Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Hollinger International Inc., a newspaper publisher caught up in a widening financial scandal, is looking into an investment the company made to a venture capital fund with links to neoconservative defense adviser Richard Perle and Henry Kissinger, both directors of the company.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Hannity & Colmes, Fox News Channel's primetime debate show, figures prominently in the network's campaign to market its right-leaning programming as "fair & balanced." Actually, the program exemplifies the way Fox jiggers the balance to favor conservatives.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The director of "The Reagans" complained Monday that CBS butchered his made-for-TV movie, ultimately making it too incoherent for the network to air. According to Robert Ackerman, CBS expressed no problems until after a "rough cut" was hurriedly delivered in October. At that point, the network ordered changes to the dialogue that were "nonnegotiable," he said. "What they were doing with the structure of the film, I thought, was making it incoherent," Ackerman said.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"For a long time, Bush's poor job approval ratings on domestic issues were more than counterbalanced by his strong approval ratings on international issues. But that formula for political success is falling apart," writes Ruy Texeira. The latest polls show that only 48 percent of the public approves of his handling of foreign policy and Iraq. A majority believes the war with Iraq was not worth the cost and that the Bush administration was hiding information or lying about what it knew when it made the case for war.
Submitted by John Stauber on
President Bush's popularity skyrocketed after 9/11 as the country naturally rallied around its leadership. Bush announced that his war on terror would define his presidency and the 2004 Republican convention will be held in New York city as close as possible to the third anniversary of 9/11. Now, the New York Times reports that the Republican Party is launchiing "its first advertisement of the presidential race, portraying Mr. Bush as fighting terrorism while his potential challengers try to undermine him with their
Submitted by John Stauber on
"James Glassman and TCS have given birth to something quite new in Washington: journo-lobbying. It's an innovation driven primarily by the influence industry. Lobbying firms that once specialized in gaining person-to-person access to key decision-makers have branched out. The new game is to dominate the entire intellectual environment in which officials make policy decisions, which means funding everything from think tanks to issue ads to phony grassroots pressure groups.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Now that Private Jessica Lynch has told the truth about the conditions of her capture and rescue in Iraq, right-wing telebabbler Joe Scarborough is complaining that she "started whining about the Pentagon PR machine and the fact that they told parts of the stories that may have made her more of a hero than she considered herself to be. ... Well, Jessica, I've got bad news to break to you. It was because of the Pentagon PR machine that turned you into an American hero -- that got book publishers interested in paying you $1 million to tell your story. It was the Pentagon PR machine that told America how you were a hero that got NBC interested in doing a movie about your story. It was the Pentagon PR machine that's turned you into a millionaire."
Submitted by John Stauber on
The New York Times reports that former general and corporate lobbyist, now presidential candidate Wesley Clark supports "a proposed constitutional
amendment that would make it illegal to desecrate the
American flag by burning or other means, a position that
puts him at odds with many constituencies in the Democratic
Party and several other candidates for the Democratic
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"Shirley and Banister Public Affairs has been selected to promote Harper Collins' Because Each Life is Precious, the account by Iraqi lawyer Mohammed Odeh al-Rehaief of Pfc. Jessica Lynch's capture and rescue during the Iraq invasion," O'Dwyer's PR Daily reports.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
If corporations can play the talk radio game, so can labor unions. United Auto Workers has put money and resources into developing the i.e. America Radio Network, which syndicates liberal talk radio from coast to coast. "Following on i.e.'s successes, AnShell media, according to industry rumors, is on the verge of achieving funding goals to roll out America's second liberal radio network in January," notes i.e. America talker Thom Hartmann.
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