Free Republic

The co-author of a book on partisan science recently examined by Pacific Standard argues that our reviewer was a little too partisan himself. Any book that touches upon politics almost automatically angers half of the American public, regardless of what is written inside of it. It takes a special person—an objective, open-minded and self-critical one—to read and learn from a science book that criticizes people with whom the reader likes and agrees with politically.Recently, Pacific Standard published a review (“Red Science, Blue Science,” January/February 2013) by Wray Herbert, a pop psychology writer,of political writer Chris Mooney’s book The Republican Brain...

LINK ONLY PER FR POSTING RULES: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2012/10/15/swing-states-poll-women-voters-romney-obama/1634791/

USA Today is unveiling its most extensive redesign since its launch 30 years ago, effective with today’s paper. The paper that revolutionized newspapers three decades ago with splashy color photos and info graphics is going to increase color, photos and info graphics even more with the redesign. The website’s redesign will go into effect in beta form over the weekend before going live on Monday.

USA Today came out with a one year forecasted jobs growth graph that has some interesting results. According to the survey, the only states that are forecasted to grow jobs by 2% or more are Right-to-Work states – Wyoming, Utah and Oklahoma (Note: USA Today does not identify states in this way). The majority of states slated to see negative job growth are 7 to 1 Forced Union states, Georgia being the only exception as the sole Right-to-Work state.

The Wall Street Journal remains the No. 1 newspaper in the U.S with average weekday circulation of 2.1 million, according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Gannett Co.'s USA Today ranks second with 1.8 million, and The New York Times is third with 1.2 million on average from Monday to Friday. The latest figures, covering the six months that ended Sept. 30, were released Tuesday. The Times' circulation grew after it started charging online fees or requiring a print subscription for full access to its website and mobile services. That began just before the start of the latest circulation reporting...

Readers of Tuesday’s edition of USA Today were treated to an editorial, a rebuttal by National Rifle Association Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre and a “hard news” story that, taken all together, make it appear that the newspaper’s editorial board either doesn’t “get it” about Operation Fast and Furious, or they are feverishly trying to deflect responsibility. It is not likely Pacific Northwest gun rights activists will buy it, judging from conversations on the Northwest Firearms and WaGuns forums. In the story, focusing on the most prolific Fast and Furious suspect, Uriel Patino, the newspaper clearly points to the culpability...

New York Times Co. swung to a second-quarter loss on a write-down tied to its news media group, along with the continuing decline of advertising revenue and higher promotion costs related to the launch of digital subscription packages. New York Times, which also owns the Boston Globe, has signaled that its cost-cutting efforts, which have allowed it to remain mostly profitable despite its top-line declines, may be winding down. Most publishers have seen slower advertising-revenue declines, but the newspaper industry continues to battle circulation losses as readers migrate to the Internet. ... Revenue dropped 2.2% to $576.7 million, reflecting a...

Link only.

According to the Gannett Blog chatter, Gannett may be considering either selling USA Today or spinning it off as an independent company.

President Obama is the country’s most admired man, and Hillary Rodham Clinton, the secretary of state, is the most respected woman, according to a survey by USA Today and Gallup. Mr. Obama was the choice of 22 percent of those surveyed, followed by former President George W. Bush at 5 percent and former President Bill Clinton at 4 percent. Among women, Mrs. Clinton was named by 17 percent, followed by 12 percent who picked Sarah Palin, the former governor of Alaska, and Oprah Winfrey at 11 percent. The annual effort to determine who the American public admires most is...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- USA Today, the nation's second largest newspaper, is making the most dramatic overhaul of its newroom staff in its almost 30-year history in an effort deliver stories more quickly to mobile devices and produce more coverage likely to sell advertising. The makeover outlined Thursday will result in about 130 layoffs this fall, USA Today Publisher Dave Hunke told The Associated Press. That translates into a 9 percent reduction in USA Today's work force of 1,500 employees. He did not give a breakdown by departments for the layoffs.

USA Today president and publisher Dave Hunke, recently announced they would be reorganizing the paper, reports Gannett Blog. Most shockingly for the publication's staff, the reorganization will include layoffs. USA Today, which in April reported a 13.6 percent decrease in circulation over six months, has been under increasing pressure to revive their newspaper sales. Moreover, Today's advertising revenue fell 11 percent during the first quarter, while the overall decline amongst Gannett's (owner of USA Today) other papers was 8 percent. Hunke announced the upcoming restructuring and layoffs at a staff meeting last week, however he did not include a timetable...

HotAir.com posted an excellent side-by-side video from Fox News that shows the lengths that the left goes to in order to excuse the common every day violence, hate and criminal actions of folks from their own side. Take a look at this excellent report… This ignoramus, hypocrite that Fox News dredged up to represent the left is typical of the back bending gymnastics indulged by the Old Media and the left -- one in the same, I know. This is typical in the way they denigrate the perfectly peaceful Tea Party protests while excusing the lawless, criminal actions of the...

A jail in Colorado has banned all newspapers for inmates except for USA Today over safety issues. From Fox31.com A county jail in Colorado doesn't allow inmates to read newspapers — except for USA Today. The Garfield County Jail bans newspapers because the commander says they make inmates unsafe. The commander tells the Aspen Daily News that inmates can be targeted for violence if other inmates learn in the newspaper what others have been convicted of. Jail commander Steve Hopple says that USA Today is the only paper allowed because it carries "well-rounded national news." The newspaper ban has been...

FNC's Glenn Beck is the cover story in USA WEEKEND magazine this week and the author, Dennis McCafferty, lists 10 items many people might not know about the host garnered from a conversation in Beck's Manhattan office. Among them: he has a lot of liberal friends, Britney Spears is partly responsible for his career success, he's not happy with the GOP, Orson Welles is one of his greatest influences, he thinks he's turning into Jabba the Hutt, and he is aware that "he can be a jerk." The article's not online yet, but you can see the print version after...

USA Today ran an editorial on the Obama administration's handling of terrorism, writing: "Officials' handling of the Christmas Day attack looks like amateur hour." Obama administrator Deputy National Security Adviser John Brennan replied: "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only SERVE THE GOALS OF Al-QAEDA." Got that? The Obama administration considers ANY criticism of its national security policies, even from as benign a source as USA Today as serving "the goals of al-Qaeda." First Brennan asserts the terrorist was thoroughly interrogated and "provided important information." But just one sentence later Brennan admits: "The most important breakthrough occurred when Abdulmutalib was...

Unpaid furloughs at Gannett Co. Inc. in McLean will now include nearly 1,500 employees at its flagship USA Today. USA Today employees will be required to take one week of unpaid leave between now and July. In a memo to employees Thursday, USA Today publisher David Hunke also said an existing pay freeze, first implemented in February 2009, will be extended by at least 90 days. A USA Today spokesperson confirms the furloughs and pay freeze extension affect all 1,495 of USA Today’s employees. "National advertising revenues in general were still down from the previous year as were paid advertising...

In an oped in USA Today, John Brennan -- Assistant to the President and Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism -- responds to critics of the Obama administration's counterterrorism policies by saying "Politically motivated criticism and unfounded fear-mongering only serve the goals of al-Qaeda." Brennan writes that, "Terrorists are not 100-feet tall. Nor do they deserve the abject fear they seek to instill." In the oped, titled "'We need no lectures': Administration disrupts terrorists’ plots, takes fight to them abroad," Brennan writes that politics "should never get in the way of national security. But too many in...

FEBRUARY 5, 2010 For Government, Let the Good Times Roll The Great Recession has practically been a boom, if you have a government job. For most Americans, the Great Recession has been an occasion to hold on for dear life. For public employees, it’s been an occasion to let the good times roll. The percentage of federal civil servants making more than $100,000 a year jumped from 14 percent to 19 percent during the first year and a half of the recession, according to USA Today. At the beginning of the downturn, the Transportation Department had one person making $170,000...

Barack Obama has suffered a 36-point drop in the gap between approval and disapproval since Inauguration Day in the latest USA Today/Gallup poll of adults. He started at 64/25, but limps into Christmas with 49/46, within the margin of error. In fact, Obama fared worse than any other President in the history of the survey. What makes this remarkable is the amount of goodwill Obama had available at the beginning of his presidency. The only President to suffer this kind of beating in the USAT/Gallup polling was Ronald Reagan, who had to contend with a fairly unfriendly media as well...