Permanent link to MTA daily media news

I will be a guest on Head-On with Bob Kincaid today at 6:00 PM ET.  Listen to Bob from 6:00 to 9:00 PM ET every weekday on the Head-On Radio Network.

Matt Davies

Which raises a question: Why would conservative pundits have screamed if their candidate had been getting savaged? Our guess: Because conservative pundits can make a good living within the realm of the conservative press corps! They get hired, for good pay, by conservative entities. And they get paid to voice conservative views within the mainstream press. Conservative voices can earn a living within the conservative press corps. But liberal voices earn their Jaguars within the mainstream press. Thus, liberals defer to the mainstream press—and conservatives are much more free to attack it. Over the past sixteen years, this has drastically tipped the scales against progressive and Dem Party interests.

Based on those assumptions, here’s the basic shape of your ongoing discourse:

Over the course of the past sixteen years, the mainstream press corps has increasingly become more Republican, more conservative, more wealthy, more corporate. On the presidential level, they have made secular saints out of several Republicans—and they have savaged Big Dems. How much of that reflects a structural change? How much of that has simply reflected a personal, crackpot war against Clinton/Gore? We’ll get a chance to ponder that question if Obama gets to the White House. But as these processes have played out, your liberal leaders have relentlessly kept their traps shut. The U. S. Army is in Iraq today because they deferred to the mainstream consensus—in 1999. When Ceci Connolly and the Post were blatantly savaging Gore.

Did young liberal superstars keep their traps shut, hoping for mainstream wealth and glory? We don’t have the slightest idea. By the way: Did you hear that progressive feminist Rachel Maddow thinks Chris Matthews is just super-brilliant?
What I’ve been saying.  WHAT I’VE BEEN SAYING!  Is anybody listening?  When are progressives going to build our own infrastructure to counter this ongoing catastrophe?

Time declares Obama the Democratic nominee, but adds an * (On Politics, USA Today)
Time magazine’s new cover makes its analysis of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination clear: But note the asterisk: “Really, we’re pretty sure this time.”

Obama May Declare Victory Before Winning (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
In an interview with Brian Williams on NBC, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, said  that he may declare victory on May 20 after winning the Oregon primary (assuming he does) — even though he will not have reached the magic number of 2,205 delegates. “That will be an important day,” Obama said. “If at that point we have the majority of pledged delegates, which is possible, then I think we can make a pretty strong claim that we’ve got the most runs and it’s the ninth inning and we’ve won.” Except of course that this isn’t a fight for a majority of pledged delegates. It’s a fight for the majority of total delegates — which includes superdelegates. And the number is 2,025. Not the majority of pledged delegates — the majority of total delegates.
What, he hasn’t bought enough superdelegates?  Get out the checkbook, Barack, you cheapskate!  From a member of the Hillary’s Voice message group: It’s a ploy to cover up the beating he will take in W VA ,Kentucky and EVEN Oregon.  From me:  Maybe so, but it’s also part of the shock and awe plus aura of inevitability type of campaigning perfected by Karl Rove in 2000, especially after the election and before Nino Scalia gave the White House to George Bush.

Who will Obama pick as his vice president? (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — With the Democratic nomination almost within his grasp, Illinois Sen. Barack Obama sometime soon will start the next great guessing game in American politics: Who will be his running mate?
More aura of inevitability.  David Axelrod learned well from his mentor, Karl Rove.  And has McClatchy become an adjunct of the Obama campaign?  Sure looks like it.  Is that what we want in our party?  Pushing, shoving, elbowing, get the fuck out of the race?  Not me, thanks.

Hang on in there, Hillary. It’s too soon to quit (by Sarah Churchwell, The Independent, U.K.)
The most common reason put forward for insisting that Clinton “do the right thing” and “bow out graciously” is that she is doing the Democratic party, and its chances in November, irretrievable harm by prolonging the internecine struggle of the primary contest and taking it to the convention (despite the fact that the chairman of the National Democratic Committee, Howard Dean, has suggested that the nomination should be decided around 1 July). A similar argument was advanced in 2000, pressuring Gore to concede the presidency to Bush, or risk a “constitutional crisis” – American code for “rip the country apart”. He was told he couldn’t win, that the people had spoken, that he should concede graciously and let the system work – the one the Republicans were busy rigging. So he conceded. That turned out well, didn’t it?

Clinton presses on, urges supporters to ignore calls to quit
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Her voice raspy, her tone determined, Hillary Rodham Clinton urged her supporters Thursday to ignore the political pundits who have declared her toast.

Offering Clinton Money to “take a dive” (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
If this is true, it is the most despicable thing I’ve ever read. Thomas Edsall at Huffpo has a post called “Big Rewards Await Clinton If She Ends Campaign Now”… The Big Boyz’ Haka has been very successful in shutting down the Clinton campaign’s ability to raise funds. She most likely has a treasure chest of money she can use to fund herself in the General Election but she can’t touch it right now. Now is the time to reward her for not taking a dive. If you’ve got it, send it. If you don’t, ask someone else to do it for you. Just do it.

Obama Shifts Strategy (Political Wire)
The Los Angeles Times reports Sen. Barack Obama “hasn’t managed after months of political combat to force” Sen. Hillary Clinton “out of the presidential race, so he’s about to try another approach: ignoring her.” “Confident that he has built a near-impregnable lead, his campaign aides said Wednesday that Obama would begin shifting his focus toward the general election.”
Ignore the little woman.  Not exactly a new strategy–it’s been used against us women for millennia.

Obama Woos Superdelegates on House Floor (by Political Wire)
“The fight for Democratic superdelegates moved to the House floor on Thursday as Sen. Barack Obama spoke to dozens of Democrats in the House well,” The Hill reports.
“Obama, increasingly looking like the Democratic presidential nominee, strode into the House chamber just before 11 a.m.as the House was beginning a series of votes. Obama, who was greeted with hugs and backslaps, slipped in the side door along with what appeared to be only his security detail.” Said Obama: “I wanted to see what’s going on over here. I hear there’s a lot of action on this side.”
Yeah, chuckle, chuckle, Barack.  Glad you could find your way to the chamber, because you sure haven’t spent much time there representing us constituents.

Obama As Electable As Kerry? And That’s A Good Thing? (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
So writes our friend SusanG (and TalkLeft does think of her as a friend) at the Great Orange Satan’s place (also our friend Singer at MYDD), citing Gallup: “Obama stacks up against McCain at this point is similar to the way in which Kerry performed against Bush in 2004 within several key racial, educational, religious, and gender subgroups. That is, the basic underlying structure of the general-election campaign this year does not appear to be markedly different from that of the 2004 election.” Assuming that is true, and I do have quibbles with that, it is important to remember John Kerry LOST to Bush in 2004. This is not exactly the electability argument I think I would want to make.

New Hampster at No Quarter [Click through to buy one.]

Bonus Quote of the Day (Political Wire)
“It would be a catastrophe for the party.” — Jimmy Carter, quoted by the Detroit Free Press, who “warned of a disaster if party insiders try to wrest the nomination from the candidate with the largest number of votes and state victories.”
Oh, yeah, add Jimmy Carter to that tshirt of losers.  He didn’t win a second term.

Clinton’s campaign loans raise concerns about Bill’s income (McClatchy)
WASHINGTON — Hillary Clinton’s decision to lend her presidential campaign $6.4 million from assets she holds jointly with her husband is rekindling questions about millions of dollars that special interests have paid Bill Clinton for speeches and other work since he left the White House. In tapping some of that cash, “the Clintons have effectively bypassed campaign finance reform in a manner that’s ingenious — using Bill Clinton effectively as a front for the fundraising,” said Lawrence Jacobs, a University of Minnesota political science professor.
Bringing this up is one of the most despicable acts by the Obama campaign. They are the most hateful people I’ve ever seen. I never thought I’d see vicious, Rovian attacks used by Democrats against Democrats.  Has anyone asked this question about McCain’s loans to HIS campaign, when it’s his wife who has the fortune?

Obama’s Money Cartel: How Barack Obama Fronted for the Most Vicious Predators on Wall Street (by Pam Martens at the Black Agenda Report)
The candidate that claims to be the only presidential contender who doesn’t take money from lobbyists is in fact the biggest recipient of lobby-related contributions. Barack Obama rakes in millions from law firms serving the interests of Wall Street, including the financial institutions that gave us the subprime lending crisis. Lawyers that work for firms that earn hundreds of millions of dollars for lobbying may technically not be lobbyists, but they share in their colleagues’ earnings as influencers of Congress – a legal loophole that allows Obama to claim his hands are clean of lobby loot. “The top contributors to the Obama campaign are the very Wall Street firms whose shady mortgage lenders buried the elderly and the poor and minority under predatory loans.
Not only that, his campaign finance chairman is a multi-billionaire heir to the Hyatt Hotel fortune, and ran a bank into the ground making bad loans to poor people.  It was part of the subprime loan scandal, where ultra-rich people weren’t content to live off ordinary gains from their billions, but wanted outsized returns.  And they caused a lot of people a lot of misery.

Obama’s Consolidation of the Party (by Matt Stoller at Open Left)
Obama has created a number of significant infrastructure pieces through his campaign, displacing traditional groups the way he promised he would by signaling the end of the old politics of division and partisanship.
Voter Registration:  Obama has launched a 50 state registration drive…
Obama Organizing Fellows… These are unpaid positions…
Money: MyBarackObama.com:  With 1.5 million donors, this campaign has blown away anything we’ve ever seen in terms of grassroots fundraising.  The technology is all centralized…
Field: MyBarackObama.com (MyBO):  MyBarackObama.com is the cornerstone of the campaign, and it will have between 10-15 million opt-in members by election day.
Message and Politics: MyBarackObama.com:  Obama used youtube to push back on Reverend Wright, something he will continue to do to move beyond sound bite politics.  He has a good press shop and a way to push message out to the web.
I’m also told, though I can’t confirm, that Obama campaign has also subtly encouraged donors to not fund groups like VoteVets and Progressive Media.  These groups fall under the ’same old Washington politics’ which he wants to avoid, a partisan gunslinging contest he explicitly advocates against.
All controlled by and obligated to him PERSONALLY, not to the Democratic Party.  Sounds like he’s building a personal empire, not a party.  Dig your own grave, Democrats, you will be the Obamacrat Party soon.

Revolution of the Saints (by Anglachel)
I watch the mass psychosis that has overtaken half of my party and I am left stupefied. While I have had a cynical view of the netroots for several years, what I see now so thoroughly surpasses the worst I had imagined that I am struggling to come up with ways to comprehend the dissolution of what should have been a solidly unified party… Instead of seeking to make ideals of unity and benefit for all concrete, contempt has been mobilized. Those who say “Show me what you’ve got,” are reviled as racist, stupid, retrograde, besmirched and fallen. We don’t need no stinkin’ working class! We will get new and shiny young voters to replace you, untouched by your peculiar love of solid wages, health care and Hillary… As Chris Bowers put it: “Cultural Shift: Out with Bubbas, up with Creatives”
Let’s see, they want to create their own reality.  Hmm… where have I heard THAT before?

We deserve to know what we are getting. (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
[Obama] has no vision beyond “we should not bicker so much.” The past is bad, mmmkay… This is the most pathetic aspect of Obama. It is the grand lie. Politics in a democracy are divisive. They should be. Real issues and real people are involved. The electorate and those who represent us should duke it out. Countries that don’t go to the matt over tough issues are called dictatorships. In fact, we will continue to duke it out- even if Obama makes a thousand lovely speeches. Obama’s call to a greater unity is AVOIDANCE not character. He doesn’t want to address the difficult issues because he has no core convictions. It means work. Work that does not involve self promotion. Voting “present” on abortion bills in the state senate is emblematic. This is who he is. “Present”. The short hand for all this is: I don’t like him.

Political Healing (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
I thought merit mattered. I thought experience mattered. You [Howard Dean] went another direction. You and Donna Brazille have pushed for Senator Obama to be the nominee and in a year where Democrats should blow the Republican nominee out of the water you’ve assured us another crushing defeat. Wow. I never would have thought of that. Supposedly those of us who won’t vote for Obama in the general election just feel this way because of the heat of the battle and we will come around come the fall. Good luck with that. We have been told that we are unimportant to the party. We’re uneducated, we’re not smart enough to see the greatness that is Obama.

I will give Obama credit for winning almost all the I’s: Iowa, Illinois and Idaho. I’ll give his campaign credit for being well run. We have seen that a well run campaign doesn’t translate into a well run Executive Branch. Bush & Rove sure knew how to campaign; they had no idea how to govern… It’s a sad day for us, as Democrats and former Democrats, that we started this process with a plethora of qualified candidates and we ended up with Obama.

Declaring Victory: Remember, Florida And Michigan Will Count In November (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Politico is reporting that Barack Obama will declare victory on May 20… So let me get this straight — the first act of the self declared Democratic nominee Barack Obama will be to state that Michigan and Florida will not count? This is insane. Two key states in November will be dissed in the first act of the newly crowned Democratic nominee. At the least, Obama should wait until he has 2209 delegates counting the existing Florida and Michigan delegations. One assumes that will likely happen by the end of the primaries barring some unforeseen event. I can not understand the logic of this approach.

Thinking About November (by Paul Krugman)
[W]hat can be done to heal the party’s current divisions? More tirades from Obama supporters against Mrs. Clinton are not the answer — they will only further alienate her grass-roots supporters, many of whom feel that she received a raw deal. Nor is it helpful to insult the groups that supported Mrs. Clinton, either by suggesting that racism was their only motivation or by minimizing their importance. After the Pennsylvania primary, David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s campaign manager, airily dismissed concerns about working-class whites, saying that they have “gone to the Republican nominee for many elections.” On Tuesday night, Donna Brazile, the Democratic strategist, declared that “we don’t have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics.” That sort of thing has to stop. One thing the Democrats definitely need to do is give delegates from Florida and Michigan — representatives of citizens who voted in good faith, and whose support the party may well need this November — seats at the convention.

New Hampster at No Quarter

What’ll Be Left of the Democratic Party (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
After you, me, and a few more million leave: Eggheads and African-Americans. Because, as Donna Brazile infamously said, “we don’t have to just rely on white blue-collar voters and Hispanics..” (TRANSLATION: They’re a bunch of racists anyway, so screw them.) Here’s what Donna wrote in an e-mail [Wednesday] to an understandably unhappy Hillary supporter (the rest of her nasty e-mail is below): “Message to the base: stay home.” Good luck with that coalition, Donna, Barack, San Francisco Nancy, and Howard. Because, while we won’t stay home, you elitists, we’ll all be writing in “Hillary Clinton” on our ballots — if she’s not the nominee.

Was Hillary channeling George Wallace? (by Joe Conason, Salon)
Hillary’s reckless exploitation of racial division could split the Democratic Party over race — a tragic legacy for the Clintons.
What’s tragic is that you are a traitor, Joe.  A traitor to your own fight against right wing hatemongering.  You, of all people (co-author of The Hunting of the President) shouldn’t be falling for the Obama campaign’s hatemongering against the Clintons.  You should know better.

NO ONE DID IT BETTER: (Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
Please get permission before you speak! No one expressed the notion better than commissar[Josh Marshall]-friendly journo John Judis, in the wake of Bill Clinton’s “Jesse Jackson” reference. For us, this is one of the silliest—and most instructive—sound-bites of this whole campaign: “JUDIS (1/31/08): It would have been fine, of course, for a political scientist or a journalist to make the observation that Hillary Clinton stood little chance in the South Carolina Democratic primary running against a black candidate. And it would have raised no eyebrows if he or she drew comparisons between Barack Obama’s win and Jesse Jackson’s 1988 victory.” See? It would have been fine if Judis’ group had said it. When Bill Clinton said it, not so much! (Shorter Judis: People like me are allowed to discuss this. We’re sorry, but other people are not. If they do, we’ll mind-read their “calibrations.” It’s sad, but it’s really their fault.)

Four Years Later: Why Did It Take So Long for the Press to Break Abu Ghraib Story? (by Greg Mitchell at Editor & Publisher)
Charles J. Hanley, Pulitzer winner for the Associated Press, uncovered abuses at the infamous prison months before the scandal really exploded. Why were so many others so slow to act?

Our Media Have Been So Wrong for So Long (by Jayne Lyn Stahl, AlterNet)
In his new book, E&P editor Greg Mitchell offers a stinging indictment of the media’s complicity with Washington’s war-marketing machine.

Ten of the 15 questions in [Thursday’s] press gaggle focused on Jenna’s wedding. (Think Progress)
The White House press corps gave Bush administration spokesman Gordon Johndroe a tough time in [Thursday’s] press gaggle. Of the 15 total questions asked during the briefing, 10 were regarding the upcoming wedding of President Bush’s daughter Jenna.

The Public is Too Dumb to Understand the Budget (by Dean Baker)
Or at least reporters are. What on earth would any reader learn about the budget from [an] AP story on the farm bill that ran in the NYT? The article just reports every item in billions of dollars — it never gives shares of the budget or per person expenditures — information that would tell readers whether the spending on this bill is a big deal in terms of the budget or their tax dollars. More importantly, the article never tells readers that the appropriations are over 5 years. This does make a difference. The NYT would do its readers and the environment a great service if they just saved the trees rather than print budget stories like this.

Congress Acts to Keep Housing Unaffordable (by Dean Baker)
That is an implication of the claim in a Washington Post article that a $7,500 first-time home buyer tax credit is intended to keep house prices from falling. In large parts of the country the housing bubble pushed prices out of the reach of most moderate and middle income families. The correction from this bubble was again making prices affordable. While it is unlikely that this tax credit will actually prevent the market adjustment, it could slow the process. In any case, the Post should have pointed out the perverse implication of this policy. It is not clear that many voters would approve of congressional efforts to use their tax dollars to keep house prices artificially high.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Discussing Cindy McCain’s tax returns, NBC’s Curry did not note effect on John McCain of wife’s fortune or benefit to Cindy of tax cuts her husband now supports

• On Fox News, Williams cited McCain’s immigration record as evidence of “working across party lines,” but not his abandonment of bipartisan position

• Fox News’ Cavuto, on-air graphic misrepresented projected cost of housing bill

• Matthews offers walk-and-chew-gum explanation for why media don’t adequately cover McCain

• Fox News’ MacCallum allowed GOP strategist to falsely claim Obama is “pushing for this global tax that would require America to pay tax to the U.N.”

• Ignoring his numerous falsehoods, Detroit Free Press reported that at a town hall meeting, “[a]s usual, McCain was candid”

• NBC’s Curry did not challenge Cindy McCain on claim that “[m]y husband is absolutely opposed to any negative campaigning at all”

• Dick Morris: Election hinges on whether “we believe” Obama is “sort of a sleeper agent who really doesn’t believe in our system”

• More media outlets quoted Indiana man saying Obama is “a Muslim” without noting the assertion is false

• Will falsely claimed Clinton became Yankee fan “retroactively”

Media watchdog urges Morocco to lift Jazeera ban
RABAT (Reuters) – A U.S.-based press freedom watchdog called on Morocco on Thursday to lift a ban preventing the Al Jazeera television network from broadcasting a daily news program focusing on north Africa from its Moroccan studios.

Reuters photographer detained in Zimbabwe
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – A Reuters photographer covering the aftermath of Zimbabwe’s elections has been detained for three days for allegedly using a satellite phone to transmit pictures, the global news and information company said on Thursday.

NPR show may stand in a class by itself for concealing bias
An episode of The Infinite Mind called “Prozac Nation: Revisited” featured four experts who have financial ties to the makers of antidepressants — something that public radio listeners weren’t told. Also, they weren’t informed that the show receives money from Prozac manufacturer Eli Lilly. Paging Alicia Shepard!

Farm Radio Broadcaster Gets the Boot After Exposing Monsanto’s ‘Goon Squads’ (by Russell Mokhiber, Corporate Crime Reporter, posted at AlterNet)
Derry Brownfield was a veteran of farm radio reports, until he went after Big Ag and its Mafia.

Ex-USAT reporter Locy goes before appeals court on Friday
When she stands before the court tomorrow, Toni Locy — found in contempt for refusing to name sources — “will not be wearing sensible shoes because she doesn’t own any,” writes Kevin Cullen. “That court has already sensibly stayed the fines against her. It can do another sensible thing and throw this whole ridiculous thing out.”

Tribune posts 8% drop in operating revenue
A continued weak advertising environment resulted in an 8% decline in first-quarter operating revenue and a 16% drop in operating cash flow for Tribune Co., parent of the Los Angeles Times, KTLA-TV Channel 5, the Chicago Tribune and other media holdings. However, because of Tribune’s conversion to a tax-advantaged, employee-owned company in December, it posted a one-time, $1.86-billion income tax adjustment that resulted in net income of $1.82 billion for the quarter that ended March 31, compared with $11 million in the same 2007 period.

Sun-Times’ parent expects shares to be delisted from NYSE
The company’s share price doesn’t meet the Big Board’s minimum, so the stock will now trade on the OTC bulletin board.

‘Examiner’ Newspapers Add Sunday Editions, Cut Back Home Delivery
Clarity Media Group, which operates the free Examiner newspapers in Washington, D.C., Baltimore, and San Francisco, plans to add a Sunday edition to each and expand the current Thursday editions. Home delivery, however, will be scaled back to two days a week.

‘San Diego U-T’ Reportedly Drops Top Internet Execs
The San Diego Union-Tribune has reportedly ousted three of its top Internet executives, including those involved in the Web site’s online radio efforts.

Murdoch’s confident he’ll soon complete his Newsday deal
Rupert Murdoch says he expects to wrap up his $580-million purchase of Newsday in as little as a week, and that Cablevision’s efforts will fail. “This is a great market and this will give us a very powerful position.” He says of the New York Post and Newsday: “We’re not putting them to be one newspaper. But there are great savings in printing and distribution and normal back office . There’s a lot we can do together and we’ll pursue that.”

People, other celebrity mags become obsessed with politics
Readers are craving coverage of the presidential candidates and their families, says People managing editor Larry Hackett. “They are really, really interested in what’s going on, and so we’re covering it more than ever.”

Analyst: Upfront Sales to Fall 2% to 14%
Cites Economic Woes, Ratings Decline and Writers Strike

To Reduce Costs, Warner Brothers Closing 2 Film Divisions
The company said closing Picturehouse and Warner Independent Pictures was a cost-cutting move rooted in the changing economics of the specialty film business.

Unstoppable Google (by Jeff Jarvis)
Google now lets us explore places on its maps via the photos and videos we, the people, submit. When I saw on a panel with Marisa Mayer at DLD in Munich, she showed a map with dots covering the globe representing the data points users have contributed by their use of maps. She also said people have submitted millions of geo-tagged photos. This is what happens when you build a platform.

Gates: Microsoft shifts focus after Yahoo deal collapses
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) – Microsoft Corp. will focus on growing its own advertising and Internet search business after it withdrew its takeover offer for Yahoo Inc., Chairman Bill Gates said Friday. Microsoft has not presented an alternative strategy to compete with its dominant rival in the Internet business, Google Inc.

Inside The Deals: Forget Yahoo—Microsoft Needs To Go On The Ultimate Corporate Diet (Paid Content)
Several years ago, I had the memorable experience of listening to Bill Gates defend the structure of the company that he built. It was during the height of Microsoft’s war with the Justice Department. Gates, facing a roomful of skeptics, argued forcefully that breaking up the company made no business sense. But having watched the failure of the company’s $47.5 billion bid for Yahoo, it’s hard not to wonder: maybe the government had a point. Microsoft is struggling to regain the initiative against Google. Size is relative, but Google is the smaller and faster moving of the two giants. Google revenue soared 41 percent during the latest quarter, while Microsoft sales were nearly flat. Microsoft’s answer to this dilemma: get even larger. Maybe it would make more sense to wage this battle by slimming down. A Microsoft breakup might seem shocking, but it would be consistent with a broad movement toward corporate consolidation.

Airports, Malls Get More ‘Gesture’ Ads
Interactive Video-Out-of-Home Ads Let Consumers Play

Adults Spend Slightly More Than Half Their Media Hours With TV
TVB Releases Nielsen Survey of Consumption Habits

Cablevision plans wireless broadband network
NEW YORK (AP) – Cable TV provider Cablevision Systems Corp. disclosed plans Thursday to offer high-speed wireless Internet service across its coverage area in the New York region.