Category Archives: news

Morning reads, both journalism and non

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Sam Zell

  • Sam Zell: A Tough Guy in a Mean Business – I’ve had mixed feelings about Zell since he became my current pseudo-boss. On the one hand he is willing to take risks and branch out in new directions (so he says). On the other hand he is only willing to do that if it increases the bottom line, not if makes for better journalism. That’s the nature of the news business though, there’s no way around it. (p.s. I love the picture above, courtesy of the New York Times.)
  • Tribune Turns to Radio to Revive Empire - Another article about Zell/Tribune-deal. For some reason this whole thing fascinates me. I’d always read about the other deals big deals (McClatchy buying Knight Ridder, Tribune buying LA Times, Gannett deals), but have never had the privilege of watching one evolve from the inside out. Hopefully deals like this won’t completely destroy the business I love so much.
  • Inside Word at Pulitzer Announcement: Entries Down, But Online Up - The day a Pulitzer Prize is given to a story that is an Internet-only package is the day online journalism will have truly arrived (if that hasn’t already happened).
  • In Web World of 24/7 Stress, Writers Blog Till They Drop – If ‘Death by Blogging’ ever becomes a common thing, our world will have truly gone off the deep end. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind blogging for a living if the subject were something I was really into (i.e. journalism, technology, news, politics). Then again, being forced to post can hinder the quality of the writing I am sure.
  • Commentary: It’s time for the newspaper industry to die - Not what you think. A commentary from Online Journalism Review contributor Robert Niles.
  • ‘Washington Post’ Captures 6 Pulitzers, ‘NYT’ Takes 2 – Go WaPo! Special mention to the Chicago Tribune staff, for winning the ‘Investigative Reporting’ prize for stories on faulty government regulation of toys, cribs, car seats.

Now it is time for to go and play journalist for a bit. Interviews, notes, transcribing and more interviews. I love this game.

NBC Drops Imus Simulcast.

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So NBC has decided to drop the Don Imus show from its MSNBC simulcast due to the reaction from his “racist” comments regarding the female Rutgers basketball players. I’ve been reluctant to comment on this because frankly, I think it is ridiculous.

Look, I hold know love or sympathy for Don Imus. I think his show is lame and on par with Rush Limbaugh. However, I don’t think what he said was as destructive as all of the black leaders and pundits are making it out to be. What people aren’t listening to is how he is saying his stupid comment. He’s trying to be ‘cool’ and ‘hip.’ He emulated, albeit foolishly, a phrase he’d heard most likely on a rap video or movie or whatever. Listen to it, you can tell he doesn’t even know what he’s talking about.

It’s like when parents try to start using the vernacular of their children to bond with them but not realizing that those words are now lame and the kids have moved on. Yes he made a mistake. Yes it was stupid. But was it the evil, calculated jab at both women and blacks, said with gross arrogance to show how powerful and white he is?

No.

Besides, NBC didn’t consider taking Imus off the air until advertisers started to pull their ads. They didn’t do it out of great and overruling moral obligation or ethical decision, they did it because of the all-mighty dollar. We know what and who rules the mainstream media and their masters, and its not ethics.

Regarding Al Sharpton jumping on this as he doesn’t any slightly racial issue, get off it. Not every issue that is race-related is necessarily a race issue. This is an issue of guy that is guilty of being lame and white, nothing more. All Sharpton wants to do is get some attention. You know what I said when I found out Imus was going on Al Sharpton’s radio show to publicly apologize: “What, Al Sharpton still has a show?” He’s in it for the ratings, nothing more.

Armstrong “Opinion for Sale” Williams just called this decision:“…a huge step forward for America.”

Really Williams? Really?

There’s a war on, there are crooks in the White House, millions are without jobs and health care and thousands of people are dying around the world. I really think there are other ‘steps forward’ we need to be making.

Media for Sale, Who’s Buying?

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Billionaire real estate mogul Stephen Zell has offered to buy the Tribune Company in order to take the company private and take it in a new direction. Sounds like a good thing right? Wrong. Here’s why:

Mr. Zell, 65, has said that he would get into the media business not because he has any special affection for newspapers or wants to wield editorial control, but because he wants to make money. He called himself “an opportunist” last week in an interview with The Associated Press, adding, “I probably am not as pessimistic about the future of the newspaper business as others might be.”

This is a very dangerous road to travel on and the reason newspapers are declining in quality. Business-minded people like Mr. Zell only see the raw numbers in the news business, which is typically a 15-20% return, a huge profit margin in the business world. They want to draw some milk out of this cash cow and fast.

However when the business owners profess no love for the news or the quality of it, how can they possibly contribute anything to the industry? There sole purpose is to make money, which should never be the goal of the news business. When people like Zell buy a newspaper company (or newspaper itself) they expect to be making that huge profit margin, if it dips they react by cutting costs, letting staff go, and consolidating properties; all of which lead to a decline in news quality. Eventually they’ll sell off the paper (or company) and still walk away with a huge chunk of money, their stated goal in the first place. In the end the news business and journalism as a whole are no better for it.

The allure of the company going “private” may blind people to the dangers of guys like Zell buying up media properties, especially newspapers. Until media owners are willing to take a profit margin cut, down to a normal 5-6% and focus on news over the bottom-line, the news business will continue a downward spiral toward infotainment.

Tuesday Bits

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  • Emails released by DoJ reveal depth of White House involvement in U.S. Attorney firings – The plot thickens into a greasy, poo-smelling goo as it becomes more and more obvious that Gonzo fired the 8 U.S. Attorneys on the orders of the White House and for political gain. I invoke the Stephen Colbert question, but in the opposite: “Worse administration or, the worst administration?”

    And an addendum to that, the White House may be looking at Gonzo replacements.

  • Saddam’s VP Hanged on 4th Anniversary of Iraq Invasion – Funny how these “milestones” happen during either a time of extreme criticism or on an anniversary date. Hanging one guy does nothing, and it shouldn’t be touted as evidence of us “winning the war on terror.”
  • Iraq By the Numbers – From the Center for American Progress, a disheartening look at Iraq. Mission Accomplished?
  • Iraqis losing hope, Bush says: “Just keep me a sec’!” – With plummeting approval numbers Bush asks for patience on his surge plan saying: “…and success will take months, not days or weeks.”

    Wait, when they started this thing four-years ago didn’t they say it would take weeks, at worse months? What makes them think we should believe them this time or expect them to “win” after so much losing?

    Unbelievable.

A Friday Round-Up

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  • Walter Reed Hospital Commander Removed From Post – It’s funny how the administration acts when the media forces its hand and points out the glaring hypocrisy in their “support the troops” rhetoric. They should adjust their slogan to “Support the troops…until they get home.”
  • Jurors in Libby Case Don’t Expect Verdict by End of Week – And the road goes ever on. By the time this finally comes down to a verdict I think it’s going to be a bit anti-climactic. Unless some of the big dogs are brought and Scooter is left holding the bad, none of this is going to matter.
  • Bush checks in on Gulf Coast, hears his critics ‘loud and clear’ – “Part of the reason I’ve come down is to tell people here in the Gulf Coast that we still think about them in Washington…” Aw, how sweet, he still thinks about them. Though he certainly isn’t thinking about them enough to mention them in his SOTU speech. So far New Orleans has received less than half of the $110 billion it needs to repair the area. Heckuva a job Bushie!
  • Sunni Group Claims Kidnap of 18 Iraqis – This must be part of that “…one bad thing a day,” thing Laura Bush was talking about. Gee Liberal media, no mention of the awesome bingo game at the mosque last night eh? Haters.
  • Suicide Spree! – That’s a lot of virgins. Here’s a thought, if these Muslims get admitted to paradise and get their virgins for killing infidels, why not take away their infidels? No targets, nothing to blow up to martyr yourself and that means no virgins for you. Oh yeah, if we don’t fight them over there, blah, blah.

PBS FRONTLINE: News War Begins Feb. 13th

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Always on the cutting edge of political and social commentary, FRONTLINE PBS begins airing its four-part, four-and-a-half hour series News War on February 13th at 9PM (check local listings). Conducting more than 80 interviews with media insiders in print, broadcast, radio and electronic media, FRONTLINE correspondent Lowell Bergman examines the severe challenges facing the news media in today’s information landscape.

The first two hours of the program titled Secrets, Sources & Spin, part I begins Feb. 13th. According to the website:

Correspondent Lowell Bergman talks to the major players in the debates over the role of journalism in 2007, examining the relationship between the Bush administration and the press; the controversies surrounding the use of anonymous sources in reporting from Watergate to the present; and the unintended consequences of the Valerie Plame investigation — a confusing and at times ugly affair that ultimately damaged both reporters’ reputations and the legal protections they thought they enjoyed under the First Amendment.

Interviews include William Safire and Bill Keller of the New York Times, Google CEO Eric Schmidt and media critic and blogger Jeff Jarvis. The series continues with Part II on Feb 20th. Like all PBS FRONTLINE documentaries you can either tune in to your local PBS channel, or watch online for free after the show airs.

Maher Arar: Victim of Fear

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The NY Times has an excellent article on the continuing and horrific story of Maher Arar. For those unfamiliar, Arar is a Syrian born, Canadian citizen who was detained by the U.S., shipped off to Syria without ever being charged where they tortured him for eight months and kept him in a cell not much bigger than a coffin. Arar was released, still without any charges ever being filed and the U.S. has refused up to this point to answer for their mistake or make amends to Mr. Arar.

If this were an isolated incident it wouldn’t necessarily be excusable, but perhaps less shocking. As the story states”

President Bush earlier this month acknowledged for the first time that high-level people suspected of being terrorists had been held in secret prisons overseas by the Central Intelligence Agency. But he and other officials have said nothing publicly about the American practice of rendition, in which dozens of suspects have been seized and turned over for interrogation to other countries, including several known to engage routinely in torture.

Cases like that of Mr. Arar would not be affected by the compromise legislation on detainee treatment worked out between the White House and Republican senators last week, since it would have no effect on interrogation methods used by other countries. In fact, the proposed bill would strip non-Americans held overseas under United States control of the right to challenge their detention in federal court.

The shitty part is that many of these “suspects” are innocent and are eventually released. However in the ‘War on Terror’ you are guilty until beaten.

Bush is correct though, the United States “Does not torture!” We outsource it to other countries that we know will do what they have to do in order to force a confession. I tell you what, you’d confess to being a member of Al-Qaeda too if you were being beating with a steel cable and had electrodes on your balls.