The Last Thing the NYPD Should Be Doing Is Issuing Press Passes

A longstanding tradition that empowers the NYPD to issue press passes needs to be scrapped. It’s a conflict of interest and threat to free speech, a notion that was exemplified during the raid on Liberty Plaza, when a police-instituted media blackout prevented reporters from doing their jobs. The Observer sums up this preposterous arrangement as “Kafkaesque,” but also notes that it may be an exercise in futility, since several journalists were arrested, and they had press passes.

Mayor Says Sequestering of Media Was Meant to “Protect” the Media

It’s kind of amazing how much insincere bullshit Mayor Bloomberg can spew in a given week, but his latest defense of the NYPD’s heavy handedness towards journalists, many of whom were arrested or just flat out denied access, during the dismantling of the Occupy Wall Street encampment at Liberty Plaza in the wee hours of the morning has reached dizzyingly new levels. Read more »

Media Reporting Guru Smacks Down Media Reporting Site Over His Media Reporting

Jim Romenesko is kind of like the godfather of media reporting. For years, his blog on the Poynter website has been a daily must read for journalists and news nerds alike. Read more »

Firebombed Paper Counterattacks With Gay Mohammed Kiss

After French satirical paper Charlie Hebdo put their “guest editor” Mohammed on the cover — “100 Lashes If You Don’t Die Laughing!” — their newsroom got firebombed. So, they followed up with a caricature of their editor tongue-throating a supposed Mohammed follower. Read more »

Whew: Medical Weed Not Turning Kids Into “Pot Fiends”

CBS News responsibly asks: “Does legalizing marijuana for medicinal use turn young people into pot fiends?” And then immediately answers: “New data from Rhode Island – which legalized medical marijuana in 2006 – suggest it doesn’t.” It’s too bad they didn’t bury the lede, this article could have been way more sensationalist than it already is if they dragged things out a little more.

Media Upgrades Virtual Threat Against David Letterman

As being reported everywhere, ‘Late Show’ antique David Letterman’s life could be in danger. How do they know this? Because a single commenter on a website said so. Read more »

Daily News Gets In on Bike Lane Hating

The city’s local tabloids are well aware that manufactured controversy sells, but the Daily News has been relatively moderate in their criticism of the bike lanes compared to the New York Post, until now. Read more »

Ron Paul Getting Shafted by the Media

Last night, the Daily Show brilliantly captured the overt media bias against Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul. And everyone’s guilty of it. According to the latest figures, he’s still receiving lots of support and in the much hyped, most recent, Ames Straw Poll in Iowa, he came in 2nd place, well ahead of Tim Pawlenty who was in third and has subsequently quit the race. Read more »

Unjust Charges Against LI Journalist Dropped

Long Island prosecutors upheld the most basic tenets of the First Amendment and officially dropped all charges against Phil Datz, reports the Associated Press. He’s an accredited photojournalist who was arrested by a Suffolk County Police Sergeant for the very legal practice of recording an arrest . Read more »