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The scene at Georgetown, which has pledged more than $2 million toward veterans' tuition costs during the comingn year.
New GI Bill is expected to draw hundreds of thousands of veterans to college this fall
ASK THIS | July 02, 2009
Aug. 1 is implementation date; reporters can track progress in their states. Benefits may be uneven from state to state—because of a quirk, for example, California private colleges are less likely to participate.

Taking steps to deal with media parasitism
COMMENTARY
As non-profit journalism grows in importance, donors and practitioners should adopt and enforce standards that give credit to sources instead of pilfering their ideas and riding roughshod over them.

In poll, 6 in 10 Americans approve complete ban on torture
COMMENTARY
A majority opposes nearly all methods of torture. But among Republicans surveyed, 44% approve a complete ban now, compared to 68% in a 2004 survey.




Finding flackery | An online group, the Center for Media and Democracy, stays on the lookout for spin
SHOWCASE
The public-interest, non-profit organization exposes fake news and PR twisting of events. It works directly with reporters who request help. Sounds like a good resource for journalists.

| For the poor, the misery just keeps piling up
ASK THIS
Some are gasping for air, some drowning, writes Judith Bell. The impact of the economic collapse on everyday life – on how to get to work (if they have a job), on health, on housing, can be enormous. It's an important, moving story in every community.

A problem in giving credit where credit is due | Free riding: a deeply embedded media tradition
COMMENTARY
Scholar J.H. Snider balks on hearing new media practitioners characterized as parasites or leeches and reaches deep down to expose longstanding, not very upfront behavior on the part of old media reporters and editors. (First of two parts)

Can other cities follow the lead? | Innovative stimulus spending in Kansas City
ASK THIS
The Kansas City Green Impact Zone, a large, low-income area, could be a stimulus model for the nation. As Judith Bell explains it, the 150-block section is slated for a major economic makeover, thanks to a strong effort by political and community groups.

America as attack dog | Does Congress have anything to say about a war that goes on, and on, and on?
COMMENTARY
Obama is doing some high-stakes international gambling with either war or alarming aituations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and North Korea. It’s time Congress, with its Constitutional authority and obligations, got into the action, writes George C. Wilson.

It’s not just supply and demand | Must we have $4 gas prices again? And if so, why?
COMMENTARY
Peter Ashton and Henry Banta say a new, costly speculative bubble—a repeat of last summer—is taking shape, and they suggest ways to reduce the risk. Isn’t this an important job, right now, for those in the Obama administration as they extensively rewrite the rules for financial markets?

The road to health care reform | What about the Massachusetts plan for universal coverage?
ASK THIS
A single-payer advocate warns that the Massachusetts 2006 health care reforms, now being looked at by Congress, may not be a good model for the nation.


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Watchdog Blog
Barry Sussman
 Direct Appeals to Iranian Leaders Are Urged in Hopes of Obtaining Release of Imprisoned Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists and other groups are issuing urgent appeals for the release of more than 40 journalists who have been arrested and are being held in Iran. Scant information about the arrests has been released. One of those being held is Iason Athanasiadis, a 2008 Nieman fellow who is said to have been [...]

Barry Sussman
 Dan Froomkin and the Washington Post
Dan Froomkin, deputy editor for Nieman Watchdog, has just been fired from his main job as writer of the online White House Watch column for the Washington Post. Dan will do just fine. He is talented, immensely productive, has sharp insight, good ideas and is a total self-starter. The unanswered question is, why was he fired? [...]

Dan Froomkin
 Leslie Gelb on the Media’s Iraq Fiasco
A veteran journalist and Washington insider has completed an empirical study of the elite press’s performance in the run-up to and early days of the Iraq war and – big surprise – has found it badly wanting. Leslie H. Gelb, writing in Democracy: A Journal of Ideas, concludes that American’s finest journalists failed to even minimally [...]

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(Nieman Watchdog)

Worth replicating in your state?
Riverside County issues three times more death penalty convictions than average for California counties, an intgeractive map shows. A map like this looks worth replicating elsewhere.
(Sacramento Bee)

'The Pocantico Declaration'
A group of nonprofit investigative news organizations, including some of the leading ones, has just taken the first steps toward creating a new, nationwide collaborative.
(Building an Investigative News Network)

Torture for the NPR ombudsperson
Bob Garfield knows what torture is, and how to apply it in an interview.
(On the Media [NPR])

‘3 Minutes to Fort Totten’
An outstanding, at times painful reconstruction of the June 22nd collision that killed a train operator and eight Metro rail passengers and left scores injured in Washington, DC.
(The Washington Post)

Scientology defectors
Former Scientology executives describe intimidation and violence in an-depth, multi-media report that focuses on Scientology leader David Miscavige.
(St. Petersburg Times)

Roger Cohen in Tehran
A vivid first-hand account of the street protests, tear gas, bloody confrontations and all. "There were people of all ages," the columnist writes. "I saw an old man on crutches, middle-aged office workers and bands of teenagers. Unlike the student revolts of 2003 and 1999, this movement is broad."
(The New York Times)

Psst, you in Congress: People want a 'public option'
Despite unease over government involvement, a great majority in a New York Times/CBS News poll -- 72 percent -- favor just that: a government health plan to compete with private ones.
(New York Times)

In Israel, rooting for Iran
Haaretz columnist Bradley Burston is "in awe of the people of Iran," and also of "the world revolutionary named Barack Obama."
(Haaretz)

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