The Source Diverse

Gordon Brown head of party, not head of state

2008-07-27T10:21:00.002-06:00

Thanks to Justin Webb for this:

"Incidentally CNN described Gordon Brown as a "Head of State." This mistake - a common one - is part of the reason why Americans often think Brits are uncomfortably nasty to their prime ministers. To American eyes attacking them can sometimes seem unpatriotic - they do not realise that these figures represent a party not the state. Conversely we Brits forget sometimes that Obama and McCain are competing to become America's Queen."

Thoughts?

How old is Jack McCormick?

2008-07-01T16:57:00.006-06:00

"But rarely - outside of a June 5 spat with Kevin Youkilis in the dugout - had it turned physical, as it did when Ramírez shoved McCormick, 64, who fell to the ground."

(Amalie Benjamin - Boston Globe)

"What's up with Manny? Is the goofy slugger in need of some anger management? And why won't the Red Sox publicly sanction their star when he pushes a 64-year-old club executive to the ground?"

(Dan Shaughnessy - Boston Globe)

"He Manny-handled the team's traveling secretary over the weekend, pushing the 62-year-old down after he didn't immediately come up with the 16 tickets he wanted to the game in Houston."

(David Whitley - Orlando Sentinel)

"When another request was made by Ramirez upon arriving at the ballpark Saturday and led to a physical confrontation in which the 36-year-old shoved the 66-year-old McCormick to the ground, no thoughts of what it might mean in the long term were measured out."

(Rob Bradford - Boston Herald)

So, 62, 64, or 66, and is a traveling secretary a "team executive" (as titled by Shaughnessy of the Globe)?

The internet information revolution

2008-02-26T13:07:00.000-07:00

http://blog.daylife.com/?p=1876

featuring all of us.

The Source Diverse scarcity: We need you

2008-02-25T19:52:00.004-07:00

1. My passion in analyzing differences in news reporting is satiated by the Daylife Blog.
2. Time is not on my side, no it's not.
3. But the Source Diverse will not die, it will live in peace and scarcity.
4. In the meantime, non-Daylife-able posts will go here, but realize the Daylife platform is > a single blog, even one as wide-reaching and great as the Source Diverse.
5. You tell me.

What's going on?

2007-12-31T16:53:00.000-07:00

With so much news of late dominated by the unfortunate tiger mauling and the assassination of Benazir Bhutto (and the resulting events) what's going on in your neck of the woods?

My neck of the woods is primarily seeing snow, with a healthy dose of Cabinet secretary Mike Leavitt (potential) impropriety.

This is a Major News Source: CNN

2007-11-12T16:18:00.000-07:00

YouTube at its most useful

2007-10-17T10:07:00.001-06:00

Here

pwnage Illustrated, Pamplona edition

2007-09-15T15:12:00.000-06:00

Leave bulls alone.

All photos, AP.

Debbie Schlussel's Embarrassing Moment

2007-09-14T12:23:00.001-06:00

Here's where Debbie Schlussel tries to have it both ways.

She starts her tirade by calling out a reporter for being judgemental:

"USA Today 'reporter' Andrea Stone, for instance, must think she doubles as an editorialist. Her report in today's edition features loaded, biased opinions with words like 'erroneous' (regarding most Americans' belief) and 'scariest' regarding other numbers in the poll."

And goes on to do the same things herself. For example when she writes

"As one who sees the growing threat of Islam within our borders, I'm glad most Americans see us as a Christian nation. That means that, likely, most still believe strongly in Christianity. And that's why our country is not yet in the position of Europe a/k/a Eurabia (a term coined by Bat Ye'or)"

she is both making a judgement and exhibiting a strong bias (in this case against Islam, elsewhere in her post she shows prejudice against atheism).

Her entire point is summed up when she says "Freedom of religion doesn't mean freedom from religion," and what's most interesting here is that this also sums up her biases as well. Which is to say, it's OK to choose a religion, as long as you have religion....unless this religion doesn't believe in a Christian God.

Listen folks, being subjective has it's place. And I don't particularly care about anyone's religion, but if you are going to write a diatribe against being an "editorialist," you best not be doing the same things you rail against. It's an embarrassment. And that's my opinion, and I will not pretend it's fact. And that's OK with me. Thanks for your time; enjoy the rest of your day.

The Source Diverse Rises

2007-09-13T11:20:00.001-06:00

...stay tuned. We're coming back, and we're coming back big.

The Sand vs. Shark Study

2007-06-21T09:57:00.000-06:00

Many outlets have picked up the story about sand being more deadly than sharks. For example, see the Daylife pages about it. Just about all of the headlines, and most of the stories themselves, focus on the fact that sand holes have killed more people than sharks over the same period of time.
Admittedly, this whole topic is silly.

However, focusing on sand being more deadly than sharks makes it even sillier.

More people are around sand, during more times of the year, than are ever around sharks.
Fine, sand is dangerous -- why not make that the focus of the story? If you don't think that the danger of sand is a big enough story on it's own, then comparing it to shark attacks barely masks that fact.
The study being used as the foundation of the story is about the dangers of sand holes, not about the nondanger of shark attacks.

Note: Here's a link to an extract of the actual study, subscribers to the New England Journal of Medicine can see it in full here.

Reuters' Quirk

2007-06-13T20:04:00.000-06:00

On the Reuters landing page, the following subcategories/subheadings are provided to ease navigation of their vast news collection:

1. Investing
2. Business
3. News

Number three really narrows it down...

not.

French Socialists undone by family sparring

2007-06-11T11:49:00.000-06:00

Says the London Times Online:

"The latest spat between Ms Royal, who lost the presidency to Mr Sarkozy last month, and Mr Hollande, her party leader and father of their four children, was too much for some Socialists who blamed them both for the party’s electoral misery."

The New York Times chose to focus more on fact, and little on backstory, offering this summary:

"The main opposition, the Socialist Party, received 24.73 percent, meaning that it could lose more than half of its 149 seats, pollsters projected. The result reinforced the disarray on the left since its presidential candidate, Ségolène Royal, lost to Mr. Sarkozy last month."

Daylife has photos.

Jobless Claims: Fox vs. USA Today vs. Readers

2007-06-08T12:45:00.001-06:00

Yesterday, the department of labor released their latest Unemployment Claims weekly report. This gives us a great opportunity to compare media coverage to direct source material.

From the report itself:

"The advance number of actual initial claims under state programs, unadjusted, totaled 261,509 in the week ending June 2, a decrease of 12,407 from the previous week. There were 260,263 initial claims in the comparable week in 2006."

Fox News leads by saying:

"The number of U.S. workers signing up for unemployment aid edged down slightly last week, the Labor Department said on Thursday in a report underscoring stability in the labor market despite sluggish growth."

The USA Today also accentuated the positive by stating "the report suggest[ed] that the labor market remains healthy despite a slowdown in economic growth." Basically, the argument in both cases is that with fewer people filing claims, more people must be working, YAY!

So, who out there wants to take on the negative? Well, for one, the claim drop did not happen across the board, as "[t]he largest increases in initial claims for the week ending May 26 were in Texas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Indiana." Caveat: this list is based on the seasonally unadjusted data. The report also points out that more states had an increase of 1000 people filing claims, than did states having a decrease of 1000 people filing claims.

While it is true that the report basically paints a pretty picture, at least on a state-by-state basis, someone must highlight the negative.

I'm asking for your help. The Source Diverse readers generally have great suggestions. Can you dig up some articles which take the report and slant or highlight the negative? Hint: Try local papers. Double hint: Try local papers in Texas, Michigan, New York, Oregon, and Indiana.

Or, can you form your own opinions of the report? In this day and age, where the public gets direct access, via the web, to this kind of source material there is no reason to just take what is written about the material as gospel. Dig in, get your hands dirty.

Enjoy your day.

Oil, Nigeria, CNN, Reuters

2007-05-21T14:55:00.000-06:00

Reuter's says:

Oil roars past $70 on Nigeria concerns

CNN says:

Oil settles above $66 on Nigeria concern

Source Diverse Blocked in China

2007-05-21T12:54:00.001-06:00

USA Today vs. NY Times

2007-05-11T14:06:00.000-06:00

Both the USA Today and the New York Times allow users to search the news by their most popular news of the day, broken down in various categories, e.g., most emailed.

Top 3 New York Times most emailed, last 24 hours:

Top 3 USA Today most emailed:

Right away, it's easier to tell that people are not emailing each other the big stories, because, presumably anyone that cares can already find those easily enough. I'd assume people are emailing their friends stories they may not otherwise read. Looking further, and I honestly don't have a real idea about this, but I would assume (small sample size to be sure) that readers of the NYT are probably, on average, a little older than those of USAT, judging by the content of the stories. Now, one problem with that assumption is the selection bias inherent in the comparison. People who read the NYT may be older, or maybe it's just that the news at the NYT is more sophisticated.

Headline comparison

2007-05-10T15:03:00.000-06:00

Source Diverse reader Chris H. points out:

Fox News headline: Bush Warns Democrats to Give Troops Funding or Face Disaster
CNN headline about the same story: Bush says he's OK with Iraq benchmarks

Interesting Daylife searches

2007-05-10T13:09:00.000-06:00

Here's one way to approach the news from a different perspective. Obviously, you can always just search for things that interest you and generally get good results, but sometimes being a little more vague can be just as rewarding.

For example, if you take pleasure in other's misfortune try these searches:

"Mistake" - appears to give consistently solid results and a good mixture of opinions (e.g., Spider-Man 3 - most mistake filled movie of the year) and facts (e.g., mistake at Great Salt Lake).
"Oops" - you may be amazed at how often this makes it into a headline.
"Negative" - like "mistake," this also gives a good mix of results, and not all of them are bad.

For less emotional slanting, aim for the random:

"Dog" - seems like it could be as good as anything, although perhaps it's a tad specific with too narrow a scope of results.
"Sandwich" - surprisingly, this actually provides some decent range.
"General" - right now, you get a mixture of war coverage and election coverage.

These are just a starting point, try your own. Be sure to also check out Daylife's blog, where you can learn other neat search tricks.

Republican Debate Media Comparison

2007-05-04T08:18:00.000-06:00

Reuters focuses on the republicans as a collective unit, saying:

"Republican White House contenders offered strong support for the military effort in Iraq but voiced qualms about the Bush administration's management of the war during a quiet first debate on Thursday. The Republican debate at the California presidential library of conservative Republican hero Ronald Reagan produced few confrontations or memorable moments but exposed some differences among the 10 candidates on social issues like abortion."

It was CNN that decided to focus on the abortion differences, which as a result gave Guiliani the headline space ("Guiliani bucks GOP field"). CNN led by stating: "Rudy Giuliani broke with the other nine Republicans in the party's first debate of the presidential campaign, saying that it would be OK if the Supreme Court overturned its ruling on abortion rights but that he respected a woman's right to choose."

Of course the Republican Debate features prominently on most source's landing pages this morning, however I utilized the Daylife search function to get a little more depth on the matter. The EvolutionBlog, for example, offers "[o]ther tidbits from" the debate. Jason Rosenhouse, wrote:

"Next came an amusing segment where the candidates were asked whether they felt the day that Roe v. Wade was overturned would be a good day in American history. Judging from the responses, it might as well have been Stephen Colbert asking, 'Great day? Or, our greatest day?'"

Rosenhouse included the candidate's responses:

"MR. ROMNEY: Absolutely.
SEN. BROWNBACK: Be a glorious day of human liberty and freedom.
MR. GILMORE: Yes, it was wrongly decided.
MR. HUCKABEE: Most certainly.
REP. HUNTER: Yes.
MR. THOMPSON: Yes.
SEN. MCCAIN: Repeal.
[MODERATOR ]MR. MATTHEWS: Mayor...
MR. GIULIANI: It would be okay.
MR. MATTHEWS: Okay to repeal?
MR. GIULIANI: It would be okay to repeal. Or it would be okay also if a strict constructionist judge viewed it as precedent, and I think a judge has to make that decision.
MR. MATTHEWS: Would it be okay if they didn't repeal it?MR. GIULIANI: I think that -- I think the court has to make that decision, and then the country can deal with it. We're a federalist system of government, and states could make their own decisions. "

Luckily for us, Rosenhouse also translated Giuliani's response to "Can we please stop talking about abortion and talk instead about how heroic I was on 9/11?"

BlogCritics Magazine wants to make sure we know who does not believe in evolution, and described the situation like this:

"I just have to say - did you see that three Republicans raised their hands to signify that they did not believe in evolution? And, once again, the camera did not move in close enough. From what I could see, it wasn't Giuliani or McCain and I'm pretty sure it wasn't Romney at the other end. But three others Republican candidates did raise their hands. (They have been identified as Sen. Sam Brownback, Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Rep. Tom Tancredo.) The mind boggles - I thought for a second I was watching The Tudors, except then it would have been more entertaining."

Daylife also culls some pertinent quotes here .

"(Adjective) (Subject) (Verb)" (says Source)

2007-05-01T14:05:00.000-06:00

News ad-libs, taken from headlines:

"Embattled Bush to veto" (says AFP)
"Secular Turks vow" (says International Herald Tribune)
"Murdoch's New's Corp makes" (from African News Dimension)
"Female voters set" (says CNN)
"Prototype toy reads" (says KGTV, San Diego)

Cheney's plane hits bird; plane lands safely

2007-04-16T07:08:00.000-06:00

CNN.com has been giving prominent space to this story, which is about as newsworthy as the new golf video games, also given prominence on CNN.com.

Here are the story highlights (AS POINTED OUT BY CNN):

"• Plane carrying VP hits bird on approach to Chicago's O'Hare Airport
• Mechanics check plane, find it OK to take Cheney back to Washington
• In Chicago speech, Cheney attacks Democrats on Iraq war funding bills
• After speech, Cheney shops for birthday gift for his granddaughter"

So, how is this news? Using the old saw that it's not news when dog bites man, but it is when man bites dog....here we see Cheney's plane hitting a bird and, gasp, having no damage to the plane as a result. If the plane was damaged by the bird, maybe this would be worthy of my attention. Or, if Cheney shot at the bird through the cabin window, maybe that would be interesting. Or not.

Carry on. Thanks for your time.

Lazy travel writing

2006-12-29T09:53:00.000-07:00

CNN is featuring a piece about Alta ski resort on its home page. In a single two-sentence paragraph, the writer, Sara Kugler, manages to make at least four mistakes.

"We felt a tug of nostalgia as we inched up the mountain on the main chair lift, which was then a slow-moving double-seater that felt very 1970s and took nearly 20 minutes to reach the top. The trip takes you from a base of about 8,350 feet above sea level to about 10,400. Alta's highest point is 10,550."

Kugler is almost certainly describing the Wildcat lift here, but she has created a composite of two lifts and mangled details of both lifts.

First mistake: Alta's base is 8,530' not 8,350'.
Second mistake: The Wildcat lift takes skiers to 9,780' not 10,400'.
Third mistake: "Nearly twenty minutes" is more like 35% less than twenty minutes, or otherwise known as 13 minutes.
Fourth mistake: she calls this Alta's "main chair lift" which is subjective at best, and arbitrary and/or incorrect at worst.

Alta has since opened a new lift, which now takes skiers from the base to 10,400 feet, and Kugler does, to her credit, point this out (although she says this lift replaced the old lift which is not true if she was writing about the Wildcat lift).

What Kugler has done is morphed the Wildcat and Germania lifts into a composite lift, which she decribes as a double chair lift going from base to 10,400 feet. The reality is she really rode the double-seater Wildcat then skied down to the triple-seater Germania lift.

In her defense, her mind-created composite lift does now in fact exist at Alta, but it did not when she skied there, so it would be easy to look at a current trail map, online even, and combine that with a fuzzy memory and spit out some lazy, inaccurate, obsolete travelogue without much effort or thought.

Great Sports Journalism: Gordon Edes

2006-12-18T10:09:00.000-07:00

In depth, little speculation, solid story, trusted sources, direct quoting: Thank you Gordon Edes.

Nancy Pelosi

2006-11-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Nancy Pelosi has been elected Speaker of the House. As speaker, she is second in line for the presidency.

Speaker-elect Pelosi used her new-found power to support Rep. John Murtha for House majority leader, however Pelosi's backing failed to help Murtha and Rep. Steny Hoyer was elected instead.

CNN is currently featuring this story prominently online, and is using the solid headline "Pelosi wins then loses." What I find interesting about the CNN article is that it provides a substantial amount of space discussing why Murtha was a bad choice for majority leader and offers little insight about Hoyer.

This prompted me to examine other sources.

The Reuters story linked above (primarily about Pelosi's victory) says only that Murtha "helped lead the charge against the Iraq war that helped Democrats win control Congress, drawing the appreciation of virtually all members. Yet some Democrats were concerned about his record on congressional ethics and opposition to proposed reforms."

The Reuters story about the majority leader race regurgitated the Pelosi story: "Pelosi, a California liberal, had endorsed Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, who helped lead the charge against the Iraq war that was a key factor in races for the House of Representatives and the Senate."

So, both Reuters and CNN are using the angle that Pelosi's support was ineffective and her own party went against her wishes. The AP feed has a similar view, saying "The balloting marked a personal triumph for [Hoyer], but also a snub to Pelosi, moments after the rank and file selected her unanimously to become speaker when the House convenes in January."

Closure: The Matsuzaka Sweepstakes

2006-11-14T18:41:00.000-07:00

This is officially over.

"The highest bid amount was submitted by the Boston Red Sox...they should have negotiating rights for 30 continuous days." -- Opening line from the Major League Baseball Official Matsuzaka Press Conference.

"We are pleased and excited to acquire the rights to Mr. Matsuzaka." - Red Sox General Manager Theo Epstein

So, let's review my recently one-dimensional blog. Who had the best sources and who had the worst?

Buster Olney, part journalist, part analyst, for ESPN is the clear "winner" as he scooped everyone and broke the story, as I wrote last Friday: "Buster Olney blogged (subscriber-only) on ESPN about a 'bit of speculation heard yesterday -- and it was nothing more than speculation -- was that maybe Boston had made an enormous bid, in the range of $45 million.'"

ESPN gets credit for trusting Olney enough to use his blog as source material for their news release later that day. Clearly Olney was hedging his bets and protecting his sources by qualifying his blog report with double doses of "speculation."

So, Olney gets extra credit for breaking the story with the correct information, and his employer gets credit for recognizing the strength of Olney's moles enough to turn it into an actual news story, which was later picked up by most other outlets.

Who lost? Earlier last week Source Diverse compared a video news segment alongside message board fodder alongside speculation from a blog (not Olney's). In the video Boston Globe sportswriter Jackie MacMullan nonchalantly offered that Matsuzaka "is going to go out west to the Angels...they've got the sealed bid that's going to put them over the top."

In the future, I'll read MacMullan's work with more of a skeptical eye.

The blog, Matsuzaka Watch, was careful not to opine as matter-of-factly as MacMullan, but did posit that the Yankees will win the bidding, saying "rumors abound...the Yankees at $27 million, the Rangers at $25 million, but nothing concrete or from a remotely reliable source."

It's hard to "score" the blog anything more than neutral (which I'd say is quite valuable).

Now to the much-maligned, oft-deemed-unreliable message board: One poster, while he did qualify his declaration with some insecurity, stated "I have a source telling me that the Yankees won with 27 million. He is reliable but I still have some doubts as that seems a little low."

In sum, Buster Olney gained my trust this week. Jackie MacMullen lost some credibility, but nothing major. If you followed along on the Matsuzaka Watch blog, you know the blog was at least decent, and updated frequently. Rumors and speculation were disclosed as such. And one poster on a message board had a chance to shine, but instead came up empty.

I'd also like to draw attention to how relatively leak-proof this whole process ended up. Kudos to Major League Baseball, the teams thereof, and the officials and entities of Nippon Professional Baseball.

I will now refrain from writing about sports for at least 7 days.

Matsuzaka redux: rumor turned speculation turned news

2006-11-10T12:08:00.000-07:00

An insight into news-making:
Buster Olney blogged (subscriber-only) on ESPN about a "bit of speculation heard yesterday -- and it was nothing more than speculation -- was that maybe Boston had made an enormous bid, in the range of $45 million."

Note that Olney wrote this in his blog and twice used the word "speculation" and further qualified the information with "maybe."

Well this speculative maybe turned into a good ol' fashioned news article, also on ESPN:

"The Boston Red Sox may have posted the top bid for the right to negotiate with Japanese right-hander Daisuke Matsuzaka, ESPN The Magazine's Buster Olney reported, citing Major League Baseball sources...But Olney is reporting that the Red Sox may have posted the top bid with a figure between $38 million and $45 million, according to Major League Baseball officials who are monitoring the bidding. "

Note the repeated use of the word "may." We are now witnessing a rumor being parlayed into news. The ESPN article, to its credit, does point out that "[t]here has been no official announcement, and the Seibu Lions, Matsuzaka's team in Japan, have until Tuesday to accept or reject the high bid."

Is this responsible reporting? I'd say the blog post is responsible, although borderline comical, but taking the blog post and converting it into news (from "ESPN News Services") is questionable at best.

Daisuke Matsuzaka: News vs. Message Board vs. Blog

2006-11-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

This is getting interesting. Here's the basic deal. Daisuke Matsuzaka is an outstanding, young pitcher currently controlled by the Seibu Lions. Teams from Major League Baseball have submitted bids to Seibu for the right to negotiate with Matsuzaka. The highest bid amount will be revealed to Seibu, but not the team. Seibu will likely accept the bid.

This process is meant to be secret to avoid tampering. Leaks are bound to happen, but who has the best contact information?

Here, watch Jackie MacMullan casually state Matsuzaka "is going to go out west to the Angels... they've got the sealed bid that's going to put them over the top."

A poster on a Yankees message board declares "I have a source telling me that the Yankees won with 27 million. He is reliable but I still have some doubts as that seems a little low."

The Matsuzaka Watch blogs "[i]t's Thursday evening in Japan and we're all still waiting for word on the bidding process. Rumors abound...the Yankees at $27 million, the Rangers at $25 million, but nothing concrete or from a remotely reliable source."

Mainichi Daily News reported last night:

"[Matsuzaka's] Japanese club, the Pacific League's Seibu Lions, said Thursday they have been notified of the highest bid by a major league club for the 26-year-old right-hander, but will not make a decision on whether to accept until after a meeting of its board of directors -- not expected to be held before Friday at the earliest. 'We have confirmed the amount of the bid, but we cannot make any comment for now on whether the club will accept it,' said Seibu spokesman Ryuichi Chikamune, who refused to disclose which MLB team offered the highest amount, or how many teams bid."

The bidding opened on November 2nd.

Virginia, too close to call, or not?

2006-11-08T19:07:00.000-07:00

Polls have been closed for roughly 24 hours. Forbes, using an article from the AP, declared Republican George Allen a loser in Virginia at 3:13pm. Meanwhile CNN.com is taking the conservative approach, stating on its home page “Virginia Senate race still too close to call.”

Allen’s opponent, and potential victor, declared “the votes are in and we won.” Meanwhile, George Allen has not conceded and his campaign website has not been updated.

Fox News states that“[i]n Virginia, the State Board of Elections announced it would not certify the outcome of the race between incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen and Democratic challenger Jim Webb until Nov. 27, after which recounts could begin.”

Michelle Malkin blogs that Webb took Virginia, while MSNBC reminds us “[w]ith control of the Senate down to the contest in Virginia, we could be wallowing in reminders of the weeks-long wrangle in Florida that ultimately decided the 2000 presidential race.”

For those wanting a resolution, you can watch Webb’s victory speech on YouTube.

Saddam Predictions

2006-11-06T14:08:00.000-07:00

London Times online states:

"[t]he former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will be hanged by the end of January, a senior member of Nouri al-Maliki's Dawa party predicted today as an around-the-clock curfew kept the lid on sectarian violence after the deposed dictator was sentenced to death. 'I don't think it will drag on beyond January of next year,' said MP Haider al-Abadi, who is a confidant to the Iraqi Prime Minister."

Reuters focuses on the complexity of the issue, and the ambiguity and uncertainty therein:
"Saddam Hussein's death sentence is not the end of the legal process and political obstacles may also keep him from the gallows for some time. U.S. officials working with the U.S.-sponsored Iraqi High Tribunal also describe it as 'premature' to disclose exactly how Saddam's appointment with the hangman might take place."

Many sources are questioning the timing of the verdict, wondering if the Saddam trial was brought to an end just in time for the US mid-term elections. Others agree the timing may be interesting, but do not believe it will affect the elections.

Phillip Carter, writing at Slate, predicts the "conviction may even impede our march to success and frustrate our exit from Iraq." But Tony Blair disagrees. An AP article, by Beth Gardiner, discusses Blair's belief that the death penalty is bad even for Saddam Hussein. Blair predicted the trial "also then helps point the way to the only future...a nonsectarian Iraq in which people from different communities live together and decide their future through democracy."

Biggest News Right Now

2006-11-03T11:24:00.000-07:00

According to CNN.com, Rev. Ted Haggard and his potential homosexual fling is the most prominent news story at this time.

The New York Times online is highlighting the story about the two women killed by Israel.

The most recent post on Daily Kos is about Lieberman the Republican.

The Reuters page is currently giving Iraq violence the highest page position.

Notice that there is no unified top story at the moment. This is not unusual, of course, but it does allow us to examine the different thinking of a few different sources.

Let's start with CNN.com: as has been noted by me, and even better by others, CNN is not so much about news as they are about sensationalism, life interest, and quirkyness. Carrying the Haggard story as the lead item seems to fit the sensationalism perspective; although it is news that may be worth knowing about, that Haggard may be gay and may have paid for sex with a man, is personal and maybe even boring.

The NYTimes, thought to exhibit the liberal bias, is currently featuring the Israel story, at least in part because news of it is just being released. This shows that the NYTimes, at least, updates their page with more frequency than CNN. The story, by its subject alone, portrays Israel in a bad light. Make of that want you want.

Reuters is highlighting the spike in violence in Iraq. Iraq and what happens there makes for an easy story at this point. People want to know what is going on with Iraq, and Reuters is not making news just for the people, but for other news outlets to pick up. So, here, we get what sells -- so to speak. Any prominent stories saying the Iraq war is not going well could be argued to be bad for the Republicans right now. Make of that what you please.

With the election dominating news pages:

2006-11-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

Don't let these stories get lost:

Ann Coulter may have voted in the wrong precinct and this may be a big deal.
Guillermo Mota was suspended 50 games by MLB for failing a drug test.
Let the bidding war begin for Daisuke Matsuzaka.
Red wine extract intrigues longevity experts.
Dow loses for fifth straight day.
Iraq is not the only warzone.
Iran has tested some long-range missiles.

Al Gore Hired by Great Britain

2006-10-30T16:35:00.000-07:00

The British government has hired Al Gore as an advisor on climate change. This is not all that significant, but it is a relatively stark contrast between how the UK views Gore and how the US views Gore.

An AP story sums it up thusly:

"The British government also hired former U.S. vice president Al Gore, who has emerged as a powerful environmental spokesman since his defeat in the 2000 U.S. presidential election, to advise it on climate change, a clear indication of Prime Minister Tony Blair's growing dissatisfaction with U.S. environmental policy."

Reading the AP article linked above also is a useful tool to compare seemingly disparate entities, the United States of America and KFC (formerly Kentucky Fried Chicken).

"U.S. President George W. Bush kept his country, by far the biggest emitter of carbon dioxide and other gases blamed for global warming, out of the Kyoto international treaty to reduce greenhouse gases, saying the pact would harm the U.S. economy."

The above quote basically reminds us that the United States failed to help the global fight to reduce carbon emissions, because by doing so, the US would be sacrificing some economic prosperity. Without arguing the merits of the claim, if you substitute "KFC" for "the United States" and "transfat" for "carbon," you may understand the reason why KFC has been holding out in reducing or eliminating transfat from its fare.

Today, KFC announced transfats will be phased off the menu. The president of KFC, Gregg Dedrick, said "there is no compromise...Nothing is more important to us than the quality of our food and preserving the terrific taste of our product."

Substitute "economy" for "food" and "planet" for "product," and you see that the United States is forgoing a goal for the greater good, in order to best uphold some continental flavor -- or something.

Meanwhile, Reuters today states

"[c]ompared to voters in Europe, where the Green Party is a political force and global climate change is part of the public dialogue, U.S. voters in national elections tend to cast their ballots based on candidates' stances on the Iraq war, the economy and health care -- not on environmental policy."

Housing, revisited

2006-10-27T13:52:00.000-06:00

On October 9th, I wrote about the conflicting views of former Fed chief Alan Greenspan, and journalist Robert J. Samuelson; Greenspan thought the housing downtrend was coming to an end, and Samuelson wasn't sure that was true.

Today, the CEO of Fortune Brands, as reported by Reuters, said:

"We see the likelihood of a fairly rapid recovery in the housing market in the second half of 2007... Underpinned by the resilience of the consumer, low interest rates, the prospect of a timely correction in housing inventories and the favorable long-term demographics of the categories."

Between October 9th and today, the public has learned:

September brought the largest pricing decline in 35 years
Housing is a significant drag on the economy
Mortgage rates went up; and,
The Fed maintained the status quo

The Up-Down on Partisan Perspectives

2006-10-23T17:41:00.000-06:00

Clearly, the image of the Republican Party is getting dirty, at least in the media. In case you missed it, Mark Foley is a Republican, the war in Iraq was initiated by a bevy of Republicans, and Osama bin Laden is still around to scare us, and I've already written that Republicans and Democrats are arguing who to blame for North Korea.

However, the Democrats may not be the yang to the Republican's yin, which is to say, just because the Republican Party is getting bad press, does not mean the Democrats are getting positive press. This can be fleshed out quickly and accurately by utilizing the Daylife search engine.

For example:

The Boston Globe tells us "[Vermont] Gov. Jim Douglas, who co-chaired President Bush's election campaigns in Vermont in 2000 and 2004, now says he is 'appalled' at the behavior of Washington Republicans, and lays some of the blame at the White House."
The Baltimore Sun recalls the Jack Abramoff ignominy and states an "iron law of modern elections holds that incumbents lose only in the very rarest of circumstances, such as illness or scandal. This year, scandal is anything but rare."
The New York Times reminds us "[t]he capital is filled with Republicans convinced that they will lose the House and maybe the Senate."
And so on.

So, how does coverage of the Republican Party compare to that of the democrats?

The Washington Post thinks the Democrats should be optimistic, but warns "recent history highlights how difficult it is for Democrats to compete in places where Republicans usually win at the presidential and congressional levels."
Tony Blankley wrote in an Op-Ed piece, for the Washington Times, "[r]arely in the annals of American politics has an opposition party been less well prepared for governance than today's congressional Democratic Party."
The New York Times also preaches guarded optimism for the Democrats:
"If they are as confident as they have been in a decade about regaining at least one house of Congress -- and they are -- it is a confidence tempered by the searing memories of being outmaneuvered, for three elections straight, by superior Republican organizing and financial strength, and by continued wariness about the political skills of President Bush's senior advisor, Karl Rove."

"Environmental Refugees"

2006-10-19T22:37:00.000-06:00

Tearfund, an aid and development agency, released results from a study stating "that there are already an estimated 25 million 'environmental refugees' around the world, and that this figure is likely to increase as rain patterns continue to change and floods and storms become more frequent."

Tearfund is based in the UK and several outlets there have already written on the study, urged on, at least in part, by the official press release. This affords us an excellent opportunity to examine different takes on the same subject.

The BBC leads with the catastrophic prognostication: "Recent research suggests that by 2050, five times as much land is likely to be under 'extreme' drought as now."

The Independent opens focusing on the geographic impact of the study, telling us "[m]ass movements of people across the world are likely to be one of the most dramatic effects of climate change in the coming century."

Thinktank Ekklesia works from the angle that something bad will happen, unless something is done, leading off with the statement: "Global warming will trigger millions of climate change refugees unless urgent action is taken, a new report has suggested."

The London Times had a breaking news box, and as such, included only a single paragraph, focusing mainly on regurgitating the study. It led by stating "[m]illions of climate change refugees will result from the impact of global warming on water supplies in poor countries - unless urgent action is taken, according to a report." As of this writing, the Times has no full article about the study, that I could find.

Tearfund has the study available here, check it out for yourself.

Who Cares?

2006-10-18T12:13:00.001-06:00

Currently featured as a top story on CNN.com:

"Sad-eyed dog dragged by truck, in recovery"

Interestingly, Reuters is not giving this much coverage on their page.

David Beckham otherwise known as Alex Rodriguez?

2006-10-16T19:00:00.000-06:00

Real Madrid is often compared to the New York Yankees. It's not a perfect analogy, but it works to highlight the size, power, and scale of Real Madrid.

Following this year's World Cup, David Beckham was dropped from the English National team. Now, he's drawing the ire of fans of his professional team, and while there has been talk of Beckham returning to the English squad, he's not playing up to the expectations of, well, anyone.

This all sounds very familiar.

Steve Lyons, Jimmy Snyder and Phil Mushnick

2006-10-16T07:47:00.000-06:00

Steve Lyons was fired this weekend after saying "Lou's habla-ing some espanol there, and I'm still looking for my wallet. I don't understand him, and I don't want to sit close to him now." Lou is Lou Piniella, part of the FOX broadcasting team that included Lyons.

If you watched the broadcast, you heard Piniella liken the surprising production of a player to "finding a wallet." While this is not important to the potentially insensitive remarks made by Lyons, it is important when looking at the press coverage of the incident. By failing to mention Piniella's line about finding a wallet, but including Lyons' quip about "looking for his wallet," Lyons' quote is unfairly taken out of context.

The SI article linked above provides full details of the incident and attempts to include the appropriate background and contextual information. The circulating AP article includes Piniella's quote, although it does appear below Lyons' full quip. The Philadelphia Inquirer provides Lyons' quote without Piniella's mention of the wallet.

Phil Mushnick of the New York Post argued that Lyons was hired to offer comedic commentary and fired for the same reason, writing "[s]o now what? Do we just toss Steve Lyons on the scrap heap of sportscasters fired for social insensitivity? That would be simple. And easy. And unfair."

Mushnick compared Lyons to Jimmy Snyder:

"The precedent was set in 1988, when Jimmy (The Greek) Snyder, hired by CBS because he was a street guy with a big mouth, was fired for the same reasons. What Snyder said about the ascent of African-American athletes, while fact-based, sounded offensive."

And it is here where Mushnick brings coverage of the Lyons termination to a unique level. Here's why. Lyons was fired for making what was perceived as insensitive remarks (I'm not making a judgment here). Jimmy the Greek was also fired for making insensitive remarks. Now, Mushnick writes that Lyons and Snyder were both fired for the same reason, which is essentially true. However, while Mushnick acknowledges both were fired for the comments, Mushnick includes the throw-away line that Snyder's comments were "fact-based."

By calling Snyder's statement fact-based, Mushnick is himself presenting Snyder's comments to the public. Jonathan Rowe, writing in the Washington Monthly in April of 1988, wrote an extensive article about the Snyder affair. Rowe wrote "[Snyder] said that black athletic prowess dates back to slavery. The slave owner, he said, would 'breed his big black to his big black woman so that he would have a big black kid.'"

Rowe went on to dissect Snyder's comments and unearthed that while most anecdotal evidence did in fact agree with Snyder's claim, empirical evidence shows the claim to be false. Rowe quoted anthropologist Michael Blakely: "It was pure and simple a matter of reproducing large numbers rather than body types...that kind of breeding couldn't possibly lead to any difference in athletic ability."

One Good Headline, One Bad Headline

2006-10-13T14:43:00.000-06:00

Lawrence Ulrich, of Fortune Magazine, has an article about what he calls "New Age diesels." Generally, I find puns and various lingual tricks distracting in headlines, and perhaps even shy away from the articles they point to.

However (and maybe I'm just a little coltish because it's Friday) the headline of Ulrich's piece attracted me, and amused me:

"The Axis of Diesel
Mercedes, GM and even Honda, are betting on a new breed of green diesels. The goal? To leave hybrids in the dust."

And what the Fortune article has in utility, creativity and appropriateness, this article from the Telegraph (Calcutta, India) has in verbosity:

"Delhi puts army act ball in Ibobi court"

Sports Media Comparison: College Football Predictions

2006-10-12T14:33:00.000-06:00

We are now at the mid-point of the college football season. The "experts" at Sports Illustrated's SI.com released their midseason predictions today.

While SI seems to unanimously believe that Ohio State will end the season crowned National Champions, there is little consensus as to who their opponent will be in the title game. The lack of agreement between the experts is what makes things interesting. Sports prognostication and predictions work as a simple tool to see which "expert" provides value to a reader. There is little gray area here. A prediction is made. A game is played. The result of the game is readily available and accurately determines whether the prediction was right or wrong. In this way, we can compare not only individuals against each other, but also the news entities each expert works for.

Ohio State is thought of highly outside of SI as well. CBS Sportsline currently projects the title game to come to Ohio State and West Virginia. Fox Sports sees Ohio State and USC fighting for the championship. SI uses four experts, as said, each one sees Ohio State competing in the title bowl. Of the four, two pick West Virginia to face Ohio State, another picks Texas, and the last picks Florida.

It should be noted that CBS Sportsline updates its predictions each week, and one individual, J. Darin Darst, is the man responsible for the predictions. Fox Sports also updates its positions weekly, and credits College Football News as its source.

We'll revisit this later, roughly January 9th, and see how this plays out.

Here's the basic breakdown:

Sports Illustrated: Ohio State vs. West Virginia (2 votes)/Texas (1 vote)/Florida (1 vote)
Fox Sports: Ohio State vs. USC
CBS Sportsline: Ohio State vs. West Virginia
ESPN (provides "Power Rankings"): #1. Ohio State ; #2 Florida

Sports Illustrated appears to hedge its bets by offering a unified prediction. We'll find out later if that helps them or not; more likely it will just make for several incorrect picks.

United Kingdom Upsets People, Charities AND Drug Companies

2006-10-11T17:38:00.000-06:00

Introductory Note:
Most of the healthcare provided in the United Kingdom is publicly-funded; it is organized and operated by the National Health Service (NHS). At a very basic and probably over-simple level, think of the NHS as you would a private insurance company in the United States, only the NHS is a government institution, overseen by the Department of Health. For more information about the NHS, see Wikipedia.

Patients in the UK suffering from Alzheimer's Disease are upset after the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) ruled that some effective treatments will not be available to them. NICE describes itself as "the independent organisation responsible for providing national guidance on the promotion of good health and the prevention and treatment of ill health."

The latest controversy started after NICE announced "that donepezil, galantamine and rivastigmine should only be considered as options in the treatment of people with moderate Alzheimer's disease" and that one other drug, memantine, should only be used in clinical studies. These drugs are approved for use in the United States, and are still suitable for use in the UK, only now patients will have to pay for them with their own money.

According to John-Paul Ford Rojas and Jane Kirby the patients are not the only peeved entitites, as "[h]ealth professionals and charities are considering asking for a judicial review of what they claim is a flawed ruling."

Rojas and Kirby added "drug manufacturers were also considering asking for a judicial review."

UEFA: Israel, Zidane

2006-10-11T09:56:00.000-06:00

Has the Headbutt Seen 'Round the World forced soccer's governing bodies to clean up the tarnished image left by Zinedane Zidane? It's difficult to determine if this single event had a large effect, as many ambassadors of the game had already been working on positive outreach and anti-racist operations.

While the players (and FIFA) stressed the provocation was not racist in nature, this week UEFA will provide anti-racism activities as part of the widely followed UEFA Cup. UEFA is backing Football Against Racism in Europe (FARE). UEFA's President Lennart Johannson said the organization "appreciate[s] the opportunity to underline our unwavering commitment to eradicating racism in our game."

You can view the entire press release from UEFA about the activities here.

Meanwhile, UEFA is already seeing its fair share of controversy. On August 7, 2006, due to the underlying security issues in Israel, UEFA barred european teams from playing on Israeli soil. The ban lasted for roughly a month and was lifted on September 15, 2006, but UEFA stated the

"matches must be played in the region of Tel Aviv only, that security guarantees are required for every match, and that UEFA may re-impose a ban at any time if it considers there has been a deterioration in the security situation."

Israel's sports minister thought the ban stayed in place for too long, as the Hezbollah cease fire was established well before the ban was lifted.

Israel, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Armenia all are part of the Union of European Football Associations.

North Korea: Blame Bush, Blame Clinton

2006-10-10T13:21:00.000-06:00

And now more from the he said, she said files.

John McCain pins the current North Korea Fiasco on former president Bill Clinton, saying "the framework agreement [Clinton's] administration negotiated was a failure." McCain is an advocate of forcing tough sanctions upon North Korea (as is President Bush).

Sarah Karush of the AP writes:

"Democrats have argued President Clinton presented his successor with a framework for dealing with North Korea and the Republicans fumbled the opportunity. In October 2000, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright made a groundbreaking visit to Pyongyang to explore a missile deal with Chairman Kim Jong Il. There was even talk of a visit by President Clinton."

President Clinton's former chief of staff, John Podesta, now manages the Center for American Progress. Podesta pins the current North Korea Fiasco on current president George Bush, saying "by virtually every measure, Bush's North Korea policy has been a failure."

Housing Market: "Worst Over" or Not?

2006-10-09T19:59:00.000-06:00

Experts and analysts and regular ol' nobodies are always forecasting and predicting. Here's what some people think about the current housing market.

Today former Fed chairman Alan Greenspan said:

"I suspect that we are coming to the end of this downtrend, as applications for new mortgages, the most important series, have flattened out... I don't know, but I think the worst of this may well be over..."

Journalist Robert J. Samuelson, of Newsweek, may think otherwise. Yesterday, he wrote:

"But real estate—which has acted as a national piggy bank, with homeowners borrowing and spending against rising house prices—no longer looks so trustworthy. On this, more than falling oil prices or a record Dow, hangs the economy's immediate fate."

Big News Tomorrow

2006-10-09T16:34:00.000-06:00

It's 6:30pm on the east coast. The work day is over. 80% of the 24-hour day is over. The sun is setting; daylight is leaving. Print journalists are working to get the events of the day, ready for the paper tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the events of the day have already happened.

Google purchased YouTube and bloggers have digested and analyzed the transaction.
Edmund Phelps won the Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. Thomson Scientific did not predict this.
A 13-year old boy weilded and fired an AK-47 in his Missouri school.
South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon has been named the new United Nations Secretary General.
Democrats are angry.
Republicans are upset.
Democrats are happy.
Republicans are doing just fine.

Geography and Baseball: The Yankees Lose

2006-10-09T10:34:00.000-06:00

Financial Perspective:
195 million dollars: approximate payroll for the New York Yankees
83 million dollars: approximate payroll for the Detroit Tigers

Experience Perspective:
32.3: average age of the Yankees
29.4: average age of the Tigers

Height Perspective:
6'2": average height of a player on the Yankees
6'1": average height of a player on the Tigers

Weight Perspective:
215 pounds: average weight of a player on the Yankees
205 pounds: average weight of a player on the Tigers

Body Mass Index of each team (using the above averages):
27.6: The New York Yankees are considered overweight by this index.
27.0: The Detroit Tigers are also considered overweight.

Height and weight figures from ESPN.com roster analysis, payroll figures from One Stop Baseball.

With the above in mind, here are some recent headlines.

New York Daily News: "Blame Jeter"
Detroit Free Press: "Yankees, go home!"
Bloomberg: "Yankees a `Sad Failure' for Losing to Tigers, Steinbrenner Says"
New York Times: "Rodriguez and Teammates Fall Apart, and Yankees Fall Short Again"
Boston Globe: "No joke: Tigers are finally for real"
San Francisco Examiner: "A-Rod Dropped to No. 8 Spot, Makes Error"
CBS News: "Will The Yankees Fire Joe Torre?"
The Register Guard (Oregon): "Yankees sift through wreckage"

What Makes a Local Issue Get National Press?

2006-10-05T16:40:00.000-06:00

Apparently, the same things that make South Park funny:

About a month ago Vandale Amos Willis was in a Duluth courtroom, facing trial on drug charges. Ho hum, nothing to see here. Why then, is Willis showing up a month later in a variety of national papers?

These quotes first appeared in Duluth News Tribune:

"He was putting it into his mouth. That's when he kind of advanced toward me. As I explained to one of my compatriots, that's when I decided to redeploy to a more secure position."
"I think he was trying to goad the court into declaring a mistrial."
"I can't get into his mind, but I believe it was intentional manipulative conduct."

Now a month later, the AP is writing about Willis and his apology:

"'I'm going to take full responsibility for everything I did in Duluth,' Willis told the court. 'I want to apologize for everything I did in court. I'm sorry, your honor.'"

For Mass Consumption: The Terse Essay

2006-10-04T17:28:00.000-06:00

Print Journalism equals Snow Skiing. Blogs equal Snowboarding.

1. Post-WWII, the ski industry boomed.
2. The ski industry could basically ignore the early snowboarding industry.
3. The early 1990's saw snowboarders and skiers clash; skiers looked down on snowboarders.
4. The late 1990's/early 2000's saw the ski industry learning from the snowboarding industry; both industries benefited from the cross-culturalization.
5. Today, the ski and snowboard industry are effectively one and the same.

Already, there are examples where the barrier between print and web is fluid.

Hastert's Coverage for Foley's Actions

2006-10-04T13:04:00.000-06:00

Here's how house speaker Dennis Hastert is currently being covered:

The front page of the New York Times online includes this story, with the headline "Hastert Fights to Save Job in Scandal."

The L.A. Times online puts the GOP on the defensive but does not specifically mention Hastert on the front page. The main page of the Politics section leads with the "Defensive" story, and says "[w]ith elections nearing, conservatives are split over whether Hastert and other leaders who didn't take action last year should step down."

Foxnews.com carries a link to a blog post presumably about Hastert, but review of the entry reveals it's primarily about the Pennsylvania school shooting. The entry includes only this blurb about Hastert: "The heat is turning up for Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert to resign. But he says he's staying put. "

The Politics section of CNN.com leads with the Foley story, and includes a story about the "GOP rally[ing] around Hastert."

Shakespeare's Sister uses the Hastert angle to offer a scathing review of President Bush, and Taegan Goddard's Political Wire points out that the AP changed their initial report on the Foley-Hastert brouhaha.

Ozone: Depletion, Accretion, and Archival Ignorance

2006-10-03T14:53:00.000-06:00

As NASA flaunted its Nobel Prize winners, the European Space Agency (ESA) reported its finding that 2006 saw a record loss of ozone over the South Pole. The depleting ozone layer was formerly a hot issue in the media, but has seemingly been forgotten by many outlets, likely because the ozone layer has apparently been gaining mass since about 2000 (and there's only so much play one issue can get).

In researching web coverage relating to this subject, I came across some archival oddities:

Either the CNN.com archive has some holes, or CNN managed to altogether avoid coverage in certain years: CNN had a single story in 2005 about the ozone layer; zero stories in 2006, zero in 2004, and zero in 2003. Most of the top 10 results, sorted by relevance, were published in 1999 or 2000.
Of the first 10 results from the NY Times archive, again sorted by relevance (technically "closest match"), not a single article was published later than 1988, otherwise known as 18 years ago.
The top 10 results from Google News were at most two days old (the top 3 results in Google dealt specifically with the ESA report).

I used the same query in each case ("ozone") and, as mentioned, sorted each list by relevance.

U.S. Economic Outlook

2006-10-03T12:42:00.000-06:00

James Pethokoukis writes in U.S. News and World Report that yesterday's report from the Institute of Supply Management is "[a]nother sign that the economy may be headed for a soft landing, rather than a hard one."

Meanwhile, BBC news uses the same ISM report to highlight the negative:

"The US manufacturing sector grew at a slower-than-expected pace in September, seeing its sharpest fall since May 2005...[t]he Institute for Supply Management's manufacturing index for the last month dipped to 52.9 from August's 54.9."

Peter Coy of Business Week Online takes a more careful, comprehensive approach, and pits the bulls against the bears, attempting to present a debate between the two sides. He does however, share the BBC opinion about the ISM report, saying:

"The latest news supporting the bears' case came on Oct. 2, when the Institute for Supply Management reported weaker than expected manufacturing activity last month. "

So, which is it? Does the ISM report point to a positive future, or is it an ominous sign? See for yourself here, but keep in mind it's just one economic report in a sea of economic indicators.