Media Outlets

In the day since Emily Maynard and Jef Holm revealed their engagement to the world, the happy couple have been busy doing the media rounds to spread the news of their romantic bliss. On Tuesday morning, the pair jumped on a conference call with a handful of media outlets to talk about wedding plans and how in love they were. But I would not be part of this lobbing of softballs. When it came time for me to ask my first question, I asked about something that has been perplexing a number of us in "Bachelorette" Nation for months: Why wasn't the show forthright about Jef's Mormon background?

BEIRUT -- The embattled Syrian government took the unusual step Wednesday of denying reports that young men were being grabbed at checkpoints and drafted into the army as part of a new general call for military conscription. The official news service also dismissed suggestions that almost two years of fighting an internal rebellion had eroded the capabilities of Syria's once imposing military, which has suffered heavy casualties and mass desertions. The Syrian military is at its “highest levels of readiness and capability, and [is]

Instead of probing how other media outlets are doing their jobs, CNN media critic Howard Kurtz spent a big chunk of his Sunday morning show "Reliable Sources" being questioned about his own work. Kurtz took heat last week for a piece he wrote for the Daily Beast about NBA player Jason Collins coming out as gay. Kurtz criticized the piece Collins wrote for Sports Illustrated because Kurtz claimed the athlete didn't acknowledge that he had once been engaged to a woman. Kurtz also made a video about the story that mocked Collins for a website called Daily Download to which he contributes.

The Los Angeles Times will use a $1-million grant from the Ford Foundation to expand its coverage of key beats, including immigration and ethnic communities in Southern California, the southwest U.S. border and the emerging economic powerhouse of Brazil. Times Editor Davan Maharaj announced the grant Thursday, calling it "great news" that will bolster coverage of subjects vitally important to readers. A Ford Foundation spokesman said that as media organizations face challenges in funding reporting through advertising and traditional revenue streams, "we and many other funders are experimenting with new approaches to preserve and advance high-quality journalism.

Russian authorities seized financial and personnel files from the offices of Media-Most, a media holding company whose owner's arrest last month prompted an international outcry and fears of a crackdown against press freedoms. Investigators also gathered documents from the NTV television network, one of Media-Most's outlets, and the Gazprom state gas monopoly, which owns part of NTV, news reports said. Media outlets owned by Vladimir A.

Re "Can you count the Capitol protesters?" Sept. 15 Your article's readiness to give validity to suspect sources for the high estimates is troubling. Pete Sepp of the National Taxpayers Union and Adam Brandon of FreedomWorks, the sponsoring groups, have an incentive to inflate the numbers. The consensus among local officials and media outlets is that the crowd was well under 100,000. Do estimates vary wildly? Sure. But someone who doesn't read the entire article will have the impression that the various estimates are all equally legitimate.

KATE AURTHUR'S piece on Samantha Ronson and Lindsay Lohan ["It's Bigger Than Both of Them," July 20] was fantastic. What a great look about what media outlets are saying and not saying. That only so many people would go on record for your article only emphasized the peculiar nature of their relationship and how it is being covered. It's refreshing that a writer will go there. Kelechi Ubozoh Tarrytown, N.Y.

While your articles on the new Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach were interesting (Calendar Weekend, June 18), I am very angry at the lack of public transportation information. The article by Douglas P. Shuit ("Riding a New Wave") mentions the driving directions and reports a recent traffic jam on the 710 Freeway. Have any of you thought about why the freeways and streets are so congested? Perhaps if The Times and other media outlets offered transit information, more people would ride, and traffic would decrease!