As It Happened: CNN and FOX Blunder on Obamacare Decision

This is an amazing piece which sets out how CNN and FOX got the Supreme Court's decision on the US President's healthcare bill embarrassingly wrong.

As a result their reporting ricocheted around social media, muddying the waters at best, telling people the wrong thing, messing with the stock markets and even misleading the US President.

It's compelling and entertaining to read the blow by blow description with time stamps and quotes. Tom Goldstein from Scotusblog - a well respected blog analysing the US Supreme Court and its decisions - says he did first hand interviews to try and figure out how two networks made such a huge mistake. 

For those who are students of media theory - there's a nice little Jean Baudrillard 'hyper-reality' moment when Fox uses CNN to confirm it's reports, and vica-versa.

Whether you agree with the blog's conclusions or not, it's a very solid insight into how US media operate on big stories. It's also a reminder of how crucial an initial reporting premise is, and how it can make or break you. Speed vs accuracy?

I took one thing away - when you're reading something, make sure you turn the page to see what's written on the other side!

Could Sourcing be the Answer to Britain's Journalism Woes?

As News International's ex-executives and editors are arrested and charged left, right and centre, the Leveson Inquiry continues to drill into why Britian's journalism culture has led it to a plethora of phone hacking and police corruption all in the interests of a front page.


Apart from those in power being in the pockets of journalists, police and vice-versa -- could anonymous sourcing be, well,the source of the issue?

This bit by Charlie Brooker's Newswipe explains it all.

If British Journalists had to TELL people where they got information from unless it was absolutely imperative they hide their source (Watergate style)...Then could we see the end of naughty journos and their even naughtier police officer and politician buddies?

Watch the video and see for yourself, but methinks Leveson needs a new inquiry with sourcing at its core...

Addendum: This has really got me thinking about journalism in Australia and I think we suffer from something similar.. the number of times I had to pick apart a story in the newspapers while I was working at the ABC, only to find that apart from not being clear on who the original source was, the details were wrong, or misrepresented and blown out of proportion. It always left me wondering whose bidding we were all doing...

TNR: Obama and the Legacy of Gay Marriage

This is a solid opinion piece by Jonathan Rauch in The New Republic. He argues US President Barack Obama's enduring legacy might not be health reforms, but his movement on gay rights in America.

Everything You Wanted To Know About Your Food

Is it a carbohydrate? How much Vitamin A? If you're trying to get healthier and want to know more about your food -- look it up on the United States National Agriculture Library. It was certainly more than I wanted to know about potatoes and rice...

The Art Of Compromise

This is a good if dense review of a two new books on compromise, or the lack of it, zoning in on US politics. The books are called 'On Compromise and Rotten Compromises' by Avishai Margalit and The Spirit of Compromise: 'Why Governing Demands It and Campaigning Undermines It' by Amy Gutmann and Dennis Thompson. Both books explore the idea of compromise, when it is a good thing, and when they should never be made (Margalit more so).

There's more to it than that - have a read of the review in The New Republic, written by Paul Starr, a professor at Princeton University - publishers of both books.

Important ideas at a time when US politics has struggled to find middle ground.

My Breast Fell Off, Can You Reattach It?

This is a fascinating article to read. It's in The Atlanta Magazine and is mostly an excerpt of Dr Otis Brawley's new book "How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks About Being Sick in America" (by Otis Webb Brawley M.D., with Paul Goldberg).

But I'm glad it is a lengthy excerpt. Dr Brawley a leading oncology expert and offers a revealing insight into the American medical system and an indictment of it as well. It explains so much of what we've wondered about US healthcare. It also offers an insight into the real meaning of race too. Worth a read.