Thursday Edition 2/4/10

REPORTING FROM IOWA: In Des Moines for the Midwest Newspaper Summit, I joined a tour of the Des Moines Register newsroom last night, imagining what that space — viewed in a quiet post-deadline hour — might have been like in the pre-Gannett days when the Register was one of America’s greatest newspapers.

JUSTICE THOMAS ON CORPORATE SPEECH: In a five minute audio, Clarence Thomas explains his vote against extending the free speech rights of corporations.

JON STEWART PLUGS FOX: On the O’Reilly Show.