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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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


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. 

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

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.


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.

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,"

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

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.

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.

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.

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




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


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

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.

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."

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

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

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


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

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.

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

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

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


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.

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

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

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