Media News Monday 2/13/06: MSM live in glass houses
In this edition: progressive talkers of note; journalists in particularly dangerous parts of the world; Colbert Report ratings; the ombudsman whine is so-oo last month; one-note Nagourney and a few things that need some news coverage; Sean Hannity to campaign for Katherine Harris?; media fail watchdog duty re: congressmen; the AP owes Harry Reid a big time apology; the Muhammad cartoon controversy; and more...
Thoughts, and Then, the News
I don't envy ombuds(wo)men. I'm sure the emails and other correspondence from readers can go over the top, but
this attitude, this
annoyance is so unacceptable. There are idiots and jerks out there, but some of those email campaigns have a point. Instead of dismissing them out of hand, why not look at the merits of the complaint? Yes, some people only see what they want to see. However, a lot of complaints about the media are valid, and sometimes a correction is absolutely necessary. These ombudsmen should deal with it and look at whether the reader has a point or not. The attitude the ombudsmen had at The Kalb Report was simply unacceptable. Come across like you don't take readers seriously, and you're likely to get more complaints about bias.
A Programming Note
Everyone knows who the top right-wing radio talk show hosts are, and everyone knows about AAR. I thought it'd be a good idea to highlight some lesser-known progressive talkers. I want to feature some lesser-known lefty talkers. If you know of any local progressive talkers, please email me with the info. Thanks. We can't build a VLWC if we don't know where to go support `em.
Now for the news from the past week posted, February 13, 2006:
Note: I'm going to put a %%% next to things that are more interesting or go into things more in-depth.
Progressive Talkers of Note
So, will the media ask if the Republicans have an agenda?
And will they follow up with this?
Asked what issues were included in the GOP's "transparent" agenda, Hastert listed the general topics such as security, health care and energy independence.
Yet even as they chastised Democrats for their lack of a concrete agenda, Republicans admitted that they did not have a specific list of bills ready for action either.
Colbert, Stewart, TDS & TCR
Kurtz on TDS & TCR impact
Jena, Germany: I was wondering if you could comment on the impact of Jon Stewart's Daily Show and the Colbert Report to journalists. In my opinion, The Daily Show and more recently the Colbert Report have started substantively "out perform" real journalists on holding guests to actual facts It seems on the cable networks, guest have a carte blanche in respective to their "truthiness", yet on Comedy Central, I feel, both shows offer a higher degree of veracity to the facts and intellectual honesty. Is it just me?
Howard Kurtz: No, you've got plenty of company. Of course, these shows have the freedom to make stuff up, be insulting, put fake reporters in front of green screens and pretend they're in Iraq, etc. But they certainly do a great job of nailing hypocrisy in ways that much of the MSM doesn't even attempt.
The Muhammad Cartoon Controversy
Credit Where It's Due
What's been the biggest domestic issue of the last month or so? Bush administration eavesdropping without court orders. And yesterday was the first congressional oversight hearing on the controversy, with Alberto Gonzales as the star witness.
The cable nets all made a great show of 'covering' the Senate Judiciary hearing by carrying the AG's opening statement, then maybe a question or two from Arlen Specter. Then they trotted out their legal analysts to talk about the meaning of the hearing, which by then must have been eight or nine minutes old. The hearing became video wallpaper as the cable talkers talked. They never even got to Pat Leahy, the panel's top Democrat, meaning that only Republican voices were heard. Gonzales essentially got a free ride.
Then everyone moved on to other subjects. MSNBC went back to the hearing for a couple of minutes but thought better of it. We had CNN looking at Fall Fashion Week, Fox ginning up a debate on Ken Mehlman calling Hillary angry, and MS doing a 'Massachusetts Murder Mystery.'
Now I'm not saying the Gonzales session should have been covered wall to wall (though fortunately it was on C-SPAN). America probably got sick of the preening politicians during the Roberts and Alito hearings. And the cable nets did deal with other serious issues. But they couldn't even be bothered with dipping in and out of the first attempt on Capitol Hill to hold the administration accountable for its domestic spying program. Instead, we had the appearance of coverage, and even that didn't last long.
Violence against journalists
Some of Chris Matthews's Greatest hits Duds
One-note Nagourney
One note Nagourney Seriously, why exactly is this guy getting a salary from the NYT? All he does is write the same article over and over again. There are always a ton of things going on in D.C. that affect many Americans. Why not an in-depth look at some of the domestic programs Bush wants to cut? Are they good programs that should be saved, or bad ones that should be cut? What about a follow up to that Iraq war intelligence report that Harry Reid shut down the Senate for?
Well, Hop To It
Papers not doing watchdog duty re: congressmen
Shailagh Murray: Here's a bit of media self criticism. I'm not prepared to say that lots more lobbyists and/or lawmakers are greedy crooks. But I do think that the crusading spirit of many newspapers has been more or less snuffed out, either because the newspapers have disappeared, or because they have other priorities. For many members of Congress there's no local reporter keeping track of their golf buddies, legislative interests, campaign contributors, etc. They are never scrutinized. So who knows what they're up to? How many of you had huge parties in high school when your parents went out of town?
Did CNN hype the Senate evacuation?
CNN was in full-coverage, breaking-news mode for the nerve gas scare on the Hill. CNN's Larry King: "You noticed, we did not have any commercials during this hour, nor did Paula Zahn before us, so that we give you total coverage here on CNN." They even brought in a tuxedo-clad Ed Henry, who was on his way to the Press Club Foundation Dinner, to give updates. Henry, on reporting in his tux: "This is a new trend. I might go with it." More Henry: "I understand some of the senators, including Jeff Sessions of Alabama, they're being held in a parking garage right now in their tuxedos -- in their formal clothes -- because they're supposed to be at this dinner as well."
MSNBC and FNC, meanwhile, stuck with regular programming, although they did give updates as the situation warranted it. MSNBC's Mike Viquiera: "Over the last four years, we've become less and less -- I don't know what to say -- jumpy when it comes to these things, because they invariably turn out to be false-positives, or the field tests turn negative. Sometimes the field test is positive, and it's brought to another lab, and they ultimately turn negative" ("Countdown," 2/8).
But CNN's two hours of coverage ruled the night. Among the people they had on the air: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, McCain comm. dir. (and ex-CNNer) Eileen McMenamin (who called in from the garage), Stanford Center For Int'l Security's Dean Wilkening, security analyst Mike Brooks, Hagel comm. dir. Mike Buttry (who also called in from the garage), and Center for Non-Proliferation's Jonathan Tucker. The evening was not without its high points. Paula Zahn kept identifing Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC), who was trapped in the garage, as Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV), who was not trapped in the garage. CNN's Jeanne Meserve finally corrected her. Meserve: "Burr -- B-U-R-R. ... Not Byrd." Zahn: "Okay."
Journalists and the CIA Leak Case, a.k.a. Plamegate
Abramoff and Sh*t from the Media
NSA Warrantless Spying and Sh*t from the Media
RWCM Watch
- Does anyone else think that David Brooks is really talking about himself? He probably doesn't know it, but like many other mainstream pundits, when they talk smack about bloggers, they tend to do so in a way where anyone could say that they're really talking about themselves. The media and pundits are great at criticizing bloggers, but terrible at identifying problems within the journalism community.
- McCain appears on Sunday talk a lot and without opposing viewpoints
- National Journal's Stuart Taylor Jr. doesn't come totally clean
- Scandal fatigue. Media too stupid and too lazy.
- FNC airs footage from Independence Day, because of Bush releasing info about the thwarted potential terrorist attack in LA. Independence Day was made by a News Corp. subsidiary.
- "In other words, we have a Post reporter who is married to an ex-DeLay staffer writing about a former lobbyist closely tied to DeLay emailing another reporter who is married to a Post reporter who covers lobbying." Small town.
- VIDEO: Bill O'Reilly wants Al Sharpton in chains
- VIDEO: Bill Bennett slanders Islam. There are plenty of non-violent Muslims that don't deserve to be lumped in with the likes of bin Laden.
- The MSM double standard when it comes to D.C. think tanks
- Washington Times' Eric Pfeiffer plagiarizes Chi Sun-Times reporter's story quotes. His excuse? He intended to credit Sweet; he just didn't. That doesn't excuse his failure to even contact Obama's office for the article.
- After FNC edited out applause following Lowery's remarks at King funeral, Kondracke expressed surprise at audience's muted reaction. LMAO.
- Chi Trib managing editor slams Tucker Carlson The only one cowardly is Tucker Carlson, here. Carlson's tactic is commonly used, and it needs to stop.
- Jeff Greenfield, again.
- Senior MSNBC employee training conservative activists "in how to use MSNBC to reach conservative voters."
- Hotline 2/2 excerpt: "A [Katharine] Harris aide: "we're working on a big, several-city tour with (FNC's) Sean Hannity.""
- Memo to the NYT: Opposition to Bush's budget is bipartisan
- Cleveland Plain Dealer Hosts Ken Blackwell blog, by Pounder
- KNX Radio (in Los Angeles) displays rightwing bias, by WinSmith
- Bunch's Law: How the media gets it all wrong about bloggers getting it all wrong %%%
- Chi Trib doesn't run factual story that would make Tribune CEO look bad
- When does the media stop taking Ann Coulter seriously? Why is she still invited to appear on mainstream media programs? Because the far right likes her? Same with Mary Matalin.
- Look at what USN&WR chose as "best of the web"
- Imus comments on Coretta Scott King's funeral. Imus should hush and Pundits should stop appeasing him. (Also, Franken on the Wellstone Memorial and the King Funeral.)
- Open Letter to Chris Matthews
- Open Letter to the Washington Post
- Open Letter to Tim Russert
- Media Matters
Media People
News & Notes on Media orgs, Programming, Specials, etc.
- CNN Pres. Jon Klein blabbers on about what he's doing on CNN Focusing more on serious news is a good thing, but at this point, Klein only talks about it. %%%
- CNN International unveils new graphics I think they look nice. The ticker doesn't scroll horizontally, but vertically. I think that makes it easier to read.
- Elle magazine's May issue to be environmentally friendly It's going green.
- Public TV programmer leaves post Pack was the one who brought right-wing programming to PBS without any balance from the left.
- Katie Couric doesn't anchor Olympic opening ceremonies. Those Katie-to-CBS rumors grow stronger. I've avoided devoting space to those rumors, because they've been ubiquitous. This seems to lend more credence to the speculation. Also, Reuters asks if Couric can be a new generation's Cronkite.
- FAIR celebrates its 20th anniversary.
- Kimberly Guilfoyle hosts crime show on FNC
- Kristof v. O'Reilly Kristof wants O'Reilly to go to Darfur. O'Reilly says no.
- David Frost moves from the BBC to Al Jazeera International.
- CBS Evening News lets viewers play producer Interesting interactive initiative.
- CBS Evening News ratings rise under Schieffer. So, why does everyone want new formats and younger anchors?
- Via TVGuide.com 2/7: "BUSH FLIPS PBS THE BIG BIRD: President Bush's proposed 2007 budget will slash funding for public television broadcasting by an estimated $157 million over two years, as the White House struggles to boost military spending and lock in Bush's first-term tax cuts. "We've dealt with cuts from this White House every year, but these are the deepest ever presented," John Lawson, president-CEO of the Association of Public Television Stations, tells the Hollywood Reporter. "We see a clear and present danger here."."
- Gail Shister on Woodruff's two substitutes: Sawyer and Gibson.
- The pros & cons of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer Read the replies, too. I agree most with mstein.
- Judy Woodruff to do some specials for PBS's Newshour and other media orgs about young people and what they're thinking
- Murdoch & FNC has plans to start rival to CNBC Follow up at BusinessWeek.
- Bravo, PlanetOut Launch Gay Broadband Channel
State of the Media, Trends, Research Reports, Innovations
Ratings, Circulation, & Ad Revenue Strength
"The Colbert Report" got off to a promising start, as one might have expected of any lead-out of Comedy Central's "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." The show's bigger challenge post-launch was distinguishing itself enough from the "Daily Show" to build an audience of its own.
It has done that. Last week, some four months after it premiered, "Colbert" had its best week ever, delivering 1.2 million total viewers.
Year to date, "Colbert" is averaging 1.1 million total viewers weeknights at 11:30 p.m., up 38 percent from the same month's timeslot average in 2005. Back then, Comedy Central was airing the previous night's episode of "Daily Show."
Media News Monday is a compilation of media news from the past week posted on Monday. Media is an integral part of politics, and I think that it's important to get to know media and media innovation in order to forecast future ways of campaigning, targeting voters, and disseminating information. If any of you are interested in campaigning, this weekly diary may help you with ideas. It is also important to keep up with right wing corporate media (RWCM) news. If you have any media news to add, please do so. For more RWCM watch & Media News: Penndit's News, Media News, and RWCM Watch Links. I get the advertising, public relations, targeting voters information, and media research from a variety of sources other than the links above. Cross-posted at Penndit and My Left Wing. For previous editions, search my diaries or Penndit.
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