Pressroom Buzz’s regular roundup of recent media news and commentary from all over.
Unmasking a hoaxer: Don Walker‘s item in the Journal Sentinel about a serial hoaxer posing as a "yo-yo champion" once again exposes how shallow and amateurish some media can be. Especially alarming is the comment at the paper’s website — ostensibly from a TV show booker — who asserts "how easily this could happen":
"You don’t even have to get fake letterhead like in the old days, you just send an email with a catchy header and a cell phone number and some producer, desperate for a guest, will book you as an ‘expert.’ "
Jim Hopkins’ Gannett blog reports on an embarrassing goof involving the report of a death by Gannett’s paper in Wausau. ALSO: Hopkins’ blog has a lively discussion about the decision by six Gannett New Jersey papers to cover New Jersey Devils hockey games using stories written by a team employee.
The other Times Square Muslim: A liberal website points out that though the Muslim identity of the alleged Times Square attempted bomber has been a talking point for conservative commentators, the media appear to not have paid much attention to the fact that the guy who first reported the suspicious vehicle to authorities is also Muslim.
Divided loyalties: The Washington Post follows up on a kerfuffle that arose when the Washington Redskins favored its TV broadcasting partner with a story — even though a rival station had the story first.
If you blog for commerce, the Federal Trade Commission is watching, Ad Age reports.
Bedtime reading: No, we haven’t read it yet, but it’s on our list: The Spring 2010 issue of Daedalus, from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, is all about the future of news.
Update: And one more thing: Ad Age has its take on last week’s announcement Newsweek is for sale, and noted how other big media brands, TV Guide and Business Week, were humbled by their fetching price (a whole dollar for TV Guide). The conventional wisdom on Newsweek is that it went astray by focusing more on opinion and less on news. From what we’ve seen of it, that’s a valid concern — but it does give short shrift to some interesting reporting that continues to come out of the newsweekly. Here’s hoping it survives, but we’re not holding our breath.
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