In what might be the most inappropriate cartoon of all time, Universal Press Syndicate sent out a cartoon making fun of Pat Tillman, the football star who joined the Army to fight terrorism. UPS sent the Ted Rall cartoon out and then pulled it back (5/3) on the day Tillman was being buried.
The Universal Press statement said the
cartoon: "Did not meet MSNBC standards of fairness and taste...Rall’s cartoon,
distributed widely by Universal Press Syndicate to scores of newspapers and Web sites,
concerned the late Pat Tillman, the NFL player who quit football to join the Army. Tillman
was killed last month in Afghanistan.
The cartoon, like others on MSNBC.com, is published daily on the site via an automated
syndication feed. Such feeds are rarely reviewed. However, MSNBC.com Editor in chief Dean
Wright concluded Monday’s Rall item did not meet MSNBC.com standards of fairness and taste.
USA Today (4/30) listed the most underpaid and overpaid executive teams at corporations around the country. Based on a complex formula for pay versus performance. Receiving Grade "A" were folks from Adobe Systems, Family Dollar, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Sears, Southwest Airlines and United Parcel.
The most overpaid receiving Grade "F" included Verizon, SBC Communications, Bear Stearns, Aflac, Viacom and Sprint.
The Kansas City Star (4/24) and several other newspapers across the country reported about an offensive cartoon that ran in a student newspaper at Rutgers University but refused to show it. However, it began popping up on the Internet within hours.
NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.
(AP) Rutgers University's president says the student editors of an alternative campus
newspaper should immediately apologize for a cartoon that mocked the Holocaust.
The full-page drawing on Wednesday's cover of the Medium weekly showed a man throwing a ball
at another man sitting on an oven at a campus fair. The text read: "Knock a Jew in the oven!
Three throws for one dollar! Really! No, REALLY!" President Richard L. McCormick said
the cartoon was "outrageous in its cruelty."
Ned Berke, 19, the editor who selected the cartoon, said it was clever. "It took a serious
situation and made it ridiculous," he said. Berke, who is Jewish, said he had
relatives who died in the Holocaust.
Berke announced 4/27 that the newspaper will issue an apology: "The
cartoon's purpose was to lampoon the racist attitudes that fueled the Holocaust," said Berke,
a Rutgers College sophomore majoring in journalism. "We wanted people to laugh at the
absurdity of it. In this case, we failed. The meaning didn't get across."
Two editors have lost their jobs at USA Today (4/23) with the latest announcement that managing editor Hal Ritter has resigned. On Tuesday editor Karen Jurgensen retired suddenly, and publisher Craig Moon announced he will name a new editor within a few days.
The shakeup came a day after a panel said "lax editing to a culture of fear" enabled Jack Kelley, former foreign correspondent, to invent stories and quotes and plagiarize other publications for more than a decade.
The Drudge Report (4/22) is reporting that hundreds of photos of caskets of dead soldiers from Iraq have hit the Internet. The Pentagon had tried to block all images of the dead arriving at Dover Air Force Base (Delaware), home to the Defense Department's largest mortuary, but the censorship failed. The Report showed several photos including this one:
Where was Karen Hughes? That might be the question of the day (4/14) with President Bush being attacked for his poor responses to questions during a prime-time press conference last night. Hughes, the president's PR advisor, is given tremendous credit for helping frame the president's messages. He repeatedly looked befuddled by many questions posed to him, which should not happen to the President of the United States in such an important time in history.
It was a classic case of the pot calling the kettle black. Radio shock jock Don Imus (4/12) railed on CBS golf commentator Jim Nantz for "being a hopeless suck-up. I don't know how he can look at himself in the mirror," for the way Nantz handled the Master's Tournament.
Imus immediately followed up those comments by touting his wife Deirdre Coleman-Imus' new book about the Imus Ranch. At that point all of Don Imus's staffers broke in to say how wonderful the book is and how folks should run out and buy it. Imus has been shamelessly promoting the book, going so far as to book Larry King on his radio show and then saying, "Larry, Deidre and I will see you next week on your TV show..."
Deidre is Imus's
second wife, they were married December 17, 1994. He has four grown daughters from his first marriage, which ended in divorce in 1979. The book is being shamelessly promoted (4/28), which has forced listeners to utilize their gag reflex.Jack Slater of Slate Magazine (4/6) took to task New York Times reporter Elisabeth Bumiller, saying Bumiller is "consumed with an infatuation" of Karen Hughes, the mouthpiece for the Bush Administration. Hughes, who resigned her post with the administration 21 months ago to "put her family first," has rejoined the Bush campaign full-time until the November election.
"On Oct. 21, 2002, Bumiller was still applauding Hughes for the leaving but not leaving. She documents how Hughes advises the president over the phone, edits his speeches, and visits the White House "often for three to four days at a time." In January 2003, Bumiller again writes about Hughes, "one of Mr. Bush's closest confidantes," returning regularly to supervise major speeches and advise the president "at big moments."
Hughes is currently on a tour promoting her new book "Ten Minutes From Normal," which paints a "predictably glowing portrait of her long-time boss," according to Bumiller. Guess she has decided to no longer put her family first....
Q: What is the difference between God and Martha Stewart?
A: God does NOT think He is Martha Stewart...
Has the
Mel Gibson film "The Passion," which some have called anti-Semitic for its
portrayal
of Jews, actually resulting in a hatred of Catholics?
That's the view of William Donohue, president of the Catholic League (Newsweek,
3/9).
"There's a lot of hate in this country, and it's not just toward Jews and Muslims and African-Americans. Hello--it's toward Catholics, too. Some of this is sheer demagoguery on the part of the Jews."
"Saturday Night Live" has done two mean-spirited pieces about the movie (3/6 & 3/13), with one showing Jesus dying on the cross and women stripping in front of Him. At that point he chases after them with the cross still on his back.
With many newspapers now charging for Obituaries they have gone from editorial pieces to advertising. Now there is no guarantee anymore that they are even remotely factual. Newsweek (3/8) reports that when Thomas Dahlberg passed away his obit said he was a CIA agent, two-star general and Pulitzer Prize finalist. Editors subsequently learned "the only completely accurate part of the piece was the name of the deceased."
As more and more of traditional editorial copy shifts to paid advertising newspapers have no control over accuracy. It is a disturbing trend that will only grow larger as papers attempt to find new revenue streams. Unfortunately, readers are now faced with decisions over what is factual and what isn't in newspapers today.
Even
though she said she finds his actions "repugnant," NBC's Katie Couric defended giving
prime-time exposure to former New York Times reporter Jayson Blair, the
serial fabricator who brought down the paper's top editors, according to the
Associated Press (3/4). Couric landed the first television interview with Blair,
who has written a memoir, for "Dateline NBC" on Friday.
"I defy anyone to say after that interview that people are
going to run out and want to buy his book," she said. And Couric delivered
on her promise by grilling Blair over his misdeeds. For the most part
Blair played the role of a person apologetic for his actions while trying to
sell his book, "Burning Down My Master's House."
On Monday morning, Editor & Publisher is scheduled to interview Blair. If you are following the chronology, that will be after "Dateline" and "The Today Show" and before "Larry King" and "Hardball." Howard Kurtz is planning a big roll out on Sunday.
Katie Couric "wants us to believe she's just like us," but she has a $7,500-a-week personal trainer and spends $550 on a cut and color." That's just one of the pokes taken by longtime Ladies' Home Journal editor Myrna Blyth (now retired) in her new book, "Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America," according to Newsweek (3/1).
The book has set off a firestorm among Blyth's targets, many of whom have considered her a friend for years. Blyth refused to be interviewed by Newsweek. It's also a good bet you won't see her chatting with Katie Couric about the book...
Just how believable is advertising? Not terribly if you look at some political races, according to the Los Angeles Times (2/29). Democratic presidential hopefuls Howard Dean spent $10.1 million on TV ads while Wesley Clark poured in $10.2 million and are out of the running. However, leaders John Kerry spent $8.4 million and John Edwards $6.7 million.
President George Bush will dump $3.6 million in March on cable TV channels in the first phase of his re-election advertising blitz, which he hopes will prop up his sagging popularity. The money might be better spent on programs that will generate positive editorial coverage.
| TOP 50 NEWSPAPERS BY CIRCULATION | |||||
| Ranked by weekday averages for six-months ended Sept. 30, 2003 | |||||
| Rank | Newspaper | Daily circ | % chg | Sunday circ | % chg |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | USA Today* | 2,154,539 | 0.9 | 2,616,824 | 0.3 |
| 2 | Wall Street Journal | 2,091,062 | 16.1 | NA | NA |
| 3 | New York Times | 1,118,565 | 0.5 | 1,676,885 | 0.3 |
| 4 | Los Angeles Times (b) | 955,211 | -1.1 | 1,379,258 | 0.2 |
| 5 | Washington Post | 732,872 | -1.9 | 1,029,966 | -1.7 |
| 6 | New York Daily News | 729,124 | 2.1 | 805,350 | 0.7 |
| 7 | New York Post | 652,426 | 10.6 | 437,117 | 4.7 |
| 8 | Chicago Tribune | 613,509 | 0.0 | 1,002,166 | -1.0 |
| 9 | Newsday | 580,069 | 0.2 | 678,019 | 0.2 |
| 10 | Houston Chronicle (b) | 553,018 | 0.2 | 747,404 | 0.3 |
| 11 | Dallas Morning News | 525,441 | 0.7 | 785,876 | 0.1 |
| 12 | San Francisco Chronicle | 512,640 | 0.1 | 561,118 | 4.0 |
| 13 | Chicago Sun-Times | 481,798 | 0.5 | 372,527 | 0.4 |
| 14 | Boston Globe | 450,538 | -3.7 | 706,153 | 0.1 |
| 15 | Arizona Republic (b) | 432,284 | -3.7 | 547,860 | -1.1 |
| 16 | Newark Star-Ledger | 408,672 | 0.0 | 611,027 | 0.2 |
| 17 | Atlanta Jounal-Constitution | 382,421 | 0.2 | 622,065 | 0.2 |
| 18 | Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune (b) | 380,354 | 0.3 | 677,929 | 0.5 |
| 19 | Philadelphia Inquirer | 376,493 | 0.7 | 749,793 | 0.2 |
| 20 | Cleveland Plain Dealer (b) | 365,288 | 0.4 | 485,543 | 0.9 |
| 21 | Detroit Free Press | 352,714 | -4.4 | 720,572 | -2.1 |
| 22 | San Diego Union-Tribune (b) | 352,198 | -1.6 | 447,128 | 1.9 |
| 23 | Portland Oregonian | 334,783 | -2.3 | 409,554 | -3.2 |
| 24 | St. Petersburg Times (b) | 314,614 | 0.1 | 397,695 | 0.3 |
| 25 | Miami Herald (b) | 304,795 | 0.4 | 419,667 | 0.3 |
| 26 | Orange County Register (b) | 302,864 | 0.7 | 370,911 | 1.0 |
| 27 | Sacramento Bee (b) | 289,905 | 2.4 | 350,078 | 1.9 |
| 28 | Denver Post | 288,937 | -5.3 | 785,671 | -0.4 |
| 29 | Denver Rocky Mountain News | 288,889 | -5.3 | 785,671 | -0.4 |
| 30 | St. Louis Post-Dispatch (b) | 285,869 | -0.5 | 459,220 | -1.9 |
| 31 | Baltimore Sun (b) | 276,848 | -2.8 | 465,807 | 0.1 |
| 32 | San Jose Mercury News (b) | 271,997 | -0.3 | 302,713 | -0.8 |
| 33 | Kansas City Star (b) | 267,273 | -0.7 | 377,094 | -0.8 |
| 34 | New Orleans Times-Picayune (b) | 253,610 | -0.9 | 281,766 | -1.3 |
| 35 | Columbus Dispatch (b) | 252,564 | 0.4 | 368,334 | -1.1 |
| 36 | Indianapolis Star (b) | 249,891 | -1.9 | 370,680 | 0.7 |
| 37 | Milwaukee Journal Sentinal | 244,288 | 0.8 | 437,578 | 0.8 |
| 38 | Orlando Sentinel (b) | 244,154 | -1.4 | 362,170 | -1.1 |
| 39 | Pittsburgh Post-Gazette | 242,546 | -0.2 | 405,692 | -0.3 |
| 40 | Boston Herald | 241,457 | -0.6 | 151,589 | -4.5 |
| 41 | South Florida Sun-Sentinel (b) | 234,152 | 0.9 | 339,120 | 0.5 |
| 42 | Seattle Times | 231,505 | 3.3 | 473,715 | 0.1 |
| 43 | San Antonio Express-News | 231,229 | 1.3 | 356,403 | 0.0 |
| 44 | Detroit News | 227,392 | -6.2 | 720,572 | -2.1 |
| 45 | Charlotte Observer (b) | 226,849 | -2.8 | 283,339 | -2.2 |
| 46 | Fort Worth Star-Telegram | 225,203 | -1.0 | 325,777 | 1.0 |
| 47 | Investor's Business Daily | 215,788 | -18.5 | NA | NA |
| 48 | Louisville Courier-Journal (b) | 213,176 | -1.9 | 279,731 | -0.8 |
| 49 | Tampa Tribune (b) | 210,264 | 3.4 | 285,487 | 1.6 |
| 50 | Buffalo News (b) | 207,989 | -7.1 | 298,383 | -2.5 |
Notes: *USA Today’s Friday circulation is listed in the Sunday column. Percent change computed against six month averages for the period ending September 30, 2002. a) Figures adjusted by Ad Age to indicate average weekday circulation; b) weekday averages include Saturday, c) Detroit Free Press and Detroit News have combined Sunday edition; d) Rocky Mountain News and Denver Post have combined Sunday edition; e) Seattle Times and Seattle Post-Intelligencer have combined Sunday edition.
It has been a PR nightmare that has not been handled well at all. A national Catholic publication called "Crusade" (March/April 2004) is blasting Washburn University in Topeka for its "Holier Than Thou" sculpture which "depicts a bust of a bishop with a fat, cruel and ugly face. His miter resembles a phallic symbol." The highly controversial sculpture has been covered on ABC, NBC and newspapers and radio stations around the nation. It also has caused donations to the school to plummet dramatically:
"Reality by rumor. Anyone can say anything about a public person, the more celebrated the better, and voila, it's instant fame. Or defamation." That's how syndicated columnist Kathleen Parker (2/23, Tribune Media Services) put it in her column blasting "gossip czar Matt Drudge" for an item (see below) about an alleged affair by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry that "birthed and died on his Web site."
"And so goes the short unhappy life of a little rumor that couldn't quite make fact," says Parker.
When are "off-the-record" remarks considered "off-the-record?" That important journalistic issue has come to light when rumors reported by the on-line Drudge Report (2/12) surfaced saying Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry is being investigated about a relationship he may have had with a woman.
According
to Drudge: "In an off-the-record
conversation with a dozen reporters earlier this week, General Wesley Clark
plainly stated: "Kerry will implode over an intern issue." [Three reporters in
attendance confirm Clark made the startling comments.]
Today it is becoming a common practice for folks like Matt Drudge to actually quote remarks as being "off-the-record." That's why we at Bottom Line Communications tell clients the only way to guarantee your remarks do not appear in the media is IF YOU NEVER SAY THEM. No longer can you count on the integrity of journalists to assume off-the-record remarks will stay that way.
"Men who experience an erection for more than 4 hours (priapism)
should seek immediate medical attention..." (Cialis warning)
None other than USA Today (1/14) is involved in a plagiarism scandal involving stories run in the July 9, 1998 Washington Post and one published by USA Today September 2, 1998. The USA Today story carried the byline of Pulitzer prize finalist Jack Kelley, a foreign correspondent who had worked at the paper since 1982, who resigned last week after editors determined he misled them during an internal investigation of some stories.
Kelley's story included very similar references to one written by Darra Adam Khel in Pakistan written for the Post. No word was given why the stories from 1998 would be an issue today.
Members
of the media are expected to represent the community with the utmost class
and respect, Cleveland TV station WEWS reported (1/15) . But one
northeast Ohio news anchor went to an extreme she never thought would catch
up to her -- until she made national news -- on the wrong side of the
camera.
Catherine Bosley, a news anchor for 10 years at WKBN in
Youngstown, Ohio, was used to having her picture taken. However,
someone took pictures of her after she stripped naked during a wet T-shirt
contest while she was vacationing in Key West, Fla., last year with her
husband.
"It was just a spur of the moment, silly, irresponsible thing
to do that I regretted a great deal the next morning," Bosley said.
She lived with the secret for 10 months until the
pictures showed up on the Internet about a week ago. Now she's out of a job
and contemplating suing the bar that hosted the contest.
Minor correction from Slate Magazine: In the Jan. 9 "Today's Papers" column, Holly Bailey incorrectly referred to Iraq's "$150 million foreign debt." The correct figure is $150 billion.
CBS has denied a story in the New York Times (12/31) that said Michael Jackson was paid $1 million to give an interview that aired Sunday to nearly 19 million people on "60 Minutes." A Jackson official said the singer was paid $1 million to re-schedule an entertainment special that had been postponed in November (now set to air 1/2/04).
CBS said it would not broadcast the entertainment special if Jackson didn't address the molestation charges against him with its News Division.
Truth in Advertising: Ernest
Shackleton's recruiting advertisement for 1912 Imperial Trans-Antarctic
Expedition:
"Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages, bitter cold, long months of
complete darkness, constant danger, safe return doubtful. Honour and
recognition in case of success."
If Shackleton were advertising in the 1990's:
"Members wanted for adventure trek. Low cost, cool sights, fun nights,
thrills galore, insurance available. Get your picture in Outdoorsman
magazine."
This was an
actual obituary published in The Times-Picayune, New Orleans on 10/2/2003:
Word has been received that Gertrude M. Jones, 81, passed away on August 25,
2003, under the loving care of the nursing aides of Heritage Manor of
Mandeville, Louisiana. She was a native of Lebanon, KY. She was a retired
Vice President of Georgia International Life Insurance Company of Atlanta,
GA. Her husband, Warren K. Jones predeceased her. Two daughters survive her:
Dawn Hunt and her live-in boyfriend, Roland, of Mandeville,LA; and Melba
Kovalak and her husband, Drew Kovalak, of Woodbury, MN. Three sisters, four
grandchildren and three great grandchildren, also survive her. Funeral
services were held in Louisville, KY.
Memorial gifts may be made to any organization that seeks the removal of
President George Bush from office.
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Every reporter hates it when a source says he/she was misquoted. Often what the source really should be saying is "I was quoted correctly, but wish to hell I hadn't actually said that..." (BLC does media training!!)
The classic in this regard is basketball great Charles Barkley, who claimed he was misquoted in a book about him. The book was his own autobiography. ---"Hey, Idiot! Chronicles of Human Stupidity (Andrews McMeel)
Who would have thought? DECEMBER 8--Meet George Clinton. The colorful singer known as Dr. Funkenstein was busted early Saturday by Tallahassee cops and charged with possession of cocaine and drug paraphernalia. The 62-year-old Parliament-Funkadelic founder, who owns a home in Florida, spent less than an hour in the Leon County Jail (where he posed for the below mug shot) before coming up with the $2650 he needed to bond out.
The
New York Times mistakenly ran on obituary on Thursday (12/4) for someone
who hadn't died, a gleeful New York Post reports. Legendary Broadway
dancer Katharine Sergava (famed for the "Laurey Dance" in the 1943 landmark
musical "Oklahoma!"), who is in her 90s, is said to be alive, if not necessarily
kicking, in a Manhattan nursing home, while the Times had her passing
away in Palm Springs, Calif., sometime last month. The Times has
acknowledged the error on its Web site.
Never kill people "wordlessly":
Is Dell Computer being a
bit hypocritical these days? On the one hand, the company claims its
customer service is fine as it routes calls to India. However, on 11/29
the company announced that
commercial customers with questions regarding Optiplex desktops and
Latitude notebook personal computers will now have their calls handled by
representatives located in Texas, Idaho and Tennessee.
Like many U.S. companies, Dell
established customer call centers in India to save money with lower wages. But
many U.S. customers say it's too hard to communicate with the Indian operators
due to their heavy accents and scripted answers. It seems now the
company is saying that level of customer service is fine for smaller customers,
but not large ones.
HOUSTON (Reuters) - Neil Bush, younger brother of President Bush, detailed lucrative business deals and admitted to engaging in sex romps with women in Asia in a deposition taken in March as part of his divorce from now ex-wife Sharon Bush (11/29).
Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (12/03) is joining a chorus of media outlets in examining Hannity & Colmes, the Fox News Channel's primetime debate show, which figures prominently in the cable network's campaign to market its right leaning programming as "fair & balanced" Fox News executives argue that the show, pitting conservative Sean Hannity against liberal Alan Colmes with guests from both right and left, presents a spirited and evenhanded nightly debate.
A systematic review of Hannity & Colmes by FAIR:
"Does reveal a show listing to the right in virtually every respect, from mismatched hosts--the show pairs the aggressive conservative Sean Hannity with the mildly liberal, often conciliatory Alan Colmes--to a format where conservatives out-number, out-talk and out-interrupt their liberal opponents.
"The dissimilar circumstances under which the two hosts came to Fox News are revealing. Recruited from Atlanta's talk radio scene by Roger Ailes, Hannity was hired so far in advance of a decision about a co-host that Fox staffers referred to the show as "Hannity & Liberal To Be Determined," or "LTBD." Finally, after auditioning prospective left hosts, Colmes won the job--after Hannity expressed his preference for the mild-mannered New York radio host (Newsday, 10/20/98).
"The result is a debate show that doesn't add up to a fair fight, say many critics, because Colmes' wishy-washy views and low-key delivery just can't stand up to the relentlessly ideological and combative Sean Hannity. It's a widely held view outside Fox studios. Fellow liberals don't disagree. In his best selling Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right, liberal comic Al Franken calls Colmes "a moderate milquetoast" and "a liberal on-air punching bag" and puts Colmes' name in tiny typeface in every reference to the show."
According to Slate Magazine (11/26) Burger King's Smoky Barbeque and Santa Fe chicken sandwiches are rated as the "winners" of the new healthy crop. However, here is what the sandwich looks like on the BK Web site versus in real life:
Time Magazine (11/23): I'm afraid scientists have not invented a machine capable of desensitizing Mr. (Al) Franken. Nor Bill O'Reilly, Michael Moore, Ann Coulter, Molly Ivins, Laura Ingraham and the rest of the authors and TV and radio hosts divided by beliefs but united by a common employer: the burgeoning American anger industry.
At heart, the anger business is show business, which is why it's been so kind to comics like Franken and showmen like (Rush) Limbaugh. "What you have," says Publishers Weekly editor Steven Zeitchik, "is the marrying of the interest in political books with the culture of celebrity."
It's PR 101 for celebrities with the announcement (11/24) that Michael Jackson's folks have established a Web site to provide information from his side of the alleged child molestation charges. This is becoming a common practice for high-profile people so that they can get shape the message given to Jackson supporters.
This is a trick employed by Martha Stewart. At some point the celebrities can say that their Web site has received "xxx millions of notes from fans showing their support."
There have been numerous stories about how history is being taught in schools today (often referred to as "history light"). This was dramatically shown in a broadcast interview with high school students (11/22) on National Public Radio regarding the John F. Kennedy assassination. The students were well-versed on stories of JFK and his alleged dalliances with Marilyn Monroe. However, when the interviewer asked "What political party was Kennedy in?" there was complete silence...
From Slate Magazine (11/20): The most notable (person at the trial of Martha Stewart) was a guy from Save Martha! (www.savemartha.com), who had, a few minutes earlier, pulled out a "SAVE MARTHA!" T-shirt. "If her stock sale was legit, you must acquit!" it read. Other items available at the Save Martha! Store include a Save Martha! Baseball Cap, a Save Martha! You Must Acquit BBQ Apron, a Save Martha! You Must Acquit! Mug, a Save Martha! Boxing Hooded Sweatshirt, a You Must Acquit! Retro Tote, a You Must Acquit! Mousepad, a Save Martha! Retro Trucker Hat, a Save Martha! Audio CD (performed by "Mama Said"), a Save Martha! Retro Jr. Baby Doll T-Shirt, a Do the Thyme! White T-Shirt, a Save Martha! Stainless Steel Travel Mug, Save Martha! Boxer Shorts, a Save Martha! Messenger Bag, a Save Martha! Snap Bib, and a Domestic Diva Tile Coaster.
Monday (11/17) a star featuring Britney Spears' name was unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The pop diva thus became the 2,242th entertainer to be so honored.
What does it take to get a celebrity's name added to the walk? The applicants' sponsors must pony up $15,000 to pay for the unveiling ceremony—no cash, no star, regardless of the person's artistic achievements. Her star was unveiled to correspond to the release of her latest album.
Hossein Barkhah of Iran dislocates his elbow attempting to lift 157.5 kilograms in the snatch category in group A of the men's 77 kilogram weight class at the World Weightlifting Championship in Vancouver, British Columbia (11/18).
Being third in the market with a product is not exactly the best marketing position for a company to be in these days. That's the situation with Sprint, which announced (11/17) that it will finally launch a walkie-talkie service. Two-way radio service has been a staple with Nextel for years, and was introduced by Verizon in August.
A Sprint spokesman said the reason the company initially announced the service in December 2002 but didn't offer it until now was because Sprint "wanted to make sure the product was user-friendly." That's a euphemism for "the damn thing didn't work until now."
 |
BRANDING GONE WILD!! LeBron James plays in the National Basketball Association, but the NBA isn't taking any chances. Like all NBA players, James wears the league's logo just below the left shoulder of his jersey, on one leg of his shorts, and at the tops of both sides of both his socks. The league's logo also peeks out at the base of both legs of his compression shorts, plus James is among the increasing number of NBA players who wear a headband, which features the logo yet again.
That makes nine iterations of the NBA logo on one player (and it would be 10 if James' shirttail came untucked), a figure that's all the more remarkable when you consider how little of the body a basketball uniform actually covers. This branding bonanza is the foremost example of how league imprimaturs have proliferated on uniforms in recent years, a trend Uni Watch has been following with keen, if somewhat jaundiced, interest. (Slate 11/17)
Marketing programs that work in one country don't always work quite as well in another. According to Red Herring (11/11), America Online tried to duplicate its highly effective direct marketing strategy in Brazil that worked so well in the United States: send out truckloads of CDs with free trials of its service and paid subscribers will come.
But when America Online Latin America (AOLA) – the joint venture between AOL and Venezuela’s media giant Cisneros Group – sent out more than 20 million CDs to jump-start its Brazil business in 1999, the local consumer protection authorities came instead. The ambitious marketing plan backfired when Brazilians, who tried to install the America Online software from the free CDs, complained that they could not get it to work. Worse yet, when they were able to install the software, they said that it caused problems with their computers.
The AOLA president tried to explain the problems on customers' lack of sophistication. That backfired and he was terminated just 22 days after the launch. The company is trying to regroup with a new marketing effort.
Former Kansas football coach Glen Mason, who is guiding the Minnesota Golden Gophers to one of the school's best seasons ever (9-2), announced he will no longer take "live' calls on his radio call-in show on WCCO in Minneapolis after telling a booster club that some calls directed to him were "utterly ridiculous." On his radio show Sunday (11/9) he confirmed his stand and took only positive questions relayed to him.
WCCO radio boss Dick Carlson expressed his disappointment in Mason's decision and noted, "Unfortunately, the coach is sensitive to some of the criticism because apparently he doesn't hear the praise." One Minnesota Star Tribune columnist noted with some sarcasm that Mason "will still pocket the $350,000 check he gets for his radio and TV appearances."
Inappropriate quote of the day/month/year/decade? George Nethercutt, Republican congressman from Washington state, spent four days in Iraq and told an audience at home: "The story of what we have done in Iraq is remarkable. It is a better and more important story than losing a couple of soldiers every day."
His remarks (KC Star, 11/1) follow a story in the Washington Post that reports the Pentagon is enforcing a policy of no pictures of flag-draped coffins. The Pentagon believes public support for military action is eroded when they see pictures of dead young Americans.
| The New York Times has named
veteran editor and author Daniel Okrent as its first ombudsman, filling a
position announced three months ago after an internal probe of the Jayson
Blair scandal, according to the Associated Press (10/27). Okrent, a former editor of Life magazine and of Time Inc.'s new media operations, will oversee coverage, review reader complaints and write a periodic column in the newspaper, the Times said in an article in Monday editions. His title will be "public editor." "We wanted someone with the reporting skills to figure out how decisions get made at the paper, the judgment to reach conclusions about whether and where we go astray, and the writing skills to explain all of this to our readers," said Bill Keller, the paper's executive editor.
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Hasbro Inc., has filed a federal lawsuit against the maker of a board game called "Ghettopoly," claiming the game violates Hasbro's trademarks and copyrights to the Monopoly real estate trading game.
The lawsuit against David Chang of Saint Marys, Pa., was filed in U.S. District Court on Tuesday (10/28). It alleges Ghettopoly has unlawfully mimicked Monopoly's packaging and logos, and has created "irreparable injury" to Hasbro's goodwill and reputation.
Ghettopoly mimics Monopoly, except game pieces include a machine gun, marijuana leaf, and a 40-ounce bottle of malt liquor. The game's "playas" build crack houses on Cheap Trick Avenue instead of hotels on the Boardwalk. Instead of the "Mr. Monopoly" logo, featuring a man with his arms outstretched, Ghettopoly features a caricature of a black man with outstretched arms, holding a submachine gun and bottle of malt liquor.
Stop that leak!!!
This is a word-for-word excerpt from the
Philadelphia Inquirer:
Bush
orders officials to stop the leaks
By Joseph L. Galloway and James Kuhnhenn
Inquirer Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Concerned about the appearance of disarray and feuding within his
administration as well as growing resistance to his policies in Iraq,
President Bush - living up to his recent declaration that he is in charge -
told his top officials to "stop the leaks" to the media, or else. News of
Bush's order leaked almost immediately.
Bush told his senior aides Tuesday that he "didn't want to
see any stories" quoting unnamed administration officials in the media
anymore, and that if he did, there would be consequences, said a senior
administration official who asked that his name not be used.
It's not exactly "Dewey Defeats Truman," but the New York Post made a colossal error (10/17) on its editorial page. The paper somehow printed an editorial bemoaning the Yankees loss to the Boston Red Sox, noting that the "Curse of the Bambino boomeranged this year" and that the Bronx Bombers "couldn't get the job done at home."
The editorial concluded, "Wait'll next year!" Obviously, the Post piece was drafted while the Yanks were trailing the Sox, but was--unbelievably--not yanked when the club tied the game in the eighth inning and won it on Aaron Boone's walkoff home run in the 11th. (Special thanks to Joyce Smith at the KC Star for this item.)
According to USA Today (10/17), the original Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) began as a 337-word guideline. By the time the final regulations were completed the guidelines had swelled to 101,000 words.
Ouch!! National radio host Don Imus, who has a long record of cocaine and alcohol addiction himself, showed absolutely no mercy (11/15) regarding Rush Limbaugh's recent problems that have put him in drug rehab. "Rush is a fat, pill-popping loser and an undisciplined slob....," said Imus, "...as soon as he gets caught he starts whining."
It can be a good trick, except when it backfires. Hundreds of identical letters have been sent to newspapers from U.S. soldiers in Iraq extolling the successes of American forces there. The U.S. military says the letters are part of a spontaneous grassroots campaign, but many soldiers say they didn't write the missives that bear their names. According to National Public Radio (10/14) a military commander has admitted "suggesting" his troops sign and send the letters.
Jan Stephenson is the latest member to join the "I wish I hadn't said that" Club. It should be interesting to see the feedback the female professional golfer receives after her inflammatory comments (10/11) quoted in the Salt Lake Tribune. Stephenson, who became the first woman to play on the Champions Tour, said Asians are "killing" the LPGA Tour and their numbers should be limited.
Stephenson's comments will appear in an article in the November edition of Golf Magazine, due out Tuesday. "This is probably going to get me in trouble, but the Asians are killing our tour. Absolutely killing it," she told the magazine. "Their lack of emotion, their refusal to speak English when they can speak English. They rarely speak. "
Radio and TV personality Bill O'Reilly dramatically once again proved he can dish it out, but can't take the heat when he walked out of an interview with Terry Gross of National Public Radio on a show that aired (10/8). O'Reilly was fine handling softball questions and plugging his new book incessantly, but when Gross attempted to read a negative "People" magazine interview he threw what could only be termed a temper tantrum and walked off the show.
Regular listeners to O'Reilly's shows know that he orchestrated the entire event to generate publicity for his book. That could only be the explanation why he would put the interview on his Web site and also on his TV show.
The
Hollywood Reporter (10/7) has reported that the Federal Communications
Commission has decided that U2 singer Bono's utterance of an obscenity during
this year's broadcast of the Golden Globe Awards did not constitute a
violation of the nation's broadcast indecency rules.
The government agency's Enforcement Bureau rejected
complaints by the Parents Television Council and others that Bono's use of the
phrase "this is really, really f---ing brilliant" failed to meet the test for
indecency. The bureau ruled that Bono's indiscretion was so "fleeting and
isolated" that it did not run afoul of the rules.
He can punch, but can't take one. That's how Mike Lupica of the New York Daily News is characterizing Rush Limbaugh (10/7). "He wants to be the rough, tough, truth-telling conscience of America," says Lupica. "But the first time he gets hit, he quits on his stool."
A crisis can make some strange bedfellows indeed!!! Rush Limbaugh, under attack for alleged racist remarks on ESPN and also under a cloud for possible drug violations, urged listeners to his show (10/3) to read an article from the on-line magazine Slate titled "Rush Limbaugh Was Right: Donovan McNabb isn't a great quarterback, and the media do overrate him because he is black."
Under normal circumstances, Limbaugh (who announced (10/10) on this radio show that her will now go into drug rehab) would refer to Slate as an example of the awful liberal media that is ruining this country. On his show (10/6) Limbaugh even praised CNN for supportive remarks made about his situation (He was famous for calling it the "Clinton News Network"). When these crises subside it will be interesting to see how much he likes these outlets.
"Hey, beerman!" Your name isn't protected. "Bob the Beerman" has lost his battle against Coors, according to the Associated Press (10/2). Bob Donchez, known as "Bob the Beerman," was the first licensed vendor at Coors Field in Denver. He trademarked his character in 1993.
He sued Coors about four years ago over the brewer's "Beerman" $100 million ad campaign. But a federal judge in Denver has ruled the term beerman is generic and doesn't infringe on the rights of Bob the Beerman. Attorneys for the Beerman say they'll likely file an appeal.
From Time magazine (10/6) in an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly:
DO YOU REGRET PUSHING
THE LAWSUIT AGAINST AL FRANKEN?
"Not at all. This man is being run by some very
powerful forces in this country, and we needed to confront it. I was ambushed at
a book convention. He got up in front of a national audience and called me a
liar for 20 minutes. President Andrew Jackson would have put a bullet between
his eyes. Franken's job is to do exactly what Donald Segretti did for Nixon —
dig up dirt on people. He is not a satirist; he is not a comedian. He's someone
who wants to injure people's reputations, and I think people have got to know
that."
Southern Methodist University shut down a bake
sale Wednesday (9/14) according to the Associated Press in which cookies were
offered for sale at different prices, depending on the buyer's race or gender.
The sale was organized by the Young Conservatives of Texas, who said it was
intended as a protest of affirmative action.
A sign said white males had to pay $1 for a cookie. The price
was 75 cents for white women, 50 cents for Hispanics and 25 cents for blacks. A
black student filed a complaint with SMU, saying the sale was offensive. SMU
officials said they halted the event after 45 minutes because it created a
potentially unsafe situation.
Thinking of suing the news media? Forget it. 2002 was a record year for the lowest number of trials for libel and privacy claims, and the highest percentage of media victories in the 22 years the trials have been tracked, according to Quill magazine (9/03). In the past decade media victories have risen to 53 percent, from 41 percent in the 1990s and 34 percent in the 80s.
Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at an Elingsh uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in
waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the
frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl
mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae we do not
raed ervey lteter by it slef but the wrod as a wlohe.
"I have performed for 12 presidents and entertained only six..."
---Late, great comedian Bob Hope
It's called "SLAPP" and the Society of Professional Journalists does not care for it. The group sent out an "Alert" (8/28) regarding a lawsuit against WCPO-TV in Cincinnati. SLAPP stands for a "Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation," which is a suit designed to stifle First Amendment rights of citizens to speak out.
The TV station aired a series of reports about Family Dental Care Associates for improprieties in billing, cleanliness and quality of patient care. Clinic owner Dennis Fuchs promptly filed suit against six former employees and two former employees for speaking to the media. He didn't sue the station that aired the pieces, just individuals who were interviewed by the station.
The message was clear to journalists: Just talking to the media can cost you, even ruin you, even if you've told the truth. The SPJ said the SLAPP "attempts to punish the media by throwing up a barrier of fear between journalist and source."
Fox News Network looked silly (AP, 8/23) after a judge said its claim against satirist Al Franken was "wholly without merit, both factually and legally." Fox had requested an injunction against Franken's new book "Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," saying their network had registered the phrase "Fair & Balanced" as a trademark.
Franken said he would like to thank Fox's lawyers for "filing one of the stupidest briefs I have ever seen in my life." His book was to go on sale next month, but because of all the publicity it went on sale Thursday.
"There is a school of thought among sportswriters that believes Mike Tyson should be put to sleep, for the greater good, and I am beginning to think they are right. We have enough to be terrified about these days, without having to worry about accidentally running into that monster Tyson in the middle of a routine traffic jam."
----Hunter S. Thompson
According to news services (8/2) President Bush's recent news conference (his first since March) was only his eighth since assuming office. At a similar time in his administration Bush Sr. had held 61 news conferences and President Clinton had held 33.
U.S. News (8/6) said that Bush and his aides decided in advance which reporters would be called upon and gave the media only 90 minutes notice. The magazine called it "a ploy to prevent them from preparing their questions too carefully and generally to keep them off balance."
Bob Schieffer, long-time CBS TV correspondent, on the first time he substituted for Walter Cronkite on the evening news: "What should I say at the beginning?" Schieffer asked producer Bill Moran. Moran promptly wrote out on his typewriter "Good Evening, Walter Cronkite is on assignment, Roger Mudd is sick, Dan Rather is in Alaska and H.V. Kaltenborn is dead...so here I am."
---From the book "This Just In. What I Couldn't Tell You on TV."
"The fact that a man is a newspaper reporter is evidence of some flaw in character."----Lyndon Johnson
Ever wonder how much money movie makers collect to have various products placed in their movies? According to Newsweek (6/23), Miramax is asking for $35 million from any automaker that wants its wheels featured on the 2005 version of "The Green Hornet." Doesn't it kind of make the movie folks look silly when they say movies don't influence folks when advertisers are willing to pay that much to have their products featured?
Sprint has been ordered to pay the U.S. Government $5.6 million after being caught defrauding the federal government from 2000-2002 (KC Star, 6/20). According to Sprint it admitted no wrongdoing. Imagine how much Sprint would have paid if they had actually done something wrong...
Ever wonder why folks don't trust the media? Take the case of many of the leading magazines where doctoring photos has become commonplace (USA Today, 6/17). Redbook features Jennifer Aniston on the cover of its June issue (L) in a photo her publicist says is actually three different photos. A Redbook spokeswoman countered by saying " The only things altered in the cover photo were the color of her shirt and length of her hair..." In fact Aniston was featured in a story when she never even spoke to the magazine.
Redbook outdid itself in July by featuring Julia Roberts on its cover. The photo was a combination of her head from the 2002 People's Choice awards and her body from a movie premier FOUR years earlier.
GQ magazine featured Kate Winslet on its cover and slimmed her legs "by a third," according to Winslet...Seventeen magazine in May featured Sarah Michelle Gellar on its cover and changed her shirt color and made her left hand look long and misshapen.
Ben Bradlee, the famous former executive editor of the Washington Post during the Watergate investigation, was asked by radio host Don Imus (6/13) about the current journalism scandal at the New York Times. "There's a term used in journalism where a fact is 'Too good to check,'" he said. "If it fits what we believe, then we don't verify it. It can be a real problem."
Martha Stewart, the embattled domestic arts and media guru, is launching a major defense of her reputation in the media. In a wise decision, she is initially going the paid route, according to the Cox News Service (6/6). Her PR firm is smart enough to recognize the media wants to eat her alive, so stage one is taking out full-page ads in major papers and launching her own Web site.
We anticipate that her PR folks are negotiating now with Barbara Walters and others to determine who gets to interview Stewart. The winner will most likely be the one who will best let Stewart come across in a positive light. This should be fun--here is her latest magazine cover:
"Those are my principles, if you don't
like them...... I have others."
(Groucho Marx)
"Public confidence in the media, already low, continues to slip," according to USA Today (5/28). "Only 36%, among the lowest in years, believe news organizations get the facts straight." A USA Today/CNN/Gallup Poll shows trust in the media has dropped from 54% in 1989 to a low of 32% in December 2000 during the post-election confusion over George Bush and Al Gore.
Ironically, the lack of confidence in the media may not be tied directly to the Jayson Blair scandal at the New York Times. According to USA Today, the public seems generally uninterested in the Blair scandal, with about 2 out of 3 people saying they are not following the story.
"For
most folks, no news is good news; for the press, good news is not news."
-Gloria Borger
Louisiana State University (5/19) is asking members of the Society of Professional Journalists to complete a survey titled, "Issues in Journalistic Ethics." The opening line of the survey says, "Dear Colleague: We believe journalists are more ethical these days than in the past. Would you help us test this belief by completing the questionnaire....?" When you anticipate the results of a survey before asking people to complete it aren't you adding a bias?
One of the biggest problems with conglomerates owning numerous media outlets is that there is a very real opportunity to abuse that power. In a recent column in the New York Times, Paul Krugman wrote that the recent Pro-War rallies were being organized by behemoth Clear Channel Communications, which controls more than 1,200 radio stations across the country.
Krugman noted that the vice chairman of Clear Channel is Tom Hicks, who purchased the Texas Rangers in a deal that made George Bush a multimillionaire. The FCC is considering deregulation that would allow Clear Channel to expand its business, particularly into television. It certainly helps your case when you are a PR leader for the administration's policies.
BLC Principal John Landsberg lends a hand to journalists when asked the dreaded question: "Can I see that article before you print it?"
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We like the Dan Rather Rule that says there are only three legitimate responses to a reporter's question:
1. "Yes, I know the answer, and here it is."
2. "No, I don't know the answer, but I'll try to find out."
3. "Yes, I do know the answer, but I can't tell you."
The Washington Post's Style Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are some winners:
* Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
* Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.
* Bozone: (n.) The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
* Foreploy: Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
* Cashtration: (n.) The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
* Giraffiti: Vandalism spray-painted very, very, high.
* Sarchasm: The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
* Hipatitis: Terminal coolness.
* Osteopornosis: A degenerate disease. (This one got extra credit).
* Karmageddon: It's like, when everybody is, like, sending off all these really bad vibes, right? and then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a totally serious bummer.
* Decaflon: (n.) The gruelling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
* Dopeler effect: The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
* Arachnoleptic fit: (n.) The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
* Beelzebug: (n.) Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at 3 in the morning and cannot be cast out.
*
Ignoranus: A person who's both stupid and an asshole.Ever wonder why the voting for the Oscars is so secretive? It didn't use to be. From 1929 to 1940 the results were given in advance to newspapers, but in 1940 the LA Times published the results early and Oscar-goers knew who won before the ceremony even started. Since then the sealed envelope system was instituted. (Source: Biography magazine, March 2003).
According to the KC Star Magazine don't dare call Gary Burghoff by his famous TV name of "Radar O'Reilly." And heaven forbid if anyone dares ask Jimmie (JJ) Walker to utter "Dy-no-Mite" from his long ago fame in "Good Times," which went off the air more than 25 years ago.
The reaction by Burghoff is particularly laughable since the ads for his show refer to him as Radar O'Reilly along with a picture of him from M*A*S*H. The TV spots even play the TV show's theme song.
A reporter was interviewing a 104 year-old woman: "And what do you think is the best thing about being 104?" the reporter asked. She simply replied, "No peer pressure."
Columnist Tucker Carlson in Reader's Digest (1/03) really hit the nail on the head with what men have been saying for years: The media makes men look like idiots. In an article titled "You Idiot! If you believe what you see on TV, all men are morons," Carlson notes that it is no longer PC to poke fun at women, racial or ethnic stereotypes, "leaving advertisers with almost no one to make fun of. Except men."
"Anti-male hostility in advertising no longer bubbles beneath the surface but floats atop it," Carlson noted. "Try to imagine if a greeting card company joked about murdering women...Or a car company mocked women drivers...Or if anybody said an unkind word about women's career choices or mothering skills or sexual prowess."
"It would be a modern heresy," says Christina Hoff Sommers, author of the book The War Against Boys. "You'd have to go to some gender reeducation seminar. It wouldn't be tolerated."
"Anyone who starts a sentence "With all due respect..."is about to insult you."
NEWSPAPER PREFERENCES
1. The Wall Street Journal is read by
the people who run the country.
2. The Washington Post is read by people who think they run the country.
3. The New York Times is read by people who think they should run the country.
4. USA Today is read by people who think they ought to run the country but don't
really understand the Washington Post. They do, however, like their statistics
shown in pie chart format.
5. The Los Angeles Times is read by people who wouldn't mind running the
country, if they could spare the time, and if they didn't have to leave LA to do
it.
6. The Boston Globe is read by people whose parents used to run the country and
they did a far superior job of it, thank you very much.
7. The New York Daily News is read by people who aren't too sure who's running
the country, and don't really care as long as they can get a seat on the
train.
8. The New York Post is read by people who don't care who's running the country,
as long as they do something really scandalous, preferably while intoxicated.
9. The San Francisco Chronicle is read by people who aren't sure there is a
country or that anyone is running it; but whoever it is, they oppose all that
they stand for. There are occasional exceptions if the leaders are handicapped
minority feminist atheist dwarfs who also happen to be illegal aliens from ANY
country or galaxy. .
10. The Miami Herald is read by people who are running another country but need
the baseball scores.
11. The National Enquirer is read by people trapped in line at the grocery
store.
There is a new term for how the Bush White House works with journalists. It's called "message discipline," which means those journalists who don't provide positive coverage to the administration have reduced access to government officials. Newsweek (11/25) reported that the Arabic-language network Al-Jazeera is quadrupling its Washington Bureau and the White House is finding it difficult to enforce "message discipline" to media folks who don't find it necessary to suck up to the administration.
Ever wonder who reads the Wall Street Journal? According to Slate (11/18) Journal, 87% readers are male with an average age of 50. Although females are taking key corporate positions these days, their readership has only risen 4% from 1985 to 1999. Journal subscribers have an average household income of $338,200 and an average household net worth of $2,176,700—well over twice that of affluent adults.
"The one function TV news performs
very well is that when there is no news we give it to you with the same emphasis
as if there were."
---David Brinkley
"When the politicians complain that TV turns the proceedings into a circus, it should be made clear that the circus was already there, and that TV has merely demonstrated that not all the performers are well trained." Edward R. Murrow
"I have two
weapons---my legs, my arm and my brain."
---Michael Vick, Atlanta Falcon quarterback
There was some inside humor on a recent episode of "Everybody Loves Raymond." Raymond is up for "Sportswriter of the Year" honors and doesn't think he has a chance against some of the leading sportswriters in the nation. His wife tries to offer him encouragement and dismisses a story by Chuck Heaton of the Cleveland Plain Dealer titled "Too Much Violence in Boxing," by saying, "Oh, that's a real big scoop!!"
In real-life, Raymond's wife on the show is Patricia Heaton, daughter of Chuck Heaton, a famous sportswriter at The Plain Dealer. She grew up in the Cleveland suburb of Bay Village.
“Tonight Show” host Jay Leno told 18,802 political jokes over the past decade, and President Bill Clinton was the target of one out of every five (3,722 jokes), according to a study conducted by the Center for Media & Public Affairs (CMPA).