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As Washington debates what to do about health care, each side has put forth its favorite terms like ration, public-option, and government takeover to frame the discussion. Frank Luntz, author and Republican wordsmith, put out a memo called "The Language of Healthcare 2009." He says his ten rules will help Republicans stop the "Washington takeover" of health care.
New poll numbers show that public support for President Obama and for health care reform have declined. Is it over for a new health plan? Cable made us think so. We asked 538's number-crunching expert Nate Silver what the polls really mean and which ones we should watch closely.
Opponents of Obama's health care plan warn that it's too expensive, too restrictive, and worst of all, suspiciously Canadian. This week Canadian health care victims have appeared on American TV, where they've offered testimonials about their broken system. But how bad is it, really? The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Maureen Taylor describes what health care is really like north of the border.
When you purchase a paperback copy of, say, George Orwell’s 1984 from Amazon, you might assume it’s yours to keep. But what if you purchase a digital copy? Still yours to keep? For thousands of people last week the answer was no. All Things Digital senior editor Peter Kafka explains.
Breaking news is now copied and redistributed on thousands of websites across the Internet within minutes - producing a World Wide Web of carbon copies. First Amendment lawyer David Marburger argues that this redistribution is hurting newspapers financially and that the fault lies with the Copyright Act.
Budget cuts at newspapers have led to the firing of many copy editors. With their departure comes an increase in errors. John McIntyre was let go by The Baltimore Sun after 23 years and says newspapers are foolish to fire a disproportionate number of copy editors.
Fox Sport's Jay Glazer is one of the best NFL reporters in the business - he breaks stories about the latest trade or controversy with regularity. But his success is due, at least in part, to his questionable journalistic approach: he's close friends with many of the players and coaches he covers.
The steroid era has provided baseball writers with nearly endless fodder for speculation and rumination. But it has also handed them a huge problem: with so many players under suspicion, who are the writers supposed to vote into the Hall of Fame? Chicago Sun Times senior sports reporter Rick Telander recently proposed that the Baseball Writers of America Association develop guidelines on how to vote on players suspected of using steroids. The plan was narrowly defeated in a BBWAA vote. Ken Davidoff, national baseball columnist for Newsday, says he opposed the idea, though believes that writers shouldn't have Hall of Fame voting privileges in the first place.
During his run for the Senate, and through the subsequent vote count, Al Franken put aside the jokes and showed a more serious side of his personality. Now that he’s been seated, some are wondering if he’s free to be funny again. We asked longtime SNL writer and Franken collaborator James Downey.
Highlights from Past Shows
During confirmation hearings for Supreme Court hopeful Sonia Sotomayor, some senators were troubled by the revelation that judges are not, strictly speaking, umpires. As for the nominee, Slate senior editor Dhalia Lithwick says that answering questions is an elaborate calculus of how to speak at length without really saying anything.
For the past two weeks, coverage of Michael Jackson's death has dominated the news, arguably at the expense of more pressing stories. Bob takes a look at how the media have handled the superstar's passing.
On the Media is funded by The Bydale Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the Overbrook Foundation.
