Media Navel-Gaze: June 20, 2011
The Week Unpeeled
Although the Dow snapped its recent losing streak, up by only 0.4 percent for the week to end at 12,004 on Friday (still down for the month by 4.5 percent), U.S. economic data seemed subdued, with pundits focusing on a jobless recovery, the IPO market party “winding down” (Pandora losing value after its launch and Ally postponing offering) and Greece debt problems continuing to make headlines (although Germany relaxed its stance a bit which helps rescue plans).
Elsewhere:
- Rep. Anthony Weiner resigned soon after his wife came home from her business trip in another apologia to the public (see more below);
- US regulators delayed rulings on derivatives, with no clear start date clearly stated;
- The retailer world got a surprise move when JC Penney announced that it hired Ron Johnson from Apple stores as its chief executive;
- The Tea Party in Florida is planning to offer a summer camp that instructs kids that “America is good” and “government cannot force me to be chartable,” according to “Only in America” last week in The Week; and
- Rory Mcllroy wins the US Open at 22 years old with record-setting 16 under par and Wimbledon kicks off Monday
Weiner Twitter Conspiracy?
Interesting weekend story on Rep. Weiner and Twitter (again!). But The New York Times this time around reported that months before the scandal “a small group of self-described conservatives” was monitoring Weiner’s Twitter conversations with women and that “one or two more people” created false identities on Twitter to gather info to use against the Congressman. One fake Twitter user tried to get Weiner to be her prom date. Too much unclear about the scheme but what struck me as odd is that the story was buried in the Saturday paper (page A15) and not placed more prominently in the paper (no reference on the front page, for example) even though the story has gained much higher prominence during the Congressman’s fall. Curious to see if more plays out here.
All the News that Fit to Film
The documentary on The New York Times opened in New York over the weekend to an actually bad review in The Times by Michael Kinsley, who was identified as a senior editorial advisor for Blooomberg View, a new opinion section of Bloomberg News. I guess no surprise that the paper chose someone other than its own film reviewers to review the film. “Page One,” reportedly is more about staff defending turf in the digital age than any type of investigative piece. The supposed real star of the film: the headquarter building itself. 