Permanent link to MTA daily media news

The Puma Party. Party Unity My Ass (thanks to MagginKat at the Hillblazers08 message group)

I want you to know (from Hillary Clinton, via email)
I wanted you to be one of the first to know: on Saturday, I will hold an event in Washington D.C. to thank everyone who has supported my campaign… I will extend my congratulations to Senator Obama and my support for his candidacy. This has been a long and hard-fought campaign, but as I have always said, my differences with Senator Obama are small compared to the differences we have with Senator McCain and the Republicans. I have said throughout the campaign that I would strongly support Senator Obama if he were the Democratic Party’s nominee, and I intend to deliver on that promise.
Sorry, Senator Clinton, I won’t be following you in your support of Barack Obama. Because of his supporters like the one below.

Hillary: No Grace, No Class, No Deal, No VP (by Brent Budowsky, The Hill)
On Tuesday, Hillary Rodham Clinton continued her efforts to do anything possible to elect John McCain.
Will this be the conduct of the Unity Party going forward? I want to apologize to each and every one of you for ever having sent you anything written by this man. And no, I won’t provide a link. He sounds just like that well-regarded sucker of prostitutes’ toes, Dick Morris. Don’t ever forget, friends, that this nomination process hasn’t been about process, or even about issues. It’s been about doing whatever the Hillary haters could to grind her face, and the faces of her supporters, in the dirt.

Obama’s First Test is Handling Clinton (Political Wire )
Until Sen. Barack Obama “deals with the Clinton question,” it could be hard for him “to move on to what he would like to achieve next,” the New York Times observes. But Clinton‘s “actions on Tuesday could not have raised her stock with Mr. Obama. Whether she intended to or not, her remarks pulled the spotlight away from him, reminding him that in many ways, she is a character that is hard to push off the stage.” Roger Simon: “For someone giving indications she would like to be Obama’s running mate, Clinton was surprisingly ungracious. In fact, if you had just awakened from a (blissful) 17-month sleep, you would have thought she had won. But her fighting words only increased the need for Obama to show that he can be strong, tough and in charge. Clinton’s unwillingness to recognize Obama as the victor only increased the need for Obama to act like a president and not like a doormat. And denying her a vice presidential slot may be a way of doing that.”
Actually, she did win. Maybe that’s why she acted as though she did. And maybe if Obama acknowledged that, some of her supporters might warm up to him a bit. Maybe.

CNN Wave Crests On Decisive Primary Night
CNN ruled cable news the historic night of the Montana and South Dakota primaries, which wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination derby in favor of Sen. Barack Obama. CNN clocked more than 3.5 million viewers in prime-time. That’s a 34 percent lead over MSNBC’s more than 2.5 million viewers. It’s also a 47 percent advantage over Fox News Channel’s prime-time crowd of 2.4 million viewers. AdAge: It was Obama’s night, but not on broadcast.
Despite Clinton’s win, Obama wrapped it up, and it was his night—to the media. They could hardly wait to crown him.

The Obsession Continues (by Tom Watson)
Michael Tomasky is a liberal Democrat, a talented writer and reporter, and a long-time commentator from the progressive viewpoint. He does not generally come across as a snarling and angry voice of the male left. Indeed, he often provides real insight to the political process and the evolution of what passes for liberalism in this country. Yet even this erudite voice of the liberal Guardian website could not hold it back. In attacking Senator Hillary Clinton’s speech last night after the last primaries of this long primary season, Tomasky let loose. “Once again, it’s all about Hillary Clinton, who delivered the most abrasive, self-absorbed, selfish, delusional, emasculating and extortionate political speech I’ve heard in a long time. And I’ve left out some adjectives, just to be polite.”

I’ll dwell on “emasculating,” because it’s so revealing… Tomasky was suggesting that Hillary Clinton still holds some power that can weaken Barack Obama; he chose a gender-packed adverb with a restless rustle across his keyboard in do so, and thereby echoed the historic sex-tinged media mugging of Senator Clinton during this long season. The day that Senator Obama made history by becoming the de facto nominee of a great party (they brought the tablets down from Mount St. Russert, so it’s official), an African-American nominee just 44 years after the Voting Rights Act, his supposed acolytes in the media – and much of the liberal blogosphere – allowed their Hillary obsession to cloud their judgment and still their better voices. And they blamed Clinton for that as well!

Obama Was Selected, Not Elected (by Ann Coulter, via HillBuzz)
When Gore won the popular vote in the 2000 election …anyone who denied the sacred importance of the popular vote was either an idiot or a dangerous partisan. But now Hillary has won the popular vote in a Democratic primary, while Obambi has won under the rules. In a spectacular turnabout, media commentators are heaping sarcasm on our plucky Hillary for imagining the “popular vote” has any relevance whatsoever. After nearly eight years of having to listen to liberals crow that Bush was “selected, not elected,” this is a shocking about-face. Apparently unaware of the new party line that the popular vote amounts to nothing more than warm spit, just last week HBO ran its movie “Recount,” about the 2000 Florida election… So where is Kevin Spacey from HBO’s “Recount,” to defend Hillary, shouting: “WHO WON THIS PRIMARY?” In the Democrats’ “1984″ world, the popular vote is an unconcept, doubleplusungood verging on crimethink. We have always been at war with Eastasia.
There will always be an asterisk by the Obama nomination. And right wingers like Ann Coulter will always use it against him, and against the Democratic Party. And they didn’t even have to make sh*t up, the way the hate-Hillary crowd did. Good job, Democrats!

“Unity” Jimmy Carter Style (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
This is just too funny. With friends like Jimmy Carter, Obama needs no enemies: “Barack Obama should not pick Hillary Clinton as his vice-presidential nominee, former president Jimmy Carter has told the Guardian. ‘I think it would be the worst mistake that could be made,’ said Carter. ‘That would just accumulate the negative aspects of both candidates.’” Everyone is entitled to their opinion of course. But former Democratic Presidents, at this sensitive time, should think before they speak. This was not helpful.

Clinton Dems: Will Obama Fight For Them? (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
[Tuesday] night Hillary Clinton said: “‘You know, I understand that a lot of people are asking, what does Hillary want? . . . I want the nearly 18 million Americans who voted for me to be respected, to be heard and no longer to be invisible.’” [Wednesday], Politico reports: “. . . Obama is not, one of his senior advisers assured me Tuesday night, going to spend a lot of time in the next few months wooing Clinton supporters whose feelings may be hurting.” Makes sense to me. Why worry about 18 million voters? So it turns out the Obama campaign has some not too smart people on his campaign too.

Thursday: Ya’ gives gives em books and gives em books (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
… but all they do is chew on the covers. The party elders must have their way… But they don’t realize that this one is different. And here is why:
Senator Obama has practiced scorched earth warfare against half of his own party….
We are witnesses to a very flagrant and public vote rigging scheme…
Hillary is the stronger, more experienced candidate and we’ve known all along that the media and Republicans would like nothing so much as to sideline her-permanently. They are gleeful and incredulous that we would actually fall for it.
The problem we have with Obama is much bigger than Hillary is able to fix because she is not responsible for it. Our anger is directed to Mr. Obama and the party itself. We know that the Republicans are no good but right now, our prospects with either party are pretty bleak. The Republicans just want to win; the Democrats are more interested in committing political suicide by jettison its base and lecturing *US* about race.

Dear Party Elders: It won’t matter if she concedes (by riverdaughter at The Confluence)
If you’re thinking that pushing her to concede is going to make it more likely that the rest of us will fall into line, you couldn’t be more wrong… We know the vote was rigged because Hillary was getting too close. We know why the Florida and Michigan delegations were halved. She was getting within 100 votes of his total. That’s a psychological threshold isn’t it? It might have given some delegates pause. Yes, the whole seedy underside of the primary system was on display…

You have promoted a failure and sat on your best candidate. It is unforgivable. The party is a mess and deserves a complete teardown. It has stated that it no longer wishes to represent us. Therefore, we feel no obligation to vote for Obama. We’re independents now and he will have to work twice as hard to win us back, if this is even possible. So, if I were you guys, I would stop pushing unless you want to make the situation worse.

GOP Office Getting Calls from Clinton Supporters Looking to Help (The Hill)
A number of Hillary Clinton volunteers are reaching out to the GOP staffers preparing the Republican convention, looking to help John McCain beat Barack Obama.

Angry Clinton Supporters Start Rallying for McCain Online (Wired)
They’re mad as hell, and Hillary Clinton’s supporters aren’t going to take it anymore. Some Clintonites are so mad about Barack Obama’s Tuesday victory that they’ve launched a web site to build support to launch a lobbying group to support Republican John McCain… Hale launched the “Hillary Clinton Supporters for John McCain” group last Saturday. The campaign claims to have 5,000 supporters, and its website visitor counter says that it has already attracted 37,8071 visitors… Hale, a Vietnam veteran and a long-time Democrat, says that many of the group’s supporters are Reagan Democrats, and their primary concern is foreign policy and defense. A call to the Texas Democratic Party confirmed that he was supposed to have been a delegate to the state convention this week. He says that he wouldn’t vote for Obama even if Clinton were vice president.

Democrats Against Obama
We are getting HUGE sign ups today CNN contacted us wanted to know more about us. We have there attention Hillary supporters, Please if you’re not voting Obama sign on we need to send a clear message we are NOT falling in line, also we are getting hammer with emails from mybarackobama. Hate mail, insults ect.

American Independent Party
WELCOME HILLARY SUPPORTERS! The New American Independent Party would
like to welcome all of our new members. We admire your passion and look forward to a successful relationship together. Now more than ever the American people need us! We encourage all of you to get actively involved with our party. We have leadership positions and Presidential elector slots to be filled. Now let’s get to work!

Why I left the party (by Lynne in Lakeland at Liberal Rapture)
It’s not just the Obamanation that has made me leave my party of 25 odd years.
It’s Nancy Pelosi saying immediately on being named Speaker that Impeachment was off the table. Who cares about the constitution?
It’s about the Democrats not having the guts to stand up to Bush on war funding…
It’s about the Democrats caving on the Patriot Act
It’s about the Democrats caving on the NSA spying on us
It’s about the Democrats not filibustering Alito (Thanks Senator Obama!)…
It’s about we put them in power and the only thing they accomplished is a raise in Minimum Wage. While being a good thing, indeed, that’s it?…
Now we have a nominee who reflects Reid and Pelosi’s values. Actually, I should say they have a nominee who reflects their values.
I’m out.

Rezko convicted of corruption (Chicago Tribune)
A federal jury today convicted developer Antoin “Tony” Rezko of corruption charges for trading on his clout as a top adviser and fundraiser to Gov. Rod Blagojevich… The 10-woman, two-man jury deliberated for parts of 13 days before convicting Rezko of scheming with Stuart Levine, a longtime Republican insider, to extort millions of dollars from firms seeking state business or regulatory approval. The jury convicted Rezko of wire and mail fraud, money laundering and aiding and abetting bribery. He was acquitted of attempted extortion…

Rezko befriended many Illinois politicians and was a major fundraiser for some, most prominently Blagojevich and Obama. The criminal charges against Rezko had nothing to do with his connection to Obama. But that link still proved a nagging headache for Obama during his Democratic presidential run, especially in the wake of Tribune revelations that tied Rezko to a 2005 real estate deal involving Obama’s South Side home.

Obama Rezko conviction reaction. (by Lynn Sweet, Chicago Sun-Times)
“I’m saddened by today’s verdict. This isn’t the Tony Rezko I knew, but now he has been convicted by a jury on multiple charges that once again shine a spotlight on the need for reform. I encourage the General Assembly to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent these kinds of abuses in the future.” – Senator Barack Obama
How many times has he been “saddened” by past acquaintances? How many times has he been “surprised” by their words and deeds? Sounds like a matter of judgment to me.

Obama appoints team to help find running mate (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON – Barack Obama named a three-person team including Caroline Kennedy to lead his search for a running mate Wednesday while expressing confidence that the Democratic Party would soon unify after a bruising battle for the presidential nomination.

Obama Money Machine Grows (Political Wire)
“Many of Sen. Barack Obama’s small-dollar donors turn out to have big pockets, and data suggest he will have little trouble raising the minimum $200 million political analysts say he will need to fund a general-election campaign in the fall,” the Wall Street Journal reports. Meanwhile, the New York Times says Obama’s campaign “is gearing up to recruit” many of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s top fund-raisers, “a move that could provide him with a huge infusion of cash if the two camps can get past the rancor of the primary season.”
And when is it that we’re going to get money OUT of the political process?

DNC to limit lobbyist influence at Obama’s request (Hot off the Trail, McClatchy)
Barack Obama will announce [Thursday] that the Democratic National Committee will no longer accept donations from federally registered lobbyists or political action committees, his campaign said this morning. No word yet on whether that applied at last night’s $28,500-a-pop DNC fund-raiser at which Obama appeared in New York City. The new limits expected to be announced would conform to Obama’s own self-imposed campaign finance standards, in which currently federally-registered lobbyists are out from contributing but state-registered lobbyists or the spouses of federal lobbyists or lawyers affiliated with firms with federal lobbyists still can give.

Obama Likes McCain Idea for Town Hall Meetings (Political Wire )
According to NBC News, Sen. John McCain proposed a series of ten joint town hall meetings with Sen. Barack Obama beginning June 12 in New York City. Said McCain: “I suggest the town hall meeting format, because I think it’s the best way… I even propose we travel together on the same plane.” The Obama campaign responds: “As Barack Obama has said before, the idea of joint town halls is appealing and one that would allow a great conversation to take place about the need to change the direction of this country. We would recommend a format that is less structured and lengthier than the McCain campaign suggests, one that more closely resembles the historic debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas.”
Wasn’t that the format that he WOULDN’T accept against Clinton?

Reyes open to GOP compromise on FISA. (Think Progress)
CongressDaily (sub. req.) reports today that House Intelligence Chairman Silvestre Reyes (D-TX) said that he is “fine” with “a Republican-brokered deal to rewrite the nation’s electronic surveillance laws.” The GOP compromise, written by Sen. Kit Bond (R-MO), “would leave it up to the secret FISA court to grant retroactive legal immunity” to telecoms that helped the Bush administration’s warrantless conduct surveillance on U.S. citizens.

Leadership (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
A Party’s Leader should lead. I agree with dday: “Barack Obama could put an end to [the Dems' attempt to capitulate on FISA] today if he wanted. He could tell his colleagues in the House and the Senate that they should not work so hard to codify into law what his opponent is calling for – the ability for an executive to secretly spy on Americans… Senator Obama has the power to end this… This is … an excellent opportunity for Obama to show his leadership skills and where he stands on civil liberties and Constitutional issues. We know that McCain is a mirror of Bush on that score. Senator Obama, you are the party’s leader. Do something about this. Today.” Indeed.
I think the story below will prove to be an example of the Obama Style of Leadership.

Obama Takes Lieberman Aside (Political Wire)
Roll Call reports that during a Senate vote [Wednesday], Sen. Barack Obama “dragged” Sen. Joe Lieberman “by the hand to a far corner of the Senate chamber and engaged in what appeared to reporters in the gallery as an intense, three-minute conversation. While it was unclear what the two were discussing, the body language suggested that Obama was trying to convince Lieberman of something and his stance appeared slightly intimidating.

“Using forceful, but not angry, hand gestures, Obama literally backed up Lieberman against the wall, leaned in very close at times, and appeared to be trying to dominate the conversation, as the two talked over each other in a few instances. Still, Obama and Lieberman seemed to be trying to keep the back-and-forth congenial as they both patted each other on the back during and after the exchange. Afterwards, Obama smiled and pointed up at reporters peering over the edge of the press gallery for a better glimpse of their interaction.”
Hope and change and transcendence, here we come!

How will the campaign be covered? (by Paul Krugman)
[N]ow the general election begins, and there are stark differences on issues between the candidates. Will those issues be the focus of the coverage? Or will it be more of the same? It won’t surprise you to hear that I’m not optimistic. After all, 8 years ago the press managed to portray an election in which there were large policy differences as one in which nothing much was at stake… So what will be the playbook this year? Will we really have a discussion of health care, the budget, and other substantive stuff?

Media Matters for America headlines

• Chicago Tribune cited immigration reform as an example of McCain’s “credentials as a maverick” but didn’t note his flip-flop on the issue

• Morris baselessly claimed Rezko sold Obama property “for an amount that was substantially below its apparent market value”

• After lambasting sourcing of NY Times’ McCain story, Scarborough, Barnicle, and Buchanan ignore anonymous sourcing in Vanity Fair article about Clinton

• NY Times, AP, Fox’s Doocy report McCain’s “most liberal senator” claim of Obama, but not McCain’s voting record or subjectivity of National Journal study

• Matthews: “[I]t’s a hard thing for someone like Barack Obama” to express a “gut sense of Americanism”

• CNN’s Dobbs, Daily News’ Goodwin expressed incredulity that Pelosi would “giv[e] the Iranians the credit,” but her comments echoed CNN’s own reporting

• Matthews suggested Obama was never middle class, does not “have that experience that … most Americans have”

• CNN’s Toobin accused the Clintons of having “deranged narcissism”

• Ignoring McCain’s own votes against troop funding, AP, LA Times uncritically quoted his attacks on Obama

Turkmenistan eases Internet access
ASHGABAT, Turkmenistan (AP) – Turkmenistan has begun allowing private citizens to connect to the Internet, the latest sign that the reclusive Central Asian nation is opening up.

Judge Tosses School Official’s Suit Against Fox News
A federal judge has thrown out a school superintendent’s lawsuit against Fox News, saying the cable news channel acted unprofessionally but without malice when anchors on “Fox and Friends” reported a parody story about ham as fact last year. The case grew out of a prank in which a middle school student tossed a slab of leftover Easter ham onto a table surrounded by Somali Muslim youngsters.

When Emoting on TV Trumps News Savvy
Jon Friedman: Yes, CNN’s Anderson Cooper has heart. He oozes empathy. He’s clearly a good-hearted fellow and, by all accounts, as likeable as all get-out. And yet I have this Cooper-related conundrum. Can you please explain to me how the host of Anderson Cooper 360 seems to have become the most trusted name in news at Time Warner’s CNN?

Brangelina Baby Pix Could Fetch as Much as $22M
The bidding war for the first photos of the twins of Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt is expected to shatter the previous paycheck for celebrity baby photos by a wide margin. One report said the bidding had already gone as high as $15 million — more than double the current record — and could top out at $22 million.

The Complete Guide to Stealing News Stories
Hamilton Nolan: After the Times ripped off a year-old Wall Street Journal story with no credit last week, we realized the need for a complete explanation of the powerful rules governing a time-honored practice: Stealing stories. Every media outlet in the world does it. Done the right way, it’s perfectly acceptable; done the wrong way, it can be the start of an undercover war.

After Murdoch, The Deluge
Journalists David Carr (New York Times), Keith Kelly (New York Post), Kenneth Li (Reuters), Johnnie Roberts (Newsweek), Erick Schonfeld (TechCrunch), and Michael Wolff (Vanity Fair) took shots at the print world, the online world, and of course, each other during an Internet Week panel discussion on the demise future of media. HuffPo: Wolff predicts Newsweek will be gone in 5 years.

Can Wal-Mart Save Local Newspapers?
Chadwick Matlin: Wal-Mart may be the savior that local newspapers have been praying for. The big-box retailer launched a new service without any fanfare last month and dubbed it Wal-Mart Classifieds. It slunk into WalMart.com’s left navigation bar, where it still sits inconspicuously. Its promise is well-hidden, but Wal-Mart can use the tool to liberate newspaper balance sheets from Craigslist.

Altered States for Alt-Weeklies
Tim Whitaker: In the alt world, editorial staffs are small and getting smaller. Not only must a winning online blueprint be conceived and executed with shrinking resources, but great attention must be paid to what is still, for the moment, the nest egg — the weekly newspaper.

Slate’s Editor Will Head a New Unit at the Washington Post Co.
Jacob Weisberg, the editor of Slate since 2002, will become chairman and editor in chief of the Slate Group, overseeing the current publications and new ventures.

Rare Marley and Hendrix performances sold online
NASHVILLE (Billboard) – Vintage concert performances by such acts as Lynyrd Skynyrd, Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix will soon join the nearly 500 recordings already available for download purchase at the music and memorabilia site Wolfgang’s Vault.

Retired justice O’Connor unveils video game
America’s first female Supreme Court justice unveiled a video game project on Wednesday to teach children how courts work, saying she wanted to counter partisan criticism that judges are “godless” activists.

Disney Warming Up to Hulu
Disney’s Kevin Mayer, executive vice president of corporate strategy and business development, signaled that he could be ready to join the Hulu club. Speaking at the Intel CEO Summit in San Francisco, a three-day gathering of about 600 startup CEOs and investors, Mayer sang praise for Hulu, the so-called “YouTube killer” that offers legitimate video content from both NBC and Fox.

Discovery Holdings Finalizes Deal With Advance/Newhouse Combining Stakes In Discovery Communications (Paid Content)
This was announced in principle last December, and now the details have been worked out: Discovery Holdings and Advance/Newhouse are combining their holdings in Discovery Communications, which will in turn in be independently traded. The details are basically the same as what was previously announced. Discovery Holdings will spin off to its shareholders an entity known as Ascent Media Group, into which DHC will merge. Advance/Newhouse will contribute its shares of Discovery and Animal Planet in exchange for preferred stock, which, when converted to common shares, will represent one third of the new company.

Simpsons Picked Up for 20th Season
The order came as the series’ voice actors have resolved months-long salary negotiations with producer 20th Century Fox Television that had held up production. The show’s principals — Dan Castellaneta (Homer), Julie Kavner (Marge), Nancy Cartwright (Bart), Yeardley Smith (Lisa), Hank Azaria (Moe) and Harry Shearer (Mr. Burns) — will reportedly receive in the neighborhood of $400,000 per episode.

NBC Suffering Its Own Olympic Trials
With just two months until the Beijing Olympics, NBC is scrambling to sell out ad time for its broadcast of the Games. The Peacock network is said to be aggressively pushing advertisers and their agencies to buy spots during the Olympics as part of the “upfront” sales negotiations that started in mid-May. Ad execs estimated NBC was anywhere from $150 million to $300 million shy of its sales target.

Yahoo talks to Microsoft, trades barbs with Icahn
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Yahoo Inc said on Wednesday that deal talks are ongoing with Microsoft Corp as the company resisted an attack by billionaire critic Carl Icahn, who called its recent actions “deceitful.” Yahoo President Susan Decker trumpeted new ad partnerships with Wal-Mart Stores Inc and others as Icahn, an activist investor, stepped up pressure on Yahoo over its rebuff of Microsoft’s $47.5 billion buyout offer. She said some form of deal with Microsoft could still come about, sending Yahoo shares up 2.7 percent for the day, despite Icahn’s later blistering attack on Chief Executive Jerry Yang’s leadership at Yahoo.

Yahoo Ads: Partnership With Havas Digital; Video And Display On Walmart.com (Paid Content)
Day-to-day life goes on at Yahoo, as the company comes out with a couple of ad announcements this morning timed to coincide with Sue Decker’s appearance at Advertising 2.0. Among them: A partnership with agency Havas Digital, which will be an early adopter of the company’s AMP platform, which is expected to come online in Q3. Havas will build out its own proprietary media trading platform based on Yahoo’s technology. The multi-year deal will also calls for an international push, as the companies will establish a global outsourcing practice with bases in India and Brazil. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Yahoo Newspaper Consortium Expands; Results Hard To Gauge (Paid Content)
The Yahoo Newspaper Consortium continues to expand, adding 94 more U.S. papers from a variety of publishers including the Sun-Times News Group, Black Press, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, and Stephens Media Group. The announcement ballyhoos the quadrupling of the consortium to 779 papers since its launch in late 2006 and tosses in a few more stats but offers precious little about the actual results… From the release:
– 50-plus papers are trialing the sale of DMA-targeted Yahoo inventory to local advertisers.
– More than 600 papers exclusively use Yahoo HotJobs, the original reason for the consortium’s creation. A far smaller number—not quite 150—are using Yahoo Search.
– Newspapers’ sites are averaging 10 million-plus referrals monthly through distribution of their headlines across Yahoo News and services.

CBS Expands Audience Network Reach With Yahoo Deal—Now People Have To Watch (Paid Content)
With the addition of Yahoo to the CBS Audience Networks confirmed today, CBS Interactive can claim 92 percent unduplicated reach in the U.S.—meaning the number of people who can access CBS video is higher. But that doesn’t guarantee that they will watch. Talking to CBS Interactive president Quincy Smith this morning, a favorite Dorothy Parker-ism came to mind: “You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.” CBS can’t make people watch or, as Smith puts it, “You can’t jam anything down people’s throats … it’s up to the content now.”

Whitepages.com Buys Snapvine.com For Voice Apps (Paid Content)
WhitePages.com, the online directory service, is acquiring Snapvine.com, a provider of voice services for social networks. WhitePages intends to integrate SnapVine’s voice services into its own product, and it anticipates new services including private voicemail and SMS services for the sites users.

YouTube Puts Demographic Feedback to Work
A feature called YouTube Insight, introduced in March, gives YouTube account holders who have uploaded videos to the site a range of statistics, charts and maps about their audiences. The data bring a little science to what has been the art of viral marketing, and the potential for big changes in how bands, television shows, movies and consumer products are promoted on the Internet.

Sony Confirms Paid-Sub PS3 Video Mag ‘Qore’, Produced By Future (Paid Content)
Future Publishing has confirmed to us our earlier report it has been licensed to start providing online magazine-type content to Sony’s PlayStation Network. “Qore”, a monthly digital “program” featuring editorial from Future, will launch on Friday in the US with a possible UK launch later. It will be a premium subscription offering, with both monthly and annual fee structures, though no fees are available yet. The publisher will also sell video, interstitial and contextual ads on the service. Qore will include game demos and previews, tips and developer interviews.

CBS: We’ll Combine CNET/CBS Sales Teams. But We’re Stumped By Wallstrip
What happens to CNET after it gets swallowed up by CBS? Execs are only talking about plans in broad strokes, at least until the deal closes at the end of July. But we got a few hints from CBS sales chief Jo Ann Ross Tuesday at PaidContent’s EconAds Seminar. Ross believes there will be one CBS-CNET sales force selling TV and online, with most of CNET’s properties packaged withCBS Sports. silicon Alley Insider: CBS reportedly in wide-ranging content deal with Yahoo.