Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MSM. Show all posts

Friday, January 09, 2009

Report: Newspapers in Crisis


eMarketer is offering an up-to-the-minute report on the troubled newspaper industry that's certain to cause some sleepless nights among the Sulzberger clan.

The outlook for newspaper publishers is grim. Their business model is broken and advertisers are bailing. Newspaper advertising revenues in the US declined 16.4% in 2008 to $37.9 billion. By 2012, spending will slide to $28.4 billion. Is there hope for this proud medium?

The Newspapers In Crisis report analyzes the trends that are contributing to a historic downslide in newspaper revenues and readership.

Newspaper circulation continues to deteriorate as people increasingly go online for news that is timelier and free. And the relatively high fixed costs of paper, printing and distribution show no signs of waning.

And there is little relief online, where newspaper revenues are dropping as well. eMarketer estimates that even Internet revenues dipped slightly in 2008, 0.4% to $3.15 billion.

If you've got 695 spare smackers, you can have the full report.

Based on the chart, I think they're optimistic.

Monday, January 05, 2009

Federal Appeals Court: Government can withhhold detainee IDs


Brace for the exploding heads over at Daily Kos. Earlier today a federal appeals court ruled that the U.S. government can keep the identities of its detainees secret.

The 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan reversed a lower court judge regarding eight files containing records documenting allegations of detainee abuse by military personnel and documents containing reports of allegations of detainee-against-detainee abuse.

The misconduct alleged to have been carried out by military personnel included spraying detainees with water hoses, striking them, using pepper spray against them and splashing them with cleaning products.

A three-judge panel of the appeals court found that the detainees and their families have a privacy interest in their identifying information. The government had argued that the detainees faced possible harm if their identities were revealed.

The appeals court said that The Associated Press, which sought the identities, had not shown how the public interest would be served by disclosing them.

Gee, the Associated Press?

Courtesy of Newsbusters, some of the AP's recent hits include:

• Chicago Homicides Exceed U.S. Iraq Deaths: Not News
• The Associated Press Chronicles 'Guerrilla Warrior' Castro's 'Push to Power'
• AP Cries That People Are Mean to Barack
• AP Attacks Gov. Palin Even in Birth Announcement of Grandson
• For Zimbabweans, A Cow Dung Christmas; AP Still Partially Deflects Blame from Mugabe

The news isn't all bad for the AP. Though they just got shot down by the Appeals Court and the dying newspaper business is melting away revenues, the AP did just save 15% on their car insurance at GEICO.

Sunday, January 04, 2009

"Maps can really point to places... where life is evil now"


A Sense Of Reality by Professor Barry Rubin of The Gloria Center

When you actually hear what the anti-Israel, anti-American and anti-Western forces say, it reveals just how inaccurate is their analysis, often allowed to be given without contradiction in much of the media.

Here are two quotes from Yahoo coverage of anti-Israel demonstrations:

1. Paul Mukerji, 42, from Birmingham, acknowledged Israel had security reasons but called its action disproportionate. "The best way for peace for Palestinians and Israelis is to end the occupation," he said.

Yep! End that occupation and all the shooting will stop. As you know, it was Israel's end of occupation in south Lebanon that led to attacks by Hizballah. And Israel's end of occupation in the Gaza Strip that led to attacks by Hamas. And Israel's agreement with the PLO and withdrawal from part of the West Bank raised the level of terrorism there (at least for about half of the last 15 years). No doubt if Israel withdrew completely from the West Bank...

But in logical terms, of course, if you believe that "occupation" causes violence--rather than, say, revolutionary Arab nationalist and Islamist movements that sought total victory--you MUST argue that these are defensive reactions. Of course, they are aggressive ones.


2. Ali Saeed, 24, from Luton, said Western governments had failed to condemn Israel's actions. "What's going on in Gaza is not right ... It's not a coincidence that it's going on in Iraq, in Chechnya, in Kashmir. It's just about going on everywhere. It's almost a direct insult to every single Muslim," he said.

Iraq: Saddam Hussein has repressive dictatorship, Saddam attacks Iran, Saddam attacks Kuwait, terrorists today kill mostly other Muslims in a Sunni-Shia battle. Yes, so why blame America?

Chechnya: One could argue that this is an occupation issue--the Russians have been there for about 150 years-- but the Chechnya rebels have deliberately targeted Russian civilians and killed their own moderates who tried to work out a deal. At any rate, one can contrast Russian methods—leveling the capital city and killing many thousands of civilians—with Israel's, with Hamas admitting 85 percent of the casualties in the current campaign are its soldiers and most of the rest victims of its policy of turning civilians into involuntary human shields.

Kashmir: Radical Islamists backed by Pakistan murder Indian civilians and carry out terrorism in India. To my knowledge, the Indians never used harsh repression in Kashmir, certainly not before the start of a terrorist war there.

And how about:

• Massacres of Christians in Indonesia
• of Christians and Buddhists in Thailand
• of Christians in the Philippines
• and of Christians and Shia Muslims in Iraq
• and of Christians and Druze and Sunni Muslims in Lebanon
• and of fellow Muslims in Algeria and Egypt and Saudi Arabia
• and of course al-Qaida attacks including September 11
• and the London subway bombings
• and the Bali bombing
• and the Spanish commuter train bombings
• and the Mumbai attacks
• and the murder of animists and fellow Muslims in Sudan
• and so on.

Once upon a time in the West there were institutions which challenged and corrected a factually ludicrous world view. Now, alas, they often further it.

And of course, this isn't the first time—even in living memory—that the world has faced such movements, such falsehood, such places:

But ideas can be true although men die,
And we can watch a thousand faces
Made active by one lie:

And maps can really point to places
Where life is evil now:
Nanking; Dachau.

-- "In Time of War," W.H. Auden, 1939

And now: Kabul, Tehran, and Gaza under Hamas rule.

But common sense does prevail. The truth is that the demonstrations have not been impressive in Europe and America, both in size and in the ability of the anti-Israel forces to mobilize non-Muslims in any serious numbers.

Update: Larwyn asks why not a single member of the media has asked the apologists how Hamas can build dozens of tunnels to transport armaments, but not a single bomb shelter for Gazans?

Special thanks to: Professor Barry Rubin of The Gloria Center and Larwyn. Photos: the invaluable Gateway Pundit and Power Line.

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Video o' the day: Hitchens' sign language


Yep, that's Christopher Hitchens offering his sign language feedback to Bill Maher's audience.

From all appearances, the crowd consists of the Left's intelligentsia: Cynthia McKinney, Susan Sarandon, E. J. Dionne, Michael Moore, Maureen Dowd and Alec Baldwin.

Hat tip: LGF Quick Links.

No double standard


During its interview The New York Times lobbed softball after softball at Carolyn Kennedy. And she responded with a shtick straight out of the movie Valley Girl.

It really makes you wonder: what if Ms. Kennedy-Schlossberg had been pelted with the same questions Governor Palin received? Remember?

Brian Gibson interviews Barack Obama:

How does it feel to break a glass ceiling?
How does it feel to “win”?
How does your family feel about your “winning” breaking a glass ceiling?
Who will be your VP?
Should you choose Hillary Clinton as VP?
Will you accept public finance?
What issues is your campaign about?
Will you visit Iraq?
Will you debate McCain at a town hall?
What did you think of your competitor’s [Clinton] speech?


Brian Gibson interviews Sarah Palin:

Do you have enough qualifications for the job you’re seeking? Specifically have you visited foreign countries and met foreign leaders?
Aren’t you conceited to be seeking this high level job?
Questions about foreign policy
-territorial integrity of Georgia
-allowing Georgia and Ukraine to be members of NATO
-NATO treaty
-Iranian nuclear threat
-what to do if Israel attacks Iran
-Al Qaeda motivations
-the Bush Doctrine
-attacking terrorists harbored by Pakistan
Is America fighting a holy war? [misquoted Palin]

I'm shocked -- SHOCKED -- that Ms. Kennedy-Schlossberg hasn't been attacked the way Palin was. Recall these golden oldies?

Democrats


• Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY) described Palin as "disabled".
• Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) said Palin "doesn't know anything".
• Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE) believed that Palin's election would be a "backward step for women".
• Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) believed that Palin's "family background, including the pregnancy of her unwed teenage daughter, should be fair game for campaign discussion."
• Obama Finance Director Howard Gutman claimed that Palin "puts [her] career above [her] family."
• Michigan Democratic operative Barbara Theaker, introducing Joe Biden, called Palin "a bucket of fluff."
• South Carolina Democratic Chair Carol Fowler: "[Palin's] primary qualification seems to be that she hasn’t had an abortion."
• Obama supporter Lincoln Chafee called Sarah Palin a "cocky wacko."
• Former Gore advisor Bob Shrum: "However much the Republican base hoots and whistles, Palin may not become their Miss November; she’s been a runner-up before."

The Mainstream Media


• The Cleveland Plain-Dealer's Connie Schultz claimed "[Palin] outed her pregnant daughter... [abortion] was never really a choice for this girl, unless she was willing to derail her mother's political career."
• The New York Times' Judith Warner characterizes Palin's selecton as a "thoroughgoing humiliation for America’s women."
• The New York Times' Maureen Dowd quotes a Palin detractor: "She’s a child, inexperienced and simplistic."
• The Kansas City Star's Mary Sanchez headlined a column "Palin is gloriously, fabulously unfit for duty."
• Chicago Sun-Times Columnist Mary Mitchell said "Sarah Palin makes me sick... [she] scares me... I couldn't help but wonder what it's really like for [her] kids."
• The New York Times' Maureen Dowd described Palin as "our new Napoleon in bunny boots."
• The Atlantic's Andrew Sullivan: "She is the biggest joke to be put on a ticket in national politics... [She is] Princess of Alaska."
• The Washington Post's Wendy Doniger: "Her greatest hypocrisy is in her pretense that she is a woman."
• The New York Times' Gail Collins: "Given Palin’s affection for shooting wolves from airplanes with high-powered rifles, it’d be more appropriate to have them cowering in their dens while she aims her machine gun from a diving Cessna."
• The Boston Globe's Peter Gelzinis characterizes Palin as a "snow princess."
• Salon's Cintra Wilson said Palin is a "Christian Stepford wife in a sexy librarian costume... like one of those cutthroat Texas cheerleader stage moms."
• Salon's Juan Cole: "What is the difference between Palin and a Muslim fundamentalist? Lipstick."
• Air America's Randi Rhodes: "She’s friends with all the teenage boys. You have to say no when your kids say, ‘can we sleep over at the Palin’s? No! NO!’."

Hollywood


• Sandra Bernhard warns Palin: "[don't] come into Manhattan lest she get gang-raped by some of Sandra’s big black brothers."
• Bill Maher: I will send (Obama) whatever I have to to keep this snarling bitch out of the White House."
• Chevy Chase instructed SNL to "decimate this woman [Palin]."
• Pink: "This woman hates women... the woman terrifies me."
• Brad Garrett said Palin is "White trash."
• Roger Ebert described Palin as "A shallow, chirpy person with those vaguely alarming eyeglasses."
• Pamela Anderson said the candidate "can suck it."
• Linda Carter: "She’s judgmental and dictatorial... I think America should be very afraid."
• Lindsay Lohan: "Is our country so divided that the Republicans best hope is a narrow minded, media obsessed homophobe?"

Caroline Kennedy makes Sarah Palin look like Madame Curie.

No, there's no double standard here. None at all.

Update: Senora Kennedy is make very good Senator.

Saturday, December 27, 2008

Joel Stein can't understand why conservatives are patriotic


Joel Stein, the predictably liberal Los Angeles Times columnist, can't comprehend why conservatives believe in American exceptionalism.

I still think conservatives love America for the same tribalistic reasons people love whatever groups they belong to. These are the people who are sure Christianity is the only right religion, that America is the best country, that the Republicans have the only good candidates, that gays have cooties.

I wish I felt such certainty. Sure, it makes life less interesting and nuanced, and absolute conviction can lead to dangerous extremism, but I suspect it makes people happier. I'll never experience the joy of Hannity-level patriotism. I'm the type who always wonders if some other idea or place or system is better and I'm missing out.

Yes, perhaps Nazi Germany in the thirties would have been a better place for a guy named Stein to live.

Or did Joel Stein somehow forget that it was America's blood, sweat and treasure that defeated the twin scourges of Nazism and Militaristic Shintoism?

Or perhaps the Soviet Union, which murdered upwards of 90 million individuals, would have been a cool place to live: say, a gulag in Siberia.

Or did Joel Stein somehow miss the news that Ronald Reagan's strategy of peace through strength -- ("We win. They lose.") -- led to the economic meltdown of the Soviet bloc and the liberation of millions?

Maybe Stein would have preferred living under the Taliban, in their tolerant and forgiving culture, or in Saddam Hussein's Baathist Iraq, which had an unfortunate propensity to gas and rape its opponents?

Or were Joel Stein's newspapers swiped by the neighbor those days, so that he missed the news of George W. Bush's incredible risk-tasking to liberate fifty million Muslims from the despotic regimes of Bin Laden and Hussein?

Forget the fact that more people try to get into America than any other country. Forget, too, the opportunities afforded entrepeneurs by America's incredible innovation engine linking academia, venture capital and industry; and which has launched companies like Microsoft, Intel, Google and eBay out of whole cloth.

Were it not for America, Stein would -- today -- be living under Nazism, Communism or some other totalitarian regime.

Or, better put, not living.

Does that help you understand American exceptionalism, Mr. Stein, you ignorant pissant? Tribalism? Tribalism has nothing to do with it, you pathetic ignoramus. Were it not for America, were it not for Americans, the world be a far darker place, with hundreds of millions living behind barbed wire, in concentration camps, in death camps awaiting their smoky fate.

Stein, you are an intellectual midget and a bumbling doctrinaire liberal hack. Frankly, I'm surprised you can rub enough neurons together to keep breathing without having to concentrate.

If I were a meaner-spirited person, I'd slit the tires on your home. Instead I'll just mock your astute choice of profession: liberal hack #117 for the dying Los Angeles Times.

Update: Useless Dissident rips the dilettante to shreds using everything but brass knuckles and a cattle prod.

Hat tips: Gateway Pundit and Larwyn.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Johnny Horton's classic song Battle of New Orleans retooled for the Era of Obama


Remember this old classic?

You know, written at a time when entertainers supported America and lionized its heroes? Well, if that song were written today, we'd have to revamp some of the lyrics to ensure political correctness.

Johnny Horton's Battle of New Orleans

In 1814 we took a little trip
Along with Colonel Jackson down the mighty Mississip.
We took a little bacon and we took a little beans
Because bacon contributes to high-blood pressure and obesity, the City of New York requires that this line be replaced with:
"We took a little tofu and we took a little beans"

And we caught the bloody British in the town of New Orleans.
Please do not specifically name the enemy (e.g., "Muslim terrorists"), the Associated Press requires we instead use generic descriptions:
"And we caught the loyalist gunmen in the town of New Orleans"


[Chorus:]
We fired our guns and the British kept a'comin'.
MoveOn.org requires that the enemy be suitably warned using appropriate legal and lawfare mechanisms:
"We served our warrants and the British kept a'comin'."

There wasn't nigh as many as there was a while ago.
We fired once more and they began to runnin' on
MoveOn.org also requires non-deadly force be utilized:
"We fired our tasers and they began a'runnin' on"

Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

We looked down the river and we see'd the British come.
And there must have been a hundred of' 'em beatin' on the drum.
PETA requires that drumskins be made from non-animal sources:
"And there must have been a hundred of 'em beatin' on their synthetic drum-skins"

They stepped so high and they made the bugles ring.
We stood by our cotton bales and didn't say a thing.

[Chorus]

Old Hickory said we could take 'em by surprise
If we didn't fire our muskets 'til we looked 'em in the eye
The Brady Coalition to Ban Guns requires the following alteration:
"If we didn't fire our pepper-spray 'til we looked 'em in the eye"

We held our fire 'til we see'd their faces well.
Then we opened up with squirrel guns and really gave 'em ... well
Chicago Mayor Richard Daley requires removal of references to actual firearms:
"Then we opened up with calls to 9-1-1 and really gave 'em ... well"


[Chorus]

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.**

We fired our cannon 'til the barrel melted down.
So we grabbed an alligator and we fought another round.
The Association for Cruelty to Animals objects to this verse and requires the following changes:
"So we grabbed a dead soldier and we fought another round."

We filled his head with cannon balls, and powdered his behind
"We filled his head with paintballs, and powdered his behind"
And when we touched the powder off, the gator lost his mind.
"And when we touched the powder off, the ol' boy lost his mind."

[Chorus]

Yeah, they ran through the briars and they ran through the brambles
Greenpeace requires that any references to damage to wildlife be minimized:
"Yeah, they ran gently through the briars and ran through the brambles without disturbing the flora and fauna"

And they ran through the bushes where a rabbit couldn't go.
They ran so fast that the hounds couldn't catch 'em
Down the Mississippi to the Gulf of Mexico.

Service Employees International Union also requests a reference to unionizing soldiers.


Hat tip: Cowboy Lyrics.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-CA) demands censorship of conservatives


Congresswoman Anna Eshoo (D-Gesundheit) wants to resurrect and strengthen The Fairness Doctrine. And besides covering talk radio, she would like to censor cable, satellite programming and broadcast television. Because there's nothing more important for Congress to work on, apparently. No high priority economic mess, for instance.

“I’ll work on bringing it back. I still believe in it,” Eshoo told the Daily Post in Palo Alto.

The Fairness Doctrine required TV and radio stations to balance opposing points of view. It meant that those who disagreed with the political slant of a commentator were entitled to free air time to give contrasting points of view, usually in the same time slot as the original broadcast...

Eshoo said she would recommend the doctrine be applied not only to radio and TV broadcasts, but also to cable and satellite services.

“It should and will affect everyone,” she said [calling] the present system “unfair,” and said "there should be equal time for the spoken word."

Broadcasting & Cable points to other ominous signs.

The [Fairness] doctrine, which only applied to broadcasting, was scrapped by the FCC as unconstitutional in 1987... The doctrine's demise is credited -- or blamed, depending on who is citing it -- for the rise in conservative talk radio. Hosts including Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin have expressed concerns that the new Democratic regime in Congress will try to reinstate the doctrine as a way to silence their critics.

Contributing to that concern were recent comments by Democratic Senator Charles Schumer of New York to Fox News last month.

The office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, yet another California Democrat, has raised the specter of its return. More recently, Sen. Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) said in an interview on talk station KKOB-AM Albuquerque that he hoped there would be a push for the doctrine, saying that “all stations should have to represent a balanced perspective…instead of always hammering away at one side of the political [spectrum].”

Sounds like a solid idea to me.

That First Amendment thingie is such a nuisance. And if we can just silence our critics and utterly control media content, we'll achieve a Democrat Utopia, dontcha know?

As of this moment there are 61 radio stations in New York City. Stations broadcast everything from Air America to Reggae Hip Hop and everything in between.

The reason liberal ideas don't resonate with the general public is that they are forced to compete on the merits of the ideas alone.

And liberals don't like competition.

They would prefer that big government decide what you can listen to, how much fuel your car can consume, what workers' organizations you must join, how much carbon dioxide you can expel, what your retirement stipend must be, which benefits you should consume for your health-care needs... and so on, ad infinitum. They want government to control every aspect of your life.

Furthermore, competition exposes their ideas as intellectually bankrupt, morally reprehensible and ultimately at odds with the vision the Framers held for this country.

You may recognize the fairless doctrine from previous corrupt and failed socialist governments.

I say to Anna Eshoo: read your Constitution, if a liberal hack like you owns a Constitution, that is.

We will resist the Fairless Doctrine and fight your vision of a totalitarian regime that regulates and approves content. In fact, why not put (D-Venezuela) after your name, you pathetic goon?

Note to readers: was that too harsh? I'm in a bad mood tonight.

Thursday, December 11, 2008

Exclusive Photo: Laid-off New York Times employees prepare to work on building roads and infrastructure


Looks like President Obama's vaunted road-rebuilding programs will keep Bill Keller's former employees off the street.

Maureen Dowd is second from right.

The Times' financial problems aren't really Pinchy's fault. Nor Bill Keller's. After all, according to Keller, "Good Journalism Isn't Cheap."

What that has to do with the Times, I have no idea. I wasn't aware they employed any journalists. I just thought its main business function was to serve as a wire service for the Democratic National Committee.

The article's title is "Where Will You Get Your News in 2012?" Not a tough question to answer. The same place we do now: the Internet. And given the Times' catastrophic drop in value, everyone else feels the same way.

Monday, December 08, 2008

Bill O'Reilly: Economic Ignoramus


As far back as 2005 Bill O'Reilly was demonstrating his utter ignorance of economics from his bully pulpit at Fox News.

Getting to the bottom of high fuel prices. That is the subject of this evening's Talking Points Memo. It's not easy. Last night we had an extensive discussion about the pricing of gasoline and the huge profits American oil companies are making. One thing struck me: after all the experts we've talked with, after all the research we've done, we still can't find out who exactly sets the price of a gallon of gasoline. Which human being in America does that?

...Every time I ask who sets the price I get "the market", "the Merc", "OPEC", and on and on. Well it's all B.S. Somebody tells your local gas station owner exactly what to charge. Somebody does that...

O'Reilly's three-year long rant against high oil prices seems to have hit a lull lately.

Perhaps he'd like to blame the oil companies for low prices now. Or the "speculators". Or the "price-fixers".

Oh, and maybe he supports a bailout for the oil companies too, since their profits have fallen so dramatically.

What an economic illiterate.

Your daily digest of newspaper extinction news


Here's the latest HitWise news and media report (PDF). Notice anything interesting?

You've got it: only two legacy print media outlets appear in the top ten list of Internet news sites. That would be the fossilized New York Times (#7) and People Magazine (#10 and dropping).

• Meanwhile the Tribune Company has reportedly hired bankruptcy advisers. Tribune owns, among others, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, and The Baltimore Sun. Some observers claim a bankruptcy filing for the company could come this week.

• McClatchy, the third-largest newspaper chain, is said to be exploring options for its flagship Miami Herald newspaper. With immense debt and a precipitous decline in ad revenue, a sale of the Herald could raise desperately needed capital for the company.

You may recall that McClatchy paid $4.5 billion in 2006 for Knight Ridder, much of it financed. I wonder how that purchase is working out for them?

• Finally, the Rocky Mountain News appears to be on life support. The Scripps company paper is on the block and unless a buyer time-travels here from the sixties, odds are low anyone will turn up to pay for the paper. Analyst Alan Mutter says its days are numbered and "the number of days probably is about 90."

To make matter worse, most Americans believe that the media is flat-out lying to them on a daily basis.

Related: Newspaper CEOs rearrange deck chairs in closed-door "Crisis Summit".
Linked by: Gateway Pundit, American Digest and Ninme. Thanks!

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Newspaper CEOs rearrange deck chairs in closed-door "Crisis Summit"


An invitation-only, closed-door "summit conference" was held in November in which 50 CEO-level newspaper execs pondered methods to revive their business models.

Some observers believe that they were just rearranging deck chairs after hitting the Internet iceberg.

Over at Publishing 2.0, Scott Karp quotes Seth Godin's mantra ("THe Market and the Internet Don't Care If You Make Money") and maps it to the dying newspaper industry.

First, one of Godin's key graphs:

The market doesn’t care a whit about maintaining your industry. The lesson from Napster and iTunes is that there’s even MORE music than there was before. What got hurt was Tower and the guys in the suits and the unlimited budgets for groupies and drugs. The music will keep coming. Same thing is true with books.

Next, Karp translates for newspaper execs.

When I read this, I thought immediately of many assumptions the newspaper industry is making as the decline of its business model accelerates:
  • There has to be a new business model to support journalism with the same profit margins as newspapers have enjoyed in recent decades.
  • There has to be a way for newspapers to “reverse” the declines.
  • Newspapers will eventually find a way to make their web operations as large and profitable as their print operations once were.
  • Newspapers can’t be permitted to die, because then journalism will die.

But the reality is that all of these assumptions may be wrong.

Why? Because the web and the market don’t care. The web is the most disruptive force in the history of media, by many orders of magnitude, destroying every assumption on which traditional media businesses are based.... But the market should care, you say. What would happen if we didn’t have the newspapers playing their Fourth Estate watch dog role? (Ed: Heh.)

Here’s the bitter truth — the feared loss of civic value is not the basis for a BUSINESS... The problem with the newspaper industry, as with the music industry before it, is the sense of ENTITLEMENT. What we do is valuable. Therefore we have the right to make money...

Karp goes on to assert that legacy media companies simply can't create a viable business model for news and journalism by themselves.

Instead, he believes they'll have to collaborate and build a "giant network of much smaller pieces", which will be loosely affiliated.

Karp doesn't think too many folks will listen.

...the media company executives who read this blog will shrug and go back to trying to figure how to prop up their monopolies... And those monopolies will continue to crumble faster every day.

Of course, it doesn't help that many Americans believe that the media is flat-out lying to them each and every day.

Update: Ed Driscoll TV features the Red Queen's Race.

Related: Buh-bye, legacy media.

Friday, December 05, 2008

Olay!


Olay is offering some magical skin stuff aimed at women.

I really don't give a gnat's patoot about Olay, but they advertise on Fox News, so check it out. If you have interest, fill out a coupon request, check the "I saw it on TV" box and then select "Fox News".

Someone's gotta support the truth. And you can help.

Disclaimer: I have absolutely nothing to do with Olay.

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Michael Anthony Mansoor and the AWOL mainstream media


Papa B sent this in.

OOH-RAH................!!!

Where Was The Press Coverage?

Navy Petty Officer Mike Monsoor


PO2 (EOD2)(Explosive Ordnance Disposal) Mike Monsoor, a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq , giving his life to save his fellow Seals.

During Mike Monsoor's funeral in San Diego, as his coffin was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, SEAL's were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two's, with the coffin moving up the center. As Mike's coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin.

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it.

This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero.

This should be front-page news instead of the crap we see every day.

Since the media won't make this news,

I choose to make it news by forwarding it .

I am damn proud of our military. If you are proud too, please pass this on.

If not then rest assured that these fine men and women of our military will continue to serve and protect.

God Bless our Troops

A lot of folks wonder why the mainstream print media is disappearing before our very eyes. The lack of coverage devoted to our heroes -- the men and women protecting America -- is certainly one contributing factor.

Earlier in the year, The Donovan covered Petty Officer Michael Anthony Mansoor.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

A liberal journalist from the Kansas City Star? Who knew?


Earlier today a rambunctious sprite happened upon an early morning post ("$28,119 for every person in the United States") that bemoaned the bailout and the state of the economy.

The liberal "progressive" jamoke added a delightful missive:

Interested in what would motivate a partisan wag to chime in on a decidedly non-partisan post, I tracked the writer's IP address back to The Kansas City Star. You know, the same McClatchy newspaper that just executed its fourth round of layoffs in less than a year.

I'm wagering even odds it was the immortal "journalist" Steve ("McCain Win is 'Jim Crow... Invited to Dinner'") Kraske. I'm guessing it's Kraske because of the peg-the-needle condescension level.

Although it's hard to figure how these blokes can be so condescending when they're getting beaten senseless by teenagers sitting in their parents' basements wearing their jammies.

Monday, December 01, 2008

Mainstream print media auguring into the tarmac


Erick Schonfeld, writing at TechCrunch, highlights the death spiral of the mainstream print media ("Newspaper Death Spiral Continues; Industry Advertising Contracts $5 Billion So Far This Year"):

The newspaper industry in the U.S. continues to shrink at an alarming rate. According to the Newspaper Association of America,, total industry advertising (both print and online) in the third quarter was $8.9 billion, down 18 percent from the year before. The online portion of that was $750 million, down 3 percent. So far in the first three quarters of 2008, the industry’s total advertising revenues have shrunk by $5 billion to $27.8 billion.

Print advertising has been declining for ten straight quarters, but this marks only the second quarter that online advertising also went down. More concerning is that the overall rate of decline seems to be accelerating, a trend we noted in September. Here is the percentage change in total newspaper advertising for the past five quarters:
    3Q07: -7.4%
4Q07: -10.3%
1Q08: -12.85%
2Q08: -15.11%
3Q08: -18.11%
The fourth quarter will probably be worse.

Probably? Erick's an optimist.

One of the commenters asserts that some offline marketers remain healthy:

I work with Valpak, which mails half a billion envelopes filled with coupons to homes throughout North America, Canada and Puerto Rico and business is better than ever. I am seeing lots of local businesses cut newspaper, magazine display, etc… but actually increasing their spending on trackable media like direct mail coupons and search engine marketing. It’s hard for a business owner to cut a profitable ad in an economy like this when they know how much monthly traffic they would lose if they did. Newspapers can’t show a hard return like that justifies the budget dollars they’re asking for and that’s why (aside from steadily declining readership) they’re losing their shirts in this economy….imho.

Put two and two together and you arrive at this: Google is trading at fire-sale prices if your investment horizon is five years or more.

Linked by: Cancel the Bee. Thanks!

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

So-called "Free Press" wants to silence talk radio and Fox News


Some idiot named Josh Silver over at the ill-named FreePress is complaining about Limbaugh, Hannity and Fox News. The irony is not just that the guy works for an organization called "Free Press" but that he's the executive director and also advocates muzzling opinions that he doesn't like.

I'll submit into evidence this particularly noxious secretion:

Obama-the-candidate commented several times that voters' false views of him -- that he's a Muslim, a socialist and unpatriotic -- were fed and spread by Fox News and their cohorts like Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham in the far-right media. Obama understands that they are the special sauce in Karl Rove's toxic recipe to discredit progressive policies and politicians, and divide Americans with wedge issues.

...The Washington Post ombudsman and others claim that the media was too kind to Obama and hard on John McCain. This superficial analysis is both wrong and misleading. Wrong because you had a candidate that was forcefully embracing the policies of George W. Bush while the nation spiraled into one of its darkest moments in its history. The idea that the press should not exert sharp criticism of such a candidate reflects the kind of tepid pandering that has become the hallmark of mainstream corporate media.

Get it? The press was right to "exert sharp criticism" of McSame, but Limbaugh and his ilk are tools of Rove who have no right to speak out because they "divide Americans"! Glad we're clear on that!

Take a walk through rural Ohio as I did this Election Day, and working-class voters are watching Fox, reading empty newspapers running on a bare-bones staff, and listening to radio's right-wing hate-fest... Dramatically increasing funding for public media: for PBS and NPR, as well as community radio and television, and other noncommercial outlets. This includes policies that better protect public media from undue political pressures.

Translated: these Ohio crackers are too stupid to pick the right channels... so let's instead enforce "local programming" content rules so that "community organizers" and liberal, government-funded public radio are the only choices.

Tell you what, Joshie: I'll back your proposal when there are an equal number of conservative voices on NPR morning, noon and night.

As an aside, I do like Tim Karr (also of FreePress) and support the net neutrality aims of SaveTheInternet.com. But I can't tolerate a guy like Silver who claims to espouse freedom of expression on the one hand while he aims to shut down a tiny trickle of conservative opinion on the other.

Go pound sand, Silver. Or should I just call you Josh Hitler, what with your totalitarian goals and all?

Monday, November 24, 2008

Line o' the Day: Surbian Wisdom


Don Surber's the winner for this snippy closer from Still in bed with Barack (hat tip: Larwyn):

Reading the New York Times is like reading Obama's campaign web site.

Except without the faux presidential logos.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Start your day off right with a New York Times investors digest!


Here's something to start your day off right: all of the news at our beloved New York Times is bad news.

On a day the market surged nearly 500 points (or 6.5%) the Times shed 7.7% of its already dramatically reduced value.

And the five-year NYT stock chart looks like something only a cliff-diver would love.

The Wall Street Journal is aggressively pursuing the Times' advertisers; the Times was forced to reduce its dividend, and the only son of publisher Arthur Sulzberger, Jr. was just recalled from his Portland, OR reporting job.

I give 'em three to six months before we get the inevitable "we're exploring all options" line.

Ahhh... doesn't that feel better?