Day: 7/15/2009

Al Franken, Sonia Sotomayor, and Perry Mason

Posted by on July 15, 2009 at 8:58 pm. 3 Comments :

In today’s Senate hearings on the confirmation of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court, Sen. Al Franken sparked a mystery that has consumed Washington and beyond. Both Sotomayor and Franken were fans of the 1960’s version of Law and Order, “The Perry Mason Show.” Throughout its run, Mason, a defense attorney, had lost only a single case.

Well, after extensive and costly research, I can now reveal what that case was:

The Case of the Deadly Verdict
Janice Barton is found guilty of the murder of her wealthy relative and sentenced to death. Can Perry find the evidence to clear her of the crime before the pellets in the gas chamber fall?

Interestingly, one of the guest stars on the program was an actor named Steve Franken, who may be better known as Chatsworth Osborne, Jr. III from the “The Dobie Gillis Show.” Also on Dobie was Bob Denver (later Gilligan) and Sheila Kuehl (presently a former California State Senator). So you figure out your own “6 degrees” stories.

Media Reform Advances Courtesy Of The Economy

Posted by on July 15, 2009 at 6:09 pm. 5 Comments :

One of the biggest contributors to the woeful state of modern media is the extent to which media companies have consolidated into giant conglomerates with near monopoly power. Some of these corporations control majorities of communications enterprises in numerous markets nationwide.

It has long been a goal of media reform activists to bring about greater independence and diversity by implementing market caps to limit the reach of these companies. That goal has been hindered by the well-heeled media industry’s lobbying efforts. Now, it appears that the economy is stepping in to enact some free market reform of its own:

Is the bell tolling for Clear Channel?
“Analysts believe Clear Channel, now with about $22 billion in total debts, will have trouble making scheduled payments later this year. The company, already down to about 800 stations from its peak of about 1,200 stations, either will have to start selling stations itself or go into bankruptcy, where lenders will put stations up for sale.”

Sinclair Eyes Chapter 11
“Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. said in a regulatory filing that it may file for bankruptcy protection, reports the Associated Press. A miserable advertising market and crippling debt burden may force the Baltimore-based broadcaster into Chapter 11.”

Clear Channel and Sinclair are leaders in their markets. They are also prominent purveyors of right-wing propaganda. No one likes to see businesses fail, but the prospect of these companies succumbing to recessionary forces could produce real benefits for the business of news. It would be preferable if similarly situated conglomerates were to divest their holdings and downsize operations voluntarily. But if they insist on clinging to power, at the expense of both shareholders and citizens, then this outcome is better than nothing.

The underlying television and radio stations impacted by this news will continue to broadcast. The prospect of them operating as independent, or as components of smaller station groups, is promising. The danger is that the troubled assets could be picked up by other big conglomerates. We’ll have to wait and see if this turns out to be beneficial or just more of the sort of consolidation that enhances the power of corporations and gags the voice of the people.

Gov. Sanford’s Treatment By The Liberal Media

Posted by on July 15, 2009 at 1:50 pm. 3 Comments :

Here are a few examples of how the so-called “liberal” media rushed to smear Republican Gov. Mark Sanford after he surfaced from his hike in Appalachia …er… vacation in South America …er… tryst with his Argentinian mistress. These are emails sent to Sanford to solicit him for interviews.

Griff Jenkins of Fox News
“Having known the Governor for years and even worked with him when he would host radio shows for me — I find this story and the media frenzy surrounding it to be absolutely ridiculous! Please give him my best.”

If the Gov does an interview and its exclusive, it will make air on the tv channel and our radio news service all across the country. And I’m not sure if you’ve seen the stuff I do on the channel as a reporter, but I work mostly for our primetime coverage – Oreilly, Hannity, Greta, Beck – so there likely would be primetime coverage as well for some soundbites of the gov dispelling this flap.

Jenkins, you may recall, is one of the contingent of Fox News ambush journalists (along with Jesse Watters, and Porter Barry). He was also prominent in last April’s Tea Baggery. In this affair he is unabashedly promising a political delinquent favorable treatment.

Brendan Miniter of the Wall Street Journal
“Someone at WSJ should be fired for today’s story. Ridiculous.”

Miniter is actually bashing his own paper for publishing a story that merely reported that Sanford was off hiking the Appalachian Trail. So I guess that I’d agree with Miniter. Someone should be fired for having gotten the story so wrong. And Miniter should go with him for pandering to the story’s subject.

Joseph Deoudes of the Washington Times
“If you all want to speak on this publicly, you’re welcome to Washington Times Radio. You know that you will be on friendly ground here!”

Isn’t nice to know that there is “friendly ground” available for wayward Republicans? Not that this is news coming from the Moonie Times, a perennial happy place for rightists.

Ann Edelberg of MSNBC’s Morning Joe
“Of course the Gov has an open invite to a friendly place here at MJ, if he would like to speak out.”

And if anyone can call themselves a friend of Sanford, it’s Joe Scarborough, the former Florida congressman who had his own problems with the press when an intern turned up dead in his office.

Jake Tapper of ABC News
“NBC spot was slimy.” […] “For the record, I think the TODAY show spot was pretty insulting.”

Tapper’s main problem here is not that he is offering Sanford a safe haven, but that he is deliberately bashing his competition. Tapper is crossing the line in order to get a story. To his credit, he apologized and acknowledged that what he did was inappropriate. None of his colleagues have yet to do so.

Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central
As you may know, I declared myself Governor of South Carolina last night. I went power mad for abut 40 seconds before learning that Gov. Sanford was returning today.

If the governor is looking for a friendly place to make light of what I think is a small story that got blown out of scale I would be happy to have him on. In person here, on the phone, or in South Carolina.

Stay strong, Stephen

Et tu, Colbert? As the most reputable journalist of the bunch, it is disheartening to see that Colbert has compromised his impeccable journalistic credentials (a Peabody winner) in order to suck up to this miscreant governor. Since Colbert is on record as being philosophically opposed to apologies, I wouldn’t expect one to be forthcoming. In fact, it would hardly be necessary for him to bother correcting the record since, as he has noted, “reality has a well known liberal bias.” So what’s the point?