jack shafer-related stories
Posted May 22nd 2009 2:02PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: Late Night, OpEd, Video, The Daily Show, Watercooler Talk, Celebrities, Talk Show, Reality-Free

Anyone who's seen or heard Larry King over the last quarter-century or so (which includes just about everyone who has cable TV) knows that he's been known to tell tales of his life that are, to put it charitably, less than true. Big surprise from a guy who's been
married seven times and pleaded no contest to
passing bad checks in the early Seventies, right?
Anyway, with the release of
King's new book, which is full of stories from his past, it seems like it's again time for journalists to point out that -- gasp! -- King makes some of his stories up. Jack Shafer in
Slate, for instance, has decided to bring up King's claims that
he knew Hall of Fame pitcher Sandy Koufax when the two of them were growing up in Brooklyn, a story that even Shafer acknowledges was
refuted by Koufax himself... way back in 1991.
Continue reading Non-breaking news: Larry King embellishes his stories!
Posted Feb 21st 2006 8:48PM by Joel Keller
Filed under: ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, Cable, News, Talent, OpEd

Jack Shafer of
Slate presents a
very funny slideshow that illustrates the proliferation of blonde hair
-- natural and otherwise -- into the TV news business. In the slideshow, he muses on why the women on network and cable
news feel compelled to "hit the bottle," causing them to have mounds of unnatural-looking yellow hair atop
their heads. Men aren't immune to Shafer's criticism, either: he criticizes sixty-something pundits Chris Matthews and
Lou Dobbs (whom he dubs "thinning and thinninger.") for not letting themselves go dignifyingly gray. He even
imagines what my girl Campbell Brown might look like if she were asked by her agent to go blonde!
The last
panel, where he describes "Fox Lips" as being the new blonde, is a riot.
Continue reading Invasion of the TV News Blondes!