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Best Website

http://newsresearch.blogspot.com

Long-time Miami Herald news research editor Elisabeth Donovan maintains this meticulous blog on current events. Called ¨Infomaniac¨ for an award Donovan won several years ago, it´s chock-full of useful links. Most of the recent postings have been about the war in Iraq, but in more peaceful times, the site focuses on South Florida, Cuba, and other parts of Latin America. Make no mistake, though; this is Donovan´s personal site, and she doesn´t hesitate to post her opinions. For example, on March 20, 2003, she posed the question: ¨How big was the headline on your front page today? I was embarrassed by ours. It was huge and unseemly (I thought), WAR BEGINS. I´d have made it about a third the size and called it US ATTACKS. Project for today: I´ll be going to the Newseum to compare headlines.¨ Great links to fellow bloggers too.

Best Herald Scoop of the Herald

A Cowboy Dies on Broadway

On March 30, 2003, the Miami Herald ran a story that chronicled the adaptation of the 1980 movie Urban Cowboy into a Broadway play. In a lengthy feature filling most of the front part of the Sunday arts section, theater critic Christine Dolen described the difficulties with the production before and after its pre-Broadway run at the Coconut Grove Playhouse. What that article didn´t say, likely because the lifestyle section is printed several days before it is distributed, is that the play had opened its preview run at the Broadhurst Theatre in Manhattan, where it received negative reviews from New York critics. Though Dolen´s piece in the lifestyle section helpfully included information on where and how to buy tickets, her other story on page 4A that same day told readers there was no need to bother: The producers closed the musical on March 29.

Best Correction

Sun-Sentinel on March 8, 2003

¨An article published Friday on page 1A concerning bacteria in the ocean water off South Florida misstated the cause of various gastrointestinal diseases. Enterococci and fecal coliform bacteria are indicators of the presence of human or animal waste, which contains pathogens that can cause salmonella, cholera, shigellosis and hepatitis A.¨ Whew, that makes me feel better.

Ron Gunzburger

is a long-time political consultant in South Florida. He recently became legal counsel and director of public affairs for the Broward County Appraiser's Office.

Q: Do you watch reality-TV shows?

A: I live with someone who really likes them. We share the remote, so I've seen Survivor for a few seasons. I've seen some of Big Brother and Joe Millionaire. Then there's the reality-game show hybrids, like Blind Date. That's pretty funny. The one I can't stand is Fear Factor. It's not even a game of skill but of who can be the biggest moron -- like, I'll give you 100 bucks if you stick your hand in a hive of bees. Just a lowlife endurance contest. The smartest contestants are the ones who walk off and say, "You people are a bunch of idiots."

Q: Is there one that you especially like?

A: Amazing Race, where the contestants actually go around the world looking for clues. These people actually have to use some ingenuity. Part of it is staying under control and doing the best you can. I like seeing where they go. They're always on a train or something, and then, in American tourist fashion, they run up and grab their clue and they're off again. It's the only reality show I'd even entertain the idea of going on.

Q: Do you think reality TV is a good thing?

A: I guess it's a lot cheaper to produce. You don't have to pay actors or writers. Just film the stuff and pay editors. I'm not sure how real it is, though, when they shoot 90 hours of footage and cut it down to 22 or 23 minutes.

Q: Are there things in the shows that relate to your own world?

A: Well, most politicians aren't the types that would like that sort of attention. Then there's the handful that don't know the difference between good press and bad press. They'd eat slugs as long as Channel 4 was there to film it.

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