Dream of the Dragon

Month: May, 2010

May 7, 2010

Iran and the Bomb

by Justin

When the Goldman Sachs trial first claimed the headlines I wrote something about it being an opportunity for the Obama administration to bill itself as the hero to the GS villain. The parts of me that want the Democrats to do well in November would love for Obama to generate some sort of unassailable momentum. Financial reform, as it turns out, hasn’t offered the populist rallying cry some may have hoped – even with the SEC charges and criminal probe.

So at what should the administration aim its cannon? Read the rest of this entry »

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May 6, 2010

Newsweak.

by Justin

It should come as no surprise that declining readership for newsweeklies has driven one of the principle three to put itself up for auction. Many news sites and a number of bloggers I read paid special attention to what it portents for the field of journalism that Newsweek may become no more. The newsweekly launched in 1933, in what was a remarkable era for news in general. In the midst of Depression and in the wake of a world war the United States could boast a more concerned citizenship than many chapters in history. Local newspapers covered what they could, and the giants like the New York Times hadn’t begun to circulate nationally. Radio was rising in popularity but not yet a significant source of international news, and broadcast television didn’t find any momentum until after World War II. Someone had to cover national and international stories and spread the word throughout the country. Read the rest of this entry »

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May 4, 2010

Watchdog Wonder

by Justin

I love this. In a time when journalism is on its deathbed and simultaneously in its infancy on emerging medias, MoJo’s Twitter alerted me to this little watchdog wonder.

People generally get less analysis, they spend less time consuming information, partisanship and propaganda are rising almost as high as during the days of Yellow Journalism. To combat this decline in depth and understanding jobs are being lost and papers fold under the pressure of the internet. Everybody knows how strange these days are. But what I appreciate most about the evolution of the blogosphere is the heightened degree of accountability. A number of sources, not just ProPublica, drew attention to the questionable allegiance of a source in this NY Times article. Read the rest of this entry »

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