Dear Dave Weigel: Nice recovery from that Journolist saga

He’s quickly become one of the best parts of Slate. Sometimes a little scandal is all you need to ensure your long-term place in the conversation. And that’s what Weigel, late of the Washington Post and currently of Slate, has been up to lately – ensuring his place in the conversation. With an entertaining blog, insightful articles and a generally compelling persona, Weigel is a guy that needs to stick around for a good long time, no matter how many conservatives he privately suggests set themselves on fire. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

There are more tools than ever to check things out, but once things start flying at light speed as it did with Sherrod, nobody seems able to hit the pause button.
Politicifact.com editor Bill Adair • Regarding the speed of the news cycle and how quickly it can flip. The best example of this is how, at the beginning of last week, The Washington Post made a bold bid to grab the week’s news cycle with their “Top Secret America” series, only to have it quickly pushed aside by Andrew Breitbart and Tucker Carlson, who each scored cycle-grabbing headlines with much less work and much bigger payoff. And unlike the Post’s meticulously-checked series, some of the info Breitbart in particular had was straight-up wrong. And now this Wikileaks story proves it even more – the Web can own the news cycle far more easily than old-school media. And the old-school media, for good and bad, has to play catch-up. source

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While journalists are trained never to presume motive, Journolist members tend to assume that the other side is acting out of the darkest and most dishonorable motives.
Daily Caller reporter Jonathan Strong • In yet another piece about Journolist, the e-mail list run by Ezra Klein that forced Dave Weigel out of his job a few weeks back. The list has long been an off-the-record spot to vent. But The Daily Caller, which once had a member that was part of Journolist, isn’t following that, giving SPECIFIC examples and specific names, and likely hurting numerous journalists in the process. While some of the attacks were harsh and underhanded (including a whole conversation about shutting down Fox News), the fact is, off the record is off the record. And The Daily Caller isn’t bothering to respect that in its articles. Protip to Daily Caller: More RNC spending exposés, fewer attacks on fellow journalists. source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 7 Comments • Permalink

thursday A bunch of the Washington Post blogger’s right-trashing JournoList messages are leaked.
friday Weigel, who blogged about conservatives, dramatically resigns from the Post.
mondayKeith Olbermann reports that Weigel was hired by MSNBC. Perfect fit, am I rite? source

Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

01 Sep 2010 23:10