WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2026
The bombing of San Diego: Most Americans will remember the time when we were honored, admittedly by one only person, as “the best close reader in the media today.”
The statement was attributed to Dan Kennedy, as quoted by Steve Twomey in a somewhat peculiar profile of this very site in the February 2005 issue of the Columbia Journalism Review. If memory serves, we may have been the Review's cover boy in that issue, though that could be wrong.
At any rate, the lofty accolade leaped off the page. The passage in question went like this:
The Howler’s Quiet Moment
[...]
“I appreciate what he does,” wrote “Jim” during a discussion of blogging on The Washington Monthly’s Web site in September, “but seriously, if I read him for more than a few days in a row, I want to scream, ‘We. got. it. the first 8,000 times you wrote it, our press is deeply dysfunctional. Move on. PLEASE.’”
But Dan Kennedy, the media critic of The Boston Phoenix, says Somerby is “the best close reader in the media today,” the most adept at parsing a story for faulty logic, sloppy research, omissions, writing tricks, and the degree to which its author swallowed somebody’s spin. Kennedy, a late-comer to the Howler, says that when he finally read it regularly, “the scales were lifted from my eyes: ‘Good Lord, this guy is amazing.’”
Today, that's Professor Kennedy, of Northeastern University, who we've often described as the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being ever seen in print.
In that slightly peculiar part of his profile, Twomey, a very nice guy, was displaying a slightly odd form of critical balance—pulling a complaint from a guy named "Jim" in comments, balancing it with words of praise from a professional press observer.
By the way:
Why did we repeat ourselves so much, largely concerning press coverage of the 2000 campaign? We said the things we constantly said because we couldn't get anyone else to say them, even though everyone knew they were true, a point we repeatedly explained at the time.
What happened in the press corps during Campaign 2000 was staying in the press corps! As everyone in the press corps knew, that was hard guild law at the time.
At any rate, there we were, described as "the best close reader." Today, close readers of all stripes face a new interpretive challenge:
What did the sitting president say about the possible bombing of San Diego and Los Angeles? We thought the performance on MS NOW last night was stunningly bad—was anthrpologically sobering.
For us, it started at 3 p.m. Eastern, ran on through the night. Maybe tomorrow, maybe later, we'll say how we think it went.
ReplyDelete"...who we've often described as the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being ever seen in print."
So, you adore him and he adores you? Nice, and all that, but it seems like this should be your private affair...
"Raymond Shaw is the kindest, bravest, warmest, most wonderful human being I've ever known in my life." Famous quotes from the 1962 film The Manchurian Candidate
DeleteTwenty-one years ago this was an important blog.
ReplyDeleteColumbia Journalism Review didn't produce a Feb 2005 issue but put out a combined Jan/Feb issue that year. I checked and Somerby was not on the cover then, nor was he on the Jan/Feb 2006 issue. There were no major stories about him but he could have been mentioned by one of the other authors. Hard to check because the contents are not readily available online.
ReplyDeleteSomerby is welcome to recall his past achievements any way he wishes, just as Trump does his victory in 2020. If he were still much of a journalist these days, he would have verified this stuff, not me.
Close reading is: "the most adept at parsing a story for faulty logic, sloppy research, omissions, writing tricks, and the degree to which its author swallowed somebody’s spin."
ReplyDeleteSomerby long ago stopped picking out those flaws in other people's writing and started using them himself. Around 2015, he dedicated his blog to advancing right wing talking points, in support of Donald Trump's candidacy. Before that, he made himself ludicrous through over-the-top hatred of Rachel Maddow, support for guys like Roy Moore, and blaming Democrats for prejudice against the South and Others. He went on and on about NAEP scores back then, without talking at all about education policies, claiming he was the only one who cared about black kids. His blog was barely readable back then, so it is hard to see what any retrospective journalist might have seen in his blog.
His original website appears to be gone and his current archives only go back to 2011. Why erase your glory days and leave the shithole essays?
Is Somerby really hinting that Trump didn't really throw LA and SD under the bus, to the hogs, off the boat? We all heard what he said. There is no use speculating about what he meant when (a) he has no coherent thought processes any more, (b) everyone knows Trump hates blue states, (c) there was nothing humorous about his statement at all, especially to those who live in either city, (d) Trump's audience cheered when he gave Iran permission to bomb LA and SD and said it would be a "small price to pay" and no big sacrifice to keep the rest of the country safe (in so many words).
DeleteWhat kind of close reading can come up with a reason to give Trump some slack, which is surely what Somerby will suggest, in the name of kindness to horses.
The problem is not how the statement was reported, the problem is the level of fucking ridiculous stupid it is for the President to state
DeleteI disagree with you more often than not, Bob, but you’re a mensch. The world is better with you in it.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like Somerby is giving himself some ego repair fluffing and Cecelia is auditioning for the Natalie Harp role.
DeleteA guy like Somerby cannot go around kicking lefty favorites like Maddow and expect to be well liked or well remembered after he is gone.
I believe Trump has some fake Time Magazine covers too, that he used to decorate his golf club walls.
Agreed.
DeleteSomerby is a flawed human being. I hope he enjoyed his various efforts during his long life. It is probably too late to start another career, but Somerby might admit that he has been unfair to Maddow, who definitely didn't deserve his negative attention.
DeleteThe Trannytroll is a nasty fuck that has got to go.
DeleteMaddow has written several well-researched and highly regarded history books. She also has an advanced degree from Oxford University. Her critical thinking and attention to detail surpasses Somerby's. His attacks on her were valid criticisms of her journalism but an expression of personal animosity. Whatever real chops he had as a press gadfly were negated by his bigotry over the years.
DeleteI have the same reaction to that CJR article as I would have to a puff-piece about Rush Limbaugh. No one with serious credentials would take Somerby seriously, then or now.
Not valid criticisms — word “not” omitted.
Delete"The Trannytroll is a nasty fuck that has got to go."
DeleteHere's a mirror. Take a look.
Trump says Iran can bomb LA and SD, who cares? But Somerby thinks MSNOW was stunningly bad? Why wasn't what Trump said stunningly bad?
ReplyDeleteIt no longer takes a close reading to be critical of most politicians on the right. That is no reason for Somerby to switch to criticizing people on the left who are telling the truth about how bad things are on the right.
It isn't just close reading (aka fault-finding) that matters, but the truth of what is being said. Somerby seems to have never cared about the truth.
One truth Somerby has never acknowledged -- Al Gore lost the election himself, not because of the press coverage, which was admittedly pissy because they didn't like Al Gore much. I didn't either, because he encouraged Tipper to engage in a religious campaign against rock song lyrics that made her and Al himself ridiculous to younger people. I also disliked Gore because, instead of recognizing the hit campaign against Bill and Hillary by the right and supporting them, he disassociated himself from them on the pretext that Bill had "lied to him". That whining showed he had no sense of what politics was about and no loyalty to the left, no recognition of the achievements of Clinton's two terms, which he refused to campaign on. His shameful distancing was a lot like the way Biden was treated by some Democrats, and it didn't go over well with those of us on the left who admired Clinton and thought the Lewinsky nonsense was cooked up to discredit him, a sham. I still voted for Gore because of his environmentalism and because Bush was unacceptable, but Gore lost on his own merits.
In retrospect, it seems to me that Gore was too right wing for my tastes, which may be another reason (besides the personal one of being roomates) why Somerby pushed him.
I will never forgive Somerby for his campaign against Biden. That gave us Trump 2.0, so I doubt many others here will forgive him either.
Somerby has no influence whatsoever.
DeleteSomerby has a good friend, Tim Howe, who is a producer of comedy shows, and yet he never was given a gig? But Howe says he is honest. I suppose that means he believes what he says, not that what he says is accurate or true or even meaningful. I'd even settle for useful, but too much of Somerby's complaints were esoteric and peevish.
ReplyDeleteTwomey (the author of the 2005 article Somerby links to without properly identifying) says that journalists at major papers did not read Somerby's blog and were unaware of his criticisms back in the day. Twomey sways they should have read them because it would have improved their writing.
DeleteThere is some irony to that, given that Somerby does not read his comments and thus never improves and makes the same factual and other kinds of mistakes over and over, pointed out faithfully by the close readers of his own blog.
I find that hypocritical.
From the 2005 article: "With the start of the new year, Somerby, who says he needs to earn money, will join the lecture circuit, talking about how “liberal bias ain’t what it used to be.” He won’t kill the Howler, he says, but he will probably write shorter pieces, and he might change the tone."
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for that change of tone.
I wish Harvard would teach its undergrads what the word "anthropology" means before sending them into the world to use it. MSNOW is a fucking cable show and it has nothing to do with anthropology in any sense of the word.
ReplyDeleteSomerby makes up his own meanings for words and phrases. Then he reuses those words and phrases without definition for any new readers. Schizophrenics do the same thing. It is a way of being out of touch with reality and oblivious to the need to communicate with other people.
DeleteWhen you are a teacher, it is common for students to bring small presents to the last day of class. Sometimes parents insist on their kids doing that, especially if they come from a culture that respects learning. A teacher who does not like and respect students is less likely to receive such small gifts. This might be a good day for Somerby to continue avoiding his comments, since the only one saying positive things is Cecelia (so far). When paid trolls are the only ones expressing appreciation, the self-posting of a single positive review from 2005 might be all that is coming, despite the huge hint about throwing bouquets.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't just LA and SD who Trump is threatening, but past Democratic office-holders:
ReplyDelete"I could have done very bad things to Hillary Clinton. I could have done very, very bad things to Joe Biden. I could have done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama. I thought it was inappropriate to do so because you have to treat the office of the presidency with respect. Then I found out that they impeached me twice. I certainly — even to this moment I can do whatever I want, if I want. They’ve done some very bad things that you just mentioned. It was mentioned in the form of a question what they did, very illegal what they did. Many illegal things. But I view the presidency as a very sacred position. Very sacred position. Very important, very sacred, a position where it has to be treated properly."
He said this in response to Peter Doocey who asked him if he was concerned about being impeached again.
He doesn’t treat the presidency as a sacred position. That’s another lie.
Delete