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13 Mar 2010 21:05

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Tech: Dear New York Times, can you put this illustration on a T-shirt?

  • This image (which we cropped) is from an article the New York Times wrote about how Google and Apple are at odds with one another because Steve Jobs thinks Google stole its technology. Daniel Adel, please consider putting this on Threadless. We’d buy it. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

08 Mar 2010 12:11

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Politics: Note to mainstream news bloggers: Get over your fear of linking

  • The fundamental problem with Kouwe was that when he saw good stories elsewhere, he felt the need to re-report them himself, rather than simply linking to what he had found, as any real blogger would do as a matter of course.
  • Reuters blogger Felix Salmon (who knows how to rock a pair of glasses) • Nailing the real problem with a lot of mainstream media blogs (but specifically regarding the situation of New York Times plagiarist Zachary Kouwe), which is that they’re link-phobic. Instead of having the guts to link to a story (out of fear of looking like he was behind the story), what Kouwe and other mainstream journalists do is find a story that needs to get on the blog, rewrite it and make it their own. Unfortunately for Kouwe, he left pieces of language from the other stories in his posts. Salmon puts his criticism like so: “If there’s a minor news story on a trustworthy wire service, and you think you need it on the blog, then link to it.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Mar 2010 20:57

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Biz: Rupert Murdoch is an old guy who likes to settle scores

  • Here he is at the height of his powers, and all anyone wants to talk about is this one quote. He finds that incredibly frustrating.
  • A senior News Corp. exec • Regarding News Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch and “this one quote” in a New York Times article about Fox News chief Roger Ailes (which we covered here). Murdoch had to do some major spin to stop that quote, from a son-in-law who doesn’t like Ailes’ politics. Murdoch was covered at length in a recent New York Magazine piece which is worth the read. Synopsis: He’s old. He’s powerful. He’s not going after his son-in-law. He’s going after The New York Times (with the Wall Street Journal). source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Feb 2010 10:01

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Politics: The NYT’s killer sense of timing wins it some Brownie points

Yesterday, Scott Brown left many on the right wondering where he was coming from. Today, the NYT previews its Magazine piece: “Where Scott Brown is Coming From.” Nice. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2010 20:58

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Politics: “A narrative of impending tyranny” our new favorite phrase

  • In a word, the Times editors and Barstow know this narrative is nuts, but something stops them from saying so — despite the fact that they must have spent over $100,000 on this one story.
  • Our boy Jay Rosen • Regarding a recent New York Times article about the Tea Party movement which seemed to accept a seemingly wrong-on-its-face statement about our country – “a narrative of impending tyranny” – as fact. This phrase floored Rosen enough that he wrote a huge blog post about it. The point that he’s getting at, and that we completely agree with, is that the need for objectivity doesn’t mean you can’t consider or critique what’s being said. Being impartial is one thing; being oblivious, or repeating what’s being said without qualification is another altogether. We owe readers more than that. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Feb 2010 10:27

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Biz: Is The New York Times giving Carlos Slim preferential treatment?

  • Under any other circumstances, the business section of the Times would be expected to cover it, as the Journal and Bloomberg have. Yet as of Saturday midday, I cannot find a single mention of any aspect of this case, anywhere in the physical New York Times, or on its Web site – not even a blog post or a wire story.
  • The Big Money blogger James Ledbetter • Regarding a huge uncovered scandal involving billionaire Carlos Slim, who has a huge stake in The New York Times. J.P. Morgan is accused of trying to push Grupo Televisa’s business secrets to a bank owned by Slim, who owns a major rival. Other major sources have covered it, but there’s literally nothing on the NYT site about the scandal. This is bad precedent. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Feb 2010 12:14

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Politics: Duh: The New York Times says David Paterson sucks at his job

Dude doesn’t do anything. He’s worse than Eliot Spitzer ever was. He ignored a huge plane crash in Buffalo. He sucks. Don’t run again, dude. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

17 Feb 2010 12:05

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Politics, U.S.: New York Times: The stimulus bill an unheralded success

  • The program has had its flaws. But the attention they have received is wildly disproportionate to their importance. To hark back to another big government program, it’s almost as if the lasting image of the lunar space program was Apollo 6, an unmanned 1968 mission that had engine problems, and not Apollo 11, the moon landing.
  • New York Times journalist David Leonhardt • In an analysis piece describing why the stimulus program actually worked. The numbers are somewhat inconsistent, but he points out in his article that yes, the stimulus has actually improved the job picture. People disagree on the details and Republicans will use it as a good excuse to trash Obama, but the numbers, Leonhardt argues, favor Obama. One point worth noting: In most worldwide financial crises this century, it generally takes five years for jobs to bounce back to normal numbers. Obama’s already doing better than that, Leonhardt says. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

13 Feb 2010 18:02

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Tech: Chatroulette’s founder, 17, surprised that his site’s popular

  • I was not sure whether I should tell the world who I am mainly because of the fact that I am under age. Now I think that it would be better to reveal myself.
  • Andrey Ternovskiy • Describing the popularity of his insane webcam-plus-anonymity service, which has taken off in recent weeks, enough that it gets featured in New York Magazine, Good Morning America and The New York Times. We still think it’s a fad, but it’s pretty cool that the Russian student came up with it. Regarding the use that’s become most prevalent – perverts showing off their junk – he notes that while he’s very against it, other people are doing “really unbelievable things I could never think of.” (In a good way.) He has more features planned, which is probably a good thing to extend its pop-culture currency. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

02 Feb 2010 09:47

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Culture: Trapped in an NYT elevator: NBC’s Ann Curry. Please send tweets

The NBC anchor managed to top the news-gathering process of her network (and the New York Times) by tweeting and shooting grainy video the whole time. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
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