The Latest Evolution of the New York Times' 'Week in Review'

I'm moved to write about this, since it's Father's Day.

My dad was a New Yorker by way of St. Louis. He went to NYU for his BA and MA, taught in New York Public Schools, and married my mom in New York City in 1959. My dad took a job in Europe as a civilian officer in the U.S. Army, but we moved to California when I was 4 years-old. I remember, when I was old enough to notice, that my dad received the Sunday New York Times in the mail each week. He'd spread the newspaper out on his bed and read each section carefully, from the front page down to the style and social sections. If he didn't finish a newspaper, he'd leave it at the side of the bed to finish, before moving on to the next week's paper. That was his tradition, so the New York Times always had a special place in our house, and in my memory.

When I was in college and graduate school, the New York Times was always the most prestigious source for writing term papers. I also like the Los Angeles Times, which is why readers will note that most of my news reporting from mainstream sources cites those two papers. As much media bias as there is, and both papers are very left-wing in their editorial writing, I still rely on them for the bulk of my news. I don't expect that to stop anytime soon, and frankly I only wish the best for the newspapers as far as their financial health. We need a mainstream press. We need that press as we've always needed independent journalism in the democracy. The difference today, of course, is the Internet and the spread of citizens' journalism. But bloggers and videographers aren't going to replace the big newspapers. What's happening is that the big papers are becoming more Internet-friendly, more like bloggers, not the least from the need to simply survive.

So, well, I'm both critical of the New York Times, like today's hit piece against Clarence Thomas (discussed at Althouse), and also thankful for it. I continue to admire the newspaper's styling and its website is the best newspaper website online. I also assign it to my students so they'll learn how to read a newspaper, which in itself is a disappearing skill.

Anyway, one of the things I enjoyed in the old days, when I used to buy the Sunday Times before it was $6.00 a pop, was the "Week in Review" section. Sometimes I'd pull out "Week in Review" first off. It seemed so cool and sophisticated. I loved reading all the background analysis. Now it seeems dated. I rarely read it anymore, and I don't buy the Sunday paper anymore just to go find it, which I once did. So, things have changed. I guess Bill Keller knows this, he knows how the cachet of the "Week in Review" has collapsed in the hyper-news era of today. So he's moved to spiff it up. See, "Coming Next Sunday: The Latest Evolution of the Review." There's going to be a name-shortening, and more:

Next Sunday, the Week in Review will make another evolutionary leap. The name will be shortened yet again to Sunday Review, the last vestiges of a weekly summing up replaced by a more general timeliness, and that dividing wall breached, so that argument (which will be labeled Opinion) can appear alongside explanation (which will be labeled News Analysis.)

It is not the end of the world as we know it, or even, really, the most dramatic turn in the long history of the section. In the 1990s the Review was very nearly killed off, on the ground that it no longer did anything the rest of the paper wasn’t doing.

Check the rest of it. Interesting development.

Tommy Christopher's F-Bomb Attack on Lee Stranahan

On Twitter. During the height of the Weiner controversy online. Tommy Christopher's an idiot, but what's killer is folks were calling him out at the time. See Lee Stranahan at Patterico's, "About Mediaite’s Explanation of Their Fiasco." Also, "About Mediaite’s Explanation Of Their Fiasco."

Full story at New York Times, "Fake Identities Were Used on Twitter in Effort to Get Information on Weiner." (At Memeorandum.)

RELATED: At Riehl World View, "Tommy Christopher's Ignorance In Online Reporting."

Andrew Breitbart Swarmed by Progressive Mob at Netroots Nation

I don't know. Personally, I don't feel safe around progressives. I kept a low profile at the Noam Chomsky event at UCLA last month, because Students for Justice in Palestine, the event's sponsor, is a Hamas-styled organization. And it's not much different at Netroots Nation. Everybody does video-blogging nowadays, but this Kerry Picket viddy captures the mob's violent rage as Breitbart tried to make an exit:

Also at Gateway Pundit, "Andrew Breitbart GANG-RUSHED By Raging Leftist Mob at Nutroots 2011." And Journo-Lister Dave Weigel, "Netroots Nation: Your Convention Ticket Comes With A Free Andrew Breitbart Ambush."

And at Politico, "Breitbart crashes Netroots Nation":

As Breitbart struck up a conversation with Slate blogger Dave Weigel, Ryan Clayton, who works for US Uncut and blogs on 100ProofPolitics, accosted Breitbart and began screaming questions at him: “Have you kicked your cocaine habit?”

“I have no cocaine habit,” Breitbart told him.

“Have you ever slept with a prostitute?” Clayton asked, almost physically trembling as he worked himself up.

“You prove my point,” Breitbart told him, evidently satisfied that he was again the center of attention in hostile territory.

Another person asked Breitbart if he was credentialed to be there. He admitted that he was not. He tried to walk into the exhibition hall and was turned away by conference organizers.

As he walked back toward the escalator to leave, a middle-aged African-American woman walked toward him and began yelling: “You are racist! … It’s gonna come to light who you really are!”

Breitbart has a crew with him, but most other hot-button conservatives I've met --- David Horowitz, Michelle Malkin, for example --- travel with bodyguards.

Chomsky didn't need one at UCLA, of course. The place was filled with communists, hippies, and jihadis.

Added: Blazing Cat Fur links, and there's a thread now at Memeorandum and Wall Street Journal, "Breitbart Sparks a War of Words at Netroots Nation."

Anthony Weiner to Resign

Dana Bash reports, at CNN, "Weiner to resign after sexting scandal, source says" (via Memeorandum).

Anthony Weiner's Financial Disclosures

At National Journal, "Weiner OK Financially but Needs to Work":

If the Internet sex scandal that has already damaged Rep. Anthony Weiner’s political career ends up costing him his $174,000-a-year job, the New York Democrat would have a bit of a financial cushion.

Congressional lawmakers' financial-disclosure forms for 2010 were released on Wednesday, and Weiner's lists investments in a range of companies--including Hewlett-Packard, Corning, 3M, Dow Chemical, and Sony--that are worth as much as $117,000.

And he would clearly be better off if the scandal doesn’t also cost him his wife, Huma Abedin, an aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. The filings show that Weiner, 46, has an investment portfolio worth $16,017 to $117,000. His financial activity for 2010 involved buying into and unloading a number of companies, including the purchase of an interest worth $1,001 to $15,000 in Live Nation, the live-entertainment and e-commerce company.

Stripper Ginger Lee Alleges Anthony Weiner Pressured Her to Lie About Online Relationship

At Los Angeles Times, "Ex-porn actress alleges Anthony Weiner told her to cover up online activities."

Also, at New York Post, "Weiner text pal Ginger Lee set to strip again tonight."

And at The Other McCain, "Weiner’s Teen Tweeter."

Debate Boosts Bachmann

Stokin'.

At USA Today, "Debate showing elevates Bachmann to higher tier":

"This is really her first introduction to the voters of New Hampshire and I think she made a really good impression," says Kevin Smith, executive director of a conservative advocacy group, Cornerstone Action, which is affiliated with the Tea Party movement. "Most people thought maybe she was just a clone of Sarah Palin, and what I think they saw was that she was more articulate than Palin is and probably has a better grasp of the issues."

Also, at ABC News, "Coming Off Strong Debate Michele Bachmann Takes the High Road."

House Dems Won't Punish Anthony Weiner

The want to do something, yet ...

At Wall Street Journal, "Democrats Choose Not to Punish Weiner" (via Memeorandum).

Michele Bachmann Enters Presidential Race

At Bloomberg, "Tea Party Favorite Bachmann Enters Republican Presidential Race."

And New York Times, "Bachmann Announces Presidential Candidacy."

GOP Presidential Debate in New Hampshire (VIDEO)

Bachmann hit a home run, and Romney did well too. See National Journal, "EXCLUSIVE: Political Insiders Give Debate Nod to Romney, Bachmann" (via Memeorandum). Bachmann looked extremely well prepared and on point, and her announcement that she filed papers for a presidential run was a PR coup. I'll update with more information and links to additional commentary throughout the day.

Congressman Weiner House Gym Photos Could Be Ethics Breach

A follow up to my report, "Anthony Weiner Lewd Photos at House Members' Gym!"

The TMZ photos are here.

But check New York Post, "New Weiner photos taken in House gym could be an ethics breach."

And on ABC News, "Good Morning America"

[VIDEO PULLED]

There's a new photo of Huma Abedin at London's Daily Mail, "What is there to think about? After days of humiliation for his pregnant wife, Weiner FINALLY considers stepping down as shocking new lewd pictures emerge."

The Media's Role in Weinergate 2011

A Tony Katz joint, at PJTV:

I'm going to dissent from the notion that Weinergate is the turning point for new media. Folks probably said Rathergate was the turning point 7 years ago. I do think this is a well-earned gotcha moment for conservatives, and the ramifications of the scandal will be felt all the way through next year's general election. Fascinating, all around.

Jeff Jarvis: 'I Was Wrong About Anthony Weiner'

I called this guy "a bleedin' idiot" last week, so it's only fair to give credit where credit's due.

At Huffington Post, "My Weiner Confession: I Was Wrong":

I just want to get this on the record and off my (fully clothed) chest: I was wrong about Anthony Weiner.

I'd said nothing about the whole hoo-ha because I didn't think it was worth the attention. Then I got a call from Howard Kurtz' Reliable Sources to come on last Sunday and talk about it. My wife said, Why are you doing that? I said, I'll be on the right side. As always, she was right. On the show, I said that media were using this as an opportunity for sophomoric jokes and that the fuss over a penis was a symptom of American Puritanism. What's the worst that happened here? I asked: So what if he had a stupid picture on his phone and accidentally tweeted it, so long as he wasn't sexually harassing anyone? But that's not the worst that happened.

Weiner lied. That is the story. That's what haters said in email to me after the CNN segment. They were right.

There's more at the link above, but that's the gist of it. And that's quite a lot. It takes maturity and responsibility to admit when you're wrong, qualities that Charles Johnson clearly lacks. Folks are still waiting for the rest of the left's huge Weiner supporters to come clean. Progressives got beat up on this. Defending this behavior is itself indefensible.

Note: That's the rare link to Little Green Footballs. I don't usually do the delinking thing all that much. It's mostly Charles Johnson and RACIST REPSAC = CASPER. I link Lawyers, Guns and Murder all the time, or at least I had been, but I'm having some legal issues with one of the bloggers over there, so I've been holding back. It's not Dave Brockington, however. That dude's attacking critics of Anthony Weiner as "moral fascists," which is really too much. Goes with the territory at LGM, and I'll have more about it later. Let's just say that folks like that haven't a thread of the integrity of Jeff Jarvis.

Left Coast Rebel Meets Andrew Breitbart!

That's Tim Daniel, who joined me last Thursday in Newport for the Breitbart event, "More on Andrew Breitbart in Newport Beach, California":

He's a super-talented speaker, lots of comedy, great storyteller, and above all I witnessed Breitbart's fierce advocacy for the voiceless masses of middle America, those that feel that the Leftist-Media-Industrial-Complex is just a deceitful, evil, all-powerful, information-controlling extension of our coercive, destructive Leviathan government. Speaking to us is what Breitbart does and does better than anyone else.

Word.

I'm still looking for the full video. The talk was one of Breitbart's best ever, and he's never disappointing.

Howard Kurtz Slams Dana Milbank on Weinergate Scandal: 'You're Just Annoyed Breitbart Got Credit...'

An interesting segment, especially Amy Holmes, who clearly gets what's going on. Not so with WaPo's Dana Milbank, but he's a typical beltway hack, so no surprise there:

[VIDEO PULLED]

Anthony Weiner Lewd Photos at House Members' Gym!

I linked Robert Stacy McCain already, but this bears noting. The House Gym is a government facility, and the release of new photos reveals another Anthony Weiner lie. See the Queens Courier:

After admitting his actions were inappropriate, Congressmember Anthony Weiner now faces an ethics committee investigation and mounting pressure to step down.

Nancy Pelosi, the House of Representatives Democratic leader, called for an investigation to determine whether any House rules were violated.

The first rule in the House’s code of conduct states a member “shall behave at all times in a manner that shall reflect creditably on the House.”

During Monday’s statement, the congressmember said no government resources – phones, computers, email – were used and no laws were violated – but that may not be enough to save his seat.

No, not enough at all. Because Weiner implicates government by taking it to the House gym.

The photos are at TMZ, "Anthony Weiner at the House Members' Gym." Also at Politico, "More Anthony Weiner photos surface online" (via Memeorandum).

Anthony Weiner X-Rated Scandal Update: Beltway Distraction Edition

Here's today's "Meet the Press" panel, which features a couple of minutes on Weinergate. Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed is calling for Weiner's resignation, so the party can move on, because Democrats "are doing so well on the MediCare conversation." That starts at about 1:00 minute, but the whole clip is worth a listen. WSJ's Kim Strassel's one of my favorite journalists. Not only a brilliant political observer, she's a conservative in a sea of Obama-enabling progressives.

[VIDEO PULLED]

Meanwhile, Robert Stacy McCain is all over the latest Weinergate developments, and he's got more on today's "Meet the Press." See, "VIDEO: Wasserman-Schultz Discusses Weiner Scandal on ‘Meet the Press’." Also, "Report: Weiner Sent Woman Photos of Himself Posing in Congressional Gym," and "VIDEO: ‘Tipping Point’ for Weiner?"

Technology and the Political Sex Scandal

Kate Zernike spins away the Weiner sex scandal, blaming technology, "Naked Hubris":

Certainly there are things particular to Washington that make sex scandals as predictable as swampy weather in July — and to politicians in general, especially lately, as the recent scandals involving Arnold Schwarzenegger (child out of wedlock) and John Edwards (child out of wedlock, and last week indicted for allegedly lying over his affair) have served to remind.

But technology keeps adding new and in many ways more seductive temptations to the mix. And this is happening at a time when, many argue, a more prying press corps, stricter public standards and greater partisanship have combined to make Washington oddly more puritanical than it once was. Hamilton, after all, had confessed his affair to investigators in Congress several years before he was actually exposed for it. But 15 years after the House of Representatives impeached President Bill Clinton, revealing lurid details of his sexual dalliances with a White House intern, most politicians now know that they can’t count on the press or their peers to stay silent about straying.

Yep, just another summer sex scandal in D.C. Move along. You wouldn't even be looking if bloggers hadn't intruded on the privileged ways and means of the official D.C. Democratic establishment.

Anthony Weiner to Enter Treatment Center!

Well yeah.

But still, this ain't over until he sucks it up and announces his resignation.

At New York Times, "Weiner to Enter Treatment Center and Seek Leave From House." And Memeorandum.

Nancy Pelosi Calls for Weiner's Resignation!

At CNN, "Calls mount for Weiner's resignation:"

Three weighty Democratic voices -- including Nancy Pelosi -- on Saturday called for the resignation of embattled U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner, who has been under fire after admitting to inapporpriate communications with women online.

The House Minority Leader, and the chairmen of the Democratic National Committee and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in separate statements called for Weiner to step down.

The New York congressman has resisted calls to resign.

Via JammieWearingFool, "The End is Near: Pelosi Calls for Weiner's Resignation."