Associated Press: Think before you tweet

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 at 10:25 am By mollie

Romenesko published a memo the Associated Press sent out after a couple of tweets received negative attention from news consumers. We discussed one of those tweets in the post “#StandWithWendy? The Associated Press Does.” Long story short: the employee who #StoodWithWendy should not have done so. Now everybody gets to be reminded of the standards in play. From: AP Standards Sent: Monday, July 15, 2013 11:37 PM Subject: “From the Standards Center” – Social media and breaking news: avoiding pitfalls... Read more

Gay rights, street preachers, and narrative preferences

Last updated on: July 17, 2013 at 10:47 am By Joe Carter

When I was 12-years-old I developed an unhealthy addiction to Choose Your Own Adventure novels. Perhaps due to my own lack of imagination, I became hooked on the books where an author would frame a story in which I was the hero. (In case you’re too old or too young to remember this Gen-X genre favorite: each story is written from a second-person point of view, with the reader assuming the role of the protagonist and making choices that determine... Read more

NPR misses the symbolism — and reality — of Jane Roe

Last updated on: July 16, 2013 at 12:59 pm By mollie

NPR had a story on the Texas legislature passing what journalists usually call “sweeping abortion restrictions.” Let’s look at a big chunk of the story right at the top: “What this does is completely reshape the abortion landscape in the state,” says Elizabeth Nash, who follows state issues at the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights research group. “With this legislation, Texas will become one of the most restrictive states in the country. And Texas really matters.” First, Texas is the... Read more

Who’s afraid of les jeunes of France?

Last updated on: July 15, 2013 at 9:55 pm By geoconger

Nick: Are you all right? Honey: Of course, dear. I just want to put some powder on my nose. George: Show her where we keep the … euphemism. Martha: I’m sorry. I want to show you the house anyway. Honey: We’ll be back, dear. Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) One of the marks of the avant garde across the centuries has been an eagerness to mock the the polite sensibilities of society. Played by Richard Burton in the 1966... Read more

About those steroid whispers and slugger Chris Davis

Last updated on: July 15, 2013 at 3:44 pm By tmatt

If you have been following major-league baseball this year, then you probably know a little bit about Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis, the guy with 37 home runs at the All-Star Game break. If you wish, you can check him out tonight in the All-Star Home Run Derby (while pondering the question of whether Texas Ranger fanatic Bobby Ross Jr., will cheer for Davis or against him). Now, here are a few basic facts that are highly relevant to... Read more

NY Times gets religion … in Rome!

Last updated on: July 14, 2013 at 12:07 pm By mollie

The New York Times published a lengthy travel piece with tons of religion in it. It’s written by David Laskin, and nicely weaves religion, history and travel together. A reader complained about one portion, incorrectly, but before we get to that, let’s look at the top of the story. For half a millennium, the Portico d’Ottavia has been the heart of Rome’s Jewish ghetto, four cramped blocks wedged between the Tiber, the Turtle Fountain, the Theater of Marcellus and the... Read more

Pay wall blues: This inspirational SI cover gets religion

Last updated on: July 13, 2013 at 11:33 am By tmatt

Are there any working journalists in this day and age who do not have a love-hate relationship with paywalls, those digital fortresses erected by many publications to force readers to pay for their best online content? I understand why they make sense. I am sure that they save some jobs. Personally, I favor some kind of micro-payment option that allows readers to pay for individual articles, if they so choose. This, however, is a topic for another day. I have... Read more

Muhammad marketing mishaps in Sydney

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 at 11:43 pm By geoconger

I’d hammer in the morning, I’d hammer in the evening, All over this land, I’d hammer out danger, I’d hammer out a warning, I’d hammer out love between, My brothers and my sisters, All over this land. So begins the first stanza of “The Hammer Song”. Written by Pete Seeger and Lee Hays, the progressive anthem had its first public performance by Seeger in 1949 at a rally in New York on behalf of the leaders of the Communist Party-USA,... Read more

Big tests for media’s abortion message machine

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 at 1:32 pm By mollie

Someone on Twitter noticed something illuminating about mainstream media coverage of social issues that’s worth a look. Remember, first, how tmatt quoted the New York Times‘ Bill Keller on the bias dividing line of that paper: Asked directly if the Times slants its coverage to favor “Democrats and liberals,” he added: “Aside from the liberal values, sort of social values thing that I talked about, no, I don’t think that it does.” While many outlets are being more open and... Read more

Pod people: The thin line between insight and hearsay

Last updated on: July 12, 2013 at 10:21 am By Bobby Ross Jr.

Earlier this week, I critiqued an Associated Press story on the hullabaloo caused by a newspaper column in which a pastor’s wife referred to Southern Baptists as “the crazy old paranoid uncle of evangelical Christians.” I closed that post by questioning the AP’s sourcing at the end of the story: Here’s my journalistic question: If you were the editor, would you be comfortable with that source and the information provided? Or would you hold out for a more official source?... Read more