Media-Whore D'Oeuvres

"President Barack Obama couldn’t be more blunt in acknowledging that the U.S. crossed a moral line in its treatment of war-on-terror prisoners. 'We tortured some folks,” Obama said during a White House news conference Friday. “Any fair-minded person would call it torture.' While the president has used the word “torture” before, it was the most explicit he’s been on the point since taking office. His remarks were also a clear sign of support for the Senate Intelligence Committee’s effort to chronicle and analyze the used of waterboarding and methods the Bush Administration dubbed “enhanced interrogation techniques.”Many civil liberties and human rights groups were jittery that Obama would seek a middle ground between the Senate investigators on one hand and former CIA personnel and Bush administration officials who’ve sought to defend the CIA’s efforts by picking apart the Senate report." (Politico)





"A colleague at The Atlantic made a major journalistic error this week. As he has himself admitted, in the first half of a post on our site. Of course, I am talking about David Frum, who sent out a series of tweets that flat-out and falsely claimed that The New York Times had highlighted a 'faked' photo of Palestinian casualties. Frum was entirely wrong; the photo was all too real; and now Frum has apologized to thephotographers and for his snap misjudgment. I am late to this discussion because I have been out of the country, in Europe, for a week (and still am) and only learned about it today. I want to say something about the case not to make further trouble for Frum, with whom I agree on some issues and disagree on others and am on friendly terms. Nor do I mean to offer anything like an official statement from The Atlantic, which it is not my place to do. Rather I want to emphasize a point about journalism that is often misunderstood or overlooked, especially when reporters are attempting to chronicle events as gruesome and politically white-hot as those in Gaza now. I am talking about something at the center of our purpose as journalists, which this episode highlights in the clearest possible way." (James Fallows)

On the set of “September.”

"I WAS fascinated to find in this chat, Woody discussing my pal, Elaine Stritch’s death. Elaine had made one film for Woody — “September.' The article says the two of them poked fun at one another. But it was more than that for Elaine. She often complained to me that Woody hadn’t written another role for her. She craved his attention and felt she never got it! I  often said to Elaine that she was too freaky and unique for Woody’s purposes. “It’s just one of those things, Elaine. He wrote characters. He didn’t write for stars ... You require too much attention for Woody. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t like you!”Elaine, like a girl pining for a second date with a guy, never took my meaning. She had a hard time with any kind of rejection and reacted against being ordinary by over-reacting. " (NYSD)