Nice Story, Bad Story

Nice story on China's local government debt crisis from the NYT
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/business/global/building-binge-by-chinas-cities-threatens-countrys-economic-boom.html?_r=1&hp
Bad story on shale gas from NYT

Recent Media Headlines

News Corp. under intense pressure after disclose of new phone hacking:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/07/world/europe/07britain.html?hp

Social media in Casey Anthony
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/business/media/06coverage.html?ref=todayspaper

NYT Breaking Strauss Kahn Story

The New York Times broke news that the case against Strauss Kahn is in limbo due to the victim's credibility problem. The curious thing is that the Times did a profile two weeks ago about the alleged victim and the piece didn't show any credibility issues, only a sliver of sympathy.

Why Politicians are so Ignorant?

Just don't understand why so many American politicians are so ignorant. Michele Bachmann, the Republican presidential election contender, said in New Hampshire to an audience: You are the state where the first gun shot of the American revolution was fired.... What? that's close to Sarah Palin, or even worse.

WSJ Still Best in Business Reporting

Despite mass exodus of key staff, the WSJ is still the best in business reporting. The story about Libya's investment in a Goldman fund is one of the examples. There are several reasons for this, one, tradition, the paper is traditionally good at business reporting; two, sources, the paper still has best business sources; three, position, not like the NYT, which reports business news from consumers' point of view, the WSJ focus on investors, thus their stories are more in-depth and closer to professionals. The NYT is too eager to please general readers. The NYT's DealBook is still not resourceful enough to get exclusive scoops.

Thomas Drake Not Guilty On Most Counts

The famous NSA whistle blower Thomas Drake pleaded guilty to just a minor count, a setback for Obama, who is pursuing leak much more vigorously Bush.
NYT Story.
New Yorker Investigation.

Psychic Triggers Frenzy in FBI, Police, and Media

A psychic in Texas reported a mass grave with more than 30 dismembered bodies and thus triggered immediate chain reactions in the police and the FBI. The media quickly took actions, starting from local TV stations. Reuters put out a story citing the local media, without being able to independently confirm the existence of the grave (no time to do so, of course. had to put out something before other media). NYT sent out news alert, citing Reuters. Even newspapers in London and Australia put out headlines. Bloomberg also sent a headline (UP TO 30 BODIES FOUND NEAR HOUSTON, NYT CITES REUTERS). Reuters even updated the stories several times. What a farce, since the report turned out to be false. It's hard to keep a cool head in today's ultra-competitive media environment. Reuters quickly took off the story from its web site, but archives are still available in Reuters India.

NYT's Headlines

Names and events make news, but NYT seems to disagree. The paper often puts a headline that looks more like a subhead. For example, it had an exclusive interview with the woman to whom Anthony Weiner sent a explicit photo, and you will presume that the paper should at least put Weiner's name in the headline. But no, the paper's headline doesn't show any newsy element:

In Reckless Fashion, Rapid Online Pursuits of Political Admirers

At one glance, it's easy for the reader to skip the story, missing an important interview that the NYT did with an important player in the whole Weiner scandal.
This is just one example. Many of NYT's headlines don't follow textbook rules. Would really like to ask the editor about it.

WSJ Misses AOL News in Paper

The Wall Street Journal missed the AOL acquisition of HuffintonPost in today's newspaper. The news was announced at around midnight, apparently the Journal didn't get a tip-off before that. The New York Times carried the story in the paper, again beating the Journal. Bloomberg sent headlines at 0:01.

White House State Dinner Guests

Interesting list:

Interesting people: Lang Lang and Zhou Xiulan (his girl friend?), Wendi Deng (How did she get into this?), Jiang Mianheng (of course, Jiang Zemin's son)

Americans Spend 5 Hours a Day Watching TV

Americans spend an average of 34 hours per person per week in front of TV. They really got nothing better to do? And as an indication of demographic change, the Spanish channel Univision is quickly gaining influence.
NYTimes: TV Viewing Continues to Edge Up

The Times beats WSJ and Bloomberg in Business News

Since the New York Times hired business reporters from the WSJ to expand its Deal Book page, the Times' business coverage has been improving a lot. The paper first reported Goldman's investment in Facebook today, prompting Bloomberg News to follow. The WSJ hasn't had its own story yet, instead it used an AP article. Kudos to the Times and wish it gets better and better.
NYT Link: Goldman Invests in Facebook at $50 Billion Valuation
WSJ Link: Report says Facebook nets $500 million investment
Bloomberg Link: Facebook Raises $500 Million From Goldman, Russian Investor, NYT Reports