March 2010
30 posts
Kathryn Bigelow's Speech: Ready, GO
What’d we think? Gracious and very bashful? Overly attributive to men in uniform? Or not attributive enough? (It did remind me a smidge of Demi Moore circa A Few Good Men. “Because they stand upon a wall and say, ‘Nothing’s going to hurt you tonight. Not on my watch.’”)
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Re: SBC
Yeah, I know SBC was the original top pick—though I can see why the Academy passed. As a viewer and general SBC fan, even I would’ve been on the edge of my seat, nervously waiting for the gratuitous nudity. (Also, since Bruno bombed, I feel like there’s not the popular love for him that there once was). Still, you’re so right: the format of the Oscars ceremony is so...
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SBC
Sarah - you know the producers originally wanted Sasha Baron Cohen? Who would've made the best host, Borat, Bruno, or Ali G.? Yes, Ben was the funniest part of the show, (and blue is a good look for him) but I wonder if the format would manage to make even him seem stiff and flat after three hours.
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Hurt Locker
Ramin- I agree, Avatar was the popular choice, and the movie most people actually saw. And certainly more of a feel-good movie in line with last year's winner, Slumdog Millionaire. But Hurt Locker fits with past winners of the decade like The Departed, Crash, Million Dollar Baby, No Country for Old Men... I don't know how any of these did at the box office (I think The Departed made money; not sure about the rest) but it seems commercial success has traditionally worked against a film's chances. Anyway, I liked that Bigelow seemed genuinely surprised, possibly even in shock, in a ceremony where so much else felt rehearsed...
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My stream-of-consciousness Oscar timeline...
(Peyser is NEWSWEEK’s culture editor).
Weird the way they make them all come out and stand on stage. They look miserable. I feel like I’m watching the Miss America Pageant and they’re going to break into a cheesy production number.
Gabby rules!
NPH—Ah, the production number. This song is horrendous, and NPH, who I know can sing, is singing in the key of horrendous.
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Oscars
This was supposed to be the year the Oscars turned mainstream. 10 nominees—so movies like The Blind Side, District 9 and Up made the final cut. Two hosts, Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin. Lots of eye candy from younger presenters: Ryan Reynolds, Bradley Cooper, Zac Efron, Miley Cyrus, those Twilight kids (presenting a montage on horror films, huh?). But in the end, Academy voters pushed back...
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Roundtable: "Relative advantages" →
This is non-sense: “The NE is doing what all competitive organizations do: it’s exploiting its relative advantages.” The Enquirer and the Times are not “competitive organizations” when it comes to public affairs reporting. Their aims are different (titillation versus service), and they don’t…
As the media gurus like to say, every media organization is competing with every other...
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"Relative advantages"
This is non-sense: “The NE is doing what all competitive organizations do: it’s exploiting its relative advantages.” The Enquirer and the Times are not “competitive organizations” when it comes to public affairs reporting. Their aims are different (titillation versus service), and they don’t shared the same fundamental practices (paying sources versus not).
Also: can...
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Roundtable: The Pay Issue →
Bennett et al: I’m not judging the Enquirer as somehow shady for paying its sources. The Economist Intelligencer Unit, Ergo and other companies that publish expensive business news also pay their sources. It’s a great way to get information, of course, and a totally legit practice in most…
Hold on there. About your last line: But since (presumably) none of the other outlets had the same...
"2009 Journalism jurors in action"
That’s an actual headline from www.pulitzer.org, which you’ll understand as ironic if you click on the link below.
If The Enquirer does make it to the final cut, this is how the final decision will be made. I’m guessing that a few Enquirer stories thrown in the mix would liven things up a bit. But in the meantime, forget sleeping pills and just fire up this slideshow on your...
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The Pay Issue
Bennett et al: I’m not judging the Enquirer as somehow shady for paying its sources. The Economist Intelligencer Unit, Ergo and other companies that publish expensive business news also pay their sources. It’s a great way to get information, of course, and a totally legit practice in most industries — but not in journalism. If all media outlets did it, I’d have no beef with...
I Feel Pretty
Whatever happens, we all owe The Enquirer a debt of gratitude for stopping this guy in time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kCAFkfFLQQ
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Poll: Should the Enquirer Have Been Accepted by... →
The Medias Speak: From an unscientific poll currently running on the blog Fishbowl DC.
Respondents currently favor the Enquirer’s inclusion (“Hell Yeah! Fair and Square”) 92 percent to 8 percent (those responding “No Way! What a Joke”)
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Print v. Print
The Pulitzer Committee has already ruled on the newspaper/magazine issue.
The NE is in the running in the categories “Investigative Reporting” and “National News Reporting.”
The NE’s reporting on Edwards began in 2007 and continued well into 2009, with the stories getting increasingly substantial and newsworthy.
What’s left is the issue of how significant...
To Tuttle’s point about the Enquirer often leading the pack on the O.J. Simpson story: here’s a fairly remarkable story by David Margolick (who now writes for Newsweek) in the New York Times acknowledging just that.
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Uhmmm...hello?
Clearly, The Enquirer is eligible for the prize. I read it myself in The National Enquirer.
And I’m pretty sure that photo of Edwards is not doctored.
http://www.nationalenquirer.com/national_enquirer_accepted_pulitzer_prize_competition/celebrity/68188
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They Paid, Yes. But They Got the Story!
Paying for sources is shady. It’s tabloidy. It’s not good journalistic practice. But the fact of the matter is: Newsweek didn’t get the Edwards story, the Times didn’t get the Edwards story, the tabloid trash got the story—and whether or not they paid for it, it all turned out to be effing true. So, make it clear that you’ve paid for your sources, for sure, and...
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One point I’m not clear on is whether the Enquirer is entirely eligible for the prize — there are questions about whether the tabloid is technically a magazine or a newspaper, and whether reporting that was done in 2007 and 2008 is eligible for a 2009 contest.
Leaving that aside, though, there’s a part of me that really hopes the Enquirer gets the Pulitzer — or at least a...
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Call me a sticker....
But what about the fact that the Enquirer is a magazine? And the fact that much of their coverage was in 2008? I think that there’s merits to the fact that they spent serious money — not on sources, but on sending a reporter to do lots of on-the-ground-reporting — in a time when most people are reporting from their laptops. And I think a lot of people are happy to stick it to the...
In What Category Steve?
We keep talking about “the Pulitzer,” but journalism awards come in categories: public service work, breaking news, investigative, national reporting. None of these fits the Edwards story, which broke in July 2008 — six months after he had quit the presidential race, and ceased to be a public citizen. A juicy read, yes, but where’s the journalistic value — at least as...
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Shine On, You Crazy Tabloid
The only criterion for winning a Pulitzer is whether the nominee represents a “distinguished” example of journalism in its field (international, investigative, etc.) in a “newspaper” (the initial disqualifier for the NE). But “distinguished” is pretty subjective, and has in the past allowed for both coverage of sex scandals and “checkbook journalism”...
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Hell Yes
The Enquirer should definitely be allowed to win the Pulitzer Prize. If Hitler is, indeed, still alive, and living in Argentina, and their reporting proves it, why shouldn’t they be honored?
Or was it for the one about Elvis meeting with Martians? Or Bat Boy getting married? Maybe I’m thinking about Weekly World News…which gets me to my point: the truth is, all media is sort of blurring...
No chance
There are lots of frail, high-minded reasons why the Enquirer shouldn’t get the nod, but there’s one I can’t get over: they pay their sources!
Does the National Enquirer Deserve the Pulitzer?
News has been circulating all week that John Edwards is about to be indicted for using campaign funds to help support and hide his affair with Rielle Edwards. That the National Enquirer first broke the news earlier this week hasn’t stopped other sources from picking up the trail — after all, it was the Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid, that first broke the story of Edward’s...
February 2010
30 posts
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And do we even know if he has a sex addiction?
He never said that right? And yes, I’m making myself sick with my defense of Tiger but I just think that in his place, I would do exactly the same thing. Run away, try to fix myself, admit it and then run away for more fixing. That to me speaks to a genuine desire to change or again, maybe I’m a chump.
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I once took to bed for a week after an apology
newsweekroundtable:
I think he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for admitting that “I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply.” … when was the last time a public figure actually took complete credit for his own failure. And yes, it does sound very 12 step-like but that’s why the 12-steps work … if he doesn’t acknowledge publicly what he did and why it’s wrong, he cannot recover if indeed...
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What We Tweet About When We Tweet About Tiger...
Bzcohen: Following Tiger's presser on Twitter is so much better than watching it live.
Lesleyabravanel: I want my 14 minutes back. #TigerWoods seems even sleazier than ever now. I need a shower.
Bhammerling: Who is giving Tiger Woods media advice? Whole thing awkward: actual statement, location, outfit choice. Bad agents.
Wired: I liked when Tiger got badass and was like "Leave my family alone! Rawr." The rest was boring.
Kimroc1: When is the media going to require that Charlie Sheen come on and give a statement??? Lmaooooooo
Dmtshooter: My blog readers and Twitter followers, I ask you to find room in your heart to believe in me again. Now go click on my site's ads.
JRC_ : Tiger Woods -- contrite, sometimes angry and seemingly 3 feet shorter -- offers TMI.
Emercait23: The BBC had a programme called One Foot In The Grave. It's catchphrase "I don't believe it!" applies to #TigersSpeech.
Mariacoppola: PR perspective: he was sincere, and he set it up for the sequel and the anticipation of "When is he coming back to the tour?"
Cabeckham: He didn't kill anyone, rob anyone, & was never elected into the position. He owed us nothing but gave us alot.
_VNL: That ineloquent, scripted performance was nothing more than a career-saving tactic.
Kingsthings: Good speech to nation by Tiger. Official rebuttal should come from Congress - all the women he had congress with!
Public_Takeover: Anybody who wants to survey thoughts on what Tiger Woods says has their head in the toilet. Publish survey of Afghanis on U.S.
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“This morning, a famous person held a press conference, in which he talked about...”
– Choire Sicha (via langer) (via soupsoup)
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Money or Mommy?
The one thing that really affected me more than anything in this whole apology is the image of his mother, barely keeping it together, sitting in the front row. Her face expressed the most damning parental emotion ever — not mad, just disappointed. And how. She was pressed lipped, teary eyed. She couldn’t look at him directly. When Tiger talked about Buddhism, he made sure to mention...
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Sponsers Care Less About Values When You're...
…but Tiger may not be returning to the green for a while. Nike will have a lot more forgiveness in their hearts once Tiger starts tearing up the golf course. Rick Reilly was making a big deal of Tiger’s statement that he’s not ready to come back to golf, but what I heard in Tiger’s apology is that he’s not sure when he’ll come back — but it could be this...
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How much money does he need?
Seriously, if this is about money, I can’t imagine he needs much more to live on. Even without Nike and Gatorade and all the other sponsors, he’ll still make plenty of money on the golf course. Isn’t that a sport where even the guy that comes in last place gets 5 figures?
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Putting it On the Table
I do think Tiger deserves credit for actually saying what he did wrong, and for using direct language rather than coy euphemisms and allusions. I think as apologies go, this one was pretty good — especially considering that Tiger is intensely private and kind of a snobby robot. So he’s not going to openly weep (the sniffle right at the end of the speech is actually making me kind of...
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When have sponsors ever really cared about values?
Let’s be honest … Tiger put Nike Golf on the map … if he said; “I did it and I’ll do it again.” … Nike would continue to support him. He’s one of the best golfers in the world and if he stays a philandering jerk for the rest of his life, he’ll still remain a draw on the golf circuit.
I once took to bed for a week after an apology
I think he deserves a Nobel Peace Prize for admitting that “I convinced myself that normal rules didn’t apply.” … when was the last time a public figure actually took complete credit for his own failure. And yes, it does sound very 12 step-like but that’s why the 12-steps work … if he doesn’t acknowledge publicly what he did and why it’s wrong, he...
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A Strong Distrust of Sex Addiction
Two of the guests on CNN have so far expressed a suspscion both of sex addiction. Golf legend Nick Faldo says he can’t imagine Tiger Woods taking instructions from “a man in a white coat,” while the long-haired feller with Tony Harris said that he didn’t believe in sex addiction, and that Tiger’s time spent discussing his therapy seemed like a dodge — the...
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Why are we so cynical?
newsweekroundtable:
Yeah, I’m a naive chump who believes people when they apologize but I think it was brave for him to do this press conference. I can’t imagine it’s easy to apologize for cheating on your wife in front of a national audience.
True. But it’s probably easier when the alternative is losing millions of dollars.
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Why are we so cynical?
Yeah, I’m a naive chump who believes people when they apologize but I think it was brave for him to do this press conference. I can’t imagine it’s easy to apologize for cheating on your wife in front of a national audience.
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Tiger's Core Beliefs
I couldn’t tell if it was Tiger just getting over scripted-apology nerves or if it was more indicative of his mental state, but he definitely radiated more emotion when going after the paps then when defending his wife from domestic violence charges.The dead-eyed “Ellin deserves praise, not blame,” didn’t quite sell it, even though I agree with him.
He’s addressing...
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The Big Questions
newsweekroundtable:
Was Tiger sincere?
Can people really change?
Can a marriage survive the infidelity and dishonesty that the Woods marriage did?
Is it fair to ask the media to back off his family, or is that a privileged celebs earn by not being cheating jerks?
Is “I ask you to find room in your heart to believe in me again?” the cheesiest closing line ever?
Personally, I think that only...
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A PR Disaster!
Calling it a “cheap Saturday Night Live set” a former Yankees PR director calls it a PR disaster on CNN Newsroom. He says dissing the media during a press conference is a really bad move. But I think that journalists are a self loathing bunch, or at least can be, and everyone is a little chagrined about the Tiger Hunting overload that the press engaged in after the car crash. Turning...
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The Big Questions
Was Tiger sincere?
Can people really change?
Can a marriage survive the infidelity and dishonesty that the Woods marriage did?
Is it fair to ask the media to back off his family, or is that a privileged celebs earn by not being cheating jerks?
Is “I ask you to find room in your heart to believe in me again?” the cheesiest closing line ever?