The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Experience Matters: Old Man Schieffer Puts Young Punk Pfeiffer in His Place

“It looks like they’ve lost Bob Schieffer,” says John Hoge, which might be a slight exaggeration. Schieffer is a liberal, but he’s also a veteran Washington journalist who has seen enough scandals to know what a scandal looks like, and he was having none of the Jedi mind trick — “These are not the scandals […]

Still No Confirmation of ‘Sleeper Cell’ Connection in Boston Marathon Bombing

On April 21, Chris Bucktin and Andy Lines wrote a story at the British Mirror tabloid about the Boston bombing investigation: Boston bombers: FBI hunting 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev The FBI was last night hunting a 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to the Boston marathon bomb brothers. . […]

The Blair-Glass ‘Sleeper Cell’ — British Tabloid Fabricates a Phony Scoop

Here’s a quote from the New York Times, about Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s trip to Russia last year: Kevin Brock, a former senior FBI and counterterrorism official, said, “It’s a key thread for investigators and the intelligence community to pull on.” On the top of Memeorandum last night was this headline from the British tabloid, the Mirror: […]

BREAKING: Cable TV News Airheads Screwed Up a Major Story, Again

So, I was working on this story: Chinese Student Lu Lingzi, 23, Identified as Third Victim Killed by Boston Marathon Bombing When a certain blonde woman on cable TV news began informing me (and you and a lot of other people) that a suspect in the Boston marathon bombing had been identified from video. And […]

Terrorism, Journalism and Other Crimes of ‘Workplace-Related Violence’

Still scrambling today to keep up with the latest developments in the Boston Marathon bombings. Last night I got to bed about 1 a.m., woke up about 8:15 a.m. and had my first story at ViralRead online shortly after 9 a.m., updating with the FBI press conference and new leads: UPDATE: ‘We Will Go to […]

When You Report Breaking News, Be Like Joe Friday: ‘Just the Facts, Ma’am’

#BOSTON UPDATE – WITNESS: ‘SOMEBODY’S LEG FLEW BY MY HEAD’ viralread.com/2013/04/15/bre…via @viralread — Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) April 15, 2013 People doing live breaking news on TV have to fill hours and hours of air time. We understand this. But do they understand this? Dear TV People: Do not emote. Do not tell us how to feel. […]

A Great First Sentence

One basic thing you learn as a journalist is that, once you’ve got the lead right, the rest of the story almost writes itself: If the news media hadn’t told you how brilliant Barack Obama was every day for  the last six years, you might have your doubts. Read the whole thing.

Harassment Is Not Journalism

Bill Schmalfeldt of Elk Ridge, Maryland, a.k.a. “Liberal Grouch” “If you’re so concerned about your safety, don’t come to Maryland.” — Jim Brewer, Howard County (Md.) Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Schmalfeldt has directed 20+ unsolicited hostile Tweets at me in past 2 hours; he’s now objecting to being called “cyberstalker.” — Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) […]

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