On Politics and Media

As a writer, I probe the intersection of technology and social power, specifically power expressed through media and our political system. Digital technologies promise democratization; how well is that promise being realized? How are incumbent institutions fighting to maintain their power? Which tools show the most promise?

This page provides links to some of my writing that appears elsewhere. Currently, I write regularly at at TheModerateVoice and occasionally at GeekWire, PBS MediaShift and The Huffington Post. Some analysis — including media criticism — lives on Storify and/or Posterous (sigh); those resources are also linked here. From 2004-2009, I wrote about U.S. politics for About.com. In 2006, I set up an account at Newsvine, where I cross-posted About.com content and also wrote some original material.

I am also a political analyst for Northwest Cable News.

Here is an RSS feed for this page courtesy Page2RSS.

2014

  1. My posts at TheModerateVoice (most recent first)
  2. Social media secrets: highlights from #WLW14 (Storify), 23 April 2014
  3. Android vulnerability: what you need to know about the HeartBleed bug (Storify), 11 April 2014
  4. Comcast and Time Warner Cable: Nope (Storify), 13 February 2014
  5. Godwin’s Law and the Wall Street Journal (TMV), 26 January 2014

2013

  1. My posts at TheModerateVoice (most recent first)
  2. What makes a tweet go bad? (Storify), 26 November 2013
  3. American Nations: 11 Rival Regional Cultures (Storify), 1 September 2014
  4. Reactions: UK forces the Guardian to destroy hard drives, detains partner of Snowden journalist (Storify), 19 August 2013
  5. Traditional media ignored Wendy Davis Filibuster (Huffington Post), 1 July 2013
  6. Reaction to Texas stance on abortion ban (Storify), 27 June 2013
  7. Texas legislature changes timestamp on SB5 (Storify), 26 June 2013
  8. Texas Republican quote of the year: rape kit cleans (Storify), 24 June 2013
  9. The best apps for educators (PBS MediaShift), 3 June 2013
  10. Future of news in an increasingly connected world (Storify), 20 April 2013
  11. More federally-funded research to be made freely available (GeekWire), 22 February 2013
  12. GoDaddy: Poster Child for Silicon Valley Sexism (Storify), 2 February 2013
  13. Sunday marks new era in cellphone carrier market power (GeekWire), 25 January 2013
  14. Who Really Owns Your Photos In Social Media (2013 Edition, PBS MediaShift), 25 January 2013
  15. Untangling Justice: The case of Aaron Swartz (GeekWire), 13 January 2013

2012

  1. What blizzard? New emergency alert system for mobile phones misses mark (GeekWire) 16 December 2012
  2. What you need to know about Facebook privacy (Storify), 8 December 2012
  3. Commentary: Report shines little new light on journalism woes (GeekWire), 29 November 2012
  4. Tech Snafus Make Bill O’Reilly/Jon Stewart ‘Rumble’ More of a Stumble (PBS MediaShift), 9 October 2012
  5. Stewart and O’Reilly @ #Rumble2012 (Storify), 6 October 2012
  6. On This Day In History: The Kennedy-Nixon Debates, 26 September 2012
  7. From Immigration to Mars, ONA 12 Speakers Challenge Status Quo (PBS MediaShift), 24 September 2012
  8. Seattle Times launches social media campaign around marriage equality referendum, 20 September 2012
  9. Memo to politicians: off-the-record is dead and buried, 17 September 2012
  10. We’ve not come a long way, baby; Republicans willfully ignore science in opposing morning-after contraception, 16 September 2012
  11. A post-9/11 accounting that you probably won’t read or hear in mainstream news, 11 September 2012
  12. Fact-Checking Political Ads; There Are Apps For That (PBS MediaShift), 10 September 2012
  13. Twitter Reveals an Ugly Underbelly of Misogyny, 6 September 2012
  14. The debt story that the media seem to willfully ignore, 4 September 2012
  15. GOP and Its Hard Right Turn on Women’s Issues, 29 August 2012
  16. Study: In the Digital Race for President, Obama Has a Clear Lead (PBS MediaShift), 17 August 2012
  17. Six Things You May Be Surprised To Learn About Paul Ryan, 11 August 2012
  18. Pew: Democrats and Independents Support Gay Marriage, 1 August 2012
  19. Experts Parse Big Data In New Report (PBS MediaShift), 20 July 2012
  20. “Joe Paterno was a liar” , 13 July 2012
  21. JPMorgan Chase – $2 Billion = Apology, 13 June 2012
  22. Is The Obama Administration Sticking Its Nose Into Farm Chores (Storify), 26 April 2012
  23. Trayvon Martin Case Divides Nation By Racial Identity, Politics, Age, Gender, 7 April 2012
  24. Social Media Credited With Derailing Last Minute Slight Of Hand In Georgia, 1 April 2012
  25. Today’s Southern GOP Has Roots In 1964, 28 March 2012
  26. Georgia Senate To Vote On Anti-Abortion Bill Monday, 25 March 2012
  27. Meme-Busting: No Arrest In Either Trayvon Martin Or Kim Kardashian Cases, 25 March 2012
  28. Trayvon Martin: The Three-Week Old Story, Politics and Florida’s Right-To-Kill Law, 24 March 2012
  29. ClearChannel Speaks: It’s Just Humor, Folks, 6 March 2012
  30. Politics, Comedy and Women’s Bodies, 4 March 2012
  31. Advertisers Begin Dropping Limbaugh, 3 March 2012
  32. Is There No Line To Be Crossed That Would Turn Limbaugh’s Sponsors Against Him? 2 March 2012
  33. It’s Long Past Time For Senate Amendments To Have Nexus, 2 March 2012
  34. Google’s unified privacy policy takes effect, despite concerns (GeekWire), 1 March 2012
  35. Elsevier-Backed Publishing Bill Bites The Dust, At Least For This Session, 28 February 2012
  36. On trust and privacy: Why I no longer trust Google (GeekWire), 22 February 2012
  37. AT&T Doubles Upgrade Fee, Mainstream Media Yawns, 15 February 2012
  38. Meme-Chasing: Literacy In America, 10 February 2012
  39. Komen The Latest To Stumble By Ignoring Networked Digerati, 4 February 2012
  40. Check Before You RT: Komen CEO Compensation Tweet Rings False, 1 February 2012
  41. Winner Take All In The Tech Economy, 31 January 2012
  42. The Not So Great News From The Googleplex, 25 January 2012
  43. Tech Community Flexes Muscle, Senators Run For The Door, 19 January 2012
  44. Election System Alert: ES&S Machines, 3 January 2012
  45. Remember the Bush Warrantless Wiretaps?  3 January 2012
  46. PSA: Ticketmaster Customers, Check Your e-mail, 1 January 2012

2011

  1. Google Pushes Journalists To Create Google+ Profiles (Storify), 2 November 2011
  2. I can’t explain why I haven’t itemized stories for 2011. I did write. :-)

2010

  1. NYT Story Reveals Challenges To Reporting In A Connected World (Posterous), 29 December 2010
  2. @BruceS on Wikileaks, Assange & Diplomacy … “Hope” He’s What He Thinks He Is (Posterous), 22 December 2010
  3. The UN Speaks Out On Wikileaks & Whistleblowing (Posterous), 22 December 2010
  4. Breaking: Census Releases Reapportionment Map, 21 December 2010
  5. Breaking: FCC Passes Net Neutrality Rules (Newsvine), 21 December 2010
  6. The Anonymous WikiLeaks protests are a mass demonstration, not ‘hacking’ (Posterous), 19 December 2010
  7. DADT Senate Vote (Newsvine), 18 December 2010
  8. Court Rules e-mail Protected By Fourth Amendment, 15 December 2010
  9. Washington State Legislature Calls Budget-Cutting Saturday Session (Newsvine), 11 December 2010
  10. Excerpts From CRS Analysis Of Publication Of Classified Information (Posterous), 9 December 2010
  11. Amazon and WikiLeaks – Online Speech is Only as Strong as the Weakest Intermediary (Posterous), 8 December 2010
  12. Julian Assange Writes Op-Ed For The Australian (Posterous), 8 December 2010
  13. The Pentagon Papers : 39 Years Ago Another Publisher Got Zapped By Unhappy Federal Politicos (Posterous), 8 December 2010
  14. The U.S. Government’s Extra-Judicial Attack On WikiLeaks Is Wrong (Posterous, TMV), 8 December 2010
  15. MasterCard Pulls Plug on WikiLeaks Donations, 7 December 2010
  16. Infographic Gone Bad (Posterous), 3 December 2010
  17. WikiLeaks: On Balance, Transparency Trumps Secrecy (Posterous, TMV, Newsvine), 30 November 2010
  18. People Who Write About Economics Need To Know Math (Posterous), 28 November 2010
  19. Tom DeLay: The Backstory (Newsvine), 25 November 2010
  20. 2009 Transportation Act Prohibits WBI Use As Primary Screening Tool, 20 November 2010
  21. TSA Chief Defends Body Imaging, (Falsely) Asserts It Would Have Foiled Christmas Bomber, 18 November 2010
  22. Calling A Spade A Spade: Time To End TSA Theatre And Corporate Profiteering , 16 November 2010
  23. Money and Politics: Super Rich Shape State Battles, 9 November
  24. Whitman Campaign Inadvertently Introduces Levity Via Tweet, 20 October 2010
  25. Why Ds Have An Uphill Battle Next Month, 12 October 2010
  26. On Internet Censorship : ACTA and COICA, 12 October 2010
  27. Americans See Congress As ‘Bickering,’ And Unproductive, 5 October 2010
  28. USDA Beagle Brigade Sniffs For Food, 27 September 2010
  29. PR In The Age Of Twitter, 14 September 2010
  30. Separating The Wheat From The Chaff: Using Curated.by For Breaking News, 10 September 2010
  31. Android Exposes The Underbelly of “Open”, 9 September 2010
  32. Ford Settles After Jury Awards $131M In Roll-over Accident, 6 September 2010
  33. When Political Tweets Go Bad, 3 September 2010
  34. Fact Checking Glenn Beck (also at Newsvine), 1 September 2010
  35. “We Could Not Have Known…” (also at Newsvine), 31 August 2010
  36. A Case For Religious History Classes, Take 2 : Newt Gingrich On “The Mosque” (also at Newsvine), 25 August 2010
  37. From Polytheism to Monotheism: A Quest for Power? (also at Newsvine), 24 August 2010
  38. Too Little, Too Late: AP Finally Provides Some Facts About the Fabricated Mosque Controversy (Newsvine), 19 August 2010
  39. Senate Candidates Tackle Congressional Revolving Door (also at Newsvine), 18 August 2010
  40. Rebutting Sarah Palin: Some Facts Around the Trumped Up Mosque Controversy, 17 August 2010
  41. Politicians Continue To Pander, But Now It’s Democrats (also at Newsvine), 17 August 2010
  42. U.S. Plans $60 Billion Arms Sale To Saudi Arabia (also at Newsvine), 16 August 2010
  43. Secret Assault on Terrorism Widens On Two Continents, 15 August 2010
  44. Burning the Qur’an, Literally and Figuratively (also at Newsvine), 14 August 2010
  45. Thoughts On The Ted Stevens Story, 10 August 2010
  46. A Case For Religious History Classes (also at Newsvine), 9 August 2010
  47. Kagan Prepares To Be Sworn In Saturday, 6 August 2010
  48. Jon Stewart Skewers Congress On 9-11 Responder Bill, 5 August 2010
  49. Trust Us, We’re Corporations (also at Newsvine), 5 August 2010
  50. The Challenge of Scientific Illiteracy, 2 August 2010
  51. Rights In America Are Inalienable, 31 July 2010
  52. American TV Networks Grapple With Stateless Wikileaks.org (Posterous), 30 July 2010
  53. More Billions For Afghanistan, Iraq War; Where’s The Outrage? 29 July 2010
  54. Breitbart Smear: “A Time For Action”, 27 July 2010
  55. Money and Politics: Big Oil and the Revolving Door, 26 July 2010
  56. The Senate Filibuster: Reid’s Rhetorical Excess, 25 July 2010
  57. Breitbart A Modern-Day Hearst; BigGovernment.com As Yellow Journalism, 23 July 2010
  58. Lax Federal Oversight Detailed At BP Hearing, 20 July 2010
  59. iPhone4: By The Numbers, 16 July 2010
  60. Ethically Empty: Whitman Campaign Rips Off FAIL Blog UI, 28 June 2010
  61. “He Said, She Said” Journalism and Climate Change, 24 June 2010
  62. This Is Not A Spill, 18 June 2010
  63. Obama’s 90 Percent Clean Up Promise: That’s Not What He Said, 16 June 2010
  64. No “Buck Stops Here” for AT&T, 14 June 2010
  65. Ugly Political Posturing: Dems Attack Boehner, 12 June 2010
  66. It Looks Like Less Than Net Zero To Me, 3 June 2010
  67. What Does It Mean To Be “Critical”? Wired Column On Facebook Privacy Questioned (Posterous), 31 May 2010
  68. Gulf Disaster: Criminal or Incompetence?, 30 May 2010
  69. The Presidential Press Conference, An Endangered Species?, 28 May 2010
  70. Twitter Account Spoofs BP PR Efforts, 26 May 2010
  71. InfoGraphic: Gulf Oil Explosion, 23 May 2010
  72. Concerned About Facebook Privacy? Check Out These Tools, 18 May 2010
  73. Market Turmoil: Why Greece?, 7 May 2010
  74. Twitter Deeds Archived To Library of Congress , 14 April 2010
  75. A Case For TV Ads, 9 April 2010
  76. Why I’m Not Buying An iPad This Weekend, 3 April 2010
  77. Why We Need A Torture Commission, And Why We Won’t Get One, 30 March 2010
  78. WSJ iPad Pricing Model Is Bad News, 29 March 2010
  79. Why We Need a Torture Commission, And Why We Won’t Get One (Posterous), 29 March 2010
  80. Who Should Win The Google Fibre Contest?, 26 March 2010
  81. Why The FCC Broadband Plan Underwhelms, 16 March 2010
  82. FCC Reports On “Broadband” Use, 23 February 2010
  83. Why Digital Editions Need Subscription Fees, 16 February 2010
  84. NBC Gives Facebook Exclusive, 13 February 2010
  85. Betsy Aoki: Critical Thinking and Bing (Posterous), 9 February 2010
  86. White House Makes Full Copyright Claim on Photos, 6 February 2010
  87. Tracking A Twitter Meme, Arguing For Digital Literacy, 14 January 2010

2009

  1. Murdoch Wants Cross-Ownership Rules Relaxed, 8 December 2009
  2. Using GoogleWave To Engage The Public, 2 December 2009
  3. Murdoch on Google, Copyright and Pay-To-View, 9 November 2009
  4. Obama Secret Proposal On Copyright Puts ISP At Center of Debate, 3 November 2009
  5. Can Someone Explain This Math? 25 October 2009
  6. Science and Sports: Conflict In Genetics, 9 September 2009
  7. Is The Economy Looking Up?, 28 August 2009
  8. C4C: GM, Chrysler Losers, 27 August 2009
  9. Happy Birthday, 19th Amendment, 26 August 2009
  10. Cash For Clunkers Benefits Few, Stimulates Truck Sales, 18 August 2009
  11. Cash For Clunkers Insanity, 12 August 2009
  12. What Do We Really Know About Iran’s Election?, 18 June 2009
  13. Army Corps Demands That Whistleblower Clear Testimony, 21 May 2009
  14. Deconstructing Swine Flu Mania, 30 April 2009
  15. Court Moves Closer To Naming Minnesota Senator, 2 April 2009
  16. Obama White House Plays More “Politics As Usual”, 17 March 2009
  17. The Myth of Paid Content, 9 March 2009
  18. What If Mobile Were To Become The News Space?, 6 March 2009
  19. Obama Teams Floats Controversial Procedural Move, 2 March 2009
  20. Yet Another Introduction!, 2 March 2009

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