Permanent link to MTA daily media news

The punditry disconnect continues on primary night by David Bauder, Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) – Television’s news networks brought all of their punditry and electronic firepower to the Democratic presidential primary coverage on Tuesday, but left viewers yearning for the simplest of things. Say, a reporter with a microphone who could walk into a bar in rural Kentucky and ask some voters what was on their minds. The night of political water-treading – commentators who had already declared the Barack Obama-Hillary Clinton race over were declaring it again after the Kentucky and Oregon primaries – did little to repair the campaign’s punditry disconnect.

Don’t forget Florida 2000

“Each vote you cast is a prayer for our nation, a declaration of your dreams for your children and your grandchildren, a reflection of your determination to insure that our country lives up to its promise. Each vote is a tool, one used throughout history, to break barriers, open doors, and widen the circle of opportunity.”
 - Hillary Clinton, Boca Raton, Florida 5/21/08

DNC Rules Committee Outlines Agenda for Delegate Flap Meeting (March on Politics, Tampa Tribune)
WASHINGTON – Taking a vacation to Washington, D.C., next week? Want to give Democrats a piece of your mind? The Democratic National Committee has just sent out an advisory of how its Rules & Bylaws Committee will proceed on May 31 during a much-anticipated meeting to reconsider issues in the Florida and Michigan delegate flap… Democrats in Florida and Michigan were punished last year by the national party with the loss of all of their delegates because their states scheduled presidential primaries too early, in violation of national party primary calendar rules. Hillary Clinton went on to win both primaries, but none of the candidates actively campaigned in either state and Barack Obama’s name was not even on the Michigan ballot… The Obama campaign has said that anything other than completely eliminating Clinton’s advantage – in other words, splitting the Florida and Michigan delegates between the two—is unfair. He contends the Florida primary wasn’t fair because the candidates, even though they were on the ballot, didn’t campaign here.
Earth to Barack:  You bought some national ads that played in Florida, and Clinton didn’t.  You broke the rules, Clinton did not, and you lost anyway.  You purposely took your name off the ballot in Michigan because you knew you would lose there, and you wanted to create this very opportunity to question the legitimacy of the vote.  Will Democrats now reward that kind of manipulation?  Both delegations should be seated in full, pledged as the voters voted.  Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina were given waivers for breaking the same rules that Florida and Michigan broke.  Why single out these two states?

Hillary Clinton’s Voice (click here to register to attend the meeting)

“But she PROMISED!” (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
I watched the video of Hillary’s speech in Florida from MSNBC and it is all coming back to me why I decided to only watch C-Span. At the very end of it, Contessa Brewer comes on and says something to the effect: “But what makes her think she can get the votes from Florida and Michigan when she *promised* not to campaign there?”… What does a promise to not campaign in the states have to do with championing the rights of the voters of those two states to have their votes counted?… So, they didn’t campaign. (Ok, well *Clinton* didn’t campaign. Obama bought $1.4 Million dollars worth of cable ads) So what? It’s a complete non-sequitor with respect to honoring the votes. No, Contessa, you can’t have your way this time. Somebody’s got to act like a grown up.

Obama willing to ‘go more than halfway’ on FL, MI (Political Ticker, CNN)
(CNN) — Obama senior adviser David Axelrod says the Illinois senator’s campaign is “open to compromise” and willing to cede Hillary Clinton the advantage in talks over the seating of the Florida and Michigan delegations at the Democratic National Convention this summer. “We are willing to go more than half way. We’re willing to work to make sure that we can achieve a compromise,” Axelrod tells National Public Radio’s Michele Norris in a Wednesday evening interview. “And I guess the question is: is Senator Clinton’s campaign willing to do the same?”… Obama now appears likely to finish the primary season with a delegate lead, including superdelegates, that would not disappear if both states’ delegations are seated based on the results of January’s contests, in which his name did not appear on the ballot in Michigan. Clinton won both primaries.
We’ll just have to see, won’t we, because in the past the Obama folks have only been willing to consider “compromises” that were completely disadvantageous to Clinton.

Fla. poll: McCain 50, Obama 40 (Florida Politics Blog, Palm Beach Post)
A new Rasmussen poll shows Republican John McCain with a 50-to-40 percent lead over Democratic presidential frontrunner Barack Obama in Florida. In a hypothetical McCain-Hillary Clinton race, Clinton leads 47-41. [Emphasis added.]

Walk a mile in our shoes!
Starting today, right now, this very moment there is a movement going on!  Can you hear the rumbling?  Thousands of women just like you are rushing to their closets and finding the perfect pair of shoes to send to Howard Dean and company over at the Democratic National Committee – Deadline to send your shoes May 31st  (however, keep those shoes coming until Hillary has the nomination).
Click through for details.

 Clinton Supporters Count Too is associated with Hillary Is 44.

WomenCount PAC is still asking for donations to run its “Not so Fast” ads.  Click through for details.

You can also join the New Women’s Party.

McCain adviser: Sometimes it’s ‘accurate’ to describe a woman as a ‘bitch.’ (Think Progress)
During [Tuesday’s] Democratic primary coverage, CNN senior analyst Jeff Toobin criticized a New York Times column that published a joke about Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) being a “white bitch.” “I think it’s appalling, but I think she’s absolutely right that there has been a level of sexism,” said Toobin. But CNN contributor Alex Castellanos, who is also an adviser to Sen. John McCain’s (R-AZ) campaign, disagreed, saying that some women deserve to be called a “bitch”.
Click through to watch the video.

Sexism on the ballot? (RedEye, Chicago Tribune)
MAYSVILLE, Ky. — Women of all ages and nationalities push against the rope line, carrying books and T-shirts, posters and stuffed animals—anything for her to autograph. They tote huge signs that shout “Hillary Cares About Me”–and they tearfully grab her hand to implore her to stick it out, to take her trailing campaign all the way to the Democratic convention in Denver. They say they have come to show support for Hillary Clinton not merely because she is a woman or because her campaign is breaking historic ground, but because she speaks to them about their real problems and they are furious at the way she has been treated. In the run-up to Tuesday’s Kentucky primary, Clinton attracted some of the biggest and most intense crowds she’d seen in weeks, such as the 2,000 who attended her rally in Lexington on Monday night, where she was joined by her husband. And while there are plenty of men in the stands, it’s the women who are most passionate.
Click through for quotes from some of these supporters.  And it’s not just sexism, but racism, too, as Bill Clinton knows very well.

Bill Clinton says race card allegation ‘revolting strategy’ (Political Ticker, CNN)
(CNN) – Bill Clinton says that he thinks most people in the media are in Barack Obama’s demographic, telling People magazine “There have been times when I thought I was literally lost in a fun house.” In an interview hitting newsstands Friday, the former president said his wife Hillary Clinton has been “outspent, dismissed, denigrated, declared dead” this primary season… Clinton said the allegation that he and Sen. Clinton played the race card was a “cold-blooded, calculated, manipulated, and a revolting strategy.”

Party may suffer from an Obama candidacy (by Gene Lyons, author of Fools for Scandal and co-author of The Hunting of the President)
If Hillary Clinton had no other reason to keep running for the Democratic presidential nomination, it would be to demonstrate that Tim Russert, Keith Olbermann, Maureen Dowd, David Broder and the Beltway media gas bags don’t decide American elections. Last week, Sen. Barack Obama, the supposedly inevitable Democratic nominee, lost the West Virginia primary by 41 points. Democrats haven’t taken the presidency without winning the Mountain State since 1916. To use a geographically appropriate metaphor, if there has ever been a canaryin-a-coal-mine primary, that was it… If nominated, Obama can’t possibly defeat Sen. John McCain without bringing Clinton voters to him. Recently, however, I’ve been hearing from many passionate Democrats who say they can’t and won’t vote for him in November, so I asked a few to explain why.
Click through for some of the reasons, which I’ve heard from a lot of people, too.

Premature evacuation: Obama plans general election team
WASHINGTON — Barack Obama is quietly planning to take over the Democratic National Committee and assemble a multistate team for the general election, the latest sign that he is putting rival Hillary Rodham Clinton and the nomination fight behind him. Top Obama organizer Paul Tewes is in discussions to run the party, several Democratic officials said Tuesday.
Rubbing Clinton’s face in the dirt and shoving Howard Dean out the door, all in one move.  It’s gonna be a bumpy ride, friends.  There are some serious scores to settle.

Hillary now ahead in popular vote if you count all the votes (by lambert at Corrente)
Which explains why Obama doesn’t want to count all the votes, doesn’t even want to talk about it, and also why our famously free press is trying to help him drag the dead Unity Pony over the finish line by trying to suppress the vote in the remaining primaries.

From a member of the Hillary’s Voice message group:
I haven’t had time to add the exact totals, but it’s clear from this data at Real Clear Politics
That Hillary has won the popular vote each of the last three months (with June expected to extend that to four).
Hillary got more votes in March than Obama got.
Hillary got more votes in April than Obama got.
Hillary got more votes in May than Obama got.
Hillary will get more votes in June than Obama got.
And Hillary has more total votes overall than Obama has gotten [including Florida and Michigan].
I think we need a national revote for this primary.  I’m convinced that there’s a lot of buyers’ remorse among those who gave Obama his early victories.  Oh, and if you care about actually winning in November, Democrats, see below.

Poll Analysis: McCain Takes the Lead Back from Obama (Hominid News, 5/21/08)

When A Majority of Delegates Doesn’t Cut It (by Taylor Marsh)
Math v. Map. Ain’t life a bitch. The superdelegates are taking anti-acid today. Obama’s delegate lead isn’t cutting it… Unfortunately, the SuperDs don’t seem to have the guts to do what they’re in existence to do in the first place, what they need to do to ensure Democrats will win in November: honor Clinton’s popular vote lead and the strengths of her map to put her over the top, the magic number being 2209, counting Michigan and Florida… Are we really going to nominate a candidate who is weaker in the very states we need to win in November? It’s up to the SuperDs, who just popped another pill. 

Stupid “majority of the pledged delegates” metric (by lambert  at Corrente)
As the embroiderers affix the last gilt rosettes, ermine trimmings, and trappings of power to the train that Obama will wear for his “subtle” coronation tonight, it’s worth taking a moment to reflect that the ostensible metric for tonight’s entertainment really is completely, 100% content-free, at least from the standpoint of Teh Rulez. Mario Cuomo … explained on Face the Nation: “… Gov. CUOMO: In its design, [the Democratic process is] supposed to go through to the end to a convention, and at the convention is the only place where the votes count. Most people don’t understand that all the counts that have already been— all the contests that have already been held did not produce votes. They produced pledges, which probably would be lived up to at the convention.”

Goddess I Love a Fighter (by PaganPower at No Quarter)
Today Hillary stated what many of us have been secretly wishing for. She said that she would be willing to take the nomination fight right to the convention should Florida and Michigan want to contest the DNC decision… “Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is willing to take her fight to seat Florida and Michigan delegates to the convention if the two states want to go that far…” When I read stuff like this I get all choked up. Because Hillary is willing to do what is right regardless of the odds against her. That is something I respect and admire to the core of my being.

Hillary Wallops Bam-Bam No Matter How Much He Spends! (by SusanUnPC at No Quarter)
HOWARD WOLFSON on CNN [Tuesday] night: “He outspent us in West Virginia. We beat him by 40 points last week. He has outspent us in Kentucky 2-1. We beat him by 35 points this week. So Senator Obama can continue to outspend us. We’re going to be able to have the resources we need to get our message out like we did this week in Kentucky. …”

Obama Spent More Than He Raised in April (Political Wire)
CQ Politics digs into the latest fundraising numbers and notes the Democratic presidential primaries are “starting to take a financial toll on Barack Obama.” “Obama spent $36.4 million over the course of the month — about $4 million more than he raised during the same time — as he tried to sew up the nomination. Despite outspending Clinton in Pennsylvania and Indiana, he lost both contests.”

Case-Study: Republicans Go Nuclear on Barack (by Tech President)
As an effective deployment of a modern media strategy, I want to share a recent example engineered by, among others, the Washington State Republican Party putting the hammer to Barack Obama after a *major* gaffe while campaigning in Oregon. I’ve been given exclusive insight on how this all went down. Let’s dig in…
Click through to read the analysis.

One for each in latest superdelegate news (On Politics, USA Today)
Hillary Rodham Clinton’s presidential campaign says she has won the support of Democratic superdelegate Craig Bashein of Ohio. Barack Obama’s campaign points to the news that he’s now got the support of Connecticut superdelegate Rep. Joe Courtney.

Sun-Times’ Sweet is an “important voice,” thanks to Obama
Prior to this year’s political season, Lynn Sweet “was a largely unknown tabloid reporter from a regional newspaper who had never seriously covered a presidential campaign,” writes John Koblin. But with Barack Obama’s ascent, the Sun-Times reporter/columnist has suddenly emerged as one of the most important voices in the campaign. Newsday’s Glenn Thrush says: “Of all the people who cover Obama, she’s the one who holds him most accountable.”
TABLOID REPORTER??!!  Lynn Sweet was never a tabloid reporter.  What an insult!

McCain to host possible veeps at Ariz. home
The Memorial Day weekend guest list at Sen. John McCain’s Arizona retreat runs to at least three Republicans mentioned as potential vice presidential running mates, but a top aide said Wednesday that vetting possible veeps is not on the agenda. “It’s purely social,” said Mark Salter, a senior adviser to McCain. Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, a McCain rival in the primary, were invited to a weekend gathering at the senator’s place in Sedona.

McCain adviser’s work as lobbyist comes to light (USA TODAY)
WASHINGTON — John McCain’s top foreign policy adviser lobbied the Arizona senator’s staff on behalf of the republic of Georgia while he was working for the campaign, public records show. Randy Scheunemann, founder of Orion Strategies, represented the governments of Macedonia, Georgia and Taiwan between 2003 and March 1, according to the firm’s filings with the Justice Department. In its latest semiannual report, the firm disclosed that Scheunemann had a phone conversation in November about Georgia with Richard Fontaine, an aide in McCain’s Senate office. Orion Strategies earned $540,000 from its foreign clients over the year ending on Dec. 1, reports show. Scheunemann also received $56,250 last year from March to July from McCain, according to campaign finance records.

McCain’s lobbyist purge: ‘Everyone gets the joke.’ (Think Progress)
Five lobbyists have resigned from the McCain campaign, causing many other Washington lobbyists to ask: “So this is the thanks we get?” Said one McCain supporter: “I find it a little offensive. It was good enough to get my $2,300 donation. If we’re not good enough, then send my check back. It pisses me off.” But McCain still has 115 lobbyists raising money and helping to run his campaign. And apparently, they all understand McCain’s anti-lobbyist efforts are simply for show.

Let’s have more TV newscasts that expose politicians’ lies
Young people might turn on their TVs in droves if news orgs had a few choice strands of Michael Moore’s DNA in them, and pointed out when a public official wasn’t telling the truth, says Nancy Franklin. “I’m not a [Jon] Stewartite, but when Dick Cheney denies making certain statements about the war in Iraq and Stewart shows three video clips that prove he’s lying, I think he’s providing a real service to the country, and I’d like to think that that’s what his fans are responding to.”

Savage Mocks Robert Byrd’s Tears: We Should ‘Send In Orderlies In White Coats’ To ‘Remove The Old Man’ (Think Progress)
Yesterday, upon news of Sen. Ted Kennedy’s (D-MA) diagnosis of a malignant brain tumor, “a moment of anguished silence” brushed over Washington, Massachussetts, and the entire country. Many senators took to the floor to express their sadness at the news, including Sen. Robert Byrd (D-WV)… Apparently, king of hate radio Michael Savage found the whole situation funny. On his radio show yesterday, after mocking Kennedy by playing a bizarre montage featuring Arnold Schwarzennegger from “Kindergarten Cop” and a song about liberal facism by the band the Dead Kennedys, Savage ripped into Byrd’s heartfelt tribute as well.
Click through to listen to the audio.

Blaming Workers for Their Bosses’ Incompetence (by Dean Baker)
Robert Samuelson told readers this morning that, “today’s retired and well-pensioned autoworkers have condemned those who followed to lower-paid jobs or no jobs at all.”… Presumably Samuelson is arguing that pensions and health care benefits have been a major drain on the big auto companies. This is of course true, but this was due to the incompetence of highly paid pension fund managers and their Wall Street consultants who were too dumb to recognize a stock bubble in the mid-90s… Let’s keep the evil-doers straight. The company’s 7-figure executives controls the pension fund. The fact that they didn’t know what they were ding weakened the big three. The problem is with the 7-figure crew, not the people who worked for a living on the assembly line.

The Crisis Isn’t Over: Who Could Have Known? (by Dean Baker)
That’s the headline of a WSJ article about the views of Christian Noyer, a member of the governing council of the European Central Bank. The WSJ also has an article today about how the Fed is now painting a gloomier picture of the future. It looks as though the economists were once again surprised by bad news. However entertaining it might be to hear the expressions of surprise about the state of the economy from prominent economists, it might be useful if reporters would occasionally seek out the views of economists who are not continually surprised by the economy.

Media Matters for America headlines

• Beck revived falsehood that Bill Clinton said “We’ve got to slow down our economy” to fight global warming

• IBD editorial quoted Will’s false claim after Newsweek issued correction

• Limbaugh on Dem primary: If “feminazis” had remembered to oppose “affirmative action for black guys … they wouldn’t face the situation they face today”

• On Hannity & Colmes, Conway falsely suggested McCain has been consistent on voting for war funding

• ABC’s This Week yet to correct Will’s Social Security falsehood

• Wash. Times article ignored Gates’ Iran comments, reports that Bush was referring to Obama in Knesset speech

• NY Times, ABCNews.com reported on McCain’s loan, but not that its terms may mean • McCain is breaking campaign finance laws

• Wash. Times ignores McCain’s flip-flops on immigration, taxes

• Michael Savage plays Dead Kennedys song “in some respect for” Sen. Kennedy

Age Verification For Downloads Coming To The UK (Mashable)
According to the BBC, websites will have to implement age verification for downloadable videos or video games. Online video services and video on demand services will be required to have age verification or “gate-keeping systems” which enable parents to monitor and control underage usage. The implementation will be overssen by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) which claims that 74% of parents have been worried about the lack of ratings on downloads.

Britain Mulls Plan To Store All Emails And Calls
Britain is considering a massive government database to store the e-mails, Internet information, phone-calls and text messages of all residents to help security forces in the fight against crime and terrorism.

ICTY Charges Prominent Kosovo Journalist For Contempt
The United Nations war crimes tribunal Tuesday charged a top Kosovo journalist with contempt of court, alleging that he has revealed the identity of a protected witness.

At One University, Tobacco Money Is a Secret
Virginia Commonwealth University, a public institution in Richmond, Va. [has] a contract … to do research for Philip Morris USA, the nation’s largest tobacco company and a unit of Altria Group. The contract bars professors from publishing the results of their studies, or even talking about them, without Philip Morris’s permission. If “a third party,” including news organizations, asks about the agreement, university officials have to decline to comment and tell the company. Nearly all patent and other intellectual property rights go to the company, not the university or its professors.

Going Mobile — The End of the Newsroom As We Know It? (by Joe Strupp, Editor & Publisher)
If anyone has paved the road for mobile journalists, it is clearly The News-Press in Fort Myers, Fla. The 73,097-circulation Gannett daily plans to have all 44 news staffers outfitted with mobile packs containing laptops, digital cameras, audio recorders, and assorted cables by the end of the spring, according to Editor Kate Marymont. She started the mojo effort several years ago, citing a need to get reporters out, have them spend more time in the community, and have the ability to file stories and images more quickly.

North Jersey’s ‘Record’ and ‘Herald News’ Combine Copy and Photo Desks
The move is expected to save about $800,000 annually and cut its workforce by 12 staffers. “Everyone got notice of this and people have to reapply for their positions,” said Stephen Borg, North Jersey Media Group president. “A few chose not to reapply so we might even have to hire from the outside.”

Wall Street Journal Editor Named
Rupert Murdoch named Robert J. Thomson as the top editor of The Wall Street Journal, putting an experienced journalist in one of the most important roles in American news media.

Sony Pictures to launch digital cinema unit
Sony Pictures studio unveiled plans on Wednesday for a new digital cinema unit to bring filmed presentations of Broadway shows, rock concerts and sports events to specially equipped movie theaters nationwide.
This is a smart move for theaters because, after all, how long will it be before we’ll be streaming first-run movies into our homes?  The Metropolitan Opera has already started doing this with its performances.  As we saw from yesterday’s newsletter, “The Regal Entertainment Group, the world’s largest cinema operator, has reached an agreement to equip 1,500 screens to show three-dimensional films.”  Movie theaters have to offer something you can’t get at home.  Until TV in the home becomes a hologram, that is.  Then we can all live happily ever after on our own holideck.

Fancast To Deliver Full-Length Streams Of The Daily Show, Colbert Report (Mashable)
Fancast, a Web video venture which had its official launch at CES earlier this year and is backed by Comcast, announced an expansion in programming this week, with streams to be provided of shows from several Viacom studios, including MTV and BET Networks. For those video fans who’ve been seeking free, ad-supported content in the form of full episodes of “South Park”, “The Colbert Report,” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” Fancast will soon deliver on those requests.

Frank Rich to Be Consultant for HBO
Frank Rich, an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times, has signed on with HBO as a creative consultant to help develop new programming, while still writing his weekly column.

Eureka Science News says Who Needs Human Editors? (Mashable)
A new news aggregator called Eureka Science News is officially launching later on tonight. It’s been a while since we heard from an aggregation site that didn’t have a user-generated aspect to its curating process, but that’s exactly how Eureka works.  Instead of looking to users and readers, Eureka has its own AI algorithm that deems which news is recent, relevant and the most important. Eureka tags and organizes all its featured news content, and presents it in a manner that allows the user to simply choose a category and begin perusing through the news.

Google Says It Will Defend Competitive Rationale of a Yahoo Deal
How can Google, the Internet search and advertising giant, contend that teaming up with Yahoo in search ads would not invite an antitrust challenge?

Microsoft Pays You For Using Its Search (If You Live In The US) (Mashable)
Microsoft has a big announcement [Wednesday], one that should show the world they’re capable of running a search business even without Yahoo: their Live Search CashBack program will enable you to use special savings “coupons” after you buy stuff you’ve found using Live Search… [T]he lowdown is as follows: You search for deals using Live Search; when you find deals with a special coin shaped icon, it means you’ll receive a small amount of money after you’ve bought something. When your balance reaches $5, you can claim your cash.

Creative Citizen: Enhance Your Greenage (Mashable)
After having launched as a private beta, Creative Citizen, a collaborative channel through which individuals can contribute, discover, and discuss ideas that promote the practices of environmental conservation and efficient living, has now been made available to the public. The site, still very much in its infancy, with just 256 “creative citizens” having registered themselves and pledged to solutions for a greener future, is certainly a work in progress, but one that may well prove attractive to people who tend toward the group-effort mentality.

GAO Report Questions Stations’ Readiness For DTV Transition
A new Government Accountability Office study is raising questions about how fully ready TV stations will be for February’s digital TV transition, even as it reports ’substantial progress’ since its last station survey.

Time Warner Details Its Plans for Cable Spinoff
The media conglomerate and its cable television arm said that their boards had approved a legal separation.