Permanent link to MTA daily media news

5 Years Ago: Many Top Newspapers Opposed War
You may be surprised to learn that, precisely five years ago, at least one-third of the top newspapers in this country came out against President Bush taking us to war at that time. Others were not sure but realized they could not stop it.

Bush bashes PBS (again), and The New York Times helps (by Eric Boehlert at Media Matters)
What a strange coincidence that the Bush administration recently submitted the largest funding cut ever proposed for public broadcasting, and next week, PBS’ distinguished Frontline series will mark the fifth anniversary of the Iraq invasion by airing Bush’s War, which PBS describes as television’s definitive documentary analysis of the war. The program reportedly draws from 40 separate war-related Frontline reports aired over the last five years… So I understand why Bush takes cheap shots at PBS. But what’s The New York Times’ excuse?

In 2007, Fox News Featured Most Celebrity Coverage, Fewest Stories On Iraq War (Think Progress)
Yesterday, the Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) put out its annual report on the “State of the News Media.” While the 2008 presidential campaign and the debate over Iraq were overwhelmingly the top subjects of cable news, the networks still devoted a substantial amount of coverage to celebrity affairs. For example, the death of Anna Nicole Smith received more coverage than the Valerie Plame scandal, the U.S. attorney purge, and the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Fox News led the cable networks in the most amount of celebrity coverage and the least amount of Iraq war coverage.

Florida Democrats Won’t Vote Again, Official Says
WASHINGTON — The Florida Democratic Party chairwoman on Monday officially buried the possibility of redoing the state’s disputed January presidential primary, saying there was no practical or affordable way to conduct a new election…  Michigan Democratic party leaders on Monday proposed legislation to conduct a new primary on June 3 to allocate the state’s 156 delegates. The election would be run by the state but be privately financed. Mrs. Clinton, of New York, has agreed to the plan; aides to Mr. Obama, of Illinois, have refused to commit to it. It is more uncertain than ever that he will: The party’s rules may disqualify anyone who voted in Michigan’s Republican primary from voting in the Democratic primary — including those who may be Obama supporters who voted Republican because his name was not on the Democratic ballot. Michigan Democratic officials said the plan for a revote could not move forward unless both campaigns agreed to the proposal in the next day or so.
Looks like Obama will do ANYTHING to win, including disenfranchise the entire state of Michigan.

Lawsuit to seat Florida’s Democratic delegates gets March 17th hearing date (Naked Politics at MiamiHerald.com)
As pressure mounts over what to do with Florida’s Democratic delegates - a Tampa attorney announced Thursday afternoon that a lawsuit he filed to reinstate Florida’s delegate voting rights at the Democratic National Convention will be heard before the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals on March 17th. Attorney Michael Steinberg filed the lawsuit on behalf of Tampa resident Victor DiMaio, a political consultant and registered Democrat. The lawsuit was filed in August 2007, but ruled against in a Tampa district court. Steinberg argues that the DNC’s decision to remove Florida’s delegates violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. “This was not fair to the average ordinary citizen who didn’t have a say ,” Steinberg said at a press conference in front of the Old Capitol building in Tallahassee.

Texas Dems reject Clinton effort to delay caucuses
Texas Democratic leaders said Monday that they will not delay the March 29 conventions that will help determine how many delegates are awarded to Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama or set up “unnecessary” verification processes to review those who already cast their votes. Clinton’s camp sent a letter Friday asking that the March 29 conventions at the senatorial district or county level — the next step in the state’s hybrid of a primary election and caucus — be delayed until signatures from the conventions held March 4 could be verified.  The party said no.
We don’t need no stinkin’ verification!  I can’t help but think that if it were the Obama campaign asking for verification, they’d get it.  Because, as we know by now, the rules of this primary are that whatever is unfair to Clinton is what is fair to Obama.

Senator Clinton’s First Lady Schedules to Drop [Wednesday]
More than 11,000 pages of Senator Clinton’s schedules from her eight-year stint as first lady are going to be released [Wednesday] by the National Archives, which operates the Clinton Presidential Library, a spokeswoman said [Tuesday]… The documents will be redacted, or edited, for privacy and security reasons. Some amount of material is also expected to be deleted on orders from President Clinton, likely because it concerns confidential advice to him, but Mr. Clinton’s representative to the Archives, Bruce Lindsey, said he proposed fewer redactions than Archives officials initially suggested.
But it won’t be spun that way, you can be sure of it.  She’ll be accused of hiding the document where she confesses to having smuggled drugs through Mena, Arkansas, and to having murdered Vince Foster.

Giving Hillary Credit for SCHIP (FactCheck.org)
Despite disparagement from political rivals, we find she deserves ample credit for expanding children’s health insurance.

John Murtha Endorses Hillary Clinton (The Trail, WashingtonPost.com)
LANCASTER, Pa. — Rep. John P. Murtha has announced his endorsement of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, bringing his clout as a 17-term member of the House and a prominent anti-war Democrat to bear with more than a month until the primary here in his home state. “Sen. Clinton is the candidate that will forge a consensus on health care, education, the economy, and the war in Iraq,” Murtha wrote in a statement about his decision.

Clinton has large lead in Pennsylvania (Public Policy Polling)
Raleigh, N.C. – After a week filled with bad news for the Obama campaign, Hillary Clinton is out to a 56-30 lead in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary. Clinton is aided in large part by a 46 point margin over Obama with female voters, 66-20. She leads with men as well although by a considerably tighter margin of 45-41… Clinton even appears to be making in roads among black voters in the state. She trails just 63-27 with that group, which Obama has tended to get over 80% of the vote from in key primary states so far. She has a 40 point lead, 63-23, with white voters.

CBS Poll: Pastor’s Remarks Hurt Obama
While Most Are Unaffected By Controversy, A Third Of Those Who Have Heard About It View Obama Less Favorably

GOP sees Rev. Wright as pathway to victory (by Jonathan Martin at Politico)
GOP strategists believe they’ve finally found an antidote to Obamamania. In their view, the inflammatory sermons by Obama’s pastor offer the party a pathway to victory if Obama emerges as the Democratic nominee. Not only will the video clips enable some elements of the party to define him as unpatriotic, they will also serve as a powerful motivating force for the conservative base. In fact, the video trove has convinced some that, after months of praying for Hillary Clinton and the automatic enmity which she arouses, that they may actually have easier prey.
Actually, I think they’ve always believed that Obama is the easier prey.  They’ve know about the mansion deal and Obama’s associations with religious and political radicals.  They’ll have a feast.

The Speech (by Andrew Sullivan)
I have never felt more convinced that this man’s candidacy - not this man, his candidacy - and what he can bring us to achieve - is an historic opportunity. This was a testing; and he did not merely pass it by uttering safe bromides. He addressed the intimate, painful love he has for an imperfect and sometimes embittered man. And how that love enables him to see that man’s faults and pain as well as his promise. This is what my faith is about. It is what the Gospels are about. This is a candidate who does not merely speak as a Christian. He acts like a Christian.
Didn’t Sullivan gush in a similar way about George Bush at one time?

We Are The Ones (Can you hear me?) (That’s Me on the Left)
Watch the video [click through to see it] and listen to the question Keith Olbermann asks Sen. Obama [last week] at 01:37. “Did you know that he had made these statements before the video tape appeared?” Listen the the answer Sen. Obama gives at 01:41. “Ya know frankly, I didn’t. I did not hear such incendiary language myself.” Sen. Obama previously said this with other “reporters” too. Then [Tuesday] he said the opposite. [Tuesday] he spoke the truth about Rev. Jeremiah Wright: “Did I know him to be an occasionally fierce critic of American domestic and foreign policy? Of course. Did I ever hear him make remarks that could be considered controversial while I sat in church? Yes…” So, what he said before was a lie. (That’s what he did with Rezko too remember—first he lied and then he told the truth.)

Obama’s Speech - Fool’s Gold? (by cjbardy at Hillary’s Voice)
The fact that [Sen. Obama] makes [Rev.] Wright comparable to his white grandmother who has “confessed her fear of black men who passed by her on the street, and who on more than one occasion has uttered racial or ethnic stereotypes that made me cringe” shows that he neither understands nor sees the difference between the two and explains why his campaign keeps accusing Hillary Clinton of playing the race card, nor does he in any way address the fact that the gender animus prevalent in this race and in American culture is a concern equally deserving of fairness and equality. Although this speech has beautiful words and thoughts in it, once you get past the surface, what this speech says to me [is] that Sen. Obama does not really have an understanding of the issues and concerns of the larger American community, and demonstrates why he is not ready to be President.
Obama was among those who called for the firing of Don Imus for making a racial slur against black people.  But for 20 years, he didn’t stand up and denounced his minister for making racial slurs against white people.

What We’ve Noticed About the Speech (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
[From] one of our regular commenters at No Quarter, who wishes to remain anonymous because he worries about retaliation from pro-Obama people: “Obama chose to solidify the black people with his speech.   He united them together by saying that the anger of the Black people is justified.  And then he turn the black people against the white people. He’s telling the white people that you are dumped and ignorant that you don’t know racial tension exists in this country.  We have the right to be mad because of white peoples’ action.  We are the good guys here.  So if you want to be good, join us.  If not, you are one of the racists like my granny, Ferraro, and the Clintons. So his speech aims to solidify the black vote, and “retain” the white vote using guilt.  I’m saying retain because I don’t think he will gain any new white votes because of this speech.
Susan isn’t the only one who’s noticed how Obama plays on white guilt.

Throw Mamma From the Train And Grandma Under the Bus (by Fleaflicker at MyDD)
[W]hen Senator Obama has been caught associating with a despicable man that he considers his spiritual advisor it is time to change the subject and discuss the “real” issues… Never mind that the man asking you to do this has demonstrated horrible judgment in associating with such a despicable man that used the sanctity of the church to spew his racist hatred. Never mind that the man asking you to do this has a spiritual mentor that praises and is friends with one of the most vile racist and antisemitic beings on the planet. Never mind that the man asking you to embrace racial unity is a long standing member of a black segregationalist church. And never mind that when his opponent for the Democratic nomination offers detailed solutions to help ordinary Americans as he says we must do, he tears down her character, brings up the most horrible references from her past and laughs to his audiences about it. No. Never you mind any of that. Because this isn’t about him. This is about you.

Bartcop:
“If you believe that we’ve got to heal America and we’ve got to repair our standing in the world,  then I think my supporters believe that I am the messenger who can deliver that message.”
       — Obama,  October 18, 2007,    Link

Barack, can I ask a question?
 Are you going to heal America the way you healed the Democratic party?

One Must Show Up to Heal Racial Divides (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
While Barack Obama has dodged and weaved his way through the the politics of race — pretending he never heard the hate-filled, anti-Christian, racist remarks of his pastor for 20 years — Hillary Clinton has actively sought out African Americans.
Just recently, Clinton attended Tavis Smiley’s State of the Black Union convention.  Obama did not.  This post has the links.

MISTER DRUDGE SI, NEWSMAX NO: (by Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler)
Bill Kristol made a major misstatement in yesterday’s column about Obama. Just like that, Josh Marshal swung into action, snarkily saying that Kristol “forg[ot] that fact-checking is important, even in a hit piece.” In this subsequent post, even the superlative Greg Sargent had some fun, rolling his eyes at the idea that Kristol’s misstatement was “based on reporting by NewsMax, of all things.” (By the way, what ever happened to Horse’s Mouth? We could guess—but we hate such vile conduct.) For ourselves, we got a bit snarky too—when we read these posts. After all, it was just a few weeks ago that many liberal “lovable losers” were happily citing Matt Drudge as a way to trash Hillary Clinton. Just to establish the historical record, we’ve been meaning to post this exchange from the Charlie Rose show, which we mentioned in real time. Let’s see if we have the current rules straight. Citing NewsMax is abhorrent. Citing Mister Drudge is OK.
Yes, I too have been wondering about Horse’s Mouth.  Greg stopped posting right about the time that his boss Josh Marshall came out for Obama.

A McCain Gaffe in Jordan (The Trail, WashingtonPost.com)
He said several times that Iran, a predominately Shiite country, was supplying the mostly Sunni militant group, al-Qaeda. In fact, officials have said they believe Iran is helping Shiite extremists in Iraq.

TDS on Bear Stearns: Government Bailout? or “Free-Market Reinvigorment”? (by SilentPatriot at Crooks and Liars)
Jon Stewart and Aasif Mandvi discuss the Fed’s recent bailout “currency-supply, free-market re-invigorment” of Bear Stearns.
Click through to watch the video.

If Social Security Was a Private Company, The Washington Post Would be Sued for Libel (by Dean Baker)
The Washington Post has printed any number of editorials and columns that are hostile to Social Security, That is of course its right, although its unwillingness to open its pages to dissenting opinions doesn’t speak well for its integrity as a newspaper. However, it is another step altogether to deliberately misrepresent the state of the program to advance its agenda. This is what columnist Allan Sloan has sought to do [Tuesday] in arguing that the Social Security trust fund does not exist and therefore the program will face problems in 2017 when the trustees project that it will first have to rely on interest from the trust fund to pay benefits. Mr. Sloan told readers that this would pose a major crisis for the program. The reality is that the trust fund is projected to hold more than $3.5 trillion in government bonds in 2017, so there should not be any problem meeting benefit payments.
And, of course, ever since 2000, the Republicans have been busily giving that money to defense contractors and other “privateers”.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Scarborough claimed McCain “has never attached himself to these people on the far right that say if you’re gay, you’re going to hell, et cetera”

• Doocy claimed list of Rezko-linked Obama contributions were made “just during the presidential campaign” — but only one was

• Memo to the media: McCain’s Al Qaeda-Iran gaffe not his first

• AP, CNN ignored McCain’s “gaffe” on Al Qaeda

• Hannity, Hume falsely claimed Obama’s church “deleted,” “purged” the Black Value System from its website

• Moos distorts Clinton’s 60 Minutes comments, blames Obama’s middle name — which she was among first to highlight — for false perception that he’s Muslim

Pro-Tibet groups bombarded with abusive calls, viruses
BEIJING (AFP) - Pro-Tibet activists said Wednesday they have been bombarded with abusive phone calls and virus emails as they try to contact witnesses in Tibet and nearby amid a clampdown following anti-Chinese riots.

ABC Overhauls Some Key Rules on Counting Circ
The Audit Bureau of Circulations has moved closer to an overhaul of how it counts paid newspaper circulation. Among those changes approved at a board meeting: Newspapers will be considered “paid” by ABC, regardless of the price.

Dvorak: There are too many papers selling the same news
John Dvorak predicts newspapers will continue to slide because their owners don’t understand that the public hungers for original material — not just AP stories. “Publishers do know that their publication is their product, right? And they do know that if it’s losing circulation, the key to reversing the trend is not to make it worse — right? How does making a product worse fix a problem?”

Poynter model offers no easy cure for US journalism’s ills
Douglas McCollam points out that Poynter’s St. Petersburg Times faces the same problems as almost every other newspaper. “Its advertising revenue is sensitive to the local real-estate market, which was soft even before the recent meltdown in subprime lending and seems unlikely to recover any time soon. The paper has cut about 10% of its newsroom staff in the last year, and shrunk its physical size as well, absorbing the attendant decrease in the newshole.”

Wary editor/publisher approves editorial deal with hospital
The Anne Arundel Medical Center is paying the Annapolis Capital to provide content for a monthly Health & Fitness page. “The local hospital is giving us stories about local physicians and programs it has to offer — in their words, without an effort to balance the copy with comments from other hospitals or from doctors who don’t practice at AAMC,” writes Capital publisher/executive editor Tom Marquardt. “I’m not entirely comfortable with the arrangement, purely for journalistic reasons. But in the end I think the reader benefits — and that’s my goal.”

Dow Jones Newswires Switches Partners; Will Distribute AFP, Not AP (Paid Content)
Dow Jones and the Associated Press are ending a longstanding distribution and resource-sharing agreement. Instead, Dow Jones Newswires will distribute stories from Agence France-Presse. DJ has been sharing office space with AP in about 30 overseas locations. DJ spin: it’s part of the post-News Corp investment in global financial news. AP spin: AP didn’t believe it was being paid enough.

NYT Co. Ad Revenue for February Down 6.6% On Big Classified Skid
The New York Times Co. reported Tuesday that its February revenue from continuing operations slipped 2.6% on ad sales that fell 6.6% from February 2007. Classified revenue fell 19.4%, and are down 21.2% for the year so far.

GWU official happy to see free newspapers back on campus
George Washington University president emeritus Stephen Joel Trachtenberg launched the program to provide free papers to dorm residents, then killed it when they weren’t being read. “To our astonishment, the termination of free newspapers was greeted by an outcry,” he writes. The program was revived, killed a second time, and recently revived again. “I confess I am delighted as I trust are Donald Graham and Arthur Sulzberger. I know that newspaper readership is going down all over the country but I’m pleased at least on my campus, it is not going down without a fight.”

Shriver collected paychecks long after leaving NBC News
Maria Shriver, who gave up her “Dateline” job after husband Arnold Schwarzenegger was sworn into office in 2004, continued to receive paychecks from NBC into 2007. Documents indicate that NBC paid her between $100,000 and $1 million during each of the last three years. A large office is still assigned to Shriver, and no one at NBC has been allowed to move into the spacious room.

“Indiana Jones” trailer runs on widget power
NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - When a second trailer for “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” premieres online this week, it should spread as fast as the first, thanks to a widget.

College gossip site under scrutiny
TRENTON, N.J. - New Jersey prosecutors have subpoenaed records of JuicyCampus.com, a Web site that publishes anonymous, often malicious gossip about college students.

comScore “Digital World: State Of The Internet” Report Highlights Growth in Emerging Internet Markets
U.S. Currently Accounts for 21 Percent of Worldwide Internet Users, Down from 66 Percent in 1996

Competition Fuels Broadband Use in Europe
The European Commission says European Union countries added 19 million broadband lines in 2007, the equivalent of more than 50,000 households per day.

Wireless Spectrum Auction Raises $19 Billion
Wireless companies bid more than $19 billion for radio spectrum license rights, which are being surrendered as broadcasters aim to convert to digital television in 2009.

Google sees surge in Web use on hot mobile phones
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc has seen an acceleration of Internet activity among mobile phone users in recent months since the company has introduced faster Web services on selected phone models, fueling confidence the mobile Internet era is at hand, the company said on Tuesday.

A Meet-Up, Brought to You by Huggies
The Kimberly-Clark Corporation is joining forces with Meetup, a social networking site that fosters offline meetings of users who share interests — like parenthood.