Permanent link to MTA daily media news

Democrats who refuse to lead (by John Aravosis at AMERICAblog)
The current crop of Democrats don’t know how to fight. They’re afraid to fight, they’re incompetent at fighting, and they’re incapable of fighting because they don’t know how to fight. They think that issuing a press release with the right talking points is fighting back. They think that holding a simple press conference on the Hill will generate a news story. And they think that a single, or even a week’s worth, of news stories is a victory. They simply do not understand what the Republicans all know too well – how to take a story, a theme, and jam it down your opponents’ throats for weeks, if not months, if not years, on end. To a Democrat, if you get a blurb in the Washington Post, one day, that’s a public relations victory. To a Republican, once that blurb is repeated every day for 30 years then they declare victory.

The current crop of Democrats and their consultants and the non-profit advocacy groups in town have no idea how to fight like a Republican, how to fight to win. It’s not just a lack of will, a lack of backbone, they quite literally don’t know how to fight, so when they do rarely fight back, and lose because it was done so poorly, the lesson they take away isn’t that they need to learn how to fight better, but rather, they think they lost because they fought back. And it will get them nowhere until they realize that they don’t know what they’re doing, and others do.
Sorry, John, I usually try to post shorter blurbs, but this is just so important that I felt the need to post most of what you wrote on this topic.  For those who don’t know, John (biography) worked for a Republican senator, and he knows whereof he speaks.

Waterboarding and Torture (by Larry Johnson at No Quarter)
The media are woefully ignorant on the subject of waterboarding and torture. Consider the coverage of former CIA officer, John Kiriakou, who is telling his story as an interrogator of Abu Zubaydah and insisting that waterboarding is an effective technique. ABC and CNN are repeating this absurd propaganda. However, if you read the transcript of his interview some key points are obscured in the media propaganda push: … • Kiriakou never witnessed the waterboarding. It was carried out by another group of individuals (nfi). • None of the information provided by Zubaydah concerned threats inside the United States.

Scarborough: That Pesky Liberal Media! (by bluegal at Crooks and Liars)
Another Scarborough quote we couldn’t possibly make up: “When did the liberal media decide…that waterboarding was torture?”
Click through to watch the video.

New Countdown Segment: Bushed! (by Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars)
Keith Olbermann has a new segment on Countdown called Bushed! that keeps track of past Bush scandals you may have forgotten about — because of all the new Bush scandals.
Click through to watch the video.

Fake Terrorist Calls for Violence (by Paul McLeary at CJR)
According to a New York Times report about new violence in Iraq [Tuesday]: “Three days ago, a prominent Sunni extremist, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, called for an escalation of attacks against local residents who aligned themselves with American forces.” [I]t forgets to mention that according to intelligence put out there by the American military, Al-Baghdadi doesn’t exist. Evidence shows that he is actually a character played by an actor named Abu Abdullah al Naima. Now, it doesn’t matter if a pseudonymous mouthpiece for al Qeada in Iraq is calling for violence or not—the group is still calling for violence—but the Times should note this. Accuracy matters.

No More Mr. Nice Guy (FAIR)
A nasty little piece on John Edwards [by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post] points out that the candidate’s speeches are short on policy details (as opposed to, say, the imaginary candidate who goes through a detailed PowerPoint presentation on healthcare?). He writes that when Edwards “thumps the lectern and speaks of the need to ‘end this war’ in Iraq, he omits the fact that he voted to give President Bush the authority to start the war.” Given that Edwards’ anti-war rhetoric is almost singularly defined by the fact that he’s ashamed that he voted for the war, it’s unclear how one could conclude that he’s trying to fool anyone.

What, Me Worry? WaPo Exec Editor Len Downie Finally Comments On Obama Muslim Piece, Sidesteps Criticism (by Greg Sargent at TPM Muckraker)
Okay, so Washington Post executive editor Leonard Downie, Jr., has finally commented publicly on the paper’s disastrous front-page piece recycling the Obama Muslim rumors without declaring them false… Downie’s comments came in the form of a letter to Romenesko that he wrote in response to a professor/blogger who had criticized the reporter on the piece, Perry Bacon, Jr. Downie defended the reporter and actually attacked Romenesko for daring to air criticism of him:

Wallace: Dems are ‘fools’ to boycott Fox
On a recent Sunday morning, shortly after refereeing a debate between Karl Rove and Democratic Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, [Chris] Wallace talked to Politico about the Democrats’ lack of appearances on Fox News, the “liberal bias” at competing networks and how November’s television ratings prove that while his show remains in fourth place nationwide, it’s on the upswing in Washington.
Why would the Democrats want to talk only to Washington, D.C.?

The Restroom Referendum: The Ethics Police Still Say Gays Are Less Equal Than Others
Both Sen. Larry Craig and the Senate Ethics Committee may be lying to themselves about the real restroom scandal, observes Margie Burns.

House Prices Track Inflation, Not Income Growth (by Dean Baker)
The NYT gets this one wrong in an otherwise good column on the situation in some of the formerly hot markets. Over the hundred years from 1895 to 1995, real house prices did not rise, according to a data series constructed by Robert Shiller. By comparison, real family income grew at an average annual rate of close to 2 percent a year. This distinction is important. If house prices fall back to their trend level then we should expect to see a real decline of approximately 30 percent, not the 15 percent suggested in this article.

Conservative Households Are Less Likely To Have Internet Access Than Liberal Households
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2006 the percentage of Households with Internet Access in the United States in 2003 was 54.6%. 20 out of 31 Conservative States had a lower than average percentage of Households with Internet Access (65% of Conservative States) versus 4 out of 20 Liberal States that had a lower than average percentage of Households with Internet Access (20% of Liberal States). The lowest percentage of Households with Internet Access in the country is found in Mississippi with 38.9%.
Conservative Truths is a great resource for showing the human misery caused by conservative policies.  Other recent examples: “The Number Of Food Insecure Households Is Higher During Conservative Presidencies” and “There Are More Families Living Below The Poverty Level During Conservative Presidencies”.

Media Matters for America headlines

Despite numerous errors and flaws, Sally Bedell Smith book on Clintons largely escaped factual scrutiny

O’Reilly claims Buffett “being deceptive” on issue of tax disparity between him and his secretary — but he’s been clear

O’Reilly named “Worst Person” “runner-up” for claim that two illegal immigrants are dead because of “Houston’s sanctuary city policies”

O’Reilly suggested celebrities’ support for Edwards is akin to that of serial killers Dahmer and Gacy

CNN compared Gore to Jerry Lewis; Miles O’Brien said Gore “may be the Nutty Professor”

Boehlert: What’s Howard Kurtz’s agenda at the Wash. Post?

Politico called Clinton’s Sunday-show laugh “calculated” and a “cackle,” but Giuliani’s laugh “good-natured[]“

In “Front-runners” profile of Edwards, four Wash. Post pieces mentioned expensive haircuts

Dershowitz review of O’Reilly Kids book concluded “it should be placed … with the joke books”

French Author Accused of Outing Secrets
PARIS (AP) – A French anti-terrorist judge has filed preliminary charges against an investigative journalist and author accused of publishing defense secrets, judicial officials said Friday. Authorities are investigating articles by Guillaume Dasquie, including one that reported French intelligence had suspected al-Qaida of planning a plane hijacking nine months before the Sept. 11 attacks.
Dasquie is co-author of Forbidden Truth, which claimed that the Bush administration threatened the Taliban in the summer of 2001, at the time when they were the protectors of Osama bin Laden.  It was the first book after 9/11 to point out the role that oil imperialism played in the warmongering of the Bush administration.

Ex-WPer Glassman will try to improve US’s image abroad
Former Washington Post columnist James Glassman has been chosen to lead the State Department’s struggling efforts to improve the US’s image abroad, replacing Karen Hughes.

Group files text-blocking complaint with FCC
San Francisco – Eight consumer and public-interest groups filed a complaint with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission, saying mobile phone providers should not be able to block text messages from political groups and advertisers.

The New York Times wants Reuters business news
Reuters is in discussion with The New York Times about supplying business news to the American newspaper, after reaching a similar agreement with its sister title the International Herald Tribune . The tie-ups are designed to augment both titles’ business coverage, in an attempt to fend off the competitive threat from The Wall Street Journal , which is due to be acquired by News Corporation, the parent company of The Times [of London], this week.

Big Investor Tells Sun-Times Group To Cut More, Pay Execs In Stock
CHICAGO Saying it was “extremely disappointed” with the collapse of the price of Sun-Times Media Group (STMG) shares this year, the company’s second-largest shareholder on Tuesday demanded even deeper cost cuts at the Chicago-area newspaper publisher — and that top executives should be paid in stock rather than in cash in 2008.

Bear Stearns downgrades entertainment sector on ‘deteriorating’ fundamentals
BOSTON (Thomson Financial) – Bear Stearns on Monday lowered its rating on the U.S. entertainment sector to market underweight from market weight, saying it expects fundamentals to deteriorate in 2008… “In our opinion, 2008 will represent a tipping point for incumbent entertainment firms,” analyst Spencer Wang said in a note. “More specifically, we expect that the digitization of media, ”long tail” economics and growing competition for consumers” time from broadband Internet, largely a theoretical risk to date, will start to more directly slow growth for entertainment firms.”

Radio’s not alone — TV and newspapers also have a tough year.
A soft advertising marketplace isn’t a radio-only phenomenon. Through the first three quarters of the year, newspaper revenues are down 5.1% and TV is off 1.9% led by a nearly 7% decline in local TV station revenues. TNS Media says radio is down 1.8% led by a 3% drop in national spot dollars and a 1.8% decline in local revenues. The bright spot is network radio, up 2.1% over a year ago. The fastest-growing media remains the Internet, up 17%.

Penthouse Buys Group of Social-Networking Sites
The Penthouse Media Group remains so bullish on the sex-related entertainment industry that the company is investing $500 million in a group of social networking sites.

MySpace and Skype, Officially Together (by Kristen Nicole at Mashable)
For all of you MySpacers out there eager to call your MySpace friends over Skype via MySpace IM, the feature is now available. Skype has finalized a deal with MySpace to extend the one-click call feature. The interesting part about this deal were that no ad revenue sharing will exist between MySpace and Skype, yet there was a financial deal between the two firms with details that haven’t been disclosed.

NBC to provide TV shows for SanDisk service
Media conglomerate NBC Universal will offer television programming for a Web-based service from SanDisk Corp that lets viewers download shows from the Internet and play them on a TV set-top, the companies said on Tuesday.

Google Accounts For More Than 65% Of U.S. Searches
Health and medical had the highest share of traffic from search engines at 44.64%, while business and finance had the least at 17.04%, according to the latest Hitwise survey.

AT&T to stop selling DirecTV service in 1st qtr
NEW YORK (Reuters) – AT&T Inc said on Tuesday it will stop selling satellite television services from DirecTV Group Inc in the first quarter in a sign the phone company may favor EchoStar Communications Corp as its sole satellite partner.

AT&T Expanding TV Plans
NEW YORK (AP) – AT&T Inc. on Wednesday set a long-term target for its TV service, which is delivered over phone lines, saying it will be available to 30 million customers by 2010.
Will it spur some real competition when we have the choice of cable, phone line, or satellite dish for communicating with the world?

Retailers to Sell TV Converter Boxes
WASHINGTON (AP) – Best Buy Co. Inc., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and six other retailers will sell equipment enabling owners of analog television sets to continue to view programming after the 2009 nationwide switch to digital broadcasting, the federal government said Tuesday.