The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

A Great First Sentence

One basic thing you learn as a journalist is that, once you’ve got the lead right, the rest of the story almost writes itself: If the news media hadn’t told you how brilliant Barack Obama was every day for  the last six years, you might have your doubts. Read the whole thing.

Harassment Is Not Journalism

Bill Schmalfeldt of Elk Ridge, Maryland, a.k.a. “Liberal Grouch” “If you’re so concerned about your safety, don’t come to Maryland.” — Jim Brewer, Howard County (Md.) Assistant State’s Attorney Bill Schmalfeldt has directed 20+ unsolicited hostile Tweets at me in past 2 hours; he’s now objecting to being called “cyberstalker.” — Robert Stacy McCain (@rsmccain) […]

How Franklin Foer Fired Timothy Noah

First, some idiot kid name Olga asks Nate Thayer to write for free. Then Matthew Yglesias buys himself a million-dollar D.C. townhouse. Now, an award-winning liberal journalist gets the ax: On Thursday, New Republic columnist Timothy Noah received an email from editor Frank Foer asking him to meet at 2:30 pm on Friday. During the meeting, […]

So … This Is Now News

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 13, 2013 New Media Site ViralRead.com Signs Robert Stacy McCain as Editor in Chief WASHINGTON, D.C. – Veteran journalist Robert Stacy McCain will be joining the staff of ViralRead.com as editor in chief, the New Media site’s publisher announced Wednesday. “While we’re quietly building out ViralRead for its official launch, I’m […]

Alexis C. Madrigal, Harvard ’04

“I remember walking down Barlett Street in the Mission and saying to myself, out loud, ‘I’m a writer. I’m a writer! I’M A WRITER!’ It was all I’d wanted to be since I was 16 years old. And I was making it.” — Alexis C. Madrigal, “A Day in the Life of a Digital Editor, […]

Shorter Juan Williams: I’m Sorry My Underpaid Assistant Plagiarized That Column With My Byline I Didn’t Write

Who am I to judge, huh? Hasn’t it been my lifelong ambition to get paid big bucks without actually doing any work? But the rock star dream didn’t happen, so I was forced to resort to journalism, which requires me to sit in front of a laptop computer and at least pretend that this is […]

OK, Let’s Make This Quick

Jimmie Bise Jr. called to my attention an article that Jon Ward of the Huffington Post had Tweeted out, in which Mark Judge complains about the lamentable dearth of writerly journalism by conservatives, under this provocative headline: Standing Athwart Breitbart, Yelling Stop Judge’s complaint is valid, so far as it goes. Conservative journalism was born […]

Atlantic Editor to Freelancer: ‘We Unfortunately Can’t Pay You for It …’

Olga Khazan, global editor of The Atlantic, was a junior in high school on April 3, 2003. You may not recognize the significance of that date, even if you’re a longtime Atlantic reader. Evidently Ms. Khazan didn’t either, nor did she recognize the name Nate Thayer when she saw his byline on a story at […]

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