It looks like they ought to just shut Scotland Yard down and start over from scratch. The Metropolitan Police is using the UK’s Official Secrets Act, which is normally used for spying cases, to ask the courts to order The Guardian to reveal its sources on the Milly Dowler story. It’s a jaw-dropping abuse by
Reporting on Solyndra
Much of the press coverage of the Solyndra bankruptcy has been poor on some basic concepts at the heart of the story. This is what happens when beat reporters meet stories with business, political, and science angles, and why news organizations need to team up their people across beats.* What happened with Solyndra? Presidents Bush
Witnessing Somalia
Just a quick note: Jeffrey Gettleman’s New York Times article from yesterday on famine in Somalia merits an appreciation. It’s unbelievably grim, but really well-explained, and most importantly, written not to be “worthy” but to be compelling—i.e., it’s devastating without being dreary. Honestly, I had it open on my screen for a few hours, because
Eight Simple Rules for Doing Accurate Journalism
It’s a cliché to say clichés exist for a reason. As journalists, we’re supposed to avoid them like the, um, plague. But it’s useful to have a catchy phrase that can stick in someone’s mind, particularly if you’re trying to spread knowledge or change behaviour. This week I began cataloguing some of my own sayings
Fletch (1985)
Irwin Fletcher, Fletch to his friends, is an investigative reporter for a Los Angeles newspaper. He writes his columns under the name ‘Jane Doe’ and prefers to work undercover. The tagline for the 1985 comedy Fletch, starring Chevy Chase in the title role, sums up his approach nicely: “Meet the only guy who changes his
