Category Archives: Chapter 14

Link Ch. 14 – When is a headline offensive?

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

There’s a heartwarming story that’s been up on the Interwebs this week about President Obama giving a speech on energy policy at St. George Community College.  Stephon, a deaf student had front-row seating for the event, got to shake the … Continue reading →

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Link Ch. 11 – Privacy in the Digital Age: Target knows that high school girl is preggers before dad does

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

In the age of online shopping and digital information, it’s easy to get paranoid about how much vendors know about us.  You want to get creeped out?  Start paying attention to the recommendations that Amazon makes to you based on … Continue reading →

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Link Ch. 4 – A Million Little Memoir Fabrications

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

Reprinted from my blog from January 27, 2006: A Million Little Problems Dept. – Fall Out From James Frey’s Fabrications A week or so ago I ran a guest commentary by my colleague John Temple about his outrage at the apparent fabrications … Continue reading →

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Link Ch. 6 – Should Reporters Call Out Sources For Lying?

Posted on January 12, 2012 by Ralph Hanson

The NY Times public editor really set off a bit of a firestorm today with his column.  In it, Arthur Brisbane asks, apparently seriously, whether reporters ought to be calling out sources for claiming things as “facts” that are demonstrably … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on December 4, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

How Can You Write a Better Blog? Some great suggestions from Dan Frommer, author of the tech blog SplatF. Here’s the Cliff Notes version: Accuracy, readable, skeptical, attributed, context, critical but fair, mechanics, original, new. Why Does Scooby-Doo Need People … Continue reading →

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Joe McGinniss responds to Janet Malcolm’s “The Journalist and the Murderer”

Posted on November 30, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

In 1989, journalist Janet Malcolm published two-part series of articles in The New Yorker under the headline “The Journalist and the Murderer.” (It has since then been published as a slim book.) In what would come to be one of … Continue reading →

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Patriot-News Devotes Front Page to Editorial on Penn State Scandal

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

The Harrisburg Patriot-News ran a front-page editorial on Tuesday calling on Penn State University President Graham Spanier to resign over his failure to “do what is right – for his school, or more importantly for the alleged victims of coaching … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on November 4, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

Can journalists ever safely retweet the opinions of others without appearing biased? And should that stop them from retweeting those opinions?  Here’s what the AP thinks about it, and an interesting response from 10,000 Words. Will NBC still matter anymore, … Continue reading →

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Coverage of Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer

Posted on November 2, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

Arizona Governor Jan Brewer received national attention in 2010 with her promotion of the state’s controversial “papers please” immigration bill.  This week, she was back in the news for rejecting a congressional redistricting plan put together by a state commission. … Continue reading →

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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)

Posted on October 5, 2011 by Ralph Hanson

Should ESPN have fired Hank Williams Jr. for comparing Obama to Hitler? Or comparing Boehner to  to Netanyahu?  Jon Stewart says no: “Have you met him?”  BTW, Williams’ comparison of Obama to Hitler is a great example of Godwin’s Law. … Continue reading →

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