Is WaPo’s Media Critic Criticizing WaPo’s Social Media Guidelines?


Kurtz does remain diplomatic and supportive of the paper, careful to call them “guidelines,” instead of the harsher “rules” or “policies.” The way he sees it — no big deal, remember — “You can spout off about the Redskins (if you’re not a sportswriter) but need to tread more carefully on Afghanistan and health care (unless you’re a commentator).” But by so carefully adhering to old school standards of objectivity in the middle of an opinion journalism boom, the paper’s moves are counterintuitive — at least to anyone paying attention.

After a particularly damning criticism from Time’s Poniewozik — who writes that the Post is “working hard to make itself as irrelevant as possible” — and argues that it’s a good thing for reporters to voice their opinions, Kurtz responds with, “I predict this will sort itself out.” He hardly addresses the argument for neutrality — which seems to be an increasingly unreachable goal in today’s technological age — and instead ends ambivalently with, “A year from now, this flap will seem quaint.”

In fact, Kurtz gives so much time and space to his critics — and spends so little time rebutting with any passion — that a reader almost gets the feeling Kurtz agrees that the guidelines are misguided, but is reluctant to come right out and say so.

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So why can't the Grey Lady scrape by with a little more profit? Forbes just announced it's annual rankings for billionaires, and Carlos Slim Helu - who in 2008 became the largest shareholder in The Times and arguably saved the paper from bankruptcy - has been announced the #1 wealthiest person in the world.

Glenn Beck: Can We Officially Call It ‘Tickle Fight Tuesday’? (Update)

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With any luck Eric Massa will have wound his way out of the news cycle, likely never to be heard from again. In the meantime there is the a bit of a clean-up job that needs to be done by Glenn Beck. Something which he got started on during his radio show this morning, in what could be called 'Ridicule Massa Wednesday.'



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