During the presidential debate, Gov. Romney said he would end the subsidy to public television. While he specifically mentioned PBS, Rooney's plan calls for the elimination of funding for CPB, PBS, and NPR. It is something Romney has said on the campaign trail many times. It has also been included GOP lead budgets in the House.
Today, PBS CEO Paula Kerger said it was stunning that Romeny would target the eli9mination of funding for PBS and Big Bird. Kerger an well-known Obama supporter said, ""This is not
about the budget. It has to be about politics." I'm sorry Ms Kerger but your are wrong, dead wrong.
While several conservatives in Congress wanted to defend NPR totally and to prohibit stations from using federal funds to buy NPR programming after the firing of Juan Williams, in the Romney-Ryan budget it is about the budget.
Funding for public broadcasting, no matter how big or small, is the most visible symbol of hundreds of programs that need to bu cut to help lower the annual deficits and, eventually, the $16 trillion debt. A debt that increased by over fifty percent since Obama took office.
Like the leader of many programs that will be cut, Kerger is only protecting her turf. A turf that is increasingly liberal and losing audience. If it were not for programs like Antiques Roadshow and Downton Abbey, the audience for PBS would be much smaller than it is. It is an audience often forgotten in the search of revenue from sponsors. Yet, Kerger promoted an entire week of opera. A week that found an almost non-existent audience outside of a few opera centers. It failed and Kerger has failed to bring the people and outside the beltway funding to PBS.
Kereger doesn't get that for the best programs to survive they must to begin looking for other sources of revenue. The Federal government can no longer support. If commercial interests will no longer support Ken Burns, then his long and boring programs must go. If the far-left, Obama loving series Frontline cannot find funding in the marketplace, it must go.
Sesame Street may be one of the programs that survive. It supports itself through merchandising and sponsorships. It takes little, if any, federal funds.
PBS is not the problem. It is the symbol of hundreds of programs that cannot be sustained in a still weak economy.
More in Broadcasting and Cable
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Thursday, September 20, 2012
The Emmy's are COmming . . . The Emmy's Are Coming
Of all the award shows that lull viewers to sleep, the Emmy's seems to attract the most interest and viewers. On Sept. 23, 2012, the 64thj Annual Emmy Awards will be on ABC with pre-game starting at 7pm Eastern.
Hosting for the first time is ABC's Jimmy Kimmel. Frankly, I think he will do fine. He draws a young audience and his comedy is current. It could be one of the better shows in a long time.
The Emmys are, generally, not a political affair like the Academy Awards or the Golden Globes. This year may be different. A California PR firm is working with several series (most on ABC) to promote Obamacare. While I will not watch those series, I plan to watch the Emmys. Will the political crap from the Obama campaign hurt the show? Yes, absolutely. You can be the judge.
Here is the list of Emmy nominees for the 64th Annual gala. Pick you favorites.
Hosting for the first time is ABC's Jimmy Kimmel. Frankly, I think he will do fine. He draws a young audience and his comedy is current. It could be one of the better shows in a long time.
The Emmys are, generally, not a political affair like the Academy Awards or the Golden Globes. This year may be different. A California PR firm is working with several series (most on ABC) to promote Obamacare. While I will not watch those series, I plan to watch the Emmys. Will the political crap from the Obama campaign hurt the show? Yes, absolutely. You can be the judge.
Here is the list of Emmy nominees for the 64th Annual gala. Pick you favorites.
Somrthing for the Cord Cutters and Others
Do you have a Roku box? I have three and they make watching tv fun again. So many channels to choose from a large number of them are free. Picture quality is, generally, good, but buffering on some of the channels is an issue.
Do you like Vudu? Vudu is a streaming video services that offers a wide variety of movies and television shows. Its biggest claim to fame is that it offers new movies before Netflix.
Well, now you can combine both. Vudu is now available on Roku. When you sign up you will receive a $5.99 credit to your account. Movies vary in price, but there are, generally specials. My favorite from browsing the sit is the $2 for 2 night rental. You can use the Roku box to sign up or go to www.vudu.com.
Don't know much about Roku? Go here.
For cord cutters another choice for current movies. For movie lovers another choice.
Do you like Vudu? Vudu is a streaming video services that offers a wide variety of movies and television shows. Its biggest claim to fame is that it offers new movies before Netflix.
Well, now you can combine both. Vudu is now available on Roku. When you sign up you will receive a $5.99 credit to your account. Movies vary in price, but there are, generally specials. My favorite from browsing the sit is the $2 for 2 night rental. You can use the Roku box to sign up or go to www.vudu.com.
Don't know much about Roku? Go here.
For cord cutters another choice for current movies. For movie lovers another choice.
Monday, September 17, 2012
Primetime Creative Arts Emmy's Awarded
Last Saturday (Sept. 15) the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences held its annual P{rim,etime Creative Arts Awards ceremonies.
The Creative Awards are given to talented professional in behind the scenes roles. These are make-up artists, technical directors, camera operators, cinemetographers, and the like.
These are, generally, the unsung professional who often make the production and the acting better than it is or should be.
HBO, CBS and PBS garnered the most awards during the ceremonies. HBO's Game of Thrones won the most with six. Frozen Planet, Saturday Night Live and Masterpiece - Great Expectations walked away with four awards each.
The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented on Sunday, September 23, 2012. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel will be the host.
Full list of creative arts awards here.
The Creative Awards are given to talented professional in behind the scenes roles. These are make-up artists, technical directors, camera operators, cinemetographers, and the like.
These are, generally, the unsung professional who often make the production and the acting better than it is or should be.
HBO, CBS and PBS garnered the most awards during the ceremonies. HBO's Game of Thrones won the most with six. Frozen Planet, Saturday Night Live and Masterpiece - Great Expectations walked away with four awards each.
The 64th Primetime Emmy Awards will be presented on Sunday, September 23, 2012. ABC's Jimmy Kimmel will be the host.
Full list of creative arts awards here.
Friday, September 14, 2012
WV Public Media Update
On August 24, 2012, we reported about changes in the budget at West Virginia Public Broadcasting. Those changes as presented by Executive Director Dennis Adkins were designed to offset the 7.5 percent cut at all state agencies. The loss for the statewide media organization would amount to $420,000.
Adkins had been at odds with the Educational Broadcasting Authority for some time about funding and the future of public media in the Mountain State.
Following an hour-long closed-door session with the EBA, Adkins announced he was retiring in December. The session included additional discussion about the future of public media and the financial situation of the network. In the past Adkins had reported a significant decline in donor and underwriting support. In the recent meeting, Adkins showed that corporate underwriting was on the rise.
According to the Charleston Gazette there were some heated discussion between EBA members and Adkins over plans to minimize the state cuts.
Adkins will leave EBA knowing that he performed at the highest levels to save the network and make it a viable and growing concern. It is often unfortunate that board members do not really understand the media they are guiding. Although this is not the same situation as Alabama, it again demonstrates the need for boards with media professionals to help a media organization survive in the current economy.
More here
Adkins had been at odds with the Educational Broadcasting Authority for some time about funding and the future of public media in the Mountain State.
Following an hour-long closed-door session with the EBA, Adkins announced he was retiring in December. The session included additional discussion about the future of public media and the financial situation of the network. In the past Adkins had reported a significant decline in donor and underwriting support. In the recent meeting, Adkins showed that corporate underwriting was on the rise.
According to the Charleston Gazette there were some heated discussion between EBA members and Adkins over plans to minimize the state cuts.
Adkins will leave EBA knowing that he performed at the highest levels to save the network and make it a viable and growing concern. It is often unfortunate that board members do not really understand the media they are guiding. Although this is not the same situation as Alabama, it again demonstrates the need for boards with media professionals to help a media organization survive in the current economy.
More here
Thursday, September 13, 2012
Voter ID - Day in Court PA
A hearing in the Voter ID cae in Pennsylvania began today. The arguments against were the usual - too expensive, does not prevent voter fraud, suppresses minority vote. We've all hear them before.
While the case continued in PA state court, the elderly African- American woman at the heart of the case was able to get a free ID with little or no trouble at all. Since the current hearing is at the appelate level, the woman's testimony is now moot. She found it was easy to get the ID. Too bad democrats and the DOJ do not understand that.
In another twist in the case, a Delaware County election official told the Philadelphia Inquirer that no matter how the case is resolved, he will not require voters to show ID in November. Christopher L. Broach said that he is not willing to enforce a law that violates civil rights. Perhaps, Broach should be removed from office before the election.
No matter what the PA court or Broach say, the US Supreme Court found Voter ID Laws constitutional in 2008. The PA law closely follows the wording of the Indiana law.
More from Fox News
While the case continued in PA state court, the elderly African- American woman at the heart of the case was able to get a free ID with little or no trouble at all. Since the current hearing is at the appelate level, the woman's testimony is now moot. She found it was easy to get the ID. Too bad democrats and the DOJ do not understand that.
In another twist in the case, a Delaware County election official told the Philadelphia Inquirer that no matter how the case is resolved, he will not require voters to show ID in November. Christopher L. Broach said that he is not willing to enforce a law that violates civil rights. Perhaps, Broach should be removed from office before the election.
No matter what the PA court or Broach say, the US Supreme Court found Voter ID Laws constitutional in 2008. The PA law closely follows the wording of the Indiana law.
More from Fox News
What Can a Guy do . . . Go to a Fundraiser
The killing of four diplomats in Libya including the ambassador made yesterday a bad day for the US. The protests in Cairo and invasion of embassy grounds there brought and apology from the embassy. An ap;ogy dissavowed by the White House and Obama campaign. These actions enhanced the bad day for the US.
Political accusations flew through the air, but the media only wanted to try to trap GOP contender Mitt Romney. Several of the members of the press colluded to ask Romney a certain question and follow up with Obama campaign talking points. A typical day for the media, but a bad day made worse for the US.
The Obama administration policies in the middle east are bad. Saying, "we will work with Libya" is the wrong message. Saying we will immediate attack Libya - something that no one said - is the wrong message. At best the Obama policy in the mid east and other places around the world is appeasement. At worst some policies seem to be collusion with the wrong side.
Instead of trying to look presidential, Obama looked pathetic, thin-skinned, and at a loss of what to do. As noted he failed to "take that 3AM call." Obama's leadership with an emphasis on leading from behind has failed. The attacks in Egypt and Libya prove that. The attack today in Yemen exacerbates the situation.
Instead of staying in Washington and taking intelligence briefings and developing plans with appropriate officials at home and abroad, Obama decides he is to busy for the Israeli prime minister and leaves Washington for yet another fundraiser in Las Vegas.
Fundraisers can be postponed, but American lives are at stake in the middle east and the president decides it is more important to gain re-election than protect Americans. Obama is becoming more like Carter everyday. He has failed and the public and the media need to wake up and recognize it before it is too late.
Political accusations flew through the air, but the media only wanted to try to trap GOP contender Mitt Romney. Several of the members of the press colluded to ask Romney a certain question and follow up with Obama campaign talking points. A typical day for the media, but a bad day made worse for the US.
The Obama administration policies in the middle east are bad. Saying, "we will work with Libya" is the wrong message. Saying we will immediate attack Libya - something that no one said - is the wrong message. At best the Obama policy in the mid east and other places around the world is appeasement. At worst some policies seem to be collusion with the wrong side.
Instead of trying to look presidential, Obama looked pathetic, thin-skinned, and at a loss of what to do. As noted he failed to "take that 3AM call." Obama's leadership with an emphasis on leading from behind has failed. The attacks in Egypt and Libya prove that. The attack today in Yemen exacerbates the situation.
Instead of staying in Washington and taking intelligence briefings and developing plans with appropriate officials at home and abroad, Obama decides he is to busy for the Israeli prime minister and leaves Washington for yet another fundraiser in Las Vegas.
Fundraisers can be postponed, but American lives are at stake in the middle east and the president decides it is more important to gain re-election than protect Americans. Obama is becoming more like Carter everyday. He has failed and the public and the media need to wake up and recognize it before it is too late.
Wednesday, September 12, 2012
House Outrage
In what may or may not be honest outrage by members of the House, there is currently a call from House conservatives to strip funding from the spending bill for aid to Libya and Egypt. The call comes after attacks on embassies in both countries and the murder of four US diplomats in Libya.
One freshman member of the House Rep Jeff Landry (R-LA) said, "It makes it easier to vote 'no'"
The omnibus spending bill that will prevent a government shutdown before the election or during the lame duck session will find the government through March 2013.
Frankly a shutdown during the lame duck session would be the best thing to stop Obama spending another $16 trillion.
More from The Hill
One freshman member of the House Rep Jeff Landry (R-LA) said, "It makes it easier to vote 'no'"
The omnibus spending bill that will prevent a government shutdown before the election or during the lame duck session will find the government through March 2013.
Frankly a shutdown during the lame duck session would be the best thing to stop Obama spending another $16 trillion.
More from The Hill
*US Embassy in Cairo Statement*
Yesterday, the US Embassy in Cairo issued this statement.
"*The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others*"
Later the Obama administrationm said, it did not authorize the statement from the embassy.
In other words, the Obama campaign did not revise it.
"*The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions. Today, the 11th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States, Americans are honoring our patriots and those who serve our nation as the fitting response to the enemies of democracy. Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others*"
Later the Obama administrationm said, it did not authorize the statement from the embassy.
In other words, the Obama campaign did not revise it.
*Today Snubs 9/11*
Was it a political motive or just another PR error by the Today Show?
While millions of viewers were watching a moment of silence in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, NBC's Today Show decided its viewers were more interested in Kris Jenner's breast implants.
The long-running morning show saw it's ratings lead disappear in the last year and appears to be looking for higher ratings instead of important events.
Critics from across the country have labeled the incident as "a major shot in the foot" to "a poor choice" to "bad taste." Whether important or not, many former fans of the program are calling for a boycott on Twitter.
The moment of silence was not a late-breaking or unscheduled event. It is likely the Today Show team knew of the event and decided not to honor the memory of those killed during the attacks.
Since part of the event was with the president, it would be natural for the network that supports his re-election the most would air the event.
Apparently, the Today SHow has lost touch with news and important events. It is more important in Hollywood glitz and families that have questionable taste. The Today Show now joins that slate of shows with little more value than some of the sensational talk shows available.
I am sure Dave Garroway is spinning in his grave
More from Fox News.
While millions of viewers were watching a moment of silence in remembrance of the 9/11 attacks, NBC's Today Show decided its viewers were more interested in Kris Jenner's breast implants.
The long-running morning show saw it's ratings lead disappear in the last year and appears to be looking for higher ratings instead of important events.
Critics from across the country have labeled the incident as "a major shot in the foot" to "a poor choice" to "bad taste." Whether important or not, many former fans of the program are calling for a boycott on Twitter.
The moment of silence was not a late-breaking or unscheduled event. It is likely the Today Show team knew of the event and decided not to honor the memory of those killed during the attacks.
Since part of the event was with the president, it would be natural for the network that supports his re-election the most would air the event.
Apparently, the Today SHow has lost touch with news and important events. It is more important in Hollywood glitz and families that have questionable taste. The Today Show now joins that slate of shows with little more value than some of the sensational talk shows available.
I am sure Dave Garroway is spinning in his grave
More from Fox News.
Funding for Public Media
In June the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) issued the results of a study by Booz & Co. on alternative funding mechanism for public media. The report concluded that federal funding for public media was still a necessity. It further stated that 130 stations would be in jeopardy of going off the air without government funding. Many of these stations are in rural areas and, in soime cases, are the only source for emergency information.
Members of the CPB Board and management have been circulating the report to Congressional staffers since its release. The CPB's nearly $500 million subsidy from the federal government is an area that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has targeted for elimination. Romney did state that he likes the programming, but it should be able to stand on its own without a continued subsidy. He suggested that stations be able to sell advertising. In a $3 trillion dollar budget it seems that half a billion is small change. In fact, it is, but recent controversies especially with NPR have raised the ire of many republican members of Congress. One recent budget proposal calls for the continuation of some federal funding for public broadcasting, but prohibits stations from using the federal subsidy from paying dues or purchasing programming from NPR and other national providers. NPR relies on station dues and sales of programming to maintain its lavish lifestyle in DC. The proposed budget did not include a similar provision for PBS programming. A similar provision would devastate PBS. The Big Bird provider depends more on station dues and other fees to provide a full slate of programming. For some stations those dues and fees amount to over 30 percent of the federal funding called a Community Service Grant. Many stations may have to give up PBS membership with that kind of provision.
There is enough high quality content from other providers that could easily replace the content from PBS. Viewers would have to support the new and better content. KCET is still finding that a difficult road to follow, but is making progress. KCET dropped its PBS membership after a dues dispute.
CPBS leaders face an uphill battle to retain the funding for itself, NPR, PBS, and the stations. During its two day board meeting, CPB met with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) said that CPB was an easy target because "you're small in number." As a Republican Young said he like public media, but he said that PBS and NPR concentrate too much on saturated markets for programming. The programs are too focused on New York with few voices from Alaska.
This has been a major complaint from stations for years. PBS, especially, concentrates on big markets and often presents programming of little interest anywhere else in the country. The recent airing of Wagner's complete ring cycle has very little interest outside of New York and Washington is an example of PBS' big market prejudice.
Young said CPB needs a new way to present itself to Congress. He suggested that CPB, PBS, and NPR officials need to talk directly with lawmakers instead of staff.
During the board meeting, CPB Executive VP Michael Levy noted that there is little change in conversation with Congressional leaders and the negative attitude toward public media is "continued and pervasive."
Following the two day meeting the CPB board issues a resolution in support of continued federal funding.
If there is a change in administrations, the funding of public media stations will end in 2015. Proponents of continued funding will need to begin work quickly to turn around the attitude of members of Congress. Strong leaders at the corporate level and string local station leaders need to be found to lead a new movement. Current leaders seem to believe a resolution will save public media.
Members of the CPB Board and management have been circulating the report to Congressional staffers since its release. The CPB's nearly $500 million subsidy from the federal government is an area that GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney has targeted for elimination. Romney did state that he likes the programming, but it should be able to stand on its own without a continued subsidy. He suggested that stations be able to sell advertising. In a $3 trillion dollar budget it seems that half a billion is small change. In fact, it is, but recent controversies especially with NPR have raised the ire of many republican members of Congress. One recent budget proposal calls for the continuation of some federal funding for public broadcasting, but prohibits stations from using the federal subsidy from paying dues or purchasing programming from NPR and other national providers. NPR relies on station dues and sales of programming to maintain its lavish lifestyle in DC. The proposed budget did not include a similar provision for PBS programming. A similar provision would devastate PBS. The Big Bird provider depends more on station dues and other fees to provide a full slate of programming. For some stations those dues and fees amount to over 30 percent of the federal funding called a Community Service Grant. Many stations may have to give up PBS membership with that kind of provision.
There is enough high quality content from other providers that could easily replace the content from PBS. Viewers would have to support the new and better content. KCET is still finding that a difficult road to follow, but is making progress. KCET dropped its PBS membership after a dues dispute.
CPBS leaders face an uphill battle to retain the funding for itself, NPR, PBS, and the stations. During its two day board meeting, CPB met with members of Congress from both sides of the aisle.
Rep. Don Young (R-AK) said that CPB was an easy target because "you're small in number." As a Republican Young said he like public media, but he said that PBS and NPR concentrate too much on saturated markets for programming. The programs are too focused on New York with few voices from Alaska.
This has been a major complaint from stations for years. PBS, especially, concentrates on big markets and often presents programming of little interest anywhere else in the country. The recent airing of Wagner's complete ring cycle has very little interest outside of New York and Washington is an example of PBS' big market prejudice.
Young said CPB needs a new way to present itself to Congress. He suggested that CPB, PBS, and NPR officials need to talk directly with lawmakers instead of staff.
During the board meeting, CPB Executive VP Michael Levy noted that there is little change in conversation with Congressional leaders and the negative attitude toward public media is "continued and pervasive."
Following the two day meeting the CPB board issues a resolution in support of continued federal funding.
If there is a change in administrations, the funding of public media stations will end in 2015. Proponents of continued funding will need to begin work quickly to turn around the attitude of members of Congress. Strong leaders at the corporate level and string local station leaders need to be found to lead a new movement. Current leaders seem to believe a resolution will save public media.
Tuesday, September 11, 2012
*CBS Announces Primetime Delays*
For anyone watching CBS stations across the country, the delay of the primetime schedule due to NFL doubleheaders is the cause of missed series and failed DVR recordings.
In order to help viewers, CBS has announced several dates that the primetime schedule will be delayed 30 minutes for NFL games. As any regular viewer knows 30 minute delays often turn into much longer delays.
More from Broadcasting & Cable
In order to help viewers, CBS has announced several dates that the primetime schedule will be delayed 30 minutes for NFL games. As any regular viewer knows 30 minute delays often turn into much longer delays.
More from Broadcasting & Cable
Friday, September 07, 2012
On the Road Again
The happy-go-luck Mars rover Curiosity is taking test drives across the Martian surface and often tweets (@curiositymars) that he/she is having a great time.
One of the recent drives left tracks across the surface that were picked up by an orbiting spacecraft.
Lets hope Curiosity works for a long time and uncovers phenomenal science and information abut the red planet. If Curiosity meets a few friends along the way, that would be fun too.
More from Fox News
One of the recent drives left tracks across the surface that were picked up by an orbiting spacecraft.
Lets hope Curiosity works for a long time and uncovers phenomenal science and information abut the red planet. If Curiosity meets a few friends along the way, that would be fun too.
More from Fox News
Job Creation Weak
Following a DNC that touted the creation of jobs and more coming, the latest jobs reports shows continued weakness.
The 96,000 jobs created are well below expectations for August. Job numbers for June and July were also revised downward. June created only a revised number of 141,000. July showed even more weakness as the number of jobs created fell to 45,000.
The unemployment rate, however, ticked down to 8.1 percent. While the Obamna campaign may look to that as good news, the number of people in the workforce has decline to the lowest number since 1981.
Overall, a weak jobs report for a weak president and a campaign struggling to make it sales pitch to voters.
The GOP campaign should look at the number of jobs created and the workforce numbers as a continued failure of president Obama and his failed policies.
More from The Hill
The 96,000 jobs created are well below expectations for August. Job numbers for June and July were also revised downward. June created only a revised number of 141,000. July showed even more weakness as the number of jobs created fell to 45,000.
The unemployment rate, however, ticked down to 8.1 percent. While the Obamna campaign may look to that as good news, the number of people in the workforce has decline to the lowest number since 1981.
Overall, a weak jobs report for a weak president and a campaign struggling to make it sales pitch to voters.
The GOP campaign should look at the number of jobs created and the workforce numbers as a continued failure of president Obama and his failed policies.
More from The Hill
Thursday, September 06, 2012
Are You Ready for Some . . .
As has been noted before, former president Bill Clinton's speech at the DNC was "masterful."
How many people watched it beyond the 20,000 or so in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable arena may be another issue. NBC did not carry the former president's speech. Instead it opted for an NFL game featuring the Giants and the Cowboys.
The winner is . . . the NFL.
Overnight ratings for the evening show that the NFL garnered an average of 21 million viewers for the evening. This included a large number of the 18-49 age group so valued by advertisers and politicians. The speech on ABC and CBS had fewer than 4 million viewers in the 10-11 pm time slight with a limited number of 18-49 year olds.
The report in TV By the Numbers does not include numbers for viewers of the cable news outlets for the evening.
It is a good thing the NFL agreed to move the game from Thursday to Wednesday. There are, however, lots of distractions for sports fans on ESPN and other regional sports networks.
How many people watched it beyond the 20,000 or so in Charlotte's Time Warner Cable arena may be another issue. NBC did not carry the former president's speech. Instead it opted for an NFL game featuring the Giants and the Cowboys.
The winner is . . . the NFL.
Overnight ratings for the evening show that the NFL garnered an average of 21 million viewers for the evening. This included a large number of the 18-49 age group so valued by advertisers and politicians. The speech on ABC and CBS had fewer than 4 million viewers in the 10-11 pm time slight with a limited number of 18-49 year olds.
The report in TV By the Numbers does not include numbers for viewers of the cable news outlets for the evening.
It is a good thing the NFL agreed to move the game from Thursday to Wednesday. There are, however, lots of distractions for sports fans on ESPN and other regional sports networks.
Who is to Blame
The DNC had a major debacle on its hands when changing the party platform for 2012. The original platform omitted God from the party and failed to recognize Jerusalem as the capitol of Israel.
It was obvious to anyone listening to the multiple votes that two-thirds of the delegates did not agree with the decision of the chair. In fact they continued to "boo" the decision to retmove God to the platform.
Stories were circulating late yesterday that it was the White House and the Obama campaign who were behind the change to the platform based on a poll. That would be the usual course for the WH and campaign.
Yet this morning, David Axelrod and White House operative Valerie Jarret did what is par for the course when it is time to be accountable for WH or campaign action. They blamed other democrats for the debacle.
Link to video from CBS.
It was obvious to anyone listening to the multiple votes that two-thirds of the delegates did not agree with the decision of the chair. In fact they continued to "boo" the decision to retmove God to the platform.
Stories were circulating late yesterday that it was the White House and the Obama campaign who were behind the change to the platform based on a poll. That would be the usual course for the WH and campaign.
Yet this morning, David Axelrod and White House operative Valerie Jarret did what is par for the course when it is time to be accountable for WH or campaign action. They blamed other democrats for the debacle.
Link to video from CBS.
What Did Clinton Do?
Last night's speech from former president Bill Clinton was according to most press reports "masterful."
It was typical Clinton. Supporting the Obama agenda must have been hard for a president who knew how to compromise and who was willing to work with a GOP led Congress. Obama is not and will not. Clinton succeeded with the GOP. Obama will not.
Nevertheless, Clinton did his best to spin facts. While most fact checkers found what he said was true. Many news organizations found that he left out things that would be harmful to Obama and his chances. In a nominating speech, you can expect that.
Clinton did his best, but in usual Clinton fashion, he spoke too long and lost most of the viewing audience by the time he was done.
Yes, Bill Clinton did Barack Obama a favor, but at what cost. Clinton was one of the most highly respected and popular politicians in the country. Barack Obama is his polar opposite - not popular and not succeeding.
If there is a bounce after the convention for Obama, it will not be because of his speech, popularity, or policies. It will definitely not be because the Dems changed the platform to avoid further hilarity on the part of the GOP.
Any bounce will be because of Bill Clinton. The question still remains, what does the former president get from Obama in exchange for the speech?
It was typical Clinton. Supporting the Obama agenda must have been hard for a president who knew how to compromise and who was willing to work with a GOP led Congress. Obama is not and will not. Clinton succeeded with the GOP. Obama will not.
Nevertheless, Clinton did his best to spin facts. While most fact checkers found what he said was true. Many news organizations found that he left out things that would be harmful to Obama and his chances. In a nominating speech, you can expect that.
Clinton did his best, but in usual Clinton fashion, he spoke too long and lost most of the viewing audience by the time he was done.
Yes, Bill Clinton did Barack Obama a favor, but at what cost. Clinton was one of the most highly respected and popular politicians in the country. Barack Obama is his polar opposite - not popular and not succeeding.
If there is a bounce after the convention for Obama, it will not be because of his speech, popularity, or policies. It will definitely not be because the Dems changed the platform to avoid further hilarity on the part of the GOP.
Any bounce will be because of Bill Clinton. The question still remains, what does the former president get from Obama in exchange for the speech?
Wednesday, September 05, 2012
How Far Will He Go
The largest attraction at the Charlotte DNC is former president Bill Clinton.
Many supporters are detractors of president Obama hope Clinton's speech will bring back the Obama magic. How far will the former president go to promote the current resident of the White House.
Clinton still commands respect from both sides of the political spectrum. When faced with a mid-term loss in 1994, Clinton moved toward the center and was able to work with a GOP led House. The result was a growing economy.
Obama had a bad mid-term election, but continued on his ideological agendenda and failed to stroke any compromise with the GOP led House. The result is a worsening economy and more debt than all previous presidents combined. Currently Obama has added $6 trillion to the debt and deficits for the next decade.
Can Clinton give a speech that ignores his accomplishments in favor of Obama's failed policies? If he can, Clinton's popularity will certainly decline among Republicans and independents.
If Clinton speaks about his accomplishments in the 90's, he will energize his supporters. Is that enough for the electorate to forget the current economy and Obama's failed policies? No.
President Clinton will have to walk a fine line. He will talk about the 90's and his success. He will talk about the historical event in electing Barack Obama. He will talk about the future and, perhaps, endorse Obama.
He cannot say Obama is a success. He cannot say that his policies now or in a second term are right for America. Clinton can only hope that Clinton supporters will vote for Obama.
Any talk about the current occupant of the White House in a wild manner will diminish Clinton and his success.
More from The Hill
Many supporters are detractors of president Obama hope Clinton's speech will bring back the Obama magic. How far will the former president go to promote the current resident of the White House.
Clinton still commands respect from both sides of the political spectrum. When faced with a mid-term loss in 1994, Clinton moved toward the center and was able to work with a GOP led House. The result was a growing economy.
Obama had a bad mid-term election, but continued on his ideological agendenda and failed to stroke any compromise with the GOP led House. The result is a worsening economy and more debt than all previous presidents combined. Currently Obama has added $6 trillion to the debt and deficits for the next decade.
Can Clinton give a speech that ignores his accomplishments in favor of Obama's failed policies? If he can, Clinton's popularity will certainly decline among Republicans and independents.
If Clinton speaks about his accomplishments in the 90's, he will energize his supporters. Is that enough for the electorate to forget the current economy and Obama's failed policies? No.
President Clinton will have to walk a fine line. He will talk about the 90's and his success. He will talk about the historical event in electing Barack Obama. He will talk about the future and, perhaps, endorse Obama.
He cannot say Obama is a success. He cannot say that his policies now or in a second term are right for America. Clinton can only hope that Clinton supporters will vote for Obama.
Any talk about the current occupant of the White House in a wild manner will diminish Clinton and his success.
More from The Hill
Maybe They Can't Fill It
For the most part, I am remaining silent this week on political matters. Since the media is involved in the DNC and/or bashing the DNC, there is not any interesting media news to report.
Nevertheless, at the end of last week, there were stories about how the Obama campaign and the DNC would fill the 73,000 seat Bank of America stadium for the acceptance speech by president Obama. The stories persisted that the stadium would be filled. Upo until yesterday, the speech would go on "rain or shine" and it would be filled.
The stories last week said that the campaign was giving away tickets to bar patron in several cities including Charlotte and to African-American churches in South Carolina. Transportation would be provided. This would help fill the stadium.
Now the DNC is having a change of venue. Bank of America stadium is out, Time Warner Cable arena is in. TWC arena is the venue for the DNC. According to the DNC and campaign weather is now the issue. It was just yesterday, however, that the DNC said "rain or shine." The DNC is saying that the forecast calls for severe weather and thunderstorms for Thursday. Both weather.com and weatherundergrond are calling for a 40% chance of rain during the day on Thursday diminishing to a 30% chance by the time Obama was scheduled to speak.
The question remain, is it the weather or that lack of enthusiasm that has been reported in recent weeks? You decide.
Nevertheless, at the end of last week, there were stories about how the Obama campaign and the DNC would fill the 73,000 seat Bank of America stadium for the acceptance speech by president Obama. The stories persisted that the stadium would be filled. Upo until yesterday, the speech would go on "rain or shine" and it would be filled.
The stories last week said that the campaign was giving away tickets to bar patron in several cities including Charlotte and to African-American churches in South Carolina. Transportation would be provided. This would help fill the stadium.
Now the DNC is having a change of venue. Bank of America stadium is out, Time Warner Cable arena is in. TWC arena is the venue for the DNC. According to the DNC and campaign weather is now the issue. It was just yesterday, however, that the DNC said "rain or shine." The DNC is saying that the forecast calls for severe weather and thunderstorms for Thursday. Both weather.com and weatherundergrond are calling for a 40% chance of rain during the day on Thursday diminishing to a 30% chance by the time Obama was scheduled to speak.
The question remain, is it the weather or that lack of enthusiasm that has been reported in recent weeks? You decide.
Saturday, September 01, 2012
Yes We Will - Fill It
The Obama campaign says it will will the 73,000 seatr Bank of America stadium for president Obama's acceptance speech Thursday night in Charlotte.
Well, it's a nice goal, but if crowd counts at other Obama rallies are true, the stadium could be only half-full from Obama supporters. Stories have been circulating in Charlotte and other locations that tickets were being given out and transportation provided for the Charlotte event.
Only the Obama campaign will know how full the stadium gets. The campaign and the DNC control the pool cameras and all of the images leaving Time Warner Cable Arena and Bank of America stadium. As of now, only pool coverage will be allowed on Thursday night. The networks covering the event will only be allowed cameras in their anchor positions no additional cameras will be allowed.
More from The Hill
Well, it's a nice goal, but if crowd counts at other Obama rallies are true, the stadium could be only half-full from Obama supporters. Stories have been circulating in Charlotte and other locations that tickets were being given out and transportation provided for the Charlotte event.
Only the Obama campaign will know how full the stadium gets. The campaign and the DNC control the pool cameras and all of the images leaving Time Warner Cable Arena and Bank of America stadium. As of now, only pool coverage will be allowed on Thursday night. The networks covering the event will only be allowed cameras in their anchor positions no additional cameras will be allowed.
More from The Hill
Friday, August 31, 2012
NewsHour Reporter Demonstrtes Bias
A reporter for the PBS NewsHour supported the comments by a fired journalsit who made inappropriate remarks about the RNC and presidential candidate Mitt Romney.
David Chalian was fired as the Washington bureau chief for Yahoo news after making the comment that Mitt Romney was “happy to have a party with black people drowning.”Chalian was, of course referring to the RNC starting as hurricane Issac was approaching the Gulf coast. As most people who make inappropriate comments on an open mic, Chalian claims he did not know the mic was one. First rule when there are microphones in the area, "Do not make comments that will come back to haunt you." Chalian failed to abide by that basic journalism rule.
Gwen Ifill a reporter for the PBS NewsHour and host of Washington Week decided to defend her "old" friend and his comments.
Now, Ifill and PBS are hearing from viewers and other critics about the obvious bias by PBS and it programs and reporters. Ifill has not commented on the criticism, but her and the NewsHour bias continued during the PBS presentation of the RNC.
PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler has received numerous complaint5s about the incident and believes Ifill's comments were "unnecessary" and "a big mistake."
More in Gether's latest column.
David Chalian was fired as the Washington bureau chief for Yahoo news after making the comment that Mitt Romney was “happy to have a party with black people drowning.”Chalian was, of course referring to the RNC starting as hurricane Issac was approaching the Gulf coast. As most people who make inappropriate comments on an open mic, Chalian claims he did not know the mic was one. First rule when there are microphones in the area, "Do not make comments that will come back to haunt you." Chalian failed to abide by that basic journalism rule.
Gwen Ifill a reporter for the PBS NewsHour and host of Washington Week decided to defend her "old" friend and his comments.
Now, Ifill and PBS are hearing from viewers and other critics about the obvious bias by PBS and it programs and reporters. Ifill has not commented on the criticism, but her and the NewsHour bias continued during the PBS presentation of the RNC.
PBS Ombudsman Michael Getler has received numerous complaint5s about the incident and believes Ifill's comments were "unnecessary" and "a big mistake."
More in Gether's latest column.
So, How Did They Do?
The Republican National Convention is over. The speeches are done for now. The delegates, the hangers-on, the RINOs, commentators, and press are gone.
If anything, the convention showed the organization skills of the Romey campaign and the RNC. Were there hiccups along the way? Yes, yes there were. Was it a gaffe filled convention? No, Biden didn't go to Tampa.
At first, I was not very interested in the final night of speeches. Yes, I knew it was Mitt Romney's chance to shine and deliver a speech that would set the tone for his campaign. I really thought that it would be a reshuffled stump speech. It was not.
The rest of the evening was interesting and let viewers know more about Romney. The audience, if they were listening, learned about Romney's caring side and how he helped people in his church and in his business. These speeches brought out a side of the candidate that he is uncomfortable talking about. I think he believes that doing the right thing for friends, business associates, and family is what is expected of us.
I thought it was good of Fox News to interrupt a recorded interview with John McCain to listen to a speech on Romney's character. I am certain Bill O'Reilly had a fit knowing his interview was dumped for something a little more important. O'Reilly only believes his stuff is important.
The good, the bad, and the ugly came with "mystery" speaker Clint Eastwood. The Oscar winning Hollywood icon took the stage and seemed a little unsure of himself or what he was going to say. After the speech, I wasn't sure what he said. At times, Eastwood looked like he was trying out for a production of Harvey as he talked to an empty chair. The empty chair, as we all know, is Barack Obama.
Although the speech will not go down as one of the best during the RNC, Eastwood delivered the crowd and began the run up to the big moment. Two of Eastwood's best lines were, "Biden is the intellect of the Democrats." and "We have to let him (Obama) go." Both good, but overall not what I expected.
At that point I was certain I was done watching. I still expected a stump speech from Romney.
Marco Rubio stepped forward and delivered on his potential and promise. Rubio told his story and the story of other Latinos. Latinos who cared for their families. Latiunos who struggled. Latinos like him who have achieved. He understood why so many Latinos were Democrats. He hoped they would look at the GOP candidates and understand how they can and will help all Americans. Rubio did well.
Looking very Presidential, Romney entered from the back of the convention center and made his way to the podium. It was a rousing and exciting time for the delegates.
Romney's speech was as good as he gets. It told Romney's story. It should a deep love for the country. A deep love for his family and the promise of doing better.
At one point he praised President Obama for his message in 2008. A message, as the speech continued, that failed.
Romney hit all the message points about the economy, taxes, helathcare, etc.
Viewers of the speech knew more about Romney and his plans. They knew what he wanted to do. They knew that he could be counted on to deliver. Were there specifics? No, but is that the kind of speech for specifics? No.
It was a good speech. It delivered.
Now it is on to the campaign. If I were part of the Romney campaign, my first stop today would be to the Gulf Coast. Obama has been to busy campaigning in college towns to go.
Next up - Charlotte and the DNC. The theme of the Charlotte convention will be the same theme the Obama campaign has had for months - "Kill Romney." The DNC and Obama campaign will do everything possible to show the Romney-Ryan ticket is extreme.
The DNC will be more spectacle than substance. They will try to recreate the coronation atmosphere in Bank of America stadium. A stadium named for one of Obama claimed enemies - big banks. Obama will still take their money.
It will be an interesting and expensive - for Charlotte taxpayers - week. I will watch none of it.
If anything, the convention showed the organization skills of the Romey campaign and the RNC. Were there hiccups along the way? Yes, yes there were. Was it a gaffe filled convention? No, Biden didn't go to Tampa.
At first, I was not very interested in the final night of speeches. Yes, I knew it was Mitt Romney's chance to shine and deliver a speech that would set the tone for his campaign. I really thought that it would be a reshuffled stump speech. It was not.
The rest of the evening was interesting and let viewers know more about Romney. The audience, if they were listening, learned about Romney's caring side and how he helped people in his church and in his business. These speeches brought out a side of the candidate that he is uncomfortable talking about. I think he believes that doing the right thing for friends, business associates, and family is what is expected of us.
I thought it was good of Fox News to interrupt a recorded interview with John McCain to listen to a speech on Romney's character. I am certain Bill O'Reilly had a fit knowing his interview was dumped for something a little more important. O'Reilly only believes his stuff is important.
The good, the bad, and the ugly came with "mystery" speaker Clint Eastwood. The Oscar winning Hollywood icon took the stage and seemed a little unsure of himself or what he was going to say. After the speech, I wasn't sure what he said. At times, Eastwood looked like he was trying out for a production of Harvey as he talked to an empty chair. The empty chair, as we all know, is Barack Obama.
Although the speech will not go down as one of the best during the RNC, Eastwood delivered the crowd and began the run up to the big moment. Two of Eastwood's best lines were, "Biden is the intellect of the Democrats." and "We have to let him (Obama) go." Both good, but overall not what I expected.
At that point I was certain I was done watching. I still expected a stump speech from Romney.
Marco Rubio stepped forward and delivered on his potential and promise. Rubio told his story and the story of other Latinos. Latinos who cared for their families. Latiunos who struggled. Latinos like him who have achieved. He understood why so many Latinos were Democrats. He hoped they would look at the GOP candidates and understand how they can and will help all Americans. Rubio did well.
Looking very Presidential, Romney entered from the back of the convention center and made his way to the podium. It was a rousing and exciting time for the delegates.
Romney's speech was as good as he gets. It told Romney's story. It should a deep love for the country. A deep love for his family and the promise of doing better.
At one point he praised President Obama for his message in 2008. A message, as the speech continued, that failed.
Romney hit all the message points about the economy, taxes, helathcare, etc.
Viewers of the speech knew more about Romney and his plans. They knew what he wanted to do. They knew that he could be counted on to deliver. Were there specifics? No, but is that the kind of speech for specifics? No.
It was a good speech. It delivered.
Now it is on to the campaign. If I were part of the Romney campaign, my first stop today would be to the Gulf Coast. Obama has been to busy campaigning in college towns to go.
Next up - Charlotte and the DNC. The theme of the Charlotte convention will be the same theme the Obama campaign has had for months - "Kill Romney." The DNC and Obama campaign will do everything possible to show the Romney-Ryan ticket is extreme.
The DNC will be more spectacle than substance. They will try to recreate the coronation atmosphere in Bank of America stadium. A stadium named for one of Obama claimed enemies - big banks. Obama will still take their money.
It will be an interesting and expensive - for Charlotte taxpayers - week. I will watch none of it.
Thursday, August 30, 2012
Media Notes - August 30, 2012
With the "major" television networks choosing to limit coverage of the Republican National Convention to a single hour each night, judging the impact of the event for television viewers is incomplete. Cable news outlets like CNN and Fox are providing more coverage which increases the total number of viewers throughout the day.
The 10-11pm (ET) hour is currently the only hour in which all of the news outlets compete for an audience. On Tuesday night, Fox News led the audience count with nearly 7 million viewers with NBC following with nearly 5 million viewers. MSNBC contributed a paltry 1.5 million. The total number of viewers during the hour was 22.3 million. Overall there were more viewers for this year's coverage than 2008.
More from Multichannel News
- - -
Perhaps Charlie Sheen is winning. When FX began airing Sheen's series, Anger Management audiences declined from week to week. It seemed that it was a failed experiment.
In subsequent weeks, the series has become the highest-rated new comedy on cable with 4.5 million viewers weekly including 2.5 million individuals in the all-important 18-49 age group.
The original agreement with FX called for a certain audience level in order to trigger a 90 episode renewal. Anger Management has met that goal and will begin production of the 90 episode extension in September. The news season will premiere in January 2013. No word on additional audience goals for the extension.
More from Multichannel News
That's it for now.
The 10-11pm (ET) hour is currently the only hour in which all of the news outlets compete for an audience. On Tuesday night, Fox News led the audience count with nearly 7 million viewers with NBC following with nearly 5 million viewers. MSNBC contributed a paltry 1.5 million. The total number of viewers during the hour was 22.3 million. Overall there were more viewers for this year's coverage than 2008.
More from Multichannel News
- - -
Perhaps Charlie Sheen is winning. When FX began airing Sheen's series, Anger Management audiences declined from week to week. It seemed that it was a failed experiment.
In subsequent weeks, the series has become the highest-rated new comedy on cable with 4.5 million viewers weekly including 2.5 million individuals in the all-important 18-49 age group.
The original agreement with FX called for a certain audience level in order to trigger a 90 episode renewal. Anger Management has met that goal and will begin production of the 90 episode extension in September. The news season will premiere in January 2013. No word on additional audience goals for the extension.
More from Multichannel News
That's it for now.
Friday, August 24, 2012
Is Romney a Birther?
Is it possible that presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney is a "closet" birther?
During a rally in his native state of Michigan, Romney told the crowd that both he and his wife Ann were born in nearby hospitals.
"No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised," Romney added.
Whether this was just a joke to please a hometown crowd or the first indication that Romney will use the birth certificate question in the campaign. Time will tell.
The Obama campaign quickly responded with its usual talking points on the birther issues. Romney "embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them." Nothing new there.
More from The Hill.
During a rally in his native state of Michigan, Romney told the crowd that both he and his wife Ann were born in nearby hospitals.
"No one's ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised," Romney added.
Whether this was just a joke to please a hometown crowd or the first indication that Romney will use the birth certificate question in the campaign. Time will tell.
The Obama campaign quickly responded with its usual talking points on the birther issues. Romney "embraced the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them." Nothing new there.
More from The Hill.
More Cuts for Pubcasting
In a move to keep public broadcasting solvent in West Virginia, the executive director of the public media organization proposed drastic cuts amounting to nearly $200,000.
Dennis Adkins revealed the cuts as part of a "strategic plan" requested by the WV Educational Broadcasting Authority Board.
The cuts are necessary more so this year than in previous budget years. In the past WV Public Broadcasting has been able to keep in its budget funds remaining at the end of a fiscal years. This year, according to Adkins the state "swooped in and took it." The amount remaining was nearly $180,000 due to not filling vacant positions.
Viewers should only notice minimal changes in what is seen and heard on the statewide network. Cuts include dropping membership in the American Association of Public Television Stations, a lobbying group - a $26,000 savings.
Cancelling the tv rating service Nielsen - a savings of over $25,000.
Discontinue publication of a monthly radio and television program guide for members - a savings of over $65,000.
Discontinuing broadcast of West Virginia University sports. This will result in a $23,000 savings.
Adkins said there could be additional cuts in the proposed budget.
More here.
Dennis Adkins revealed the cuts as part of a "strategic plan" requested by the WV Educational Broadcasting Authority Board.
The cuts are necessary more so this year than in previous budget years. In the past WV Public Broadcasting has been able to keep in its budget funds remaining at the end of a fiscal years. This year, according to Adkins the state "swooped in and took it." The amount remaining was nearly $180,000 due to not filling vacant positions.
Viewers should only notice minimal changes in what is seen and heard on the statewide network. Cuts include dropping membership in the American Association of Public Television Stations, a lobbying group - a $26,000 savings.
Cancelling the tv rating service Nielsen - a savings of over $25,000.
Discontinue publication of a monthly radio and television program guide for members - a savings of over $65,000.
Discontinuing broadcast of West Virginia University sports. This will result in a $23,000 savings.
Adkins said there could be additional cuts in the proposed budget.
More here.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Someone Should Have Read the Bill . . . FIRST
During the debate on Obamacare, Nancy Pelosi said tha we have to "pass it before we know what is in it".
No truer words have ever been spoke. Every month or so there seems to be another new fee or tax or penalty associated with the Affordable Care Act.
The latest penalty will be to hospitals that accept Medicare patients. The penalty will be given to hospitals who have a high readmission rate for Medicare patients. Hospitals with a high 30-day readmission rate will be penalized. Currently, that is about two-thirds of all US hospitals.
The penalty will appear as reduced hospital payments by Medicare. Starting in October, the penalty will be one percent. It will rise to three percent in 2014.
Doctors have noted that a high admission rate can result in lower mortality rates. Sunil Kripalani, MD, a professor with Vanderbilt University Medical Center asks, "So, which would we rather have -- a hospital readmission or a death?" We now know what Obamacare would prefer.
More from Fox News
No truer words have ever been spoke. Every month or so there seems to be another new fee or tax or penalty associated with the Affordable Care Act.
The latest penalty will be to hospitals that accept Medicare patients. The penalty will be given to hospitals who have a high readmission rate for Medicare patients. Hospitals with a high 30-day readmission rate will be penalized. Currently, that is about two-thirds of all US hospitals.
The penalty will appear as reduced hospital payments by Medicare. Starting in October, the penalty will be one percent. It will rise to three percent in 2014.
Doctors have noted that a high admission rate can result in lower mortality rates. Sunil Kripalani, MD, a professor with Vanderbilt University Medical Center asks, "So, which would we rather have -- a hospital readmission or a death?" We now know what Obamacare would prefer.
More from Fox News
C'mon Penn State . . . Really?
I have never been a fan of Penn State or its football program. I've known people who work there and they are essentially incompetent. I always thought the football program and Joe Paterno were over-rated, arrogant, did not belong in the Big Ten, and only cared about winning. Yes, you can find that on most college campuses with a major football program. At Penn State, football was its religion and Paterno was the Pope. (Disclosure over)
Following the revelation of the child sex abuse by former coach Jerry Sandusky, it seemed impossible that someone did not know every detailed of the abuse and ignored every report about it.
The report created by former FBI director Louis Freeh established the concealment of pertinent facts about the abuse. It established that facts were hidden in order to avoid bad publicity and NCAA sanction. Sanctions that will devastate the football program for many years, but not the "death penalty." Many NCAA officials and Board Members would have like to see the death penalty imposed on Penn State football.
After the report was released the Paterno family denied the late coach's role in the scandal. They also planned to contact the NCAA to have the penalties reduced or eliminated.
Now, for PSU President Graham Spainer and his attorneys are attacking the Freeh Report. During a Philadelphia press conferences attorneys characterized the report as a "biased investigation." They noted that Spainer's part in the report was "myth."
Spainer was not present at the news conference and the attorneys did not say a lawsuit was pending.
In a previous interview with The New Yorker Spainer said, "Someday I hope to have my name completely cleared when it becomes evident that this was unfair and untrue."
Someday, Mr. Spainer, you will realize that you and other administrators did not protect children and others in the care of PSU and its football program.
More from Fox News
Following the revelation of the child sex abuse by former coach Jerry Sandusky, it seemed impossible that someone did not know every detailed of the abuse and ignored every report about it.
The report created by former FBI director Louis Freeh established the concealment of pertinent facts about the abuse. It established that facts were hidden in order to avoid bad publicity and NCAA sanction. Sanctions that will devastate the football program for many years, but not the "death penalty." Many NCAA officials and Board Members would have like to see the death penalty imposed on Penn State football.
After the report was released the Paterno family denied the late coach's role in the scandal. They also planned to contact the NCAA to have the penalties reduced or eliminated.
Now, for PSU President Graham Spainer and his attorneys are attacking the Freeh Report. During a Philadelphia press conferences attorneys characterized the report as a "biased investigation." They noted that Spainer's part in the report was "myth."
Spainer was not present at the news conference and the attorneys did not say a lawsuit was pending.
In a previous interview with The New Yorker Spainer said, "Someday I hope to have my name completely cleared when it becomes evident that this was unfair and untrue."
Someday, Mr. Spainer, you will realize that you and other administrators did not protect children and others in the care of PSU and its football program.
More from Fox News
Tuesday, August 21, 2012
Strike 2 for ABC News
For the second time in a month ABC News rushed a story to air that was not totally correct.
Following the apparent suicide of director Tony Scott, ABC began reporting that the suicide was the result of cancer. ABC reported, as did other news outlets, that Scott had an inoperable brain tumor.
ABC reported that suicide notes from Scott confirmed it.
The LA Coroner reported that there was no brain cancer nor any cancer in Scott's body. Local ABC owned station broke the new story and confirmed it with the coroner's office.
ABC News has subsequently retracted the story, but there is no word of an apology to the Scott family.
This is the second major failure for ABC News. Following the theater massacre in Aurora CO, ABC News reported that the shooter may have ties to the Tea Party. Brian Ross reported the story without any source checking. It was found that the James Holmes reported by Ross was a different person than the James Holmes arrested for the murders.
Ross is still employed by ABC News which has lost additional credibility with the latest mistake in an effort to garner ratings.
Following the apparent suicide of director Tony Scott, ABC began reporting that the suicide was the result of cancer. ABC reported, as did other news outlets, that Scott had an inoperable brain tumor.
ABC reported that suicide notes from Scott confirmed it.
The LA Coroner reported that there was no brain cancer nor any cancer in Scott's body. Local ABC owned station broke the new story and confirmed it with the coroner's office.
ABC News has subsequently retracted the story, but there is no word of an apology to the Scott family.
This is the second major failure for ABC News. Following the theater massacre in Aurora CO, ABC News reported that the shooter may have ties to the Tea Party. Brian Ross reported the story without any source checking. It was found that the James Holmes reported by Ross was a different person than the James Holmes arrested for the murders.
Ross is still employed by ABC News which has lost additional credibility with the latest mistake in an effort to garner ratings.
You Won't Hear Much About This on MSNBC
So, this little tidbit is directly from the GOP and, obviously, has some spin. It does, however, explain problems in the Obama campaign.
The Obama campaign is spending more than it is bringing into the bank. Sources say the campaign only raised $10 million in July. The AP also reports that the campaign spent $32 million. Sound familiar? I wonder when taxpayers will get stuck with this bill.
In an item a bit more partisan, Glen Thrush's book, Obama's Last Stand say Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is the weakest surrogate for Obama. Early in the campaign DWS did well on cable outlets, especially MSNBC, but when she crossed over to the Sunday talk shows her highly partisan and occasionally delusional attacks on the GOP have caused the DNC to act. A DNC sponsored focus group to rank campaign surrogates. Wasserman-Schultz finished last.
Nevertheless, the campaign keeps her available for attack sessions on cable.
More here
The Obama campaign is spending more than it is bringing into the bank. Sources say the campaign only raised $10 million in July. The AP also reports that the campaign spent $32 million. Sound familiar? I wonder when taxpayers will get stuck with this bill.
In an item a bit more partisan, Glen Thrush's book, Obama's Last Stand say Debbie Wasserman-Schultz is the weakest surrogate for Obama. Early in the campaign DWS did well on cable outlets, especially MSNBC, but when she crossed over to the Sunday talk shows her highly partisan and occasionally delusional attacks on the GOP have caused the DNC to act. A DNC sponsored focus group to rank campaign surrogates. Wasserman-Schultz finished last.
Nevertheless, the campaign keeps her available for attack sessions on cable.
More here
Pew: News Credibility Down
The latest Pew Report on credibility in news may not surprise anyone.
The study was conducted in mid July 2012 with slightly over 1,000 respondents. Overall the study looked at 13 news organizations that spanned the political spectrum and included comments on local newspapers and television news. The survey asked respondents to rate news organization believability on a four point scale. A 1 or 2 was a negative score. A 3 or 4 was a positive assessment of the organization.
Overall the survey found and decline in positive comments about media. Only 56 percent of the respondents rated news organizations positive. This is a decline from a 62 percent rating in the 2010 survey.
In previous Pew studies believability of a particular news organization was based on a partisan view of news. That trend continues with the 2012 survey.
Local TV news received the highest believability score at 65 percent. The lowest believability scores at 49 percent was shared by the New York Times, Fox News, and USA Today. 60 Minutes was the only individual program to be ranked by respondents. It received a believability score of 64 percent.
NPR received a decent believability score, but 21 percent of the respondents could not rate NPR.
When part affiliation enters the mix, the numbers are a expected. For MSNBC only 32 percent of Republicans thought the NBC-owned operation to be credible. 69 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents rated it as credible. No supreise in those results.
Fox News was only scored credible by 37 percent of democrats, but was viewed positively by 67 percent of republicans and 43 percent of independents.
Local TV news was viewed as credible by 68 percent of republicans, 70 percent of democrats and 58 percent of independents.
Full survey results can be found here. For the second time since the inception of this survey, the Pew Research Center contact respondents on landlines and cell phone.
The study was conducted in mid July 2012 with slightly over 1,000 respondents. Overall the study looked at 13 news organizations that spanned the political spectrum and included comments on local newspapers and television news. The survey asked respondents to rate news organization believability on a four point scale. A 1 or 2 was a negative score. A 3 or 4 was a positive assessment of the organization.
Overall the survey found and decline in positive comments about media. Only 56 percent of the respondents rated news organizations positive. This is a decline from a 62 percent rating in the 2010 survey.
In previous Pew studies believability of a particular news organization was based on a partisan view of news. That trend continues with the 2012 survey.
Local TV news received the highest believability score at 65 percent. The lowest believability scores at 49 percent was shared by the New York Times, Fox News, and USA Today. 60 Minutes was the only individual program to be ranked by respondents. It received a believability score of 64 percent.
NPR received a decent believability score, but 21 percent of the respondents could not rate NPR.
When part affiliation enters the mix, the numbers are a expected. For MSNBC only 32 percent of Republicans thought the NBC-owned operation to be credible. 69 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents rated it as credible. No supreise in those results.
Fox News was only scored credible by 37 percent of democrats, but was viewed positively by 67 percent of republicans and 43 percent of independents.
Local TV news was viewed as credible by 68 percent of republicans, 70 percent of democrats and 58 percent of independents.
Full survey results can be found here. For the second time since the inception of this survey, the Pew Research Center contact respondents on landlines and cell phone.
Monday, August 20, 2012
Alabama PTV Tries to Move On
The Alabama ETV Commission is trying to end the controversy over the firing of Executive Director Alan Pizzato in June. The firings took place during a June 12th meeting to discuss the airing of controversial religious based programming on Alabama PTV.
In addition to Pizzato, APTV CFO, Pauline Howland was also dismissed at the June 12 meeting.
Following the firings, protests against the firings and the interference in APT programming decisions were from a group of ministers and several out-of-state groups. APT COO Charles Grantham received the petitions and wrote a letter to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley about the morale problems caused by the Commission's decision. Grantham later resigned after being told by a commission member not to talk to the press.
Pizatto has filed suit against the Commission saying his firing was unlawful due to the procedures used by the board and members of the board activities in other state offices. No date has been set for a hearing on the suit.
The AETC has hired a replacement for Pizzato as his suit and others are pending. On Aug. 18 the board selected Roy Clem as its new executive director. Clem is the former general manager of a commercial station in Birmingham AL. Clem has also been part of the University of Alabama's Department of Communication.
At the same meeting the board appointed APT chief engineer Windell Wood as the new COO. Wood will replace Charles Grantham when his resignation takes affect August 31.
AETC is hoping to put the controversy behind it and APT, but with lawsuits and a new reputation for interfering in programming decisions and changing the mission of APT to not include diversity, the chilling affect of AETC will be felt throughout public media for years to come.
In addition to Pizzato, APTV CFO, Pauline Howland was also dismissed at the June 12 meeting.
Following the firings, protests against the firings and the interference in APT programming decisions were from a group of ministers and several out-of-state groups. APT COO Charles Grantham received the petitions and wrote a letter to Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley about the morale problems caused by the Commission's decision. Grantham later resigned after being told by a commission member not to talk to the press.
Pizatto has filed suit against the Commission saying his firing was unlawful due to the procedures used by the board and members of the board activities in other state offices. No date has been set for a hearing on the suit.
The AETC has hired a replacement for Pizzato as his suit and others are pending. On Aug. 18 the board selected Roy Clem as its new executive director. Clem is the former general manager of a commercial station in Birmingham AL. Clem has also been part of the University of Alabama's Department of Communication.
At the same meeting the board appointed APT chief engineer Windell Wood as the new COO. Wood will replace Charles Grantham when his resignation takes affect August 31.
AETC is hoping to put the controversy behind it and APT, but with lawsuits and a new reputation for interfering in programming decisions and changing the mission of APT to not include diversity, the chilling affect of AETC will be felt throughout public media for years to come.
Friday, August 17, 2012
Here's the Offer
Yesterday, the Obama campaign made presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney what they hoped would be "an offer he can't refuse." The plan was for Romney to release five more years of tax returns and the campaign would make no further comment on Romney's taxes.
The offered followed Romney's remarks about his taxes over the past decade. In remarks in North Carolina Romney said that he had paid an average of 13% in taxes plus more when charitable giving was included. Romney was responded to remarks from Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and an unnamed source. The Reid claim was Romney had not paid taxes in 10 years.
The Obama campaign offer is clearly another deflection from Obama's dismal economic record and an increasing desperate campaign staff.
Romney campaign manager Matt Rhodes responded to the "offer." "Thanks for the note. It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending." In other words, "Thanks, but no thanks."
I'm sure the level of laughter within the Romney camp hit new highs along with the shaking of heads.
More from Fox News"Thanks for the note. It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending,"
The offered followed Romney's remarks about his taxes over the past decade. In remarks in North Carolina Romney said that he had paid an average of 13% in taxes plus more when charitable giving was included. Romney was responded to remarks from Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) and an unnamed source. The Reid claim was Romney had not paid taxes in 10 years.
The Obama campaign offer is clearly another deflection from Obama's dismal economic record and an increasing desperate campaign staff.
Romney campaign manager Matt Rhodes responded to the "offer." "Thanks for the note. It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending." In other words, "Thanks, but no thanks."
I'm sure the level of laughter within the Romney camp hit new highs along with the shaking of heads.
More from Fox News"Thanks for the note. It is clear that President Obama wants nothing more than to talk about Governor Romney's tax returns instead of the issues that matter to voters, like putting Americans back to work, fixing the economy and reining in spending,"
Another Day - Another Cable vs. Broadcaster Dispute
Stepping into the ring of recent retransmission consent disputes now features Tribune Co. stations and Cablevision.
Cablevision removed four Tribune stations in the New York area plus another station in the Denver area. According to sources at Tribune, Cablevision removed the stations before the current agreement expired and during continued negotiations. Tribune claims that it would have been willing to allowed an unconditional extension of the current agreement during continued negotiations.
Cablevision blames the owners of Tribune which include hedge funds and banks for failed negotiations. In a statement Cablevision said that Tribune is "demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own. They should stop their anti-consumer demands and work productively to reach an agreement."
Tribune says it is willing to allow the station feeds to continue and "never made any threat to withdraw these stations or any demand that Cablevision remove them."
A pre-emptive strike to remove stations during negotiations is a new twist in the constant retransmission consent battles between broadcasters and cable operators. More from MultiChannel News
Cablevision removed four Tribune stations in the New York area plus another station in the Denver area. According to sources at Tribune, Cablevision removed the stations before the current agreement expired and during continued negotiations. Tribune claims that it would have been willing to allowed an unconditional extension of the current agreement during continued negotiations.
Cablevision blames the owners of Tribune which include hedge funds and banks for failed negotiations. In a statement Cablevision said that Tribune is "demanding tens of millions in new fees for WPIX and other stations they own. They should stop their anti-consumer demands and work productively to reach an agreement."
Tribune says it is willing to allow the station feeds to continue and "never made any threat to withdraw these stations or any demand that Cablevision remove them."
A pre-emptive strike to remove stations during negotiations is a new twist in the constant retransmission consent battles between broadcasters and cable operators. More from MultiChannel News
Thursday, August 16, 2012
The List
In a Romney administration there is a list. I'm sure there are many lists, but there is a list of programs and endowments that will be eliminated under a Romney administration.
In a interview with Fortune, Gov. Romney talked about the economy, his administration and his budget. You may recall that last Sunday Romney emphasized that it is his budget that will be implemented not the current or past budget proposals developed in the House by Paul Ryan.
In all of Romney's budget proposals, he has slated for budget elimination the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and NPR. While Romney says he likes some of this things on PBS, it is time for it to "stand" on its own. In an earlier interview, Romney said that PBS would carry ads in his administration.
Romney will need Congress to changes laws and rules governing broadcast stations to accomplish this. Current law and FCC rules prohibit non-profit stations from carrying advertising.
This is not the first time public media has been threatened to have its federal funding cut. When Republicans took over the House in the mid 90's, the budget called for an elimination of funding for public broadcasting. Eventually, funding was restored at slightly lower levels.
In recent months a House committee has put together a plan to reduce funding for CPB with total elimination in the 2015 fiscal year. That proposal has not come to the floor and is dead in the democrat controlled Senate.
The fate of federal funding will, in large part, be determined by the presidential and congressional elections in November. A sweep in both houses and the White House may finally see the end of CPB funding.
Hopefully there may be some compromise. While ending funding for NPR and PBS could gain some traction, a larger part of federal funding goes to local stations as a Community Service Grants. For many smaller stations this grant is their life's blood.
A CPB study this summer showed that 130 stations could go off the air if federal funding is completely cut. Many of these stations are in rural areas and some are the only radio or television provider for a community.
The lost of those stations could result in a loss of emergency information getting to local communities.
In this economy solutions are difficult. Spending is crazy. Everyone has their favorite program than is on the "endangered" list.
Personally, I like the proposal that prevents local stations receiving a CSG are prohibited from using that money to pay dues to PBS or NPR. If those two entities want to stay alive, they should find funding that does not include taking money from local stations. Money that is given to stations to fund local initiatives, programs and personnel.
That kind of proposal would be appropriate.
In a interview with Fortune, Gov. Romney talked about the economy, his administration and his budget. You may recall that last Sunday Romney emphasized that it is his budget that will be implemented not the current or past budget proposals developed in the House by Paul Ryan.
In all of Romney's budget proposals, he has slated for budget elimination the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS and NPR. While Romney says he likes some of this things on PBS, it is time for it to "stand" on its own. In an earlier interview, Romney said that PBS would carry ads in his administration.
Romney will need Congress to changes laws and rules governing broadcast stations to accomplish this. Current law and FCC rules prohibit non-profit stations from carrying advertising.
This is not the first time public media has been threatened to have its federal funding cut. When Republicans took over the House in the mid 90's, the budget called for an elimination of funding for public broadcasting. Eventually, funding was restored at slightly lower levels.
In recent months a House committee has put together a plan to reduce funding for CPB with total elimination in the 2015 fiscal year. That proposal has not come to the floor and is dead in the democrat controlled Senate.
The fate of federal funding will, in large part, be determined by the presidential and congressional elections in November. A sweep in both houses and the White House may finally see the end of CPB funding.
Hopefully there may be some compromise. While ending funding for NPR and PBS could gain some traction, a larger part of federal funding goes to local stations as a Community Service Grants. For many smaller stations this grant is their life's blood.
A CPB study this summer showed that 130 stations could go off the air if federal funding is completely cut. Many of these stations are in rural areas and some are the only radio or television provider for a community.
The lost of those stations could result in a loss of emergency information getting to local communities.
In this economy solutions are difficult. Spending is crazy. Everyone has their favorite program than is on the "endangered" list.
Personally, I like the proposal that prevents local stations receiving a CSG are prohibited from using that money to pay dues to PBS or NPR. If those two entities want to stay alive, they should find funding that does not include taking money from local stations. Money that is given to stations to fund local initiatives, programs and personnel.
That kind of proposal would be appropriate.
Some Media Tidbits - CPAN to Cover it All
Back in the day when there were limited television channels and cable was beginning its growth, viewers could be treated to four or five nights of sheer boredom during the summer of an election year. Yes, the Summer Olympics was still airing, but shortly after the summer sports event the two major political parties took over television for their respective conventions.
In recent years the broadcast and cable networks have learned that the conventions are deadly dull unless you support one of the candidates. The amount of coverage, however, has dwindled to just a few short hours each evening. No more the long delays that had presidential candidates accepting the nomination in the wee small hour of the morning.
Political junkies and campaign operatives have railed against the media for its limited coverage. Viewers have railed against the biased coverage by television and cable networks.
Fear not political junkies, C-SPAN is here.
As in the pats C-SPAN is planning gavel-to-gavel coverage of the conventions in Tampa and Charlotte. It signature morning series Washington Journal will also be live each day of the convention. In addition to political speech ad-nauseum, C-SPAN will be touring the host cities and talking with delegates and locals alike.
So, political hacks and other interested parties schedule your vacation now and get ready to be inundated with non-stop coverage without the constant biased commentary.
- - -
There is a settlement between Dish and Sinclair Broadcasting. Well, there is a two week agreement to allow for further negotiations.
For Dish subscribers it means local Sinclair stations will not be removed from the satellite provider tonight at midnight.
For Dish and Sinclair it means two more weeks of arguing over fees the satellite provider will pay Sinclair for their copyrighted content.
- - -
Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) is not a fan of illeagl immigration or President Obama's policies.
On Wednesday, the Obama scheme of allowing the children of illegal aliens to remain in the country if they met certain criteria began to take applications.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals will defer deportation on young individuals if they meet certain criteria. These include arrival before age 16, certain education levels, military service, and no felony convictions.
After the announced policy change in June Gov. Brewer called the plan "backdoor amnesty" and political pandering.
Now the governor through an executive ordr has taken the fight one step further. She ordered state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other state benefits from young illeagl immigrants who qualify under the Obama plan.
The orders was an affirmation of current Arizona law that denies taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification from illegal immigrants
The law denying benefits has been approved by voters twice in the past decade.
Opponents of Gov. Brewer say the order is mean spirited. I am sure the Holder DOJ and Obama campaign personnel are working on a way to sue Arizona again.
More from Fox News
That's it for now.
In recent years the broadcast and cable networks have learned that the conventions are deadly dull unless you support one of the candidates. The amount of coverage, however, has dwindled to just a few short hours each evening. No more the long delays that had presidential candidates accepting the nomination in the wee small hour of the morning.
Political junkies and campaign operatives have railed against the media for its limited coverage. Viewers have railed against the biased coverage by television and cable networks.
Fear not political junkies, C-SPAN is here.
As in the pats C-SPAN is planning gavel-to-gavel coverage of the conventions in Tampa and Charlotte. It signature morning series Washington Journal will also be live each day of the convention. In addition to political speech ad-nauseum, C-SPAN will be touring the host cities and talking with delegates and locals alike.
So, political hacks and other interested parties schedule your vacation now and get ready to be inundated with non-stop coverage without the constant biased commentary.
- - -
There is a settlement between Dish and Sinclair Broadcasting. Well, there is a two week agreement to allow for further negotiations.
For Dish subscribers it means local Sinclair stations will not be removed from the satellite provider tonight at midnight.
For Dish and Sinclair it means two more weeks of arguing over fees the satellite provider will pay Sinclair for their copyrighted content.
- - -
Gov. Jan Brewer (R-AZ) is not a fan of illeagl immigration or President Obama's policies.
On Wednesday, the Obama scheme of allowing the children of illegal aliens to remain in the country if they met certain criteria began to take applications.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals will defer deportation on young individuals if they meet certain criteria. These include arrival before age 16, certain education levels, military service, and no felony convictions.
After the announced policy change in June Gov. Brewer called the plan "backdoor amnesty" and political pandering.
Now the governor through an executive ordr has taken the fight one step further. She ordered state agencies to deny driver's licenses and other state benefits from young illeagl immigrants who qualify under the Obama plan.
The orders was an affirmation of current Arizona law that denies taxpayer-funded public benefits and state identification from illegal immigrants
The law denying benefits has been approved by voters twice in the past decade.
Opponents of Gov. Brewer say the order is mean spirited. I am sure the Holder DOJ and Obama campaign personnel are working on a way to sue Arizona again.
More from Fox News
That's it for now.
Tuesday, August 14, 2012
Gaffe Prone Joe, at it AGain
First the Obama campaign - oh wait a unconnected campaign PAC - tried to die the death of a steelworker's wife with the closing of a steel plant by Bain Capital. The same steelworker the Obama campaign used in another ad wearing the same shirt.
The facts - under reported by the mainstream media - showed the tragic death happened six years after the plant closed and the woman had her own insurance unrelated to the plant. A "gaffe" of epic proportion. No apology coming from Obama, the campaign or the PAC.
Just one more example of saying or doing anything to deflect from the Obama record.
Now, vice president Joe Biden has gone one step farther and another step too far.
This morning the gaffe prone VP told a largely African American audience that a Romney presidency would put the "back into chains."
Yes, he said it. The campaign cannot spin or deflect from the facts. Joe, you said it and it is the most vile thing you could say. A remark of that sort by someone who should know how inflammatory it would be is simply race baiting. The VP used racial terms to deneigrate an opponent.
The only person who is really denigrated is Joe Biden. The remark is unworthy of a vice president, unworthy of an American and yes, racist.
Joe Biden owes an apology to the Romeny campaign, to Mitt Romney, to his boss - Batack Obama, to all African Americans and to the American people.
Mr. vice president, you should be ashamed.
The facts - under reported by the mainstream media - showed the tragic death happened six years after the plant closed and the woman had her own insurance unrelated to the plant. A "gaffe" of epic proportion. No apology coming from Obama, the campaign or the PAC.
Just one more example of saying or doing anything to deflect from the Obama record.
Now, vice president Joe Biden has gone one step farther and another step too far.
This morning the gaffe prone VP told a largely African American audience that a Romney presidency would put the "back into chains."
Yes, he said it. The campaign cannot spin or deflect from the facts. Joe, you said it and it is the most vile thing you could say. A remark of that sort by someone who should know how inflammatory it would be is simply race baiting. The VP used racial terms to deneigrate an opponent.
The only person who is really denigrated is Joe Biden. The remark is unworthy of a vice president, unworthy of an American and yes, racist.
Joe Biden owes an apology to the Romeny campaign, to Mitt Romney, to his boss - Batack Obama, to all African Americans and to the American people.
Mr. vice president, you should be ashamed.
Some Tidbits From Media
Battles between cable and satellite operators continue. The dispute between AMC Networks and Dish is unlikely to end.
In June Dish removed all networks owned by AMC including its premiere channel American Movie Classic (AMC). Dish claims AMC networks have very low viewership and replaced them with other channels.
AMC continues to offer free streaming to Dish subscribers on its websites of some of its more popular series including Breaking Bad. No word on any further negotiations.
Sinclair Broadcasting is now in a retransmission dispute with Dish. The broadcaster with stations in 45 US markets claims Dish has not been negotiating and is planning to remove all stations from Dish when the agreement expires on August 16.
Dish claims Sinclair wants a "massive price increase" for its properties. Sinclair has "significant doubt" that an agreement will be reached before the deadline.
- - -
The 2012 London Olympics are now history. Part of the history making event is the number of viewers that watch some part of the 17 day event.
Nielsen says that 219 million viewers watch some part of the games. This beats the 215 million fans that watched the 2008 Beijing games and increase of 2 percent.
NBC's cable networks also showed a significant increase in viewers from previous events. The NBC Sports Network - formerlly Versus - had its largest audience during the Team USA versus Japan women's soccer match. More from Broadcasting & Cable
In June Dish removed all networks owned by AMC including its premiere channel American Movie Classic (AMC). Dish claims AMC networks have very low viewership and replaced them with other channels.
AMC continues to offer free streaming to Dish subscribers on its websites of some of its more popular series including Breaking Bad. No word on any further negotiations.
Sinclair Broadcasting is now in a retransmission dispute with Dish. The broadcaster with stations in 45 US markets claims Dish has not been negotiating and is planning to remove all stations from Dish when the agreement expires on August 16.
Dish claims Sinclair wants a "massive price increase" for its properties. Sinclair has "significant doubt" that an agreement will be reached before the deadline.
- - -
The 2012 London Olympics are now history. Part of the history making event is the number of viewers that watch some part of the 17 day event.
Nielsen says that 219 million viewers watch some part of the games. This beats the 215 million fans that watched the 2008 Beijing games and increase of 2 percent.
NBC's cable networks also showed a significant increase in viewers from previous events. The NBC Sports Network - formerlly Versus - had its largest audience during the Team USA versus Japan women's soccer match. More from Broadcasting & Cable
Monday, August 13, 2012
Does Penn State Understand?
With the problems caused by a lack of institutional control over its football program, members of the Penn State University Board of Trustees continue to argue about the sanction levied by the NCAA against the program.
The sanctions were levied after a report headed by former FBI director Louis Freeh was issued showing the university and the football program failed to release critical information on child sex abuse charges against former coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is waiting sentencing after being convicted on 45 counts of abuse.The report named four university administrators including the late Coach Joe Paterno of hidiong information to avoid bad publicity.
The NCAA issued sanctions against Penn State that include the loss of scholarships, no postseason play for years, a large fine and the loss of 112 wins. Following the NCAA sanctions, the Big Ten Conference issued similar sanctions against the football program.
In a conference call on Sunday, members of the Board of Trustees seemed to exhibit the same kind of arrogance that the Freeh report cited as "an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity leading to a culture in which a football program was held in higher esteem" than the university's values.
The PSU board must vote to agree to the sanctions. No vote was taken because proper notice had not been given to the members.
During the call a former NCAA investigator, Gene Marsh, told the board that there was efforts to mitgate the sanctions were not available. The NCAA issued the consent decree was a "take it or leave it" proposition.
According to Marsh most NCAA board members pushed for the so-called "death penalty" against the football program. This would have shutdown football at PSU for many years leaving a empty Beaver Stadium and economic hardship for local businesses and the small Central Pennsylvania community that support the program.
Although no vote could be taken, board members including Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) thought the punishment was too harsh and that the price was too high for a proud past.
PSU President Rodney Erickson said he had never seen the NCAA grant "time off for good behavior."
Penn State received the correct punishment. The arrogance of the athletic program and the cover-up of claims of child abuse by a former coach are too high a price to be paid by children in the care of the university. More from Fox News
The sanctions were levied after a report headed by former FBI director Louis Freeh was issued showing the university and the football program failed to release critical information on child sex abuse charges against former coach Jerry Sandusky. Sandusky is waiting sentencing after being convicted on 45 counts of abuse.The report named four university administrators including the late Coach Joe Paterno of hidiong information to avoid bad publicity.
The NCAA issued sanctions against Penn State that include the loss of scholarships, no postseason play for years, a large fine and the loss of 112 wins. Following the NCAA sanctions, the Big Ten Conference issued similar sanctions against the football program.
In a conference call on Sunday, members of the Board of Trustees seemed to exhibit the same kind of arrogance that the Freeh report cited as "an unprecedented failure of institutional integrity leading to a culture in which a football program was held in higher esteem" than the university's values.
The PSU board must vote to agree to the sanctions. No vote was taken because proper notice had not been given to the members.
During the call a former NCAA investigator, Gene Marsh, told the board that there was efforts to mitgate the sanctions were not available. The NCAA issued the consent decree was a "take it or leave it" proposition.
According to Marsh most NCAA board members pushed for the so-called "death penalty" against the football program. This would have shutdown football at PSU for many years leaving a empty Beaver Stadium and economic hardship for local businesses and the small Central Pennsylvania community that support the program.
Although no vote could be taken, board members including Gov. Tom Corbett (R-PA) thought the punishment was too harsh and that the price was too high for a proud past.
PSU President Rodney Erickson said he had never seen the NCAA grant "time off for good behavior."
Penn State received the correct punishment. The arrogance of the athletic program and the cover-up of claims of child abuse by a former coach are too high a price to be paid by children in the care of the university. More from Fox News
Not so fast Dems
As soon as Paul Ryan (R-WI) was named Mitt Romney's choice as a running mate, the democrats began running also. On all the "news" and opinion programs all weekend long it was the Ryan-Romney budget or the Romney-Ryan budget. It didn't matter who's name was first. It was the beginning of a massive attack by the Obama campaign, the DNC, and the hanger-ons.
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz appearing on Fox News Sunday must have said twenty or more time that Romney had fully embraced the Ryan budget. All of Schultz's stats were from the 2011 Ryan led budget, not the current one. Fox's John Roberts caught her on that, but in typical Wasserman-Schultz for she ignored and continued. In fact each time ROberts found some discrepancies in Wasserman-Schultz's arguments, she would spin her head around and say, "The Romney-Ryan budget . . . "
While the democrats and the Obama campaign will continue along that line, like so many things it is full of distortions and little truth. Romney, however, did strike back on Sunday with little media coverage saying the Republican ticket will be running on his budget framework - not the one developed in the House.
The Romney-Ryan ticket had its first television interview on CBS' 60 Minutes. During the interview flanked by Ryan, Romney said, "“I have my budget plan as you know that I've put out. And that's the budget plan that we're going to run on.”
Nevertheless the Obama surrogates fanned out to condemn Ryan and the Ryan budget.
The truth about the Romney budget plan will only come forward if Romney and Ryan continue to attack the Obama record on the economy.
More from The Hill
Debbie Wasserman-Schultz appearing on Fox News Sunday must have said twenty or more time that Romney had fully embraced the Ryan budget. All of Schultz's stats were from the 2011 Ryan led budget, not the current one. Fox's John Roberts caught her on that, but in typical Wasserman-Schultz for she ignored and continued. In fact each time ROberts found some discrepancies in Wasserman-Schultz's arguments, she would spin her head around and say, "The Romney-Ryan budget . . . "
While the democrats and the Obama campaign will continue along that line, like so many things it is full of distortions and little truth. Romney, however, did strike back on Sunday with little media coverage saying the Republican ticket will be running on his budget framework - not the one developed in the House.
The Romney-Ryan ticket had its first television interview on CBS' 60 Minutes. During the interview flanked by Ryan, Romney said, "“I have my budget plan as you know that I've put out. And that's the budget plan that we're going to run on.”
Nevertheless the Obama surrogates fanned out to condemn Ryan and the Ryan budget.
The truth about the Romney budget plan will only come forward if Romney and Ryan continue to attack the Obama record on the economy.
More from The Hill
Odd Coverage, but NBC Did Not Fail
Throughout the coverage of the 2012 London Games, folks on Twitter and G+ have been whining about the NBC coverage. Complaints ranged from the delay of many events - there is a time difference between the US and Canada, not focusing on US athletes - really, I was sick of Gabby Douglas, and not enough coverage - pick one.
In my tv career I have been luck enough to work at two Olympics - one winter and one summer - both in the US. Nevertheless covering these events is a logistical nightmare made more difficult by the International Olympic Committee and the local organizing committee.
For each games the IOC selects a broadcasting entity from the originating country to provide coverage for all events and for all other broadcasting entities. Before cable and satellite networks, this was a little easier. NBC's coverage for the last several games expanded from one or two networks to six or seven for US coverage. The host broadcasters is primarily responsible for "pool" coverage of all events and "local" coverage for its own country.
In the case of the London Games the BBC was the host broadcaster and provided the "pool" coverage. There are some events that are almost all pool coverage. The opening and closing ceremonies are examples. With the exception of anchor shots and the cameras walking with Team USA, NBC's coverage was the pool coverage including all sound and video.
At individual events, "pool" coverage is supplemented by individual country broadcast entities. This is where coverage can quickly get lousy. NBC demonstrated this during the Women's Gymnastics All Around Finals. It seemed that there were only two teams competing. There was little coverage of any other team. Sure the US had a good team. Gabby Douglas won, but did she. One of the NBC commentators said it looked like she stepped out of bounds during the floor exercise. NBC showed one replay. She did, but no judge caught it and no other coach complained. Nevertheless the coverage on that event was bad, very bad.
Swimming was another example, but again the US had a good team.
The one NBC network that seemed to excel on its coverage was the NBC Sports Network - formerly known as Versus - had some of its largest audiences ever as it had coverage at different hours, more live coverage, and exclusively covered Team USA.
I am certain if you would have seen Olympic coverage in another country you would have had a totally different experience. You may have seen more pool coverage. You may have seen more locally oriented coverage. It depends.
One other consideration the IOC and the local organization committee put restrictions on the release of information and audio/video of events. There are restrictions on interviews with athletes. All of this contributes to the coverage.
If you watched the Fox News website you often saw headlines like "Team USA going for Gold in Swimming" or Women's Basketball Going for Gold". Sometimes these were displayed for hours after the end of an event because of IOC restrictions.
Didn't like the NBC coverage? Fine. That's your opinion.
The 2016 Games in Rio will be a little different. Rio is only one hour later than New York. Perhaps, more live coverage. The 2016 games will in August, but August is winter in Brazil.
In my tv career I have been luck enough to work at two Olympics - one winter and one summer - both in the US. Nevertheless covering these events is a logistical nightmare made more difficult by the International Olympic Committee and the local organizing committee.
For each games the IOC selects a broadcasting entity from the originating country to provide coverage for all events and for all other broadcasting entities. Before cable and satellite networks, this was a little easier. NBC's coverage for the last several games expanded from one or two networks to six or seven for US coverage. The host broadcasters is primarily responsible for "pool" coverage of all events and "local" coverage for its own country.
In the case of the London Games the BBC was the host broadcaster and provided the "pool" coverage. There are some events that are almost all pool coverage. The opening and closing ceremonies are examples. With the exception of anchor shots and the cameras walking with Team USA, NBC's coverage was the pool coverage including all sound and video.
At individual events, "pool" coverage is supplemented by individual country broadcast entities. This is where coverage can quickly get lousy. NBC demonstrated this during the Women's Gymnastics All Around Finals. It seemed that there were only two teams competing. There was little coverage of any other team. Sure the US had a good team. Gabby Douglas won, but did she. One of the NBC commentators said it looked like she stepped out of bounds during the floor exercise. NBC showed one replay. She did, but no judge caught it and no other coach complained. Nevertheless the coverage on that event was bad, very bad.
Swimming was another example, but again the US had a good team.
The one NBC network that seemed to excel on its coverage was the NBC Sports Network - formerly known as Versus - had some of its largest audiences ever as it had coverage at different hours, more live coverage, and exclusively covered Team USA.
I am certain if you would have seen Olympic coverage in another country you would have had a totally different experience. You may have seen more pool coverage. You may have seen more locally oriented coverage. It depends.
One other consideration the IOC and the local organization committee put restrictions on the release of information and audio/video of events. There are restrictions on interviews with athletes. All of this contributes to the coverage.
If you watched the Fox News website you often saw headlines like "Team USA going for Gold in Swimming" or Women's Basketball Going for Gold". Sometimes these were displayed for hours after the end of an event because of IOC restrictions.
Didn't like the NBC coverage? Fine. That's your opinion.
The 2016 Games in Rio will be a little different. Rio is only one hour later than New York. Perhaps, more live coverage. The 2016 games will in August, but August is winter in Brazil.
Sunday, August 12, 2012
An "Excellent Choice"
During the high drama surrounding presumptive GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's selection of a running mate, pundit, supporters, campaign staffers and reporters continually said Romney was looking for a governor. A governor is a good idea. A governor would have executive experience, understand how government works and almost guarantee victory in one state.
All are good ideas. This idea brought speculation to many former governors who always said they were not interested. Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) would have been an excellent choice because of his ability to work with a legislature that doesn't always agree with his policies. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty would have been a weaker choice after his performance in the presidential primaries. Gov. Rock Perry (R-TX), a strong conservative may have been a good choice, but again performance in the primaries and would voters accept another Texas conservative. There are other likes Chris Christiie (R-NJ) and Scott Walker (R-WI), but they and others have issues working smoothly with the opposition.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will bring a true conservative voice to the campaign. Ryan has battled Obama on budgets and been able to pass budgets with occasional bipartisan support. The Obama campaign describes his plans and budgets as evil. What is more evil $25T in debt or a total welfare state in an Obama second term? Can we afford that? No.
The five points Romney extolled yesterday on the campaign trail emphasize the plan and the future of the country. The country had its far left experiment. It failed. Some democrats will secretly admit it failed.
It is time to move forward. It is time to look for something else.
The pick of Paul Ryan will energize the campaign. The campaign received over $2 million after the announcement. That shows real support for a ticket that can win.
As they aid in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, he was an "excellent choice."
All are good ideas. This idea brought speculation to many former governors who always said they were not interested. Gov. Mitch Daniels (R-IN) would have been an excellent choice because of his ability to work with a legislature that doesn't always agree with his policies. Former Minnesota governor Tim Pawlenty would have been a weaker choice after his performance in the presidential primaries. Gov. Rock Perry (R-TX), a strong conservative may have been a good choice, but again performance in the primaries and would voters accept another Texas conservative. There are other likes Chris Christiie (R-NJ) and Scott Walker (R-WI), but they and others have issues working smoothly with the opposition.
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) will bring a true conservative voice to the campaign. Ryan has battled Obama on budgets and been able to pass budgets with occasional bipartisan support. The Obama campaign describes his plans and budgets as evil. What is more evil $25T in debt or a total welfare state in an Obama second term? Can we afford that? No.
The five points Romney extolled yesterday on the campaign trail emphasize the plan and the future of the country. The country had its far left experiment. It failed. Some democrats will secretly admit it failed.
It is time to move forward. It is time to look for something else.
The pick of Paul Ryan will energize the campaign. The campaign received over $2 million after the announcement. That shows real support for a ticket that can win.
As they aid in Ferris Bueller's Day Off, he was an "excellent choice."
Friday, August 10, 2012
Tenure May Not be Permanent
Faculty at colleges and universities strive and struggle to earn tenure. The concept of tenure as always bee though of as a lifetime guarantee of continued employment.
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit disagrees. In Branham v Cooley Law School, et al the court upheld a lower court decision that declares tenure not a guarantee of future employment.
If upheld further, the case will send shivers through the academic community.
Lynn S. Branham egan teaching at the Cooley Law School in 1983 and earned tenure. At the time of her dismissal in 2006 she was a tenured professor. Branhan sued the school for wrongful termination and claimed that tenure was a lifetime appointment. Although she was tenured, she continued to sign a series if one-year contracts in accordance with Cooley policy. Branham was dismissed after refusing to teach a class.
In arguments before the court Branham's attorney claimed that “tenure means a lifetime appointment or a guarantee of continuous employment.” The court disagreed and upheld the lower court decision.
The court found that tenure is meant to allow for "academic freedom" in the classroom. It does not guarantee a lifetime appointment or guaranteed employment beyond the term of the contract. According to the court, Branham's contract was for a single year and Cooley met that responsibility.
For now, the ruling is currently binding in the Sixth Circuit which includes parts of Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio. The ruling could be used as precedent in other courts.
Is this the end of tenure? Unlikely, but it would be interesting to see how the Supreme Court would handle this. Would it be an academic freedom case or simply a case in contract law.
More from The Cardinal Newman Society
The US Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit disagrees. In Branham v Cooley Law School, et al the court upheld a lower court decision that declares tenure not a guarantee of future employment.
If upheld further, the case will send shivers through the academic community.
Lynn S. Branham egan teaching at the Cooley Law School in 1983 and earned tenure. At the time of her dismissal in 2006 she was a tenured professor. Branhan sued the school for wrongful termination and claimed that tenure was a lifetime appointment. Although she was tenured, she continued to sign a series if one-year contracts in accordance with Cooley policy. Branham was dismissed after refusing to teach a class.
In arguments before the court Branham's attorney claimed that “tenure means a lifetime appointment or a guarantee of continuous employment.” The court disagreed and upheld the lower court decision.
The court found that tenure is meant to allow for "academic freedom" in the classroom. It does not guarantee a lifetime appointment or guaranteed employment beyond the term of the contract. According to the court, Branham's contract was for a single year and Cooley met that responsibility.
For now, the ruling is currently binding in the Sixth Circuit which includes parts of Tennessee, Michigan, Kentucky and Ohio. The ruling could be used as precedent in other courts.
Is this the end of tenure? Unlikely, but it would be interesting to see how the Supreme Court would handle this. Would it be an academic freedom case or simply a case in contract law.
More from The Cardinal Newman Society
And His Name is . . .
An aide to Sen. Harry Reid (R-NV) made substantial claims about the identity of the senator's source in the Romney tax issue.
Jose Parra said in a radio interview with KTLK in Los Angeles, "This person is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody ... who has been dealing with Romney's company for a long, long time and he has direct knowledge on this."
After some media scrutiny about the claim, Parra later retracted some of his remarks. Parra later issued a statement walking back most of his radio comments.
"I do not know the party affiliation of the source, how long he invested with Bain, or his relationship to Romney beyond the fact that he was an investor with Bain Capital, as Senator Reid has previously stated," he said.
This morning another Reid aide said that the senator has no plans to reveal additional information about the source. A source that by any standards could be fictitious or a campaign director to Reid.
More from Fox News
Jose Parra said in a radio interview with KTLK in Los Angeles, "This person is an investor in Bain Capital, a Republican also, and somebody ... who has been dealing with Romney's company for a long, long time and he has direct knowledge on this."
After some media scrutiny about the claim, Parra later retracted some of his remarks. Parra later issued a statement walking back most of his radio comments.
"I do not know the party affiliation of the source, how long he invested with Bain, or his relationship to Romney beyond the fact that he was an investor with Bain Capital, as Senator Reid has previously stated," he said.
This morning another Reid aide said that the senator has no plans to reveal additional information about the source. A source that by any standards could be fictitious or a campaign director to Reid.
More from Fox News
A Campaign Theme
During the primary season, the Obama campaign set into motion a plan to "destroy" Romney. It was not known then that Romeny would become the presumptive GOP candidate, but the plan was and is in place.
It is already known that the Bain attacks are unfounded. The release of tax documents mantra is wearing thin and without merit.
The latest attack is that Romney somehow caused the death of a cancer patient. We also know that a campaign official, Stephanie Cutter, is involved in coordinating the campaign with the ad created by a Obama supportive Super PAC. We also know the facts in the steelworkers layoff and contract buyout, the health insurance held by the spouse that died with no connect to her husband's company, and the date of her death was many years after her husband's company closed. All of these "facts" were ignored by the PAC and the campaign as they crafted the attack together.
Never let it be said that the media, if you can call MSNBC media, is now involved in the same type of attack on Romney.
On Thursday's The Ed Show, former Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter took the campaign's attack and expanded on its apparent lunacy.claimed that "a lot of people will die" when Obamacare is repealed.
Later in the discussion he expanded on Obama campaign talking points, "Repeal equals death. People will die in the United States if ObamaCare is repealed. That is not an exaggeration. That is not crying fire. It's a simple fact." The real fact is the Obama campaign wants to destroy Romney and will say or do anything to do it. More from the Media Research Center
It is already known that the Bain attacks are unfounded. The release of tax documents mantra is wearing thin and without merit.
The latest attack is that Romney somehow caused the death of a cancer patient. We also know that a campaign official, Stephanie Cutter, is involved in coordinating the campaign with the ad created by a Obama supportive Super PAC. We also know the facts in the steelworkers layoff and contract buyout, the health insurance held by the spouse that died with no connect to her husband's company, and the date of her death was many years after her husband's company closed. All of these "facts" were ignored by the PAC and the campaign as they crafted the attack together.
Never let it be said that the media, if you can call MSNBC media, is now involved in the same type of attack on Romney.
On Thursday's The Ed Show, former Newsweek reporter Jonathan Alter took the campaign's attack and expanded on its apparent lunacy.claimed that "a lot of people will die" when Obamacare is repealed.
Later in the discussion he expanded on Obama campaign talking points, "Repeal equals death. People will die in the United States if ObamaCare is repealed. That is not an exaggeration. That is not crying fire. It's a simple fact." The real fact is the Obama campaign wants to destroy Romney and will say or do anything to do it. More from the Media Research Center
Thursday, August 09, 2012
One station Hurting - Hurting Station Finding a Path
Public television stations are not the only ones in danger of leaving the air.
An ABC affiliate in Tupelo MS, market 132, is leaving the air at the end of the month. WKDH began operations in 2007 and made the move to digital broadcasting in 2007.
A spokesperson for Southern Broadcasting the owner of WKDH citing the bad economy for its financial situation. There is no word from other stations in the market or ABC about plans for another affiliate.
More from Broadcasting & Cable
Another struggling PBS station is finding a path to continue serving the citizens of the Granite State. New Hampshire Public Television has announced an agreement with Boston's WGBH to collaborate in programming and back office functions. The two stations will remain independent operations.
NHPTV struggles are the result of a loss of state funding and transition to a community license which gives the station a greater freedom to schedule and create programming for a statewide audience.
The agreement will provide NHPTV with financial savings that can be directed toward programming.
The two stations will begin coordinating their schedules in October. As an overlapped station NHPTV retains additional flexibility in selection and scheduling of programs from the PBS primetime schedule.
More from Current
An ABC affiliate in Tupelo MS, market 132, is leaving the air at the end of the month. WKDH began operations in 2007 and made the move to digital broadcasting in 2007.
A spokesperson for Southern Broadcasting the owner of WKDH citing the bad economy for its financial situation. There is no word from other stations in the market or ABC about plans for another affiliate.
More from Broadcasting & Cable
Another struggling PBS station is finding a path to continue serving the citizens of the Granite State. New Hampshire Public Television has announced an agreement with Boston's WGBH to collaborate in programming and back office functions. The two stations will remain independent operations.
NHPTV struggles are the result of a loss of state funding and transition to a community license which gives the station a greater freedom to schedule and create programming for a statewide audience.
The agreement will provide NHPTV with financial savings that can be directed toward programming.
The two stations will begin coordinating their schedules in October. As an overlapped station NHPTV retains additional flexibility in selection and scheduling of programs from the PBS primetime schedule.
More from Current
Tuesday, August 07, 2012
It's Official
It's official or as official as anything can be in this crazy campaign season.
It looks like the Obama campaign has given an "wink" and a "nod" to the slanderous remarks of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Citing no source the Senate Majority Leader has avowed that presidential candidate Mitt Romney has paid no taxes in ten years.
The Washington Post, usually a campaign mouthpiece, has give the comments "4 Pinocchio". A sign that the Post finds no credibility to the story of Reid's comments.
White House spokesperson Jay Carney (formerly of Newsweek) has said in press briefings that the White House has nothing to do with Reid's comments. That also deserves a few Pinoochios.
A few weeks ago a campaign operative, Stephanie Cutter used the word "felon" to describe Romney. Both the campaign and White House quickly disavowed her comments, but never required her to retract them. This morning Cutter used Twitter to demonstrate that the campaign with her as a senior adviser were arm and arm with the Reid comments.
Not much of a surprise as the Obama campaign vowed early in the campaign to destroy Mitt Romney. Looks like that is still a plan. More from Brietbart
Stories are circulating today that the Obama campaign will try the same tactic on Romney's VP pick before he picks one. A Florida campaign staffer issued an email which told recipients to find the "bad and ugly" on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). Rubio and Portman are widely believed to be at the top of Romney's list for VP.
Stay tuned for more denials from the campaign and the White House on all points.
It looks like the Obama campaign has given an "wink" and a "nod" to the slanderous remarks of Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV). Citing no source the Senate Majority Leader has avowed that presidential candidate Mitt Romney has paid no taxes in ten years.
The Washington Post, usually a campaign mouthpiece, has give the comments "4 Pinocchio". A sign that the Post finds no credibility to the story of Reid's comments.
White House spokesperson Jay Carney (formerly of Newsweek) has said in press briefings that the White House has nothing to do with Reid's comments. That also deserves a few Pinoochios.
A few weeks ago a campaign operative, Stephanie Cutter used the word "felon" to describe Romney. Both the campaign and White House quickly disavowed her comments, but never required her to retract them. This morning Cutter used Twitter to demonstrate that the campaign with her as a senior adviser were arm and arm with the Reid comments.
Not much of a surprise as the Obama campaign vowed early in the campaign to destroy Mitt Romney. Looks like that is still a plan. More from Brietbart
Stories are circulating today that the Obama campaign will try the same tactic on Romney's VP pick before he picks one. A Florida campaign staffer issued an email which told recipients to find the "bad and ugly" on Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH). Rubio and Portman are widely believed to be at the top of Romney's list for VP.
Stay tuned for more denials from the campaign and the White House on all points.
Monday, August 06, 2012
Another Saga Continues in Big Bird Land
The problems at Alabama Public Television (APT) appear to be continuing. The chaos caused by the Alabama Educational Television Commission (AETC) by firing longtime executive director, Al Pizzato, and his deputy has resulted in protests, low morale, and resignations from APT and its fundraising organization.
The COO of APT Charles Grantham advised the interim executive director and staff at APT that he would resign as of August 31. As the consummate professional Grantham wanted to clear a few projects before departing. Grantham had been a part of APT since 1974 rising from technician to chief engineer to COO.
Following the firings Grantham delivered a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley about the firings and decreased morale at the station. In his letter Grantham said that the commission "have their own agendas, which may or may not have been in the best interest of APT.”
Grantham added he felt threatened by the commission when he was told not to speak to media.
The firings of Pizzato and Pauline Howland were the result of staff objections to airing documentaries by a conservative religious activist David Barton. The programs in question had a particular slant that did not coincide with historical fact. While the commission insisted, it also decided to change the long standing mission of APT to remove any reference to "diversity" in programming.
Pizzato has filed suit against the commission claiming that it violated open meeting laws in the state.
In an editorial the Birmingham News is requesting that Gov. Bentley and legislatures "get top the root cause" of the problems and issues at AETC and APT. “APT and its educational and informative programming are too important to the state not to warrant an investigation into what is going on with the commission that oversees it,” the editorial board wrote Monday.
More from Current
The COO of APT Charles Grantham advised the interim executive director and staff at APT that he would resign as of August 31. As the consummate professional Grantham wanted to clear a few projects before departing. Grantham had been a part of APT since 1974 rising from technician to chief engineer to COO.
Following the firings Grantham delivered a letter to Gov. Robert Bentley about the firings and decreased morale at the station. In his letter Grantham said that the commission "have their own agendas, which may or may not have been in the best interest of APT.”
Grantham added he felt threatened by the commission when he was told not to speak to media.
The firings of Pizzato and Pauline Howland were the result of staff objections to airing documentaries by a conservative religious activist David Barton. The programs in question had a particular slant that did not coincide with historical fact. While the commission insisted, it also decided to change the long standing mission of APT to remove any reference to "diversity" in programming.
Pizzato has filed suit against the commission claiming that it violated open meeting laws in the state.
In an editorial the Birmingham News is requesting that Gov. Bentley and legislatures "get top the root cause" of the problems and issues at AETC and APT. “APT and its educational and informative programming are too important to the state not to warrant an investigation into what is going on with the commission that oversees it,” the editorial board wrote Monday.
More from Current
Is it Monday Already? - August 6, 2012
We're back on Mars. Curiosity had a safe landing on the red planet early this morning to the cheers of engineers and space geeks everywhere.
Curiosity will now begin its journey in search of whatever it finds - perhaps signs of life - as it travels across the Martian surface.
Because of its size, NASA engineers found new technology and methods to slow the lander from 13,000 mph as it plunged through the atmosphere to 2 mph as it was lowered to to the surface.
Although President Obama congratulated NASA on this achievement. It is well known that the Obama administration has drastically cut the NASA budgeted and ended manned space flight.
Curiosity has already begin transmitting pictures from Mars and will begins its travels after some health check-ups. Curiosity's goals is to look for the essentials of life. More from FoxNews
- - -
NBC continues to draw large audiences to its coverage of the 2012 Olympics. Friday and Saturday primetime coverage showed the first signs of weakness and a drifting audience. Audiences for the two nights were the lowest so far for the Peacock's evening coverage.
So far, according to NBC Sports Group president, Mark Lazarus, 194 million people have watched some portion of the Olympics on the NBC owned networks covering the game.
It is destined to become the most watched sporting event in television history. More from MultiChannel News
- - -
The Obama administration claims it is the champion of the voters and voter rights. Through the DOJ it has sued several states over Voter ID laws. Laws the Supreme Court has already ruled are constitutional. All of the states that the DOJ has sued have followed the model of the Indiana law that was upheld by the Court. The DOJ continues to claim that Voter ID laws will suppress voting. Election turnout has proved otherwise in those states. A waste of taxpayer money, but we are used to thst in the Obama administration.
The Obama campaign has gone one step further to suppress voting. That's right, suppress voting. The Obama campaign filed a suit against the state of Ohio, a battleground state, to stop a law that will allow members of the military to have a slightly longer period to vote during early voting in Ohio.
Military organizations including the National Guard Association and others have railed against the suit claiming it will suppress voting. In recent polls members of the military are planning to vote against Obama. Does this have something to do with the suit. More than likely it does.
Obama campaign chief David Axelrod claims it is the opposite. The suit is designed to allow everyone in the state the extra time to vote. Axelrod spun this lunacy on Fox News Sunday to an incredulous Chris Wallace. Axelrod, obviously, had not read the suit - typical for a democrat - and continued to say the GOP was spinning it. Wallace tried to bring Axlrod to the reality of military groups opposing the suit, but Axelrod continued to say it wasn't true and for the 100th time in the interview asked why Romney would not release more taxes. More from The Hill
That's it for now
Curiosity will now begin its journey in search of whatever it finds - perhaps signs of life - as it travels across the Martian surface.
Because of its size, NASA engineers found new technology and methods to slow the lander from 13,000 mph as it plunged through the atmosphere to 2 mph as it was lowered to to the surface.
Although President Obama congratulated NASA on this achievement. It is well known that the Obama administration has drastically cut the NASA budgeted and ended manned space flight.
Curiosity has already begin transmitting pictures from Mars and will begins its travels after some health check-ups. Curiosity's goals is to look for the essentials of life. More from FoxNews
- - -
NBC continues to draw large audiences to its coverage of the 2012 Olympics. Friday and Saturday primetime coverage showed the first signs of weakness and a drifting audience. Audiences for the two nights were the lowest so far for the Peacock's evening coverage.
So far, according to NBC Sports Group president, Mark Lazarus, 194 million people have watched some portion of the Olympics on the NBC owned networks covering the game.
It is destined to become the most watched sporting event in television history. More from MultiChannel News
- - -
The Obama administration claims it is the champion of the voters and voter rights. Through the DOJ it has sued several states over Voter ID laws. Laws the Supreme Court has already ruled are constitutional. All of the states that the DOJ has sued have followed the model of the Indiana law that was upheld by the Court. The DOJ continues to claim that Voter ID laws will suppress voting. Election turnout has proved otherwise in those states. A waste of taxpayer money, but we are used to thst in the Obama administration.
The Obama campaign has gone one step further to suppress voting. That's right, suppress voting. The Obama campaign filed a suit against the state of Ohio, a battleground state, to stop a law that will allow members of the military to have a slightly longer period to vote during early voting in Ohio.
Military organizations including the National Guard Association and others have railed against the suit claiming it will suppress voting. In recent polls members of the military are planning to vote against Obama. Does this have something to do with the suit. More than likely it does.
Obama campaign chief David Axelrod claims it is the opposite. The suit is designed to allow everyone in the state the extra time to vote. Axelrod spun this lunacy on Fox News Sunday to an incredulous Chris Wallace. Axelrod, obviously, had not read the suit - typical for a democrat - and continued to say the GOP was spinning it. Wallace tried to bring Axlrod to the reality of military groups opposing the suit, but Axelrod continued to say it wasn't true and for the 100th time in the interview asked why Romney would not release more taxes. More from The Hill
That's it for now
Friday, August 03, 2012
Really . . You Want to Appeal It?
In order to protect the legacy of a coach who turned a blind eye to the plight of children in the hands of convicted abuser Jerry Sandusky, the family of Joe Paterno is appealing the sanctions against Penn State University by the NCAA.
In a letter to the NCAA the family through its lawyers wants to appeal the "enormous damage" to Penn State, the community, and, of course, the legacy of Joe Paterno.
The family believes the NCAA acted too quickly after the release of an investigation by former FBI director Loius Freeh. The family believes the NCAA failed to investigate further.
The report names Paterno and three other university officials as complicity in a cover up of critical information to avoid bad publicity.
In addition to the NCAA penalties, Penn State received sanctions from the Big Ten Conference and commercial sponsors are abandoning the football program.
Penn State narrowly avoided the so-called death penalty. The university has accepted the sanctions and believes it has enough insurance to cover legal settlements that will be coming soon.
By making this appeal the Paterno family is adding to the pain that the victims of Sandusky suffer.
More from Fox News
In a letter to the NCAA the family through its lawyers wants to appeal the "enormous damage" to Penn State, the community, and, of course, the legacy of Joe Paterno.
The family believes the NCAA acted too quickly after the release of an investigation by former FBI director Loius Freeh. The family believes the NCAA failed to investigate further.
The report names Paterno and three other university officials as complicity in a cover up of critical information to avoid bad publicity.
In addition to the NCAA penalties, Penn State received sanctions from the Big Ten Conference and commercial sponsors are abandoning the football program.
Penn State narrowly avoided the so-called death penalty. The university has accepted the sanctions and believes it has enough insurance to cover legal settlements that will be coming soon.
By making this appeal the Paterno family is adding to the pain that the victims of Sandusky suffer.
More from Fox News
Wednesday, August 01, 2012
It is D-Day for Cathoilic Universities
The Cardinal Newman Society id a non-profit organization that attempts to bring a Catholic identity in Catholic universities. There are several Newman Centers at public and private universities that promotes the Catholic faith on campus.
The Society is one of the leaders in opposing the contraceptive mandate for Catholic institutions like hospitals and universities. It is a party to the law suit that seeks to overturn the mandate on the grounds of religious freedom.
Today the Society issued a news release reminding its followers and all Catholic universities that August 1, 2012 is the date mandated by the Obama administration to overturn religious rights at religious institutions that do not current offer contraceptive coverage in health care insurance for staff and students.
The date was selected by the Obama administration to give Catholic universities time to re-write policies for students. Many Catholic institutions have announced they would not be renewing policies for students on the grounds of religious freedom and the cost of new policies would triple the cost of the policies to student and their parents.
Full release here.
The Society is one of the leaders in opposing the contraceptive mandate for Catholic institutions like hospitals and universities. It is a party to the law suit that seeks to overturn the mandate on the grounds of religious freedom.
Today the Society issued a news release reminding its followers and all Catholic universities that August 1, 2012 is the date mandated by the Obama administration to overturn religious rights at religious institutions that do not current offer contraceptive coverage in health care insurance for staff and students.
The date was selected by the Obama administration to give Catholic universities time to re-write policies for students. Many Catholic institutions have announced they would not be renewing policies for students on the grounds of religious freedom and the cost of new policies would triple the cost of the policies to student and their parents.
Full release here.
NBC Sports Network Also Seeing Large Audiences for the Olympics
The NBC television network is not the only NBC property that is seeing huge audiences for the 2012 London Olympics. The NBC Sports Network (formerly known as Versus - a much better name) saw weekend audiences soar to new heights.
For an extended daypart from 4 am to 7:06 pm on Sunday the cable network averaged 1.2 million viewers. NBC Sports Network is the venue that follows the US teams. During the USA - Columbia women's soccer match, it averaged 2.4 million viewers.
It has also seen success with rowing and men's basketball.
More from Multichannel News
For an extended daypart from 4 am to 7:06 pm on Sunday the cable network averaged 1.2 million viewers. NBC Sports Network is the venue that follows the US teams. During the USA - Columbia women's soccer match, it averaged 2.4 million viewers.
It has also seen success with rowing and men's basketball.
More from Multichannel News
CA Member of Congress Found Guilty by Ethics Committee
The House Ethics Committee has found Rep. Laura Richardson (D-CA) guilty of violating House rules.
The committe will send a formal request to the House to adopt the report and approve a reprimand for Richardson.
Richardson was found guilty on multiple counts of pressuring her staff to participate in campaign activities and obstructing the investigation by destroying and tampering with documents.
If the reprimand is approved, Richardson will pay a fine of $10,000 and will be required to have official staff sign a waiver stating they were not pressured into campaign work of activities.
More from The Hill
The committe will send a formal request to the House to adopt the report and approve a reprimand for Richardson.
Richardson was found guilty on multiple counts of pressuring her staff to participate in campaign activities and obstructing the investigation by destroying and tampering with documents.
If the reprimand is approved, Richardson will pay a fine of $10,000 and will be required to have official staff sign a waiver stating they were not pressured into campaign work of activities.
More from The Hill
More Penn State Fallout
If anything good came our of the Penn State child abuse scandal, it came from the NCAA.
The sanctions issued against the university allowed current student athletes and recruits to transfer to another program without penalty. Normally a student athlete wanting to transfer loses a year of eligibility. While a transfer may be good for an athlete, the one-year penalty could devastate a college or professional career. With all the sanctions against Penn State by the NCAA, the Big Ten and sponsors waiving the tranfer rules was appropriate.
Now the exodus from the football program is beginning. The most high profile athlete to transfer so far is tailback Silas Redd. Redd announced he is transferring to USC. Redd hsa two years of eleigibility left and will be welcomed at USC.
USC is currently on probation and has only 75 scholarships remaining. Officials at USC say one player maybe academically ineligible and a walk-on player may lose a scholarship to add Redd to the roster.
In addition to Redd, junior tight end Kevin Haplea will transfer to Florida State.
We wish them good luck at their new schools. More from ESPN
The sanctions issued against the university allowed current student athletes and recruits to transfer to another program without penalty. Normally a student athlete wanting to transfer loses a year of eligibility. While a transfer may be good for an athlete, the one-year penalty could devastate a college or professional career. With all the sanctions against Penn State by the NCAA, the Big Ten and sponsors waiving the tranfer rules was appropriate.
Now the exodus from the football program is beginning. The most high profile athlete to transfer so far is tailback Silas Redd. Redd announced he is transferring to USC. Redd hsa two years of eleigibility left and will be welcomed at USC.
USC is currently on probation and has only 75 scholarships remaining. Officials at USC say one player maybe academically ineligible and a walk-on player may lose a scholarship to add Redd to the roster.
In addition to Redd, junior tight end Kevin Haplea will transfer to Florida State.
We wish them good luck at their new schools. More from ESPN
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Olympics and Politics or Just a Normal Tuesday - July 31, 2012
NBC is continuing to profit from huge audiences for the London Olympics.
While critics continue to complain about the lack of live broadcasts in primetime, viewers do not seem to mind too much.
NBC garnered an average of 36 million viewers for the primetime coverage on Sunday. For TV folk this translates to a 19.3 rating and a 33 share. Trust me this is huge. The Sunday night telecast included swimming and women's gymnastics which are, as usual, proving to be popular with viewers. More from Multichannel News
- - -
Following a Federal Communications Commission decision Comcast has requested to stay enforcement of the July 24 ruling. The FCC ruling requires Comcast to provide the Tennis Channel with broader coverage similar to the coverage it provides owned channels like the Golf Channel and Versus. When Comcast purchased NBC one of the concerns was the favoritism Comcast would show owned channels that would be a disadvantage to other similar channels.
Comcast plans to appeal the FCC decision on the grounds that it is inconstitutional and use the dissent of the Republican commissioners to bolster its case.
Comcast is certain the ruling will be overturned in Federal Court and requires the stay to avoid an "unprecedented burden" on the company.
Comcast is also planning to develop pricing tiers and throttling internet access to its customers. More from Multichannel News
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The Obama campaign continues to use the "blame anyone else" mantra for eceonomic woes created by the Obama administration policies
While the "blame Bush" mantra is losing its luster, the Obama campaign is turning to Europe to find someone to blame.
"We're going to have some continued headwinds over the next several months,"Obama said addressing a group of high rollers paying $40,000 to hear the same old blame game.
Several European countries have embarked on austerity programs to reign in spending and debt. Meanwhile, Obama continues to call for more spending, more taxes and more debt.
More from The Hill
---
Congressional leaders have decided to surprise - no one.
Neither the House or Senate will unveil a stopgap measure to keep the government running after September 30. Instead both houses of Congress will do nothing until the end of the week when a five week recess begins.
So, it is business as usual from elected officials.
---
There have been stories within the past few months that the Obama campaign spends money like the Obama administration. These stories have been rarely covered by the media, but from time to time one slips out.
This spending is causing concern, some would call panic, in the Obvama campaign as the presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is finding cash from supporters and groups that support Romney's campaign.
The Obama campaign has held well over 160 fundraising events and yet is finding it hard to raise money and maintain it for the battle ahead.
In order to keep the president out of the White House during the final weeks of the campaign, the Obama campaign is planning a "flurry" of fundraisers. In upcoming weeks the campaign will host a number of high-roller fundraisers followed by a more than usual number of events after the convention.
Meanwhile the Romney campaign plans to shift focus to more events than fundraisers as the campaign heats up.
Obama campaign officials say they are looking for a "balanced" number of events. Does that mean high-roller events followed by cheap admission events.
Sounds like panic to me.
More from The Hill
That's it for now
While critics continue to complain about the lack of live broadcasts in primetime, viewers do not seem to mind too much.
NBC garnered an average of 36 million viewers for the primetime coverage on Sunday. For TV folk this translates to a 19.3 rating and a 33 share. Trust me this is huge. The Sunday night telecast included swimming and women's gymnastics which are, as usual, proving to be popular with viewers. More from Multichannel News
- - -
Following a Federal Communications Commission decision Comcast has requested to stay enforcement of the July 24 ruling. The FCC ruling requires Comcast to provide the Tennis Channel with broader coverage similar to the coverage it provides owned channels like the Golf Channel and Versus. When Comcast purchased NBC one of the concerns was the favoritism Comcast would show owned channels that would be a disadvantage to other similar channels.
Comcast plans to appeal the FCC decision on the grounds that it is inconstitutional and use the dissent of the Republican commissioners to bolster its case.
Comcast is certain the ruling will be overturned in Federal Court and requires the stay to avoid an "unprecedented burden" on the company.
Comcast is also planning to develop pricing tiers and throttling internet access to its customers. More from Multichannel News
---
The Obama campaign continues to use the "blame anyone else" mantra for eceonomic woes created by the Obama administration policies
While the "blame Bush" mantra is losing its luster, the Obama campaign is turning to Europe to find someone to blame.
"We're going to have some continued headwinds over the next several months,"Obama said addressing a group of high rollers paying $40,000 to hear the same old blame game.
Several European countries have embarked on austerity programs to reign in spending and debt. Meanwhile, Obama continues to call for more spending, more taxes and more debt.
More from The Hill
---
Congressional leaders have decided to surprise - no one.
Neither the House or Senate will unveil a stopgap measure to keep the government running after September 30. Instead both houses of Congress will do nothing until the end of the week when a five week recess begins.
So, it is business as usual from elected officials.
---
There have been stories within the past few months that the Obama campaign spends money like the Obama administration. These stories have been rarely covered by the media, but from time to time one slips out.
This spending is causing concern, some would call panic, in the Obvama campaign as the presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney is finding cash from supporters and groups that support Romney's campaign.
The Obama campaign has held well over 160 fundraising events and yet is finding it hard to raise money and maintain it for the battle ahead.
In order to keep the president out of the White House during the final weeks of the campaign, the Obama campaign is planning a "flurry" of fundraisers. In upcoming weeks the campaign will host a number of high-roller fundraisers followed by a more than usual number of events after the convention.
Meanwhile the Romney campaign plans to shift focus to more events than fundraisers as the campaign heats up.
Obama campaign officials say they are looking for a "balanced" number of events. Does that mean high-roller events followed by cheap admission events.
Sounds like panic to me.
More from The Hill
That's it for now
Monday, July 30, 2012
Indiana Company May Have Some Impact on Obamacare Repeal
An Indiana company changed plans last week to build five new plants that could have employed 1500 workers because of provisions in Obamacare.
Cook Medical said the tax on medical devices which goes into affect next year will cost the company $20 million per year. The new tax will be close to the cost of building the new plants. A company spokesperson the company would be unable to support both the new tax and the cost of building the plants. Jobs that would have been created in the Midwest may now be shipped overseas according company officials.
The plight of Cook Medical any and probably others has reach the GOP Leadership in the House.
Speaker John Boehner has written a later to Senate leaders urging them to take of the House passed bill to repeal that provision and many others.
The Affordable Care Act - Obamacare - includes a provision that taxes medical devices at a 2.3 percent rate beginning in 2013. The tax is expected to bring into federal coffers $30 billion over the next ten years.
Obama administration officials deny that any jobs will need to be shipped overseas because of the tax. Obviously, the Obama administration/campaign has not contact Cook Medical.
More from Fox News
Cook Medical said the tax on medical devices which goes into affect next year will cost the company $20 million per year. The new tax will be close to the cost of building the new plants. A company spokesperson the company would be unable to support both the new tax and the cost of building the plants. Jobs that would have been created in the Midwest may now be shipped overseas according company officials.
The plight of Cook Medical any and probably others has reach the GOP Leadership in the House.
Speaker John Boehner has written a later to Senate leaders urging them to take of the House passed bill to repeal that provision and many others.
The Affordable Care Act - Obamacare - includes a provision that taxes medical devices at a 2.3 percent rate beginning in 2013. The tax is expected to bring into federal coffers $30 billion over the next ten years.
Obama administration officials deny that any jobs will need to be shipped overseas because of the tax. Obviously, the Obama administration/campaign has not contact Cook Medical.
More from Fox News
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