Wolf Blitzer bombs on Jeopardy

What does it say about the state of cable news when one of CNN’s most visible correspondents, Wolf Blitzer, finishes far behind comedian Andy Richter and actress Dana Delaney on Jeopardy?

Sweet temptation

‘Citizen Kane,’ WTF?

Here’s an exchange on Facebook from a former student of mine. I’ve added hyperlinks for the uninitiated:

Dana: is writing a paper on Citizen Kane and wondering why it’s “one of the greatest movies of all time.” longest 113 minutes of my life.

Valery: its a god damn sled… A FREAKING SLED… FML.. hate that teacher.. had to write the same effing paper.. come up with some original assignments

Dana: dude i have been staring at my computer screen for 30 minutes and all ive done is a cover page. this is painful. how do i write about something that i hate and keep it totally neutral? i wish it was an opinionated paper then id have a whole lot to say…

Valery: that movie is such a POS. “OOOH CAMERA ANGLES MAKES IT DA BEST MOVIE EVARRRR” wtf. and have you noticed he wears the same thing every day. every. day.

Dana: haha yeah its like his voluntary uniform. so strange. what techniques did you write about? cuz some of them only have one example in the movie…

Valery: hell if I remember.. Im amused that I had to write the same paper for him like 4 years ago. seriously 4 years ago.. come up with a different curriculum FFS. I dont even remember.. camera angle.. zoom.. uhh flash backs I think was one

Dana: haha yeah seriously…oh goodness this is going to be a long night!

Valery: now you see why I hated that class!

Then, I chimed in and brought the conversation to a screeching halt. But, this is why I love being Facebook friends with students — gives me a unique perspective. And reminds me of the need to make sure I rotate my wardrobe.

Obama calls Kanye ‘jackass’

So, the president called Kanye West a “Jackass” for his outburst at the Video Music Outwards. Or did he?

According to a Twitter update from a reporter, Obama did say this. But then, ABC News issued this statement:

In the process of reporting on remarks by President Obama that were made during a CNBC interview, ABC News employees prematurely tweeted a portion of those remarks that turned out to be from an off-the-record portion of the interview. This was done before our editorial process had been completed. That was wrong. We apologize to the White House and CNBC and are taking steps to ensure that it will not happen again.’”

So, he did say it, but it was off-the-record — so, he didn’t say it. Hmm.

One of the many problems with granting anonymity with news sources.

Trust in news media continues to slide

The decline in media credibility is a part of my dissertation, so this news makes it a little more relevant:

Trust in news media has reached a new low, with record numbers of Americans saying reporting is inaccurate, biased and shaped by special interests, according to a survey set to be released Monday.

The survey of 1,506 people interviewed in July by the Pew Research Center showed that self-described Republicans continued to take the dimmest view of news organizations, but discontent among Democrats was catching up.

On crucial measures of credibility, faith in news media eroded from the 1980s to the ’90s, then held fairly steady for several years, according to Pew surveys that have asked some of the same questions for more than two decades. But in the two years since the last survey, those views became markedly more negative.

In this year’s survey, 63 percent of respondents said news articles were often inaccurate and only 29 percent said the media generally “get the facts straight” — the worst marks Pew has recorded — compared with 53 percent and 39 percent in 2007.

Seventy-four percent said news organizations favored one side or another in reporting on political and social issues, and the same percentage said the media were often influenced by powerful interests. Those, too, are the worst marks recorded in Pew surveys.

Why the decline? I’d say unintentional bias, shoddy reporting, and media fragmentation.

Pete Carroll, making a difference

Here’s a great “60 Minutes” profile on University of Southern California coach Pete Carroll. In addition to producing perennially great football team, he also actively works to reduce gang violence in South Central Los Angeles, an area where he carries a bit of clout. This guy is a class act.

Supreme Court Hears Campaign Finance Case

Here’s a good NPR radio report on the recent Supreme Court hearing regarding campaign finance legislation. In short, it looks like the court may totally throw out legislation that restricts spending on elections. That would be a big deal.

Remember

Eight years ago today I went to work early at the Boston Herald. We decided to publish 16 extra full pages around the originally laid out paper. So, for the first few hours of September 11, I was writing headlines and editing stories about traffic accidents, city hall, and minor robberies. Once we got that part of the paper completed we began to work on the September 11 coverage. Quite surreal.

What I remember most about September 11 is a quote from a woman who made it out of one of the towers. She said that firemen were running into the building as she and others were running out.

Then, she had a moment of realization: “I guess they’re all dead now.”

Fox News appeals ruling for U.S. Fed over bailout

Fox News gets a whole lot of grief for being a biased, conservative news outlet — particularly in my academic circles. But here’s an example of Fox News behaving exactly how a news organization should:

Fox News Network LLC on Wednesday appealed a U.S. judge’s decision not to force the U.S. Federal Reserve to reveal the names of participants in its emergency lending programs.

The news network, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals seeking to over turn a July 30 ruling by U.S. District Judge Hellerstein that denied the network’s Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request of the U.S. central bank.

Chief District Judge Loretta Preska ruled in favor of Bloomberg News and against the Fed saying the central bank had to release the names of the banks that participated in its emergency lending programs.

The Fed appealed Preska’s ruling and now both cases are before the 2d Circuit.

Nice to see Fox and Bloomberg fighting the government (well, quasi-government) for greater transparency.

New take on the Big Bang

Here’s a provocative take discrediting the Big Bang theory:

From hypothetical dark energy to spacetime-contorting black holes, the universe confounds astrophysicists trying to divine its origins. However widely accepted Big Bang theory may be — that the universe sprung into being 14 billion years ago — Brian Clegg shows in his Before the Big Bang that it is by no means the only credible explanation for the universe’s birth. Sifting through folkloric myths and science-fiction fantasies, Clegg explores the numerous creation theories that physicists and philosophers alike have put forth — and makes some daring conjectures of his own.

Despite the title, Clegg has his doubts about the Big Bang theory, claiming that it has the feel of being “held together with a band-aid.” As Clegg shows, the creators of the Big Bang theory spanned countries and generations, from Belgian priest and scientist Georges Lemaitre — who in 1927 initially proposed the idea of the universe expanding from an infinitesimally small speck of matter — to English astronomer Fred Hoyle, who coined the term “Big Bang” in 1949. Since then, several scientists have pitched in — whenever advancements in technology yielded data that conflicted with components of the existing theory, astrophysicists would scramble to revise accordingly. One spot that has yet to be fully reconciled is the issue of expansion. If the universe amassed its current size from a primeval super atom, then “the current rate of expansion,” Clegg notes, “would leave space much more wrinkled and bumpy than is actually the case.

Hmm. Well, larger scientific truisms than this have been proven false. Just ask Copernicus.