AP: How Things Have Changed

JNS - could you give us a URL maybe? your link directs us to the login page, which I don't think should be necessary.
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Oh, and congrats on having a piece in the Post.

Awesome story JNS. Great quote at the end of the story about need an equator. When I used to "rip and read" back in the 70s and 80s, UPI(RIP) and AP stories were drier the my late mother's Thanksgiving stuffing.

The lack of skepticism and objectivity by the 21st generally makes my blood boil. This was a great glimpse behind the scenes and I know have a better view of what's going on. Great writing on really interesting story.

I do wax nostalgically for mid to late 20th Century journalism. You professors at Columbia would be proud of you for this story JNS.

Good article JNS.
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This quote expressed the way I feel about it.
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"I worry that their strategy is too 2004 Web and not a 2008 approach to the Web," says Dick Keil, a former AP reporter who spent 20 years working for wire services before becoming a political consultant. "It's like New Coke -- it seems cool now, but just wait. It could bring down the whole company: They have a recognized, respected and trusted brand and identity, and they are moving in a radically new direction likely to make the vast majority of their subscribers uncomfortable."
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I no longer trust things from the AP and I suspect that they will lose their business if the papers revolt as you describe toward the end.
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I am such a confirmed newspaper reader that even if I'm too busy to get to it during the day it arrives, I read each paper until I'm current. Wednesday a friend and I lamented how much is being lost bit by bit from our only daily paper. Where papers seem to me to be making a mistake is by cutting things they do well. The mention of missing the Renoir exhibit because you hadn't signed up for RSS feeds for Renoir is a great example. Even something dumb like a preview with projected winner of each Sunday's NFL game has disappeared since last season. I now have to go online to find that.

It's working. AP is heading in a troubling direction, to say the least. Good job and congrats.

I didn't have a problem with the link in the post.

ok, I'll log in to Wapo.

BTW, I see they are up to Feb 2007 in bringing archives over. Scroll below Ooops and there they are. Including long arabic spam in comments!

JNS

Are you just trying to be contrarian with the b/w photo? Or did the great swampland crash of 08 somehow affect your regular headshot?

Jay - exceptionally fine article. Your writing has, it seems to me, grown a good deal over the last few months - hope you don't mind my saying so.

The headline about Obama's pick of Biden showing a lack of self-confidence really demonstrates the wrong-headedness of their approach, doesn't it. Obama's pick of Biden now seems the embodiment of sure-footedness compared to the pick of Palin? (wrong-headedness? sure footedness? Where'd I get all these body parts)

Interesting. I just posted in another thread about AP's investigation into the Palin administration's handling of the bidding process on the pipeline.....perhaps more aggressive journalism than previously? Wasn't aware of that.

ivb - how're you feeling about the possibility of the trolls being moderated out/abandoning the blog? I won't miss them, if that happens. We've had some fine conversations from time to time, which never seems possible when we're being trolled. I also wouldn't miss mile-long posts in an untranslated language.

" "My e-mail inbox has been, over the course of this campaign, filled with angry organized e-mails from people on the left "

Everyone agrees they stink so it must be "organized" that way you can dismiss it.
Why they would take Mercedes and turn it into Yugo is something I'll never understand.
Very nice job JNS.

I think that one of the problems is that people themselves. If they had half a mind they would realize that when the journalism is detached from reality, then you have a problem.
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1....When it is based on speculative "issues" (Ayres "connection")
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2....When journalism has "taboo" subjects (Being specific about the use of hatred as a poltical tool)
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3....When journalism fails to distinbuish between propaganda and real news (FOX)
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4....When journalists attempt to put a mask of "impartiality" on (False equivalencies)
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It is hard to find out what the truth is when there is no one that will hold the standard up high enough to see - and that's bad for the whole country!
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The best cases in point:
The "grading" done by pundits after debates. Almost always, their "grading" differs widely from the general population.
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It seems that the only possible way to get at the truth these days is to wait for the controlling politics to ebb and let the historians evalute it from the impersonal distance of time...

I think my new standard for "analysis" is Campbell Brown's assertion that reporters ought to be able to say it's cloudy outside without having to say "some people say it's sunny." But there will still be people who complain that you didn't say it's sunny. So the fact that writers are getting complaints from both sides doesn't really mean they got the balance right.

Absolutely amazing nuisance. Had a comment put into moderation, and I can't imagine why.

Mudflats has this moderation problem on WordPress too. People keep trying to repost the same comment, and once the duplicate comments get thrown out it only makes the filter think that person must be a troll and throws out their next comments. So I don't necessarily think this is going to be easily fixed. This is mudflat advice about what puts you in spam:
* If you put multiple links in your post, you may be considered spam.
* If you put a link and nothing else, you may be considered spam.
* If you drop the F-bomb, you will definitely be considered spam.
* If you have been spammed before, you will more likely be considered spam.

David Frum is basically calling for McCain to concede

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/10/23/AR2008102302081.html?nav=hcmoduletmv

It's definitely annoying, Kathy. But I'll be glad if we don't have to scroll past the Arabic and Turkish spam anymore. So have you decided your plans for election day? Partay or working at the polls?

SG -- does this mean that Frum is of the delusional mindset that believes the GOP doesn't deserve to be taken down. I would think the so-called conservative intellectual elite would recognize that they need a time out, if for nothing else to get the hardcore nuttery back behind closed doors.

If anybody thought the Politico story was just another hit piece on Sarah Palin, CNN would beg to differ. Again note what I said in KT's thread. Schmitt does not actually issue a denial. They say that everyone is working towards victory. But neither the CNN story nor thePolitico story put forth the meme that someone is trying to lose. The press released was designed to fight a straw man. Its really telling that the press release does not say that every one is on board with the same strategy nor does it dispute the allegations that there are high tensions with in the Palin camp.

Kathy, I definitely won't miss the long posts in foreign languages. I did find that I could read the first sentence or so and know who was posting. Name at the top will make that easier. Jamesryan won't have the patience to create his many lines with space in between, however.
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I put a comment in a post below (the McCain Palin one I think) describing the mailers I have received against Obama. I assume it was held because I quoted the word used about Ayers and some of that ilk.
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Indeed, very annoying. I looked at Mudflats earlier and realized I must not post on that thread again until I'm freed. Bet the Sheriffs really want to get that fixed!

I just had a comment put into moderation for no descernible reason. Is there a list of regualar words that I should avoid? Although that's going to wreak havoc on my comedic capabilities.

Dee:
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Don't quote directly sentiments voiced by Palin/McCain supporters.

Example:
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"End his life! End his life!"