Radio Station Cries ‘Enough’ — Won’t Quote From Certain News Stories Relying on Unnamed Officials
NEW YORK After the latest widely-publicized stories in national newspapers about weapons from Iran allegedly killing Americans in Iraq — based completely on unnamed sources — at least one smaller news outlet has had enough of it. The news director of the public radio station in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has directed his staff to “ignore national stories quoting unnamed sources.” He also called on other news outlets to join this policy.

CBS, Fox News did not report Gen. Pace’s skepticism about Iranian ties to weapons in Iraq
Reporting on allegations by anonymous U.S. military officials that Iran is supplying explosively formed penetrators (EFPs) to Shiite fighters in Iraq, neither CBS’ David Martin nor Fox News’ Bret Baier mentioned that Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, has reportedly said that he has seen no evidence directly linking the Iranian government to the EFPs in Iraq.

Ex-senator questions Fitzgerald’s case
WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn., criticized Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald’s handling of the CIA leak investigation Tuesday, saying the prosecutor had to have known from the start that it was not a crime to disclose Valerie Plame’s identity as an agent.
The AP uncritically quotes actor, AEI fellow, and all-round right-wing nutcase Fred Thompson on Patrick Fitzgerald×?Ts handling of the Libby case.÷š The article doesn×?Tt mention the fact that Libby isn×?Tt on trial for disclosing Valerie Plame×?Ts identity as a covert agent.÷š He×?Ts on trial for LYING about his role in that disclosure. ÷šAnd it×?Ts pretty clear from the evidence so far that Libby did lie to the grand jury.÷š How many of the people who say this is a nothing case were happy to see Martha Stewart go to prison for lying, not even to a grand jury, but to federal officials?

Chinni: Social-networking news sites are fun to visit, but…
Dante Chinni says it’s easy to see how Digg.com and similar websites could quickly lead to a view of the world just as insular as that of the mainstream media, and maybe more so — either stuck within the preferences of the Digg crowd or the preferences of a select few Digg members whose list of “diggs” one regularly checks. “It’s not that there’s anything wrong with that, but if your concern is being trapped by the worldview of the MSM editors, how is the worldview of the crowd on one website really better?”

Candidates Find A New Stump In the Blogosphere
Nearly a year before the first caucuses and primaries take place, the 2008 presidential campaign advertising war is under way online. Candidates of both parties are already buying space on search engines, blogs and other Internet sites popular with political junkies and potential donors. But this year’s campaign Web pioneers are already beginning to run into uncharted zones. Some online activists get offended if they think a candidate is paying for ads on Internet sites of the wrong political stripe. And some smaller, locally influential blogs have gotten miffed at being passed over.

Myths and falsehoods about Hillary Rodham Clinton
On January 20, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) announced the formation of her presidential exploratory committee. Yet despite the claim by conservative news outlets such as Fox News that the Washington press corps is “pulling for her,” media reports and commentary are already rife with myths and falsehoods regarding her record, her motivations, and Americans’ perceptions of her, as Media Matters for America documents.

Here It Is: Silliest Retelling Yet Of Bogus Pelosi Plane Story
Sillier and sillier. Ruth Ann Dailey, a columnist for the mainstream Pittsburgh Post Gazette, has outdone many of her media colleagues on the bogus Nancy Pelosi plane story: Rather than just recycle this tall tale, she’s actually gone and built a whole theory about the new Dem Congressional leadership on it.

Bush Caught on Tape Lying about 2003 SOTU ×??16 Words×?T – Media Yawns
Prevaricator-in-Chief: The media is ignoring the revelation yesterday that it was Vice Pres. Cheney who knowingly inserted a false statement about Iraq×?Ts nuclear program into the 2003 State of the Union speech. They are also apparently uninterested in reporting that both Pres. Bush and his spokesman Scott McClellan lied on the record in July 2003 about how the infamous 16-word statement ×?’ ×??The British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.×?? ×?’ came to be included in the speech.

Newsstand Remains a Challenge for Some Publishers
Twelve of the Top 25 Newsstand Publications Saw Declines in the Second Half of 2006

Wikia Launches Three “Open-Source Magazines”
Three new magazine-style wikis launched at Wikia.com today: Entertainment, Politics and Local. The three sites are the first shots fired in a wide-reaching initiative to build an online, fully community-edited library of news sites. “Wikipedia is the web’s reference section,” says Wikia VP of business development Dan Lewis. “Wikia wants to be the rest of the library.”

College: Wikipedia not source for papers
Middlebury College history students are no longer allowed to use Wikipedia in preparing class papers. The policy says, in part, “Wikipedia is not an acceptable citation, even though it may lead one to a citable source.”

TV Newsrooms Lag on Diversity
The latest study from the Radio-Television News Directors Association found minority representation among TV news staffers and news directors at near-record highs of 22.2 percent and 13.2 percent respectively. But, as Albiniak writes, “numbers don’t always tell the full story.” With the total U.S. minority population at 33.6 percent, all employment numbers fall short. ×??The number of people in broadcast news has declined in general,×?? says [a TV station manager]. ×??So the number of minorities looks greater proportionate to the total number. There’s been no significant change for years.×??

‘Virtual’ Journalism in an Online ‘Second Life’
Reuters and CNET both have “bureaus” in the virtual Internet world — staffed with real people who report on events within and relating to the “metaverse.” Here’s a look at how media and journalistic principles are evolving in Second Life.
Think about that, friends.÷š The media are cutting staff on political reporting, but adding staff to report on the unreal world of Second Life.