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December 2, 2008 8:03:22 AM CST



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Started by Mason; Last updated by Mason | View history

Mediawatch

A watchdog for the watchdogs

An eye on all aspects of media, with an emphasis on how well citizens are served by news outlets everywhere.

Stories

Stories 61 - 80 of 102

  • July 2008
    • McConaughey Lands $3M for Baby Pic

      McConaughey Lands $3M for Baby Pic

      (Newser) - Matthew McConaughey landed a $3 million deal with OK ! magazine for the first photos of son Levi, TMZ reports, a deal which includes photos of the tyke’s first Christmas. But all were not happy with baby's first payday: "His publicist begged him not to work with [ OK !] because he's considered an A-lister," an insider told the New York Post . More »

    • Jamie Lynn, Baby Mug for OK!

      Jamie Lynn, Baby Mug for OK!

      (Newser) - Three weeks after giving birth, teen mom Jamie Lynn Spears debuted daughter Maddie Briann on the cover of OK!, gushing about her “perfect” delivery—"I was very blessed" —and her desire to be a soccer mom. The interview fulfills the agreement first hammered out when the 17-year-old former Nickelodeon star announced her unintended pregnancy on the weekly’s cover in December. More »

    • Call the Tabs: CBS Reporter Is Pregnant, Too

      Call the Tabs: CBS Reporter Is Pregnant, Too

      (Newser) - Lara Logan is sick of being tabloid fodder, CBS’ star reporter tells the Washington Post . But in the same interview, she acknowledged a nugget sure to keep gossip hounds at her heels: She’s pregnant. Having generated a slew of press over a romantic triangle in Iraq—said to have provoked a fistfight between a CNN correspondent and a US contractor in Baghdad—Logan says she plans to marry the child's father. More »

    • Ex- Journal Editor Lands Atop Post

      Ex- Journal Editor Lands Atop Post

      (Newser) - The Washington Post has picked Marcus Brauchli, a former top editor at the Wall Street Journal , as its executive editor, sources tell the New York Times , with a formal announcement coming later today or tomorrow. The 46-year-old Brauchli replaces the outgoing Leonard Downie, 66, and represents a dramatic generational shift under the new, 42-year-old publisher. More »

    • New Service Is Like Netflix for Magazines

      New Service Is Like Netflix for Magazines

      (Newser) - Subscribing to a magazine was once a 1-year commitment, but Time Inc.’s Maghound is changing that, reports Folio. The Netflix-like service launching this fall offers “flexibility, choice, control and personalization,” says Maghound's president. The service allows customers to swap subscriptions at any time, liberating readers from year-long relationships that aren’t working out. More »

  • June 2008
    • Evangelical Dobson Slams Obama

      Evangelical Dobson Slams Obama

      (Newser) - One of the country's most prominent evangelical leaders says Barack Obama is "distorting the traditional understanding of the Bible to fit his own world view," the AP reports. Focus on the Family head James Dobson recorded an 18-minute screed that was released ahead of his radio show today, accusing Obama of “dragging biblical understanding through the gutter.” More »

    • Washington Post Top Editor Calls It Quits

      Washington Post Top Editor Calls It Quits

      (Newser) - The Washington Post 's executive editor is retiring, he said today, after a 17-year run that included many prizes, painful staff cuts, and the rise of the Internet. A low-profile but highly respected figure, Leonard Downie Jr. told his staff he would miss the paper. "At the same time I'm ready to do this, because so much further change now needs to take place at the newspaper and Web site, and someone else should be tackling that." More »

    • Minutes Dwindle for Networks' War Coverage

      Minutes Dwindle for Networks' War Coverage

      (Newser) - Middle East correspondents are struggling to get stories on the nightly news as TV networks scale back war coverage, the New York Times reports. With violence in Iraq declining and the US public tiring of an open-ended conflict, network execs have focused on hot topics like the contentious presidential primaries. Keeping, and securing, bureaus in violent areas is also quite costly. More »

    • Blogger on Trail Scoops MSM

      Blogger on Trail Scoops MSM

      (Newser) - Two of the biggest recent campaign scoops—Barack Obama's "bitter" bomb and Bill Clinton's "scumbag" tirade—originated not with the mainstream media but with a 61-year-old Oakland resident who blogs for the Huffington Post. The New Yorker visits with Mayhill Fowler, who ruminates about her exclusives and expresses a few regrets. More »

    • Cable Guys Won't Likely Fill Russert's Seat

      Cable Guys Won't Likely Fill Russert's Seat

      (Newser) - Early word on Tim Russert's Meet the Press successor focused on in-house candidates, like Chris Matthews, David Gregory, or Joe Scarborough. But one insider now tells Variety that there’s “no way” a cable personality will land the gig. NBC’s broadcast division would rather stay “pristine”—free from the punditry that hovers around MSNBC. More »

    • Murdoch's Journal Wins Back a Fan

      Murdoch's Journal Wins Back a Fan

      (Newser) - Rupert Murdoch's attempt to make the Wall Street Journal the "first read" for elites, rather than playing second to the New York Times on non-financial stories, looked like a recipe for disaster to Jack Shafer. It was likely to result in me-too coverage crowding out the Journal's signature reporting, he wrote earlier. Now he says he's pleasantly surprised. Not by the new stuff, but by the continuing strength of what the paper has always done best: financial enterprise reporting. More »

    • Tim Russert Dead at 58

      Tim Russert Dead at 58

      (Newser) - Tim Russert, host of Meet the Press and longtime NBC News Washington bureau chief, died today after collapsing at work and apparently suffering cardiac arrest, MSNBC reports. He was 58. A 24-year NBC veteran, Russert was also the author of two New York Times best-sellers, Big Russ and Me and Wisdom of Our Fathers. More »

    • The Most Overrated VP Traits

      The Most Overrated VP Traits

      (Newser) - Fed up with a focus on local ties and attractiveness in vice presidential selection coverage, Mark Halperin of Time lists the qualifications most under- and -overvalued by the media. Among other things, don't overlook: A candidate ready to be president from Day One. A candidate trusted and liked by the nominee. A candidate trusted and liked by the nominee's wife. More »

    • Writing About Your Kids? Set Some Limits

      Writing About Your Kids? Set Some Limits

      (Newser) - Writers can throw themselves head-first into the nasty, permanent archive that is the Internet—but what of their kids? Emily Bazelon polled writers for Slate and found that while details may differ, the general policy is, the more privacy the better. "The blog medium has a certain kind of immediacy, and a reciprocal surrendering of privacy, that we don't want in our lives forever,” says one writing dad. More »

    • Honey, I'm Shrinking the Tribune Papers

      Honey, I'm Shrinking the Tribune Papers

      (Newser) - Publisher Sam Zell has announced he'll quickly slash pages and more editorial jobs to offset huge debts and  a larger-than-anticipated decline in advertising revenue at his newspapers, including the Los Angeles Times and Chicago Tribune . An 80-page edition of the Tribune could be sliced to 48 pages, reports the Chicago Sun-Times . The papers have already lost a significant number of staffers to buyouts. More »

    • Mrs. O Gets Her Own View

      Mrs. O Gets Her Own View

      (Newser) - Following Cindy McCain's lead, Michelle Obama will co-host The View on June 18, the AP reports. ABC’s mid-morning gabfest asked the wife of the presumptive Democratic nominee to be a guest, but she said she’d rather jump into the often-lively chat and guest interviews, as McCain did in April. More »

    • Bid Hits $15M for Brangelina Twin Pics

      Bid Hits $15M for Brangelina Twin Pics

      (Newser) - They’re not even born (or are they?), but the twins on the way for Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt are already worth $15 million—and counting. A bidding war has broken out between OK! and People magazines for the first exclusive photos of children, the Daily Mail reports. An OK! source told TMZ it would be “foolish” not to vie for them. More »

    • Surprise, Webheads: Newspaper Sales Are Up

      Surprise, Webheads: Newspaper Sales Are Up

      (Newser) - Newspaper circulation is up worldwide despite slipping numbers in the US and Europe, the AP reports. Officials at a worldwide newspaper conference said today that India and China are leading the 2.6% increase, thanks to higher literacy, incomes, and more leisure time. "They say newspapers and print are dead," one official said. "Well, I just don't see it." More »

    • LiLo KOs $1M Lesbian Confession

      LiLo KOs $1M Lesbian Confession

      (Newser) - Lindsay Lohan turned down a $1 million offer from OK! to come out on the magazine's cover, the New York Post reports. Lohan and the gossip weekly were negotiating a story about her relationship with celebrity DJ Samantha Ronson. "Lindsay really wants this to happen and she needs the money," said a source, but the starlet's flak says there's nothing in the works.  More »

  • May 2008