Look Ma! We're on the 'net!

Knew it had to break eventually. And now apparently CNN is casting commentators. Good times... See y'all at 1:45 tomorrow!

Ivy J-Schoolers Fail Ethics, Ace Irony

Cheating on an ethics exam? It sounds like the setup for a joke. But
a group of grad students at Columbia's journalism school are
suspected of having done just that, according to a source at the
institution.

Tomorrow, the entire student body is required to attend a special
session of "Critical Issues in Journalism," an ethics course taught
by New York Times columnist Samuel Freedman. In an e-mail announcing
the meeting last week, vice dean David Klatell stated only that
there had been a "serious problem" with the final exam. Failure to
attend the session, Klatell warned, would result in a failing grade
for the course.

Neither Klatell nor Freedman responded immediately to calls for
comment, but students believe the purpose of the meeting is to
exhort suspected cheaters to step forward. "It's an 'Out yourself
or you'll all have to suffer' situation," says the source.

"Critical Issues," an all-school seminar, focuses on dilemmas facing
journalists in the post-Judith Miller and Jayson Blair era. The
class includes topics such as "Why be Ethical?" and "Tribal Loyalty
vs. Journalistic Obligation." The final exam consists of two essay
questions to be completed in 90 minutes. Since the test can be
taken at any time during a 36-hour period, students are instructed
not to discuss the exam questions with each other.

In this case, it seems a few of the aspiring Woodwards and
Bernsteins were a little too adept at working their sources. No
word on how the school's administration got wind of the cheating.

If the disgruntled posts on RateMyProfessors.com are any indication,
Freedman's students haven't exactly been soaking up his sermons.

"Maybe he could e-mail his 'speeches' to the students instead of
making everyone suffer through the most wasted class in j-school
(collective punishment?). His ethical Fridays were a pompous
exercise in self-adulation. He seldom talks about the readings and
a typical speech always begins, 'In (fill in year here).'"

By Jeff Bercovici 11/30/06 3:07 PM

And in today's totally-unrelated-to-journalism amusements...

Maybe there's a lesson to be learned about the power of editing to convey many different stories from the same material? Or maybe... just maybe!... we can all enjoy the inherent creepiness of red Swingline staplers.

Office Space: Redux

"...because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm, I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married, but then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll set the building on fire..." - Milton

You know you love it

Afghan Warlord Takes Anderson Cooper As 43rd Wife

Panda Party

Here's a hard-hitting streaming video from CNN.com:

Panda Cam

I don't know why I find this so funny.

Newspapers vs. Google

Let the media deathmatch begin.

176 Newspapers to Form a Partnership With Yahoo

The Joys of Bladder Control

Maybe Prof. Freedman was right. Says Barbara Walters in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly, "The reason that I am so successful is that I do not sweat, and I don't have to go to the bathroom very often. That is the key to my success. Which means that I can be on the air for a very long time...I either have great kidney control or I don't drink enough water."

Larry King Admits He’s Never Used The Internet: ‘Do You Punch Little Buttons and Things?’

Proof you don't need that new media class if you want to become an obnoxious, bloviating, ignorant media superstar.

Transcript:

LARRY KING: On your blog you write, “Bush is going to declare war on China next, I swear.”

ROSEANNE BARR: I was so scared because I woke up and there was the Drudge, you know. I always read the Drudge Report and it said on there that the Chinese were like, you know, spying on our subs or doing something with our subs and I was like, “Oh no, he’s going to think that’s an act of war and then we’re going to go over there next.” I mean we’re everywhere. We’re everywhere.

KING: The Internet as a political medium viable?

BARR: Yes, it’s like the only one left, absolutely, and that’s not just me saying it. That’s everybody saying it.

KING: But there’s 80 billion things on it.

BARR: Yes, but if you know where to look, you know, it all can come together. When you’re looking for the particular information that you’re looking for after you do the big search, this is what I found out by going on there, it just takes your mind and then you live in there forever. You can never come out.

KING: I’ve never done it, never gone searching.

BARR: Oh, my God! It just opens up the whole universe. It’s so awesome. You would love it.

KING: No, I wouldn’t.

BARR: Anything you want to know.

KING: The wife loves it. I wouldn’t love it. What do you punch little buttons and things?

BARR: You just click on this thing. The thing is you got to be able to read, so you have to have strong glasses when you’ve over 50 and then you just scroll down and click. It’s not that hard. I can show you how to do it.

KING: No, thanks.

When in doubt, bake it out!

A last-day memento of our class with Ms. Judith Crist.

You Wanna Be on Top?

It's been proven again and again... journalism just doesn't make good reality TV -- or a good reality TV spoof, turns out. Judge for yourself...

America's Next Top Journalist

Former J-schooler Interview

Here's an interview with C.J. Chivers, renowned war correspondent for the New York Times. He has positive things to say about his experience as a Columbia J-schooler:

Steven Ward (reporter): Do you think an education at Columbia is important if you want to work at a newspaper? I understand that you had a choice of two big newspaper jobs following your time at Columbia—the Providence Journal in Rhode Island and a newspaper in Philadelphia. Why did you choose the Providence Journal?

C.J Chivers: Forget the debate about whether journalism schools are useful or useless. Columbia is useful. And forget the ivy. The place is a trade school, and I mean that as a compliment. Let me say I am speaking of the past—I understand Columbia has changed parts of its program, and I know little about these changes, so am not qualified to talk about the present day. But when I went there I wanted very much to learn a craft, and the Columbia j-school knew how to teach a craft. The Marines had shown me—and I still believe this—that excellence is about fundamentals. Journalism is like that, but by the time I decided to try journalism I was 29, and had little insight into the skills I would need. What records are we entitled to? How do you get them? What lines of questioning can elevate an interview, and yield the details and facts and impressions that can elevate a story? How does the First Amendment work in practice? Even little things, like where can we sit in a courtroom? When we're starting out we don't know these things. And by that time I had been a Marine Corps company commander, and I didn't like not knowing where the switches were. Columbia provided a set of answers to these questions, and many others.

Whether the j-school experience is important if you want to work at a newspaper is another question. It depends. If you've worked hard at a solid local newspaper, or are some kind of genius, then you don't need j-school. You probably already know at least half of what they teach, and you may have been smart enough to have been paid to learn it. But if you don't have journalism experience, signing up for a structured curriculum is a good play. What did it get me, short-term? When I left I had interest from the Philadelphia Inquirer and the Providence Journal. These weren't big jobs. They were internships with a small possibility of a full-time slot. I chose Providence because it was clear from the interviewing process that the editors in Rhode Island were more personally interested in their young reporters. And the fishing was better. That mattered.

Read the rest of the article here.

Oh those poor Republicans

Republicans Blame Election Losses On Democrats

Election Night Coverage: Boys Club

History was all over the screen, except on the anchor desks and panels of experts, where every news division, even CNN, seemed to have sent out an inter-office memo that said, “stag."

The gender gap on election nights doesn’t match the rest of television news: be it on cable or the networks, female reporters cover every field, including Afghanistan and Iraq.

Skywriter Trailed by Skyeditor

Thanks to the Onion.

I love the smell of twatwaffles in the morning...

Today's Gawker post about what else? Drama at Columbia -- but this time, it's drama of the soap opera kind... I hope O'Reilly gets a hold of these clips.

Columbia U. Soap Opera: Best Amateur Lesbian Porn On 116th Street

It's shocking how endlessly twatwafflish Columbia students are. Exhibit #517 is this new soap opera from Morningside Heights, creatively titled "The Gates." It's being shown on the Columbia TV station but has also helpfully been posted to YouTube so the plebians can hear such scintillating dialogue as, "This is college. You have to start trying new things," and "A man of the world! Have you thought about rushing?" In Part 2, there's also some girl-on-girl action; as an added bonus, one of the parties involved is a shy Asian engineering student who's just come from Bible study. Score!

Who knew he was such a good singer?

Watch out U2, you got some competition.

George Bush's Freudian Slip

He almost got it right.

Criminal afoot in the nabe

Fortunately, he's "bungling."
-----------------------------------------

Cops are hunting for a bungling teenage mugger preying on women in Morningside Heights and Harlem, police said.

The thug threatens his victims by telling them, "Give me your money!" and gesturing as if he has a gun - although several of his targeted victims have not taken his demands seriously, ignoring him and walking away.

"He's not very good at what he does," said one police official familiar with the spree.

The suspect, who is active in the early evening, first struck at 8 p.m. on Oct. 12 when he approached a 28-year-old woman in front of 415 W. 120th St. and demanded money. She walked away.

He next struck five minutes later in front of 425 W. 121st St., when he approached another 28-year- old, who also ignored him.

On Oct. 18, between 7:15 and 7:30 p.m., he successively approached four separate people in front of 512 W. 11th St.

A 28-year-old woman walked away, but a 43-year-old man felt threatened enough to hand over $5. A 53-year-old woman then gave the suspect $60, but when a fourth unidentified victim also walked away, he felt prompted to yell, "I'm only kidding."

He last struck Oct. 19 at 9 p.m. in front of 110 Morningside Drive, threatening a 21-year-old woman, who forked over $40.

He's described as 14 to 16 years old, with close-cropped hair, weighing about 140 pounds.