$64,000 in Bow Ties, Paid by the Taxpayer

Incredibly, taxpayers of Ohio bought $64,000 in bow ties for its university President, as well as a $500 shower curtain.

The story serves as a helpful reminder that the NCAA is one of, if the worst, institution in America.

Be Fair, or Look Fair?

Ezra Klein:

We’ve been conditioned to want to give both sides relatively equal praise and blame, and the fact of the matter is, I would like to give both sides relatively equal praise and blame. I’d personally feel better if our coverage didn’t look so lopsided. But first the campaigns have to be relatively equal. So far in this campaign, you can look fair, or you can be fair, but you can’t be both.

Navigating Post-Truth Politics

By David Roberts

Campaign reporters have deeply internalized the need to appear fair, to be above mere partisanship, to criticize or praise both sides in equal measure. The GOP is acutely aware of this dynamic and for years has used it to their advantage. But real fairness is geared to the facts, not to appearances, and today’s right simply lies more, misleads more, and denies established facts more. That is the conclusion a fair-minded appraisal yields. Empirics have a liberal bias, to paraphrase Colbert.

Revolt of the Savvy

“Professional journalists, whose self-image starts with: ‘We’re a check on…’ had to decide what to do about the truck that just ran their checkpoint, carrying the brain trust of the Romney campaign, laughing at how easy it all was.”

Link: http://pressthink.org/2012/08/presspushback/#p43 

A turn to a culture of truth?