Free Republic

New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson was abruptly fired from the paper on Wednesday, sources familiar with the news informed POLITICO. Managing editor Dean Baquet will take over as executive editor, effective immediately. The news of her departure was met with shock throughout the newsroom. Senior editors were unexpectedly summoned to a 2 p.m. leadership meeting at the Times headquarters in New York. The news was then announced in a staff-wide meeting by publisher Arthur Sulzberger Jr. In his announcement, Sulzberger said Abramson’s departure was related to “an issue with management in the newsroom,” and had nothing to do...

NEW YORK On his national radio program today, William Bennett, the former Reagan and George H.W. Bush administration official and now a CNN commentator, said that three reporters who won Pulitzer Prizes yesterday were not "worthy of an award" but rather "worthy of jail." He identified them as Dana Priest of The Washington Post, who wrote about the CIA's "secret prisons" in Europe, and James Risen and Eric Lichtblau of The New York Times, who exposed the National Security Agency's domestic (a.k.a. terrorist) spy program. Scott Johnson of the popular Powerline blog also weighed in today, under the heading "The...

“Anchorman” Chris Matthews concluded the April 8, 2006 episode of the NBC show which shares his name with these words [emphasis mine]: “Yes an anchor is not simply a newsreader or even someone who decides the news items to be featured and in what order. The anchor is also the country’s anchor especially when it counts—When we need some stability in the ship of state. You may have figured where I’m heading with this. Will the verdict on Katie constitute an early verdict on a Hillary sitting in the President’s chair? That’s right, before we get to vote on Hillary...

|NEW YORK In an apparent effort to mend his relationship with the press, President George W. Bush has been holding off-the-record meetings with White House reporters for the past few days, an apparent first since he took office. Several correspondents confirmed to E&P either participating in such meetings or being invited to them, noting that at least two have been held in the past week, with one scheduled for Tuesday. Most have lasted more than an hour and at least one took place in Bush's private residence. "It was very pleasant, he seemed very thoughtful and frank," said Stephan Dinan,...

What's more, the trade mag Talkers says Stern is still No. 1 among radio talk-show hosts, even though he's only available via satellite. If you want scary, look at who's No. 2: Rush Limbaugh. Man, where's "Deadeye" Dick Cheney when you need him?

LOS ANGELES - Otis Chandler, who transformed his family's Los Angeles Times from a provincial, conservative paper into a respected national media voice, died Monday. He was 78. Chandler died at his home in Ojai, said Tom Johnson, who had succeeded Chandler as publisher. He said Chandler had been suffering from a neurological disorder known as Lewy body disease. Chandler was the scion of a family that wielded financial and political power in the Los Angeles area for decades. With his blond hair, weightlifter physique and love of surfing, he was a quintessential Californian of his generation. As a publisher,...

It was the month of February in 2006, they'll say in the future. That's when the sickness became inescapably evident. As they shovel the last spadeful of dirt on the mainstream media outlets that once received the most attention and respect, they will tell us the symptom was there for all to see: an embarrassing confusion about which of two stories about a vice president of the United States was worthy of major coverage. The story they chose to elevate was the one about Dick Cheney peppering a fellow hunter in Texas with pellets from a 28-gauge shotgun, even though...

NBC White House correspondent David Gregory ate a little crow Sunday on this "Meet The Press," apologizing for his arrogant behavior during White House press briefings dealing with the shooting of a hunting companion by Vice President Cheney. Reacting to the storm of criticism leveled by the public at the Washington press corps for complaining that they were not told immediately about the incident, leaving the job of reporting it to a small-town Texas newspaper, Gregory apologized for his boorish behavior. "I think I made a mistake,” he told host Tim Russert. "I think it was inappropriate for me to...