The fact-checking industry has grown tremendously in recent years, and mostly for good reason. Half-truths, outrageous rumors, and outright fabrications are common enough without the Internet. They are ubiquitous online. When fact-checking is well done (by, for instance, Glenn Kessler at the…
One of the tragedies of American life, as we’ve had occasion to lament in these pages before, is the slow decline of local journalism. The Internet and social media seem to meet many people’s need to stay connected to their communities, news organizations are widely reviled by a polarized public,…
There was gnashing of teeth last week when it emerged that the Trump administration had seized the emails and phone records of New York Times national security reporter Ali Watkins in an investigation of former Senate Intelligence Committee aide James A. Wolfe. Wolfe had been leaking like a busted…
Far be it from The Scrapbook to judge the philanthropic impulses of the extremely wealthy, but the recent announcement of a $20 million gift to the City University of New York struck us as a bit rich. The money, which will fund the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, was the gift of Craig Newmark,…
How Russian journalist Arkady Babchenko was forced to fake his death.
Longtime readers of the Washington Post, among whom The Scrapbook numbers itself, will be familiar with the Post’s quaint custom of observing anniversaries and holidays with what might be called counterintuitive stories. For example, on the anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor (2,403…
Every once in a while, as you work your dreary way through the Washington Post, a strange thing happens: You notice something! It can be refreshing but also, just as often, puzzling.
Big news from the publishing world. As print journals search for ways to adapt to evolving attitudes and new technologies, the New York Times Magazine has taken a bold step. The Times Magazine has been edited since 2014 by Jake Silverstein, formerly editor of the Texas Monthly, who upon joining the…
There’s nothing the media love more than a story about themselves. And if it isn’t about them, they’ll make it so.
Writers and editors at the Denver Post recently did what more than a few journalists have only dreamed of doing: They denounced their proprietor in the pages of the Denver Post. So audacious was their action that the gesture made the front page of the New York Times, which reported approvingly that…
How Kirk Gibson inspired a bunch of future Nationals fans. Since it is Opening Day, we're going to have a few baseball stories. This one from 2016 by Rudy Gersten is worth checking out. It's about Kirk Gibson's's famous 1988 World Series home run, a ball that hit Gersten's aunt Pamela, a fact they…
In recent months, we’ve been wondering how journalists are getting any work done, what with all the Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie songs they’ve been singing. In January, workers at Slate and Vox Media—which includes the websites Curbed, Eater, Recode, SB Nation, the Verge, and, yes, Vox—announced…
In October 1956, shortly after being honorably discharged from the Army at age 23, Lee Edwards found himself in Paris. There he fell into the rhythms of expatriate life, smoking Gauloises, frequenting cafés, and writing fiction. It was in French newspapers that he read of the Hungarian revolt…
The Post is about a little-known and relatively minor incident in the annals of newspapering—how the Washington Post made itself a player in the Pentagon Papers story, the biggest scoop of 1971, after it was beaten to the punch by the New York Times. And it merges that account with a female…
It was a measure not only of his robust good health but the vitality of his public commitments that Bruce Cole’s sudden death last week came as such a shock to so many people—and that they were shocked to discover that he was 79. He seemed so much younger. Bruce had become one of the key figures in…
In 1898, when the 42-year-old George Bernard Shaw stepped down as drama critic of London’s Saturday Review, he introduced his successor, Max Beerbohm, 26, with these words: “The younger generation is knocking at the door, and as I open it there steps sprightly in the incomparable Max.”
How China infiltrated the U.S. classroom. Over at POLITICO, our own Ethan Epstein has a good look at how China has used soft power to exert influence with American students via funding "Confucius Institutes."
The movie The Post arrives at a perfect cultural moment. As women today forcefully assert their presence, Katharine Graham is finally getting the spotlight she has always deserved. Notably, her glaring omission from All the President’s Men has now been rectified.
This week on the Confab, senior editor Andrew Ferguson talks with host Eric Felten about the impact on journalism and on the culture more broadly of Rolling Stone magazine.
Joe Hagan has written what promises to be the standard biography of Jann Wenner—standard, because it’s hard to imagine anyone working up the energy to take another stab at it. Fifty years ago, at the age of 21, Wenner founded Rolling Stone magazine, and he’s been editor in chief ever since. Thanks…
The occasion of Murray Kempton’s centenary—he was born December 16, 1917—has attracted little attention. As a columnist for the New York Post and later Newsday he wrote more about New York than Washington or national politics, but one had a right to expect a biography or maybe a few essays or a…
On inauguration eve 1991, in Rhode Island, the departing governor, Edward DiPrete, had a morsel of news for the incoming governor, Bruce Sundlun.
Amanda Hess, a David Carr Fellow at the New York Times, who “writes about Internet culture for the [Times] Arts section,” recently took to its pages to tell us what she thinks of politicians who podcast. Executive summary: She doesn’t approve of them (“Politicians Are Bad at Podcasting,” Oct. 27).
For the vast edifice of baloney that is social psychology, there’s been good news and bad news lately. The good news is that Richard Thaler won the Nobel Prize. Thaler is the foremost evangelist for behavioral economics—the parasitic discipline that uses the findings of social psychology to…
When George Will was being packed off to graduate school, his father, a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois, asked him what, or who, he wanted to be in life: Ted Sorensen, Isaiah Berlin, or Murray Kempton? All three men were closely identified with a public trade. Sorensen, as…
When George Will was being packed off to graduate school, his father, a professor of philosophy at the University of Illinois, asked him what, or who, he wanted to be in life: Ted Sorensen, Isaiah Berlin, or Murray Kempton? All three men were closely identified with a public trade. Sorensen, as…
If I were a Republican strategist, which I’m pleased to say I’m not, I would pay especial attention to Shelby Steele’s op-ed “Why the Left Can’t Let Go of Racism” in the August 27 issue of the Wall Street Journal. Toward the close of his article, Steele writes that “the great problem for…
If I were a Republican strategist, which I’m pleased to say I’m not, I would pay especial attention to Shelby Steele’s op-ed “Why the Left Can’t Let Go of Racism” in the August 27 issue of the Wall Street Journal. Toward the close of his article, Steele writes that “the great problem for…
Last month the Village Voice announced it was ending its print edition, a 62-year run of muckraking reporting, cultural criticism, opinion, advocacy, and opposition—opposition to authority, to anything, sometimes to everything. Founded in 1955, by Norman Mailer among others, the Voice was America’s…
Michael Cromartie, by his wits and his Christian faith, created something out of nothing, what investor Peter Thiel calls going from 0 to 1. And he became an important and influential figure in Washington, though that wasn’t his aim.
Always on the lookout for good writing with a little kick to it, The Scrapbook is pleased to announce its discovery of American Consequences, a new magazine edited by none other than our valued contributing editor P. J. O’Rourke. This is the first magazine P. J. has edited since stepping down from…
In my time at Jesus College, Oxford (1956-58), I must have passed Eric Kennington’s evocative bust of T. E. Lawrence scores of times. It stood in the college lodge, on Turl Street, and portrayed a famous alumnus who had led an early life as an archaeologist before he became a British officer and…
In my time at Jesus College, Oxford (1956-58), I must have passed Eric Kennington’s evocative bust of T. E. Lawrence scores of times. It stood in the college lodge, on Turl Street, and portrayed a famous alumnus who had led an early life as an archaeologist before he became a British officer and…
Ray Sprigle probably had no idea when he set out for the assignment of a lifetime that his journalism would become, to quote the overused cliché, "the first rough draft of history."
Today on the Daily Standard podcast, executive editor Fred Barnes discusses his recent story about the media's Nostradamus complex.
What does France have against the free press?
On March 28 California attorney general Xavier Becerra threw the book at anti-abortion activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. The penal code book, that is. Becerra's office charged the pair, famous for their undercover Planned Parenthood recordings, with 14 felony violations of California…
On March 28 California attorney general Xavier Becerra threw the book at anti-abortion activists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. The penal code book, that is. Becerra’s office charged the pair, famous for their undercover Planned Parenthood recordings, with 14 felony violations of California…
Editor-in-Chief Stephen F. Hayes kicks off the new Daily Standard podcast with a conversation about how he first wrangled his way into THE WEEKLY STANDARD, how his experiences at Ground Zero affected his worldview, and what he believes is the role of conservative journalism in the era of Trump.
George Osborne, Britain's longtime Chancellor of the Exchequer until the fall of the Cameron government, seems to have raised some eyebrows recently with his announcement that, beginning in May, he will become editor of the [London] Evening Standard. And keep his seat in the House of Commons.
On September 30, Donald Trump tweeted in his inimitable style, “Anytime you see a story about me or my campaign saying 'sources said,' DO NOT believe it. There are no sources, they are just made up lies!"
On September 30, Donald Trump tweeted in his inimitable style, “Anytime you see a story about me or my campaign saying 'sources said,' DO NOT believe it. There are no sources, they are just made up lies!"
The Scrapbook is always flattered when the conventional wisdom catches up with our own prejudices. Case in point: There seems to be a gathering consensus that the White House Correspondents' Association dinner—that annual televised schmoozefest where journalists and politicians mix in ways that…
The Scrapbook is always flattered when the conventional wisdom catches up with our own prejudices. Case in point: There seems to be a gathering consensus that the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner—that annual televised schmoozefest where journalists and politicians mix in ways that…
The response from Trump supporters, both in the media and in the wild, to Sean Spicer's Saturday press conference were instructive. It basically boiled down to:
Not long after CNN reported that top U.S. intelligence officials had briefed Donald Trump on a document that alleges the Russian government had "compromising personal and financial information" on him, BuzzFeed published what it claimed to be synopsised in the briefing under the dubious…
At the New York Post, Daniel Halper reports on the launch of a new quarterly journal, American Affairs:
For several years I enjoyed an affiliation with a "lifestyle" magazine that specialized in the toys and enthusiasms of the well-to-do. As a result my email address fell into the twitchy fingers of several thousand—or so it seems to me—public relations firms with names like Chill Strategics and…
For several years I enjoyed an affiliation with a “lifestyle" magazine that specialized in the toys and enthusiasms of the well-to-do. As a result my email address fell into the twitchy fingers of several thousand—or so it seems to me—public relations firms with names like Chill Strategics and…
Among the many offenses that modern architecture has committed against Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington—America's main street, we like to call it—is a glass 'n' stone 'n' steel box that houses a museum about news gathering called, unfortunately, the Newseum. Funded by the New York Times,…
Among the many offenses that modern architecture has committed against Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington—America's main street, we like to call it—is a glass 'n' stone 'n' steel box that houses a museum about news gathering called, unfortunately, the Newseum. Funded by the New York Times,…
This past week we got a master class in how to deploy opposition research in a presidential campaign. During the second debate, a question from CNN's Anderson Cooper led Donald Trump to assert that he "did not kiss women without consent or grope women without consent." At that point, the floodgates…
This past week we got a master class in how to deploy opposition research in a presidential campaign. During the second debate, a question from CNN’s Anderson Cooper led Donald Trump to assert that he "did not kiss women without consent or grope women without consent." At that point, the floodgates…
The news that Hillary Clinton's campaign maintained lists of journalists for friendly leaks and helpful advice—Maggie Haberman and John Harwood of the New York Times, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post, etc.—is not news, exactly. Some would argue that the more interesting story would be a list of…
Over the last few days, the Clinton campaign's been on the defensive. The reason is James Asher, the former Washington bureau chief of McClatchy, has publicly claimed that Clinton aide and confidant was spreading the rumor that Barack Obama was born in Kenya and therefore not eligible to be…
There is big news in the world of sports media. Try to remain calm, but, well, Skip Bayless has moved from ESPN to Fox Sports 1. The first episode of his new show—called Undisputed—ran on September 6, and it was hard to restrain one's emotions in the face of such a big development. Now, instead of…
From Simon Oxenham's excellent weekly column in New Scientist comes word of another social psychology study that will undermine our faith in social psychology studies. We can never get enough of those.
Last week the Associated Press announced that it will begin using automated writing for its coverage of minor league baseball. The AP has reported minor league game recaps before, but didn't have enough manpower for the full schedule, which comprises 142 ball clubs across 13 leagues. But now,…
President Obama delivered a lecture at a Syracuse University event Monday night, in which he instructed the class of assembled press to do their job. It's not just the Senate Judiciary Committee that has been on the receiving end of that particular harangue, it seems.
This morning on CNN, Alisyn Camerota said that journalists are scared to criticize Donald Trump.
Mike Pitts, a Republican state legislator in South Carolina, last week proposed a law that would require journalists in the state to sign on to a “responsible journalism registry." For anyone who understands the issues at the heart of recent gun control debates, it was obvious the law was more of a…
A big part of liberal media bias is the insatiable need to create drama about any intra-party Republican disagreements, while downplaying or ignoring Democratic divisions. Even the most liberal media outlets agreed that last week's CNBC debate was a flaming dirigible, but when the Republican party…
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton sat down with the Des Moines Register editorial board yesterday to answer questions. After, Des Moines Register reporter Jennifer Jacobs managed to ask Clinton a few questions while she was already in the building.
The New York Times may still be known as the “paper of record,” but the paper’s unresponsiveness in correcting the record is not something that is going to burnish its reputation. On July 20, the Times published a story about the first of a recent spate of undercover videos showing affiliates of…
I live out in Real Virginia, which is to say the part of Virginia that is technically a D.C. exurb, but is populated almost entirely by normal people. My neighbors are teachers and plumbers and soldiers and engineers. Plenty of the folks out here work for the federal government, but none of them…
Here's part of Maureen Dowd's interesting and moving column in tomorrow's New York Times on Joe Biden:
Last week, there was yet another news frenzy over something that happened on social media. A Muslim Northwestern University chaplain, Tahera Ahmad, wrote on her Facebook page that she was in "tears of humiliation from discrimination" because a flight attendant refused to give her an unopened can of…
Even as diplomatic relations between the U.S. and Russia remain decidedly chilly over the Ukrainian conflict, the State Department is reaching out to "up-and-coming" Russian journalists. A recent $150,000 grant offering from the U.S. embassy in Moscow seeks to establish a program to give Russian…
The U.S. State Department is looking to design and facilitate a media ethics course for journalists in India, and has even proposed appropriating the name of Robin Thicke's 2013 hit "Blurred Lines" as a title for the course. The U.S. consulate general in Hyderabad, India is looking for a non-profit…
Today, Doonesbury's Garry Trudeau became the first cartoonist to ever receieve a George Polk Award. During the festivities*, he remarked that the cartoonists at Charlie Hebdo -- the satirical Parisian magazine that was recently the site of a terror attack -- "wandered into the realm of hate…
If anyone was unsure of the veracity of Rolling Stone's account of an alleged gang rape at a University of Virginia fraternity, the final nail is now in the story's coffin. Sunday night, the Columbia School of Journalism released its much anticipated blistering report on the magazine's November…
I don't think very much of Vox.com and its journalistic standards. I've made the case against them before in detail, but the evidence of their general lack of professionalism is still piling up. Vox has a daily email newsletter written by Matthew Yglesias, and today's missive contains the following…
This is how to interview a politician. Leigh Sales of Australia's ABC interview Prime Minister Tony Abbott after he barely survived the spill motion (61-39):
In a five year span, the William J Clinton Foundation gave five grants totaling $851,250 to the University of Virginia's Miller Center. One year in particular, 2007, the Clinton gift was specifically marked: "Oral history project of Clinton presidency."
Two weeks ago, Rolling Stone published a bombshell piece that rocked the academic world. In the story, author Sabrina Erdely detailed a horrific crime — a gang rape at one of the fraternities at the University of Virginia that allegedly took place two years ago.
If you've been dying to go to Iran, this might be your chance. The New York Times is selling a 13-day tour of Iran, guided by a Times journalist--Elaine Sciolino--for a mere $6,995.
Someone I'm related to by marriage has written a superb column on the problem of media ignorance. The fact I'm not a disinterested observer shouldn't stop me from noting that the column and the event that prompted it has attracted some attention. The piece is pegged to a much discussed interview…
Another reporter is joining the Obama administration. Emily Pierce, the deputy editor of Roll Call, will be joining the office of public affairs at the Department of Justice, the federal agency headed by Attorney General Eric Holder.
Like Diogenes in search of an honest man, The Scrapbook has been on an extended quest to find the Golden Age of American journalism. That was the era, not so long ago, when a literate public was downright serious about the news, and America’s newspapers, magazines, and television networks paid…
Under the headline, "Veteran Journalist Douglas Frantz Heading To State Department," Michael Calderone of the Huffington Post reports on one Secretary of State John Kerry's latest hires.
The Scrapbook has previously commented on the “new breed of pundit/political scientist who seems to think that a pie chart is a substitute for argument.” Whether it’s the fault of an education system and corporate sector saturated with PowerPoint presentations, the increasing desperation of…
With the death of Jack Germond at 85, the great triumvirate of political reporting is now gone. Germond, Robert Novak, and David Broder were the Clay, Calhoun, and Webster of political journalism with their columns and TV commentary, but mostly with their dogged reporting.
Lately, the Obama administration has taken to referring to "phony scandals" that have distracted Washington from the important issues--namely, the White House's domestic agenda. But a new poll from Fox News shows that the majority of Americans believe each of the four of the administration's…
You may have heard that last week Pope Francis said that gay Catholic priests were a-okay.
In light of the ongoing, slow-motion collapse of the mainstream media, at least one major journalism school has decided to reassess its priorities. Last week, Inside Higher Ed reported that the prestigious Annenberg School of Journalism at the University of Southern California is revamping its…
Christopher Caldwell, writing for the American Enterprise Institute:
In a statement released this morning, the Newseum announces that it will "re-evaluate" its decision to include two terrorists on its "Journalist Memorial." The Newseum had been planning to honor former members of the terrorist group Hamas, Mahmoud Al-Kumi and Hussam Salama.
A year at Columbia University's journalism school will set you back nearly $84,000.
An old journalistic axiom holds, “If it bleeds, it leads.” This means that stories of violence—of murder and arson, tornadoes and hurricanes, floods and carnage—always get primary attention in newspapers and on radio and television news. They still do, but coming up fast on the outside, especially…
Andrew Ferguson, along with Wall Street Journal deputy editor in chief Gerard Baker, appeared on Peter Robinson's Uncommon Knowledge to discuss journalism:
Lots of cultural writing these days, in books and magazines and newspapers, relies on the so-called Chump Effect. The Effect is defined by its discoverer, me, as the eagerness of laymen and journalists to swallow whole the claims made by social scientists. Entire journalistic enterprises, whole…
I said a lot of things, but Cissy did them. —Alice Roosevelt Longworth
Salon, the online magazine, is looking for a passionate reporter to cover Washington politics. Sounds interesting! Based on this listing from JournalismJobs.com, however, I am urging interested parties to refrain from showing up for the interview carrying a copy of Atlas Shrugged:
Senior writer Matt Labash reveals tricks of the trade in a recent interview with Fishbowl D.C.:
Any journalist who has ever said anything worth saying—or in my case, more than a few things they regret—is all too familiar with hate mail.
There may be people in journalism who will be missed more than David Broder, the great political writer for the Washington Post who died today at 81. But off the top of my head I can’t think of any.
We recently uncovered a memo, circulated to Washington journalists after the 1994 election, which is again pertinent after November's midterm election. It was published in the Wall Street Journal under Andrew Ferguson's byline and, as the original piece disclaimed, "Any relation to any actual memo…
Never before have matters of the newspaper business mingled so closely with matters of the heart as in Tom Rachman’s superb debut novel. Rachman used to be a foreign correspondent for the Associated Press in Rome, and he still lives there today; so it is fitting that the setting is an international…