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Jay Rosen, chairman of the NYU journalism department, has a piece up at his Press Think blog giving credit to anti-LAT blogger Patterico for pushing the Times to "even up" and do a story on Justice Ginsburg's outside speeches after the paper wrote critical of Justice Scalia. The post is long and can't be easily summarized, but it praises Patterico and the folks at Oh, That Liberal Media for getting something right:
In the category of media watch blogging, his work last week was exemplary. It was also an act of public service to other readers of the Times. He e-mailed what he knew about news the paper had missed, alerting it: you have a problem of fairness here. The reader's rep zapped it over to the national desk. One of the reporters on the Scalia story e-mailed Patterico, who sent him stuff. And bada-bing, another front page story for the two writers, which was also a way to demonstrate that the LA Times does not play favorites. The symmetry of the circumstances with Scalia and Ginsberg made it an easy call...My comments are these. The blogger said to the LA Times: It goes both ways, guys. He wasn't sure either speech was such a big deal. "But if they're going to run one story, they have to run the other. That much seems obvious." Obvious, yes, but not what the Liberal Media thesis led him to predict.
I tend to find Patterico's rants too politically motivated to get anything from them, but maybe I should check him out more often.
* Update: Patterico says in the comments that he likes publicity, and he's getting it: Harry Shearer (actor, writer, radio commentator et al) writes Romenesko to point out that he has been using "Dog Trainer" on "Le Show" as his term of non-endearment for the L.A. Times for three years (and Patterico credits him).
Politically motivated media watching, while not always the most pleasant thing to read, produces an enormous amount of useful & corrective information. In fact, I would bet $50 that more media boo-boos are pointed out by those with a political agenda than by those who are trying consciously to be scrupulously non-partisan.
Posted by: Matt Welch at March 18, 2004 11:02 AMBut sometimes it's pleasant to read.
Posted by: Patterico at March 18, 2004 01:05 PMI only want to read blogs with a POV--otherwise it's just linkage. With a writer with an axe to grind, there's some juice and life.
Posted by: KateCoe at March 18, 2004 03:06 PMI wonder if Coe is equating "juice" and "life" with anger and contempt. Ranters (both right and left) seem more interested in getting high on righteousness than anything else. Reading their blogs just isn't very rewarding.
Posted by: Tim McGarry at March 18, 2004 04:06 PMPatterico -- "not always the most pleasant" and "sometimes" pleasant are perfectly compatible!
Posted by: Matt Welch at March 18, 2004 04:32 PMWhy, yes, Patterico is politically motivated. But at least he is candid about his politics. Unlike so many professional journalists who propagate their opinions under the guise of "objective reporting".
Posted by: Stefan Sharkansky at March 18, 2004 04:41 PMI know, Matt. I was just trying to suggest gently (too gently to make my point clear) that perhaps politically motivated media watching can be pleasant to read -- when it's on my blog!
Posted by: Patterico at March 18, 2004 07:58 PM"Too politically motivated?" Give me a break. Calling someone else's politics "politics" is the oldest trick in the book. It fools no one.
Posted by: Xrlq at March 19, 2004 01:21 AMbeebop
Posted by: joe at March 26, 2004 04:10 AMI don't really think your thoughts are right. Maybe you need a loan?
Posted by: Loans at July 15, 2004 10:55 PM
of LA Observed
I think you have seen me through the filter of your belief that my blog (and the Bear Flag League) began as a pro-recall stunt. In fact, I was initially against the recall, though I have always despised Davis. My blog began long before the recall, mostly as a way to rant (the word is mostly accurate) about the L.A. Times.
Sure, I have a point of view, and it's true that I often express it caustically. But I also like to think I'm fair. I guess the press does as well. When I think they're not, I'll call them on it; when people think I'm not, I am happy to have them call me on it as well.
Anyway, as Xrlq recently observed in comments on your blog, almost any publicity is good publicity. So, thanks for the post.
Posted by: Patterico at March 18, 2004 10:22 AM