Leonard Downie Jr. - FishbowlDC

Morning Reading List, 12.22.08

Patrick — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:12:33 +0000

Good morning, Washington. Which Washingtonians feature the above framed message in their bathroom?’ Think you know? Email us with your best guess. AND: Join us after the jump to find out if you guessed our last contest correctly.

Got a blind item, interesting link, funny note, comment, birthday, anniversary or anything of the sort for Morning Reading List? Drop us a line or let us know in the tips box below.

We’ve got your morning mix of media Muesli after the jump…

continued…

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Sunday Show Preview

Patrick — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 19:14:46 +0000

Meet the Press: Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rudy Giuliani, Bob Woodward and NBC’s Chuck Todd.

Face the Nation: Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano (D), Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), former MA Gov. Jane Swift (R) and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX).

This Week: Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO), McCain Victory chair Carly Fiorina, former Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan and a roundtable with George Will, Democratic strategist Paul Begala, Time’s Jay Carney and ABC’s Claire Shipman.

Fox News Sunday: Former Alaska Gov. Tony Knowles (D), Alaska Lieutenant Governor Sean Parnell (R-AK) and Karl Rove. The “Power Player” is Pentagon Memorial Fund president Jim Laychak.

Late Edition: Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R), New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson (D), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Republican strategist Alex Castellanos, Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen and Washington Times’ Tara Wall.

The Post Politics Program with Ed O’Keefe and Emily Freifeld: Segments of Bob Woodward‘s May 2008 interviews with President Bush, Retiring Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., Jennifer Agiest and Chris Cillizza.

C-SPAN’s Newsmakers: Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) will be interviewed by New York Times’ Edmund Andrews and Wall Street Journal’s Damian Paletta.

The Chris Matthews Show: Mark Whitaker, NBC News Washington Bureau Chief; Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal Constitution; Patrick Healy of the New York Times; and Katty Kay, BBC Washington correspondent.

Reliable Sources: Houston Chronicle’s Julie Mason, Washington Post’s Anne Kornblut, CNN’s Frank Sesno, St. Petersburg Times’ Eric Deggans, Kansas City Star’s Aaron Barnhart and truTV’s Lisa Bloom.

Roll Call TV with Robert Traynham: DNC communications director Karen Finney, Republican strategist Rich Galen, Roll Call’s David Drucker and Roll Call’s Emily Heil.

Fareed Zakaria’s GPS: New York Times’ Tom Friedman, Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens, Council on Foreign Relations managing editor Gideon Rose, NYU’s Moral Courage Project director Irshad Manji, and author Greg Mortenson.

This Is America with Dennis Wholey: Reg Weaver, former President of the National Education Association.

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Morning Reading List, 12.20.07

Patrick — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:52:52 +0000

Good morning Washington. On this day in 2002, Sen. Trent Lott resigned as Senate Majority Leader.

Quickly navigate Morning Reading List:

You think card games are “much fun.”

NEWSPAPERS

A reader wonders, “Where did the Washington Times Christmas tree go? It was there but now it’s gone”

NPF president Bob Meyers writes, “Last year you supported us with many contributions so we could meet our Challenge Grant obligations. This year the challenge is equally important, but we’re doing this on our own, without any challenge grant to spur us on. … Could you help with a $25 contribution? A $50 contribution? We’re a 501-c-3, so you could deduct your gift. I’ve added a connection to our magical online giving icon (you can find it on our site as well).” For more info, click here.

“FCC Eases Ownership Limits for Big Media”

Politico has a caucus night bingo game for readers (no, it is not a drinking game, although we find that hard to believe).

“New York Times Sees Boost from Web Sites”

“Tribune CEO Expected to Step Down in Buyout”

From a Post insider: “what frustrates so many post reporters about today’s nytimes piece on the bacon fiasco is that, yet again, downie does not explain how editors edited the story and does not address the criticisms of the piece. instead, he takes the easy way out and defends the notion that young people can be big reporters too. he’s permitting daly to divert the discussion away from the real journalistic issue. he should have come out and explained what was wrong with the story, what was right with the story, and what the post will do to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

PEJ reports, “Americans received a grim picture of the war in Iraq in the first 10 months of 2007. Daily violence accounted for 47% of the stories studied. And of the stories that offered an assessment of the direction of the war, most were pessimistic, according to a new study of press coverage from Iraq from January to October.”

“Newsday, Hoy to Pay $15 Million in Circ Case”

Also from Pew, “Man-made and natural disasters dominated the list of the public’s top news stories in 2007. Nearly half of Americans (45%) tracked news about the shootings at Virginia Tech University very closely, while nearly as many paid very close attention to reports on the Minneapolis bridge collapse and the California wildfires.”

Howard Kurtz writes, “After weeks of bad news, Hillary Clinton and her strategists hoped that winning the endorsement of Iowa’s largest newspaper last weekend might produce a modest bump in their media coverage. But on Sunday morning, they awoke to upbeat headlines about their chief Democratic rival: ‘Obama Showing New Confidence With Iowa Sprint,’ said the New York Times. ‘Obama Is Hitting His Stride in Iowa,’ said the Los Angeles Times. And on Monday, Clinton aides were so upset about a contentious ‘Today’ show interview that one complained to the show’s producer. Clinton’s senior advisers have grown convinced that the media deck is stacked against them, that their candidate is drawing far harsher scrutiny than Barack Obama. And at least some journalists agree.”

Washington Post reports, Don Graham, “The chairman of The Washington Post Co., who separated from his wife last month, just closed on a 1896 semi-detached townhouse near Dupont Circle. The four-bedroom, four-bath Tudor underwent extensive work during the past year and is described as impeccable.” Ed Note: Wait, Post ombudsman Deb Howell says that Don Graham’s divorce isn’t appropriate for the Style section (it went in Business) but his house sales are?

CJR reports, “In an otherwise reasonable and spirited defense of a reporter, The Washington Post’s Leonard Downie Jr. trips by employing ad hominem attack and innuendo against a criticâ€”the very tactics Downie seeks to criticize.”

Washington Post reports, “Capitol Steps founder Bill Strauss was a Harvard-trained lawyer and Senate subcommittee staffer when he broke through the chrysalis of Capitol Hill conventionality to become a musical satirist. Mr. Strauss, who died Dec. 18 of pancreatic cancer at his home in McLean, recalled the breakthrough in a phone interview shortly before his death at age 60.”

Politico reports, “New York Times columnist Frank Rich regularly chides political journalists for not thinking outside the Beltway in covering the presidential campaign. But what about venturing beyond the west side of Manhattan? Unlike his Times opinion-writing colleagues â€” Maureen Dowd, David Brooks and Gail Collins â€” Rich has yet to rack up an Iowa dateline this year, not to mention New Hampshire or South Carolina.”

The New York Times reports, “Inside the pressure-cooker that is live television, the name Barack Obama apparently becomes tricky.
The Democratic presidential candidate’s name has been confused with the terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and even Omaha, Neb., in separate occasions on CNN recently.”

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“2007 Ratings: MSNBC has ‘Fastest Growing Primetime Lineup of any Top-50 Cable Channel,’” reports TVNewser.

TVNewser reports, “Bob Schieffer: 2008 Campaign Probably ‘My Last In The Role I Have Now’”

TVNewser reports, “You may have noticed World News with Charles Gibson and World News Now have been broadcasting form a different location this week. We are hearing construction is underway for a new set which is expected to debut in the next couple of weeks. We’re told the new set will also be HD-ready and that the Gibson broadcast is expected to be in HD sometime in 2008.”

The New York Observer reports, “CNN’s Jonathan Klein on Campbell Brown, Couch Potatoes and Plans for 2008″

Wonkette reports, “Joe Scarbrough and Friend Ridicule Huckabee’s Jesusery”

TVNewser reports, “Gore Vidal Has Beef With Wolf Blitzer, Apparently”

TVNewser reports, “The cable nets continue breaking news coverage of a fire at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is part of the White House complex. Of the three cable news nets, CNN was first with the news at 9:42:30. MSNBC was next at 9:43:10 and FNC reported the story at 9:44:40.” Meanwhile, on broadcast, “ABC News’ Chris Cuomo anchored a network special at 9:51amET on the fire at the EEOB. The NBC network continued with the third hour of the today show and aired a special report at 10amET (MSNBC was already in breaking news coverage of the fire). CBS reported the fire with an update to the west coast feed of The Early Show at 10amET”

TVNewser reports, “In an opinion column in USA Today, titled ‘Does Al-Jazeera belong in the USA?’, Souhelia Al-Jadda, an associate producer at Link TV’s Mosaic: World News from the Middle East and a member of USA Today’s board of contributors, laments the fact that more than one year after the launch of Al-Jazeera English, ‘no major U.S. cable or satellite company is willing to carry the station.’”

Inside Cable News reported yesterday, “Bloomberg TV announced this morning that Terry Holt and Stephanie Cutter will be providing analysis for the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire primary.”

A CNN release announced, “The next stops for the CNN Election Express include Iowa for the state’s upcoming caucuses, New Hampshire for the nation’s first primary elections and visits to Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Los Angeles for CNN’s remaining presidential primary debates. To date, the CNN Election Express has served as the studio for interviews with top presidential candidates including Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), former Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.), former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.) and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.). The studio configuration includes a lighting grid with full power to allow quick set-up for interviews. The video equipment on board can also be used outside for interviews and live shots.”

TVNewser reports, “The NewsHour Gets New Set, Goes HDTV”

TVNewser reports, “It was good news all around for CNN yesterday, with a re-up for CNN/U.S. President Jon Klein and a memo from CNN Worldwide president Jim Walton discussing all the “fun” the network is having.”

TVNewser reports, “Once again, Obama has been confused with Osama. This time, by HLN’s Glenn Beck on Good Morning America.”

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ONLINE MEDIA

“Comcast Says FCC Limit Rule Is ‘Perverse’”

“FCC Accepts Google’s Auction Application”

Check out www.2008ElectionProCon.org, “created to be a comprehensive source of information on the 2008 presidential election.” The site has “compiled the pro and con positions of all the presidential candidates on major policy issues, along with other resources related to the election, like a printable one-page summary of all the candidates’ positions on the issues and a history of political parties. All of the information is designed to help people determine for themselves which candidate would make the best president.”

A reader writes in, “Have you seen www.Whitehouse.com lately? (not .gov, BTW). Yes it is the same URL that was once the famed porn site. Now it has been reborn as some kind of uber-hip political blog. And word on the street is they’ve been phoning up reporters and inviting them to come and start work…resume, clips and references sight unseen. The site boasts 10 years of tradition (doesn’t mention that 9.5 of them are as a porn site)…and check out the ‘benefits’ page! 25 cent soft drinks and occasional Pizza Fridays!”

Poynter Online’s Steve Klein writes, “How can I say this nicely? Oh, what the heck. If Ted Leonsis is going to be candid and bash mainstream media, then why can’t I? It’s not like I need a job. At this point in my career, I’d only be bought out at best or downsized in a restructuring at worst.”

A release announced, “Alive in Baghdad, a web news program reported and filmed by local Iraqis and distributed by independent US news agency Small World News lost correspondent Ali Shafeya Al-Moussawi after he was killed over the weekend in Sadr City. The correspondent was found dead by a family member after being shot 31 times. Details as to motive and circumstances about the killing are undetermined.”

Check out the “major design” of Bloggingheads.tv.

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MAGAZINES

A Democracy release announced, “It’s not chestnuts roasting on an open fire or ringing sleigh bells, but Christmas came early (or Hannukah came late) to Democracy this December. Just after we had released our winter issue and thought things would be winding down for the year, we were notified that Democracy has been named the Best New Publication of 2007 by the Utne Independent Press Awards.” For more on the awards, click here.

Check out a new video feature on newyorker.com, The Naked Campaign, “a series of short videos featuring the illustrator Steve Brodner as he draws the Presidential candidates and discusses the race for the White House. The videos are directed by Gail Levin, with animation by Asterisk.”

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RADIO

Wall Street Journal reports, “Carl Kasell — the National Public radio newscaster and the judge/scorekeeper/second banana on NPR’s weekly call-in quiz show ‘Wait, Wait … Don’t Tell Me!’ — is running late for an interview. … Mr. Kasell, who’ll be moonlighting next week as the announcer for the 30th annual “Kennedy Center Honors” broadcast, was recording an answering machine message for a ‘Wait, Wait’ winner. Such is the highly coveted prize for callers who triumph in events like ‘Listener Limerick Challenge,’ ‘Bluff the Listener,’ and ‘Who’s Carl This Time?’ — wherein Mr. Kasell delivers highly flavored imitations of newsmakers from Paris to Britney to George W. and all points and poobahs in between.”

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REVOLVING DOOR

Amos Snead is stepping down as Press Secretary to House Republican Whip Roy Blunt and is returning to FD Dittus.

Salon finally admits that Michael Scherer is leaving. Joan Walsh writes, “Some of you may have noticed the change to Michael Scherer’s bio at the bottom of his great Meghan McCain profile today, identifying him as our ‘former’ Washington correspondent. I’m sad to say that Michael has left us to cover the presidential campaign for Time magazine. He’s been a crucial part of our news resurgence over the last two years, breaking stories on Abu Ghraib, George Allen’s race problems and the 2008 presidential campaign. We miss him already. But we’re thrilled to welcome Mike Madden, who has covered politics, Congress and Washington for Gannett News Service since 2000. Mike has also written for Time.com, the New York Observer, USA Today and Wonkette, and he’ll join Walter Shapiro on the campaign trail shortly.”

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JOBS

Society for HR Management is looking for an Associate Editor.

NewsUSA is seeking a Feature Writer.

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel is looking for a Washington Bureau Reporter.

PBS is looking for a Director, PBS Engage.

Heldref Publications is looking for a Marketing and Advertising Director.

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Hat Tips: DCRTV, TVNewser, IWantMedia, Romenesko, MediaBistro, JournalismJobs, JournalismNext

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Morning Reading List, 10.16.07

Patrick — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 09:09:44 +0000

Good morning Washington.

Did you make it? The deadline for this year’s Knight News Challenge grants and the MacArthur Foundation’s Digital Media and Learning competition, was yesterday!

“Washington Lifeâ€™s Curse: Jinxing diplomatic corps?”

Don’t miss the Watergate Conference on Political & Congressional Reporting at the Watergate this weekend. For the full schedule, click here.

From NickDenton.com: “Each new medium — from the yellow press at the turn of the century, to the movies, television, trash television, video games and talk radio — has been the greatest threat to civilized discourse since, well, since the previous threat to civilized discourse. So, it’s something of a rite of passage that blogs in general — and Gawker in particular — are the subject of a critical cover story in this week’s New York magazine, one of the last bastions of old-school journalism. The cover line: ‘Gawker.com and the culture of bile.’”

His Extreme-ness points out two hair-raising (haha) similarities between The New York Times and Washington Post.

The Washington Post launched part two of “How the World Sees America” yesterday. Check it out here.

A CNN release announced, “The CNN Digital Network has staked a new high ground in September, topping not only all ‘Current Events and Global News’ sites but also beating out all other ‘News and Information’ sites including Internet stalwarts Wikipedia and the Weather Channel.”

Press Gazette reports, “Guardian News and Media is to make its entire archive, 212 years of material, available online as a paid-for service. The first phase of the online archive, comprising the Guardian from 1821 to 1975 and The Observer from 1900 to 1975, will launch on 3 November, the company said today.”

CNN reports, “A wide-open presidential race and a willingness by candidates, interest groups, unions and corporations to buy TV time will lead to historic spending for political and issue-advocacy advertising in the 2008 election cycle, an analysis shows.”

Boston Globe reports, “You may have heard of Second Life, the virtual online world that draws millions of aficionados every day. Now imagine a Second Life specifically for business, a world where workers can gather, share files, and communicate securely in a fully animated 3D office environment in cyberspace. Creating exactly that is what Justin Rounds does for a living. Rounds, 35, is a contractor for Sun Micro Systems in Burlington. He is one of the digital animators behind the MPK20 Project, Sun’s yet-to-be unveiled virtual workplace.”

E&P reports, “The death Sunday of journalist Salih Saif Aldin, the first Washington Post reporter killed in Iraq, will not spark a shift in the paper’s Iraq coverage or an increase in security measures, says Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr., who contends that the paper has always sought as much protection for reporters there as possible.”

Newsmax’s Ronald Kessler reports, “While at the Daily News and previously the Washington Post, [Lloyd] Grove would receive up to 10 invitations a day to attend the most glistering celebrity parties. Now the invitations are down to a trickle, but he claims he doesnâ€™t mind.”

Wonkette raises the topic everyone is dying to talk about (don’t deny it).

Time’s James Poniewozik writes, “If the Fox News formula is going to work at FBN, in other words, then FBN will have to be even more like CNBC — more excited, effusive and rah-rah — than CNBC is. Is that possible? Judging at least by the first few hours, it’s going to try its damnedest.”

From AdAge: “Media Guy Quits His Complaining and Offers Up a Few Well-Deserved Shout-Outs (No, Seriously, He Does, Really)”

AP reports, “AOL is eliminating another 2,000 jobs worldwide as it tries to cut costs and make room to grow in online advertising.”

Denver Post’s Joanne Ostrow writes, “It’s a sign of the fragmented media times that Howard Kurtz’s ‘Reality Show: Inside the Last Great Television News War’ is mostly generating shrugs”

CJR has, “Salih’s Story”

The Independent reports, “CBS, one of America’s biggest radio and television networks, last week paid a reported $10m for little-known celebrity gossip blog DotSpotter.com.”

Power Line reports, “Today General Ricardo Sanchez gave a speech to the Military Reporters and Editors’ annual conference, in which he criticized just about everyone associated with our effort in Iraq. The Washington Post’s headline was typical: ‘Former Iraq Commander Faults Bush.’ Actually, I don’t believe Sanchez ever mentioned Bush by name, although, as I say, he was critical of just about everybody. But it would be hard to tell from press accounts of Sanchez’s speech that he was mostly critical of…the press.”

Reuters reports, “Random House, the world’s biggest book publisher, is considering joining a book-search project run by Google, once considered an arch-enemy by the paper publishing industry.”

Chicago Business reports, “AT&T Inc. is laying the groundwork for an assault on Comcast Corp.’s local cable TV monopoly starting this spring, perhaps as soon as April.”

Ed Driscoll explores, “The Legacy Media’s Brain Drain”

Don’t miss “Editrix of the Trade: How to Keep Your Job and Your Sanity as a Female Journalist in Washington, DC,” tomorrow night.
Panelists include Susan Glasser from The Washington Post, Kate Marsh from The New Republic, Sarah Blustain from the American Prospect, Laura Helmuth from Smithsonian Magazine and Christine Chen and Kate Palmer from Foreign Policy. For more info, click here.

AFP reports, “‘Are you ready?’ was the message from the world’s first TV-quality online TV network, delivered at this week’s MIPCOM audiovisual trade show. The network, Joost, launched this month just ahead of a clutch of competitors that include Italy’s Babelgum, offers legal rather than pirated entertainment for free, but raises new questions about what this will mean for the massive TV business.”

Reuters reports, “Companies will spend a record $31 billion this year to advertise everything from toothpaste to home loans on the Internet, supporting countless news sites, social networks, video exchanges and blogs. But some media veterans worry that expectations for online advertising may be getting out-sized.”

AP reports, “Gannett Co. said Monday it joined with Tribune Co. to publish and syndicate a weekly edition of USA Today outside the United States.”

Hat Tips: DCRTV, TVNewser, IWantMedia, Romenesko, MediaBistro, JournalismJobs, JournalismNext

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How Did The Craig Story Go Unnoticed For Three Months?

Patrick — Tue, 28 Aug 2007 16:57:45 +0000

From E&P:

Even Roll Call reporter John McArdle, who broke the story late Monday, admits he only received word of the arrest and subsequent guilty plea via a tip last week.

“You would think in the 24-hour news cycle, something like this would slip through,” said McArdle, a four-year veteran of the Capitol Hill daily. “He wanted to keep it quiet, and he almost got away with it.”
…

Declining to offer specifics about the source, McArdle said the tip came in midweek and was confirmed by Roll Call through police reports obtained from law enforcement officials in Minnesota.

“We have been working the story since we got the tip, getting the specific arrest report,” he said. “We had to go through their different filing systems and we were able to expedite that process.”
…
Editors from The Idaho Statesman of Boise did not return calls seeking comment. But Editor Dean Miller of the Post Register in Idaho Falls defended the lack of reporting on the arrest by his paper and others, saying a misdemeanor arrest in another state does not always get easily discovered.
…

Some Washington, D.C.-based editors, such as Dean Baquet, who heads The New York Times’ D.C. bureau, agreed.

“I am not so shocked that it would not get out,” said Baquet, who is also a former editor at the Los Angeles Times. “The way things work, sometimes if you have a misdemeanor arrest, they don’t make their way out here. It was not in his state. My guess is if it had happened at La Guardia Airport or at an airport in Washington it might be different.”

Leonard Downie Jr., executive editor of The Washington Post, also found it unsurprising. “We don’t have a Minneapolis correspondent,” he said. “He is not a local congressman — it happened in Minnesota and Idaho.”

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“Washington Post aims for closer print, Web ties”

Patrick — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 08:45:17 +0000

From here:

Starting in January, print editors will “help us at the Web site and at the paper think smartly about more three-dimensional ways that you can present that news,” Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr. told Reuters.

Read the rest here.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.