Media

August 2, 2005

Samir Husni strikes again!

What is a journalist's job? Talk to people; read stuff; write about it. It's why many doubt that it's actually a real job. But there's a bit of a conundrum when the people one talks to can themselves write. Unless the journalist really adds something, might as well just go straight to the source, on the information superhighway. Or, in the case of Samir Husni, the self-proclaimed "Mr Magazine" to his eponymous website, which he proclaims the "real information superhighway" (emphasis, and apparent lack of irony in the original).

Media

August 1, 2005

Sun to rise in morning!

We here at Gelf can't hope to compete with CNN. The network's 25 years of experience chasing down hard news and bringing you the story that matters, when it matters is something we aspire to. CNN, with the deep pockets of a major network can cultivate sources, and so get news you just can't get anywhere else.

For instance, if it weren't for the ground-breaking cable network, Gelf certainly wouldn't otherwise, by, say, having a pulse, be able to know that despite the King's death, Saudi Arabia will still sell oil.

Media

August 1, 2005

From Playstation to NASCAR

In this week's edition of Zooming In, Gelf's quasi-weekly round-up of undercovered local stories from around the world: Baseball scandals; a curious (and sort of sexy) Chinese woman; and family planning, Cold War-style. One of our favorite stories this week concerns a Hungarian man who made the unlikely jump from videogame geek to racecar driver.

Media

July 31, 2005

Sensationalizing Suicide

A politician kills himself. A journalist is fired. And the New York Times, demonstrating why the American press is beloved for its fair and tasteful reporting, begins its account like this: "It seemed like a throwback to 'Miami Vice.' " This reality-TV entertainment has a "storyline," the second paragraph tells us. The fired journalist is a "twist" to a "tale of sex, politics and suicide," the headline says.

Media

July 25, 2005

Citizen Kane vs Look Who's Talking, Too

People frequently argue about what activities qualify as "sports." (I've got news for you: Poker is not the new hot "sport," no matter what CNN says. Neither is ice skating or synchronized swimming.) Also included in the is-it-or-isn't-it semantic debate is the argument over which older movies should be granted "classic" status. Now, we may finally have a legal answer. As the New York Times reported today, Time Warner Cable sued American Movie Classics channel, alleging that AMC veered too far from its original format of classic movies. The best part of the article is undoubtedly the caption under the photo of John Travolta striking a half-nude pose: "John Travolta played the role of Tony Manero in 'Staying Alive,' a 1983 movie that is, by legal standards at least, not considered a classic."

Media

July 21, 2005

Hot Coffee Screenshots

Now that Hillary Clinton has spoken out about it and it has received an adults-only label from the Entertainment Software Ratings Board (New York Times), the current version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas has been discontinued by its maker, Rockstar Games. It seems that some people have found a way to unlock a minigame within the game, entitled "Hot Coffee," in which users get to take a break from stealing and killing and start humping. Which is great for those who already own the game and are savvy enough to download the patch. But how can those of us with no access to the game see some pixellated nudity?

Media

July 20, 2005

Forget Exit Polling: We've Got Strategists!

In Friday's New York Times, an article about Republican efforts to lure black voters contained this head-scratcher: "Although Mr. Bush won only 11 percent of the black vote nationwide in 2004, hardly denting support for his Democratic rival, strategists in both parties agreed that he made progress in states like Ohio." Sure, the exit polls weren't spot-on last November, especially intraday. But must the Times really turn to bipartisan strategists to know how Bush did with blacks in 2004?

Media

July 18, 2005

One Man's Tragedy Is Newsman's Drama

Movies dramatize the dashing foreign correspondent running to cover a violent act. And reporters are trained to write gripping narratives to capture readers' attention. So Gelf can forgive newspapers for occasionally forgetting that a tragedy like the London bombings is real life and not stagecraft. But it's another thing to explicitly call the horrific acts "drama," as several articles did in the past two weeks. There may be a natural tendency toward voyeurism among readers following such a story from across the Atlantic, but that doesn't mean newspapers should feed that unfortunate tendency.

Media

July 16, 2005

The Victims of 7-16

On Saturday, a suicide bomber blew up a fuel truck in Musayyib, Iraq, killing at least 58 people, three more than were killed in the London bombing of a week and a half ago. Both sets of bombings made the front page of the New York Times website (see screenshot), but only those who died in London have been mentioned individually.

Media

July 13, 2005

Insult to Injury

The New York Times's preoccupation with rich people was excellently dissected by Chris Lehmann in the Boston Phoenix a few weeks ago. Lehmann pointed out how the Times features on weddings, travel, and real estate—like this one: Greetings From SoFi, N.Y.C.—New York Times mess with its ability to write honestly about class in America. But he missed out on how the money preoccupation sends the Times entirely off the deep end, rationality-wise.