Talk Elections

http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/08/niall-ferguson-smacked-down-over-obama-newsweek-cover.html

Niall Ferguson wrote an article that graces the cover of Newsweek this week. It's titled "Hit the Road Barack- Why We Need a New President"

He attempts to list all of Obama's broken promises, but in the process he is being accused by colleagues of deliberately publishing misleading or flat out wrong information to prove his point.

Paul Krugman does a great job smacking down Ferguson for his criticism of Obamacare. Check it out.

Ferguson is an idiot.

That man.  That name.  It haunts me.  Will Niall Ferguson ever leave me alone?  Why must that name chase me?

Obama hasn't been great....but Ferguson is a hack.

SERIOUS PERSON ALERT!

It looks like Newsweek has lunged to the right wing like every other agency except MSNBC. MSNBC is the only liberal outlet left.

lol Newsweek

I think I just saw something in the sky.

Ah yeah, that is Newsweek journalistic credibility.

Finally, Newsweek gains some perspective after a generation of espousing leftist causes.

LOL, the guy who famously claimed that rising bond yields in 2009 were a sign of vigilantism? Most people won't understand what a Palin-like error that was. He basically went way out on left field to make a prediction that, if true, would have turned everything upside down, and was spectacularly wrong. Even more funny, at the time it was being spun as an epic intellectual battle between him and Paul Krugman.

This article tries to give you a hint:
http://www.businessinsider.com/niall-ferguson-has-been-wrong-on-economics-2012-8

Niall Ferguson, dude.

I can't think of any greater evidence of the decline of the US that the fact of your "public intellectuals".

He was Britain's public intellectual before he was ours.

This blog post by Dylan Byers of Politico confirms, after a talk with a Newsweek spokesperson, that Newsweek, "like other news organizations" does not have a fact-checking department.

https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/237589163174658048 (https://twitter.com/DylanByers/status/237589163174658048)

I think they should all put that credential on their cover and make it part of their pitch: "Newsweek: We Don't Fact-Check Our Stories."  Jesus.  Even the Enquirer does some fact-checking to protect themselves from lawsuits

He doesn't change does he. Haha.

Fact checking is really besides the point. The credibility of Niall Ferguson depends upon the strength of the pseudo-intellectual aura in which he has managed to shroud himself and not upon the veracity of his facts and opinions. To borrow a line from Christopher Hitchens: you can get away with outrageous sins against the truth if you can just get yourself called "public intellectual".

Oh, I agree, homelycooking.  Ferguson is a bad joke, and people are commonly labeled "public intellectuals" in not only modern culture but in all periods for merely proffering an opinion made on the most minimal study and loose or no connection with reality.  The inevitable criticism that can take place in free societies is good medicine for this...sometimes.  But, you know, if I was running a magazine like Newsweek, I'd at least want to take some steps to protect the magazine's credibility so that I didn't have to send my reps out to defend the organization by saying things as lame as "we don't fact-check."  That's like a restaurant defending itself against a food-poisoning allegation by saying: "the ingredients we buy aren't subject to health inspection."

Newsweek, like other print media, is in economic stress. It can no longer afford fact-checking.

...the media are going Right. Dan Rather illustrates how a figure like Karl Rogue can wreck a journalistic career. CNN has been a "ride the winner" news organization. It was pro-Clinton, then pro-Dubya, and then pro-Obama. Which way does the wind now blow?

It is much more profitable to go with the corporate Right because that is where the ad revenue comes from.

Oh, it's far too late for that, Anvi. ;)

I liked his book, The Ascent of Money. I am not familiar with his politics.

I wouldn't wish the label "backed by Niall Ferguson" on my worst enemy.  Even Mitt Romney's better than that.

I stopped reading Newsweek years ago, about the same time they ceased to give objective news coverage and started advocating political positions. It's sort of weird that they did a right wing story for once. I guess they figured the best way to achieve objectivity is balance out liberal bias with conservative bias. It doesn't work that way.