips, editorial artist
President, Local 31032
Boston Herald

On behalf of more than 120 members of Local 31032
Newspaper Guild of Greater Boston

Looks like the Herald's staff is the last bastion of standards at Wingo Square.

posted at 11:41 AM | comment or permalink

BUSH'S 9/11 COMMERCIAL. Uncharacteristically, Media Log has been unable to muster any outrage over George W. Bush's use of 9/11 imagery in his first round of TV commercials. I'll read something from someone who thinks it's no big deal - like John Ellis - and find myself agreeing with him. Then I'll read something on the other side, and end up agreeing with that, too.

The ad is titled "Safer, Stronger," and you can watch it at the Bush-Cheney '04 website. As far as I can tell, the only objectionable part is a very short scene - so short you'll miss it if you blink - of a flag-draped stretcher being carried out of the wreckage of the World Trade Center. Watch it and decide for yourself.

From my perspective, Bush's one shining moment lasted from his megaphone-wielding appearance at Ground Zero through the first rumblings of the war-to-come in Iraq. During that period, he provided strong leadership and did a good job of prosecuting the war in Afghanistan. He's got every right to talk about his performance during those critical days. Indeed, when you look at the rest of his sorry record, it's the only thing he's got to talk about.

Since I don't find the ad morally repulsive, I guess what I'm left with is the tactical stupidity of including that one image. Check this out, from Friday's Boston Globe:

In deciding to include the Sept. 11 images, Bush advisers said they made a calculated risk and expected some family members and Democrats to complain regardless of how sensitively they handled the subject. The only other alternative, they argued, would have been to ignore the terrorist attacks altogether - an unacceptable option eight months before the election.

Sorry, but that's ridiculous. I think if the campaign had made one change - substituting that image of Bush at Ground Zero for the flag-draped stretcher - then there would have been little or no complaining. The bottom line is that Bush doesn't want the 9/11 families out there denouncing him. By pushing the imagery just a bit too far, he turned what should have been a positive for him into a negative.

PULITZER TIME. The Boston Globe is up for two Pulitzer Prizes, according to a list that leaked to Editor & Publisher (via Romenesko). Ellen Barry, now covering the South for the Los Angeles Times, is a finalist in beat reporting for her coverage of mental-health issues.

Patricia Wen is up for the feature-writing award for "Barbara's Story," the tale of a dysfunctional single mother who is persuaded to place her two sons in foster care. (And by the way, I know the Pulitzers don't work this way, but Suzanne Kreiter's photos are just as important to the story as Wen's writing.)

CORRECTION OF THE WEEK. And it's only Monday! This appeared in Sunday's New York Times:

An article in Arts & Leisure on May 4, 1997, about Pat Boone's venture into heavy-metal music omitted attribution for a critic who said Mr. Boone's album "Pat Boone in a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy" was "an affront to everybody who would consider heavy metal a serious musical form." The comment, from Andy Secher, editor of Hit Parader magazine, appeared in the March 31, 1997, issue of Insight magazine. A request for an acknowledgment went astray at The Times and was renewed last week by the writer of the Insight article, John Berlau.

Not quite seven years, but better late than never.

IT'S OFFICIAL: BARNICLE'S BACK. The Boston Herald today announces that Mike Barnicle will write a twice-weekly column beginning tomorrow. Publisher Pat Purcell says, "It's not every day that you have an opportunity to hire a newspaper legend."

Actually, the Herald could have hired Barnicle any time during the past five-plus years. It's just that, until now, the paper's standards were too high.

The move was first reported by Media Log on Friday.

posted at 9:11 AM | comment or permalink

MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES

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Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.