This is some of what’s caught my attention lately:

• The Media Equation – Daring to Say Loans Made No Sense | NYTimes.com – “Mr. Blumberg said that back when they first started, “there were all these respected economists saying that no, it’s not a bubble, and yes, there would be a correction, but it would be a soft-landing and I think people were too intimidated to question that,” Mr. Blumberg said.“That’s the story of my life, asking the stupid question,” he said.”
• Is the BBC a rival or a resource? | Libby Purves – Times Online – A BBC presenter writes: “Suppose we didn’t have two struggling, overstretched local “public services” but one healthy, careful collaboration, serving properly sized areas with news and programmes for that modest hour a day? It would cost the BBC, but would be far closer to its historic task than a lot of the things on which it spends millions now.” The term ‘collaboration’ comes straight from BBC D-G Mark Thompson’s recent speech…
• BAILOUT – Part 1, What Crisis? | TPMCafe – “Journalists should be insisting that officials make the case that there is a crisis, do not just accept that there is one because they say so. And then reporters should ask hard questions about who benefits from the bailout, whether there are alternative solutions that would be less costly or more effective.”
• Europe’s Public Broadcasters Alarm Commercial Rivals | International Herald Tribune – “ZDF, one of two main publicly financed television companies in Germany, wants to revamp Dokukanal, a digital channel that was started eight years ago. It intends to replace documentaries and other factual fare with “family entertainment,” including soap operas, to attract a broader audience. “This is the only way for us, in a digital world, to fulfill our communications mission and reach younger people again with our public service content,” said Markus Schächter, director general of ZDF, in a statement on the broadcaster’s plans.” Public service…
• Nebraska ‘safe haven’ law for kids has unintended results | USATODAY.com – “Between 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. on Wednesday, three fathers walked into two hospitals in Omaha and abandoned their children. One left nine siblings, ages 1 to 17. The men, unless proven to have abused the kids, won’t face prosecution under a new Nebraska law that is unique in the nation. The law allows parents to leave a child at a licensed hospital without explaining why.”
• Meet the new face of satire as Hitler web craze goes viral | The Observer – The Coren spoof: “Among the latest spin-offs is ‘Changing Giles Coren’, inspired by journalist Giles Coren’s irate letter to sub-editors at The Times, complaining after they removed a word from the final sentence of an article he had submitted.”
• The Madness of Spies by John Le Carre | The New Yorker – Full text unavailable, but another reason to subscribe: “The superbug of espionage madness isn’t confined to individual cases. It flourishes in its collective form. Faith in spies is mystical, and they’re a protected species in our national psychology.”