Sure, he was being interviewed by a journalist from the capo-di-tutti-capi of old-media elites (what, was he gonna tell the New York Times that he gets his economic news from Perez Hilton?). But still, with the fishwrap industry taking at least as big a shipment of fail as Wall Street these days, it's kind of sweet to hear the Leader of the Free World say something nice about newspapers.

TRASH TALK
10 years ago
March 5, 1999 | Seth Mnookin shadowed the National Enquirer’s executive editor David Perel at the publication’s offices in South Florida.
“Perel spends much of his day on the phone with various Enquirer correspondents around the country. Around 11 a.m., he does his daily checkup with New York: ‘And then we always have the drugs to add to the other story.

RADIATION RULES
10 years ago
Nov. 20, 1998 | Jason Gay toured MIT's nuclear reactor.
"...touring a nuclear reactor isn't like visiting a petting zoo. At the start, all guests are equipped with pen-size pocket dosimeters -- devices used to measure any unwanted radiation they may collect during the tour. They are told not to touch anything without asking first.

MYTH BUSTING
15 years ago
October 22, 1993 | Cecil Adams, of the Straight Dope, answered a reader’s question.
Since you seem to know everything, just what is ‘tantric sex,’ anyway?
Tina S.
Montreal

“Cecil has been deeply studying this question, as is only fitting. His reference sources include many learned texts on Eastern religion plus, naturally, Cosmopolitan magazine.

BAD TIMES
5 years ago
May 16, 2003 | Dan Kennedy called for “tougher standards” in journalism in the wake of the Jayson Blair scandal.
“Yet by purging Blair, it would be wrong to think that all is now well at the Times, or in journalism. Tougher standards are needed. We all deserve better. I was struck by a comment that Alex Jones, director of the Joan Shorenstein Center.

WEST ROAST
5 years ago
May 9, 2003 | Jay Jaroch mused on the bi-coastal lifestyle and the differences between West and East Coasters.
“Sure, it’s been new and exciting, but when you grow up East Coast you learn that you should never take yourself too seriously — unless, of course, you have a graduate degree. Take yourself too seriously, and you can be sure your friends will soon be mocking you right back down to earth: ‘Bill, you’re a systems analyst and you live in Malden.

NOT-SO-FOND FAREWELL
5 years ago
May 02, 2003| Joyce Millman bade adieu to the WB’s Dawson’s Creek.
“An era is about to end as one of TV’s most influential series says goodbye. And no, I’m not talking about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This Wednesday...on the WB, Dawson’s Creek will have its series finale, after six seasons of tortured love geometry, high-school (and college) angst, smart-ass dialogue, and bad film-school pretensions.

PLAYING FAVORITES
5 years ago
April 25, 2003 | Brent Kendall analyzed how a presidential candidate’s declared “favorite book” can affect his campaign chances.
“The 2000 election demonstrated precisely how candidates' book choices play right into the media's preconceived storylines--for better and for worse.

CROSSING OVER
5 years ago
April 18, 2003 | Dan Kennedy discussed what he thought was “perhaps the most astounding media story to come out" of the Iraq War.
“This past Sunday, Jules Crittenden, the Boston Herald reporter embedded with the Army’s Third Infantry Division, described how he ‘went over to the dark side.

HOLY PURPOSE
5 years ago
March 14, 2003 | Michael Bronski talked to a peace activist with the idea of sending the Pope to Iraq in order to stop the impending war.
“Renowned peace and anti-nuke activist Helen Caldicott thinks she has a way to stop the all-but-inevitable war with Iraq: convince Pope John Paul II to join the human shields in Baghdad.

IRRADIATION FIXATION
10 years ago
February 13, 1998 | Dan Kennedy reported on the controversial activist Michael Colby and his organization Food & Water’s effort to fight against the use of irradiation on the food supply.
“Irradiating food by zapping it with gamma rays, according to its advocates, eliminates all or most of the bacteria that can make people sick.

CONFESSIONS OF A SMUGGLER
20 years ago
February 5, 1988 | Nancy Roosa wrote of her experience as a smuggler in Asia.
“The offers were almost too good to pass up. For simply carrying items from Hong Kong into Thailand or Taiwan, as we did, handwritten signs promised US $50 to $100. Even more common are ‘milk runs,’ where a group of milk-fed innocents are led by a smuggler on a five-to-six-day trip through Customs of three countries: South Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, carrying items that are limited, prohibited, or expensive in each country.

CONSUMER CULTURE
10 years ago
January 23, 1998 | Looking for culture on the newly named ‘Avenue of the Arts,’ Ellen Barry instead found corporations and flags.
“For those who failed to notice it, Huntington Avenue is no more. From Copley Square clear through Brigham Circle… Huntington is now ‘Avenue of the Arts,’ with the requisite flying pennants.