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What you are saying here may or may not be interesting to ponder if one wants to do so, but to me, it's actually unrelated to the topic, in my opinion.

In the matter you are citing in your above post, an AP reporter made an actual error -- meaning, I believe an AP reporter would not deliberately report the opposite of the important remarks made by the chair there. Otherwise, the reporter is manipulating the stock market. So, the reporter made an error for whatever reason. The reporter didn't hear the speech or didn't sit close enough or received a copy of the remarks that had a typo in it or didn't bother to double-check or maybe the hard copy of the speech given to the reporter contained an actual error so it wasn't even the reporter's fault.

Drudge did nothing wrong here because Drudge reported the exact headline from the AP.

But, because of the original error by the reporter (or someone who gave such erroneous information to that reporter), there was a bad outcome.

Now, as to what I am talking about here in my post: in my opinion, there was no unintentional "error" made by Huffington Post admins involving the numerous and various elements of the fake headline thread - as these elements fraudulently induced one to post a comment in a frenzy, or to then "click" to "read more." And, either way - that means: more money for Huff Post. Had Huff Post simply posted the real headline, no such outcomes for Huff Post. People would have shrugged and not posted at all, and people like myself would not have even clicked because I had already seen that headline elsewhere.

Also remember: if you are someone who ONLY gets your news by reading Huff Post headlines, then you have NO idea who is actually a candidate for president in 2008 -- and who is not.

So, you see, in the case of Huff Post, there is money to be made from this media manipulation by Huff Post, as they deliberately mislead the public, again, in my opinion. Never mind that the posters there are being abused - there is no customer service. And, I now realize too: Never mind what other wrongful results may occur by some crazed lunatic reading that headline, and concluding Jeb Bush is now a candidate, and yet, Jeb Bush is not. None of these consequences are of interest to Huff Post forum admins, since they ignored every poster who complained on that thread about this deception.

It's apples and oranges what you are describing and what I am describing.

In your case, an AP reporter (or someone giving that reporter information) made an error, and there was an end result involving money -- but the person making the mistake did not benefit from that money changing hands.

In this Huffington Post media manipulation, there was, I believe, a deliberate falsification and fabrication by forum admins, with the intent to induce more clicks and more money -- and the Huffington Post owners do benefit, despite the current or future harm those forum owners are causing to others, whether voter or candidate or non-candidate. That forum doesn't seem to care who it harms, as long as their fraud results in more traffic, more clicks and more money.

And, that kind of "business" operation -- as I pointed out by writing this editorial (and in recent years I have been a right-leaning independent though my background before that was quite liberal, as people on this forum know since I came here as a Dem) -- is very well summed up by the left-leaning indendepent I quoted in my editorial, who correctly characterized Huff Post's actions here as: "despictable."

How Drudge was described in your post in that instance is irrelevant, since the description was inaccurate in this instance and was wrong. So - that's apples. My point concerned oranges.

Thanks for your comment, Dog.

It's a good thing we've gotten so much better at identifying, especuially when academic experts in media criticism and media manipulation won't do their jobs -- and publicly identify media manipulation, critique it, and condemn it -- whenever these professors have a financial conflict of interest with the subject media company, as in this case. That is my opinion.

But, my opinion is based on my recent experience trying to report this matter to two of the world's leading experts in media manipulation, the head of NYU and CUNY, who are, respectively: Jay Rosen of Pressthink blog fame and Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine blog fame.

The more I think about this, the more distressed I feel because of them. (And note: I don't mean to incite a riot by saying this.)

But, had they simply done THEIR jobs after I sent them my editorial and emailed them, then MY job would have been done.

Instead, they are publicly AWOL or MIA in this, because they directly or indirectly benefit from any increased money rolling in at Huff Post. And, I was shocked to realize this - I am a teacher myself. I thought educators educate. I had no idea the education of the public about media manipulation by the world's leading authorities in that field would cease whenever the media manipulation is done by the media company now paying those professors. Again, this is my opinion, but based on recent events that are quite real.

One professor, I beileve now, and did not recall at that time I contacted him, is a paid contributor / writer on that site (Jay Rosen). I did not see where he discloses this on his blog. The other (Jeff Jarvis) is in a new business venture with a Huff Post investor as disclosed on his Buzzmachine blog's bio.

So, it now seems to me: these professors are UNAVAILABLE to DO THEIR JOB AS PROFESSORS in this instance, as they would normally and usually CRITIQUE and IDENTIFY and CONDEMN what the Huff Post is doing, since it is a textbooko example of media manipulation anad everything one should NOT be doing for a host of reasons. But, because there is a FINANCIAL CONFLICT OF INTEREST here with these guys and that media entity, there is SILENCE from these professors who can no longer do their duty as educators. Thus, as an educator and citizen journalist, I am forced to step in AGAIN and fill the void; so, I wrote a new essay about it:

Missing in Action: Independent Academia

And, that's all I can do about this matter. I am one person. Surely there is someone else out there in this country who is reading this thread and understands all that I now realize.