Card
In this edition: CIA leak investigation update; Sinclair's DeLay & Ehrlich connection and love of "titty bars" exposed by GQ; A Faux Creation (the war on Christmas); changes at ABCNews; what goes on in the green rooms; American press shoots itself in the foot; Major papers ignore 9/11 Report Card; Kyra Phillips whines; Franken signs books; CNN Pipeline reviews; kudos to full disclosure; Nancy Grace hearts FDR; Mike Wallace smacks Bush; Sinclair gets sued; US news industry needs a new set of rules for journos to follow; innovations and media channels/networks for progressives to tap into; and more...
Thoughts, and Then, the News
Only 6 out of 40 big papers put the 9/11 report card on page one. It got top story treatment on the national newscasts when it was released. Why didn't the papers give prominent space to something so important? You'd think that massive failures by Bush White House & the Congress to protect the country would be front page news. And some newspaper people wonder why they're losing respect and circulation. With stuff like this, newspapers render themselves irrelevant. (The "ignore" part was designed to get you to read, but it's partially true since if a paper has to publish something and wants to give it less importance, it gets buried.)
Now for the news from the past week posted December 12, 2005:
Note: I'm going to put a %%% next to things that are more interesting or go into things more in-depth.
Sinclair gets smacked
GQ takes a look at MD-based Sinclair Broadcasting, which owns local TV nets across the nation, including Baltimore's WBFF-TV. Sinclair garnered attention in '04 for their decision not to broadcast a "Nightline" special where Ted Koppel read the names of troops killed in Iraq, and also for their decision to air an anti-Kerry documentary. Sinclair's owned by four brothers -- David, Duncan, Frederick and Robert Smith.
In the late '90s, the Smiths "got to work" supporting then-Rep. Ehrlich, hosting "elaborate parties" where they "wooed Ehrlich with contributions and favors and invited his congressional colleagues" from DC, including ex-Maj. Leader Tom DeLay. In '02, when Ehrlich launched his GOV bid, Sinclair instructed local reporters "to dig up dirt" on Townsend, and they "launched an almost cartoonish frontal assault." Ex-Sinclair reporter Jon Leiberman: "All our resources were used to go after her. David became convinced that she fell off a horse as a child and had brain damage. ... We may have actually gone after her medical records." The Smiths also lent Ehrlich a helicopter "free of charge" to fly around MD, a contribution "that was not recorded on Ehrlich's campaign-finance reports but which would have exceeded the legal limits" if reported. After he became gov, Sinclair agreed to produce a series of TV ads showing Ehrlich "popping up in people's homes to help with household chores." Ehrlich paid Sinclair $60K from the state budget.
"Just as the Smith brothers were willing to spend illegal amounts of money on their political patrons ..., they have also been willing to cast aside their own convictions in the interest of profit, championing moral values from the back rooms of topless bars and railing against political corruption while setting new standards for it," with 95% of their donations going to the GOP. Sinclair's principal owner "launched his career" selling porn in Baltimore's red-light district, and "has apparently spent the past thirty years refining that passion." A Smith friend: "He's a whoremonger. A real whoremonger. He loves the titty bars"
Ya think?!
How It's Done
Marcus Stern, the reporter who broke the Duke Cunningham story. Must read.
Whiner
* Kyra Philips of CNN.
Coming Clean
Chris Cillizza on that scandal scorecard from a few weeks ago. False equivalency reporting as far as Congressional scandals are concerned is an epidemic. At least one reporter admits that the disease spread to his blog. Bad editor, bad!
Changes at ABCNews
Yawn
Rumsfeld attacks press over coverage of Iraq. There wasn't enough cheerleading for him.
Bob Woodward, Iraq, Judy Miller, Other Media Folk, and Plamegate
RWCM Watch
Media People
You apparently were incurious. You didn't want to travel. You knew very little about the military. [...] Do you think that has anything to do with the fact that the country is so [expletive] up?
Where's your hometown? What was it like growing up there?
Macon, Georgia -- in a very rural area where there was nothing as far as the eye could see but pine trees and soybean fields. It was not by any stretch, an affluent neighborhood. In fact, our "street" was a red clay road with a tree growing in the middle of it right in front of our house! We were surrounded by farmland, mostly. I had the most fantastic childhood. Both parents worked, my dad for the Southern Central Railroad as a freight agent and my mom, who worked her way up from being a bank teller to CFO of a manufacturing plant in another town. She is also a pianist and has played our church's pipe organ for as long as I can remember. I grew up free of fear, riding my bike like a chariot.
What was your first job?
My first job was as a salesclerk at Sears and Roebuck! I learned a lot! I moved on to the candy department, where I was caught eating the profits. I was also removed from the lawn mower and tool sections.
What's your most embarrassing on-the-job moment? (Or as embarrassing as you'd like to reveal?)
When a defense attorney in a brutal murder trial tried to gain traction in court by filing written documents that I was known to flaunt my cleavage or backside in front of a jury. (P.S I won the case -- without a short skirt or low cut blouse!)
If you could interview any deceased person, who would it be and why?
- Christ, who has affected people's lives for 2000 years.
- Abraham Lincoln, because he showed mercy to the South.
- FDR, because he led us through the depression and many of my relatives survived only because of the Work Program -- one of my uncles, who painted murals in federal buildings like libraries and courthouses under the work program.
[...]
Name your favorite vacation spot.
As close to the clouds as I can get -- the Rocky Mountains, hiking.
What is your favorite book and why?
Recently? "The Kite Runner" -- it's all about redemption. Nothing wrong with that!
What would be your last meal -- ever?
Turkey, dressing, cranberry sauce, pancakes with warm maple syrup and butter, cheese grits and scrambled cheese eggs, fried mullet, and hot dogs with everything on them FROM the baseball park. Krispy Kreme doughnuts, of course, for dessert!
What is the first section of the newspaper you read?
World news, cartoons.
And finally, we're ending this feature with a question posed by the last interviewee. This is from New York Daily News' Tom DeFrank: If you were banned from journalism from life, what profession would you adopt, and why?
I would teach Shakespearean literature, spend my days reading and analyzing his works.
News & Notes on Media orgs, Programming, Specials, etc.
State of the Media, Trends, Research Reports, Innovations
This Week's Special: Networks and Platforms for Progressives to Tap Into
Ratings, Circulation, & Ad Revenue Strength
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:
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