'Dean Scream' clip was media fraud

Tallahassee Democrat | 02/23/2005 | 'Dean Scream' clip was media fraud: "Wed, Feb. 23, 2005 | By Edward Wasserman

The news media got an unusual bashing during last year's bitter electoral campaigns. They got slapped around from all sides, and everybody argued about how the media tried either to undermine Bush or discredit Kerry or both.
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You've seen the clip. After Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" at the Super Bowl, it's the most famous news video of 2004. Dean is addressing campaign supporters after he lost the Iowa party caucuses in January. He's screaming for no apparent reason, practically shrieking, ticking off the states where he's vowing to continue the race. His face is red, his voice breaking. He looks deranged. It's a portrait of a man out of control. It's documentary evidence that Dean lacks the temperament for high office.

In fact the Dean Scream was a fraud, probably the clearest instance of media assassination in recent U.S. political history.

Last year, a young cable news producer attended one of our twice-yearly Ethics Institutes at Washington and Lee University, in which students and journalists gather to discuss newsroom wrongdoing. He brought two clips.

The first was the familiar pool footage of Dean in Iowa. The candidate filled the screen, no supporters were visible. Crowd noise was silenced by the microphone he held, which deadened ambient sounds. You saw only him and heard only his inexplicable screaming.

The second clip was the same speech taped by a supporter on the floor of the hall. The difference was stunning. The place was packed. The noise was deafening. Dean was on the podium, but you couldn't hear him. The roar from his supporters was drowning him out.

Dean was no longer scary, unhinged, volcanic, over the top. He was like the coach of a would-be championship NCAA football team at a pre-game rally, trying to be heard over a gym full of determined, wildly enthusiastic fans. I saw energy, not lunacy.
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The Dean Scream footage that was repeatedly aired rests on a similar falsehood. It takes a man who in context was acting reasonably, and by stripping away that context transforms him into a lunatic.

But that clip was aired an estimated 700 times on various cable and broadcast channels in the week after the Iowa caucus. The people who showed that clip are far more technically sophisticated than I and had to understand how tight visual framing and noise-suppression hardware can distort reality.

Social Security Official: "inappropriate for officials from the Social Security Administration to hit the hustings in support of the president"

The New York Times > Washington > Democrats Criticize Social Security Official: "By ANNE E. KORNBLUT | Published: February 25, 2005

WASHINGTON, Feb. 24 - In the midst of a fractious debate over changes to Social Security, a senior official of the agency that administers the program has been joining Republican members of Congress at public events around the country devised to promote personal retirement accounts.

James B. Lockhart III, the deputy commissioner at the Social Security Administration, said Thursday that he had appeared with four Republican members in recent days to provide information, not to endorse the diversion of some payroll taxes to personal accounts. ...
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Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said the agency "is supposed to serve all the people and should not be giving the appearance that it is taking sides."

"It is absolutely inappropriate for officials from the Social Security Administration to hit the hustings in support of the president's plan," Mr. Schumer said in a statement. ...

More propaganda: Fake reporter fits administration's pattern of made-up journalism.

HoustonChronicle.com - More propaganda: Fake reporter fits administration's pattern of made-up journalism.: "Feb. 13, 2005, 10:33PM
MORE PROPAGANDA

The unmasking of an alleged journalist who used a pseudonym to gain access to White House briefings and news conferences raises more questions about the Bush administration's tactics for securing favorable news. James Guckert, who used the Talon News byline 'Jeff Gannon,' managed to get access to the White House on a daily basis for two years."

Bush cancels much-touted American-style 'town hall' meeting ...when German event can't be scripted

Daily Kos :: Bush cancels...when German event can't be scripted: "by Ed Tracey | Wed Feb 23rd, 2005 at 10:59:35 PST

From today's Der Spiegel:
The much-touted American-style 'town hall' meeting the White House has been planning with 'normal Germans' of everyday walks of life will be missing during his visit to the Rhine River hamlet of Mainz this afternoon.

A few weeks ago, the Bush administration had declared that the chat -- which could have brought together tradesmen, butchers, bank employees, students and all other types to discuss trans-Atlantic relations -- would be the cornerstone of President George W. Bush's brief trip to Germany [...]

The Germans, though, insisted that a free forum should be exactly that. Wolfgang Ischinger, Germany's Ambassador to the United States, explained to the New York Times last week: 'We told them, don't get upset with us if they ask angry questions.'

But on Wednesday, that town hall meeting will be nowhere on the agenda -- it's been cancelled. "

Where Was the Press When This Was Going On? Where Was the Press? While Helen Thomas and hard questions were frozen out, Gannon lobs softball question

MediaChannel.org - A Global Network of More Than 1,000 Media Issues Groups: "Where Was the Press When This Was Going On? | By Danny Schechter | MediaChannel.org | NEW YORK, February 21, 2005 --
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And now there's Gannongate.
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At the moment, everyone is smirking about the antics and improbability of a holier than thou White House conniving with a planted "reporter" who seems to have doubled as an on-line gay sex-for-hire panderer and practitioner, defiling images, no less, of our macho military warriors with websites like militaryescortsm4m.com.
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And yet, what's the question lost in all the focus on the sleazy antics of GOP propaganda plant Jeff Gannon/Jim Guckert by a gang bang of bloggers and comedians, including, most hysterically, The Daily Show's Jon Stewart. Where was the rest of the press corps(e) while all this was going on for TWO YEARS?
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Where were the other reporters and news rooms with a permanent presence at the White House Press Room when softball questions and partisan points were being offered up routinely in what were supposed to be press conferences aimed to eliciting truth?

Is this another case of the silence of what Greg Palast calls "the media lambs?"

Weren't any of our journo "pros" curious about this guy and his weird ways and phony news service operating as a front group for Republican hardliners? He was operating right in front of them but seems to have become transparently invisible.

Was the White House Correspondents Association so busy planning its next celebrity dinner to give the President a platform for banal one-liners that none objected to his presence or the favorable treatment this imposter was accorded?

While Helen Thomas and hard questions were frozen out, deference became the order of the day in a clubby and collegial atmosphere that so typifies the servility and complicity of mainstream media.

All the News That's Fit to Fake:

Dave Lindorff: All the News That's Fit to Fake: "February 21, 2005 | Jayson Blair, Where Are You?

Okay, so we know now that the Bush administration has been using all kinds of devious means to push propaganda on the American public-fake news generated by the Pentagon for overseas, and ultimately, courtesy of blowback, U.S. consumption, fake news reports by fake reporters peddled to local TV stations, bought reporters and syndicated columnists paid to shill for the administration's policies, and even fake reporters salted into the White House press corps to ask puffball questions if the president or press secretary start getting too much heat.

But why is this all happening?

Sure the administration should take some of the blame for this Soviet-style manipulation of public opinion.

But what about the press itself?

This column already made the point that if the White House press corps were doing its job and asking tough, probing questions, James Guckert, aka Jeff Gannon, would have stood out like a stallion with a hard-on...er, excuse me...a sore thumb.

But what about the "Karen and Mike Show," those fake "news reports" by fake reporters which were sent directly to local TV stations across the country by the DEA and the Department of Health and Human Services, where they were often aired without question as local reports on administration activities. Do local news shows have so little concern about the content of their programs that they would just run a report by a reporter they don't even know without fact-checking it and checking on the credentials of the reporter? Of course not! They had to know that the reports they were broadcasting were from government agencies and were nothing but blatant propaganda. This is the video equivalent of publishing press releases verbatim.

And what newspaper would do that?

Oops! Lots of newspapers do that-and not just government press releases. They publish corporate press releases verbatim, too. Just scan the business pages of the New York Times. ...

The mole, the US media and a White House coup ... part of a wider press scandal ... would have been during Clinton years

The Observer | Focus | The mole, the US media and a White House coup: "The mole, the US media and a White House coup | Sunday February 20, 2005 | The Observer

The reporter who wasn't is part of a wider press scandal, writes Paul Harris in New York

For two years Jeff Gannon cut an unobtrusive figure at White House press conferences. ....
No one is laughing now, because Gannon was far from being a harmless distraction. He was writing under a false name and working for a Republican front organisation. Suddenly, his 'softball' questions to White House officials looked less like eccentricities and more like plotting by an administration which has frequently displayed a dark mastery of the arts of press control.

When it emerged that Gannon was also linked to gay prostitution websites and might be a gay prostitute himself, the scandal as to how he was allowed daily access to the White House grew even murkier. The American media is now being forced to confront the possibility that Gannon, whose real name is James Guckert, was simply a Republican plant, ...
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Right-wing media ratcheted up the long-standing conservative complaint that the media is dominated by liberal publications. Though many journalism experts deny that is the case, the image has settled in the American consciousness, forcing newspapers, magazines and television stations to go out of their way to prove they are not liberal. 'We have a conservative media and also a mainstream media, which is also now fairly conservative because it has been forced to deny being liberal,' said Lule.

The Gannon case is a prime illustration. If, during the Clinton administration, a fake reporter from a Democrat front organisation, using a false name, had been exposed as attending White House press conferences it would have been a national scandal. If he had then been shown to be a gay prostitute, the scandal could have threatened a Democrat presidency. With 'Gannon' and Bush there has been no such outcry. The mainstream media has approached the story warily, while right-wing organisations such as Fox News have largely ignored it. ...
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The media is in the midst of a transformation which the Bush administration is keen to foster. They have discovered that a partisan and atomised media can be controlled, manipulated and used to an unprecedented degree. ...

Bush Administration has reversed itself barring the use of term "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender."

News & Politics: "HHS reverses itself on using 'LGBT' | Christopher Curtis, PlanetOut Network | Friday, February 18, 2005 / 06:58 PM"

The Bush Administration has reversed itself on whether it is permissible for programs sponsored by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to use the words "gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender."

The fight was sparked by a SAMHSA official insisting a program originally titled "Suicide Prevention Among Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Individuals" be changed for a Feb. 28 conference in Portland, Ore.
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After a public outcry and intense media coverage, SAMHSA officials tried backing away from the controversial position but did not say whether LGBT references in future SAMHSA-funded activities would be barred.
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"I am pleased that Mr. Curie was so cooperative and moved so quickly to repudiate the apparently erroneous earlier statements that SAMHSA policies bar the use of references to any of these terms."

I was reject for a White House press pass ... but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures gets in every week!

The New York Times > Opinion > Op-Ed Columnist: Bush's Barberini Faun: "By MAUREEN DOWD | Published: February 17, 2005
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... I was rejected for a White House press pass at the start of the Bush administration, but someone with an alias, a tax evasion problem and Internet pictures where he posed like the "Barberini Faun" is credentialed to cover a White House that won a second term by mining homophobia and preaching family values?

At first when I tried to complain about not getting my pass renewed, even though I'd been covering presidents and first ladies since 1986, no one called me back. Finally, when Mr. McClellan replaced Ari Fleischer, he said he'd renew the pass - after a new Secret Service background check that would last several months.

In an era when security concerns are paramount, what kind of Secret Service background check did James Guckert get so he could saunter into the West Wing every day under an assumed name while he was doing full-frontal advertising for stud services for $1,200 a weekend? He used a driver's license that said James Guckert to get into the White House, then, once inside, switched to his alter ego, asking questions as Jeff Gannon.

Administration Is Warned About Its 'News' Videos: "G.A.O. is sending a clear message ... shut down the propaganda mill"

The New York Times > Washington > Administration Is Warned About Its 'News' Videos: By ANNE E. KORNBLUT | Published: February 19, 2005

WASHINGTON, Feb. 18 - The comptroller general has issued a blanket warning that reminds federal agencies they may not produce newscasts promoting administration policies without clearly stating that the government itself is the source.

Twice in the last two years, agencies of the federal government have been caught distributing prepackaged television programs that used paid spokesmen acting as newscasters and, in violation of federal law, failed to disclose the administration's role in developing and financing them.
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The two best-known cases of such video news releases - one concerning the new Medicare law, the other an antidrug campaign by the Bush administration - drew sharp rebukes from the G.A.O. after separate investigations last year found that the agencies involved had violated the law.
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"The G.A.O. is sending a clear message to the Bush administration: shut down the propaganda mill," Senator Frank R. Lautenberg of New Jersey said in a statement on Friday. "The G.A.O. is simply telling the White House to stop manipulating media, stop paying journalists and be straight with the American people."

Gone... But Not Forgotten

Gone... But Not Forgotten: "Friday, February 18, 2005

BREAKING NEWS: Gannon reportedly knew about 'Shock and Awe' four hours before it happened

A news producer for a major network just told me that Gannon told the producer the 'shock and awe' campaign launching the Iraq war was about to happen four hours before President Bush announced it to the nation. Source"

Gannon: Scott McClellan often called on the pseudoreporter for softball questions.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Bush: they don't like our "freedom of speech" ... but neither does Bush at Bush events

How Team Bush Controls the Message, Stages the Events: "Monday, February 14, 2005 by Cox News Service | How to Get Straight to the People: Control the Message, Stage the Event | by Ken Herman
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From how the message is delivered, to who is in the audience to hear it, to who gets to ask questions about it, the White House goal is control. It's a critical effort for a president who must get Americans to give him a listen about proposed overhauls of basic institutions such as Social Security, health care and taxes.

The tactics include public events, sometimes called "conversations," sometimes called "forums" and sometimes called "town hall meetings" featuring Bush....
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Regardless of the name, such events are always the same: Bush as congenial host with hand-picked on-stage guests with stories to prove the president's point.
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In addition to orchestrating the on-stage portion of the events, there is evidence that the White House works to control the live audience. Presidential appearances are "ticketed events," with ticket distribution controlled by local officials and organizations.
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Inside the box of tickets and other event materials he got from the White House was a list passed down by the advance team of people it deemed could be disruptive to the event, he said.

Burgum said volunteers were told it was not a "do-not-admit list." What it was, he said, was more of please-behave list. The 42 people on the list, if they sought tickets, were to be asked not to disrupt the event.
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Among those on the Fargo list was Linda Coates, a local city commissioner who said she initially was "amused, shocked and creeped out" about it. She said those on the list probably were singled out because of "our history of outspoken opposition to many of the administration's policies."
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"Getting out of Washington is healthy, and getting out amongst the people is invigorating, and I want to thank you for coming out to say hello," Bush said by way of wrapping up.

Bush administration assigns 'minders' for reporters: [... muzzling attendees from speaking freely to reporters! ]

Unknown�News: "Bush administration assigns 'minders' for reporters | THANKS, TIM M. | by Paul Farhi, Washington Post | Jan. 30, 2005

Reporters who cover the White House are accustomed to being spun by administration officials. The modern presidential toolbox includes carefully rationed press conferences, say-nothing spokesmen, dead-of-night releases of unfavorable news, and phony "town hall" meetings composed solely of sycophantic supporters. More recently, government agencies have issued fake-news videos and secretly contracted with two pundits to promote the administration's policies on education and marriage.

But now the art of press handling has evolved into actual manhandling. The Bush team has expanded the use of "minders," employees or volunteers who escort journalists from interview to interview within a venue or at a newsworthy event.
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... For the first couple of hours of the Independence Ball, I roamed the vast width and length of the Washington Convention Center hall dangerously unescorted.
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As I was dictating from my notes, something flashed across my face and neatly snatched my cell phone from of my hand. I looked up to confront a middle-aged woman, her face afire with rage. "You ignored the rules, and I'm throwing you out!" she barked, snapping my phone shut. "You told that girl you didn't need an escort. That's a lie! You're out of here!"
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Their real purpose only occurred to me after I had gone home for the night, when I remembered a brief conversation with a woman I was interviewing. ... No, the minders weren't there to monitor me. They were there to let the guests, my sources on inaugural night, know that any complaint, any unguarded statement, any off-the-reservation political observation, might be noted. ...

Another Pundit on the Payroll

washingtonpost.com: Media Notes Extra: "Another Pundit on the Payroll | Monday, Feb 14, 2005; 9:17 AM

The issue of pundit payola, it seems, is not limited to inside the Beltway.

Eric Wesson, a columnist for the Call, an African American newspaper in Kansas City, offered plenty of praise last year for the successful House bid of Democrat Emanuel Cleaver. 'Rev. Cleaver,' he wrote, 'has the experience to get things done and getting people to work together, he unites people. . . . Rev. Cleaver is a master at getting others to see his vision and surrounding himself with role players to make the vision become a reality. . . . I admire his honesty.'"

Cleaver's campaign last summer paid $1,500 to a firm called One Goal Consultants. And the sole owner of One Goal Consultants, according to state records, is Wesson. ...

Bush Used Tax Dollars for Propaganda

Bush Used Tax Dollars for PropagandaPosted by: soficrow | On: Mon January, 10 2005 @ 03:17 GMT

The Government Accountability Office reported on Thursday that mock videos produced by the Bush administration "constitute covert propaganda" and violate Federal law. The Bush administration violated the same law last May with Medicare "news" segments targetting the elderly. The Accountability Office also found that federal agencies under the Bush administration distributed editorials and newspaper articles written by government officials without identifying them, which also constitutes "covert propaganda" and violates Federal law.


original news source:

www.nytimes.com
The Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, said on Thursday that the Bush administration violated federal law by producing and distributing (phony) television news segments about the effects of drug use among young people. ...Representative Henry A. Waxman of California, the senior Democrat on the Government Reform Committee, who requested the review, said the use of the mock news segments broke "a fundamental principle of open government."

The accountability office said the videos "constitute covert propaganda" because the government was not identified as the source of the materials, which were distributed by the Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Congresswoman Asks for Probe After 'Gannon' Quits WH Reporting Post: [... "fake?" reporter plants simple questions ...]

Congresswoman Asks for Probe After 'Gannon' Quits WH Reporting Post: "By Joe Strupp | Published: February 09, 2005 updated 2:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Jeff Gannon, the controversial reporter for conservative Web site Talon News who drew complaints for gaining access to White House press events, resigned from his job last night amid liberal blogs' allegations about his real name and his personal and professional life.

Today, Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.) sent a letter to President Bush asking him to "address the matter" in light of "mounting evidence that your Administration has, on several occasions, paid members of the media to advocate in favor of Administration policies."
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Gannon, whose real name, according to investigators at DailyKos and other blogs, is James "J.D." Guckert, first gained attention several weeks ago when he asked a question at a presidential press conference that some in the press corps considered so friendly it might have been planted. Later it was revealed by E&P that Gannon had been turned down last year for a congressional press pass because he could not prove his employer was a valid news organization. That denial barred him from receiving a White House "hard pass," allowing regular access to White House press events.
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... He said "the heat should be on" Bush spokesman Scott McClellan: "Why did he call on Gannon? Did they ever pre-arrange anything? Did they have contact with his parent organization?"

Another intriguing issue is his involvement, along with better known Robert Novak, Judith Miller and others, in the Valerie Plame/CIA episode. His name turned up on a list of reporters targeted for questioning by the federal prosecutor in the case. ...

Pentagon to broadcast to millions of U.S. homes

Pentagon to broadcast to millions of U.S. homes: "Wednesday 9th February, 2005

The U.S. military is to beam its own news coverage to millions of Americans.

Moving on from its phase of embedding journalists, or as some would say, 'a policy of restricting and contolling the flow of information,' the Pentagon will now produce and disseminate the news itself. It will be beamed to the public at no charge. The service will emanate from what is known as the Pentagon Channel, an internal public relations television unit within the Department of Defense. It was set up nine months ago.

Payolagate: Jeff Gannon, John Thune, Bloggers | Oliver Willis

Payolagate: Jeff Gannon, John Thune, Bloggers | Oliver Willis: "Submitted by Oliver Willis on Mon, 01/31/2005 - 2:39pm. | Payolagate | UPDATE: Greetings Buzzflash readers! More right-wing lies exposed here..."

The orgy of impropriety marches on.

There's one other thing that raises our curiosity about who or what is behind "Gannon." It seems that when he wasn't bashing Kerry, he paid a ton of attention to the Thune vs. Daschle Senate race in South Dakota. One blog that seemed to think "Gannon" was an authoritative journalist and linked to at least one of his reports was called "Daschle v. Thune."

If that name sounds familiar, it should. It later was reported that the author of the blog, Jon Lauck, was a former Thune campaign staffer and was paid $27,000 by Thune's 2004 campaign while he was producing the Web site.

So let us get this straight: The top Democrat in the Senate loses a race where the GOP sets up a phony blog that passes along news reports from a pseudo media organization, written by a reporter given White House credentials under a fake name.

The Daily Kos folks are taking apart Jeff Gannon. Tune in.

Kerry Could Become First Gay President -- GOPUSA ... [.. Smear Campaign]

Kerry Could Become First Gay President -- GOPUSA: "By Jeff Gannon | Talon News | October 12, 2004

WASHINGTON (Talon News) -- Inasmuch as Bill Clinton is considered by some members of the African-American community to be "the first black president" because of their perception of his positions with regard to minority issues, Democratic Sen. John Kerry might someday be known as "the first gay president" were he to win the White House in November.

The Massachusetts liberal has enjoyed a 100% rating from the homosexual advocacy group, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), since 1995 in recognition of his support for the pro-gay agenda.

Despite his stated opposition to gay marriage, Kerry and his running mate, Sen. John Edwards (D-NC), who also boasts a 100% rating from the HRC, can expect to receive a high percentage of the gay vote, estimated to be around 4 million. Kerry voted against the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996 and both candidates oppose the constitutional amendment to protect marriage sought by President Bush.

Is the White House Lying About the Fargo Blacklist? [... Stage managing attendance at Presidential town meetings ...]

BuzzFlash > News Analysis > Is the White House Lying About the Fargo Blacklist?: "February 7, 2005" Is the White House Lying About the Fargo Blacklist? | A BUZZFLASH NEWS ANALYSIS

Who is telling the truth?

"The White House said the list may have come from volunteers; it did not come from the White House."
- Washington Post, Kurtz, 2/4/05

"Larson said Burgum told him he got the list, along with the tickets and forms, from the White House advance team."
- Fargo Forum, Almquist, 2/5/05

"The list arrived in one of two boxes containing tickets and other forms. People who showed up for tickets were asked to write down names and addresses of anyone attending the event on the forms, which Carley believes were then returned to the White House."
- Fargo Forum, Almquist, 2/5/05

Which brings up the question, how many other blacklists are there? Just asking.

FSU center spent public money to tout feds' policies

FSU center spent public money to tout feds' policies: "FSU center spent public money to tout feds' policies | By Kimberly Miller | Palm Beach Post Staff Writer | Wednesday, February 02, 2005

A Florida State University center has used more than a half-million in education tax dollars to put a positive spin on President Bush's key school policies, including hiring a public relations firm to teach charter schools to be more media-savvy.

Despite conflicting studies on the success of charter schools and other alternative education programs, the School Choice Center at FSU touts them as ways to 'increase student achievement, increase parental involvement, promote school improvement through constructive competition, and accomplish racial and ethnic diversity.'
...
Since 2003, taxpayers have given the center $627,567 as part of a 5-year, $1.2 million federal grant made available through the No Child Left Behind Act, which promotes school choice as a fix for failing public schools. ...
For example, a link to private-school voucher articles includes nine entries that provide positive news on the voucher movement, but no mention of the problems in Florida's three programs that have allowed hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to be misused or stolen. ...

The Fairness Doctrine : How we lost it, and why we need it back

The Fairness DoctrineThe Fairness Doctrine | How we lost it, and why we need it back | Extra! January/February 2005 | By Steve Rendall

A license permits broadcasting, but the licensee has no constitutional right to be the one who holds the license or to monopolize a...frequency to the exclusion of his fellow citizens. There is nothing in the First Amendment which prevents the Government from requiring a licensee to share his frequency with others.... It is the right of the viewers and listeners, not the right of the broadcasters, which is paramount.

— U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the constitutionality of the Fairness Doctrine in Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 1969.

—-
When the Sinclair Broadcast Group retreated from pre-election plans to force its 62 television stations to preempt prime-time programming in favor of airing the blatantly anti–John Kerry documentary Stolen Honor: Wounds that Never Heal, the reversal wasn’t triggered by a concern for fairness: Sinclair back-pedaled because its stock was tanking. The staunchly conservative broadcaster’s plan had provoked calls for sponsor boycotts, and Wall Street saw a company that was putting politics ahead of profits. Sinclair’s stock declined by nearly 17 percent before the company announced it would air a somewhat more balanced news program in place of the documentary (Baltimore Sun, 10/24/04).

But if fairness mattered little to Sinclair, the news that a corporation that controlled more TV licenses than any other could put the publicly owned airwaves to partisan use sparked discussion of fairness across the board, from media democracy activists to television industry executives.
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It is the purpose of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of that market, whether it be by the government itself or a private licensee. It is the right of the public to receive suitable access to social, political, esthetic, moral and other ideas and experiences which is crucial here. That right may not constitutionally be abridged either by Congress or by the FCC.

— U.S. Supreme Court, Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 1969.

[Staging Presidential Events ...] Fargo City Commissioner Linda Coates on do-not-admit list

� IN-FORUM �: "Coates on do-not-admit list | By Mary Jo Almquist and Teri Finneman,The Forum | Published Thursday, February 03, 2005

Fargo City Commissioner Linda Coates is among more than 40 area residents included on a list of people barred from attending President Bush's speech today in Fargo.

Among the 42 area people on the do-not-admit list: two high school students, a librarian, a Democratic campaign manager and several university professors.

White House spokesman Jim Morrell and Don Larson, a spokesman for the North Dakota governor's office, say they don't know anything about such a list.

"This is the first I'm hearing of it," Morrell said when contacted Wednesday.

But two sources close to Tuesday's ticket distribution confirmed the list exists and includes a handful of names of people who were not to receive tickets to today's event at North Dakota State University's Bison Sports Arena. ....

Debunking the Top 5 Myths about Medical Malpractice

ATLA Press RoomDebunking the Top 5 Myths about Medical Malpractice

Visit the Medical Malpractice Resource Center for more information.

Your may have heard a number of myths about medical malpractice and the civil justice system. Here are the facts:

1. Myth: Debate over malpractice compensation is just about frivolous lawsuits.

Fact: The proposed limits on damages would apply to all cases, no matter how serious the injury or how egregious the malpractice by the doctor, hospital or drug manufacturer.

2. Myth: Medical malpractice claims are driving up the cost of health care for everyone.

Fact: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) reports that all costs related to medical malpractice account for less than 2% of total health care costs.

3. Myth: We need caps on damages to reduce doctors' malpractice insurance premiums.

Fact: States that have enacted caps haven't seen lower rates—and insurers admit they won't reduce rates if new legal restrictions are enacted.

4. Myth: Fear of being sued forces doctors to practice defensive medicine.

Fact: The General Accounting Office (GAO) says the evidence that defensive medicine occurs is "weak and inconclusive." And the CBO says "savings from reducing defensive medicine would be very small."

5. Myth: Insurance costs are forcing doctors out of business and reducing access to care.

Fact: The number of physicians has risen in every state, every year over the last three years. And the GAO says the evidence of reduced access to care is unsubstantiated and anecdotal at best.

Tort reform: Insurer Admits Caps on Damages Will Not Lower Malpractice Premiums: "capping non-economic damages will show loss savings of 1.0%."

Largest Insurer Admits Caps on Damages Will Not Lower Malpractice Premiums

Smoking Gun Document Proves Insurance Industry Lies

Contact Carlton Carl, ATLA Director of Media Relations, (202) 965-3500 x334

October 27, 2004—GE Medical Protective, the nation's largest medical malpractice insurer, now admits that caps on compensation for non-economic losses in lawsuits will not lower doctors' malpractice insurance premiums.1 The regulatory filing defends the insurer's request to raise rates 19% just one year after the state's voters narrowly passed a constitutional amendment to cap doctors' liability for the most severe, life-altering injuries at $250,000.

Insurance industry and medical association proponents of the measure claimed that caps would lower premiums for doctors. A report2 issued last March by GE Medical Protective repeated the claim. Now the insurer finally admits the truth, that "capping non-economic damages will show loss savings of 1.0%."
...
Smith also pointed out that the top 10 U.S. insurers reported record profits of $25 billion in 2003, according to Forbes.com.

Photoshopped Propaganda bashes democrats: [Picture shows soldiier holding baby: orginal shows blood and stethascope ... both wiped out]

Forums - Photoshopped Propaganda: "Photoshopped Propaganda" January 29th, 2005

I recently came across the picture above. It is located at a website run by artist and writer Linda Eddy. According to this site, it is their mission "[t]o hold the Democrat presidential candidates accountable for their comments & allegations against President George W. Bush, to make citizens aware of false statements or claims by the Democrat candidates, and to defend the Bush Administration and set the record straight when the Democrats make false or misleading statements about the Bush-Republican record."

When browsing Eddy's site one inmediately notices the heavy pro-Republican stance of it. Now there's nothing wrong with that, as long as it doesn't distort reality. Unfortunately, that is exactly what Linda Eddy does.

Apart from the obvious fact that the picture has been photoshopped, also the familiarity of the scene depicted caught my eye. I did some Google-searches and soon came up with a non-photoshopped version of the picture:

Navy Corpsman Richard Barnett of Camarilo, Calif. checks the heart of a young Iraqi boy as other Navy medics treat the boy's older sister, right, after the two children and their family were caught in a crossfire between US Marines and Iraqi soldiers just outside of a Marine encampment in central Iraq on Saturday, March 29, 2003

It is really nice to see how Linda Eddy tries to bring back the ethics into the political campaigning of the Democrat presidential candidates, but perhaps she should start with herself first before blaming others. Distorting reality for one's own cause by photoshopping pictures isn't only extremely unethical, it is also extremely stupid to do so while the original photograph is widely available on the internet.