Media studies
The Smearing of Amanda Knox Shows Reading News Critically is Critical
Amanda Knox is not really a political story, but I happened on a well-articulated article about the news reporting of Amanda Knox’s diary. This article by Amanda Knox biographer Candace Dempsey, gives a great example of why it is important to read the news critically. A Ms. Dempsey notes, newspapers have been fond of creating…
Read MoreObama Transparency Talk
Apparently Obama’s response to Chicago Tribune reporter John McCormack’s questions about the Blagojevich affair have riled certain media commentators, who are now questioning Obama’s commitment to transparency. What a bunch of whiners. They either don’t understand the role of transparency in public policy, are desperate to make some news about something, or are just exaggerating…
Read MoreHow The Press Manufactures Drama in the Polls
Today in the Wall Street Journal we have the headline “Gap Narrows in Florida and Ohio, Not Pennsylvania.” The article has a lot of graphs and looks pretty impressive. But taking a wider view shows that this is a red herring. I don’t know if the writer knows this or just didn’t bother to look…
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