http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/4thestate5thcolumn/ en-us Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:49:41 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2316763/posts Credit must be given where it’s due. Earlier this week MSNBC’s Ed Schultz treated his viewers to two of the finest minutes of television that anyone, anywhere, has seen in years. Not, mind you, because of anything Schultz said, but because of what one of his guests said to him. It was one of those deeply satisfying moments when we got to see a knee-jerk Obama lapdog like Schultz spend several minutes spewing his trademark leftist claptrap, only to be dramatically ambushed by a guest who Schultz thought was going to do nothing more than dutifully rubber-stamp everything he had... NewsReal Blog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2316763/posts#comment Sat, 15 Aug 2009 16:49:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289769/posts Yesterday, theHalfrican posted a link to the Free Republic Website where several of its regular members were bashing Malia Obama for wearing a peace symbol t-shirt. The thread had several derogotary, racist, and sexual remarks about Malia. It also included a picture of Michelle Obama speaking to Malia that was accompanied with a racist caption. I wrote the media contact at Free Republic yesterday, kristinn@bellatlantic.net, questioning the nature of the posters and the site: Hello. I am an independent writer developing a book about the grassroots conservative movement online, of which your site, Free Republic, is included as a primary... DailyKOS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2289769/posts#comment Fri, 10 Jul 2009 16:53:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283995/posts WashPost sells access, $25,000+ By: Mike Allen July 2, 2009 08:04 AM EST For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off the record, non-confrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors. The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health-care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff." The offer—which essentially... The Politico http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283995/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 12:46:51 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284204/posts The Washington Post is marketing to institutional executives and lobbyists dinners with congressmen, Obama officials and its own reporters, according to Politico.com. The "salons" will be held at the home of CEO and Publisher Katharine Weymouth. Price for access ranges from $25,000 to $250,000, according to the flier. So much for the role of watchdog. At least now, there is no excuse for doubting everything you read. The new service was made known to the general public by a health-care lobbyist offended by the policy. The flier baldly said the dinners would provide access to the paper's “health care reporting... BillLawrenceOnline.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2284204/posts#comment Thu, 2 Jul 2009 16:50:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283454/posts General Electric is getting yet more taxpayer money, possibly laundered federal money, to subsidize its business. A GE press release announced that the state of Michigan will provide GE with $60 million to build a $100 million “technology & software center” — what used to be known as an “office building.” Canada Free Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2283454/posts#comment Wed, 1 Jul 2009 18:35:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2239285/posts In a windowless room at the Westin Hotel in downtown Denver, leading business journalists and editors explained how the media “blew it” in covering the economic meltdown. They admitted, on one hand, to falling under the sway of free-market ideology and celebrating risk-taking financial leaders and, on the other, to missing the complex story of the rupturing system by only reporting it in parts and to almost no effect for the past decade. Although not planned as confession, the discussion, which kicked off the annual conference of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers (SABEW), quickly descended into an... The Colorado Independent http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2239285/posts#comment Tue, 28 Apr 2009 02:43:06 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218647/posts The journalistic legacy of Walter Duranty, Herbert Matthews and Jayson Blair is alive and well at the New York Times: A lawyer involved with legal action against Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) told a House Judiciary subcommittee on March 19 The New York Times had killed a story in October that would have shown a close link between ACORN, Project Vote and the Obama campaign because it would have been a "a game changer." American Spectator http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2218647/posts#comment Tue, 31 Mar 2009 03:54:41 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207803/posts I recently heard a talking ahead proclaim that the Obama administration had decided its anti-Rush offensive had run its course and that it would abandoning the campaign. Guess not. At today’s press briefing, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs took yet another swipe at Rush, and former VP Dick Cheney. What made it more notable was that at least some in the White House press corps could be heard laughing out loud at this latest attempt at humor. It was a question from CNN’s Ed Henry, asking Gibbs to respond to the criticism Cheney had leveled at the Obama administration... FinkelBlog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2207803/posts#comment Mon, 16 Mar 2009 21:29:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2205587/posts Barack Obama bought and paid for these banks. They better get in line behind his plan to abolish the secret ballot in unionization elections. That’s Rachel Maddow’s position. The MSNBC host is furious that banks taking bail-out funds have the audacity to do what they think is in the best interest of their businesses, instead of supporting the president’s scheme to do away with what most Americans consider a sacred element of democracy: the secret ballot. Apparently Citi and Bank of America have hosted conference calls in which opposition was expressed to the Obama-backed, Orwellian-named, Employee Free Choice Act, which... FinkelBlog http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2205587/posts#comment Fri, 13 Mar 2009 02:28:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2166781/posts A common defense of error today is to say, with due indignation, "I have a right to my opinion!"  Legally this is true, given that our First Amendment is extant.  But as G.K. Chesterton once said, "Having the right to do something is not at all the same as being right in doing it."  There is no moral right to an immoral opinion -- nor to one bred of emotionalism unconstrained by reason -- nor to a deceitful one. More than ever, Americans are realizing that this isn't a sentiment to which the mainstream media subscribes.  In fact, with how... American Thinker http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2166781/posts#comment Sun, 18 Jan 2009 07:56:44 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2157617/posts With each passing day, it seems that the number of industries in the United States not asking for a chunk of the bailout loaf dwindles. If somehow belly-button lint were a commodity, you can wager your last nickel that representatives of the American navel lobby would be banging at bailout’s door for a touch.With so many entities begging for their own wedge of government rescue, does it surprise anyone that the newspaper industry is the latest to come a-mooching? That papers are struggling all across the country isn't news to anyone - nor should it be. The Old Grey Lady... Roman Around http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2157617/posts#comment Fri, 2 Jan 2009 15:36:12 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2155137/posts Computer users in China found themselves unable to log onto the New York Times web site this week. The site has been blocked by the Chinese Communist government for “politically unacceptable content.” “While we are hesitant to take such action against a publication that has been of inestimable assistance to the Chinese People’s Republic, we are ashamed to say that the editorial content has become dangerous,” said Dung Chiao Mein, Minister of Electronic Communications for the Chinese government. The “dangerous content” is purported to be the paper’s “rabid animus against commerce.” “The Times has become depressingly and appallingly ‘left wing’... A Semi-News/Semi-Satire from AzConservative http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2155137/posts#comment Sun, 28 Dec 2008 07:59:32 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2154856/posts There is a rush on in some quarters of the liberal mainstream press to blame President Bush for anything and everything that could cause grief to the incoming Obama Administration. The New York Times, one of the usual suspects, takes its turn today with an article that attempts to lay blame at the feet of Bush for a chain of events that has it's root in the decisions of President Bill Clinton. Political Machine via AOL news http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2154856/posts#comment Sat, 27 Dec 2008 16:00:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153710/posts Earlier this month, executives at the New York Times (NYT) warned investors that they had a miserable November. They weren’t kidding. The grim details are here, but I’ll save you some time: * Revenue was down 13.9%, an acceleration from October’s 9.4% drop. * Ad revenue was down 20.9%, an acceleration from October’s 16.2% drop. * The really awful news: Internet ad revenue and overall Internet revenue actually declined in November, down 3.8% and 2.6%, respectively. In the good old days of 2007, the Times could at least say that while print revenue growth was slowing to a halt, Internet... http://mediamemo.allthingsd.com/20081224/new-york-times-november-was-so-terrible-even-our-interent-a http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2153710/posts#comment Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:12:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148799/posts Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. That would have been the sale of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama. But the opposite is true: Members of Fitzgerald’s team are livid the scheme didn’t advance, at least for a little longer, according to some people close to Fitzgerald’s office. Why? Because had the plot unfolded, they might have had an opportunity most feds can only dream of: A chance to catch the sale of a Senate seat on... Wall Street Journal http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148799/posts#comment Mon, 15 Dec 2008 01:53:36 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148741/posts The media defense of disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and corruption in politics continued Sunday morning as new "Meet the Press" host David Gregory, along with his guests, actually defended Blago's actions as "pay to play" business as usual that's just "part of the system" and "how the world works." Such seems an astounding about face from the press's disgust and incessant focus on the so-called "Republican culture of corruption" that surrounded the reporting of former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay's travails in 2006, as well as the attention given to Jack Abramoff the same year in order to assist... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148741/posts#comment Sun, 14 Dec 2008 23:36:39 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148482/posts The American journalist was once a notoriously hard-boiled character with sharp elbows and a press pass tucked into the band of his fedora. In the era of the classic film The Front Page, set in the 1920s, reporters from rival city dailies used their most devious means to get the drop on the rest and claim a scoop. Now those local stories may be “outsourced” to be written by a low-paid journalist in India and posted on the internet instead. The US newspaper industry is in a full-blown crisis that has seen its business model dynamited by technology and its... The Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2148482/posts#comment Sun, 14 Dec 2008 07:00:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139943/posts Has there ever been a less fun time to be a media mogul? This was supposed to be a banner year for the U.S. media industry, with the happy confluence of a presidential election campaign and the Olympics. Instead, 2008 has been pretty much a writeoff. Some parts of the industry - particularly local U.S. media - have seen their sales fall off a cliff and their long-term viability as business models called into question as a consequence of the shakeout in the financial services companies and car makers, two of the largest advertising categories. "It looks like 2008 will... Toronto Globe & Mail http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139943/posts#comment Sat, 29 Nov 2008 12:35:52 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139692/posts I'm starting to feel a little guilty about the media's treatment of President-elect Barack Obama -- and I may not be the only one. Chalk it up to a phenomenon I'd like to call "Obama-remorse." You know how you feel buyer's remorse after you've spent a lot of dough on some big-ticket item, only to realize that you might have made a mistake? Well, it's going to happen to the president-elect as well. Perhaps this sort of recognition prompted Washington Post media writer Howard Kurtz to do an incisive piece called "A Giddy Sense of Boosterism" on Nov. 17. As... CBS News http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2139692/posts#comment Fri, 28 Nov 2008 19:58:37 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136032/posts One of the most powerful media figures has blamed the newspapers downward plunge in circulation and profits on the fact that they have forfeited the trust and loyalty of their readers. But I think his basis for saying this is misplaced or incomplete. According to Rupert Murdoch, who offered this diagnosis of newspaper troubles, the problem lies in the "complacency and condescension" in some newsrooms. He says, "The complacency stems from having enjoyed a monopoly - and now finding they have to compete for an audience they once took for granted. The condescension that many show their readers is an... The Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2136032/posts#comment Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:17:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2134486/posts Just How Did Obama Get Elected The 44th President Of The United States? On November 4th, 2008 millions of Americans were shocked that a man of Barack Obama’s limited experience, extreme liberal positions and radical political alliances could be elected President of the United States. For many of these Americans, the explanation was rather simple… the news media, completely enamored with Obama, simply refused to do their job. On Election day twelve Obama voters were interviewed extensively right after they voted to learn how the news media impacted their knowledge of what occurred during the campaign. These voters were chosen... http://iraqsinconvenienttruth.com/2008/11/18/how-smart-people-became-morons-on-election-day-2008-bec http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2134486/posts#comment Wed, 19 Nov 2008 04:39:28 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130792/posts I thought after the mainstream media had succeeded in electing its anointed candidate for president and after they had acted as an unofficial campaign manger for Sen. Barack Obama, that there might be some return to journalistic principles. The conventional wisdom is that once in office, the mainstream media subjects the president to relentless criticism. So I thought there might be a slight letup in the biased, dishonest and fraudulent journalism flooding forth from the mainstream media to advance Sen. Obama and the Democratic Party. But as I checked magazines and newspapers and listened to President-Elect Obama's first press conference,... The Bulletin http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2130792/posts#comment Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:46:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128939/posts The Star-Telegram used to be a special business. For decades, the Fort Worth newspaper had some of the strongest numbers anywhere, stoked by a fast-growth market and big-city competition. With almost 400 journalists at its peak, it staffed one of the largest newsrooms for a paper its size and had a fat news hole for stories. Profit margins sometimes hit 30 percent, justifying the large head count and making the Star-Telegram a cash-generating machine. That’s all yesterday’s news. Newspapers across the nation are facing their own economic crisis, and they’ve cut more than 24,000 jobs in the past year. The... Ft. Worth Star Telegram http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2128939/posts#comment Sun, 9 Nov 2008 20:35:11 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2124553/posts I’ve checked my email, and I have over a hundred new messages. And I can’t get to anything resorting to ‘Sean Malstrom’ due to real life situations. Luckily I changed my career gears long ago. But my old profession of political analysis is going to be absolutely destroyed. I still think McCain will win the election and do so by a larger margin than Bush did in 2004. When this happens, a hurricane of outrage will be unleashed at the political analysis business, mostly the pollsters. People will demand to know how they could be so off. In other... seanmalstrom.wordpress.com http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2124553/posts#comment Tue, 4 Nov 2008 12:37:01 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2121928/posts NEW YORK While Sam Zell's biggest newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, made history endorsing a Democrat, Barack Obama, this year, he has been busy giving tens of thousands of dollars in contributions to Obama's opponent, Sen. John McCain. Among other CEOs: Rupert Murdoch has given $2,300 to McCain, Richard Scaife and Philip Anschutz have heavily backed Republicans, while William Dean Singleton has pretty much sat it out while his fellow MediaNews honcho Richard Scudder has funded Obama. A review of several online campaign donation sites shows Zell, listed as the chairman of his Equity Group Investments, donated... Editor and Publisher http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2121928/posts#comment Sat, 1 Nov 2008 19:59:17 GMT