A journalistic golden age | A paean to the late James Goddard, and to Martin Agronsky as well
SHOWCASE
Morton Mintz recalls getting candid answers from Goddard, then FDA Commissioner, on Agronsky’s ‘Face the Nation’ in the 1960s, a time when – believe it or not – some Sunday morning talk shows cared about, reported, and made news. 
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'Mentor and consultant' | A Marine general finds retirement pays very nicely
SHOWCASE
USA Today weighs into a case of what it calls ‘profiting from access,’ laying out how one retired general has possibly made more than a million dollars in the past six years from the military aside from his pension, not including income from military contractors.
From Nieman Reports | 'When they come for us'
SHOWCASE
Sonali Samarasinghe Wickrematunge, a Sri Lankan editor, writes in Nieman Reports: 'When you are compelled to leave your family, your work, your country, and your life as you knew it, that's when you realize you cannot give up. You have to do more, you have to speak louder, write bolder. And now, it's personal.'
New story possibilities | Localizing a Washington scoop the (almost) easy way
SHOWCASE
Going online for Congressional Research Service reports and hearings transcripts provides a big assist to reporters anywhere in their coverage of Washington, DC, news. Writer Andrew Kreig describes how.
Reporting the pandemic | A Nieman Foundation guide for covering swine flu
SHOWCASE
As new outbreaks of H1N1 flu continue to disrupt families, schools and communities across the country and around the world, the Nieman Foundation has put out a comprehensive online guide for journalists. It offers reporters and editors tools to understand the complexities of the disease; debunk misconceptions, and ask the right questions.
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| The 2009 I.F. Stone Medal: an invitation
SHOWCASE
This year’s I.F. Stone Medal for Journalistic Independence will be presented to documentary filmmaker Jon Alpert on Oct. 1 at American University in Washington, DC.
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‘Treating islanders like guinea pigs’ | Reporting and producing Newsday’s first investigative documentary
SHOWCASE
Reporter/author Thomas Maier tells what drew him to explore, more than 50 years after the events, the Brookhaven lab’s troubled history in connection with hydrogen bomb tests in the Marshall Islands.
A practitioner and teacher | Jon Alpert wins 2009 I.F. Stone Medal
SHOWCASE
Veteran reporter and filmmaker is cited for ‘tackling topics that others feared to cover and reporting on matters crucial to our society and the international community.’
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Bruce Kushnick questions whether AT&T and Verizon are trying to kill off the “plain old telephone service” that millions of Americans rely on. In a recent FCC filing cited by Kushnick, AT&T stated that landline utilities are from a bygone era, and asked to be relieved of its obligations to service them.
The GAO showed that contractors’ estimates have nothing to do with reality, and economic hard times may eventually force the President and Congress to rein in outrageously costly warships, planes and missile systems that don’t work. But that time isn’t here yet.
It’s easy to find activism, impossible to find original intent behind the Roberts/Scalia group’s ruling on corporate political spending. Martin Lobel suggests six sharp, practical steps to deal with it.
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As an old assignment editor I’m used to asking questions and not being embarrassed if they expose me as naïve or wrong minded, because sometimes there’s a good story lurking. So here are a few simple questions. The biggest financial institutions are said to be on the verge of issuing $145 billion in bonuses. My [...] 
A friend and contributor to Nieman Watchdog, Martin Lobel, sent this emaiI with the suggestion that people pass it along. Looks worth passing along to me. Here’s Marty:
“I don’t know whether you’re as upset with the Supreme Court’s legislating in Citizens United v. FEC as I am, but there is a simple solution that is [...]
Item: The New York Times reported Friday afternoon that “two more Democratic senators” said they would vote against a second term for Fed Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke. From there, the Times said this made it unclear “whether there were the 60 votes necessary to confirm Mr. Bernanke.”
Excuse me? Sixty votes are not necessary to [...]
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(Nieman Watchdog)
Torture probe abandoned
For lack of interest, the Senate will not move ahead on the idea to appoint a commission to investigate detention, rendition and interrogation policies by the U.S. during the George W. Bush administration.
(Secrecy News)
Find John Brennan's op ed
Harry Shearer, working from a fantasy assignment desk, wants reporters to find a 2005 anti-Iraq war op ed that never was published.
(Huffington Post)
Those Mohammed cartoons
On Jan 2 a man with an axe tried to attack the Danish artist whose 12 depictions of the prophet Mohammed created a furor in 2005. After the failed attack, a Norwegian newspaper reprinted six of the drawings.
(Editors Weblog)
Afghanistan surge to rely heavily on private contractors
Private contractors are expected to make up at least half of the total military workforce in Afghanistan, according to Defense Department officials cited in a recent study from the Congressional Research Service. The number of contractors will likely increase by between 16,000 and 56,000 for a total of 120,000-160,000.
(TPM Muckraker)
Recession scars will be lasting
The aftershocks from deep recessions reverberate for years, even decades.
(USA Today)
The curious spending of a GOP pro-choice PAC
The money doesn't seem to actually go to supporting choice.
(Center for Public Integrity)
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