NPR: The Bryant Park Project

April 23, 2008

Feet -- and Not Just Ours -- Are Big on NPR

I always thought the secret to Internet success was food.

Then Yahoo picked up a story we did Tuesday with Adam Sternbergh of New York magazine, author of "You Walk Wrong." Ours was called "Feet Hurt? Stop Wearing Shoes."

The Yahoo link sent us to the top of NPR's Most E-Mailed list (still love ya, Pashman). Our colleagues at NPR headquarters noticed that yesterday's list had a theme. Which I take to heart. And sole.

Continue reading "Feet -- and Not Just Ours -- Are Big on NPR" »

Laura Conaway

8:27 AM ET | 04-23-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

April 7, 2008

Great. My Job Really Is Killing Me

Filed under: Media

From the New York Times, "In the Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop:"

Of course, the bloggers can work elsewhere, and they profess a love of the nonstop action and perhaps the chance to create a global media outlet without a major up-front investment. At the same time, some are starting to wonder if something has gone very wrong. In the last few months, two among their ranks have died suddenly.

Laura Conaway

8:18 AM ET | 04- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

March 28, 2008

Give the BPP the New York Post Treatment

Filed under: Media

Dear BPP Faithful,

We had a former managing editor of the New York Post on our show today to talk about some of the greatest Post covers of all time, including the legendary "Headless Body in Topless Bar."

That got us thinking: what if we gave today's BPP stories the ol' tabloid treatment? What clever headlines could we come up with? So I challenge you to take today's show and give it a little tabloid flair.

Here's the lineup from today's show:

The nation's airplanes are just about ready for liftoff again. Delta and American Airlines expect to be back in business today after grounding hundreds of flights this week for voluntary inspections. Late last night Delta and American Airlines apologized to customers who were inconvenienced.

In our series, "Meet the Firsts" -- we have the story of an 18-year-old high school senior Anmaar Habib. In 2002, she was the first female skier to represent Pakistan in any international ski event and she now has her sights set on an even bigger goal: to represent at the 2010 winter Olympic Games.

NPR's Alison Aubrey reports on why kids curse.

On his way back to Istanbul, NPR correspondent Ivan Watson dropped by the BPP to offer a reporters notebook and let us turn the tables on him.

All three presidential candidates gave major speeches this week on the economy. And while they all touched on similar themes, they drew pretty different conclusions. NPR's Economics Correspondent Adam Davidson helps us make heads or tails of it all.

The new movie "Stop Loss" dramatizes the controversial military policy of the same name. We'll learn about the policy itself from Ann Scott Tyson, military reporter for the Washington Post.

Now you supply the headlines in the comments!

Tricia McKinney

12:58 PM ET | 03-28-2008 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

March 11, 2008

South By Southwest Interview Gone South

Filed under: Media

Businessweek Columnist Sarah Lacy's interview of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at SXSWI did not go well. Soon after it started, the crowd started grumbling, and Twittering, about Lacy's rambling, fawning non-questions of Zuckerberg. Now, the cut of the interview above is hosted on Viddler. The site/app enables viewers to post comments in the progress bar, tied to specific moments in the video, so it echoes what was going on, twitterwise, in the unruly SXSW crowd.

Ian Chillag

8:25 AM ET | 03-11-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

March 7, 2008

Misogyny or Racism--Which Is Worse?

Filed under: Election 2008, Media, Sound Off

Tomorrow features yet another contest for the Democratic presidential hopefuls, and the fight for the nomination is getting grittier by the day.

If you read Maureen Dowd's column in the New York Times this week, you'll know that she wrote about gender and race and the current political climate. Specifically, Dowd addressed the way Clinton and some of her supporters are weaving the issue of gender into her profile as a candidate.

Dowd then raised this "elephant in the room" question:

People will have to choose which of America's sins are greater, and which stain will have to be removed first. Is misogyny worse than racism, or is racism worse than misogyny?

What do you think?

Alison Stewart

9:44 AM ET | 03- 7-2008 | permalink | comments (5) | e-mail post

February 28, 2008

Grant Pick: The People are the News

Filed under: Media

Listen to our interview with Grant Pick's son John and his former colleague Alex Kotlowitz

Grant Pick, poet of the quotidian

Courtesy of John Pick

Grant Pick spent 25 years finding great stories where most other people would look away, and telling those stories in print with humanity and humor. Three years ago, while walking home from lunch, he died of a heart attack at age 57.

I was lucky enough to meet Grant when I lived in Chicago. I'm friends with his kids and asked him to meet me for coffee, so I could mine him for advice on my budding journalism career. He was personable, wise, and generous with his time and insight. He told me then what he told so many others: The people are the news. In other words, there are great stories all around you. You just have to look.

Now there's an anthology of his most memorable pieces entitled, The People Are The News: Grant Pick's Chicago Stories. It's edited by his son John, with a foreword by his former colleague, writer and author Alex Kotlowitz.

Rachel Martin spoke to both men on today's show. Click the listen link at the top of this post to hear the interview. And to read some excerpts from the book click here.

Dan Pashman

11:10 AM ET | 02-28-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

February 20, 2008

Is Marilyn Monroe the Original Celebutante?

Filed under: Media

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

As we discussed in The Most today, Lindsay Lohan appears nude in the new issue of New York magazine. The photo shoot is a re-creation of Marilyn Monroe's famous nude "Last Sitting" session from 1962, six weeks before her death. The mag even got the same photographer, Bert Stern, and did it at the same place, the Hotel Bel-Air in California.

The link between Monroe's premature death and Lohan's trouble with various substances hasn't been lost on anyone. One comment on an LA Times blog said:

What people fail to see is that Marilyn Monroe was just the Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan and Britney Spears of the '50s & '60s. If she was around today, she would be in the tabloids everyday.

Many of us think of Marilyn Monroe as being elegant and glamorous while we consider Hilton and Lohan to be trashy. But think about it. Monroe wasn't famous for her acting talent, she was famous for being a sex symbol. She traveled in high falutin' social circles. She had relationships with various and sundry men, including Joe DiMaggio and John F. Kennedy. (How did Arthur Miller get on that list? I guess he was Marilyn's K-Fed.)

Sure those beaus are classier than Rick Salomon, but folks can't get away with presidential affairs like they used to. (At least they can't get away with them forever.) Monroe's allure was due in part to the fact that we didn't know everything about her. If we had, she probably wouldn't have seemed so glamorous.

In short, I'm inclined to agree with the above comment. If Marilyn Monroe were around today, she'd be less Scarlett Johansson and more Lindsay Lohan. What say you?

Dan Pashman

9:51 AM ET | 02-20-2008 | permalink | comments (12) | e-mail post

Picturing the War in Afghanistan

Filed under: Links From the Show, Media, News

U.S. soldier in Afghanistan, September 2007.

This photograph won the World Press Photo of the Year for 2007. On today's show, we spoke with the man who took it, Tim Hetherington. He said that for him the image evokes exhaustion--the soldier's, and his own when he took it after many days of fierce fighting in Afghanistan. What does it evoke for you?

Ian Chillag

7:54 AM ET | 02-20-2008 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

February 11, 2008

Listener Calls Twitter News the New Thing

Filed under: Media

Rob Paterson lives up in Canada, on Prince Edward Island, where's he beginning to get his news from an unusual source: Twitter. Paterson writes:

Bryant Park scooped the world on Mitt Romney . . . using Twitter. Yes, a morning show in New York -- hours after it was off the air scooped the world.

Hard telling from here whether we were truly, truly first in the entire universe to blast the news that Romney was leaving the GOP presidential race. But we are loving this Twitter thing, both for silly comments about running pants and for serious bulletins on the news. (And we do love that big-thinking Rob Paterson, who's always first with an idea.)

You can find Paterson on Twitter, alongside us. If you're new to the Twitter thing, check here for a starter list of people to follow.

Laura Conaway

10:20 AM ET | 02-11-2008 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

January 23, 2008

What Killed Heath Ledger? The 'New York Post' Knows

Filed under: Media, News

Stop wondering now.

From newyorkpost.com

There's a lot of speculation about what actually killed actor Heath Ledger, who was found dead yesterday. Until the autopsy results are in, nobody knows for sure -- except the New York Post. There it is right on the cover, "Heath Ledger ODs on Pills." They go even further in an online sub-head, adding a motive: "ODs on Rx Pills. Stressed Over Split."

In the actual story they back off a bit, saying Ledger "apparently" overdosed.

Tricia McKinney

9:21 AM ET | 01-23-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Gawker's Finest Hour: Heath Ledger RIP

Filed under: Media, News

The High Church of Celebrity News

From Gawker

Gawker guy Nick Denton has been making noise about making news. Seems Denton wants to crank up the news factor on his marquee site.

Before yesterday, we were thinking the Tom Cruise Scientology video was the best thing to happen to the gossip site since Michael Jackson walked.

Then Heath Ledger went and pulled a rock star. Sometimes, you need that exact mix of pathos, adrenaline and videos you know you shouldn't watch. Sometimes, maybe, you just need Gawker.

Laura Conaway

6:41 AM ET | 01-23-2008 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

December 31, 2007

You Decide: The Tug Over the Pug

Filed under: Links From the Show, Media, Sound Off

Tracey Gaughran-Perez says that she took the picture on the left, and that Fox broadcast a tweaked version of it, seen on the right.

From Sweetney.com

Imagine if you were at home, just relaxing in front of the TV, when you suddenly see a picture you took of your beloved Fluffy or Fido appear on the screen. Sure, you think your pet is the cutest, but would you really want their image broadcast into thousand of homes without your permission?

One blogger in Maryland says that is exactly what happened to her, and she isn't happy about it. Tracey Gaughran-Perez says a picture of her pug Truman was ripped from her blog and used by Fox in a Holiday Greeting spot without her permission. Let us know what you think -- does that look like the same dog to you?

On the show: Copyright on the Internet.

Caitlin Kenney

11:15 AM ET | 12-31-2007 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

December 18, 2007

Who Should Be 'Person of the Year' ?

Filed under: Media

OK, our reign is almost over. Time magazine dubbed "you" and me, and the guy next you as Person of the Year for 2006.

Will another "concept person" earn the honor in 2007, or will it be a flesh-and-blood newsmaker who has made a significant impact on the world? It's an 80 year old tradition and the '07 list of contenders is out. The winner will be announced tomorrow morning. Al Gore? Vladimir Putin? Steve Jobs?

Your thoughts on the list? Your suggestions for other candidates? Mine: A child chewing on the bottom of a painted toy wearing a T-shirt that's the Chinese flag.

Alison Stewart

9:30 AM ET | 12-18-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

December 10, 2007

We Could Be Heroes, If We Watched Quality TV

Filed under: Media

Pat Pedraja encouraged minorities to sign up as bone marrow donors.

Scott Gries/Getty Images

I attended CNN Heroes:An All-Star Tribute last week at the American Museum of Natural History. The show, broadcast live, was both heart-breaking and inspiring. The finalists were all people who had devoted their lives to making a difference: the African nun who took in raped girls, the MIT grad who brought electricity to developing areas, the teenager who created a program to reach autistic children.

Afterward, the party was celebratory. Everyone was just so in awe of the winners.
I talked to my pal Anderson, who co-hosted, and he was excited about how things went. The honorees hobnobbed with media moguls and mingled. The above-mentioned nun boogied with show co-host Christiane Amanpour. I even got to shake hands with the subway superman Wesley Autrey. The vibe felt like, "Wow, that was some TV that didn't pollute the world and maybe even made it a better place in a small way."

The show did really poorly in the ratings. CNN could have done a better job promoting it -- but then again, viewers could have show up to watch it.

I just hope the show gets another shot next year.

Alison Stewart

11:24 AM ET | 12-10-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Can This Paragraph Be Saved?

Filed under: City Living, Media

With your help, maybe. From yesterday's New York Times, on newcomers noticing the "phenomenon" of carrying umbrellas when it snows:

Yet deep down in his soul, the transplant will hold on to the notion that umbrellas are to be used only as protection against the rain, which is wet and, when it drenches the clothes and skin, makes one uncomfortable.

Sharpen those red pencils, y'all.

Laura Conaway

8:28 AM ET | 12-10-2007 | permalink | comments (9) | e-mail post

November 27, 2007

Naming Names in the MySpace Suicide?

Filed under: Media, Sound Off

On today's show, reporter Steve Pokin of the St. Charles Journal talked about breaking the story of Megan Meiers, the 13-year-old girl who hanged herself after a neighbor girl's family wooed her with a fake MySpace suitor. When the suitor turned on Megan and told her the world would be better off without her, she hanged herself.

Pokin's paper hasn't named the other family, even as bloggers plaster their names and personal information all over the Web. A handful of mainstream media outlets, including the Boston Globe, has named the family.

NPR is choosing not to name the other family at this point. What would you do?

Laura Conaway

1:03 PM ET | 11-27-2007 | permalink | comments (11) | e-mail post

Krist Novoselic Gets a Column

Filed under: Media

Krist Novoselic, citizen.

From Seattle Weekly

The bassist for Nirvana came on our show today and talked about dealing both with his old fame and with his new column, for the Seattle Weekly. Charming and humble to a fault, Novoselic writes this week about the FCC, media consolidation, Net neutrality and this bit:

Commuters listening in their vehicles have so far spared terrestrial radio from tumultuous change. But change will come sooner or later. There is no solid prediction on the future of radio.

Wait a minute--we thought we were the future of radio. We can haz WiFi?

Laura Conaway

9:21 AM ET | 11-27-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

November 20, 2007

Police Arrest a Pakistani Editor, BPP Guest

Filed under: Media, News

News from Pakistan: Kamal Siddiqi, an editor at The News of Karachi, has been arrested and is being held by police.

Siddiqi has been a guest on the BPP three times since Benazir Bhutto returned to Pakistan and the country plunged into political crisis.

The BBC reports today that "thousands" of protesters have been freed from jail by President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, but at the same time at least 100 journalists have recently been detained, mostly in Karachi.

In a interview by cell phone from detention earlier today, Siddiqi reported that he and a number of other journalists "courted arrest." They presented themselves to police as a protest against the arrests of fellow journalists.

To be continued...

Ilya Marritz

12:20 PM ET | 11-20-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

November 19, 2007

A Talk with the 'Unsubscribe Me' Producer

Filed under: Media

Amnesty International's "Unsubscribe Me" campaign features a video about torture that's mighty, mighty tough -- enough so that I'm going to defer to my inner cinematic wimp and tell you to go watch it yourself if you're so inclined.

People made of far sterner stuff than I am have debated this particular campaign pro and con -- Gawker called it "torture porn." Meanwhile, a friend of the show (and NPR's social media strategist), Andy Carvin, interviewed producer Marc Hawker and performer Jiva Parthipan for his blog. It's a worth a look:

We approached Jiva, who is a performance artist, because he both understood endurance performing and also had his own personal political views that were aligned with the campaign. We did not have a problem convincing him to undergo the extreme nature of the filming as he understood the principles and trusted our approach. Both him and us insisted that we would have medical supervision on the set and we would never go beyond what Jiva could bare. We agreed a code word - the word "green," which Jiva would shout if the pain got too much. Of course, people who are in detention around the world by the CIA in "black sites," secret prison camps and foreign prisons have no such back up, and no such get-out clause.

Laura Conaway

1:28 PM ET | 11-19-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

November 15, 2007

Sexiest NPR Listener Alive

Filed under: Media

Read all about it.

From People.com

I'm just saying, three months ago I took a little bit of guff for pointing out all the reasons I like one of NPR's most ardent listeners -- and not just that he gives to his local station. I am happy the rest of the world caught up. Maybe he'll guest co-host....ahhh...someday.

Alison Stewart

11:16 AM ET | 11-15-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

November 14, 2007

The Question Is: Did Anyone Get Slimed?

Filed under: Media

An Ohio gas station claims to be haunted, and the owner has the video tape to prove it. Some onlookers say it's a plastic bag or a bug on the security camera lens, but maybe it's just Patrick Swayze. At any rate, golf claps to the local reporter for an cheese-o-rific stand-up and some pretty fierce puns.

Alison Stewart

12:46 PM ET | 11-14-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

November 13, 2007

Lexus Ad Gums Up My 'New Yorker'

Filed under: Media

The latest Lexus hybrid ad.

Photo by MJ Davis

I was sipping my third morning coffee today (hey, if you're going to get up at 3 a.m., make it count), when I lifted up the cover of my New Yorker, and -- behold -- I discovered leaves neatly tucked between the pages ... leaves with delicate phrases printed on them like "Fewer nitrogen oxide emissions" and "Fewer carbon monoxide emissions." Ah, the poetry flows like hydrocarbon.

These earthly ads (which left sticky disks on the pages of my mag, permanently pasting essential pages together) are a pitch for the latest Lexus hybrid. The obvious question was: What are these things made of? Having razor-sharp BPP reporting instincts, I jumped on the case.

Continue reading "Lexus Ad Gums Up My 'New Yorker'" »

MJ Davis

2:20 PM ET | 11-13-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

The Band That Dare Not Speak Its Name

Filed under: Media

It's always entertaining when a mainstream media company (like NPR) comes face to face with people who just don't care about FCC-style standards of decency.

Yesterday, the New York Times featured a review of the Toronto punk band F***** Up at the very tiptop of the Arts section. Of course, the Times' Kelefa Sanneh, who saw the band play at the Music Hall of Williamsburg, couldn't say the name of the band in the piece, so he just linked to the their website.

The band didn't exactly thank the Times for the shout-out. That wouldn't have been punk enough.

Continue reading "The Band That Dare Not Speak Its Name" »

Jacob Ganz

12:07 PM ET | 11-13-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

November 9, 2007

Lions for Lambs for Tolerance. Or Not.

Filed under: Media

This clip -- partly a call for being nice, partly a trailer for the movie Lions and Lambs -- is getting some interesting comments on YouTube.

"the kids are cute.. but they've all got american accents!!"

And

These "diversity" ads NEVER show East Asian guys; they always show the girls but never the guys. . . .It just reveals something very important about the American psyche, particularly it's attitude towards Oriental men.

And

Wow, kind of freaks me out a bit, when I hear "tolerance" used in such a way that simply sounds well like propaganda.
Don't get me wrong, I see the same thing used on the New Right / Neocons with "patriotism" and Security. Left picks Equality. Old right and libertarians pick Freedom. So I guess I understand, I just freak out at the other two.

Kind of like being free, even at the expense of Equality, the left value, or Security, the Neocon value.

Laura Conaway

6:18 AM ET | 11- 9-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

November 8, 2007

When Two-Year-Olds Want Air Time

Filed under: Media

David fends off future political wonk, his two-year-old son Thomas

Who are we to stop them?

Today on the BPP, New York Times correspondent David Kirkpatrick joined us to talk about the role of evangelicals in the race to the White House. In the middle of the interview he was nearly foiled by his two-year-old son, Thomas, who wanted a piece of the action. A big piece of the action.

David guest blogs on the BPP to tell us what went down:

My apologies to your listeners for the guest appearance by my two-year-old son Thomas during the telephone interview from my home this morning. I was an unexpectedly solo parent at the time of the call. Thomas had enjoyed a delightful bowl of oatmeal and he was happily playing with blocks by himself before you called. But then it somehow became desperately urgent that I read him "Olivia Forms a Band" and "Bashful Bob and Doleful Dorinda," which I did as soon we finished the call. I congratulated him on his radio debut.
David D. Kirkpatrick

MJ Davis

11:39 AM ET | 11- 8-2007 | permalink | comments (8) | e-mail post

November 7, 2007

Yeah, I'll Work for You, But I Want . . .

Filed under: Media

One like this, perhaps?

Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images

So maybe Rosie O'Donnell does want a helicopter to take her to and from work.

Show folk make all kinds of demands in their contracts. Amy Winehouse for some reason needs 40 towels at every gig. Joan Rivers requires a fully licensed limo and driver at her disposal from arrival to departure and limo has to be a Lincoln or stretch caddy. Carrot Top? Six pairs of new white athletic crew socks.

On the other end is Reba...who just requires a six-pack of Diet Coke, two cans of caffeine-free Sprite and cloth napkins. She's a simple gal. These gems and so many others can be found at TheSmokinggun.com

Alison Stewart

1:51 PM ET | 11- 7-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

November 6, 2007

A Peek Inside the Writers Guild Strike

Filed under: Media

The blog by now-striking screenwriters Craig Mazin and Ted Elliott isn't all that active, but the comments are a regular rodeo:

my cleaning girl does a beautiful job polishing my floors, and i pay her more than the standard salary for cleaning people. now, she is demanding a dime every time i walk across it. what should i do?

There are 187 more where that came from. Like this retort, a long city block below:

Your cleaning lady is not creating an original work of Authorship.

Laura Conaway

3:02 PM ET | 11- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (3) | e-mail post

Scariest Headline Ever ...

Filed under: Media

Tombstone Injures Child

MJ Davis

11:20 AM ET | 11- 6-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

November 5, 2007

YouTube: 'Heroes of the Writers Strike'

Filed under: Media

They used to say you should never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. This deliciously meta video from Pixar hands Gregg Rossen and Brian Sawyer takes that to infinity -- and beyond.

Laura Conaway

11:35 AM ET | 11- 5-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

November 2, 2007

Is Brian Williams Funny?

Filed under: Media

With or without a writers' strike, Saturday Night Live will air tomorrow night and NBC anchor Brian Williams will still be the guest host.

Apparently, it's not Williams' first appearance on SNL -- he sat in on Weekend Update once but this will be his first full-fledged hosting experience.

Maybe it's good, maybe it's an attempt to loosen Brian up a bit and reveal the man inside the anchorman and maybe that man is funny. It just seems to me that the lines between journalism and entertainment are getting blurrier all the time. You got Tim Russert painfully trying to crack jokes with Stephen Colbert on Meet the Press and now we have to watch Brian Williams on SNL? Hey, I suppose we now live in a world where a lot of people consider the Daily Show to be their most reliable source of news so perhaps this (Williams on SNL) is just another illustration of how every news organization is trying to capture its own piece of that pie.

Rachel Martin

10:57 AM ET | 11- 2-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

November 1, 2007

Evil Spirit Takes Over America

Filed under: Media

Well, it was Halloween yesterday...Now USA Today brings the news that a gigantic, disembodied face has superimposed itself on the lower 48, putting most Americans in a bad mood.

Eat too much candy already?

Ilya Marritz

1:05 PM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Don't Go There--or Go with Caution and Brain Engaged

Filed under: Media, Music

You might be tempted in coming days to discuss the racist phone rant from Dog the Bounty Hunter. If you do, you may want to read this hilarious and helpful "how to" about entering discussions about race with someone of a different race.

Tip #2 is a really good one:

Using Culture-Specific Slang to Relate to Other Races---K-Fed, you ain't. And you just shouldn't try to be--ever.

Amen.

Alison Stewart

11:42 AM ET | 11- 1-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

October 31, 2007

Hometown News: Supremes Halt Execution

Filed under: Media

In today's New York Times, the D.C.-datelined story of the Supreme Court halting a Mississippi man's execution at the last moment went like this:

Moments before a Mississippi prisoner was scheduled to die by lethal injection, the Supreme Court granted him a stay of execution on Tuesday evening and thus gave a nearly indisputable indication that a majority intends to block all executions until the court decides a lethal injection case from Kentucky next spring.

Back home, in the Jackson, Miss., Clarion-Ledger, the story went like this:

"You can't help a fellow whose wife was killed for no damn reason!" Charles Bounds said, his tear-filled eyes glaring at [the corrections commissioner]. "You want to tell me we got a fair shake today?"

Laura Conaway

12:50 PM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

Johnny Quest Comes Out of the Blogging Closet

Filed under: Media

U. Michigan's infamous anonymous blogger is outing himself.

He built a following under the nom de net Johnny Quest, tenacious critic of fraternity culture and judge of female allure. But over the weekend, Quest was forced to reveal himself himself as senior Paul Tassi, the Michigan Daily's film editor.

For months, the MD had been investigating Johnny Quest's identity. Once his editors found out the opinionated blogger was one of their own, Tassi was given the choice: old media or new media.

Tassi chose the daily -- reluctantly -- writing, "I've never been anti-Greek, only anti-douche."

Ilya Marritz

11:56 AM ET | 10-31-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

October 26, 2007

FEMA Stages a Press Conference

Filed under: Media

Man, oh, man.

Laura Conaway

2:03 PM ET | 10-26-2007 | permalink | comments (1) | e-mail post

October 25, 2007

Schwarzenegger Meets Press, Shakes Its Arm

Filed under: Media

Kind of an amazing clip from coverage of the California fires. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, faced with questions from Good Morning America's Claire Shipman, decided to let her know what a positive story this all was. Schwarzenegger grabbed Shipman's arm and shook it as he spoke:

Trust me when I tell you, you're looking for a mistake and you won't find it because it's all good news, as much as you maybe hate it, but it's good news. Trust me, okay?

Laura Conaway

12:52 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (6) | e-mail post

'Sopranos' Creator Whacks His Audience

Filed under: Media

David Chase "sends a message" to his fans.

LUCY NICHOLSON/AFP/Getty Images/

Finally breaking the Omerta on the controversial ending of his Emmy-winning series, Sopranos creator David Chase labeled his audience "pathetic" this week.

As you may recall, a lot of people were left confused and/or unfulfilled by the final scene, which quickly cut to black without a clear resolution to the major storylines of the show's six seasons. Now, for the record, I was among the fans who loved the way the series wrapped up. The Monday after the finale aired was my first day at the BPP -- and I was the only staffer (out of four at the time) who liked the way things ended. I thought it was powerful, nerve-wracking and demonstrated some serious stugotz. I applauded it as pop art that avoided a more predictable bloodbath or witness protection program epilogue.

Today, I renounce my defense of the Sopranos denouement.

Continue reading "'Sopranos' Creator Whacks His Audience" »

Win Rosenfeld

12:03 PM ET | 10-25-2007 | permalink | comments (4) | e-mail post

October 23, 2007

L.A. Not So Smart for 'Travel and Leisure'

Filed under: Media

Trust us, we know: Sooner or later every media outlet cooks up some kind of package that's a guaranteed sell to listeners, readers, viewers, whatever. The 40 worst lyricists, the 528 ways to catch a sweetheart -- pitched it, done it, sold it to the audience.

When Travel and Leisure released its survey "America's Favorite Cities 2007," the masses thrilled to see Philadelphia ranked as tops in the nation for least attractive people. (Google search on "Philadelphia ugliest city")

But there are other rankings, fascinating ones, in the survey. Like this winner/loser, which I'm betting a reporter's notebook the good folks at T&L would just as soon go unnoticed at least until the Los Angeles fires go out.

Laura Conaway

3:38 PM ET | 10-23-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post

October 18, 2007

Ellen Degeneres Pleads for a Dog

Filed under: Media

"Just please give the dog back to those little girls." -- Ellen Degeneres, Tuesday, Oct. 16.

Laura Conaway

6:28 AM ET | 10-18-2007 | permalink | comments (2) | e-mail post

October 17, 2007

How to Handle the Steve Fossett Story

Filed under: Media

Steve Fossett after a safe landing in 2006

Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images

There's a discussion a-brewing in the media world over how best to handle coverage of adventurer Steve Fossett, who disappeared while flying his single-engine plane over the Nevada desert nearly six weeks ago. This piece from Monday's New York Times lays out the dilemma for editors: "When a person vanishes without a trace, when, if ever, should a news organization publish an obituary?"

Time Magazine came closest to an obituary when it published a remembrance of Fossett written by his friend Richard Branson. Branson also appeared this week on The Today Show and said of Fossett, "I think everybody involved has pretty well given up hope, sadly."

In spite of Branson's statements and the fact that the search for Fossett was called off October 3, no obituaries have been printed. I spoke to Ellen Weiss, NPR's Vice President for News, who told me that NPR doesn't say someone's dead until we have confirmation that they're dead.
But what do you think? As the Times put it, "When a person vanishes without a trace, when, if ever, should a news organization publish an obituary?"

(A separate but related note: During our show piloting period we asked an expert, "Why is it so hard to find a wrecked plane in the middle of the desert?" The answer was very interesting.)

Dan Pashman

7:10 AM ET | 10-17-2007 | permalink | comments (0) | e-mail post