The Guardian reports today that the US is now using TV commercials to find Osama bin Laden:

Spying hasn’t worked, and neither has shooting. So America has turned to its great cultural weapon to flush out Osama bin Laden - television.

After a fruitless three-year hunt, the US is funding advertisements on Pakistani television which it hopes will touch the hearts of those close to the elusive al-Qaida leader.

As photos of Bin Laden and 13 other wanted men flicker across the screen a voice implores: “Who are the people who are suffering from terrorism? Our mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, sons and daughters! Who can stop these terrorists? Only you!”

The 30-second ads, broadcast in Pakistan’s five main languages, also dangle a $25m (£13m) carrot before potential informers - one that might soon double thanks to a new law passing through Congress.

The advertising blitz sees the US move into terrain already expertly exploited by al-Qaida. A videotape released last October, four days before the US presidential election, showed a vigorous-looking Bin Laden taunting President Bush. The message was broadcast around the world.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/pakistan/Story/0,2763,1424073,00.html

Joe Hagen reports in the NY Observer that “the fact that CBS had a private investigator looking into its own employee suggests that well before the panel issued any findings, network management had begun to shift its focus away from solving the mystery behind the documents and toward placing the blame for the decision to air the segment. That foreshadowed the investigative panel’s own report, which, having failed to figure out the source of the memos, focused instead on internal procedural and journalistic failures at CBS.”

“Lucy ‘the mystery woman’ Ramirez met face to face with Burkett. Someone could confirm if Lucy is Nydia Bertran-Stone, the wife of Roger Stone, ‘a dirty trickster of the Nixon, Reagan and Bush eras’, and who is linked to the Internet bloke ‘Buckhead’ aka Harry W. MacDougald, and who is also linked to Texas Republicans; i.e., Rove & Company, and the latest sex scandal in the Oral Office.”

http://www.observer.com/pages/nytv.asp

HOORAY FOR HARVEYWOOD

As the Oscars approach, Hollywood is buzzing with this item on IwantMedia.com; Miramax’s Weinsteins, Disney Near Break-Up

“Bob and Harvey Weinstein will meet with Disney execs this week to iron out the details of their exit from Miramax Films, says a source. The Weinsteins might stay on as consultants.”

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=7705444

SCANDAL OF THE DAY

“Two former Ogilvy & Mather execs face 50 years in prison after they were found guilty Tuesday of overcharging the government $3 million for anti-drug ads. One of the ads ran in the 2002 Super Bowl.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/business/story/283375p-242837c.html

ON THE COVERAGE OF AIDS

Media Tenor reports:

“Although the international HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to worsen, the general public receives very little information on it from the media. The latest study from Media Tenor indicates a lack of media reporting on HIV/AIDS, especially in South Africa, where an estimated one in nine citizens is HIV positive. Even though HIV/AIDS is the most frequent cause of death in South Africa, media awareness of the topic is negligible: only 1% of the total of TV news stories is focused on the subject. HIV/AIDS also receives very little attention in German and U.S. TV news, with only 0,2% of the total coverage in either country being focused on HIV/AIDS.

“Media Tenor analyzes the media coverage of HIV/AIDS to provide a tool for journalists, NGOs and governments to increase awareness on the HIV/AIDS crisis.”

www.mediatenor.com

RUSHING THROUGH AFGHANISTAN

Media Matters for America reports:

While in Afghanistan to highlight America’s ongoing relief efforts in that country, nationally syndicated radio host Rush Limbaugh delivered a partisan attack against a “political party,” an apparent reference to Democrats, in a discussion with American troops. Recounting his remarks during a phone interview with guest host Roger Hedgecock on the February 22 edition of The Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh noted that he told the troops he wouldn’t “go politically correct on them” by hiding liberals’ “opposition” to the troops and their mission:

LIMBAUGH: And, by the way, folks, if you’re wondering, I didn’t go politically correct on them. I told them exactly who’s saying what about them in an opposition fashion. I told them what I think is the sort of phony-baloney, plastic-banana, good-time rock ‘n’ roller of some members of the American left saying they support the troops but they don’t support their mission –
And I haven’t run into anybody who has snickered. They’re eager for the truth here.

http://mediamatters.org/items/200502230009