By Steve Huff 4/08/12 12:06pm

R.I.P.

gty_mike_wallace_jt_120408_wg

Legendary Journalist Mike Wallace Passes Away

Mike Wallace, long considered one of the most fearsome interviewers in broadcast news, has died. He was 93.  A spokesman for CBS told the Associated Press that Mr. Wallace died Saturday night.

Mr. Wallace went into a kind of semi-retirement from regular appearances on 60 Minutes in 2006 but kept a promise made upon announcing his slowdown to do occasional new reports, profiling Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in 2007 as well as “suicide doctor” Jack Kevorkian.

Over the course of his 6 decades as a newsman Mike Wallace frequently went toe-to-toe with the famous and powerful in interviews legendary for their confrontational and emotional nature. As the A.P. reports in his obituary, Mr. Wallace once managed to break through Barbra Streisand’s intensely controlled public persona: Read More

By Drew Grant 1/06/12 12:16pm

Occupy Wall Street

OWS Sympathizers to Protest Outside Mayor Bloomberg’s House…For the Journalists

Since the holiday season, the Occupy Wall Street movement has seen a drop in media coverage. Some of this may be attributed to the dissemination of the movement after the Zuccotti Park raid last November, while another factor has to do with the fact that reporters covering the protests tend to get treated by the NYPD as part of the demonstration…even if they’re carrying city-accredited press badges.

Today, members of OWS (but not OWS itself, since, as a member of the press team told The New York Observer by phone, the still-existing General Assembly did not pass this motion), citizen journalists, and anyone else who isn’t afraid of getting arrested will be protesting outside of Mayor Bloomberg’s house for the ethical treatment of the press.

Full memo below: Read More

By Drew Grant 12/01/11 2:12pm

Occupy Wall Street

Protesters in the free speech zone during Obama's midtown fundraiser (via Mother Jones)

NYPD Still Barring Journalists From Covering Protests During Obama Fundraiser in Midtown

Last night, demonstrators who arrived in midtown to protest a Barack Obama fundraiser found themselves corralled into a “free speech zone” on 53rd Street and 7th Avenue. Reporters–like Josh Harkinson from Mother Jones and Meg Robertson from MSNBC –were not allowed near the penned-in demonstrators, despite Commissioner Ray Kelly‘s recent orders that the NYPD was to play nice with journalists covering OWS. This directive came after the events of the November 14th raid of Zuccotti and the Day of Protest on the 17th left 26 reporters arrested. Read More