I have no idea at this point whether or to what extent the much-gnawed-upon “Scott Thomas” diaries in TNR were truthful, but this seems like odd reasoning: I made this point in my column today, but let me tease it out: All things being equal, it’s more likely that the Army got the truth than […]

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It looks like I may have been too quick to accept TNR‘s reported corroboration of (most aspects of) their Iraq diarist’s dispatches: The Weekly Standard is reporting that the author has recanted. Though, of course, now that he’s been named, there are obviously reasons to take that with a few heaps of salt as well. […]

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Predictably, both sides in the Scott Thomas bruhaha are claiming vindication in the aftermath of TNR‘s statement yesterday, though I’m not sure either is entitled to it. One key detail of the contested diaries has indeed been proven to be inaccurate: The incident where soldiers mocked a disfigured woman eating in the chow hall occurred […]

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I’d been hearing from friends at TNR that they’d essentially confirmed their controversial correspondent’s stories last week, but were crossing T’s and dotting I’s before issuing an official statement. But since the controversy itself has raised barriers to further investigation, they’ve wrapped it up and posted their findings. Almost everything checks out, though I see […]

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When people talk about the cultural power of Pitchfork, they invariably cite its brutal review of ex-Dismemberment Plan front man Travis Morrison’s 2004 solo album Travistan. As Wired reported: According to Josh Rosenfeld, the cofounder of Barsuk Records (which released Travistan), the effects of Dahlen’s review were immediate and disastrous. Several college radio stations that […]

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I have no strong view either way on the controversy over whether or to what extent Scott Thomas Beuchamp’s dispatches for TNR were fabricated or embellished, but I think John Podhoretz is right that there’s nothing per se shady about his turning out to be Elle Reeve’s fiancée/husband/whatever. In fact, that’s exactly the sort of […]

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Mediabistro’s doing it’s annual Hot-DC-Media-Types survey, and I’m pleased (if not exactly surprised) to see quite a number of friends and acquaintances in contention for the hottest off-air female title, among them roomie and co-Reasonite Kerry Howley and neighbor Catherine Andrews. Among the guys, pals Ezra Klein and Kriston Capps are in the running. (Whereas […]

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The Economist uses the word “kitteh” in a headline.

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As we learned last night, posing a question coupled with an injunction to really answer the question is not any more effective than appending “and it’s true” to a factual assertion. If we want candidates to be more responsive in debates, though, here’s a form of interactivity that might be more helpful than soliciting dippy […]

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Remember Max Headroom? The stuttering, digitized alter-ego of telejournalist Edison Carter (both played by Matt Frewer) starred in a short-lived but often brilliant eponymous TV series that first introduced a cyberpunk aesthetic to a mass audience. In many ways—enough to fill a separate blog post—it was shockingly prescient. But in one central way, the world […]

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