Friend of Media Nation Jon Keller has written a post at Beatthepress.org in which he endorses Dana Milbank’s account in the Washington Post of President Obama’s “prepackaged entertainment” at Tuesday’s White House news conference.
As you may already know, Obama called on Nico Pitney of the Huffington Post, saying, “I know that there may actually be questions from people in Iran who are communicating through the Internet. Do you have a question?”
I don’t want to provide too much set-up before turning this over to you, but here is what Pitney wrote for HuffPo about what happened. Pitney says that though he was invited to prepare a question based what Iranians had been talking about online, no one at the White House knew what he was going to ask; and that though he was, indeed, escorted into the briefing room, he had been told ahead of time that there was no guarantee he’d be called on.
Now, I have two questions for you, which I want you to answer only after reading Keller, Milbank and Pitney.
1. If you relied solely on Milbank’s account, would it be your understanding that Obama knew what Pitney’s question would be?
2. Since, according to Pitney, Obama neither knew the question nor had promised to call on him, did either the president or his press operation do anything wrong, unethical or even disrespectful to the other reporters in the room?
In this week’s Boston Phoenix, Adam Reilly observes that New York Times Co. executives mangled things with the Boston Globe and the Newspaper Guild so thoroughly that you’re left wondering if a “no” vote was what they wanted all along.
I’ve been wondering the same thing, though for the life of me I can’t see how this benefits the Sulzbergers. Now that they’ve made it official that they want to sell the Globe, the last thing they need is an unfair-labor case before the National Labor Relations Board, which could drag on for months.
Over at the Beat the Press blog, former Globe staffer Ralph Ranalli explains how Globe publisher Steve Ainsley and Times Co. management snatched defeat from the jaws of victory.
I just posted an item pulling together what we know about the GateHouse cuts over at the Beat the Press blog. It includes some quotes from GateHouse Media New England chief executive Rick Daniels, whom I interviewed a little while ago.
Please have a look at the new Web site for “Beat the Press,” the media-roundtable program that’s broadcast on Fridays at 7 p.m. on WGBH-TV (Channel 2). You can watch video clips, read the blog, post comments and suggest show topics.
The site went public on Friday, and here is the welcome post from chief blogger Ralph Ranalli. Hope you enjoy it.
I’ll be on “Beat the Press” tonight (WGBH-TV, Channel 2, 7 p.m.) talking about — among other things — President-elect Obama’s first post-election news conference, which will take place today at 2:30 p.m.
This will be my last “BTP” update. Given that I’ve been erratic about posting these, they’re not of much value. I’m on most of the time. And even when I’m not, I don’t want to imply that you shouldn’t watch.
I’ll be on “Beat the Press” (WGBH-TV, Channel 2) today at 7 p.m. Among other things, we’ll be talking about Christopher Buckley’s departure from his father’s magazine, National Review, following his endorsement of Barack Obama.
I’ll be on “Beat the Press” tomorrow (7 p.m., WGBH-TV, Channel 2). Don’t know what the topics are yet, but I’m reasonably certain we’ll be looking at coverage of the Sarah Palin-Joe Biden debate.
I’ll be on “Beat the Press” (WGBH-TV, Channel 2) today at 7 p.m. We’ll be talking about John McCain versus the New York Times, Sarah Palin and the media, and the debut of the New England First Amendment Center at Northeastern University.
I’ll be a panelist on “Beat the Press” tomorrow (WGBH-TV, Channel 2, 7 p.m.).
John Carroll, one of the sharpest media observers I know, has signed on as a commentator with WBUR Radio (90.9 FM). Here’s the press release from WBUR:
“Beat the Press” panelist John Carroll will beat a familiar path back to WBUR in the role of senior media analyst starting next week, announced Sam Fleming, managing director of News & Programming at Boston’s NPR news station.
Carroll, a regular WBUR commentator for more than 10 years prior to moving to WGBH-TV’s “Greater Boston” in the mid ’90s, will analyze electoral and print media during the presidential race, and following the election, he will dissect issues related to advertising, politics and culture.
“Our listeners have longed missed John’s wry observations about media and advertising, particularly commercial messages peddled by candidates of all persuasions in the midst of elections,” said Fleming. “We look forward to his return.”
In addition to serving as a regular panelist on WGBH-TV’s popular Friday night program “Beat the Press,” Carroll was the executive producer of WGBH-TV’s “Greater Boston” for five years. An assistant professor of Mass Communication at Boston University, Carroll has won numerous national and regional journalism awards, including the RTNDA’s Edward R. Murrow award for writing, the National Press Club’s Arthur Rowse award for press criticism, and multiple New England Emmys for commentary and news writing.
Over the past 20 years, the Xavier University alum has also written extensively on advertising and the media as a regular columnist for The Boston Globe and Adweek magazine. He also spent nearly two decades as a creative director and consultant in the advertising industry.
I’ve got a lot of respect for John, and I wish him well in his new venture.
Uncategorized | Dan Kennedy | 
June 24, 2009 11:52 am | 
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