ENTERTAINMENT
By David Zurawik and The Baltimore Sun | February 16, 2012
Chelsea Clinton did her second report for NBC's "Rock Center with Brian Williams" Wednesday night, and it was just as flawed as the first. The learning curve does not appear to have bent one degree in the direction of growth. This one-dimensional, under-reported, naive celebration of a charter school in Rhode Island was just as much of an empty-headed puff job as Clinton's first report on an after-school program in Little Rock. And before you take to your computer to send an email telling me how mean it is for me to criticize this 31-year-old woman who has been given educational and workplace advantages generally belonging to the elite 1 percent we have been hearing so much about in recent months, let me say my criticism is not primarily directed at Clinton, but rather at NBC News, It knows the difference between jounalism and the silly crap she is doing.
ENTERTAINMENT
By David Zurawik and The Baltimore Sun | December 19, 2011
The Washington Post used to have the best media reporter in the country in Howard Kurtz. Now it was Erik Wemple writing what the paper calls "a reported opinion blog on news media. " I'll leave it to others to speculate on what that might suggest about the trajectory of the Post. But I was on Kurtz's "Reliable Sources" CNN media show Sunday, and Wemple didn't like what I said about the debut of Chelsea Clinton as a "special correspondent" for NBC News. You can read his post here . In it, he called me "childish and misanthropic" for my criticism of Clinton.
NEWS
Susan Reimer | November 21, 2011
What ever happened to paying your dues? Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps? Rags to riches? Those quintessential elements of the American dream have been replaced by a "child of" meritocracy in which your birth certificate means more than your resume. Chelsea Clinton has been added to NBC's stable of reporters, and the sound you hear is that of thousands of unemployed journalists weeping over their Starbucks applications. She is the latest in a growing list of children famous because their parents are famous becoming high profile broadcasters.
ENTERTAINMENT
By David Zurawik and The Baltimore Sun | November 21, 2011
Since others like Mediaite and Eric Wemple in the Washington Post have commented on my denunciation of NBC News on CNN's "Reliable Sources" Sunday for hiring the woefully unqualified Chelsea Clinton as a special correspondent, I guess I better explain how I really feel. I was only warming up in denouncing this inside job among the elite one-percenters when I said: "At a time when young people who have played by the rules, who have gone to college, who have worked hard are camping out in American cities because the system has failed them in terms of providing jobs, to then take another member of that elite - the 1 percent - and give them one of those jobs is really a dispiriting message to the people in this country...
ENTERTAINMENT
By David Zurawik and The Baltimore Sun | December 17, 2011
I'm coming back to work after a much-needed week away, and I am starting with a busy day Sunday that opens in Washington at CNN's "Reliable Sources. " Host Howard Kurtz has a very strong lineup this week. Here's his description from the CNN website: Another week and another debate hit our TV screens with just over two weeks to go until the Iowa caucus. We'll have “The Press Pool” host Julie Mason, National Review senior editor Ramesh Ponnuru, and Washington Post columnist Dana Milbank to talk about the latest political headlines.
NEWS
By Katherine Richards and Katherine Richards,Staff Writer | December 17, 1993
President Clinton wasn't the only proud father watching his child perform in the Washington Ballet production of "The Nutcracker" on Saturday.Manchester Town Manager Terry Short also brimmed with pride as his son, Nathan, 15, danced alongside Chelsea Clinton and the other professionals and students at the Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.Nathan Short plays the role of "teen-age boy." Miss Clinton plays "the favorite aunt."Silver Run teen Lauren Jewell also appears in the ballet, playing one of the toy soldiers.