Friday on the Dish, Andrew diagnosed the GOP with ongoing Dubya-denial, and urged Republicans to get over it for the sake of the party. Meanwhile, Chait chided the silent centrists in the GOP, Karl Rove reminded the foundering party of the “Buckley rule,” and we gave Chris Christie a pass on his weight. Elsewhere, we … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
Today on the Dish, Andrew challenged the president on his weak rhetoric on tax reform, sounded off on the DOJ white paper justifying extra-judicial killing, and took a closer look at what made ACT UP more than agitprop. He fumed at the Church’s ongoing sabotage of justice, vowed to stay diligent about the GOP’s schemes … Continue reading The Daily Wrap
Ann Friedman considers the question: A younger woman who works in media recently wrote to me, “How did you build up a thick skin? Something I’ve always struggled with is not taking things personally and getting upset when people say things that hurt me — in comments, on Twitter, etc.” I explained to her that I have … Continue reading Which Trolls Should You Feed?
Below are our posts regarding the Dish going independent, beginning with Andrew’s original announcement on January 2 and then followed by our coverage of the resulting commentary and conversation among readers and the blogosphere. To skip to the more detailed explanation of “The Dish Model” click here. Join us as a founding member here. Another … Continue reading Dish Independence
Friday on the Dish, Andrew underlined the concessions of Krauthammer and Douthat that Obama has indeed matched Reagan in historical significance, whilegranting Bhaskar Sunkara that the Marxist Left is making a comeback (and it’s the GOP’s fault). He paused to recognize the British government’s bill legalizing gay marriage and actually shared Michael Moore’s view on Zero Dark Thirty as art. Also, Andrew pulled back the curtain a bit to … Continue reading The Weekly Wrap
This weekend on the Dish we provided our usual eclectic mix of religious, books, and cultural coverage. In matters of faith, doubt, and philosophy, Simone Weilthought about suffering and joy, Giles Fraser channeled Augustine and Freud, a Christian pastor exemplified trends in evangelical political engagement, and Joan Acocella proiled St. Francis of Assissi. Charles Fried pondered Lincoln’s moral genius, Walter Kirn reinterpreted the Fall, a piano … Continue reading The Weekend Wrap
Ann Friedman considers how even financially independent women often sacrifice their own creative potential to support a spouse: The partner who is more aggressive, assertive, and confident has a natural edge. Often, that partner is male. He’s the one who declares he’s ready to take the leap and try to make his unrealistic creative dreams come true. … Continue reading The Female Breadwinner
Below are our posts covering the rise of “sponsored content” at sites like the Atlantic and Buzzfeed. The coverage began in response to a Scientology advertorial featured by the Atlantic in January 2013, then a month later the focus shifted to Buzzfeed and other examples across the web (you can skip directly to that section here). … Continue reading “Enhanced Advertorial Techniques”
Hamilton Nolan rips into the tendency of young writers “to exploit every last tawdry twist and turn of their own lives for profit.” On the journalistic culture of innumerable memoirs and confessional essays: The demoralizing truth is that there is a huge appetite for first-person essays of this sort. The pages of Salon, and Slate, … Continue reading The Personal Touch
This week the Dish declared independence and you can read Andrew’s announcement and all our other coverage and explanation of the move here. We also hope you’ll consider joining us as a founding member. Friday on the Dish, Andrew rounded up more reaction to our new business model and how it might evolve, got interviewed by David Carr, asked readers to weigh in on whether or not we should round our subscription rate up to $20, and answered PM Carpenter’s concerns over the possible editorial consequences of directly relying on readers’ support. In other independence coverage, Ann Friedman evaluated the importance of building a relationship with readers and we addressed the mystery of our mega-donor, as well as acknowledged the Dishheads of Arizona. Andrew also marveled at an animated Maurice Sendak interview, responded to President Reagan’s love of Reader’s Digest, hoped Iran would again turn Green during this year’s election, and pointed out how similar Obama’s presidency has thus far been to both Reagan and Eisenhower’s (and later the WSJ agreed about Barack being the new Ronald). In political coverage, Ambers and Ezra tried to guess what the GOP’s post-fiscal cliff strategy would be, Joe Biden worked the chamber as readers gauged his influence, Brian Resnick taught us about the Presidential Autopen, and Sam Harris pleaded for some common sense to untangle America’s political deadlock. We also went through how the fiscal cliff deal will affect the wealthy, analyzed the state and sustainability of the US welfare system, examined the polarizing effects of Congressional-district gerrymandering, and charted the number of abortions state governments have been restricting. Looking overseas, Frank Dikötter looked at China’s resource trade policies with the developing world, Evan Osnos wanted the US government to better back up American journalists in China, and Derek Thompson surveyed the economic disaster of Latvian austerity. In assorted coverage, Alyssa suggested ways to de-glorify violence in pop culture, Jack Shafer considered the ethics of publicizing gun-ownership data, Richard Gunderman appreciated the transcendence of music, Keith Humphreys shone a light on America’s gradually-declining prison population, and Maria Konnikova tried to experience the benefits of Sherlock Holmesian mindfulness. Also, Douglas McCollam shared what Brando said to Capote, Dean Karlan advised us how to best make our charitable contributions count, Walter Russell Mead believed in the greenness of telecommuting, Alec Foege wanted us to start tinkering with our stuff again, and Henry Wiencek panned Jon Meacham’s Jefferson biography for going too easy on the president’s slaveholding. We looked into whether or not dating sites were making us less monogamous, viewed Facebook’s efforts to capture some of the self-deleting photo market, watched backwards fireworks in our MHB, admired Bali through the VFYW, and noted how the Internet had accidentally shaved Andrew’s beard in our FOTD. The rest of the week is after the jump:
