Comedian Jerry Seinfeld has something to say about Neil Genzlinger's NY Times column Tuesday: "Your Critic’s Notebook column about the overuse of the term “Really?” was so deeply vacuous that I couldn’t help but feel that you have stepped into my area of expertise," Seinfeld writes. "Really, Neil? Really? You’re upset about too many people saying, 'Really?'? I mean, really. O.K., fine, when it’s used in scripted media, it is a little lazy. But comedy writers are lazy. You’re not fixing that. So, here’s the bottom line. If you’re a writer, fine, don’t use it. But in conversation it is fun to say."

David Finkel, a Washington Post journalist who has reported extensively on the toll of war on American troops and the struggles of refugees around the world, has been named one of 23 winners of the annual MacArthur "genuis award." Finkel, now a Post editor, is a former Guild member. 

Video footage has emerged showing U.S. freelance journalist Austin Tice being held by a group of masked men toting assault rifles in the first direct evidence of his condition since his disappearance in mid-August. The 47-second video clip was posted on YouTube on Sept. 26 and came to light Monday after it appeared on a Facebook page associated with supporters of the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. It is the first to show Tice since he disappeared while reporting on Syria’s civil war.

Frank Fahrenkopf, Republican co-chair of the Commission on Presidential Debates, tells Poynter he blames TV news networks for the lack of progress in diversity among eligible debate moderators. “The television industry has not done a very good job with diversity with regard to really having women, or blacks or Hispanics in leading situations,” Fahrenkopf said. Although CNN's Candy Crowley will be moderating one of the debates, the format for hers is town-hall style, while Wednesday's moderator, Jim Lehrer, will have the freedom to ask his own questions. Crowley "will be the girl with the microphone," said Carole Simpson, who hosted a town hall-style debate in 1992.