In your manic Monday media column: Hackgate grows marginally dirtier, journalism majors make dat money, Malcolm Gladwell on Steve Jobs, the media lies, and Martin Nisenholtz retires.
In your finally Friday media column: layoffs hit the NYDN and The Early Show, Business Insider's horrific possible future, an Occupied reporter set free, and the National Magazine Awards make progress.
The final tally of victims in News International's hacking scandal looks like it will eventually reach 5,800, according to the Guardian. Which may explain why News Corp. has set up a dedicated web site for victims to apply for an out-of-court settlement. Think of it as a MySpace for targets of Rupert Murdoch's criminal surveillance operation.
In a brand-new blockbuster ad—titled "High Tech Lynching," in a nod to legendary American victim-of-libruls Clarence Thomas—supporters of Ann Coulter Academy of Superior Blackness graduate Herman Cain rail against all the imaginary sexual harassment allegations their man has been facing in the wake of lying litigant-to-be(?) Politico's lie-filled reports.
Last week, Special Love Theologian Daniel Avila, the policy advisor for Marriage and Family at the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, issued a provocative analysis of why sometimes a man and another man love each other very much: "The scientific evidence of how same-sex attraction most likely may be created provides a credible basis for a spiritual explanation that indicts the devil."
For the past week, American's finest news institutions—those self-identified defenders of journalistic propriety against the teeming online hordes—have been tripping over themselves to publish vague, contextless, detail-free, anonymous accusations about the sex life of presidential candidate. Hey, that's our job!
In your throwback Thursday media column: protests loom at the Village Voice, layoffs at the LAT, Fox Business Network continues right on track, powerful people in the media, and a new Women's Health editor.
In your wispy Wednesday media column: Jared Kushner's latest scheme, Michele Norris's replacement, the gradual death of print continues, Harper's Bazaar revamps, and Chris Matthews make a funny.
It didn't take long for many writers who veer towards the "right wing" of the political spectrum to formulate their consensus response to Herman Cain's still-vague history of alleged sexual harassment, and sexual harassment claims in general: Lighten up, sweetheart! But few have had the guts to put it in such brazen terms as crabby old paleocon John Derbyshire, of the National Review. Let us celebrate "Derb" on his momentous day of social commentary.
The parliamentary committee investigating illegal voicemail hacking at News International has released a cache of internal company documents showing that the firm was well aware of just how deep its phone hacking scandal went way back in 2008, when it was still publicly claiming that the problem was limited to a few bad apples.
In your maudlin Tuesday media column: Jimmy Kimmel gets an important job, the St. Petersburg Times is no more, a cartoonist canned for plagiarism, Rock Center debuts, and a journalist has a heart attack.
The mighty, omniscient "journalistic tone" is largely a convenient myth. Newspapers and other media outlets long adopted this self-assured institutional writing style which admitted no doubt as a way to appear more knowledgeable than they really were. The internet, with its radical transparency and focus on personality, has eaten away at this obfuscating tone. Which is good. Sometimes.
A New York Post exclusive: Occupy Wall Street protesters have sex, and are not immune to STDs. And they actually get tested for them! Ew. Shame! Shaaaaaameeeeee.
When I saw this sign offering $20 for the current issue of The Advocate, the very serious older brother of the gay publishing world, with Adam Lambert on the cover, I thought it was a joke. After all, this is the current issue. But no. It seems the gay singer and mascara addict is creating a worldwide magazine shortage.
In your shocked Monday media column: a new low in college journalist-administration relations, Joe Levy out at Maxim, hard times at Newsbeast, James Rainey returns to reporting, and a CNN morning shuffle.
In your frigid Friday media column: DC has a "Bad boy" reporter, Brian Williams discusses the Twitter, a Reuters plagiarism kerfuffle, a CNNer becomes a flack, and Gene Weingarten gripes.
Joining the Occupy Wall Street protests has its dangers. You could get pepper-sprayed or end up in handcuffs. Or, as Brooklyn-based journalist Caitlin Curran explains, your boss could see a photo of you holding up a sign at a protest and fire you the next day.
