Slate Articles

Print vs. Online

Jack Shafer — Fri, 19 Aug 2011 21:47:00 GMT

A little over five years ago, I announced that I was canceling my subscription to the New York Times. My cancellation wasn't in protest of Times coverage of the Middle East, ethnic minorities, religion, sex, or any of the other thousand hot-button issues that cause readers to kill their subscriptions. I was getting rid of my newsprint New York Times because the dandy redesign of NYTimes.com had made it a superior vessel for conveying the news.

An Assignment for the Wall Street Journal Editorial Page

Jack Shafer — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 21:04:00 GMT

Unless you're an ombudsman, it's dang difficult to write about the publication or the company that employs you. First, you've got to worry about getting fired if you write too critically about your boss—or about the suits upstairs who issue your paycheck. Then you've got to worry that your bosses are making you part of a coverup scheme by lying to you about whatever internal controversy you've been assigned to cover. Next come your critics. Some will say you're going too soft on your bosses and are a shame to the profession. Others will dismiss your hard-hitting work with a shrug, saying that the only reason you're putting any sort of an edge on your pieces is to maintain your credibility at a shamed institution.

Wolf Blitzer, Null Set

Jack Shafer — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 20:11:00 GMT

Could Wolf Blitzer be any duller than when he anchors The Situation Room for CNN?

Murdoch's Metastasizing Migraine

Jack Shafer — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 22:44:00 GMT

How will Rupert Murdoch's minions—including his son James—wriggle out of this one?

Bloggers, Not Parasites

Jack Shafer — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 22:20:00 GMT

The next time you catch a full-of-himself newspaper journalist bitching about bloggers ripping him off or a publisher bellyaching about his intellectual-property rights being violated by pajamaed parasites, wave a printout of this column in his face and knee him in the groin.

Tina Brown, Cover Girl

Jack Shafer — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 22:12:00 GMT

When you heave a turd into your punch bowl, you do so fully expecting your guests to gag and spew upon first sip. Newsweek Editor in Chief Tina Brown, punch bowl-spiker extraordinaire, got just the response she was looking for this week by picking a cover shot in which presidential aspirant Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., lit up her brightest Charlie Manson eyes.

Murdoch's Enemies

Jack Shafer — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 22:32:00 GMT

During Tuesday's parliamentary hearing, News Corp. CEO and Chairman Rupert Murdoch rope-a-doped his way through dozens of questions about the phone-hacking scandal. Questions he couldn't rope-a-dope, he deflected to his corner man, son James.

Who Framed the Murdochs?

Jack Shafer — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 22:12:00 GMT

In five hours of hearings before a parliamentary committee today, witnesses Rupert Murdoch, James Murdoch, and Rebekah Brooks attempted to convince the world that they have been framed by their former News of the World employees.

Release the Lachlan!

Jack Shafer — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 20:55:00 GMT

Don't feel bad for Rupert Murdoch. He's having a splendid time with the phone-hacking scandal. Oh, he had to jettison his best friend Rebekah Brooks today after having declared just five days ago that the News International chief executive was his top priority. The press read that as a message of Murdoch's support when they should have seen it for what it was: He was gauging how best to sacrifice Brooks to satisfy the mobs threatening his beloved News Corp.

The Huffington Post Challenge

Jack Shafer — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 22:26:00 GMT

I won't defend the Huffington Post's appropriation of Simon Dumenco's story this week from Ad Age or any of the smash-and-grab annexations the aggregation giant stands accused of, such as its heavy lifting of copy from the Chicago Reader, the Daily Mail, and elsewhere.