Brian Lambert I confess to having paid very little attention to Katie Couric. Maybe it really is because I am at heart a digusting, unrepentant misogynist. Or maybe — just maybe — I like a certain gravity of bona fides in my network news readers. Knowing a bit about CBS president, Les Moonves, from having observed his … Read more
It came as no surprise that the Star Tribune’s new ownership, Avista Capital Partners, dismissed a call from its Guild for an independent investigation into the rather serious charges asserted against publisher, Par Ridder. The presumption is that it did do knowing full well that the legal process is both glacial and unlikely to produce … Read more
As of June 4, the ubiquitous Andrew Zimmern will settle into a regular weekday gig at Hubbard Broadcasting’s FM 107. Zimmern will take the 1 to 3 pm slot, with The Satellite Sisters cut back an hour, 11 to 1, and Kevyn Burger also losing one hour, 9 to 11 am. GM Dan Seeman concedes … Read more
It was close, but “Mary Ellen”, one of the most ferocious leg-rasslers in Twin Cities history, beat out reader “Tom”, by 14 minutes in posting the Scarlett Johansson/Bob Dylan video of, “When the Deal Goes Down”. My thanks to both, and if we can coordinate a gathering at say Robin Marty’s every other week “Drinking … Read more
THREE quick mini media reviews: ONE: I caught most of Alberto Gonzales’ “testimony” on NPR while driving north last Thursday. As a product of the Watergate era and more televised Nixon press conferences than I care to remember, (the ones with the sweaty upper lip were the best), plus a few impromptu Spiro Agnew vs. … Read more
I’ve been waiting months for this one. By agreeing to publicly discuss and examine their culpability in so profound a failure/lapse should be an acid test for any editor … and publisher, certainly those who have ever nattered about journalistic “transparency”. Sometimes your credibility rests on your ability to say you were wrong.
NBC is taking heat for broadcasting Seung Cho’s photos and videos. As scoops go, the package Cho sent them is about as good as it gets. But the dilemma was obvious. Do you present the ravings of a homicidal madman to population of the planet, knowing full well that you are then the principal agent … Read more
When this year’s Pulitzers were announced earlier this week I was gratified to see the Wall Street Journal win what many minds regard as the best of the best; the Pulitzer for public service reporting. The category implies a relevance much broader than, say, Pulitzers for editorial cartooning or even novel-writing. But two ironies jumped … Read more
Somewhere after the Red Lake shootings the numbness settled in for good. I hope everyone younger than me can still react with unalloyed shock at another campus massacre. But I’m sorry, and I truly am sorry, the cycle of these things has become too frequent for me to be shocked anymore. From the first reports, … Read more
Apparently struck by the rather dicey appearance problem of having your publisher accused of theft and a variety of other disreputable activities, the Star Tribune’s Guild officers this afternoon, sent the following letter to Chris Harte, of new owner, Avista Capital Partners. . . . . Guild colleagues, We will be sending this letter to … Read more