gotcha-journalismism

How the Times Sabotages Its Own Tech Innovation

Ryan Tate · 09/29/09 12:10PM

When asked how he keeps up "with the latest tech news when there are so many blogs," Times editor David Gallagher immediately cited TechMeme, a direct competitor of Blogrunner, as "one of my favorite sites." Although the Times serves Blogrunner results from the front of Gallagher's own section, the editor didn't plug the site in his three-paragraph answer. It wasn't the first time the Times forgot about its 2005 acquisition; reporter Saul Hansell says he considered pushing the newspaper to develop something similar before discovering "we actually owned a company that did that" (see video).

CNN Confuses Similar-Looking Bush, Obama

Ryan Tate · 05/03/09 06:24PM

It's OK, CNN. We all have our suspicions about which world leaders conspired to launch this "spontaneous" swine-flu panic. But we'd pair Bush with someone from PRI. At least you "fixed" the "error" quickly.

Katie Couric Honestly Reads The Economist, Unlike Certain People

Ryan Tate · 10/07/08 07:17AM

Although Sarah Palin said yesterday she was "impatient" and "annoyed" with Katie Couric's irrelevant questions about her book learnin' and whatnot, the CBS Evening News anchor wisely avoided firing any direct return fire when confronted with a camerman from TMZ, of all places. But it's all too easy to read — or invent? — meaning between Couric's lines, especially if you can successfully look past her usual smiling charm. Who might Couric be talking about when she says she doesn't "lie" about reading The Economist? Is "luckily I'm not running for vice president" some kind of swipe? It's harder to tell than you might think. Click the video icon to watch.

WSJ Short On Copy Editors, Too

Ryan Tate · 06/16/08 12:13AM

The good news for the Wall Street Journal's editors is that the above story was not moved in violation of its embargo — it ran just after midnight, as apparently required by the originating source. As the Silicon Alley Insider notes,that signals the Journal's adherence to a choreographed style of journalism recently-departed managing editor Marcus Brauchli opposed. The bad news: The fact that the story starts with "EMBARGOED!" signals that the Journal's copy editors are stretched quite thin this summer weekend (the LA Times feels your pain, WSJ). [Silicon Alley Insider]