How NBC inflamed the Trayvon Martin case

NBC to do ‘internal investigation’ on Zimmerman segment

NBC's edited account

 Excerpt:

The difference between what “Today” put on its air and the actual tape? Complete: In the “Today” version, Zimmerman volunteered that this person “looks black,” a sequence of events that would more readily paint Zimmerman as a racial profiler. In reality’s version, Zimmerman simply answered a question about the race of the person whom he was reporting to the police. Nothing prejudicial at all in responding to such an inquiry.

Actual event:

Comment: Click link for video

The MSM and Repubican "Bloodletting"

Romney Scores Big Win; Press Fails to Notice

Excerpts:

Romney is being widely panned by the press for an “inability to close the deal,” and yet the description seems far more apt for Santorum, who now has blown huge leads in the most critical contests of recent weeks, Ohio and Michigan. If anything, the more voters look at Santorum, the more concerned they become and less likely they are to sign on the dotted line.

...

All reporting is now sports reporting. Reporters love a battle and they love to go on TV and rave about how exciting everything is. And editors seek a bracing and never-ending storyline because it draws readers and ultimately pleases their corporate bosses, who want to sell papers and generate pageviews.

 The headline “Romney Scores Six Wins and Continues Methodical Drive Toward Nomination” is just not going to drive eyeballs to your story.

 And reporters also tend to be moderate to liberal. Bloodletting among Republicans at some level is agreeable to many of them. I have to believe that if this was Obama instead of Romney, the stories would be about the growing inevitability of Obama’s nomination.

That Romney is in all likelihood on the march toward nomination will probably soon become too apparent for any serious journalist to deny. At that point, for the reasons listed above, we will begin to hear feverish talk about the prospects for a third party candidacy.

Comments: Source of images: 1. bloodletting; 2. Screen capture.

The Bush derangement syndrome

CBS Decides Al and Tipper's Separation is the Fault of....George W. Bush

Excerpt:

Is there anything a journalist cannot or will not twist to bring the topic back to how life would be so much better if only not for that awful George W. Bush? On Tuesday's CBS Evening News, with the help of the Washington Post's Sally Quinn, Sharyl Attkisson managed to blame news, that Al and Tipper Gore are separating, on how they never got over being denied the presidency despite winning the popular vote in 2000. If only Bush hadn't taken it from them.

Attkisson recalled "it's been ten years since that oddly public passionate kiss at the Democratic convention. That was followed by Gore winning the popular vote for President but losing the electoral vote. Family friend Sally Quinn says that may have done the marriage irreparable harm."

Viewers then heard from Quinn, who's married former Post Executive Editor Ben Bradlee and is now titular overseer of the paper's "On Faith" blog: "He obviously suffered a lot and still is suffering. He'll never get over that and neither will she."

Attkisson cheekily began her story: "While Al Gore was out fighting global warming, his marriage to Tipper was apparently cooling."

On ABC's World News, Claire Shipman offered a simpler explanation, sans the political grudges: "The Gores have told friends they've simply grown apart. Tipper embracing the perks of a post-political life like grandchildren and travel. The former Vice President relishing his role as an award-winning environmental activist and not eager to slow down."

Comment: Or maybe not Exclusive: Al Gore Cheats with Larry David's Ex

"Possible links between convicted murderer Charles Manson and yesterday’s traffic jams in the downtown area"

Media Fear Tactics

Excerpt:

It would be interesting if the standards of Truth in Advertising were applied to television news as they sometimes are to television commercials. In that unlikely situation, TV news writers would be required to use phrases and words that convey accurate information – as opposed to the phrases and words they use today.

Comment: Entire article is worth a read. I only posted first paragraph.

America's short attention span

America's short attention span strikes again: A study of New York Times coverage shows that the press loves to cover a natural disaster. For about a week

Excerpts:

"American public attention rarely remains sharply focused on any one domestic issue for very long -- even if it involves a continuing problem of crucial importance to society." So wrote the economist Anthony Downs in 1972. He described the "issue-attention cycle": "Each of these problems suddenly leaps into prominence, remains there for a short time and then -- though still largely unresolved -- gradually fades from the center of public attention."

Three months after the earthquake in Haiti, it is clear that it's not only domestic problems that receive this kind of attention. Indeed, a comparison of New York Times stories about three recent natural disasters -- Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 Indonesian tsunami, and the earthquake in Haiti -- shows that the issue-attention cycle characterizes news coverage of each.

...

... natural disasters are by their nature sudden, but the problems they illuminate -- vulnerable levees, dire poverty, weak political institutions -- are chronic. The Onion’s headline about Haiti was fitting: "Massive Earthquake Reveals Entire Island Civilization Called 'Haiti.'"

"Euphoric enthusiasm" ensues, as citizens and governments muster aid. But as the "cost of significant progress" becomes clear, few people or leaders are willing to make the necessary sacrifices. There is a "gradual decline of intense public interest" -- perhaps not even gradual in these cases. And the news knows it. Not two weeks after the earthquake, CNN’s Sanjay Gupta told the New York Times: "We all know what’s going to happen. People are just going to lose interest in this as a story. They’re going to stop watching."

News coverage can even help assuage people's guilt. Two weeks after the disaster, the New York Times saw "signs of revival in Haiti.” Seven weeks after that, the Dallas Morning News found "signs of normal life." Such signs may be real, but these sorts of stories aren't likely to sustain the public's interest.

Comment: It happens in business and churches too. Some issue is a crisis and their is great focus on it .... until the next crisis

Rotten ACORN

ACORN Story Grows But Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover It

Excerpt:

This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings. But almost no one is covering it.

Only almost no one is covering it.

This is the news media in the era of Van Jones and President Obama. The major outlets cover what they want and create the themes they want. When they find something inconvenient, they let it pass. They didn’t like the Van Jones story, so they ignored it. The network news media liked the financial entity known as Fannie Mae, so they ignored that scandalous organization for years. ACORN is getting the same treatment.

But it isn’t working any more. The ACORN fiasco has now impacted three offices – Baltimore, Washington and New York – with laugh-out-loud videos reminiscent of the hookers and pimps from the 1970s “Starsky and Hutch” show. Huggy Bear returns! Four employees have been fired, with more likely to come. And the controversy was so laughably bad that the Census Bureau cut off all ties to the group known formally as the "Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now." -- They called it the “tipping point” to shed themselves of ACORN. More nuts for someone else, I guess.

And yet. And yet it’s still been ignored by the network news. Nothing on ABC, CBS or NBC. The only thing any one of the three broadcast networks has done appeared in a blog post by ABC’s Jake Tapper. It's hardly worth noting except to show that the networks know about what’s going on. They just don’t care to report it. Only FOX News has bothered to report on the controversy.

The video scandal is only part of the fiasco that is this Saul Alinsky-esque community group. Just last week CNN reported that other ACORN employees were arrested in Florida. “Arrest warrants were issued Wednesday for 11 Florida voter registration workers who are suspected of submitting false information on hundreds of voter registration cards, according to court documents,” said CNN.

That’s typical. The Web site "Rotten ACORN" is devoted to election fraud complaints against the organization. The site’s map shows 14 different states where complaints have been filed. The last time any one of the broadcast networks talked about that was before the 2008 presidential election. That was NBC on Nov. 1. Nothing since.

Comment: Check it out: Rotten ACORN

WFC: Reality Check

Wells Fargo cancels Las Vegas events

Excerpt:

Wells Fargo & Co (WFC.N), which received $25 billion from the government's bank bailout program four months ago, said it had canceled employee events in Las Vegas after a report saying it had booked expensive hotels.

The move came after the Associated Press said the bank had booked 12 nights at the Wynn Las Vegas (WYNN.O) and the Encore Las Vegas, two of that city's more upscale hotels, as part of a conference for top mortgage officials.

Wells Fargo had also been planning a 3-day meeting starting on Feb. 25 for 40 insurance employees at another high-end hotel, the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, according to the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority's website.

The bank issued a statement saying it had canceled events, although it was not immediately clear when these were planned for. Wells Fargo was immediately available for comment.

"We had scaled back the mortgage event, but in light of the current environment, we have now decided to cancel this event as well. We do not plan to have any other recognition events this year," it said in a statement.

The bank, however, defended such events as part of its culture, and said the Associated Press report was misleading.

"The event is not a 'junket' for executives but a four-day business meeting and recognition event for hard-working team members who made homeownership achievable and sustainable for borrowers across the nation," it said.

Comment: Since I've been asked about this by several relatives I will briefly comment.

• The so-called "bailout" money was the Government buying dividend paying preferred stock in WFC.
  
• Preferred stock pays interest to the government (like a bond) &
  
• Preferred stock dividends pay out before common stock dividends. I have XXX shares of WFC stock that pay dividends. I will never see those dividends until after WFC pays the government preferred dividends.
  
• Rewards for sales people is a part of every sales culture in America.
  
• I'm in IT not sales but I used to sell computers for IBM and later DEC. When I had a great year (I had some stinkers too!) I would get a trip. So what. The salesmen earn it.
  
• If it were in Toledo, or Green Bay no one would be complaining. Do you know it is less expensive to fly people to Las Vegas than to Toledo or Green Bay.
  

CNN and the other main stream media outlets did a great disservice by giving "half-truths" (a form of a lie!). But it doesn't surprise me. Also reports like this take the focus off Dems that don't pay taxes or pork-laiden wasteful government spending. My 2 cents.