I felt no need to say something nasty or snarky (or much of anything) yesterday when syndicated columnist Robert Novak died. He was, in essence, a minor figure, and he probably would have agreed with that assessment. I do think his sins have been [...] 
In my latest for the Guardian, I take a look at the increasingly contentious issue of aggregation, and at what constitutes good and bad linking practices. [...] 
With the election in Afghanistan just days away, GlobalPost, the Boston-based international news service, has weighed in with a first-rate multimedia presentation on the Taliban.
The Boston Globe's Alex Beam has a must-read column on the seedier side of Boston journalism history.' [...] 
Jon Keller weighs in with a neat bit of media criticism, observing that today's Boston Globe story on Gov. Deval Patrick's relative popularity in Western Massachusetts is based on a poll of just 70 people — "a sample so small, it's meaningless," as Keller notes.' [...] 
At the summit of Mt. Monadnock
And here I thought the Orange Line stopped in back of Northeastern and the Green Line in front. And that Oak Grove was the closest station to Media Nation World Headquarters. [...] 
The Cambridge Police Department has adopted a restrictive policy that would force the Cambridge Chronicle to pay more than $1,200 to obtain public records of police activity for most of July, according to a story by Chronicle reporter Erin Smith. What's more, the policy' [...] 
Even as a third prospective buyer has emerged for the Boston Globe — and even as the New York Times Co. has finally acknowledged that the Globe is for sale, something that's been clear for months — the company's top two executives have broken their [...] 
Even many of us who think the Cambridge Police overreacted by arresting Henry Louis Gates in his own home have assumed — for the sake of argument if nothing else — that Sgt. James Crowley's report was accurate.
In my latest for the Guardian, I consider how the media ought to deal with the right-wing Birther movement through the lens of my friend Charles Pierce's excellent new book — "Idiot America: How Stupidity Became a Virtue in the Land of the Free." [...] 
I'm heading for New York City with Miss Media Nation to take in the Titanic exhibit. Then off to Chef Yu.' [...] 
I've extended the time for commenting back out to seven days.' [...] 
One thing that has struck me in the endless discussion over Henry Louis Gates' arrest is the difference in cultural attitudes between those who are defending Gates versus those siding with the Cambridge police.
Henry Louis Gates gives a lengthy interview to the Root, an African-American webzine of which he is editor-in-chief. (Via Universal Hub.) [...] This afternoon in an interview, Gates said he never yelled at [...]
The partly free republic of Kazakhstan has taken a step toward greater repression, as President Nursultan Nazarbayev (photo) recently signed a bill aimed at cracking down on the Internet.
George Merry, a longtime political reporter for the Christian Science Monitor, who died on July 1, is someone I knew slightly. We were both graduates of Northeastern University, and George often attended events organized by our journalism alumni group in the 1980s.
In my latest for the Guardian, I weigh in on the life and long career of CBS News anchorman Walter Cronkite.
Over at "Beat the Press," Ralph Ranalli has a nice anecdote and some insights about Walter Cronkite by way of Emily Rooney.
The Bay State Banner may survive. According to the Boston Globe's Meghan Irons, Harvard Law School professor Charles Ogletree (photo) says he has lined up a dozen investors to save the weekly newspaper, which serves Greater Boston's African-American community. Ogletree says the Banner, founded [...] 
In my commentary for the Guardian, I take on the latest bad idea to come out of the Cleveland Plain Dealer — reader representative Ted Diadiun's widely mocked claim that bloggers are "pipsqueaks" who steal content. [...] 
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Fans of former Boston Herald political reporter/blogger Kimberly Atkins will be interested to know that she's liveblogging the Sonia Sotomayor hearings for her current employer, Lawyers USA. Atkins, a lawyer, is a staff reporter for the publication. [...] 
The student-run Huntington News is taking the social-media route to covering the collapse of a cornice on a Northeastern University-owned residence hall on Huntington Avenue.
Maureen Dowd and PlagiarismView more documents from Dan Kennedy.
From Sarah Palin's Facebook page:
My Fourth of July is complete. As always, I read the Declaration of Independence in the Boston Globe from start to finish. It's a great tradition, and I hope it remains unchanged as long as the Globe is in business.
Romenesko is rounding up coverage 
Cambridge police certainly have their priorities straight. Department spokesman Jimmy DiFrancesco 
Boston Mayor Tom Menino's 
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