Crossfire conundrum: Who should disclose?
Should pundits on CNN's Crossfire be held to the same ethical standards as the journalists at the news network? There's a controversy swirling around former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. He's also co-chair of a political action committee that's donated money to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), one of the first-ever guests on the program. Do the viewers have a right to know that?
Eric Hananoki & Joe Strupp, Media Matters “Moving the Goalposts: “CNN now says Gingrich is “not in violation” of network rules”
Eric Wemple, Washington Post: “CNN on ‘Crossfire’ ethics: Ha!”
Hadas Gold, Politco: “Conflicts of Interest: CNN adjusts ethics policy around Crossfire”
Andy Kroll, Mother Jones: “CNN Flip-Flops: Newt’s PAC donations don’t violate ‘Crossfire’ ethics rules”
Hadas Gold, Politico: “Is Newt Gingrich breaking CNN’s rules?”
Evan McMurray, Mediaite: “CNN Host Brian Stelter criticizes crossfire disclosure policy, ‘CNN can do better’”
Media's response to government shutdown
There's a very fluid situation in our nation's capitol, where the federal government remains closed while Congress remains locked on a funding bill.
Thomas Bishop, Media Matters: "What the media's false equivalence misses about the government shutdown threat"
Dan Froomkin, Al-Jazeera America: "Shutdown coverage fails America"
Joshua Keating, Slate: "If it happened there... The government shutdown"
Katherine Fung, Huffington Post: "How the media covered the 1995 government shutdown"
The Daily Show with Jon Stewart
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Washington Post’s new niche: Making News Simple
The Washington Post has seemingly developed a new niche: taking very complicated news stories and explaining them to readers in a way that's easy to understand. These pieces on the government shutdown and conflict in Syria have become viral sensations.
Brad Plumer, Washington Post: “Absolutely everything you need to how about how the government shut down will work”
Max Fisher, “9 questions about Syria you were too embarrassed to ask”
Dallas Morning News Drops Paywall
After more than two years, the Dallas daily newspaper has decided to drop its paywall. A newly-designed site will soon launch with all of the content free to web users. An enhanced edition will be available to subscribers with limited advertising.
Sheryl Jean, Dallas Morning News: “The Dallas Morning News to launch new premium website for premium subscribers”
Andrew Beaujon, Poynter: “Dallas Morning News to droppaywall”
Eric Celeste, Dallas Morning News: “Dallas Morning News will get rid of its paywall and debut new premium site in September”
Breaking Bad breaks records
Fans of the AMC drama 'Breaking Bad' said goodbye to one of their favorite shows after five seasons. The series finale ran Sunday evening on the cable network, breaking records for broadcast ratings and interactions on Twitter. It also racked up more than 500,000 illegal downloads in first 12 hours after being posted online, according to the website Torrentfreak.
Janko Roettgers, Gigaom: “Breaking Bad series finale breaks piracy records”
Ruth Brown, Newser: “Breaking Bad finale breaks ratings records”
David Zurawik, Baltimore Sun: “’Breaking Bad’ finale breaks own record for viewing”
Walter Hickey, Business Insider: “Everyone is listening to Badfinger’s ‘Baby Blue’ from the ‘Breaking Bad’ finale”
Janko Roettgers, Gigaom: “Netflix launches Spoilerfoiler to stop Twitter from spoiling Breaking Bad”
Resigning, the high-tech way
Marina Shifrin decided it was time to go. She found her job at Next Media Animatoin in Taiwan to be unfulfilling. She felt her boss cared more about clicks than content. She was tired of working long, unusual hours, and she wanted a lunch break. Watch Shifrin's resignation, offered to her bosses via YouTube video:
Marina Shifrin: “Journalism is dead to me”
Max Rivlin-Nadler, Gawker: “Quitting in the age of news aggregation”
Huffington Post: “This may be the coolest way ever to quit your job”
Dugan Arnett, Kansas City Star: “Mizzougrad quits job in blaze of glory with viral video”
Mashable: “Former employer fires back at writer’s viral resignation”
Re-thinking internship programs
An investigation into internship practices at some journalism schools, including the mandatory Journalism Residency program at Northwestern University.
Kara Brandeisky, ProPublica: “Northwestern’s journalism program offers students internships with prestige, but no paycheck”
Blair Hickman, ProPublica: "Help us calculate the cost of unpaid internships for academic credit"
Kickstarter: “Investigating the intern economy”
J.K. Trotter, Gawker: “Northwestern’s journalism school is sorry for scamming students”