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Slate

Armstrong loses (almost) everything

When Lance Armstrong, winner of seven Tour de France titles, was accused of doping, he reacted by opting out of the US Anti-Doping Agency's arbitration process, saying he is "finished with this nonsense". Josh Levin says his reaction is in line with his "default mode for a decade: angry, defensive, paranoid, self-aggrandizing, and messianic...When nobody thought he would endure testicular cancer, Armstrong got healthy and became the greatest bike racer ever. The world's most famous cancer survivor then stared down drug accusations the same way that he did disease. His accusers were doubters, and doubters were poisonous." Levin further writes, "USADA may—if the International Cycling Union agrees—be able to strip the ex-champ of his closet full of yellow jerseys, but they won't be able to take away Armstrong's most prized possession: his righteous indignation."

The Independent

The empire strikes back

Last week, Rupert Murdoch's The Sun became the first British newspaper to publish leaked photos of a naked Prince Harry in a Las Vegas hotel room in the company of several young women. The Independent's Jane Merrick and Matthew Bell say this is the Murdoch empire striking back at the Press Complaints Commission, the Leveson Commission (formed after the News Of The World scandal) and Prime Minister David Cameron. "Not only was The Sun showing Prince Harry's bottom, but Mr Murdoch was, figuratively speaking, mooning the British establishment, including Lord Justice Leveson. This was also a veiled attack on Mr Cameron, whom Mr Murdoch, it is said, blames for the looming threat of statutory regulation by setting up the Leveson inquiry in the first place." The story also talks about the liberating effect publishing the photos had on the morale of the employees. They quote one staffer as saying, "It is good to feel that we are working for a paper that gets noticed again."

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