CNN: New arrest in Pearl case

From Pakistan comes word of a new arrest in the kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Danny Pearl. A man named Hashim Qadeer, was arrested Wednesday…..

FINDING THE KILLER

Greg Mitchell has another big story in Editor and Publisher cited on the European Journalism Center:

“One of the most remarkable stories of the Iraq war appeared on 27 July at the online magazine Salon, written by its longtime foreign correspondent Phillip Robertson. Amazingly, he managed this month to track down the American sniper who apparently shot and killed Knight Ridder correspondent Yasser Salihee, 33,
on 24 June. The article, “The Victim and the Killer,” chronicles this search, and lengthy exchanges between Robertson and the sniper, described only as
“Joe.” Salihee, a physician who had worked for KR for more than a year, was accidentally shot, on his day off, while driving his car in what seemed like a
haphazard manner, wrongly suspected by American soldiers of being a suicide bomber.”

Source: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000998748

UK SCOOP BY US BROADCASTER

The BBC was reporting last night that it had been outscooped in the terror probe by ABC:

“US broadcaster ABC News has shown exclusive photographs related to the London bombings of 7 July. This X-ray picture shows a bomb packed with nails found near Luton railway station.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/4722775.stm
:
New Legislation Could Cost Consumers, Warns CU

(Washington, DC) – Consumers Union cautioned that legislation introduced today by Senator John Ensign (R-NV) could end up costing consumers more for phone, cable and Internet services.

“Consumers better hold on to their wallets if this bill becomes law,” said Jeannine Kenney, senior policy analyst at Consumers Union. “They can look forward to soaring cable and phone bills and even fewer choices for broadband as dominant cable and phone companies tighten their stranglehold on the limited competition in these markets. Despite platitudes toward consumer choice and protection, this bill does the exact opposite.”

More information about cable and phone issues can be found at HearUsNow.org.

PRESS COVERAGE OF THE ROBERTS NOMINATION”FAWNING”

Eric Boehlert writes;

” John Roberts’ nomination to the Supreme Court certainly qualified as Big News at both Time and Newsweek, which delivered all-hands-on-deck profiles for this week’s issue. (In all, 20 Newsweek and Time reporters contributed to the articles.)

“Fawning, glowing, congratulatory, adulatory, Sycophantic. Take your pick, the stories are so over the top they have to be read to be believed, with the only real question being should Fred Thompson—Roberts’ WH-appointed handler–have received ghostwriting credit? I mean, how could Thompson possibly top Newsweek’s almost comical portrait of Roberts as a too-good-to-be-true “centrist” who’s “enormously self-confident” but “not arrogant or showy.” An “unpretentious” “regular guy” with a “wicket wit” who “mows his own lawn.” (Newsweek conveniently omits the name of the high school John “Regular Guy” Roberts attended; La Lumiere.) According to the weekly he’s loyal to church, family, school and “most importantly” (wait for it…) “to the law.”

“The Time piece isn’t quite so embarrassing, although editors there think nuggets that Roberts is ambidextrous on the racquet ball court and plays Candyland with his kids qualify as insight. The piece ends with the completely baseless speculation that liberals might come to love Roberts as a Supreme Court justice.

“There’s nothing wrong with the press toasting a man’s life accomplishments, and certainly Roberts has had many. But aren’t Time and Newsweek supposed to be news magazine, helping to put events in context? Their Roberts profiles lacked any.

“For instance, combined, the two features run 6,390 words, with over two dozen people quoted. Here’s how many quotes there are from people even politely questioning the Roberts nomination: 0.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/theblog/archive/eric-boehlert/newsweek-time-heart-john_4708.html

WAR IS FUN

Sheldon Rampton of PR Watch reports:

”Years of writing about public relations and propaganda has probably made me a bit jaded, but I was amazed nevertheless when I visited America’s Army, an online video game website sponsored by the U.S Department of Defense. In its quest to find recruits, the military has literally turned war into entertainment.
“America’s Army” offers a range of games that kids can download or play online. Although the games are violent, with plenty of opportunities to shoot and blow things up, they avoid graphic images of death or other ugliness of war, offering instead a sanitized, Tom Clancy version of fantasy combat. One game, Overmatch, promises “a contest in which one opponent is distinctly superior … with specialized skills and superior technology … OVERMATCH: few soldiers, certain victory” (more or less the same overconfident message that helped lead us into Iraq).”

http://www.prwatch.org/node/3865

GOOD NEWS/BAD NEWS

Some news from the Islamic group CAIR says, “According to a survey which was conducted between the day of the first terrorist attacks in London and July 17, a majority of Americans (55 percent) say they have a favorable opinion of American Muslims. That figure is significantly higher than the 45 percent holding favorable views in March 2001, prior to the 9/11 terrorist attacks.”

Contrast this with Vikram Dodd’s report in the Guardian

” Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have thought about leaving Britain after the London bombings, according to a new Guardian/ICM poll. . . The poll also shows that tens of thousands of Muslims have suffered from increased Islamophobia, with one in five saying they or a family member have faced abuse or hostility since the attacks. . . Nearly two-thirds of Muslims told pollsters that they had thought about their future in Britain after the attacks, with 63% saying they had considered whether they wanted to remain in the UK. . .

CABLE MERGER MANIA

“Comcast and Time Warner are trying to further consolidate their regional monopolies. If this deal goes through, Big Cable Company #1 (Comcast) and Big Cable Company #2 (Time-Warner) will gobble up Big Cable Company #3 (Adelphia), and the two remaining cable giants will control over 50% of US cable subscribers. At the same time, the FCC is considering rules that could potentially allow just 3 cable companies to control over 90% of broadband and cable access across the United States.”

RATINGS

Daniel Delson writes on one side of a media issue in Congress:

As a consultant to Nielsen Media Research, I thought the following information would be of interest to you:

“As the media landscape shifts, television ratings have become a target for broadcasters looking to defend their turf. Several station owners, including News Corp., are currently seeking government oversight of advanced ratings technology that is tracking the decline of broadcast audiences.

“Tomorrow, July 27, Susan D. Whiting, President and CEO of Nielsen Media Research will testify before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation to oppose legislation to regulate TV ratings. Other critics of the bill, which was introduced by Senator Conrad Burns (R, MT) and drafted in cooperation with News Corp., include many cable companies, advertising agencies, minority groups and media writers.

“Cable operators argue that broadcasters are trying to hold back technological progress because it threatens their bottom line. Ad agencies worry that regulation would stifle efforts to measure new systems like Video on Demand and Digital Video Recorders. Minority leaders warn that the bill would roll back much of the progess that has been achieved in measuring audiences of color. And, as the article below illustrates, media analysts wonder why is Senator Burns is focused on regulating television ratings at a time when there are more critical issues before the Commerce Committee, such as the digital television transition, communications mergers, and issues related to video news releases.