Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Vote for “This is Hell”!
Do you wanna give ‘public radio’ Hell? Then go to Public Radio Quest and vote for Chuck Mertz and This is Hell. If you want live, in-depth interviews on stories ignored by the rest of mainstream media with perspectives that are shunned by the rest of the radio noise, from places around the world that are silenced by the mainstream’s lack of interest, then vote for Chuck and his This is Hell radio program. Already, voters in the ‘talent search’ are writing that he doesn’t have ‘public radio-osity.’ Could there be a better endorsement than that? So, if you want completely unedited, long-form conversations with the voices not heard anywhere else on the radio spectrum, show your support and vote for Chuck Mertz and This is Hell.
Chuck Mertz is an original, friends, and we need his voice to be heard on public radio.  You have to register (click the link above then on “Sign Up” and scroll down), but please go to the trouble.  After signing up, go to the main page, click on Chuck’s picture, and click on the right-most star next to his picture, to vote.  If you want more progressives on public radio, take a few minutes RIGHT NOW to vote for Chuck.  Oh, and listen to This is Hell via the internet on Saturday mornings.

Mike Malloy Doesn’t Mince Words — And His Progressive Talk Radio Fans Love Him for It
Mike Malloy: “To me, the only issues that exist right now are the issues of the corruption and the utter incompetence of the Bush Administration. Regarding those issues, my style, my approach, is very confrontational. I think this republic is under direct assault by a cadre of people who want to destroy it and replace it with totalitarianism. And that pisses me off to a degree I didn’t know was possible. So I scream, I yell, I pound things, and occasionally I’ve been known to use bad language.”

Via email: Today is the Day for “Sicko”
This is it! Two years in the making! The day that our new film, “Sicko,” arrives in theaters all across North America! Click here to see where the nearest one is to you.

Bloomberg and Clinton Top the Talkers’ Agenda: June 17 - 22, 2007
The race for the White House was easily the most discussed story on the radio and cable talk shows last week. But the debate over the hotly contested immigration bill also bubbled over on the airwaves. And one of the top talk topics even involved a call for more political diversity along the radio dial.

IT’S AD-SPENSIVE
June 29, 2007 — Madison Avenue is girding for an onslaught of political advertising that will drive up rates for regular advertisers and could lead to inventory shortages at local stations around the country.
Please do not ever forget that most donations to Democrats go for ads in traditional media.  That’s the same traditional media that denigrates Democrats and puffs up Republicans at every opportunity.  We’re paying for our own demise, friends.

The Assault on Reality, Part II
It’s not just the mainstream media that’s attacking Al Gore and his new book — more off-beat sources are making the same misinformed arguments.

Daily Show: Lewis Black Exposes Right Wing Media Paranoia
Lewis Black goes to town on the “liberal media” paranoia that pervades the right-wing and leads them to do things like counter the “biased” Wikipedia with Conservapedia — which has a quite unique definition of homosexuality.
This is one of the best exposes of right-wing ridiculousness that I’ve ever seen.  Be sure to click through and watch the video.

Voinovich Lashes Out At Hannity: ‘You’re Not Going To Intimidate Me,’ Then Hangs Up
[Wednesday], Sen. George Voinovich (R-OH) released his frustration in a “hate radio” interview with Sean Hannity. “A lot of radio programs have really got out there and fired this thing up,” Voinovich said of the immigration debate. “And so people are really hot about it. And I’m getting calls from people that basically are intimidating me.”
Welcome to the club, Sen. Voinovich.  I’ve been intimidated by right wingers, too.  Click through to listen to the audio.

Cybercriminals Playing Mind Games With Users
A study shows that spammers and phishers are playing on our biggest fears and our biggest desires.
Gosh, I wonder where they learned that from.

“Warrantless Wiretaps” Now Spun into “Warrant-Free Eavesdropping”
This reeks of classic Rove. The AP — and therefore official mainstream media — wording for Bush/Cheney’s warrantless wiring taping program is suddenly the new and improved “warrant-free program” or alternatively, “warrant-free eavesdropping.”

Luntz Bucket
So Tavis Smiley is insisting on letting Republican operative Frank Luntz run his little poll operation for the Democratic debate and he’s pissed that anyone would question his judgment… Smiley thinks Luntz is a terrific guy while he insults David Brock by saying “consider the source?” Wow. That’s some serious misunderstanding of the issue. Luntz is a right wing character assassin in good standing as well as a professional pariah. Smiley is oddly stubborn in his defense of the guy.
Luntz BRAGS about the fact that he teaches people how to conflate unrelated people and ideas, such as putting Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden in the same sentence, with the sole purpose of misleading the public.  All you have to do is WANT a relationship to exist to CREATE that relationship.  Truth be damned.  Fairness be damned.

Paul Krugman: The Murdoch Factor
In October 2003, the nonpartisan Program on International Policy Attitudes… [found that] two-thirds of Fox [News] devotees believed that the U.S. had “found clear evidence in Iraq that Saddam Hussein was working closely with the Al Qaeda terrorist organization.” So, does anyone think it’s O.K. if Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which owns Fox News, buys The Wall Street Journal?… If there were any justice in the world, Mr. Murdoch, who did more than anyone in the news business to mislead this country into an unjustified, disastrous war, would be a discredited outcast. Instead, he’s expanding his empire.

So how’s all that lying and conflating and propagandizing working out for you, Fox News?

MSNBC anchor refuses to report on Paris.
MSNBC anchor Mika Brzezinski repeatedly refused to report on the Paris Hilton story yesterday morning. At one point, she even attempted to burn her cue cards. An emotional Brzezinski proclaimed, “I’m not doing it. I’m not doing the story.” At which point, host Joe Scarborough called for MSNBC to show video footage of Hilton.

Michael Moore denied entry into the NYSE
It seems the money-men don’t want Moore anywhere near them at the NYSE. Michael Moore went down to Wall Street to ask people to divest from health insurance companies and guess what happened? He couldn’t get in…CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo looks pretty flustered when Moore asks her if any other guest had ever been denied access with her before?
Click through to watch the video.

Reporter’s press pass revoked by Bush staff
WPRI-TV, Channel 12 reporter Jarrod Holbrook had his White House press pass snatched today after he shouted “Mr. President” twice as President Bush greeted Air and Army National Guardsmen gathered on the tarmac at Quonset airport in North Kingstown.

MILBANK BOLLIXED AGAIN:
Once again, Dana Milbank ran into too many big words when he watched a Big Dem give a speech. White House hopeful Bill Richardson was giving the speech—with subsequent Q-and-A’s, no less!—and poor Milbank found himself stuck in the audience… Poor Milbank! The discussion in question had lasted an hour, and several large words had been said!

ABC to roll out system for counting papers’ total audience
It will go beyond paid circulation and include measurements of “pass-along” print readership and a paper’s local website traffic. “Newspaper executives admit the new system won’t solve everything but say it will blunt the notion that newspapers are doomed — and help them reverse their slide in ad revenue,” writes Dale Kasler.