Grading the election coverage
You can debate - as many of my correspondents did -- whether the election of Barack Obama was good for the country. It definitely was good for The News & Observer.
Covering tragedies two ways
Two contrasting tales of human tragedy last week raised the question of whether The News & Observer gives more attention to some humans than others.
Comparing coverage of McCain, Obama
For readers of newspapers, election seasons are a time of suspicion, mistrust and political paranoia.
Voter registration stories caused confusion
Will new voters in North Carolina have a hard time casting their ballots on Election Day? You might think so, if you read The N&O's Oct. 9 story "Voter purges appear illegal."
Making sense of the financial crisis
The Tar Heel economy has been leaking jobs lately -- have you noticed? I did, as I went back through the past week's papers assessing The N&O's coverage of the financial crisis.
Sports merger equals more -- and less
Sports fans have noticed changes in The N&O's coverage in the last few months -- some for the better, some for the worse.
Readers obsessed with anti-Islam video
Should The News & Observer allow itself to be used as a vehicle for disseminating offensive speech against a religious faith?
Lessons from a sheriff's loose words
It's a new law of journalism: Put a piece about illegal immigrants in the paper, and stand back for the reader reaction.
Putting Palin under the microscope
The Sarah Palin story last week brought lots of questions from readers about The N&O's coverage.
Pluck the duck
Oh, what to do about Mallard Fillmore? The cartoon duck that appears daily on The N&O comics pages has been on a tear lately against Barack Obama, and his conservative quacking has brought howls of protests from the Democratic faithful.
More questions about the lacrosse story
The calls and e-mails started pouring in within hours of the DNA report last Monday. The words differed, but the message was the same: When is The News & Observer going to 'fess up that it got the Duke sexual assault story wrong?
Searching for fairness in the Duke story
Outrage" has been the operative word to describe community sentiment in Durham in the past week. And justifiably so, if the allegations against members of the Duke men's lacrosse team are even close to true.
Will newspapers outlast Social Security?
Philip Meyer is a newspaperman who thinks he can measure anything.
Errors gnaw at newspaper credibility
Aaaarrrrgh! That was the sound you heard Tuesday from the editors' offices on the third floor of The News & Observer building. Maybe it echoed around some readers' kitchen tables that morning too, as folks read the seven corrections.
Taunting coverage angers State fans
An ugly incident at the N.C. State-Wake Forest game prompted an even uglier public debate last week about journalism as practiced at The News & Observer. Let's talk about it.
'Anonymice' menace papers' credibility
Rare is the week that this public editor doesn't receive a complaint that The News & Observer has ignored an important news story.
News columnists anger, attract readers
The News & Observer's news columnists have been getting under readers' skins lately. That's good.
Bloggers challenge traditional media
Got a call the other day from a reader wanting to know why The News & Observer had downplayed the resignation of CNN news chief Eason Jordan. Jordan, you'll recall, stirred controversy with his reported assertion that the U.S. military had deliberate
Wakefield coverage raises fairness issues
Last week, we explored in this space the issue of how reporters should treat "private citizens" who are not used to dealing with the media.
Private citizens who get into the news
The recent controversy over the Wakefield school reassignments is so rich with journalistic issues that I -- and you -- can't absorb it all in one swallow.
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