This is how my professor for "Economics of the Great Depression" started our first class yesterday:

Labels: Economics, Media, Movies

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:42 PM | Permalink | |

I got quoted in the article about the event from which I was liveblogging. They didn't reallyask me about blogging, and the quote is disappointingly generic, but it's still print!
Excerpt:

Senior Ryan Silberstein said he feels an event like this provides good background for those getting involved in politics. He said the timing of the event was appropriate, as political interest is at a high point during "Super Tuesday."

"I think there is real value in doing it tonight, especially as more states have their primaries," Silberstien said.

He said he believes students at the university are like other college students across the country who get politically active before a campaign. He said the apathetic feeling is cyclical and an event like Super Tuesday only helps people get more involved in politics.

"This might be a sight of change. Maybe things will move in a more politically active direction," he said.

I actually said "sign of change" in that last line there. Whenever I'm quoting people from a tape, I usually give them the benefit of sounding natural. Sigh.

Labels: JttR in Print, Media

Posted by Ryan S. at 5:00 PM | Permalink | |

Katie Couric recently decided to share her thoughts on the conflict in Iraq:

“Everyone in this room would agree that people in this country were misled in terms of the rationale of this war,” said Couric, adding that it is “pretty much accepted” that the war in Iraq was a mistake.

“I’ve never understood why [invading Iraq] was so high on the administration’s agenda when terrorism was going on in Afghanistan and Pakistan and that [Iraq] had no true connection with al Qaeda.”

Now if she truly felt this way during the buildup to war in Iraq, that we were being misled, isn't it her duty as a member of the press to investigate and vet the arguments of the administration?

If so, Katie Couric failed in her duty.

Thomas Ricks states in his book, Fiasco (review), that the media essentially rolled over for the Administration rather than truly acting in the role it claims to play in our democracy.

Ironically, Couric alludes to her failure as a journalist in the same speech:

And I remember feeling, when I was anchoring the ‘Today’ show, this inevitable march towards war and kind of feeling like, ‘Will anybody put the brakes on this?’ And is this really being properly challenged by the right people? And I think, at the time, anyone who questioned the administration was considered unpatriotic and it was a very difficult position to be in.

So much for "courage."

Labels: Iraq, Media

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:35 PM | Permalink | |

Fmr. Gov. Mike Huckabee is my hero this week, as he is doing a stellar job campaigning recently, as the WaPo points out:

But hip is precisely what Huckabee has become in the weeks since he placed second in the Iowa Straw Poll on Aug. 11. Indeed, since walking into the media filing room that night and being swarmed by the media as if he were -- these are his words -- "Britney Spears being released from prison," Huckabee has been seen as the cuddly antidote to what has been an awfully tough-talking Republican field. He's the affable, compassionate, good guy and rock-and-roll evangelical who plays guitar and wants to hang with the Rolling Stones.

It's hard to think of a candidate in recent political history who felt such a bounce and media hug after a second-place finish in a nonbinding contest where three of the top-tier candidates or almost-candidates -- John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Fred Thompson -- didn't bother to show. But man, is he working it.

I like Mike a lot.

My hacks this week are the newspapers (including the Washington Post) that declined to run this week's "Opus" cartoon. According to FoxNews, "editors from The Washington Post declined to comment on why they made the decision to pull the two comic strips." Also:

Sources told FOXNews.com that the strips were shown to Muslim staffers at The Washington Post to gauge their reaction, and they responded "emotionally" to the depiction of a woman dressed in traditional Muslim garb and espousing conservative Islamic views.

And now, the strip the Washington Post doesn't want you to see (click to enlarge):
Part 2 of the strip will run Sunday, except in the Washington Post.

Labels: 2008 Watch, Hero/Hack, Huckabee, Media

Posted by Ryan S. at 12:59 PM | Permalink | |