Media & Politics
04-Jun-09
Permanent link to MTA daily media news
Remember when Democrats had to nominate Obama because the right wing “couldn’t” attack him?
Fox & Friends asks if Obama will “continue ‘apology-looza’” in Saudi Arabia (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Miller says there’s “going to be a lot of butt kissing” during “Obama’s mea culpa with the Arab world” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Jake Tapper Baits Wingnuts With Obama/Muslim Story, Wingnuts Bite Hard (by The Cajun Boy at Gawker)
ABC News Senior White House Tool Jake Tapper, seemingly bored silly on a flight to Riyadh or maybe just experimenting to see how many links he could get from wingnut websites, published perhaps the most imbecilic article in the history of journalism today on ABC.com. He should be flogged mercilessly. With a title, ”The Emergence of President Obama’s Muslim Roots,” that just pathetically screams “please link to me Matt Drudge,” Tapper regurgitates a slew of widely-known facts about Obama’s family’s Muslim faith, slaps a provocative title on the piece, and repackages the whole thing as some sort of breaking news story in conjunction with Obama’s trip to the Middle East…
Predictably, the right-wingers are hysterical over this. In addition to the feature link on Drudge, there are at least four Free Republic posts on it that we saw, not to mention postings in just about every other conservative gathering place online.
Maybe Jake was trying to capitalize on this misquote:
Yikes! Did Obama Really Call America A Muslim Country? Nope. (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
With President Obama set to depart for the Mideast, many will likely jump on him today for allegedly calling America a Muslim country on French television late yesterday. Indeed, critics are already grabbing on to the comment as it was reported in the New York Times write-up: “…Mr. Obama noted that the United States also could be considered as ‘one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.’”… The Times piece is already spreading rapidly on the right… But here’s what Obama actually said: “…[O]ne of the points I want to make is, is that if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world.”
What? “Would be” doesn’t equal “is”?
Limbaugh: If media are correct, “the Muslim world has a new leader, Bin Laden a myth, Obama to power“ (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Looks like bin Laden doesn’t like to be upstaged:
New Bin Laden Tape Blasts Obama (CBS/AP)
A new audio tape from Osama bin Laden criticizes President Barack Obama for planting seeds of “hatred and vengeance toward Americans” and warns of “new long wars.”… U.S. intelligence officials confirmed the authenticity of tape but said “there’s no reason at this point to believe that any specific or credible threat is contained” in the message, reports CBS News.
Why Israelis are nervous about Obama (Jewish Telegraphic Agency)
There is great concern in Israel about Obama’s trip, and an atmosphere of general nervousness about the new American president. Hardly three months into his presidency, Obama already has criticized Israel — its settlement policy, to be precise — with a public candor and directness unseen during the Bush era… Israelis have a few things making them nervous:…
• Israel’s new prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, does not see eye to eye with the new American president…
• Israelis have not failed to notice that Obama’s first trip to the region as president does not include a stop in their country. Many are asking why, and see in it an omen of bad things to come.
• Finally, Israelis are nervous generally about their future and their security…
And wait until they see this:
Obama says Iran’s energy concerns legitimate (AP)
President Barack Obama suggested that Iran may have some right to nuclear energy — provided it proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful. In a BBC interview broadcast Tuesday, he also restated plans to pursue direct diplomacy with Tehran to encourage it set aside any ambitions for nuclear weapons it might harbor. Iran has insisted its nuclear program is aimed at generating electricity. But the U.S. and other Western governments accuse Tehran of seeking atomic weapons.
And this:
U.S. Invites Iran for Hot Dogs and Fireworks (McClatchy)
After a three-decade ban, U.S. embassies will be allowed to invite Iranian officials to come celebrate America’s declaration of independence from Britain and its overpriced tea. Substantive conversations still aren’t allowed, but the BBC reports that “small talk” is a go.
Netanyahu cites secret deal with Bush to justify more settlements (The Independent, U.K.)
The Israeli government of Benjmain Netanyahu is seeking to deflect Washington’s demand for a total settlement freeze by complaining that it ignores secret agreements between his predecessors and the Bush administration that construction in existing Jewish settlements could continue.
Hmm, something tells me that argument isn’t going anywhere.
Walls (by Pat Racimora at No Quarter)
Marcus Welby? He’s history. So says Ronald Glasser in a stinging Washington Post editorial. It’s not that a Dr. Welby won’t be coming to your house because he doesn’t care to do that sort of thing any more. Your doctor is no longer available because your doctor is probably no longer in control of what he and she does!
Baucus Tells Single-Payer Advocates No (by David Swanson at After Downing Street)
Senator Max Baucus met Wednesday with advocates for single-payer healthcare, including Senator
Bernie Sanders, and told them that he might drop criminal charges against 13 people arrested for speaking up in his hearings, but that he would not include any supporters of single-payer health coverage in any future hearings. According to one report, Baucus suggested that he’d been mistaken to exclude single-payer but asserted that the process of creating healthcare reform legislation was too far along now to correct that omission.
Too far along. Well, ain’t THAT convenient? He’s already made up his mind, suckers, and you’re not going to change it. Join PDA’s “Defeat Max Baucus Campaign.”
Baucus is helping to destroy more people’s lives:
“An Umbrella that Melts in the Rain” (by Mark Thoma at Economist’s View)
Medical problems contribute to a large proportion of bankruptcies. I wonder how much a health care plan that protects people from losing everything when serious illness hits would have helped to soften the economic crisis: “…Medical problems contributed to nearly two-thirds (62.1 percent) of all bankruptcies in 2007.”
Time to Trash the Trigger (by Mike Lux)
The insurance lobby has had multiple tactics for stopping the public option idea, which they despise because they know if regular folks have choice to go to a public option, insurance companies won’t have the same ability to treat their customers like garbage when they get sick. The first tactic was just to try to kill the public option outright, and the good news is that they appear to have failed at that. This so-called trigger proposal is the second tactic: the idea is to write a “trigger” that will allow for a public option only under certain conditions, but write the legislation so that those conditions would never get met in the real world. It’s a classic DC tactic, right up there with calling for a commission to study something…
The great thing for the insurance companies in a tactic like this is that it gives “centrist” Senators (centrist in Washington, DC usually means those who have taken massive amounts of campaign contributions from the affected industry) an excuse to help the insurance industry while looking like they are open to the public option that their constituents have been demanding.
Daschle gives Obama’s health care plan a 50-50 chance (McClatchy)
Even as President Barack Obama set August as a “make-or-break” deadline for overhauling the health care system, Tom Daschle, who was the president’s first choice to run the effort, predicted just a “50-50 chance that something’s going to pass.”
Canadian Pol: I’m Helping Obama Realize Universal Health Care (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Canada’s New Democratic Party has blasted a new email to supporters touting NDP leader Jack Layton’s trip to America to “help President Obama in his fight for universal health care” — and GOPers may use it to argue that Obama is secretly scheming to impose a Canada-style single-payer system on America. Republicans are currently circulating the email.
Kentucky Pastor to Hold a ‘Bring Your Handgun to Church’ Service (by The Cajun Boy at Gawker)
In lieu of George Tiller being gunned down in a church, this blows the mind—-A Kentucky pastor is encouraging people to attend a service with guns in holsters, enter a raffle to win a free handgun, and be sermonized by operators of gun stores and firing ranges.In what’s being called an “Open Carry Church Service,” Pastor Ken Pagano of New Bethel Church in Louisville (Yes this is actually happening in the state’s most metropolitan city and not somewhere in the Appalachia!) says that he’s just trying to “think outside the box” to grow his flock.
Well, didn’t Jesus say, “Kill thy neighbor”?
Tiller suspect’s car was reported to FBI on day before murder (McClatchy)
The suspect in Sunday’s slaying of Wichita abortion doctor George Tiller matches the description of a man who vandalized a Kansas City, Kan., clinic twice in the past month — including the day before Tiller was killed, the clinic’s office manager said Tuesday.
The Tiller Effect (by Melissa Harris-Lacewell, The Nation)
The murder of Dr. George Tiller was an act of domestic terrorism aimed at frightening a generation of doctors and terrifying women and families who are making difficult choices.
Myth of the Lone Shooter (by Ellen Goodman at Truthdig)
It is believed that the shooter acted alone…
Michael Griffin also acted alone when he killed David Gunn in 1993. Paul Hill acted alone when he killed John Britton in 1994. John Salvi acted alone and so did Eric Rudolph and James Kopp. This suspect is hardly lonely in this murderous cast of lone actors.
It was an isolated incident..
[I]t was also an isolated incident when Tiller’s clinic was first bombed in 1986. It was an isolated incident when he was shot in both arms in 1993. Each anthrax threat, each invasion, even the vandalizing that took place last month at his Wichita clinic were all linked in a daisy chain of “isolated incidents.”
The pro-life community reacted with shock…
Were they also shocked by the everyday mainstream rhetoric that casually refers to abortion as murder? Did they worry about the movement strategy designed deliberately to target providers, the weak link of abortion rights, driving clinics out of 87 percent of our counties?
Domestic Terrorism by Any Standard (by by Joe Conason)
If right-wing broadcasters don’t want to be blamed when someone murders a person they have demonized repeatedly — as in the case of George Tiller, the doctor shot dead in his Wichita, Kan., church last Sunday by an anti-abortion zealot — then they ought to moderate their rhetoric. No doubt they will choose their words more carefully for a while, and they will whine piteously about anyone who calls attention to their screaming extremism. This familiar cycle of shaming and blaming, which often follows incidents like the Tiller killing, may well be pointless. By now, it should be obvious that nothing, not even a murder in a church, will mute the most aggressive and irrational voices in politics and the media, as they attract high ratings and consistent donations.
What Rhetoric Won’t Cure (by Marie Cocco)
The murder of Dr. George Tiller cannot be smoothed over with a speech. This is the lesson the Obama administration must learn from it. Since Tiller was gunned down — at Sunday morning church services — the administration has correctly offered increased law enforcement protection to the hundreds of abortion clinics and doctors who have, for years, been targets of violence and vandalism, and whose patients are routinely harassed and intimidated. This necessary measure is only temporary. As most of the public surely knows, the abortion wars have become a permanent and ugly part of American political discourse…
It is time to stop hoping that somehow, through pleasing rhetoric or even genuine efforts to build bridges, those who oppose allowing women to control their reproductive lives can be persuaded to some other view. Continuing the pretense on this point isn’t naive. It’s cynical.
Kurtz ’surprised’ that O’Reilly ‘didn’t issue a ringing denunciation’ of the Tiller shooting. (Think Progress)
In his Media Notes column [Tuesday], Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz writes that “O’Reilly is entitled to defend himself,” but adds that he is “surprised that, along with his reminder that Tiller had been called a baby killer, O’Reilly didn’t issue a ringing denunciation of the shooting and anyone who thought it was justified. The occasion, in my view, called for it; he chose a different approach.”
Howie lives in the Beltway bubble.
Ingraham and O’Reilly joke that MSNBC and liberal blogs are responsible for attack on Army recruiting center. (Think Progress)
[Monday], “[a] 23-year-old man upset about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan opened fire from his truck at two soldiers standing outside a military recruiting station here on Monday morning, killing one private and wounding another.” In response, conservative talker Laura Ingraham suggested that websites and news outlets that have been critical of the war in Iraq were responsible for the obviously horrible attack. Her guest Bill O’Reilly seemed to agree with her tongue-in-cheek reasoning:… “INGRAHAM: Are we now going to look at the websites that he frequented to see if he was on some of the crazy left-wing anti-war websites, Win Without War, George Soros-funded websites, DailyKos, all the crazies. … The way they are reporting on the George Tiller murder, all of talk radio was responsible for that. … Did he frequent MSNBC, did he like to watch it?…”
These commentators weren’t criticizing O’Reilly and groups like Operation Rescue simply because they are opposed to abortion. Many right-wing activists used words like “murderer” and “killer” when they criticized Tiller’s abortion practices. O’Reilly, in particular, sent his producers to ambush Tiller and said that anyone who didn’t “stop” Tiller would have “blood on their hands.”
This is America. Get used to it:
Jeff Kreisler’s ‘Get Rich Cheating’ (video, thanks to Truthdig)
This book will change your life… Get Rich Cheating is your definitive guide to the illegal, immoral, and fun, detailing the true, thoroughly-researched schemes that have proven time and time again to generate more cash than God, Google, and the Treasury combined.
Geithner backs strong dlr, says China’s assets safe (Reuters)
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner on Monday reaffirmed his faith in a strong dollar and reassured the Chinese government that its huge holdings of dollar-denominated assets are safe… “Chinese financial assets are very safe,” Geithner said. His response drew laughter from the audience. [Emphasis added.]
Promised Help Is Elusive for Some Homeowners (New York Times)
Through many months of wrangling over the fate of the financial system, with hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars dispensed on bailouts, distressed homeowners have waited for their own rescue amid talk that it was finally on the way. Modifications of so-called subprime and Alt-A mortgages — those made to people with tarnished credit — actually fell by 11 percent in May from April, according to research by Alan M. White at Valparaiso University School of Law. A Treasury spokeswoman, Jenni Engebretsen, confirmed that homeowners [who are] current on their mortgages yet grappling with a hardship like unemployment … were eligible for loan modifications under the program. She said mortgage servicers had offered to modify more than 100,000 loans since the department announced the program.
But how many loans have been modified? Ms. Engebretsen declined to say, noting that the Treasury was working with mortgage companies to “fine-tune reporting systems.”
Geithner faces sluggish market, rents out NY home (AP)
The real estate market’s troubles are hitting close to home for Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. After reducing the price on his house in a tony New York City suburb to less than he paid for it, Geithner still couldn’t sell and recently rented it out instead, according to real estate agents familiar with the deal.
Northwestern Mutual Makes First Gold Buy in 152 Years (Bloomberg)
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., the third-largest U.S. life insurer by 2008 sales, has bought gold for the first time the company’s 152-year history to hedge against further asset declines. “Gold just seems to make sense; it’s a store of value,” Chief Executive Officer Edward Zore said in an interview following his comments at a conference hosted by Standard & Poor’s in Brooklyn. “In the Depression, gold did very, very well.”
BofA says it’s near $34 billion goal set by regulators (McClatchy)
Bank of America is almost to the finish line as it seeks to raise the almost $34 billion that regulators demanded last month.
Germany Blasts ’Powers of the Fed’ (Wall Street Journal)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in a rare public rebuke of central banks, suggested the European Central Bank and its counterparts in the U.S. and Britain have gone too far in fighting the financial crisis and may be laying the groundwork for another financial blowup. “I view with great skepticism the powers of the Fed, for example, and also how, within Europe, the Bank of England has carved out its own small line,” Ms. Merkel said in a speech in Berlin. “We must return together to an independent central-bank policy and to a policy of reason, otherwise we will be in exactly the same situation in 10 years’ time.”
Mortgages, Neckties and Toasters. What Will They Think of Next? (by Rep. Brad Miller)
Congress will soon begin considering new “systemic risk” regulation of the financial sector to protect the financial industry from itself. But we have to do more than just keep “the wizards on Wall Street” from running with scissors again. We need to make sure that their “innovations” actually benefit society, not just increase profits and compensation in the financial industry.
Elizabeth Warren, a Harvard law professor, has famously urged that Congress create a new Financial Products Safety Commission, patterned after the Consumer Products Safety Commission. Warren compares a toaster that is likely to catch fire and cause the consumer’s house to burn down, which the Consumer Product Safety Commission would view with grave disfavor, to a subprime mortgage that is equally likely to result in the home’s foreclosure, which appears to be of no particular concern to any existing regulatory agency… Bill Delahunt and I have introduced legislation in the House to create such a commission, and Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Edward Kennedy have introduced identical legislation in the Senate.
Why low oil prices now may mean higher oil prices later (McClatchy)
What until recently was a steep drop in global crude oil prices has sparked delays and cancellations of major energy projects across the globe. Experts fear that this pullback could provoke costly supply shortages just over the horizon.
Chrysler Sale Faces Challenge in Appeals Court (Washington Post)
A federal appeals court agreed late Tuesday night to hear an appeal from a group of lenders seeking to block the sale of Chrysler’s assets, a move that could delay the automaker’s exit from bankruptcy proceedings. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit accepted the appeal from a coalition of Indiana pension funds that has sought to block the sale of most of Chrysler’s assets to a group led by Italian automaker Fiat, according to Chris Conner, spokesman for Indiana State Treasurer’s Office.
Many GM retirees are just happy to keep pensions (McClatchy)
General Motors’ retirees expect to lose dental and vision coverage in July and will have higher health-care co-payments, but they’re happy to hear that their pensions will remain part of the new General Motors once it emerges from bankruptcy.
But maybe not for long:
Despite Filing for Bankruptcy, GM to Continue History of Political Spending (Open Secrets)
In addition to bolstering legislators’ war chests, GM ranks among the top 20 spenders on lobbying over time. The company said []Tuesday that it would not stop its political operations, including its lobbying activity, despite the recent news, according to Roll Call… Since 1998, GM has forked over nearly $102 million for lobbying services and in 2008 alone, the auto-giant-no-longer spent $13.8 million.
U.S. Report Finds Airstrike Errors in Afghan Deaths (New York Times)
A military investigation has concluded that American personnel made significant errors in carrying out some of the airstrikes in western Afghanistan on May 4 that killed dozens of Afghan civilians, according to a senior American military official. The official said the civilian death toll would probably have been reduced if American air crews and forces on the ground had followed strict rules devised to prevent civilian casualties. Had the rules been followed, at least some of the strikes by American warplanes against half a dozen targets over seven hours would have been aborted.
New Afghan commander vows to reduce civilian casualties (McClatchy)
President Barack Obama’s choice to lead U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan appeared on Capitol Hill Tuesday and promised more precise attacks against Taliban and al Qaida targets that would reduce the civilian causalities that are eroding Afghan support for the coalition.
Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military (by Jeff Sharlet, Harper’s, thanks to Susie at Suburban Guerilla)
When Barack Obama moved into the Oval Office in January, he inherited a military not just drained by a two-front war overseas but fighting a third battle on the home front, a subtle civil war over its own soul. On one side are the majority of military personnel, professionals who regardless of their faith or lack thereof simply want to get their jobs done; on the other is a small but powerful movement of Christian soldiers concentrated in the officer corps. ..
What [this group has] fomented is a quiet coup within the armed forces: not of generals encroaching on civilian rule but of religious authority displacing the military’s once staunchly secular code. Not a conspiracy but a cultural transformation, achieved gradually through promotions and prayer meetings, with personal faith replacing protocol according to the best intentions of commanders who conflate God with country. They see themselves not as subversives but as spiritual warriors—“ambassadors for Christ in uniform,” according to Officers’ Christian Fellowship; “government paid missionaries,” according to Campus Crusade’s Military Ministry.
Officials still silent on suicide of Guantanamo detainee (McClatchy)
With a doctor from the Miami-Dade Medical Examiner’s Office observing, military pathologists Wednesday conducted an autopsy on a Yemeni detainee at Guantanamo who apparently committed suicide in his cell, the military said.
Clinton vows to fight for gay rights abroad (AFP)
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton vowed Monday to fight for gay rights, calling for all nations to stop violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation. Clinton made the appeal ahead of the 40th anniversary this month of New York’s Stonewall Riots, often seen as the launch of the US gay rights movement, in which gays and lesbians fought back against police who raided their bars. “The example set by those fighting for equal rights in the United States gives hope to men and women around the world who yearn for a better future for themselves and their loved ones,” said Clinton, a former senator from New York.
Justice Department Probes Big Tech Firm Hiring Practices (Paid Content)
The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating whether big tech firms, including Google, Yahoo, and Apple broke antitrust law by possibly colluding on hiring policies, according to a report in the Washington Post. Apparently the companies may have agreed not to actively recruit employees away from each other… The probe is yet another indication that the renewed enforcement push under way by the Justice Department is having a particularly heavy impact on the tech industry.
Silly me, I thought they might be probing the hiring of foreign IT workers over Americans, as a way of keeping IT salaries down. Instead, they’re worried about top management. Again.
U.S. Accidentally Releases List of Nuclear Sites (New York Times)
The federal government mistakenly made public a 266-page report, its pages marked “highly confidential,” that gives detailed information about hundreds of the nation’s civilian nuclear sites and programs, including maps showing the precise locations of stockpiles of fuel for nuclear weapons.
Katrina’s FEMA trailers might be going for a buck (McClatchy)
In an effort to put the lingering image of a failed government response to Hurricane Katrina to rest, the Obama Administration moved Wednesday to get about 5,000 Gulf Coast residents out of FEMA trailers through $50 million in housing vouchers and, for those interested, a chance to buy a trailer for as little as $1.
You can poison yourself for only a dollar. What a bargain!
Sotomayor meets key senators amid bets she’s a shoo-in (McClatchy)
Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday paid her first Capitol Hill visits to key senators who’ll be voting on her confirmation. She found Democrats enthusiastic and Republicans wary and somewhat skeptical.
Public disagrees with Sotomayor in poll on affirmative action case (McClatchy)
A strong majority of the American people oppose the position that Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor took on an affirmative action case that will figure prominently in her Senate confirmation hearings, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll. In the case, Ricci v. DeStefano, Sotomayor sided with the city of New Haven, Conn., which threw out the results of a test used to promote firefighters when no blacks achieved a score high enough to merit promotion. Americans oppose that decision strongly; 71 percent favor promoting the white firefighters, plus one Hispanic, who scored well on the test, and only 19 percent side with the city — and Sotomayor — in abandoning the test and awarding no promotions.
In addition, a strong public majority — 55 to 36 percent — favors abolishing affirmative action entirely, the poll found. The survey adds fuel to Republican plans to make Sotomayor’s ruling on the case a political issue during her Senate confirmation hearings.
Fearing backlash, GOP tones down rhetoric on Sotomayor (McClatchy)
After an initial burst of often personal criticism of Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor, some conservatives are scaling back their attacks and admitting that her judicial record is more moderate than her speeches that they’ve been trumpeting on talk radio, cable TV and YouTube.
Gingrich pretends to apologize to Sotomayor…and then claims that she betrayed America’s values. (Think Progress)
Last week, Newt Gingrich said that Judge Sonia Sotomayor should withdraw her nomination because she is a “Latina woman racist.” [Wedneday], in what several commentators are characterizing as an apology or walk-back, Gingrich clarifies his comments. “The word ‘racist’ should not have been applied to Judge Sotomayor as a person, even if her words themselves are unacceptable,” Gingrich writes in the right-wing Human Events. Rather, Gingrich says, we should view Sotomayor’s words as revealing “a betrayal of a fundamental principle of the American system — that everyone is equal before the law.” Gingrich continues his apology by characterizing her as a “radical”.
Unlike Gingrich, Limbaugh Won’t Back Down From Sotomayor “Racist” Remarks (by Sam Stein at the Huffington Post)
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich backed down on Wednesday from his earlier remarks calling Judge Sonia Sotomayor a racist — in large part, it seems, out of concern about the political implications of attacking the first Latina Supreme Court nominee on those lines. His counterpart in that effort, however, is staying true to his words. Rush Limbaugh led his show on Wednesday by insisting that his words on Sotomayor “have not been too strong,” adding later, “I’m not retracting it.”
Where’s Lee Atwater When the GOP Needs Him? (by John Cook at Gawker)
The spasm of raw and overt white rage on the part of conservatives in reaction to Sotomayor’s nomination has been widely noted. It’s sad because it’s racist and awful and depressing, but it’s also sad because the Republican Party, which used to be undisputed masters of subtle and coded racial suggestion, has devolved into repeating obviously and conspicuously racist diatribes. They’re actually saying out loud the things that they are thinking and saying to one another in private, which is never a good idea. Lee Atwater, the Republican Machiavelli who engineered the infamous “Willie Horton” ads against Michael Dukakis in 1988, would be rolling over in his grave if he hadn’t renounced his political tactics on his deathbed in 1991.
Atwater is alive and well and working at WorldNetDaily:
WorldNetDaily’s Molotov Mitchell smears “anti-American racist” Sotomayor, calls La Raza “the tan Klan” (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Breaking: Sotomayor Made Same “Wise Woman” Speech In 1990s — And No One Objected (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
I’ve just obtained a speech that Sonia Sotomayor gave in 1994, in which she made a comment virtually identical to the “wise Latina” one from 2001 that has generated so much controversy. And though the 1994 speech was disclosed to Republican Senators as part of her confirmation for Court of Appeals in 1998, there’s no sign that anyone objected to it in any way. The revelation raises fresh questions as to why the 2001 comments generated the controversy they did, and suggests that the comments are not as controversial as her critics claim.
GOP Lacks Votes to Filibuster Sotomayor (Political Wire)
New York Times: “We don’t have enough Republicans to filibuster even if we wanted to, which I don’t think we do,” said Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas and a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Head Of Anti-Sotomayor Group: Hispanic Voters “Think Just Like Everyone Else…Not Like African Americans” (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
Manuel Miranda, the controversial leader of conservative groups allied against Sonia Sotomayor, said on a blogger conference call that African American voters are different from Hispanic voters because Hispanics “think just like everyone else” on issues, “unlike African Americans.” Miranda, you’ll recall, is the fellow who’s organizing a campaign to pressure the GOP Senate leadership into filibustering Sotomayor.
Obama’s Choice For Army Secretary Received Money from Labor & Defense Interests, Including PMA Group (Open Secrets)
Democratic President Barack Obama’s choice for the Secretary of the Army would bring with him strong ties to the defense industry’s checkbooks and lobbyists. First elected in 1992, Rep. John McHugh (R-N.Y.) is the ranking Republican member of the House Armed Services Committee, and over the years, political action committees and individual employees within the defense industry have contributed more than $220,000 to his campaign coffers. This sum makes defense the No. 4 largest sector to support McHugh, coming in behind the health sector (which has contributed $231,000 since the 1992 election cycle), the business sector ($389,000) and the labor sector ($740,000).
Obama’s Army Secretary Pick Co-Sponsored Bill To Obstruct Closing Of Guantanamo (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
GOP Rep John McHugh … was a co-sponsor of the House GOP leadership’s bill designed to obstruct the closing of Guantanamo Bay. That puts the nominee for Army Secretary directly at odds with the President on a top national security priority.
Gibbs: McHugh and Obama ‘both don’t think [DADT] is working for this country right now.’ (Think Progress)
Though neither Obama nor McHugh discussed the military’s Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy[Tuesday], Press Secretary Robert Gibbs … said McHugh shares Obama’s commitment to repealing the ban, which isn’t “working for this country right now”.
Appointment Creates Opportunity for Democrats (Political Wire)
With the appointment [of McHugh], Obama gives the Democrats a good chance to pick up an another House seat in a special election. The NY-23 district has been trending Democratic in recent years with President Obama winning 52% of the vote in the district against John McCain. If Democrats were able to flip the seat, it would leave only two Republicans in New York’s 29-member House delegation.
Obama Makes Another Republican Appointment (Political Wire)
President Obama said he would nominate former Rep. Jim Leach (R-IA) to be chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, the Des Moines Register reports. Leach, a Republican, endorsed Obama last year and had a prime-time speaking slot at the Democratic National Convention in Denver.
Obama’s Plan to Sabotage the Republican Party (Political Wire)
By naming moderate Republicans to key positions in his administration, Politico says President Obama is executing a plan “that not only sketches the outline of a reelection strategy but manages to drive a wedge into the opposition at the same time. Call it a Sherman’s March in reverse — an audacious attempt by Obama to burn down any lines of escape for Republicans from their one refuge of popularity, the deep South.”
Well, maybe.
Inhofe’s Strategy To Block EPA Regulation Of Greenhouse Gases: ‘We Can Stall That Until We Get A New President’ (Think Progress)
In April, the Environmental Protection Agency “formally declared carbon dioxide and five other heat-trapping gases to be pollutants that endanger public health and welfare, setting in motion a process that will lead to the regulation of the gases for the first time in the United States.”… Republicans and some centrist Democrats have attacked the EPA’s potential regulation of greenhouse gases. But the Senate’s top global warming denier does not not appear worried. In a speech for the Heartland Institute [Tuesday], Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) said that the Senate could just “stall” any EPA regulation.
Click through to watch the video.
GOP Congressmen Smear Green Collar Workers, Claim Their Jobs Are ‘Paper Mâché,’ ‘Subprime,’ ‘Gangrene’ (Think Progress)
[Tuesday], House Republicans took to the floor for an hour-long series of speeches dedicated to attacking Waxman-Markey clean energy economy legislation. But in addition to doing the usual — misrepresenting an MIT study to claim the legislation would result in a tax and flaunting their skepticism of global climate change — the members of Congress decided to fire a volley of smears at workers doing green jobs as well. ThinkProgress has compiled a video of some of the attacks.
Click through to watch it.
Rep. Akin Argues Against Curbing Emissions: I Don’t Want To Stop The Seasons From Changing (Think Progress)
[Tuesday] on the House floor, Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) launched into a nonsensical tirade against legislation aimed at addressing global warming by reducing carbon emissions. Akin demonstrated his lack of understanding of climate issues by erroneously celebrating the seasonal change from winter to spring as “good climate change” and confused “weather” with “climate.” He dismissed the threat of global warming as a “comedy” and wondered who would “want to put politicians in charge of the weather anyways.”
Click through to watch the video.
This is pretty far out there for the Chicago Tribune:
Put a Papercraft Roland Burris on Your Desk (Chicago Tribune)
Have trouble remembering the hero who bravely stepped in to fill Barack Obama’s old Senate seat when everyone was afraid of looking like they were friends with Rod Blagojevich? The Chicago Tribune has a PDF for that.
Pawlenty Will Certify Winner Once Court Rules (Political Wire)
Despite speculation that Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) might wait to certify the winner of the Minnesota U.S. Senate race if Norm Coleman (R) appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court, the New York Times quotes him saying it’s unlikely. Said Pawlenty: “I think you guys have really overbaked that issue. I’m going to do whatever the court says. If the court directs me to sign that certificate, I will.” Meanwhile, we wait for the Minnesota Supreme Court to issue their ruling.
Pennsylvania Voters To Dem Establishment: Please Let Us Pick Our Senator (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
A striking number in a new poll that Susquehanna Research and Polling just sent over shows that an overwhelming majority of Pennsylvania Democrats want a Senate primary, despite the best efforts of the White House and the Democratic establishment to clear the field for Arlen Specter… Pennsylvania Dems … are basically giving the Dem establishment the middle finger.
SOMEbody has to give the Dem establishment the middle finger on their meddling in primaries.
Christie Will Face Corzine (Political Wire)
Chris Christie (R) won the Republican primary for governor of New Jersey, CQ Politics reports, “earning the nomination to challenge incumbent Gov. Jon Corzine in what is expected to be a competitive race this fall.” “Christie — who was declared the winner by the Associated Press a little more than two hours after the polls closed at 8 p.m. eastern — lived up to his status as the consensus front-runner in the GOP contest, while Corzine easily defeated three lesser-known contenders in Tuesday’s Democratic primary.”
Virginia Race Still Up in the Air (Political Wire)
With just 6 days until Virginia’s Democratic gubernatorial primary, SurveyUSA finds a race with “unusual volatility.” Terry McAuliffe (D) remains in front with 35%, but is closely followed by Creigh Deeds (D) at 29% and Brian Moran at 26%. Key finding: Half of survey respondents say they may still change their mind. Among those who have decided, Deeds leads with McAuliffe and Moran a half-dozen points behind.
Democrats’ fundraising numbers worry some (Politico)
[A]t a time that was supposed to be a golden era of Democratic fundraising, with a popular president in charge and Congress firmly ensconced in Democratic hands, the early fundraising hauls have been, well, downright ordinary. Dating back to the start of the year, Democrats barely hold a financial advantage over the GOP, despite the current toothless state of the Republican Party, its dispirited base and its dim prospects of taking back control of any branch of government in 2010.
Could this be the reason?
An Obama voter asks what went wrong (by Catherine Callen, co-chair of the Muslim Solidarity Committee, thanks to mablue2 at The Confluence)
Dear President Obama, You are breaking my heart. I worked hard to help get you elected, and I have friends who made it their complete priority…We fell in love with your vision of what we might be, and the desire of all of us to see justice prevail with an investigation into atrocities committed by the Bush/Cheney administration and finally, put the shame and damage of the past eight years behind us…
Until now, I have been defending you and trying to understand your strategy, believing that you were still walking the same path toward peace and transparency that you set for yourself and America in your campaign. You lost my trust, though, with this latest reversal of heart to not show the world evidence of further torture and the atrocities of the Bush/Cheney administration. I am tired, Mr. Obama. I have been marching for peace for a long time. I was hoping I could retire soon, knowing we were heading in the right direction. I feel tricked. So, tired or not, I will be at your front door soon, with, I suspect, quite a lot of friends.
The Dawning Age of Obama as a Potentially Teach-able Moment for The Left (by Paul Street, an independent radical-democratic policy researcher, journalist, historian, and speaker, writing at ZNet, thanks to jawbone at Corrente)
There has been a lot of left-wing teeth-gnashing over the policies of the United States’ fake-progressive president Barack Obama. Left-progressives’ anger with the Obama administration is understandable given the new White House’s actions… [But the] dawning Age of Obama is potentially a great “teach-able moment” for left thinkers, communicators, activists who are ready and willing to take up the challenges of productive and progressive demystification and rebellion.
It’s a long article, but well worth reading, as it lists the not-left and anti-left positions Obama has taken and the excuses for his actions by so-called progressives and liberals. Street also invites us to live by Obama’s own words: “change doesn’t happen from the top down. Change happens from the bottom up.” Let’s make him give us the change he promised. It’s not going to happen if we don’t push.
Happy Hour Open Thread: Dick Cheney Is Everywhere (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
A striking new chart from Pew Research illustrates just how much media oxygen has been granted to Dick Cheney’s torture tour, his attacks on Obama, and his rearguard efforts to salvage his reputation… Dick Cheney has been deemed far more newsworthy out of office than he was in it, and he’s way more newsworthy than Joe Biden, that nobody who happens to be the current second-in-command. In a way, the news value accorded to Cheney partly reflects the utter absence of GOP leaders able to command the big stage and speak nationally for the party right now.
Round one goes to Cheney (by J -SOM at Liberal Rapture)
The lesson here is to avoid listening to the MSM when it gets a hold of a meme (Cheney unpopular! Cheney bad!) that does not hold up to even cursory examination. Much less a basic gut check. Disliking Cheney does not equate to distrusting him on national security. The MSM and Obama-sphere exhibited its usual thoughtless glee in attacking Cheney every time he spoke. Most Americans agree with Cheney on Gitmo. It will be interesting to see how far Obama pushes the “close Gitmo” meme. One is within reason to wonder if he really ever intended to close it.
Cheney Edges Away From Claim That CIA Docs Will Prove Torture Worked (by Greg Sargent at The Plum Line)
[I]n an interview that Dick Cheney gave to Fox News [Monday] night … Cheney seemed to edge away from the claim that the documents he’s asking the CIA to declassify will prove unequivocally that torture worked… Cheney is carefully saying that the documents summarize what we learned from the overall interrogation program. Torture, of course, was only a component of that program. So he’s clearly saying that the docs summarize what was learned from a program that included non-torture techniques, too… It dovetails precisely with what Senator Carl Levin, who has also seen these docs, says about them. Levin claims the docs don’t do anything to “connect acquisition of valuable intelligence to the use of the abusive techniques.”
My bet is Cheney is planning to cite the valuable intel in the docs and say that the program — of which torture was only a part — was responsible for producing it. He’ll fudge the question of whether the torture itself was actually responsible for generating that information. Cheney is as experienced as any Washington hand at using precise language to obfsucate, and this is the game plan. You heard it here first.
Rush and Newt Are Winning (by E.J. Dionne)
A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion. Yes, you read that correctly: If you doubt that there is a conservative inclination in the media, consider which arguments you hear regularly and which you don’t. When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media. It is remarkable how successful they are in setting what passes for the news agenda…
Democrats are complicit in building up Gingrich and Limbaugh as the main spokesmen for the Republican Party, since Obama polls so much better than both of them. But the media play an independent role by regularly treating far right views as mainstream positions and by largely ignoring critiques of Obama that come from elected officials on the left.
In Video From Presidential Motorcade, Obama Knocks The Media (by Ari Melber, The Nation)
NBC News was granted extensive access to the White House for a special series airing this Tuesday and Wednesday, but some interesting scenes did not make the Nightly News cut. NBC just posted several “web exclusives,” however, like this 11-minute video of Obama chatting during a ride in the presidential motorcade. In response to anchor Brian Williams, The President knocks cable news culture, name-checking Pat Buchanan, Chris Matthews and Keith Olbermann. “I don’t find most of the cable chatter very persuasive,” says Obama, adding “I don’t feel as if I’m learning anything from the debate.” He prefers print media, he explained.
Keith, your love is unrequited. Click through to watch the video.
But What Does Obama Think of Conan’s New Show? (by John Cook at Gawker)
NBC News’ Brian Williams got full access to the White House and shot 150 hours of tape for his special on Barack Obama. He spent 45 seconds of them shooting a promo for the Tonight Show. And Obama played along… Brian Williams is so caught up in his persona as an indie-rock loving hipster funny guy that he’s actually doing bits for comedy shows on the job while interviewing the President of the United States. And Barack Obama is so caught up in being cool and relatable that he went along with it. Both of these men have very serious jobs, and many, many people have very important questions to ask Barack Obama.
Obama Disappointed By Fred Armisen’s SNL Impersonations (by The Cajun Boy at Gawker)
Did you catch NBC’s “Inside the Obama White House” special tonight? Brian Williams said they shot 150 hours of film footage, mostly of Rahm Emanuel slamming doors in people’s faces! What else was notable about the interview? Well, Obama doesn’t really seem to be a fan of SNL’s Fred Armisen.
Stephen Colbert to Guest-Edit Newsweek (New York Observer)
Since Newsweek’s redesign, the magazine’s editors have sent out a statement that they intend to sever any and all connection to the turgid, dusty newsweekly of yore. And for the next issue that hits newsstands on June 8, Comedy Central funnyman Stephen Colbert will be Newsweek’s guest editor.
Campbell Brown Returns: No More ‘No Bias, No Bull’ (TVNewser, Media Bistro)
CNN’s Campbell Brown returned from maternity leave Monday to her regular 8 p.m. EST timeslot. The show had a new name, a new look, a new EP, and, perhaps most notably, a new opening: The show has dropped “No Bias, No Bull” from the title.
Giving up the fiction.
Your daily stenography (by Jamison Foser at County Fair, Media Matters of America)
Courtesy of NBC’s Luke Russert: “Seeking to keep House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s back-and-forth with the CIA in the news … House Minority Leader John Boehner once again called for a bipartisan investigation into Pelosi’s allegations that the CIA deliberately misled her…” Russert didn’t bother to mention that Boehner has previously opposed a formal investigation into the matter. Nor did he mention that Pelosi has called on the CIA to “release the briefings.”
Most importantly, Russert failed to mention that Pelosi advocates a formal, bipartisan investigation into the Bush administration’s use of torture — and that Boehner opposes such an investigation. That’s a pretty big omission, as it makes Boehner’s claim to want to find out what Pelosi knew look empty and political.
Gosh, do you think Russert got his job through his CONNECTIONS, or something like that?
Morning Joe journos can’t name a successful unionized company, even though one signs their paychecks (by Jamison Foser at County Fair, Media Matters for America)
The Morning Joe crew was on an anti-union tear [Wednesday] morning, claiming the union label on a company means “sell.” Mika Brzezinski went so far as to say of unions: “They cripple the system that makes a company work.” Collectively, the journalists on Morning Joe couldn’t name a single “successful” unionized company…
Does Joe Scarborough think NBC and GE are not “successful” companies? Does Mika Brzezinski think the unionized workers she no doubt interacts with every day are crippling her ability to do her job, or her employer’s ability to be successful? Or is it possible that the anti-union rants from Morning Joe journalists has something to do with the fact that members of the National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians-CWA union have protested NBC-Universal?
Click through to watch the video.
The Fox Nation runs photo of handgun pointed in same direction as photo of Holder’s head (County Fair, Media Matters for America)
Guantanamo Bay Video Game Is Cancelled, So Everybody Can Stop Being Angry (by John Cook at Gawker)
“Rendition: Guantanamo,” the British video game purportedly being developed for the XBox360 featuring a Gitmo detainee “fighting back” against his captors, has been nixed by its developer. That was quick! The announcement of the game caused a stir on the web yesterday, with the Weekly Standard launching a protest campaign encouraging readers to e-mail Microsoft and T-Enterprise, the out-of-its-depth company that had hired actual Gitmo detainee Moazzam Begg as a consultant on the game… [T]hey’ve pulled out of the project, which was obviously never a real project to begin with because there’s no way in hell Microsoft would have gone along with it.
Federal judge tosses warrantless wiretap cases (AP)
A federal judge on Wednesday tossed out more than three dozen lawsuits filed against the nation’s telecommunications companies for allegedly taking part in the government’s e-mail and telephone eavesdropping program that was done without court approval. In addition, he ordered officials in Maine, New Jersey, Connecticut, Vermont and Missouri to halt their investigations of the telecommunication companies for their alleged participation in the once-secret surveillance programs. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker also deferred a decision on whether to sanction the government for refusing to turn over a top secret document in one of the few wiretapping cases still pending.
Gay marriage bill signed into law in New Hampshire (AP)
New Hampshire became the sixth state to legalizegay marriage after the Senate and House passed key language onreligious rights and Gov. John Lynch — who personally opposes gay marriage — signed the legislation Wednesday afternoon.
States vie for chunk of federal funding for high-speed rail (McClatchy)
Vice President Joe Biden suggested Wednesday that Florida stands a good chance of securing some of the $8 billion the administration has set aside to develop what it calls a “world-class” high-speed passenger rail system.
Media Matters for America headlines
O’Reilly falsely claimed that on CNN “only Anderson Cooper” covered army recruiter’s murder
Limbaugh again falsely claimed Obama said Court “hasn’t done enough on redistribution”
Buchanan continues attacks on Sotomayor
AP credulously reports that Sotomayor’s comments “fueled suspicions” among conservatives
Fox hosts revive Fox-manufactured Obama “apology tour”
Media adopt gender, racial stereotypes in characterizing Sotomayor’s temperament, intellect
Sowell falsely claimed “[d]iversity was Judge Sotomayor’s rationale” in Ricci case
Quinnipiac misrepresents own poll to assert broad disagreement with Sotomayor
Media ignore Sessions’ double standard on confirmation timing
Floyd Abrams’ Spurious First Amendment Excuse for S&P (by John Cook at Gawker)
[Floyd] Abrams, who made his bones representing the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case and is considered one of the nation’s premier defenders of the First Amendment. He is representing Standard & Poor’s in a variety of lawsuits related to their ratings, and he tells NPR’s On the Media that what S&P does is no different than journalism: They gather information and render a judgment on it. And the First Amendment protects their right to do that free of regulation and legal harassment.
Click through to listen to the audio.
Yahoo sues NFL Players Association over data
Yahoo Inc. has sued the NFL Players Association, claiming it shouldn’t have to pay royalties to use players’ statistics, photos and other data in its popular online fantasy football game because the information is already publicly available.
Twitter-Jacking On Trial: Cardinals’ Manager Sues Twitter (Mashable)
Tony La Russa, the manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, is up in arms over the fact that someone other than him tweeted under his likeness and that Twitter permitted it. In fact, he’s so pissed that he’s taking Twitter to court… Apparently the individual tweeting as Tony La Russa (@tonylarussa was removed after the lawsuit was filed) made statements that the real Tony didn’t appreciate. So he’s suing Twitter and the causes of action include trademark infringement, trademark dilution, cybersquatting, misappropriation of name and likeness, invasion of privacy, and intentional misrepresentation.
‘Dumbest Generation’? Professor blames technology
Teens and young adults are more likely in their free time to check their Facebook page than read a book. And they are dumber for it. That is Mark Bauerlein’s contention in The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes Our Future (Or, Don’t Trust Anyone Under 30), recently released in paperback.
Will Arianna Huffington Be Paying You This Month? (by Ryan Tate at Gawker)
The Huffington Post has been taking flack for not paying writers, but it’s not so simple… It’s not clear how publisher Arianna Huffington decides who to pay and who not to pay (we’ve asked and not yet heard back). But it’s worth noting that some Huffington underlings have higher profiles than others. This year’s staff, for example, includes former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s daughter (per WWD), as well as editor Nicholas Graham, of the family that owns the Washington Post.
Liz Hanks, daughter of actor Tom Hanks, has also worked for the site. And Huffington this year handed an important management role to her godson, heir to a computer fortune worth billions of dollars. So if you’re trying to get paid at Huffington’s innovative new media game-changer, it might help to be born to the right parents, if you can pull that off.
6% of Huffington Post’s front page stories contain original reporting from the site (by Simon Owens at Bloggasm)
[A]pproximately 6% of the HuffPo stories on the front page [Tuesday night] contained original reporting. This is likely significantly fewer originally reported stories than you’d find on most major newspaper websites, including the New York Times, LA Times and the Washington Post.
Lauren Rich Fine on Newspapers Charging for Content
Former newspaper analyst for Merrill Lynch, Lauren Rich Fine gives her take on the state of newspapers and online content. “[Facebook]is like a mall that forgot to charge rent,” says Fine.
Click through to watch the video.
News Corp. Digital Exec Supports Paid Content
Paid digital media services are the wave of the future for media giants, and the only question is how fast they will become reality, News Corp. chief digital officer Jonathan Miller said Tuesday, adding that the conglomerate will push to develop new business models that work for the industry overall.
BusinessWeek.com’s John Byrne on What Journalism Has To Become
Byrne gave some of the innovative ways Businessweek.com has engaged its readers, from social networking to high profile commenting. But there was another method — bribery. “We basically bribe journalists to become involved in the conversation,” he said. “If you want your story to live on the homepage for more than a day, go and respond to readers.”
Can Knight Foundation Head Alberto Ibarguen Save the News Business?
Alberto Ibarguen is directing a multi-year plan to spend $100 million on 130 projects dedicated to new media and the future of news. They range from projects on community-financed reporting and media “test kitchens” at universities to a new journalism institute in India.
Will Craigslist’s New Stance on Adult Ads Save Alt-Weeklies?
Last year Craigslist made somewhere between $20 and $80 million dollars. So why is its CEO, Jim Buckmaster, so p.o.’d about sex ads in alt-weeklies? Because these bottom-feeding free publications are making an erotic comeback in the classifieds biz, with an assist from law enforcement.
JD Salinger Starts Legal Action Against Sequel Author
Lawyers for J.D. Salinger, 90, have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Manhattan, seeking to force a recall of what it says is a copycat book titled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, by someone writing under the name JD California. It also seeks unspecified damages.
Us Weekly Cover Features Jon & Kate for 6th Week in a Row
The June 15 issue of Us Weekly is the sixth issue in a row in which the celebrity weekly features Jon & Kate Plus 8 stars Jon or Kate Gosselin on its cover. It’s the first time in recent memory — and perhaps ever — that the magazine has featured the same cover subjects six times in a row.
What??!! Not enough scandals??!! Time to make some up.
Time Warner’s Next Spin-Off: Time Inc? (by Peter Kafka at All Things Digital)
Time Warner has yet to dispose of AOL, but there’s lots of sotto voce chatter about CEO Jeff Bewkes’ next move. Last month, I reported that people familiar with Bewkes’ thinking believe he’s planning on selling off Time Inc. Now Pali Capital analyst Rich Greenfield picks up the torch.
Why did Time ever merge with Warner in the first place?
Bonnier Picks Up Five Hachette Titles
Bonnier Corp. has acquired five Hachette Filipacchi enthusiast titles: Popular Photography, Flying, Boating, Sound & Vision and American Photo. In addition to the print magazine properties, Bonnier also acquired all related Web sites, books, licensing agreements, videos, and branded events.
Ex-TV Guide Chief’s Nuclear Missive
Scott Crystal, the TV Guide CEO who resigned over the weekend after weeks of mounting tension with the magazine’s new owners, has fired off an email to his former colleagues claiming the owners are engaged in a “self-enrichment” scheme that will siphon away millions from the magazine.
Theater owners behind on 3-D projectors
To hear the folks in Hollywood talk about it, improved 3-D technology and the quality films that are quickly lining up behind it represent nothing short of a moviegoing revolution. Tell that to the folks who still live hours from the nearest 3-D-equipped theater.
ABC News Expands Digital Reporting Corps
ABC News has shifted the duties of four staffers naming them the newest digital reporters for the network. The new appointments, all here in the U.S., expand ABC News’ digital reporting.
Bravo Freshens Up for Next Season
Bravo is unveiling a new on-air look and a new tagline, “By Bravo,” on June 23. The brand “refresh” was made in part to reflect the creation of Bravo Media in 2007, a venture that includes everything from Bravo’s digital presence at BravoTV.com to consumer products and cookbooks.
Leno Prime Time Premiere Date Set
NBC says The Jay Leno Show will premiere Sept. 14. The new prime-time hour starring Leno will air weeknights at 10 p.m. EST. It’s the first talk-entertainment show to be scheduled by a broadcast network to run five nights a week in prime time.
Report: Disney, Hearst, NBCU Explore Lifetime, A&E Combo (Paid Content)
An interesting remake of a TV programming deal may be in the works. Citing multiple sources, B&C is reporting that Hearst, NBC Universal and Disney are considering merging their A&E Television Networks joint venture with Lifetime, which is owned equally by Hearst and Disney through a different joint venture.
YouTube XL Released; It’s YouTube Made for the TV (Mashable)
YouTube XL, in a nutshell, is YouTube optimized for the TV. It is made to be simple to use and interact with on big screens. We’ve just been given an in-person demo at YouTube headquarters, and we have to tell you: the thing is slick. Interestingly enough, it looks and feels a lot like a DVD menu, which if you think about it, is an interface made specifically for the TV.
YouTube to premiere movie to up ad revenues: report
Google Inc’s YouTube will premiere a movie, the first simultaneous Internet and theater debut, as the popular video-sharing site aims to lure advertisers and reach profitability, Bloomberg reported.
Soon, you’ll have to pay for Hulu
Speaking [Tuesday] night at an Internet Week event sponsored by The Hollywood Reporter, Jonathan Miller, News Corp.’s newly-installed chief digital officer, said he envisions a future where at least some of the TV shows and movies on Hulu, the premium video site co-owned by News Corp., NBC Universal and Disney, are available only to subscribers.
MySpace (Not Facebook) Is Winning In Online Video (Paid Content)
MySpace beat Facebook in terms of video streams by about 3-to-1 in April, with an average of about 40 minutes per viewer—a sizable audience for branded entertainment properties (like the new show BFF, sponsored by birth control-maker Ortho Women’s Health & Urology), music videos or even well-produced UGC. In contrast, Facebook’s members only watched about 11 minutes worth of video each.
Original Web Series Still Lack Funding
The Web is very much on the mind of the TV business these days, with sites like YouTube, Hulu, and Crackle luring tech-savvy viewers away from traditional cable and broadcast fare. But so far, the Emmy Awards has been one area of the business where original online content has not made much of a dent.
Mahalo 2.0: Search Result Pages Built on Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter (Mashable)
Mahalo, the human-powered search engine and web directory, has been busy recently expanding it’s array of content. In December, they launched Mahalo Answers, which offers payments to users that can provide the best answers. Yet, since it’s a human-powered website, Mahalo has only been able to grow as fast as people have been able to create content. So now, it’s turning to social media to fill in the gaps. The company has just dropped the beta tag from their logo and launched Mahalo 2.0. Along with a new logo and a design facelift, the startup has improved user control of pages. Most notable of all, however, is that Mahalo has created a system that pulls information from multiple social media sources to create web pages for every search term.
5 Essential Steps to Make Your Site Search & Social Media Friendly (by Lee Odden, CEO of digital marketing agency TopRank Online Marketing who writes about search, social media & online PR at Online Marketing Blog, writing at Mashable)
The increasing demand for fresh, live web content as well as the expectation of consumers to interact with what they find in the search results requires that website owners and content publishers make their websites both search and social media friendly.
Click through for details.
Fed Up With Twitter Spam? It’s Going to Get Worse
As every Twitter user knows, the popular micro-blogging site has become a hot spot for spammers intent on carpet bombing users with the usual pitches for government grants, debt-reduction services, and penile-enhancement pills.
SeaWorld’s Whale of a Social Media Campaign (Mashable)
[Tuesday, Facebook launched] a cross-platform app-vertisement for Busch Entertainment, the company that operates SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. Combining a Facebook application, a standalone website with Facebook Connect support, and an iPhone app, the campaign serves as a bit of a reminder about some of the clever social media marketing that can be done beyond the typical diet of Facebook Pages, Twitter, and YouTube.
Microsoft Plans a Live Hulu Infomercial to Hype Bing (Mashable)
We heard that Microsoft was going to promote its new search engine Bing with an $80-$100 million dollar campaign. We just didn’t think they were going to kick it off with a live infomercial on Hulu that they’re dubbing the Bingathon. The Bingathon, which is already getting promoted within commercials on Hulu, is making its mark on June 8th at 8:00 PM EST (5:00 PST). The live show will star co-hosts Olivia Munn (co-host of Attack of the Show! on G4) and Jason Sudeikis (of Saturday Night Live) as they perform sketch comedy. We’ve got to ask: how the heck does this relate to Bing?
San Francisco First City to Instate City-Wide 311 Twitter Program (Mashable)
San Francisco is hip to Twitter, and not just when it comes to its tech savvy users. Starting [Tuesday], the City of San of Francisco will support all 311 services via Twitter, with the help of Twitter CRM tool CoTweet. Now citizens can send direct messages 24 hours a day to the sf311 Twitter account to report standard non-emergency city-related sightings (like pot holes), request street cleanings, and any other service already supported by the phone or website.
Stores, brands tap into power of frugal bloggers
When Melissa Garcia was frustrated by Old Navy’s scanty coupon offerings, she didn’t just complain to the store. She vented on a message board tied to her blog consumerqueen.com, which is read by at least 30,000 people each month and now, increasingly, by corporate America.
Dunkin Donuts’ Facebook Campaign Turns Your Profile Pic into Prizes (Mashable)
With the Keep It Coolatta sweepstakes, fans of the brand on Facebook (there’s over 800,000 of them) can post a photo of themselves with any Coolatta beverage to the Fan Page wall, add the caption #CoolattaGiveaway, and subsequently update their profile with the pic, and they’ll be entered to win a daily giveaway through June 24. Dunkin’ Donuts will randomly select winners, award the prizes, and update their official profile with the winning image.
Study: Hispanics Good Ad Target During Recession
According to a new study conducted by Experian Simmons for Univision Communications, Hispanics are less affected by the recession, tend to be more positive about it, shop more often, and are more receptive to TV ads than the general population.
Google Ho[m]es In On Small, Local Advertisers With New Analytics Tool (Paid Content)
With more people using Google Maps for driving directions, glimpses of potential real estate (through Street View) and even restaurant reviews, it makes sense to try to drive as much revenue from that traffic as possible. So Google is launching a new analytics dashboard that gives small businesses a better read on their local search traffic details… The dashboard is free for any business owner that “claims” a listing in Google Maps (also free); they get access to impressions (meaning the number of times their business listing showed up as a search result during a given time period), actions (including whether people clicked through to the site or requested driving directions), the most frequently used keywords their shoppers use, and the zip codes they come from.
Digg’s New Advertising Platform; Marketers Pay Based On Diggs (Paid Content)
The line between traditional content and advertising on Digg is about to get much much smaller. The news-sharing site announced plans Wednesday for a new advertising platform that will intersperse ads among the streams of stories. Just like with stories, users will now be able to vote on ads that show up in the streams… For advertisers, this will provide a way to get Digg users to directly interact with their content—be it good or bad. It should also motivate them to set up their ads much like the typical Digg entry, thereby breaking down the traditional content-advertising wall even further.
ComScore Offers New Product To Address Gaps In Audience Measurement (Paid Content)
Online publishers have long butted heads with comScore and Nielsen over discrepancies between the publishers’ internal audience-measurement numbers and those issued by the third parties. ComScore announced this morning that it is aiming to address that gap with a new product called Media Metrix 360 that it says provides a more accurate audience figure. The new product blends traditional panel-based information with data from a website’s server.
Lots of rivals pop up for YouSendIt file-transfer service
YouSendIt used to be the only way to get around stingy e-mail attachment size limits, but with lower bandwidth costs and speedier Internet connections, a host of competitors have emerged to offer bigger file transfers at lower prices.
Hearst to Sell Stake in E-Reader Technology Company
Hearst Interactive Media has agreed to sell its stake in E Ink — the electronic paper display technologies firm that developed the electronic paper display technology for Amazon’s Kindle and the Sony Reader — to Taiwan-based Prime View International for approximately $215 million.
Adobe launches BrowserLab preview
Adobe Wednesday will unveil Adobe BrowserLab, a fully hosted online service that lets professional Web designers preview how their sites will look in various Web browsers on the Mac and Windows platforms. The service uses virtualization technology to produce real-time screen shots of how different browsers will render Web sites, without users needing to have all the browsers installed.
Opera 10 Beta Now Available (Mashable)
Opera has just released the first beta of the upcoming major new version of its web browser, Opera 10. It’s free and available for Mac, Windows and Linux…. This version brings a number of interesting updates, including faster browsing on slow connections, new interface design, an improved tab bar (which you can now pull down to see thumbnails of all your opened tabs), personalization of Speed Dial, and, of course, overall faster work. Opera 10 beta also improves on certain features introduced in Opera 10 alpha, with a better spell checker and the ability to choose whether you want automatic updates or not.
One of Google Chrome’s First Extensions: AdSweep (Mashable)
[T]he maker of Chrome, Google, … makes billions of dollars in web-based advertising, and it definitely won’t be too happy when AdSweep, an ad-blocking extension for Chrome, becomes widely available… [T]his extension has been around for a couple of months, but extensions aren’t yet officially supported by Chrome and there’s no easy way to install it. This will change, as Google has recently opened up an API for third party developers, with plans to start officially supporting extensions soon… [I]f Chrome’s market share rises, AdSweep and similar extensions will become more and more of a problem for Google.
textPlus: Free Unlimited Group SMS on Your iPhone or iPod Touch (Mashable)
Theoretically you could never pay a single cent for real SMS messages again. textPlus, a super new iPhone and iPod Touch app for SMS, is a free alternative to your existing data plan that promises free and unlimited texts to individuals or groups. Yep, there’s no catch. The free textPlus app, by GOGII, not only brings real SMS to your iPhone or iPod Touch, but also supports group chat and landscape mode for writing (US numbers only). Which means that unlike most apps, textPlus isn’t just glorified instant messaging.
Brace Yourself, Here Comes Another Unfair iPhone App Rejection (Mashable)
We’ve written about Apple’s odd iPhone application approval policy… The last such case is the rejection of Electronic Frontier Foundation’s iPhone application. What does the app do? It merely displays the contents of the EFF’s blog RSS feed. What’s so bad about the feed? It embeds a funny YouTube video that contains the f-word in its subtitles. Whoa, wait. Did they say YouTube video? Doesn’t that mean that the same video can be found via the iPhone’s YouTube application? Absolutely. Therefore, banning EFF’s RSS reading application is unfair and pointless, and Apple once again proves that they don’t really have a consistent iPhone app policy: they just approve whichever applications they like and discard the others.
Acer to offer Google’s Android in netbook PCs
Small new “netbook” computers from Acer Inc. will come with Google Inc.’s Android operating system if buyers desire, instead of Windows from Microsoft Corp.
Microsoft Won’t Offer Windows for Smartbooks
Microsoft doesn’t plan to offer a version of Windows for so-called “smartbooks,” leaving the space open to Linux, Google’s Android and other operating systems.
PC Touch Screens Move Ahead
Software makers and PC manufacturers hope to spur sales with more complex touch-screen systems.
Video recording added to more cell phones
Among the features of the new iPhone, expected to be announced next week, may be a video camera and if so, it joins a growing pack of mobiles to include video-recording capabilities.
Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.