Newsgroup: spinewatch
Spinewatch is a newsgroup and link bank for campaign 2008 stories of a certain narrowly-defined type. Here, we keep track of reporting from the mainstream media where the press can be seen going further than it has traditionally been willing to go in describing untruths, calling out lies, and reporting clearly on statements at odds with well established facts. Even at the risk of saying that one side is worse than the other or one candidate is actually lying.
We also keep track of how journalists and news organizations stand up to attempted intimidation, extreme brow beating and the rejection of normal patterns in press inquiry.
√ A good spinewatch story is often marked by the absence of qualification, a boldness in categorization ("out of bounds!") and a refusal to artificially balance the account when the facts themselves point one way.
√ Also relevant are blog posts and pointed works of commentary that observe upon this issue of the press calling out lies, and reporting clearly on campaign statements at odds with reality. Or failing to do that very thing.
√ A critical part of spinewatch is holding up good work and highlighting moments of clarity.
√ Apart from this newsgroup at publish2.com, spinewatch is a meme (or proliferating theme) on the web, owned by anyone who uses it with clear intention.
√ On Twitter, people contribute to spinewatch using the hashtag system, inserting #spinewatch into their Tweets (posts) when there is clear evidence of "spine" being shown, or being needed and not showing up.
√ On other social media systems--YouTube, summize.com, technorati, del.icio.us--simple use of the spinewatch tag accomplishes the same thing.
For more background see this Q and A with Jay Rosen and Ryan Sholin.
Viewing All Links
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- Howard Weaver of Independent linked this on October 8, 2009 at 5:56PM EDT
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Howard said:
There are claims that the ravens were decreed to be kept by King Charles II to prevent disaster, or that they had been placed near the Tower in order to dramatize execution proceedings. These days they're kept around for tourists, and they are fed well (for ravens) on a diet consisting of raw meat, bird formula biscuits soaked in blood, whole rabbit, eggs once a week, and occasional pieces of fried bread.
Quote: raw meat, bird formula biscuits soaked in blood, whole rabbit, eggs once a week, and occasional pieces of fried bread.
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- Scott Karp of Publish2, Inc. linked this on February 10, 2009 at 2:37PM EST
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Scott said:
Fence is finally up, now how about that whole tech piece?
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- Tammi Marcoullier of Indpendent linked this on October 16, 2008 at 3:04PM EDT
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Tammi said:
The Toledo Blade did some nice digging on the debate topic du jour. Apparently the real-life Joe the Plumber is not a "real," or licensed, plumber according to Union officials.
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- Jeremy Jacquot of Freelance linked this on October 2, 2008 at 4:03PM EDT
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Jeremy said:
Another claim to foreign policy by Sarah Palin summarily shot down by AP's crack investigative reporting.
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- Jeremy Jacquot of Freelance linked this on September 29, 2008 at 2:22AM EDT
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Jeremy said:
Another strong investigative offering from the AP. Here's the lede:
"Though Sarah Palin depicts herself as a pit bull fighting good-old-boy politics, in her years as mayor she and her friends received special benefits more typical of small-town politics as usual, an Associated Press investigation shows."
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- Tammi Marcoullier of Indpendent linked this on September 26, 2008 at 2:54PM EDT
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Tammi said:
A smart opinion piece from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on why the government should not bail out big business. J. Boyd Page writes, "There is no transparency to the bailout plan."
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- Jeremy Jacquot of Freelance linked this on September 26, 2008 at 12:05AM EDT
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Jeremy said:
The AP has been on a roll of late with its hard-hitting stories debunking the McCain campaign's lies. Here's the latest one fact-checking the campaign's claim to have "suspended" its entire campaign:
"The campaign sought to pull television ads off the air, but halting ads isn't like turning off a light switch because of the many broadcast stations must be contacted through middlemen. But Schmidt, speaking to reporters Thursday evening, said: "All of our television advertising at this hour is down.""
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- Jeremy Jacquot of Freelance linked this on September 26, 2008 at 12:03AM EDT
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Jeremy said:
How's about this for a strong lede:
"Sarah Palin felt so strongly about the public corruption indictment of a Republican state senator this summer that she urged him to resign — but not strongly enough to return the $1,000 he gave to help elect her governor."
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- Josh Korr of Publish2 linked this on September 24, 2008 at 12:30PM EDT
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Josh said:
CNN's Campbell Brown calls out the McCain campaign for "treating Sarah Palin like she is a delicate flower that will wilt at any moment" if the press starts asking her questions.
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- The Media Revolts Against the McCain Campaign's Efforts to Silence it: Link Galore Part 2
- www.cjr.org
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- Jeremy Jacquot of Freelance linked this on September 24, 2008 at 1:51AM EDT
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Jeremy said:
CNN (http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2008/09/23/media-presses-mccain-campaign-for-access-to-palin-meeting/) and the AP (http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5ijGq94pVTj9FGiR-c5EdA3iSm2owD93CHQP82) reported on the campaign's efforts today to keep the press out of Palin's meetings in NYC, forcing it to back down somewhat -- especially after CNN threatened to cut its coverage for lack of access.
Was this all, as Jack Shafer argued in Slate (http://www.slate.com/id/2200715/), much ado about nothing -- an overreaction by the press? Not quite -- as Joe Klein put it in a post on TIME's Swampland blog, responding to Schmidt's accusations by saying: "Sorry, Steve. Not buying." His goal, Klein says, is to muddle the media' message and cow the press into relenting by focusing less on "real" issues and more on those which favor McCain.
TPM's David Kurtz provides another nice roundup of the CNN brouhaha: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/219033.php.
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