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Nov 26 2007

Air America Watch: Ship of Fools

Posted by Flap in Air America

aamainbo7 Air America Watch: Ship of Fools

Indeed, A Ship of Fools…..

Anyone else have a name for the ship?

H/T: MM

Technorati Tags: Air America

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Jun 21 2007

Journalists Dole Out Cash to Democrats Over GOP 9 to 1

Posted by Flap in Air America, Fox News, Media, Media Bias, Talk Radio, Television

Journalists dole out cash to politicians (quietly)

MSNBC.com identified 144 journalists who made political contributions from 2004 through the start of the 2008 campaign, according to the public records of the Federal Election Commission. Most of the newsroom checkbooks leaned to the left: 125 journalists gave to Democrats and liberal causes. Only 17 gave to Republicans. Two gave to both parties.

And this is a surprise?

The Complete List is here.

The Media Company Donors (Partial List):

Magazines:

U.S. News and World Report

Vanity Fair

Newspapers:

McClatchy Newspapers D.C. bureau

The Wall Street Journal

San Francisco Chronicle

Newsday

The Boston Globe

The Star-Ledger, Newark

Star Tribune, Minneapolis

Detroit Free Press

The Oregonian

The Miami Herald

The San Diego Union-Tribune

The Sun, Baltimore

San Jose Mercury News

Boston Herald

South Florida Sun-Sentinel

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

The Hartford Courant

Richmond Times-Dispatch

Contra Costa Times

Riverside Press-Enterprise

The Palm Beach Post

The Commercial Appeal, Memphis

The Des Moines Register

The Honolulu Advertiser

The Blade, Toledo

Lexington Herald-Leader

The Morning Call, Allentown

The Daytona Beach News-Journal

Albany Times Union

The Washington Times

San Gabriel Valley Newspapers

The New York Sun

The Lincoln Journal Star

The Macon Telegraph

New Hampshire Union Leader

Corpus Christi, Texas, Caller-Times

National Catholic Reporter

York, Pa., Daily Record

Muskegon, Mich., Chronicle

Fort Wayne, Ind., News-Sentinel

Martha’s Vineyard Times, Mass.

Radio:

Air America

CBS Radio

National Public Radio

NPR affiliate in Washington, WAMU

WWJ News Radio, Detroit

Wire services:

Bloomberg News

Dow Jones Newswires

Reuters

Non-English news:

La Stampa, Turin, Italy

***********

Flap supposes that the harping of the right blogosphere about left-wing democrat bias of the MSM is correct, now isn’t it?

Some of the comments of the “CAUGHT” journalists are funny:

The New Yorker, Hendrik Hertzberg, senior editor, $2,000 to John Kerry in three payments in 2004. Hertzberg often writes the Comment in the front of the magazine, and was a speechwriter for Jimmy Carter.

Hertzberg, in answer to the question whether he made these donations, sent this reply: “Damn right.”

***********

Fox News Channel, Codie Brooks, researcher for Brit Hume’s “Special Report,” $300 to Senate campaign of Harold Ford Jr., Tennessee Democrat, in March 2006, $200 more in June, and $2,100 more in September.

Brooks, who said her family is friendly with Ford’s, said she raised much of the $2,600 from friends â€” it wasn’t her money alone. “A lot of Fox employees have contributed to Democratic candidates. I know I’m not the only one.”

***********

Update:

James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal has his favorite journalist comments:

A particular standout is Mark Singer, who gave $250 to “Victory Campaign 2004, which supported America Coming Together, which opposed President Bush.” He says:

“I believe very much that writers have to be aware of conflicts of interest in all sorts of situations. Probably there should be a rule against it. But there’s a rule against murder. If someone had murdered Hitler–a journalist interviewing him had murdered him–the world would be a better place. I only feel good, as a citizen, about getting rid of George Bush, who has been the most destructive president in my lifetime. I certainly don’t regret it.”

And……

Then there’s Randy Cohen, who writes the “Ethicist” column for the New York Times and gave $585 to MoveOn.org, an Angry Left Group”:

Cohen said he thought of MoveOn.org as nonpartisan and thought the donation would be allowed even under the strict rule at the Times.

“We admire those colleagues who participate in their communities–help out at the local school, work with Little League, donate to charity,” Cohen said in an e-mail. “But no such activity is or can be non-ideological. Few papers would object to a journalist donating to the Boy Scouts or joining the Catholic Church. But the former has an official policy of discriminating against gay children; the latter has views on reproductive rights far more restrictive than those of most Americans. Should reporters be forbidden to support those groups? I’d say not. Unless a group’s activities impinge on a reporter’s beat, the reporter should be free to donate to a wide range of nonprofits. Make a journalist’s charitable giving transparent, and let the readers weigh it as they will.

“Those who do not cover anything, but write a column of opinion should have even more latitude. It is such a writer’s job to make his views explicit. Those donations to nonprofits will no doubt reflect the views he or she is hired to express. In evaluating such civic engagement, it is well to remember that to have an opinion is not to have a bias. To conceal one’s political opinions is not to be without them.”

After MSNBC.com checked the names of Times staff and contributors on this list with a spokesperson for the Times, Cohen sent this addendum:

“That said, Times policy does forbid my making such donations, and I will not do so in the future.”

James Taranto:

Cohen’s effort at self-justification approaches high comedy: If it’s OK for his colleagues to make donations to nonpolitical organizations that he finds politically objectionable, it must be OK for him to make donations to political organizations! And anyway, he thinks of MoveOn.org as nonpartisan! We haven’t read Cohen’s column in ages, but we recall that his guiding principle always seemed to be that the ends justify the means, so long as the ends are liberal.

One could argue that journalists who make political donations are doing the public a service by disclosing their own biases. The reason that many news organizations bar such contributions (though not all do; see this sidebar for the details) is to protect their institutional credibility–that is, the plausibility of the claim to be unbiased.

So, what does Flap think?

I think this quote is especially appropriate:

Abe Rosenthal, the former New York Times editor, who is reported to have said:

“I don’t care if you sleep with elephants as long as you don’t cover the circus.”

Each news organization which is a private concern and not regulated by the government must develop their own policies and disclose them.

A free press with disclosure will expose the bias – as it has.

But, what is scary are attempts like this to regulate the press – in particular talk radio by government action.

Stay tuned……

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Technorati Tags: media bias, journalism, journalism ethics

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Feb 20 2007

Day By Day by Chris Muir February 20, 2007

Posted by Flap in Air America, Day By Day

daybyday022007webaw0 Day By Day by Chris Muir February 20, 2007

Day By Day by Chris Muir

Technorati Tags: DayByDay, ChrisMuir

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Jan 29 2007

Air America Watch: A Buyer Finally and Franken Finally Leaves

Posted by Flap in Air America, Al Franken

Readers: Please Vote in Flapâ€™s January 2008 GOP Presidential Poll

Comedian Al Franken smiles during his radio show in a Washington file photo from Feb. 10, 2005. Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said Monday that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month.

Los Angeles Times: Air America Radio to be sold; Franken to leave

Air America Radio, a liberal talk radio network, said today that it had reached a tentative agreement to be sold to the founder of a New York area real estate company. The network also said that Al Franken, its longtime headline personality, would depart next month.

The agreement with Stephen Green, the founder and chairman of SL Green Realty Corp., appears to rescue the struggling network, which has been seeking a buyer since last fall when it filed for bankruptcy reorganization after reaching an impasse with one of its creditors.

No terms of the sale agreement were disclosed. Any sale would have to be approved by the bankruptcy court.

Green is the brother of Mark Green, a longtime New York politician who has also appeared frequently as a guest on Air America Radio.

The network said in a statement that Franken’s last day on the network would be Feb. 14, and that his 12pm-3pm ET time slot would be taken over by Portland, Ore.-based talk show host Thom Hartmann.

FINALLY

Air America has failed.

Air America, which does business as Piquant, LLC and is headquartered in New York City, currently produces 19 hours of original programming a day and is heard on 81 affiliates reaching 54 percent of the country. Air America affiliates reach 1.9 million listeners per week, Mon-Sun 6am-12m.

And Flap thought the LEFT were going to supplant Rush Limbaugh?

Guess NOT……

Flap looks forward to Al Franken’s Minnesota Senate Campaign. But, then again, the Minnesota voters elected Jesse Ventura, eh?

Stay tuned…….

Brian Maloney has the details about the SUCKER who bought this Titanic.