By Foster Kamer 8/29/12 3:30pm

Propaganda

Megan Kelly

‘Women of Fox News’ Chain-Mail Propaganda: What’s Wrong With This Email?

It’s odd to see chain-email forwards in 2012; they seem like a relic of the late ’90s, when email was still the best way to share information with a mass of people one knew (as opposed to, say, Facebook in 2012). More often than not, they seemed intent on propagating something, whether it was a belief, a superstition or an awful joke that parents find funny.

We found ourselves on the receiving end of one today, however, that struck a chord of curiosity from one person who sent it on. Read More

By Foster Kamer 6/12/12 8:16pm

SHEKELS AND THE CITY

Sarah Jessica Parker

Watch Sarah Jessica Parker Get Deleted from Obama Fundraising Emails in Real Time!

You wouldn’t think, but not all mail-merge, en masse, preformed emails are alike. Which is why journalism nonprofit ProPublica created their a wonderful little feature—right now, in beta—called the Message Machine, which crowd-sources communications like emails from campaigns, collects them, and notes the small differences. The one they’re working on now is about Sarah Jessica Parker fundraising for Barack Obama in New York City.

It’s pretty interesting to watch—and note—the way most people got emails that left out the emphatic praise of Sarah Jessica Parker from emails other recipients received. Read More

By Foster Kamer 4/20/12 4:21pm

THINGS YOU ASKED FOR

ron-paul-revolution

Ron Paul Supporters Go On Annoyance Offensive by Shelling Media Inboxes With Spam

Every news organization has some kind of tips inbox that most reporters or editors don’t pay that much attention to, with good reason: They normally don’t yield anything too fruitful, aside from the occasional hilariously awful press release one forwards around the newsroom with zero comment needed, preposterously bad joke that it is. Well, it’s Friday, and we took a peak in the Observer’s Tips Inbox to take a look at what was there.

Lo and behold, there were emails from supporters of Ron Paul, the L. Ron Hubbard of Libertarians, currently running for President. Which isn’t too out-of-the-ordinary. Except, well, there were a few of them. Today is apparently some kind of Ron Paul Day of Email Action. Everyone from the New York Times to The Daily Beast to The Texas Tribune to us are getting them. Read More

By Hunter Walker 2/17/12 7:55pm

Beef

dr.noren

‘Good Shabbos Indeed:’ The E-Mail That Inspired Scott Noren To ‘Occupy Liz Benjamin’

For the past few weeks, longshot “Occupy” Senate candidate Scott Noren has been at war with the state politics blog and TV show Capital Tonight with angry ads on Albany politics sites and supposedly plans to fly a plane over the capitol. Today, Mr. Noren published a series of emails he claims inspired the feud. Mr. Noren became enraged with Capital Tonight host Liz Benjamin, one of the pre-eminent reporters on the Albany beat, after receiving what he described as a “less than professional” response from her following “several attempts to get media coverage on Capital Tonight.”

“You have come across as the most arrogant local newscaster I have ever encountered,” Mr. Noren wrote in the missive he released today. Read More

By Dan Duray 7/06/11 2:49pm

TVArt

shit

Bravo’s Gallery Girls Seeks Consultant on the Subject of Art

By now the chances are good that you’ve heard about the new reality show Gallery Girls, which promises to put the art history majors who sit behind desks at galleries under the Real Housewives/The Hills/PoweR Girls microscope. The show is being developed for Bravo by Magical Elves, the company that makes Top Chef, Project Runway Read More