Free Republic

There were two valuable lessons I learned in the process of “outing” Helen Thomas as a hater ten years ago today. The first was the importance of making sure what a post is accurate because it can ruin someone’s career (what I posted was correct, and it ruined Ms. Thomas’ career). The other lesson is that mainstream media will do and say anything to protect one of their own. They protected her ten years ago, and many of them are still protecting her. Lid took down Helen Thomas. My “association” with Helen Thomas began Friday, June 4th, 2010, when a...

Although the wealthy can and should be expected to make larger sacrifices than the middle class, it's vanishingly unlikely that any plan serious enough to slow global warming will leave the bulk of Americans financially untouched. But if Americans are going to be asked to engage in a war on climate change, they should understand the material and economic sacrifices that will be required of them. The best way to do this is to look at an ambitious, well-crafted climate plan like the one put forward by Washington Governor Jay Inslee. **SNIP** Much of this could be financed with taxes...

Link to his post, which he has since deleted: https://twitter.com/jonathantasini/status/958765928602157056

All of NBC’s bleeding-heart coverage of tattered American race relations – including the racial struggles of Michelle Obama – might sound awfully tinny if they don’t keep black anchorman Lester Holt in the Nightly News anchor chair. In a new Brian Williams story at the Daily Beast, “a prominent black broadcast journalist who knows Holt” told them: “If Brian does not come back and Lester does not get the job, it’s going to get ugly. You can only imagine.” It would seem odd for them to exile Williams and then turn to Savannah Guthrie or someone else other than Holt,...

On this weekend's Fox News Watch, panelist Jim Pinkerton proposed a simple way to clear up much of the murk surrounding JournoList. Let the Washington Post respond to the 20 questions about the matter that MRC head Brent Bozell has posed to the Post's executive editor, Marcus Brauchli, in an open letter. JournoList was created by lefty blogger Ezra Klein in 2007, who continued to run it after becoming a Post staffer in 2009. Responding to Pinkerton's proposal, Newsday columnist Ellis Henican, a liberal member of the News Watch panel, swung and missed at Bozell . . . View video...

Another Obama-supporting newspaper jumps ship...

I don't know about you, but my head is spinning with all the theories out there about who will win this presidential election and why. I'm as guilty of promulgating them as anyone. Ask any political consultant for a prediction on a race -- on anything really -- and we'll take you on a trip around the world. We're worse than the commentators before an NFL game: "I'll tell you, Steve, no lefthanded president who has lost the Methodist vote in Wisconsin has ever been re-elected in a year that ends with the number two..." PHOTOS: Romney family through the...

In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect? So, three months later, how many people have signed up to pay $5 a week, or $260 a year, to get unfettered access to newsday.com? The answer: 35 people. As in...

In late October, Newsday, the Long Island daily that the Dolans bought for $650 million, put its web site, newsday.com, behind a pay wall. The paper was one of the first non-business newspapers to take the plunge by putting up a pay wall, so in media circles it has been followed with interest. Could its fate be a sign of what others, including The New York Times, might expect?

Timothy Knight resigned Wednesday as Newsday publisher, saying in a note to staff, "Now is the right time to let others move our business forward." He'll be replaced by Terry Jimenez, publisher of amNewYork, a related publication distributed free in New York City, according to an announcement by Tad Smith, president of Cablevision Systems Corp.'s local media unit, which includes Newsday and News 12. Jimenez becomes Newsday's acting publisher. A call to Knight's office at Newsday's headquarters in Melville was returned by Newsday spokeswoman Deidra Parrish Williams, who said, "There isn't going to be any comment beyond the note that...

Bloomberg so link only

Cablevision Systems Corp plans to charge online readers of its Newsday newspaper, a move that would make it one of the first large U.S. papers to reverse a trend toward free Web readership. Newsday, which covers the New York suburb of Long Island, was bought by Cablevision in a $650 million deal last May that was widely criticized on Wall Street as a puzzling move into a troubled newspaper market. Cablevision had to write down Newsday's value by $402 million on Thursday, pushing its fourth-quarter results to a loss, as U.S. print advertising sales and circulation have dropped with more...

If there was any doubt that John McCain's surprise pick of Sarah Palin has grabbed the attention of many Republicans, Barbara Falk, a retiree born and raised in this quaint small town, put it to rest yesterday: "I came out to see her." So did Falk's friend Pat Mantel, who said, "I do enjoy that vice president that McCain picked." And so did Mantel's sister Carol Eberhardt, a retired lab worker and single mother of three, who said, "She speaks my language." A day after McCain gave what many critics panned as a flat acceptance speech, Palin proved to be...

The nine people convicted in the Newsday circulation scandal were each sentenced Friday to 5 years' probation and up to $125,000 in fines, escaping potential restitution totaling $5.9 million and up to 20 years in prison. Those sentenced - in what federal prosecutors said was the end of their investigation - included Louis Sito, a former top Newsday executive who ran the newspaper's day-to-day business operations, and Robert Brennan, former vice president of circulation. Sito also served as vice president of Hispanic media at Tribune Co., which owned Newsday and the Spanish language Hoy, also implicated in the scandal. The...

News Corp. has revoked its bid for Tribune Co.'s Newsday, a company spokesman said, leaving Cablevision Systems Corp. the likely victor of the auction for the Long Island daily. News Corp., which publishes the New York Post and The Wall Street Journal, had bid $580 million for Newsday and already had an informal agreement to acquire the paper, but was unwilling to match the $650 million subsequently offered by Cablevision, a cable systems operator. New York Daily News owner Mortimer Zuckerman also bid $580 million for the newspaper but it wasn't immediately clear whether he would submit a higher offer....

Excerpt - LONDON (MarketWatch) -- Tribune Co. has reached an agreement in principle to sell Newsday to News Corp for $580 million, The Wall Street Journal and Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources. Under the terms of a deal, Newsday would be part of a joint venture with News Corp's New York Post and other News Corp assets, according to the reports. News Corp would own most of the company and Tribune would keep a stake of less than 5%, both reports added. ~ snip ~

Rupert Murdoch may not be done expanding his newspaper empire. The News Corp. chairman, who’s still digesting Dow Jones & Co., is now believed to have set his sights on Newsday. According to one newspaper industry insider, the company has made a bid for Tribune Co.’s Long Island paper. Newsday also owns amNew York, a daily tabloid handed out free in New York City. Talk of the bid has surfaced at the same time that Tribune’s new Chief Executive Sam Zell has said that an advertising downturn has forced him to consider selling off company assets. Additionally, Standard & Poor’s...

Newsday publisher Tim Knight Thursday announced that the newspaper will be cutting about 120 jobs throughout the company, citing declining sales and the "soft advertising revenue environment." The reduction in Newsday's workforce -- about 5 percent -- comes as many news organizations nationwide have been cutting jobs to survive an already tough and competitive marketplace made more difficult by a slowing economy. Two weeks ago, several other news organizations owned by Newsday's parent company Tribune Co. -- Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Hartford Courant and the Chicago Tribune Media Group -- announced staff reductions affecting about 300 employees....

From: Knight, T. P. Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 3:15 PM To: Communications, Newsday Subject: Today's Actions Dear fellow Newsday employee, As I informed you a few weeks ago, we have been assessing our business in light of our company strategies and the current revenue environment. Today we initiated job reduction actions across the company. These actions included notifying employees that we are eliminating their positions and posting notices in the editorial, transportation and pressroom bargaining units to eliminate positions in accordance with the labor contracts. About 120 employees are affected. Some individuals will leave today, while others will stay...

NY Newsday Columnist Les Payne Uses Phony Bush QuotesAccording to Les Payne, liberal columnist of the New York newspaper, Newsday ("While Bush rests, bin Laden plots", July 15, 2007): "It has been 2,130 days, however, since the president declared on Sept. 13, 2001, that "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our No. 1 priority and we will not rest until we find him." And then Les goes on to say: "Someone, the record will show, painted the face of Saddam Hussein on Bush's wanted poster and threw the marshal off the trail....