CBS 'News' ratings down
Peacock, Alphabet in close race

By MICHAEL LEARMONTH
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NEW YORK -- CBS' "Evening News," led by interim anchor Bob Schieffer, saw its lowest viewer tally on record last week, while the sprint for first in the evening news race remained incredibly close with 150,000 viewers separating NBC and ABC.

http://www.variety.com/VR1117921704.html

The media has just gotten so out of control that it's hard for a lot of people to watch anymore. We had memogate with Rather that really disaffected people here. It showed that, at the least, the media isn't nearly as careful as they claim to be.

Then all the mess with the BBC concerning the "sexed-up" documents that turned out to be just a "sexed-up" news story that ended up driving a man to kill himself. I think people have begun to finally question what has been spoon-fed to us for years.

Here's an interesting case from across the pond:

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Tory fury as BBC sends hecklers to bait Howard
By Patrick Hennessy, Political Editor

The BBC was last night plunged into a damaging general election row after it admitted equipping three hecklers with microphones and sending them into a campaign meeting addressed by Michael Howard, the Conservative leader.

The Tories have made an official protest after the hecklers, who were given the microphones by producers, were caught at a party event in the North West last week. Guy Black, the party's head of communications, wrote in a letter to Helen Boaden, the BBC's director of news, that the hecklers began shouting slogans that were "distracting and clearly hostile to the Conservative Party".

These included "Michael Howard is a liar", "You can't trust the Tories" and "You can only trust Tony Blair".

Mr Black's strongly-worded letter accused the BBC of staging the event "to generate a false news story and dramatise coverage. . . intended to embarrass or ridicule the leader of the Conservative Party". The letter said that BBC staff were guilty of "serious misconduct". At least one of the hecklers was seen again at a Tory event in the North East, Mr Black added.

Last night, the BBC claimed that the exercise was part of a "completely legitimate programme about the history and art of political heckling" and said that other parties' meetings were being "observed". However, The Telegraph has established that none of Tony Blair's meetings was infiltrated or disrupted in similar fashion.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/

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So here we have the BBC sending "hired guns", equipped with wireless microphones, to a Conservative meeting, and having the BBC's cameras pre-focused on the heckling that was about to begin instead of the Conservative speaker.

And they said it was "about the history and art of political heckling". That sounds like something Dan Rather would say.

Now don't get me wrong; I want Blair to win in the next election over there. But it's nice to see that the US media isn't the only news organization with an anti-Conservative bend to it.

Next, will the BBC will send "fake insurgents" to set off a car bomb in Baghdad for footage of their documentary "the history of deadly explosions"?

The difference between the BBC and CBS, the New York Times, CNN, etc. is that the BBC is a government funded organization. The BBC is the dominant news source for Britain and, in fact, much of the world. This is a tremendous scandal. Wouldn't it be nice if they have their public funding eliminated because of this?

Air America is pretty well tanking, even in liberal New York.


WLIB, the station which carries Air America in New York, won a 1.2-percent share of all listeners 12 years and older. That is down one tenth of one point from the station's 1.3 rating in Winter 2004, the last period when it aired its old format of Caribbean music and talk.
http://www.nationalreview.com/york/york200504261633.asp

You can tell they are getting pretty desparate when they resort to tactics such as these to win the admiration of Democrats. MARK

AIR AMERICA RADIO INVESTIGATED AFTER BUSH 'GUNSHOTS'

**Exclusive**

The red-hot rhetoric over Social Security on liberal talkradio network AIR AMERICA has caught the attention of the Secret Service, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned.

Government officials are reviewing a skit which aired on the network Monday evening -- a skit featuring an apparent gunshot warning to the president!

The announcer: "A spoiled child is telling us our Social Security isn't safe anymore, so he is going to fix it for us. Well, here's your answer, you ungrateful whelp: [audio sound of 4 gunshots being fired.] Just try it, you little ######. [audio of gun being cocked]."

The audio production at the center of the controversy aired during opening minutes of The Randi Rhodes Show.

"What is with all the killing?" Rhodes said, laughing, after the clip aired.

"Even joking about shooting the president is a crime, let alone doing it on national radio... we are taking this very seriously," a government source explained.

An Air America official tells Billboard Radio Monitor that they have no comment and are conducting their own internal investigation.

[A Randi Rhodes Fan site is offering an mp3 clip of the broadcast.]

http://www.drudgereport.com/mattabt.htm

A little personal history that has changed my veiw of the news.

I was in Mallorca in the mid 80's. One morning I woke up the horizon was blocked and the bay was absolutely full of US war ships. The next morning they were all gone. That evening on the news I see that USA had bombed Tripoli.

Next day on the news I see that Students were prostesting against the USA at a nearby University. There appeared to be thousands of people in raised up fury. As curiosity betrayed the cat, I had to go see this. The reality was that there were about 25 students protesting with another 500 to 1500 curious cats standing in the background watching. Camera angles are magical.

The icing on the cake was the headlines on the Palma Paper a few weeks later.

"Muammar Qadhafi visits holiday home in Palma"

Then I knew there was something amiss with the news. For a long time I have been relying on logic, based on either first hand information or information that is not benefitted by distortion, to sort out what is going on in the world. You just can't believe any of it. Especially but not exclusively the 'proverbial left' stuff. I enjoy reading fantasy but I like to find it in the fantasy section of the store.

Well, I guess that is the best explanation for the eventual, forthcoming demise of Air America.

I believe that little "skit" hastened it all the more.

Man this "liberal media" crap is really getting lame. What a cop out. Anything bad gets reported and it's the "liberal media".

Newsflash: You know who owns the radio stations that carry Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity in my area? Disney. You know who owns ABC? Disney.

You know who's broadcasting Air America? Clear Channel.

Geez, do your homework.

Does the media have a liberal bias? At times, yes. Does the media have a conservative bias? At times, yes. Does the media have a pro-government, pro-corporate bias? Does the mainstream media toe the line? Yes, always.

Here's a little map of your "liberal media":


Details can be found here.

Have you actually convinced yourself that Air America is not Liberal based on ownership of stations that brodcast? MARK

Let's just say I know theater when I see/hear it.

Air America openly purports itself to be liberally biased.

Duh, Al Frankenstein is a dead giveaway.

Al Franken? Pffft....

They're giving Jerry Springer a show.

As I said...

I know theater when I hear it.

I'll tell you folks the way I've got it figured out in my head. First, there is a large, upward trend in FOX News' ratings.

Now:
Either people are flocking to FOX News because it is fair and balanced and they like that.

Or they are flocking to FOX News because it's conservatively biased, and they agree with what they are hearing.


I like either option, but can see why FOX News upsets liberals.

On media bias in general:
There have been a lot of good research studies done on it, which seems to indicate that the "vast, left-wing media conspiracy" is a reality.

MediaResearch.org: Includes figures from the George Washington University's 1980 survey by Lichter. Also includes ASNE surveys in 1988 and 1997:


UCLA and University of Missouri Research: Gives an ADA score based on how many times news programs cite think tanks and compares to congressman. Finds that a majority of news is liberally biased.

Media Bias Study: A refutation of the previous study. (Trying to be fair).

In the interest of not overloading people with information, that is all I will post. The idea of a liberal media is not merely a flight of fancy as one may suggest. It may not be a reality, but I don't just sit around making it up.

You forgot to mention the massive exodus from all MSM in favor of the net and other independent media.



I love what folks will call a conspiracy.

Folks on the right think there's a "vast left wing conspiracy".
Folks on the left think there's a "vast right wing conspiracy".

What does it take for you to realize that you're both correct?

yeah - somehow everybody talks of conspiracies ! WTF -who cares ? as long as it is interesting !

THE NEGROPONTE FILE: "Special Project"



this is posted by The National Security Archive web site - a lot of more interesting stuff there !



so, who doesn't love "conspiravies" ? or rather - truths ?

The National Security Archive was founded by conspiracy kooks!

yeah, as well as "cronies", "wenies", "commies", neofascists, leftists and all other extremists .... - oh, yeah, and of course by america-bashers !

Are you suggesting that FOX News is seeing an increase in its ratings because people are leaving MSM for the net and independent media? I must be misunderstanding, because that is completely wrong. Do you not consider FOX to be MSM (main stream media for anyone out there)? If that is the case, then I can at least see where you are coming from.

Notice the quotes I put on "vast left-wing conspiracy." I put them there because people call it that, but I think it's amusing. I don't think it's a conspiracy to control the media. I just think it ended up that a lot of hippies wanted to be journalists instead of getting real jobs .

I guess there are really only two conspiracy theories that I wouldn't be surprised were true. The idea that we never landed on the moon is a little out there, but I wouldn't be terribly surprised. The other is the 861 income tax theory. It sounds legit to me.

There's a lot more out there... don't worry. If you're open to those (in my case, the jury's still out on the moon landing one), then I'm sure with the right information, you'd be open to more.

I think a fellow named "Jimmy" just registered on here... He's a good one to talk to regarding the tax stuff.

P.S. I think there's sort of a dual exodus. Many are leaving the MSM (including Fox) and turning to alternative sources, net in particular. There are also a lot of "conservatives" (Neocons, Republicans, whatever... Bush supporters) who are getting fed up with the reporting on the main news networks (which is understandable, of course it's negative reporting... it's pretty tough to paint this administration in a good light), so they've turned to stations like Fox that are more friendly to their political leaning.

I actually only learned of 861 from Jimmy yesterday. GO MULLET MAN LARKEN!

You idea as to why FOX News is seeing ratings increases is valid. But, as I stated previously, it still makes me happy to see.