Category Archives: Journalism

A BLOG FROM THE YEAR 2000 THAT USES A BLACKBOARD.

A BLOG FROM THE YEAR 2000 THAT USES A BLACKBOARD. Annalisa called my attention to an item on Reddit which led to this blog post about Alfred Sirleaf, a journalist in Monrovia, Liberia, who has been operating a daily blog/newspaper … Continue reading

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TREATING A DEBT CEILING NEGOTIATION AS A SIMPLE CHICKEN GAME.

TREATING A DEBT CEILING NEGOTIATION AS A SIMPLE CHICKEN GAME. In this post from a year and a half ago, I pointed out that the March, 2012 debt crisis was not a simple chicken game. I based this on Dick … Continue reading

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THE PACE OF BASEBALL IS JUST FINE.

THE PACE OF BASEBALL IS JUST FINE. This article by Benjamin Hoffman in the New York Times appears to be about the new instant replay rules. However, Hoffman dwells not on the improvement from getting decisions right but on whether … Continue reading

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AT LAST, SOME WASHINGTON GOSSIP.

AT LAST, SOME WASHINGTON GOSSIP. Mark Leibowich, a New York Times Washington reporter, has written THIS TOWN, a book about the interactions of Washington politics, Washington journalism and lobbying. The book has gotten a lot of attention, most notably in … Continue reading

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WHAT IS EXPECTED WHEN AN INTERVIEW IS GRANTED.

WHAT IS EXPECTED WHEN AN INTERVIEW IS GRANTED. I posted here about the issues that arise out of the relationships between journalists and their sources (Mickey Kaus introduced me to the phrase “source greasing”.) I was recently led to this … Continue reading

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HOW FONTS INFLUENCE THE WAY WE READ AND THINK.

HOW FONTS INFLUENCE THE WAY WE READ AND THINK. Chris Gayomali had an article on the The Week website which presented results of a survey on how readers react to different fonts. The results indicated that Baskerville promotes a belief … Continue reading

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A PREFERENCE FOR CLEAR RATHER THAN MESSY RESULTS.

A PREFERENCE FOR CLEAR RATHER THAN MESSY RESULTS. The New York Times magazine (April 28) had an article by Yudhijit Bhattacharjee about Diederick Stapel, a Dutch social psychologist, who published a number of fraudulent papers based on data which he … Continue reading

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IS THIS “THE MOST LITERATE AGE IN HISTORY”?

IS THIS “THE MOST LITERATE AGE IN HISTORY”? Simon Kuper in the weekend Financial Times March 23-24) took the opposite position from those who think writing is on the way out, saying that: “We’re now the most literate age in … Continue reading

Posted in History, Journalism, Literature | Leave a comment

GRANDFATHER OF A HUMAN CANNONBALL.

GRANDFATHER OF A HUMAN CANNONBALL. When I lived in New York, I read the Village Voice regularly. Nat Hentoff wrote regularly in the Voice about civil rights and jazz. I read the civil rights columns, which were excellent, regularly. One … Continue reading

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‘INFORMATION COCOONS”.

“INFORMATION COCOONS”. In 2007, in REPUBLIC.COM, as this Amazon book description says, Cass Sunstein “warned against ‘information cocoons’ and ‘echo chambers,’ wherein people avoid the news and opinions that they don’t want to hear.” He restated his concerns here in … Continue reading

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