AARON BROWN “TRUTH NO LONGER MATTERS

Bradley Laing monitors right wing media sites and sends along a report from the Media Research Center about Aaron Brown.

”CNN Anchor Aaron Brown Says Truth No Longer Matters in Cable News

“Former CNN anchor Aaron Brown gave a speech at Palm Beach, Florida’s Society of the Four Arts on Tuesday, and according to the Palm Beach Daily News, he didn’t have very nice things to say about the news industry including, “‘Truth no longer matters in the context of politics and, sadly, in the context of cable news.’”

According to the article: “Brown said he tried to give viewers a balanced diet of light and serious news with NewsNight. ‘But I always knew when I got to the Brussels sprouts, I was on thin ice,’ he said.”

Furthermore:

“‘Television is the most perfect democracy,’ Brown said. ‘You sit there with your remote control and vote.’ The remotes click to another channel when serious news airs, but when the media covers the scandals surrounding Laci Peterson, the Runaway Bride or Michael Jackson, ‘there are no clicks then,’ the journalist said.”

CONSERVATIVE NEWSPAPER CALLS FOR IRAQ PULLOUT

Greg Mitchell of Editor & Publisher who shares my passion about the media coverage of the war reports:

“As regular readers of this column know, I embarked on a tireless (to some, tiresome) mission more than two years ago, encouraging newspaper editorial writers to endorse a phased U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, or at least kick around the idea.

“Since virtually no one took me up on it, I’ve had to repeat it every few months. . . Nearly every major paper continued to ignore or oppose the idea, or even called for sending more troops. The Seattle Times and Minneapolis Star-Tribune were just about the only big-city exceptions

“Now, this week, a full and unconditional endorsement of Murtha’s notion has come from a completely unexpected source: the notably conservative Tribune-Review, which is based in Greensburg, Pa., but considers itself a full-fledged Pittsburgh newspaper. It’s controlled by Richard Mellon Scaife, one of the chief funders of conservative think-thanks and activist causes around the country.

“Less than two months ago, the newspaper (daily circulation about 102,000), attacked Murtha’s plan. Printed below is the text of the latest editorial, which was published on Tuesday. Perhaps a few other papers would now like to re-visit this subject, with the third anniversary of the start of the war approaching.”

AL GORE: WHERE IS HE HEADED?

His latest speech was treated as if it was delivered on the mount by supporters. A new movie in which he appears was hailed at Sundance. Now the question put by writer Larry Beinhardt is:

“So Al, You Gonna Run?

“What now? Does Al enjoy his applause, take a bow and walk off stage?…

“But how does he get the media to pay attention to such speeches?

“In that narrow context, the quality of the speech doesn’t matter. The quality of the reasoning, the insights, the clarity, the fervor in the speaker’s voice, the vividness of the images and metaphors, the truths or falsehoods contained therein – none of that matters much at all.

“What matters is the standing of the person making the speech. “Standing,” for these purposes, means one thing: the ability to act upon what you have to say. Thus, almost anybody in the administration – not just the president - the vice-president, secretary of state, speaker of the house, majority leader of the senate – has more standing than Al Gore does. If they say something it means that there will be at least an attempt to carry it out or that it is an elucidation of what is already being carried out, and it is therefore newsworthy.”

He says the only way to get standing and get in the media is to become a candidate. For more on Al, See “GORE IS BIGGER THAN EVER” in the NY Observer:

NYObserver.com

THE TRIANGLE: Matthews, Moore, Murtha, and the Media

This piecce and the diagram that illustrates it makes for a provocative argument worth checking out:

“What’s the common thread running through the past half-decade of Bush’s presidency? What’s the nexus between the Swift-boating of Kerry, the Swift-boating of Murtha, and the guilt-by-association between Democrats and terrorists? Why has a seemingly endless string of administration scandals faded into oblivion? Why do Democrats keep losing elections? It’s this: the traditional media, the trusted media, the “neutral” media, have become the chief delivery mechanism of potent anti-Democratic and pro-Bush storylines. And the Democratic establishment appears to be either ignorant of this political quandary or unwilling to fight it.

“There’s a critical distinction to be made here: individual reporters may lean left, isolated news stories may be slanted against the administration. What I’m describing is the wholesale peddling by the “neutral” press of deep-seated narratives, memes, and soundbites: simple, targeted talking points that paint a picture of reality for the American public that favors the right and tarnishes the left.”

http://daoureport.salon.com/synopsis.aspx?synopsisId=59f92c44-e7ec-48c4-91c7-b51768df79a3

Handy diagram for the visual thinkers

http://www.correntewire.com/daous_triangles_expanded_aka_shystees_media_kabbalah?PHPSESSID=4ecbab29d13d3043a6ed27958fdc9406

More Discussion at
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/1/25/143111/717

BBC WORLD COMING TO DISCOVERY CHANNEL IN USA

BBC World News will travel across the pond thanks to an agreement between BBC World Ltd. and Discovery Communications Inc., announced Wednesday. The full-time news network can be seen in 128 million homes in 200 countries, but, until now, it has not been available in the United States.

DCI already distributes entertainment network BBC America.”

TV CAMERAMAN KILLED IN IRAQ

”A cameraman working for Baghdad Satellite Channel was killed on Tuesday in clashes between U.S. forces and insurgents. Witnesses said the cameraman was wounded in the firefight and then killed in a U.S. air strike.

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/KAM537958.htm

LINCOLN GROUP FOCUSES ON U.S. MEDIA

”Lincoln Group, the Pentagon contractor recently outed for planting stories in Iraqi newspapers, is boosting its own PR efforts. The3 firm hired Bill Dixon, “a veteran PR executive,” as its new directorof media relations. Dixon previously headed media relations for “the powerful DC-area investment ban Friedman, Billings, Ramsey Group,” and has also managed PR for Google and The Motley Fool. He’s also worked on political campaigns, “in D.C., Wisconsin, Colorado, California and Virginia.”

http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/0117lincoln_dixon.htm

For more information or to comment on this story, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/node/4384 http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2006/01/25/notes012506.DTL&type=printable

If you never heard Joey Reynolds on NY’s WOR, you should. Read this and find out why. You may be interested in David Hinckley’s article.

”Rock pioneer Reynolds raps now about feelings

“The guy who has been talking about mental and spiritual health in the early-morning hours over WOR (710 AM) for the last decade doesn’t mind fessing up to his own history as one of the great top-40 deejays from the early years of rock ‘n’ roll.

http://www.nydailynews.com/01-25-2006/entertainment/story/385467p-327149c.html

BOOK SOUP

Progressive Political Book Publishing Is Feeling the Stress: What to Do?

RELEASE: Despite fast-moving technologies and a 24/7 news cycle, books are still a key factor in the national discourse and the spread of ideas in the United States and across the globe. Yet despite, or maybe because of, the extreme right-wing’s dominance of the pubic debate in the U.S., progressive political books and independent publishers are feeling increasingly marginalized. After a surge of popular political books after September 11, including the wildly successful “9/11″ by Noam Chomsky (Seven Stories Press), progressive publishers are now in the doldrums. How did they get here and what can be done about it?”

http://www.alternet.org/story/31230/

YOU ARE NEVER TOO OLD TO DO TV

“The author and former Soviet dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn, often referred to as ‘the conscience of Russia’, is back in the limelight, aged 87, as a screenplay writer. Solzhenitsyn was commissioned to write a 10-part serialization of his 1968 novel The First Circle, which starts on Russian state television on Sunday. Solzhenitsyn also provides the series voice-over to the story of intrigue and betrayal among imprisoned scientists, written in secret while he was being treated in a Soviet sanatorium. “

http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=SIQWYBJNMX1HBQFIQMFSFGGAVCBQ0IV0?xml=/news/2006/01/26/wsolzh26.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/01/26/ixwo - The Telegraph