Fame and Infamy. In some sort of journalist version of two (geek) worlds colliding, graphic novel author
Warren Ellis, famous for his acerbic personality and sociocultural commentaries, starts a regular op-ed column for
Reuters, about the overly-hyped user-defined virtual world of
Second Life.
posted by jcterminal
on Jan 5, 2007 -
22 comments
Angry and Furious at the Collaborationist Democrats I [Martin Garbus] don't understand. An hour after I saw the Times "scoop" on the Bush illegal wiretapping plan, I wrote that it was clearly illegal and unconstitutional.
But as it now turns out, dozens of politicians, as well as the New York Times knew about the surveillance plan and did nothing.
Representative Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader in the House, and Senator Jay Rockefeller, the Democratic senator from West Virginia, a man known for some sensitivity to civil liberties infringements, and a substantial number of congressmen, plus the New York Times, all knew of Bush's illegal spying.
posted by Postroad
on Jan 9, 2006 -
56 comments
The rareified land of op-ed is the latest section of the big-city daily to see upheaval. A few weeks back, outgoing NYT ombudsman Dan Okrent and professorial columnist Paul Krugman waged an
all-out snarkfest over the accuracy of Krugman's statistical references. As Okrent intimates, should op-ed columnists be subject to the same fact-checking standards as reporters? And how much should the views of one columnist be taken to represent the views of the paper? The
Los Angeles Times is shaking up its model by
allowing editorial board members to openly dissent from op-ed columns, effectively turning philosophical pronouncements into policy debates. But the most interesting thing to come out of the redesign, to be launched next week, is
wikitorials, the op-ed that Anyone Can Edit. Disaster in the making, or the new face of journalistic opinion?
posted by Saucy Intruder
on Jun 14, 2005 -
40 comments
People talk about how universities have almost turned into
diploma mills, churning out degrees to almost anyone that breathes. So what do students think about the current situation?
According to this student, it doesn't go far enough: "
I have come to the conclusion that the University system makes absolutely no sense. Students pay teachers to educate us, yet they are then allowed to tell us how much we're learning...I'll be the one to tell the receiver of my hard-earned money exactly how well they did. Shouldn't it be the same with education?" That's right, students want, nay, demand an A, since they paid for it.
posted by mathowie
on Dec 8, 2004 -
77 comments
Oh, I So Wish So-And-So Were On The Other Side! Just move over,
dude! For conservatives, it's often the case that our allies are a damn sight worse than our worst so-called enemies. Here's a prime example,
extremely rare in its totality: an embarrassing piece by an embarrassing neo-con,
John Laughland, about an even more embarrassing neo-con,
Michael Ledeen, in a totally embarrassing magazine,
American Conservative. Do liberals and lefties have it any easier? Who are the Center's and the Left's most difficult-to-explain
compagnons de route dudes? Quite honestly - and although they're certainly not immune to the exquisite unease of political companionship - I enviously fear that they do.
posted by MiguelCardoso
on Jul 5, 2003 -
64 comments
Satan Doesn't Wear Sweaty Socks. Matthew Parris of The Times weighs in on the War on Terrorism, painting the U.S. as the 900-lb. gorilla of world affairs and offering the observation that maybe Al-Qaeda isn't as scary as the Bush and Blair administrations say it is.
posted by mr_crash_davis
on Jan 18, 2002 -
26 comments
Death with Commercials is how the ever apposite
Frank Rich sums up the media-saturated McVeigh execution, the
ultimate reality show. Rich thinks all the hoopla my have served to turn more people away from punishment by death.
posted by caraig
on Jun 23, 2001 -
8 comments
The Morality Police. "Our hysterical attempts to shield kids from images of sex and violence are stunting young lives -- and trapping us all in a Big Lie." A well-argued piece, more of an op-ed than a straight-up book review. As a scientist I only quibble with the author's musing that "if there really were a cause-and-effect link between real violence and media violence, then it would have been proven by now."
posted by topolino
on Jun 11, 2001 -
13 comments
Flutterby wonders what the difference is between those who have faith in media and those who see them as "an unending stream of barely edited press-releases."
posted by Mo Nickels
on Oct 6, 2000 -
5 comments
