Permanent link to MTA daily media news

I am not a Republican, and I am not a racist.  I will be voting for Cynthia McKinney for president.  So don’t threaten me with your post-partisan, post-racial, manipulative, coercive hate mail.

The Palin Phenomenon Drives Campaign Coverage: September 1 – 7, 2008 (Project for Excellence in Journalism)
For the first time in the three months since the general election campaign began, John McCain last week generated more coverage than Barack Obama. But he was still outshone by another newsmaker during the GOP convention—his own running mate.  Sarah Palin, the first woman on a Republican ticket, was the focus of feverish attention as the media tried to find out more about her, convey her record and biography, and calculate her impact on the race.

This is what passes for humor among the Obamabots (thanks to HillBuzz)

Obama Pods are monsters. Pods create ebay page to “sell” Palin’s 4 month old son (by John: south of Melrose at Liberal Rapture)
I have said for months that Obama PODS are fiends. Monstrous fiends who will go to any length to slander and defile good people. The PODS are a mob with no [conscience]… Have any of us ever seen so many people so willing to jettison all human decency?… The Democratic Party is lost. Gone. Over. It is experiencing a death rattle. I urge every normal person to plunge a dagger into the body now. Kill it. It must be destroyed so something can take its place… I don’t care who wins finally. This blog will stand in opposition to the PODS for as long as it takes.

Athenae, in a comment at Eschaton (thanks to Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
I keep saying that the election is decided by the stuff my mother’s hairdresser tells her. Whatever filters down to that level is what has stuck. A month ago it was, “Obama’s for change.” Now it’s “they need to leave that nice lady’s kids alone.

The Authoritative Trig Palin Conspiracy Time Line (by Vanity Fair)
The McCain campaign won’t countenance it, and Barack Obama has even declared it off-limits, but the question of Trig Palin’s parentage—whether his real mom is Sarah Palin or her five-months pregnant, 17-year-old daughter Bristol—has transfixed the blogosphere. To settle the matter once and for all, VF.com presents this handy timeline juxtaposing both the official narrative and the wingnut conspiracy theories.
Because the uteri of all pre- and peri-menopausal women daring to run for office, and their daughters, absolutely must be open for inspection 24/7.

5 ways Palin has been ’slimed’ are debunked (On Politics, USA Today)
The nonpartisan FactCheck.org has analyzed five claims being made about Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin in e-mail chains and blog posts and found them either “completely false” or “misleading.” Its full analysis, called “Sliming Palin,” is here. FactCheck’s summary:

• Palin did not cut funding for special needs education in Alaska by 62%. She didn’t cut it at all. In fact, she tripled per-pupil funding over just three years.

• She did not demand that books be banned from the Wasilla library. Some of the books on a widely circulated list were not even in print at the time. The librarian has said Palin asked a “What if?” question, but the librarian continued in her job through most of Palin’s first term.

• She was never a member of the Alaskan Independence Party, a group that wants Alaskans to vote on whether they wish to secede from the United States. She’s been registered as a Republican since May 1982.

• Palin never endorsed or supported Pat Buchanan for president. She once wore a Buchanan button as a “courtesy” when he visited Wasilla, but shortly afterward she was appointed to co-chair of the campaign of Steve Forbes in the state.

• Palin has not pushed for teaching creationism in Alaska’s schools. She has said that students should be allowed to “debate both sides” of the evolution question, but she also said creationism “doesn’t have to be part of the curriculum.”

There are a few other places where lies about Sarah Palin are being debunked (thanks to Ann Franklin).  And no, I’m not voting for McCain/Palin, but I refuse to be a party to the same kind of hatefest that put the kibosh on Hillary.

Explorations

Audacity of Deception & Hypocrisy

Why did MoveOn.org pass on some of these lies?  Have we no standards on the left?

Fighting a Different Alaska Republican, Alaska Dems Credit Palin with Killing Bridge to Nowhere (by Jake Tapper at Political Punch, ABC News)
Conservative bloggers point out that in their campaign against Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, Alaska Democrats gave credit to Gov. Palin for helping to kill the Bridge to Nowhere. “Gov. Sarah Palin said the $398 million bridge was $329 million short of full funding, and only $36 million in federal funds were set aside for it,” the Democrats say. “She said it was clear Congress had little interest in spending any more money for it and that the state had higher priorities.” On another page the Dems say, “Gov. Palin recently cancelled the Gravina Island Bridge near Ketchikan that would have connected the Alaska mainland with Gravina Island (population: 50).” When good oppo goes bad!

CNN On Troopergate (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Josh Marshall whines that CNN is not following his histrionic lead on Troopergate. CNN investigative reporter Drew Griffin writes: “…In our interview, Wooten rattled off a disturbing number of “mistakes” he’s made in his career. He admits tasering his stepson, illegally killing a moose and admits to multiple reprimands in his file. A state trooper investigation even found credible evidence he was drinking in his patrol car.”… Making a victim of Wooten is impossible. He clearly is unfit to be a law enforcement officer. Josh Marshall and Co. won’t be able to make a scandal of trying to get him off the Alaska state trooper force.

A legitimate concern:
Palin Billed State for Nights Spent at Home (Washington Post)
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has billed taxpayers for 312 nights spent in her own home during her first 19 months in office, charging a “per diem” allowance intended to cover meals and incidental expenses while traveling on state business. The governor also has charged the state for travel expenses to take her children on official out-of-town missions. And her husband, Todd, has billed the state for expenses and a daily allowance for trips he makes on official business for his wife… Gubernatorial spokeswoman Sharon Leighow said Monday that Palin’s expenses are not unusual and that, under state policy, the first family could have claimed per diem expenses for each child taken on official business but has not done so.

But Palin is getting away with lies, in the same way that Republicans have gotten away with lies for many years:
Darling is as Darling Does (by Anglachel)
The Republicans are, once again, kicking the shit out of the press, calling out legitimate bad treatment, like the invasive questioning about Bristol Palin, but quickly expanding it to cover all treatment. The Incomparable Bob Somerby goes into detail on the way in which the flat-out lies by Palin – lies he could rebut with a small amount of research – are being allowed to cruise right through, such as the total horseshit that she “sold” Murkowski’s jet on eBay. He then points out the difference between how Palin is being treated and what has been done to Democrats… And this is why arguments about what Democrat will be trashed less than the others is a crappy way to pick a nominee. The press has a narrative about Democrats – they lie, they are morally corrupt, they are cosmopolitan hillbillies, elitist hicks who don’t understand heartland, working class values the way we inside the Beltway, Boston-to-DC corridor Villagers do.

The DNC and PB 1.0 willingly colluded with the media to tear down other Democrats, trying to be on the right side of the media by getting on the wrong side of liberal politics. The damage inflicted on their own side in this electoral round will, like the broadsides against Gore, come back to haunt the party for years.

WITTGENSTEIN’S CHALLENGE: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
In an important moment on Tuesday’s O’Reilly Factor, Frank Luntz showed us why the truth actually matters… According to Luntz, the undecided voters weren’t that high on Palin. And then, up jumped that Bridge to Nowhere! Luntz didn’t say, but presumably he showed them the tape of Palin’s stump speech, in which she claims, quite falsely, that she heroically “told the Congress” to take their bridge and shove it. In the real world, Palin did no such thing; this hero tale has been invented. But so what? She is saying that she did—and her claim is swinging some voters. And oh yes: Dems and libs and mainstream journalists are too weak and too dumb to correct her.

Why Run Against The Media? Because It Works (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
Peter Brown, the Quinnipiac pollster, writes about the McCain/Palin campaign against the Media: “Whether the charges [of Media bias] are true or not, they have energized the GOP voter base – which doesn’t need an excuse to hate the news media – and the message seems to be resonating among non-Republicans as well. A Rasmussen Reports poll taken before Gov. Palin took the podium showed that 51% of voters surveyed said they felt reporters were trying to hurt her candidacy. Among self-described independents, 49% felt that way. One in four said they were more likely to vote for her because of the coverage, while 18% said they were less likely.”

All true, but Brown ignores one other important factor – charges of Media bias resonate, with strong merit, with Clinton supporters. Attacking the Media implicitly appeals to Hillary Clinton supporters as well.

Pit Bull with Lipstick (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)

Blogosphere 1.0 in Full Panic Mode (by bostonboomer at The Confluence)
Suddenly, the Obamacans are waking up to the stark reality that they have nominated an unelectable candidate. He might have had a chance, but he was either too stupid or too arrogant to nominate Hillary Clinton as his Vice President. With her on the ticket, he probably would have won the election handily; but instead he chose gaffe-o-matic blabbermouth Joe Biden. Biden, who couldn’t even win the primary in his tiny home state of Delaware. Over at TPM, that guy who kidnapped Josh Marshall … dismisses the latest USA Today/Gallup Poll as an “outlier” (keep telling yourself that, Josh), but he’s still nervous about the Obama campaign’s apparent inability to fight back effectively…

At the Daily Cheeto [Daily Kos], a new purge is taking place. Anyone who doubts the messiah must be ostracized or pushed off the site. These people are no better than pumas, according Al Giordano (”The Field”) gives the many weak kneed Obama-doubters a piece of his mind… At Open Left, Chris Bowers is worried because Obama is running well behind Congressional Democratic candidates, while past Democratic presidential nominees outperformed downticket candidates. In addition, Obama is performing well below the generic Democratic candidate versus generic Republican… Sorry, Chris, but we did try to warn you.

Straining to Reach Money Goal, Obama Presses Donors (New York Times)
After months of record-breaking fund-raising, a new sense of urgency in Senator Barack Obama’s fund-raising team is palpable as the full weight of the campaign’s decision to bypass public financing for the general election is suddenly upon it… Presidential candidates in a general election have typically relied on two main sources of money: public financing, along with additional money their parties raise. In choosing to accept the public money, the McCain campaign now gets an $84 million cash infusion from the United States Treasury. Mr. McCain is barred from raising any more money for his own campaign coffers but can lean on money raised by the Republican National Committee, which has continued to exceed expectations… But the [Obama] campaign is struggling to meet ambitious fund-raising goals it set for the campaign and the party.

For Obama’s campaign: $28,500-a-plate dinner; $2,500-a-ticket show by Streisand (On Politics, USA Today)
Variety’s Wilshire & Washington blog reports that on Sept. 16 in Los Angeles, 250 or so guests will pay $28,500 each to have dinner with Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.

Nigeria seizes money ‘for Obama’
Nigerian anti-graft investigators have seized money raised by the head of the Nigerian Stock Exchange to support US presidential candidate Barack Obama… US political parties are not allowed to receive contributions from abroad.
Nigeria, huh?  Carol Moseley Braun, whose former Senate seat Obama occupies, is good friends with the Nigerian strongman, I believe.

In Tampa, Clinton focuses on issues (McClatchy)
Sen. Hillary Clinton said she would rather focus on the issues than Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin to win over voters for the Democratic presidential ticket this November.
Just as she said on June 5 that she would do.  Continue to fight for her issues.

Cave Dwellers: Biden Backs Down From Any Pursuit of Bush Crime (by Chris Floyd at Empire Burlesque)
There was a flurry and flutter of hope among many of the progressive faithful last week after reports of a declaration by Joe Biden that an Obama administration might pursue criminal charges against top Bush officials.. Biden went on what is rapidly becoming the Dem ticket’s favorite venue — Fox News — and heatedly denied an interviewer’s allegation that “if you guys are elected…you’re actually going to pursue criminal charges against President Bush’s administration and different people that served there.”…

In other words, Barack Obama and Joe Biden will uphold the machtpolitik principle that has replaced Constitutional government in the United States: leaders cannot be punished for even the most egregious high crimes — aggressive war, torture, tyranny. Not one of the principal perpetrators of the crimes that we have all seen committed before our eyes in the last few years will be punished, or face even the slightest discomfort or dishonor. Not one.
If they think this cave-in will reduce the chance that Bush will use every function and feature of government to make sure McCain is elected, they are fooling themselves.

Obama-Biden Will Prosecute the Criminals! (by Arthur Silber at The Power of Narrative)
No… I TOLD YOU SO. I know it’s rude to say that. So stop making me say it! Of course, it could be that we’re being visited by omniscient, omnipotent dragon-kraken-manticore-hydra-cyclops-werewolf monsters from Planet Idioticus — and the monsters are blackmailing the Democrats! The poor widdle Democrats have no choice! Aww, you should feel sorry for the poor widdle Democrats…  Oh, wait! Joe Biden looks mean today! Everything is going to be perfecter than perfect, I just know it. Ponies! Puppy dogs! Kitties! Yay, kitties! Rainbows!

Better (by lambert at Corrente )
Obama on habeas corpus: “Obama went on to criticize the Bush administration’s suspension of the right of habeas corpus for suspected terrorists… ‘Habeas corpus … is the foundation of Anglo-American law, which says very simply, if the government grabs you, then you have the right to at least ask, “Why was I grabbed?” and say, “Maybe, you’ve got the wrong person.” The reason we have that safeguard is we don’t always have the right person…’” …Habeas corpus is just a latin phrase without the rule of law, and Obama voted to gut the rule of law, and the Fourth Amendment, by voting for FISA “reform” [cough], one of the few bills this D Congress actually managed to pass. So I don’t see how Obama can differentiate himself from McCain on this issue (at least with voters who’ve followed the issue, as the “rambling” questioner surely hadn’t).

ABC says no issue off table for Palin
NEW YORK (AP) — Charles Gibson’s producer says no issue is off the table for Sarah Palin’s first TV interview as a vice presidential candidate, which ABC is hoping it can air in part on Thursday. Gibson will travel to Alaska and will probably speak to Palin at least twice. The challenge for ABC will be making excerpts available in time for “World News” Thursday, which Gibson must broadcast live from that state at 2:30 p.m. local time, said Jon Banner, the broadcast’s executive producer.
That fierce go getter Charlie Gibson will get ‘er.

The right dictates MSNBC’s programming decisions (by Glenn Greenwald at Unclaimed Territory, Salon)
[R]egardless of what one thought of the primary wars or even MSNBC’s coverage of the Clinton/Obama race, the contrast between (a) MSNBC’s dismissive reaction to complaints of bias from Clinton supporters and (b) its obedience to similar complaints from the Right is stark and revealing. The overriding attribute of the Liberal Media is a deep and abiding fear of angering the Right.

More On Olbermann And NBC (by Big Tent Democrat at TalkLeft)
[T]he bottom line is partisan hackery masquerading as journalism should be denounced wherever we see it.

Note to MSNBC… It’s About Time (The New Agenda, via email)
The New Agenda welcomes the news of MSNBC’s demotion of Matthews and Olberman from their positions as anchors, and it recognizes all the women’s rights groups and media watchdogs across the country that have called out Matthews and Olberman for their sexist remarks and behavior. As our members know, The New Agenda founder Amy Siskind told the LA Times on August 14th:  “The kind of language he uses and the kind of behavior he exhibits in the public domain toward women objectifies them and leads to bad things for our society and to domestic violence.” (full article).   Our work at The New Agenda with regard to Matthews is not done.  We are just getting warmed up.  We will keep you, our members, posted.

Noonan, others should write what they’re really thinking
If Peggy Noonan wrote a column that was as honest with her readers as she is when she thinks the microphone is off, Scott Rosenberg would read it religiously. “Virtually every journalist in DC could go a lot farther down the road of writing what they know and think,” he says.

McCain Endorsed by New York Post (Political Wire)
It seems Sen. Barack Obama’s secret efforts at courting Rupert Murdoch’s media empire aren’t working out very well: The New York Post gave Sen. John McCain an early and ringing endorsement today.
So much for post-partisan lovey-doveyness.

Small Business Owners Prefer McCain (Political Wire)
A new Fortune/Zogby poll of small business owners shows more believe Sen. John McCain is better for their businesses than Sen. Barack Obama by a 46% to 34% margin. Interestingly, almost half of small business owners say they’re worse off than they were three years ago.

Artist General

Public Opinion Snapshot: Priorities This Election Season (by Ruy Teixeira, Center for American Progress)
[T]he public’s number one priority by a wide margin is the economy. In the most recent USA Today/Gallup poll, 43 percent selected the economy as the number one issue for their vote, followed by 15 percent for Iraq and 14 percent for energy. Just 9 percent selected terrorism and 1 percent volunteered illegal immigration or abortion.

Reforms for Iowa’s Caucuses (Political Wire)
Noting that Iowa could lose its first-in-the-nation vote in the 2012 presidential campaign, David Yepsen proposes some reforms:
Use county auditors…
Conduct secret ballots…
Allow absentee ballots…
Pick a new day or time:…
Set national standards.
So why not just hold primaries instead of these stupid caucuses?

Hong Kong (by lambert at Corrente)
AP: “Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp has won more than a third of seats in legislative elections, retaining its veto power over major legislation.” Wow. Imagine that. A part in the legislative branch that exercises veto power. Good thing Hong Kong never went into Iraq, or they might already be outta there, and that would be bad. Funny old world, isn’t it?

Fashion Week Gets Political
Strange bedfellows and strident calls for change are de rigueur in the fashion world and so what better theme for this election year installment of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week than “Vote Fashion/Fashion Wins,” conveyed in a flurry of campaign buttons? “Our seasonal graphics will hopefully remind all elgible voters to vote in our upcoming Presidential election,” writes IMG Fashion’s Fern Mallis in her welcome letter to attendees. “We also encourage you to ‘vote fashion’ with your pens and cameras. Select the shows and collections you like best, and vote with your dollars, euros, pounds, or yen when you decide which collections to buy for the Spring/Summer 2009 season…and also decide who gets the vote for your reviews and editorial coverage.”

Media Bias? Not if SpinSpotter Can Help It (Media Week)
A beta version of SpinSpotter, a new Web application promising to spot bias in news stories, goes live at spinspotter.com today, as does a downloadable toolbar application the company call Spinoculars. When turned on in a user’s Web browser’s toolbar, Spinoculars scans Web pages and spots certain potential indicators of bias. The toolbar also will allow its users to flag phrases in news stories and opine on those called out by other Spinspotter users.
I’ll have to see it to believe it.

U.S. Military Relied On Oliver North To Dispute Afghanistan Civilian Deaths (Think Progress)
For weeks, the U.S. military has denied charges that its Aug. 22 attack on Azizabad, Afghanistan killed scores of civilians, despite the fact that Afghan witnesses, the United Nations, and other human rights and international officials all say roughly 90 villagers were killed. Yesterday, the military reversed course and requested an investigation into the strike in light of “emerging evidence.” Part of that evidence is cellphone images showing “at least 11 dead children,” according to the New York Times… [T]he Times of London revealed that the U.S. had been relying on accounts from an embedded journalist: Fox News’s Oliver North.
Note to the age impaired: Oliver North was a participant in the Iran/Contra illegalities.  How he can ever be considered a journalist is beyond me. Crooks and Liars has the video of the aftermath of one of these airstrikes.

Historians: Stop Bush/Cheney From Destroying Presidential Records (Think Progress)
Thirty-two of the nation’s leading historians have sent letters to congressional leaders calling on them to stregthen the Presidential Records Act (PRA). The effort, led by the Center for American Progress Action Fund…, notes that while the PRA requires the administration to preserve presidential records, “it fails to provide an effective means of enforcing compliance with that requirement.”… This effort has taken on increased urgency as the Bush administration prepares to leave office and may be ready to expunge the record on its tenure. Bush has already repeatedly manipulated and rewritten open government laws in order to cover up his wrongdoings.

Dean Baker:

NPR Pushes Republican Agenda on Oil Drilling

WSJ Wrongly Says That Privatizing SS Helps the Program’s Finances

WSJ Turns to Surprised Economists to Talk About the Impact of Fannie/Freddie Bailout on Deficit

NPR Cannot Find Any Pessimistic Economists

Media Matters for America headlines

• Fox News’ Hemmer did not challenge GOP strategist’s false claim that Obama “has not authored a single piece of legislation”

• Cameron’s claim that Palin didn’t ask for earmarks is contradicted by Palin herself IBD editorial advanced disputed claim that “radical extremist” assisted Obama’s law-school application

• Quinn said he referred to NOW as “National Organization for Whores” because “that’s what they are. They’re political whores”

• NY Times’ Kristol again undeterred by prior suggestion that Palin lacked sufficient experience to be VP pick

• CBS’ Schieffer didn’t ask McCain whether Fred Thompson “denigrate[d]” and “attack[ed]” McCain’s military service

• Tulsa World reported Inhofe’s smears of Obama’s patriotism without rebutting purported evidence

• Even as Obama Nation author Corsi claimed Obama campaign didn’t “prove a single falsehood,” he corrected several of them

• Corsi suggests Obama might create government dept. to censor books critical of him

DOJ Hires Top Litigator For Possible Antitrust Challenge To Google, Yahoo: Report (Paid Content)
The U.S. Department of Justice has hired former antitrust chief Sandy Litvak “for a possible court challenge” to Google’s growing advertising power, according to WSJ.  Litvack, former vice chairman of the Walt Disney Co. and the antitrust chief during the Carter administration, has been hired to examine the evidence gathered during the review of Google’s pending deal with Yahoo and to build a case if the decision is to move forward, “lawyers close to the review” told the Journal. Those lawyers also say the DOJ has been deposing witnesses and subpoenaing information to support a challenge.

Harry Potter Author Wins Case
J.K. Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment have succeeded in blocking the publication of an unauthorised companion book to the Harry Potter series. Rowling and Warner, which produces the Harry Potter films, argued Steve Vander Ark’s book, Harry Potter Lexicon, contained little original commentary and reproduced whole passages of Ms Rowling’s work.

YouTube Payola?
[Last week], Silicon Alley Insider reported that online video giant YouTube may be quietly taking payments to promote featured videos.

Boston’s CBS station hypes opening of CBS restaurant
WBZ-TV didn’t have the resources to send reporters to the political conventions, but Boston’s CBS affiliate had no trouble rounding up staff for “over-the-top news coverage” of a CBS-owned restaurant’s opening. “They’re completely off the reservation on this one,” says TV news veteran Emily Rooney.

United shares plunge on old news story
United Airlines plunged on Monday after a false report that the carrier had returned to bankruptcy court surfaced on the internet. A six-year-old Chicago Tribune story on United’s 2002 bankruptcy filing, spotted on a Google search on Monday morning by an investment newsletter, triggered a massive sell-off of the carrier’s shares until trading was halted. The stock reached a low of $3, then rebounded once trading resumed to close at $10.92. Shares had ended the day at $12.30 on Friday.

Google to Digitize Newspaper Archives
Google is scanning microfilm from newspaper archives to make them searchable online, first through Google News and eventually on the papers’ own Web sites.
Searchable.  Wow.  Just WOW!  Imagine what that will do for the Google timelines.

Dallas, Fort Worth papers enter joint distribution deal
Belo’s Dallas Morning News and McClatchy’s Fort Worth Star-Telegram will team up for some newspaper deliveries. “There are certain geographies where we both have significant distribution, and we’re sending two cars down the same street, each delivering one product of each of the two companies,” says News publisher Jim Moroney. “If we can get one car going down the street, delivering both products, it lowers the cost of distribution for both companies.”

Esquire Unveils E-Ink Digital Cover
75th Anniversary Issue Looks to the Future, Not the Past

Esquire Digital Cover (thanks to Mashable)

‘Politico’ Launches Content-Sharing Ad Network With Newspapers
Newspapers already signed up are The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Denver Post, and The Plain Dealer in Cleveland. ¿As more and more news outlets close or scale back their Washington, D.C., bureaus, organizations will now have access to Politico¿s unique, up-to-the minute political coverage,¿ said Jim VandeHei, Politico executive editor.

US Weekly to Launch a Quarterly Spinoff
US Weekly is fighting to retain its share of a crowded market. Rather than retrench and ride out the magazine industry’s current slump, US Weekly’s publisher, Jann Wenner is pushing ahead with a plan to expand the franchise. Next spring, his Wenner Media LLC plans to introduce a fashion quarterly designed to give readers a guide to dressing and primping like the celebrities in the mag’s pages.

Cosmo Partners With YouTube to Launch Stars
Cosmopolitan, which has used its “fun fearless female” platform to promote women’s accomplishments, is extending the program with an effort to identify female musical talent. StarLaunch, a partnership with YouTube kicking off Sept. 9, invites aspiring musicians to upload their video to YouTube to be voted on by industry vets and music fans.

Hearst to Test Food Network Magazine
Despite the mixed history of publishing partnerships, Hearst Magazines and the Food Network are forging ahead with their new food title. Food Network Magazine, as they’re calling it, will represent the array of the network’s celeb chefs, from Paula Deen to Ina Garten to Bobby Flay. The first of two test issues is slated to come out in October, with a second to follow in January.

British Publisher to Bring Out Controversial Prophet Mohammed Novel
A novel about the Prophet Mohammed and his child bride, which has already caused controversy in the United States and Serbia, will be released in Britain next month, its publisher said Wednesday. Publishing house Gibson Square said it was “imperative” that The Jewel of Medina by American author Sherry Jones be available to the public.

Digital Publishing May Get Easier For Indies (Paid Content)
Perseus Books Group is the latest to claim a better mousetrap when it comes to digital publishing for indie publishers, according to the NYT: Constellation, slated to launch Thursday, includes partnerships with Google (Google Book Search), Sony (Sony Reader), Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (See Inside web feature), and Lightning Source (print on demand). Publishers will be able to upload one digital book file to the new service and opt for various services. Perseus, itself among the largest of the indies, sees this as a chance to get more books into digital print.

A New View On TV
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business economists Matthew Gentzkow and Jesse Shapiro aren’t sure that TV has been all that bad for kids. In a paper published in the Quarterly Journal of Economics this year, they presented a series of analyses that showed that the advent of television might actually have had a positive effect on children’s cognitive ability.

The Cable News That America’s Communities Watch
Dante Chinni: How you see Sen. Barack Obama (change agent or inexperienced youth) or Sen. John McCain (maverick Republican or President Bush’s heir) may depend on where you go for news. There are points and counterpoints on the Web and on the radio, as well as on cable news — where the approaches and viewpoints are becoming increasingly different.

CNNMoney.com to Launch Retirement Channel
CNNMoney.com will roll out a new retirement channel on Sept. 9 in conjunction with a complementary editorial package in Moneys upcoming October issue, which hit newsstands on Sept 22. Though the business news site has long covered retirement, the new channel will receive a permanent link on the home page and is being designed to serve as an ongoing reference tool for users of various ages.

CNBC-LinkedIn Link Up On Content, Networking (Paid Content)
Another media partnership for LinkedIn, which is striving to be more than a place to check contacts. This time it’s CNBC and the business social net in a “significant strategic alliance” that may actually live up to the billing if executed as described:
– CNBC becomes LinkedIn’s preferred business media provider with text, articles and blogs, financial data, and video content.
– LinkedIn networking and functionality will be integrated into CNBC.com while LinkedIn content will be used on CNBC the network.
Less clear is what the two have to gain financially beyond exposure to each other’s domestic and international audiences

CNN’s Rick Sanchez to Debut Twitter Channel
CNN’s Rick Sanchez will be debuting a dedicated Twitter channel called Rick Sanchez Direct, in what could turn out as an attempt to overload the micro-blogging site, if the following communication from Sanchez’s producer is any indication: “working out a ‘follow limit’ issue with Twitter. Stuck right now, unable to follow new folks. 09:37 AM September 05, 2008 from web”

‘Remote-Free TV’ Debuts With Fox’s ‘Fringe’
NEW YORK (AdAge.com) — “Fringe,” a new sci-fi drama that makes its debut tomorrow on Fox, relies on lots of farfetched ideas and spurious technologies as the basis of its stories. One intriguing notion the program will introduce isn’t crazy at all. The show is expected to run all season with fewer ads than a normal network program, and Fox is charging more than usual for them.

CBS’s Moonves Has Big Plans for CNET
The CEO sees the acquisition of CNET as a way to remake CBS into a growth company, but can the master programmer pull it off?

“Lonelygirl15″ takes another shot at Web fame
CANBERRA (Reuters) – Actress Jessica Rose stumbled into Internet fame as “lonelygirl15″ in a fictional hit video series, but she is back and fully aware of online power in a new project that further blurs the line between TV and the Web.

Google, HSBC back cheap Web access for Africa
LONDON/AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Google and Europe’s biggest bank HSBC have thrown their weight behind a plan to provide cheap, high-speed Web access via satellite to millions in Africa and other emerging markets.

Zune to start Wi-Fi downloads, streaming
Microsoft Corp. said Monday that it is updating its Zune digital media player so the product can wirelessly download and stream songs when users have access to Wi-Fi networks.

NBC Universal in Pact for Google to Sell Its TV Ads
NBC Universal, a unit of General Electric Co, is teaming up with Google Inc on a multi-year partnership in which Google will act as a broker to sell TV advertising on some NBC cable channels. In a joint statement, the two companies said NBC Universal will offer advertising time from several of its cable networks for Google to sell advertising through its Google TV Ads service.

Zillow, Newspapers Launch Real Estate Ad Network; Looking To Each Other’s Strengths (Paid Content)
Last fall, 11 newspaper publishers agreed to let real estate upstart Zillow.com carry the real estate listings from their 282 papers. Now, the Zillow Newspaper Consortium, which includes Hearst and Lee Enterprises, and the price-comparison site are launching a real estate ad network with the right to sell ads on each other’s sites. The newspapers can sell Zillow, with national traffic averaging some 5 million uniques monthly, while VC-funded Zillow can target local real estate users and sell some additional national inventory across the newspaper sites.

Google Tightens Data Retention Policy – Again
Under pressure from regulators and activists, Google tightened its data retention policies, saying it would anonymize search records after nine months.