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23 Oct 2011 11:09

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Politics: Marco Rubio’s back-and-forth with the Washington Post does draw blood

  • first The Washington Post published an article that punched holes in Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s life story — saying that his parents left Cuba before the 1959 revolution.
  • then Rubio responded in an op-ed for Politico: “The essence of my family story is why they came to America in the first place,” he wrote, “and why they had to stay.”
  • now But the article did lead to some changes. Though Rubio shot back against the article, in the end, his staff changed the bio on his Web site to reflect the Post’s article. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 May 2011 16:18

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Tech: Washington Post disputes Pew’s findings on Drudge influence

  • Washington Post cries foul on pew study: You may recall this research report by Pew, which claimed that Drudge Report (which, content aside, looks a lot like a Geocities page we made for a middle school project in the mid-90s) drove 15% of the Washington Post’s online traffic. David Carr even wrote a piece on the thing which feted Drudge. The folks at WaPo have responded, calling the report inaccurate and citing their own numbers, which credit 2.5% of their total traffic to Drudge. Pew used Nielsen data from three months in 2010, but three different companies working for WaPo failed to measure a percentage that cracked double digits over the same three months. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

03 May 2011 23:27

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Biz: Newspaper pulse check: Why one paper’s circulation skyrocketed

  • The newspaper is doing OK right now. Not great, just OK. In the past six months, that gray newsprint behemoth did OK, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulation, with the top two papers gaining some ground and most of the top five staying roughly in the same order. However, the way that the group analyzed the data changed this time around — deciding, instead of focusing just on paid circulation, to emphasize “average circulation,” which includes separate editions under the umbrella of a certain brand. The numbers caused one paper to rocket into the top five and one to fall out. See if you can guess by the numbers below:
  • 2.1 million daily circulation for the top-ranked Wall Street Journal
  • 1.8 million average daily circulation for the still-second-place USA Today
  • 916,911 average daily circulation for the freshly-paywalled New York Times
  • 605k average daily circulation for the Los Angeles Times
  • 577k average daily circulation for the San Jose Mercury News
  • 550k average daily circulation for the Washington Post source
  • » A few things of note: If you guessed that the San Jose Mercury News benefited greatly from the change in data, you’re correct — MediaNews treats each newspaper on this page as an “edition” of the Mercury News (which seems a little number-inflating). Other notes: This data covers the daily circulation for the past six months — a period which only includes a tiny bit of the New York Times’ post-paywall circulation (so come back in six months to see if it was a success). But e-editions are doing quite well, especially for the Wall Street Journal and Detroit Free Press. One last thing: The numbers only cover paid newspapers, not free ones. (photo by Brent D. Payne)
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

09 Mar 2011 14:11

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U.S.: Washington Post political reporter David S. Broder has died

  • David S. Broder, dead at 81: The legendary Washington Post political reporter passed away today. A veteran of cataclysmic American news stories, not least of all the Watergate scandal, Broder was a deeply respected and revered figure in print news, and had last contributed a column to the Post on February 6th. I think most everybody understands the dream of loving your work so much that you want to just keep doing it, even into your 80s. That Broder knew this joy, and showed this industriousness, is a credit both to himself and the people who surrounded him. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Jan 2011 10:57

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Politics: Should Obama turn health-care debate back on Republicans?

  • If the president said, ‘Okay, John Boehner, you bet, now that you’re in power, as soon as you pass a version that covers the same number of people for less, I’ll be happy to put my approach aside and cut a deal,’ he’d remind Americans about the discussion Republicans refuse to have.
  • Washington Post opinion writer Matt Miller • Arguing that Obama should frame the debate around health care not in terms of what the Republicans are claiming to do (save money), but in terms of what they as of yet have been unwilling to do – find a comprehensive approach to insuring 30 million Americans that saves more money than Obama’s plan, which he says is imperfect but still important. “Back in the universe in which we actually live, Obamacare was a historic first step. We need to mend it, not end it.” What do you guys think? source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

11 Jan 2011 23:51

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U.S.: How major newspaper editors played Jared Loughner’s mug

  • too hot New York Post editor Col Allen, on blowing the photo out: “We felt his leering grin and wild eyes revealed something of his mental state. The image conveyed a sense of madness.”
  • too coldWashington Post editor Marcus Brauchli, who chose to stay local over giving the mugshot big play: “Our community is one of the communities hard hit by this. The photo reflected that.”
  • just rightNew York Times editor Bill Keller, on playing the pic at an effectively large (for them) three columns: “It felt to me like the obvious right choice. This was the picture of the day.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

17 Dec 2010 17:09

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Politics: Ezra Klein: Obama’s brand power strong even with GOP House

  • Whatever the explanation, there appears to be more life in the Obama brand than the pundits might think, and than the Republicans might hope.
  • Policy superdude Ezra Klein • Reacting to a recent poll which suggests that Obama has stronger post-midterm stock than his two predecessors. While people trusted the other party to solve problems more than the president after the unsuccessful midterms for both Clinton (in 1994) and Bush (in 2006), Obama still has a little bit of  an advantage over the GOP this time around. “There’s been a lot of criticism of Obama’s communication skills lately,” Klein notes, “but if you look at the polls, he’s doing a far better job than his predecessors did preserving his brand within an unfriendly political environment.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

09 Nov 2010 13:46

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Culture: Washington Post: Bob Woodward and Ben Bradlee talk iPad apps

  • You know Ben Bradlee? He knows the score on the iPad. Bob Woodward goes to him for advice on how to use it. To newspapers: This is how you advertise your iPad app. That’s right. Turn your most grizzled journalists into pitchmen.
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

06 Oct 2010 10:09

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Politics: Howard Kurtz impressed he was the center of attention for an hour

  • Within a few hours of Tuesdays announcement, a Politico reporter told me she was working on a second-day story. And by late afternoon, media columnists were already drawing up lists of who might replace me at The Post. I was old news, just like that.
  • Howard “quitting after 29 years” Kurtz • In his “I’m leaving” announcement on his Washington Post blog this morning. Kurtz was in disbelief that his departure actually led to his name briefly becoming a trending topic on Twitter yesterday “without even popping off, Rick Sanchez-style.” He claimed that he was departing because he found the ability to help mold the new-media landscape “irresistible.” We’ll see what the dude can do with The Daily Beast’s Washington bureau. It might be cool. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

05 Oct 2010 14:17

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Politics: Conundrum: Howard Kurtz hates SEO, likes The Daily Beast

  • Howard Kurtz, about a month ago Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz puts up a rant complaining about how he has to do SEO to get people to read his articles: “Our mission – and we have no choice but to accept it – is to grab some of that traffic that could otherwise end up at hundreds of other places, even blogs riffing off the reporting that your own publication has done.”
  • Howard Kurtz, right about now His dislike of SEO isn’t enough to make him pass up The Daily Beast: “I’ve wanted to work with Tina Brown forever—well, for a long time—and I’m incredibly impressed by the energy and creativity of The Daily Beast staff. After a lifetime in newspapers, I’m ready for the challenge of fast-paced online journalism.” source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
 
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