Politics
Recent Articles
- If you haven’t been there already
- This week in Der Spiegel
- Ira Glass: “Newspapers and network news deserve to die”
- Band of Doctors
- Starbucks Faces Problems in New York City
- Changing Media Landscape - Discussion at the J-School
- New Media, New Opportunities
- Bike Share in New York City
- Life in a Radio Bubble - Recap of Election Night Coverage
- Rachel Sklar will do twitter interview after leaving Huffington Post
Featured Articles
-
Phil Rosenthal, writer of the Chicago Tribune asks: “Now that people get what they want the way they want on the Internet, where does that leave those mainstream media outlets that, in traditional fashion, pair the news people want with the news it is thought they need?” Charles Gibson, anchor of ABC World News Tonight, has [...]
-
The “U.S. vs. Libby” lawsuit did not only put an administration and its actions in the wake of the Iraq war on trial, but featured many stars of the political media landscape on the witness stand. I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby, former top aide to Vice-President Dick Cheney was on trial for purgery and obstruction to federal [...]
-
An attentive observer could come to the conclusion that the conflict in Iraq was solved a long time ago, the next elections would still be years away and all political issues resolved. At least one will get this impression when tuning in to either MSNBC or FOX News these days. While President Bush is announcing his [...]
-
In 2006, the Tyndall Report notices a bigger coverage of the Iraq war in the American media than in 2005. Hurricane Katrina also is still among the leaders in the battle for airtime minutes. For 20 years, the report of Andrew Tyndall measures each evening which topics get the most coverage among the three leading evening [...]
-
Each Sunday, Tim Russert, host of NBC’s Meet the Press, interviews the most influential politicians and most important press members in his Sunday talk show and it should come to no surprise that there is only one topic since the mid-term elections: Iraq. In a recent episode, Russert talked to two columnists of The New York [...]
Twitter Updates
Life in a Radio Bubble - Recap of Election Night Coverage
Just a few minutes before midnight, President-elect Barack Obama took the state at Grant Park in Chicago to speak to an electrified crowd. The 44th President greeted the people in the park and around the world with the words, “Hello, Chicago. If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, tonight is your answer.”
At the same time, I opened the door of the radio booth inside the Graduate School of Journalism and took a seat next to the hosts Kelly Ann Senyei and Jamie Jordan. Completely exhausted from the last 50 minutes of live coverage, the three of us missed every single word of this historic acceptance speech, and I for myself could not have cared less.
In January of 2008, I began covering this great spectacle with three weekly blogposts for a German media outlet, hoping in each primary that the underdog would win, and the next primary therefore matter. Back then, I looked at the schedule and would not dare to dream that I would ever write about April 22 and the Pennsylvania primary, much less an party in-fight that would carry on well into the summer.
The climax of all this came last night, with a live four-hour radio broadcast in which I had the great honor to be one of the Senior Producers. Meeting after meeting in the preceding weeks, it dawned on me that this was not only a tremendous challenge but probably a historic night in which a team of three dozen students would have to show flexibility and decision-making on the fly, while not forgetting the intense we had received since our arrival at the school in August.
Rachel Sklar will do twitter interview after leaving Huffington Post
Just this Monday Rachel Sklar paid a visit to my class at the Journalism School at Columbia University. Delighted that we were spared of another AP Stylebook drill it wasn’t hard for her to win over the broadcast students that were gathered in the room - not that she wouldn’t be able to do that anyway.
Together with Jay DeDapper from WNBC, the senior contributing editor of the Huffington Post discussed political reporting in a changing media world. When DeDapper mentioned twitter, she proudly took out her Blackberry and started typing away.
Today, she announced via AJR that she was leaving her position at the HuffPost to pursue other jobs in the industry:
“One of the things she will miss most, she says, is the adrenaline rush that comes with the constant demand to produce. As of November 7, Sklar, senior contributing editor for the Huffington Post and writer and editor of the Web site’s blog “Eat the Press,” will be parting ways with her all-consuming gig to pursue other projects.”
The good news is, within the next week I will have an interview with Rachel via twitter, a first time for her and me. In the meantime I will figure out the best way to organize and archive this, but it would not hurt if you start following the both of us. Suggestions and possible questions are welcome.
On the bus with no good reason
Howard Kurtz is asking: “Does the campaign trail still matter much in an age of digital warfare? Or is it now a mere sideshow, meant to provide the media with pretty pictures of colorful crowds while the guts of the contest unfold elsewhere? And if so, are the boys (and girls) on the bus spinning their wheels?”
Protesters Demand Bailout for Main Street
Photo: Assembleyman Hakeem Jeffries (by Franz Strasser)
On Tuesday, members of ACORN and local politicians gathered across the Federal Reserve building in Lower Manhattan to demand a bailout for Main Street, not just Wall Street.
INTRO: WITH FED CHAIRMAN BEN BERNANKE AND TREASURY SECRETARY HENRY PAULSON TESTIFYING IN CONGRESS TODAY, PROTESTERS NEAR WALL STREET CALLED FOR THE GOVERNMENT BAIL OUT MAIN STREET AND NOT JUST WALL STREET. FRANZ STRASSER WAS THERE.
> Click more for Slideshow.
(more…)
Watching the Forum at the J-School student center
Update on Sept. 12, 11:20 a.m.: This was a live feed of the student center during the forum. It has now gone back to the regular feed.
Visit mogulus page here.
Elmhurst, Queens reacts to Sarah Palin
Last week, I was out on my beat in the neighborhood of Elmhurst to ask female voters about their impression of Sarah Palin. The gouverneur of Alaska just delivered her speech to accept the nomination as Vice President as the first female candidate in the history of the Republican Party.
INTRO: AFTER ANNOUNCING SARAH PALIN AS HIS V.P. PICK, THE LATEST POLLS FIND JOHN MCCAIN GAINING 11 PERCENT WITH WHITE WOMEN IN AMERICA. IN THE QUEENS NEIGHBORHOOD OF ELMHURST, FRANZ STRASSER TALKED TO A DIVERSE GROUP OF FEMALE VOTERS ABOUT THEIR IMPRESSIONS.
Len Downie Jr. on the conventions
Just a few weeks ago, he opened the semester at the School of Journalism with his fascinating talk about the changing media industry.
Now it’s back to business.
Obama’s first general election ad
Bubba Trouble
Vanity Fair about Bill Clinton becoming a liability in his wife’s campaign: “Some point to Clinton’s medical traumas; others blame sheer selfishness, and the absence of anyone who can say “no.” Exploring Clintonworld, the author asks if the former president will be consumed by his own worst self.”
Krugman in Berlin
Last Thursday, I went to see Paul Krugman at Freie Universität Berlin, for a talk on his new book “Conscience of a Liberal.” Speaking before a large crowd inside the Kade Auditorium, the economist and NYT-columnist proved to be able to blend politics and economics while appealing to an academic crowd.
To prove his importance in the American media sphere, the Graduate School of North American Studies introduced him by playing a clip of Stephen Colbert, ripping Krugman for releasing his book the same day as the host of the popular Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report.”
In his talk, Krugman highlighted the growing gap within the American class society, and blamed it mostly on, what he called, “Movement Conservatism.” Comparing wages of Ford workers in the 70s and 80s to Wal-Mart workers today, Krugman concluded that their salary had been cut in half, whereas the C.E.O was making three times as much. Blaming the Bush administration for continuing the agenda of War on Terror, he called their strategy “Weapons of Mass Distraction,” and seemed hopeful about a change of politics at Pennsylvania Avenue in the near future.
Looking ahead towards the general election and the electoral map, the former Princeton professor pointed towards the South and its existence as Republican stronghold. When President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act in 1965, he instantly told aides that the Democrats had just lost the entire South for decades to come. His theory proven right over time, Krugman called it the “Big Switch,” but added that a changing electorate would reverse this trend in the upcoming years.
As he answered questions from the audience, Krugman was not shy of using memorable moments to make his arguments. Talking about the importance of the internet, he reminded the audience of the “macaca moment,” which cost Senator George Allen of Virginia his bid for reelection. The involved student later applied to Journalism schools, only writing three words on his essay of why he should be accepted: “I am macaca.”
While in Berlin, Krugman wrote his weekly Op-Ed column, and an entry on his blog, named after his newest book. Interestingly enough, the German title of his book is called “After Bush” - a translation Krugman did not seem to happy about.
Recent Comments