David Folkenflik

NPR To Drop Call-In Show 'Talk Of The Nation'

David Folkenflik — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:50:00 +0000

NPR executives announced Friday that they will stop production of Talk of the Nation this summer. The call-in program will be replaced with Here and Now, a newsmagazine that will be a co-production of Boston member station WBUR and NPR.

NPR To Discontinue 'Talk Of The Nation'

David Folkenflik — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 13:33:00 +0000

NPR announced Friday morning that it will no longer produce the Monday-to-Thursday call-in show Talk of the Nation.

It will be replaced by Here and Now, a show produced in partnership with member station WBUR in Boston.

With Headline Bus Tour, 'New York Post' Takes Manhattan

David Folkenflik — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 20:58:00 +0000

One of the joys of living in New York City is laughing at the giant screaming headlines in the New York Post. When the former secretary of state knocked back a beer on one of her trips abroad: "Swillary." When the Lance Armstrong doping scandal broke: "Drug Pedaller." And when CIA director David Petraeus admitted having an affair? "Cloak And Shag Her."

The Post's headlines tell you a lot about the way many New Yorkers view the world, and now visitors can see the city through their eyes.

News Corp. Education Tablet: For The Love Of Learning?

David Folkenflik — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 07:04:00 +0000

The educational division of the media conglomerate News Corp., called Amplify, unveiled a new digital tablet this week at the SXSW tech conference in Austin, Texas, intended to serve millions of schoolchildren and their teachers across the country.

Amplify promises the tablet will simplify administrative chores for teachers, enable shy children to participate more readily in discussions, and allow students to complete coursework at their own pace while drawing upon carefully selected online research resources.

News Corp.

Media Circus: Ah, The President's Mean

David Folkenflik — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 21:56:00 +0000

The week's developments include a pope emeritus for the first time in six centuries, federal budget cuts seemingly designed by Sweeney Todd, and the visit by one of the NBA's all-time rebounders (Dennis Rodman) to the son of one of the world's greatest sportsmen (that would be North Korean dictator Kim Jung Un, whose late father claimed to have shot five holes-in-one on his very first golf outing).

And yet somehow, legendary Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward thrust himself at the center of the news with his claim that he had been menaced by an unnamed White House official.

Media Circus: The Football Star And The Will To Believe

David Folkenflik — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 10:30:00 +0000

One of the top collegiate football players in the country, Notre Dame's Manti Te'o, was lionized by the media amid stories of his perseverance on the field after both his grandmother and his girlfriend died.

Thanks to an expose by Deadspin, the girlfriend's very existence is now believed to be a hoax, throwing the Heisman runner-up and his university on the defensive.

But the episode casts an equally unflattering light on the practices

Coverage Rapid, And Often Wrong, In Tragedy's Early Hours

David Folkenflik — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 09:37:00 +0000

Nearly everyone reported so many things wrong in the first 24 hours after the Sandy Hook shootings that it's hard to single out any one news organization or reporter for criticism.

Among the news outlets that wrongly reported major parts of the journalistic building blocks of "who, what, where, when, why and how," were CBS, The Associated Press, The New York Times and NPR — a v

Conservative Media Caught in the Blame Game

David Folkenflik — Mon, 12 Nov 2012 23:17:00 +0000

In the wake of last Tuesday's elections, a lively debate has erupted into the open over whether conservatives and the Republican Party were well-served by their favorite media outlets.

Former Gov. Mitt Romney was reported to have been so certain of a victory on Tuesday night that he cast aside tradition and did not draft a concession speech.

Media Circus: Fox Struggles With Obama's Win

David Folkenflik — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 10:10:00 +0000

Imagine a ballot Tuesday that confronted you not with a choice between candidates named OBAMA and ROMNEY, but that looked more like this:

How much do you support the REPUBLICAN?

Pick only one.

Utterly _____

More than that ____

For much of Election Day, that was what viewers encountered in watching Fox News' coverage.

Media Circus: Tone Trumps Content In Final Debate

David Folkenflik — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:53:00 +0000

For most American viewers, including this one, much of Monday night's presidential debate on foreign policy was conducted as though it were in a foreign language.

References to Mali, to former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, missile shields in Poland, "status of forces" agreements — could only have befuddled the voting public.

It's not that the candidates invoked unimportant issues. And it's not that the two held so elevated a conversation mere mortals could not understand.