At Web Site for Journalists, a Campaign Article Becomes a Melee (Dinosaur Media DeathWatch™)

The New York Times ^ | December 17, 2007 | Maria Aspan

[abb]

A usual round of media self-criticism turned into a schoolyard brawl last week, as editors, reporters and bloggers traded insults over a front-page article in The Washington Post, all at the very online water cooler where they usually get their news about the industry.

The Post article, which ran on Nov. 29, was about rumors of Barack Obama’s ties to the Muslim world.

snip

Then things got really ugly. On Dec. 10, Chris Daly, a Boston University journalism professor, posted an entry on his blog that turned the debate over the merits of the article’s reporting into a debate over the merits of its author, Perry Bacon Jr., a Post staff reporter.

“Since when does The Post assign 27-year-olds to write Page 1 presidential campaign pieces?," wrote Mr. Daly, who is 53 and had written for The Post as a freelance regional correspondent for eight years starting in 1989. “This is fast-tracking with a vengeance.”

After Jim Romenesko, who runs a popular media blog for the Poynter Institute, a Florida-based nonprofit school for journalists, posted a link to Mr. Daly’s blog post, Mr. Bacon’s friends and colleagues rushed to defend him.

Soon the Romenesko Web site was full of letters of support from Mr. Bacon’s past and present colleagues and other reporters, including Michael Barbaro and Adam Nagourney of The New York Times, Karen Tumulty of Time Magazine, and Peter Baker of The Washington Post. Media critics on outside sites like The Huffington Post and Slate also weighed in, with posts that the site also linked to.

The most through-the-looking-glass moment of the week, however, came when The Post’s executive editor, Leonard Downie Jr., criticized the Romenesko blog — in a publicly posted letter to Mr. Romenesko — for linking to Mr. Daly’s original complaint in the first place.

snip

[abb]

"Here's to the confusion of our enemies!" Frank Sinatra

[abb]

ping

[Rick.Donaldson]

“Since when does The Post assign 27-year-olds to write Page 1 presidential campaign pieces?,” wrote Mr. Daly, who is 53 and had written for The Post as a freelance regional correspondent for eight years starting in 1989. “This is fast-tracking with a vengeance.”

??

Methinketh thou ugly green beast of jealousy ariseth...

[Paladin2]

Hey, J Profs, it’s OK. “Fake but accurate” is the new mantra.

[Lee'sGhost]

This article really compliments the Pamela Anderson thread.

[weegee]

Yeah, how dare a 27 year old do the work of a 30-something baby boomer.

[Enterprise]

"Then things got really ugly — and personal."

LOL - welcome to the real world of unfiltered communications.

[Brad from Tennessee]

“Muslim” issue resurfaces for Obama

“It’s probably not something that appeals to him, but I like the fact that his name is Barack Hussein Obama, and that his father was a Muslim and that his paternal grandmother is a Muslim,” (Bob)Kerrey, who made a failed bid for the Democratic presidential nomination won by Bill Clinton in 1992, told The Washington Post.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2004077664_obama17.html

[2ndDivisionVet]

Rats fighting on a sinking ship: Someone pass the popcorn!

[tobyhill]

Obama is a Muslim! His dad and his grandparents on his dad’s side were/are Muslims so he automatically is a Muslim and the only way to change that is to denounce his father but then he would be subject to beheading according to Islamic law. His mother being a woman (I’m assuming) can not influence her religion on him if she is not Muslim according to Islamic law.

[Tribune7]

ping

[GOPJ]

Let’s say Obama’s father was a Muslim - so what? And no matter where he went to school when he was 9, he didn’t pick the school. If it’s all true, it’s a yawn - but a printable yawn...

[abb]

The newsy part of this piece is the cat-fight the Drive-Bys had with each other.

[Cicero]

Let’s say Obama’s father was a Muslim - so what?

That makes him a Muslim, according to the universally accepted rules of Islam. If your father is a Muslim, you are a muslim.

So, the interesting question is, did Obama ever decide to leave Islam, or is he like that nutjob Episcopal woman priest out in California who calls her self a Christian AND a Muslim? Which, of course, is impossible.

Once a Muslim, always a Muslim. And the penalty for abjuring Allah is death. Saying that these youthful experiences don't matter or meant nothing is preposterous.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

"The Columbia Journalism Review said the article "may be the single worst campaign ’08 piece to appear in any American newspaper so far this election cycle."

Just wondering if the Columbia Journalism Review has also been upset when colleges don't allow conservatives the right of free speech...

[Dr. Scarpetta]

"The Columbia Journalism Review said the article "may be the single worst campaign ’08 piece to appear in any American newspaper so far this election cycle."

Just wondering if the Columbia Journalism Review has also been upset when colleges don't allow conservatives the right of free speech...