Media
18-Mar-08
Permanent link to MTA daily media news
Iraq war disappears as TV story (Associated Press)
The war has nearly vanished from TV screens over the past few months, replaced by stories about the fascinating presidential campaign and faltering economy. Yet Americans continue to fight and die there, five years after the war started in March 2003.
FAIR Action Alert: No Antiwar Voices in NYT ‘Debate’
Look back at Iraq features nine hawkish ‘experts’
Click through for contact information to let the New York Times know what you think.
Kos mocks Clinton bloggers (Politico)
Markos is unimpressed with Clinton supporters’ “walkout” from his site [Daily Kos]: “Clinton and her shrinking band of paranoid holdouts wail and scream about all those evil people who have ‘turned’ on Clinton and are no longer ‘honest power brokers’ or ‘respectable voices’ or whatnot, wearing blinders to reality, talking about silly little ‘strikes’ when in reality, Clinton is planning a far more drastic, destructive and dehabilitating civil war.” Alegre, the diarist leading the walkout, had complained of Hillary-bashing, as well as “abuse and anger” directed at the bloggers.
The ex-Kossacks have started a new blog. Click here to visit. It’s a bit rough at the edges right now, but you can help build it from the beginning.
The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Monday [March 17] shows John McCain with a six-percentage point lead over both potential Democratic opponents.
McCain has gained ground against both Democrats in recent days as stories about Obama’s former Pastor, Jeremiah Wright, have been widely discussed… The dialogue about Wright’s controversial comments appears to have had at least a short-term impact on public perceptions of Barack Obama. The Illinois Senator is viewed favorably today by just 47% of voters nationwide. That’s down five points since last Thursday… The number with an unfavorable view of Obama has risen from 44% on Thursday to 50% today.
Just 8% Have Favorable Opinion of Pastor Jeremiah Wright (Rasmussen)
Pastor Jeremiah Wright, who has become part of the national political dialogue in recent days, is viewed favorably by 8% of voters nationwide… Wright was Obama’s Pastor until he retired last month, but Obama has repudiated the preacher’s comments. Seventy-three percent (73%) of voters say that Wright’s comments are racially divisive… Most voters, 56%, said Wright’s comments made them less likely to vote for Obama. That figure includes 44% of Democrats.
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright was an early concern, Obama aide admits (Top of the Ticket, Los Angeles Times)
[M]ore than a year ago — long before some of Wright’s more incendiary sermons became hot-button videos on YouTube, forcing Obama to publicly renounce his pastor last week — the Obama campaign had a sense that Wright’s sharp tongue might spell trouble for the Illinois senator… That was the word anyway Sunday from Obama’s chief strategist, David Axelrod, who acknowledged during a conference call with reporters that Wright was disinvited from Obama’s official candidacy announcement on Feb. 10, 2007, in the shadow of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill.
On My Faith and My Church (by Barack Obama)
The statements that Rev. Wright made that are the cause of this controversy were not statements I personally heard him preach while I sat in the pews of Trinity or heard him utter in private conversation.
SusanUnPC has some questions for you, Senator Obama. And why did you praise the Rev. Wright (video) as a “great leader”, and then throw him off your campaign? Juan Williams gets it right (video).
Kristol Admits Another Error — This One on Obama Smear
Getting to be a habit? The new New York Times columnist had attempted to debunk Sen. Barack Obama’s denial that he was ever present when his Chicago pastor made some of his most “offensive” remarks. Now he has admitted his error and posted an addendum to today’s column.
But it doesn’t matter if Obama was in church on a particular date when a particular thing was said. He obviously knew of the incendiary content of Wright’s preaching.
Blame it on Washington (by Ben Smith at Politico)
Blaming Washington works for almost any political problem, but this– in Barack Obama’s interview with Gwen Ifill — seems a bit of a stretch: “MS. IFILL: Do you think that your association with those two people or people we don’t know about would raise questions about your judgment? SEN. OBAMA: Well, no, look, all of us have people in our lives who we meet, we get to know, in some cases form friendships with, who end up getting themselves into trouble or say things that we don’t agree with. And probably what’s true is because I haven’t been in Washington as long as Senator Clinton or others that I have not distanced myself from these people for as long a period of time as somebody more steeped in Washington politics might have.
Chafee raps Clinton as Bush enabler
Former Sen. Lincoln Chafee, the lone Republican senator to vote against the Iraq war, calls Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton one of the “Democratic Bush enablers” who failed to stand up to the president.
Is this the kind of unity that Obama supporters want us to look forward to?
Finally, A Campaign Debate Over Openness
Just in time for Sunshine Week, Hillary reveals her open government positions — and Obama starts an overdue coming-clean tour.
Can Obama bridge the racial divide? (Capitol Hill Blue)
Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama, hammered by both the right wing and his own party opponent on racial issues, will try today to distance himself from incendiary comments made by both former and current pastors of his church.
Bill Clinton Rejects Criticism Over Race
(AP) Former President Clinton is pushing back on criticism that he fanned racial tension while campaigning for his wife in South Carolina. In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America” broadcast Monday, Clinton said he had gotten a “bum rap” from the news media after he compared Democratic Sen. Barack Obama’s landslide victory in South Carolina’s Jan. 26 primary to Jesse Jackson’s wins in the state in 1984 and 1988. Clinton was widely criticized for appearing to cast Obama as little more than a black candidate popular in a state with a heavily black electorate. “They made up a race story out of that,” Clinton said of the news media, calling the story “a bizarre spin.” He made similar comments on CNN’s “American Morning,” calling the notion that he had unfairly criticized Obama in South Carolina as “a total myth and a mugging.”
And how about calling people racists for just any old reason? How does that promote unity?
ON DEADLINE: Obama walks arrogance line (by Ron Fournier, Associated Press)
[T]here’s a line smart politicians don’t cross — somewhere between “I’m qualified to be president” and “I’m born to be president.” Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step. He’s bordering on arrogance… The freshman senator told reporters in July that he would overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton’s lead in the polls because “to know me is to love me.”… Privately, aides and associates of Obama tell stories about a boss who can be aloof and ungracious. He holds firmly to views and doesn’t like to be challenged, traits that President Bush packaged and sold under the “resolute” brand in the 2004 election. For Bush, those qualities proved to be dangerous in a time of war and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
PBS’ Glaser reviews semi-pro journalists’ campaign websites
Mark Glaser examines the websites of Huffington Post’s Off the Bus, MTV’s Street Team ‘08, and PurpleStates.tv. He highlights the good, the bad and what’s to come from these efforts. “Think of it as a mid-term report because they all have time to improve by the general election in November,” writes Glaser.
NPR Can’t Find Anyone Who Thinks the Housing Bubble Was a Bad Idea (by Dean Baker)
Its analysis this morning did not include any comments from economists who think the Fed made a mistake in allowing an $8 trillion housing bubble to grow unchecked. It did include comments from WSJ reporter David Wessel, who apparently thinks that having the government buy up mortgages — a system of house price supports — is a good idea. If I had more time, I would grab a few hundred of the columns in the Post, NYT, WSJ or commentaries on NPR, expressing outrage over the waste and inefficiency of the system of farm prices supports. The exact same reasoning would apply to these proposals for house price supports, except the order of magnitude of the waste and inefficiency would be two times greater, since we are talking about a $20 trillion housing market. Will these media outlets ever give someone the opportunity to apply their own reasoning with respect to the housing market?
Media Matters for America headlines
• Barnes understated McCain’s reported role in defense-contract controversy
• Limbaugh repeated false Judicial Watch attacks linking Obama to FARC
Minn. Can’t Bar Kids From Violent Games
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A federal appeals court on Monday upheld an injunction against a Minnesota law that targeted at children under 17 who rent or buy violent video games.
Justices Take Up On-Air Vulgarity Again
The justices agreed to give the F.C.C. a chance to defend its decision to start punishing broadcasters for the isolated and fleeting on-air use of expletives.
Media shield law remains in doubt
WASHINGTON - As federal judges order more reporters to disclose their confidential sources, news organizations are pinning their hopes on congressional passage of a media shield bill the Bush administration opposes as a threat to national security.
Read PEJ’s annual report on the state of American journalism
The state of the American news media in 2008 is more troubled than a year ago, says the Project for Excellence in Journalism report. “More and more it appears the biggest problem facing traditional media has less to do with where people get information than how to pay for it — the emerging reality that advertising isn’t migrating online with the consumer,” say the authors. “The crisis in journalism, in other words, may not strictly be loss of audience. It may, more fundamentally, be the decoupling of news and advertising.”
“Grand experiments” in journalism leave newsman frustrated
“I see tremendous energy going in to breaking new ground in gathering news, telling stories, and creating community,” writes Mercury News reporter Chris O’Brien. “What I don’t see is an equivalent amount of innovation occurring around the business models that will support journalism going forward. What I tend to see, over and over, is people experimenting wildly on the content side, and then falling back on the same old business model: Selling ads. This model is dying.”
Exclusive: Our Monthly Report on Top 30 Newspaper Sites — Big Gains Reported For Nearly All! (Editor & Publisher)
February was a very good month for the top 30 newspaper Web sites with all but three making gains in traffic year over year. Perhaps it’s the political season? Whatever the reason, many sites experienced massive double-digit growth.
Times Company Agrees to 2 Outsiders on Its Board
The New York Times Company has struck a deal with a pair of hedge funds, giving the funds two seats on the board in order to avoid a proxy fight.
Gannett CEO gets a 36% raise as company’s stock plummets
Craig Dubow received pay and compensation valued at $7.9 million in 2007 — 36% higher than the previous year. Matthew Barakat notes that in the last 12 months, Gannett stock has lost roughly half its value, from about $60 a year ago to $29.97 at the close of business Thursday. || Gannett Blog comments: “I would love to see a Gannett-wide strike of ALL employees in protest.”
Newspaper Marketing Taking a Hit from the Do-Not-Call List? (by Tish Grier at Poynter Online)
There’s no doubt that, over the past four years, there’s been a steady decline in newspaper circulation. Lots of fingers have been pointed here and there, from blaming blogs to blaming Craigslist, to blaming the Internet as the true sources in the decline in newspaper subscriptions. But one very small — yet perhaps highly significant — development may have affected newspaper circulation more than any of us ever thought: the October 2003 launch of the National Do Not Call Registry (NDNCR), which was mentioned very briefly in Editor and Publisher’s Mar. 11 exclusive on the the four-year plunge in newspaper circulation.
Newspaper sites need rules for civility in comments areas
Too many papers “embrace the rambunctious discourse of the Internet with the zeal of the convert — and the sweaty fervor of the desperate: Got something to say? Tell us!” writes Edward Wasserman. “Editors who would never dream of running an unsigned letter-to-the-editor now argue for promiscuous anonymity. And taste and civility, respectfulness? Old-line values of a discredited media elite. I exaggerate, but not that much.”
Televisa, Telemundo Join Forces (Wall Street Journal)
Mexican television giant Grupo Televisa SA and Telemundo, General Electric Co.’s Spanish-language broadcaster, have reached a content-sharing deal in Mexico, opening the door to an eventual broader alliance in the key U.S. Hispanic market, people familiar with the situation say.
Slate to launch business site, “The Big Money”
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Slate, the online news and opinion magazine owned by The Washington Post Co, plans to join a bustling business news market with an analysis and commentary site expected to launch this summer. “The Big Money” aims to use wit and irreverence to explain the arcana of Wall Street, the same way Slate has done with general and political news, Editor James Ledbetter told Reuters in an interview.
Open-Source Troubles in Wiki World
A shoestring operation stunned by its own success faces growing pains.
CBS stations’ local ad network (by Jeff Jarvis)
It warms my cockles to see a local blog ad network start, especially from a company as big as CBS’ station group. They just announced a new widget ad network in 13 of their local markets (the owned & operated stations with newsrooms). In a week and a half, they’ve put together 80 blogs in the network, many more to come. They are all local blogs around various content interests: news, politics, sports, real estate, entertainment.
Google says well positioned for economic downturn
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Google Inc, the world’s leading Internet search engine, said on Tuesday it was well positioned to weather any economic downturn as its advertisers were broad based.
Advertisers welcome prospect of Google rival (Financial Times)
Interviews with [advertising] agency executives since [Microsoft’s] unsolicited $40bn offer for Yahoo was announced last month make clear that they and their clients welcome the prospect of a stronger rival emerging to Google. “If we have two competitors, a duopoly is better than a monopoly,” says Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive of WPP, who has dubbed Google a “frenemy” – both friend and enemy to advertisers.
Online Games by the Hundreds, With Tie-Ins
By entering the online-game sector, media companies can attract advertising, including from food companies that have agreed to limit the nature and volume of television ads aimed at children.
EU picks mobile TV standard
BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Union on Monday chose a mobile TV broadcast standard and suggested that its member governments now ask cell carriers to favor it.
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