What If They Held an Election Without the Media

In science, it’s called the “observer effect” — the very act of observing a phenomenon changes the phenomenon. And if journalists are simply supposed to “observe” and report on our presidential elections, they are in fact exerting a tremendous effect over the entire process.For example, imagine two small states, both holding caucuses to pick their delegates to the presidential nominating…
Rich Noyes

Weekend Captionfest

 Hillary Clinton concedes defeat in the Iowa caucuses on January 3, 2008 as Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright look on.
NB Staff

Open Thread

For general comment and discussion...
NB Staff

Leno's Success Prompts Union Writing Controversy

NY Times reports witness heard union rep give Leno permission to proceed with writing 'Tonight Show' monologue.
Jeff Poor

CBS ‘Early Show’ on Obama Win: ‘History Has Been Made

At the top of Friday’s CBS "Early Show," co-host Harry Smith declared: "The votes have been cast and history has been made. Democratic voters in Iowa give African-American Senator Barack Obama a giant victory." Shortly following this "historic" proclamation, Smith also commented: "Barack Obama, the big winner on the Democratic side," and spoke of both the Obama and Huckabee wins in these terms: "…
Kyle Drennen

Newsweek Editor: Great Night for Dems, But Huckabee's a Yokel

On the PBS talk show "Charlie Rose" Thursday night, Newsweek editor Jon Meacham declared that Hillary Clinton was right that it was a "great night for Democrats" and a bad night for Republicans. He scoured Mike Huckabee as an embarrassment: "Do you really want to see if a Southern Baptist minister who took two days to find out about the National Intelligence Estimate about Iran is going to be…
Tim Graham

Conservative Blogs Gained Readers as Lib Ones Stagnated in

A frequent lament I've heard in conservative circles is that we're not as good at using the Internet to promote our message as the Left is. Of course, that fear may be a bit overblown to begin. After all, 2007 saw some marked success in conservative blogs growing in readership while liberal ones stagnated according to Simon Owens of Bloggasm:It has long been understood that the largest liberal…
Ken Shepherd

ABC's Roberts: 'Fundamentalist Christians' Gave Huckabee the Win

"Good Morning America" co-host Robin Roberts used the label "fundamentalist Christians" to describe the Iowa supporters of former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee. During an interview on Friday's program, she also noted that America "saw, there, in your offices in Iowa, right before the caucuses, people praying there in your, in your office." The ABC journalist also grilled the '08 contender,…
Scott Whitlock

Will Old Media Learn a Lesson from Lancet? Doubtful

NationalJournal.com has news (HT Instapundit) about the reality of the October 2006 Lancet report on civilian deaths in Iraq -- a report that was breathlessly and gullibly cited at the time by Old Media outlets and reporters (including David Brown here at the Washington Post). Here is background for those unfamiliar with the original story: Published by The Lancet, a venerable British medical…
Tom Blumer

Judge Torpedoes Navy with Sonar Reg, Seattle P-I Doesn't Note Clinton

It's bound to be overlooked by the media at-large in large part due to the Iowa caucuses, but a court ruling that burdens the U.S. Navy with yet another environmentally-driven restriction was handed down from a federal district court judge yesterday. That judge, the Hon. Florence-Marie Cooper, is a Clinton appointee, a fact unreported by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Robert McClure (emphasis…
Ken Shepherd

Shazam: Smith 'Pyles' On

Of all the ways Harry Smith could have opened this morning's historic Early Show, he chose to do so by waving today's Boston Herald with its one-word front page "Shazam!" above a photo of Mike Huckabee. Smith described Barack Obama simply as the "big winner" on the Democratic side.View video here [with apologies for low audio level].
Mark Finkelstein

Washington Post Editor Sees Fracturing of Reagan Coalition

Tim Graham

'Liberal Europeans' Should be Allowed to 'Vote in U.S. Elections

Warner Todd Huston

Air America Host Cheers Teen-Mauling Tiger, Steve Irwin's Death

Tim Graham