Editorial board displays hypocrisy over debate

The hypocrisy of the Republican leaning editorial board of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus is just stunning.

Today’s editorial bemoans the fact that Sunday’s gubernatorial debate where Democratic nominee Virg Bernero scored a decisive victory over Republican candidate Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder suffered from a lack of “substance” and we need more debates with better moderators than rightwing Detroit News Editor Nolan Finley and Detroit Free Press editor Stephen Henderson with better questions, saying:

“…one can only wonder if one or two additional debates would have allowed more depth and more probing questions. As it was, the two moderators asked what appeared to be carefully scripted questions that elicited predictable, unenlightening answers. The follow-up questions that were asked were gentle and seemed designed to show equal treatment rather than forcing each candidate to defend or define his position.”

Of course they were “carefully scripted questions.” They went in prepared, and Henderson even asked a question a reader sent in. That is what debates are all about, and they are also about the two candidates standing side by side answering questions and defending their positions where voters can compare and contrast.

But that’s not where the hypocrisy comes in. Last month when the outsourcer was doing everything possible to duck the debates, continue to hold scripted townhall meetings in front of friendly audiences and let his millions and the millions of PAC money buy 30-second TV ads the paper editorialized that “Debates are of questionable value.”

“Debates are of questionable value?”

The fact is if the conservative mainstream media like this newspaper had held the outsourcer more accountable we would have more than one debate with different formats. Perhaps we would have a real townhall meeting like Bernero suggested in the debate on Sunday where you can ask tough questions.

The hypocrisy is just stunning.

Dingell gets endorsement of conservative Detroit News

The endorsements continue to pile up for the Dean of the U.S. House, Rep. John Dingell, D-Dearborn, this one from the conservative Detroit News.

The endorsement of Dingell – and one other endorsement - is the only part of the editorial I agree with that is also a cheap attack on Democrats and liberals. I do agree with this one sentence, “we feel he should remain in Congress,” “because he fought for the domestic automobile industry.”

That alone is a great reason for voting for Dingell, but the good news is there are plenty more reasons to vote for him.

All of the other endorsements are for the most out of touch, right-wingers possible, with the exception of Dingell and Sen. Hansen Clarke, D-Detroit, the candidate for the 13th Congressional District. Even the rightwing editor Nolan Finley couldn’t go as far as endorsing Dingell and Clarke’s opponents, but it must have pained him to do so.

There is no doubt that Dingell is the best choice for voters in the 15th District, but it’s sad they used it to take a backhand slap at President Obama and the Democratic leadership.

The fact that the conservative editorial board endorsed the extremist opponents of U.S. Rep. Gary Peters, D-Bloomfield Hills; U.S. Rep. Mark Schauer, D-Battle Creek; State Rep. Gary McDowell, D-Pickford; and Democrat Pat Miles, a Grand Rapids attorney, speaks volumes for the Dingell endorsement.

He had to overcome a lot for the editorial board not to endorse his extremist opponent.

Despite a short week conservative talk radio host has lots of examples of his bias to choose from

Despite being only on the air for two shows last week because of illness, conservative WJR-AM radio host Frank Beckmann has plenty of examples of his bias on display.

His show on Wednesday, as are all of his shows, served as a two-and- one half hour platform for his conservative views. That’s fine, but not when he claims he is fair and balanced. He chose Wednesday to talk about what he calls the Global Warming hoax. Despite every reputable scientist agreeing that global warming and climate change have been caused by human beings through the high emission of greenhouse gases Beckmann, apparently, really knows the truth because he did the research on the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) web site. He referred the guest to the links on his web site to prove he has the answers on climate change that Nobel Prize-winning scientists do not. So, I took a look. The things he chose to link to clearly demonstrates his bias.

A few that really got me were, “As discussed by (Republicans) L Brooks Patterson and Bob Daddow at the (Detroit Regional Chamber of Commerce) Mackinac Policy Conference” and “Satirist, Lecturer, Writer, and Political Commentator recently spoke to the (conservative think tank) Heritage Foundation, "Regurgitating the Apple: How Modern Liberals 'Think."”

The day after Michigan resident Michael Moore’s latest movie “Sicko” was released on DVD, Beckmann had as guests on his show the makers of the documentary “Manufacturing Dissent,” a 2007 documentary that exposes what the creators say are Moore's misleading tactics and mimics Moore's style of small documentary makers seeking and badgering their target for an interview. The film was made over the course of two years by Canadians Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine. Beckmann did not bother to hide his glee at going after Moore, and his closing comment to the filmmakers said it all, “We’re going to convert all of you liberals.”

On Thursday Beckmann had state Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester, as a guest The softball questions he throws at Bishop are bad enough, but the disturbing part is what Beckmann lets him get away with saying without ever challenging him. Like this gem:

“The Republicans are in the minority in the Legislature,” Bishop said.

I almost fell out of my chair on that one. Even though that’s what voters clearly intended to do last November when 60 percent of the total votes cast for Senators were for Democratic Senate candidates, the Republicans still control the Senate 21-17.

Detroit News editorial page editor Nolan Finley had a few gems of his own. On Thursday he wrote, “Chrysler's new CEO Bob Nardelli is taking on more than just the nuts and bolts turnaround of the automaker. He appears to be out to break the mentality of collective entitlement that permeates the domestic auto industry, and infests much of Michigan as well. Nardelli is considering extending bonuses beyond the executive suite deep into the ranks of Chrysler workers, based on the company's performance and an individual’s contribution.”

The “mentality of collective entitlement?” We know where Finley stands.

Recently, the obscene compensation CEOs were making has been an issue as the gap between the rich and poor widens and the middle class is in danger of going the way of the dinosaurs. Nardelli was the poster boy for that problem.

In 1965 the average CEO was earning 24 times what the average worker was making. But in 2005, the average CEO was making 262 times what the average worker is making. As the CEO of Home Depot, Nardelli made $38 million, or roughly $100,000 a day, in 2005, but the average worker who is selling the product and is the public face of the company is making just $10 an hour on average with few if any benefits. Nardelli continued to make this outrageous salary despite the company’s stock going down 6 percent in six years, and it fell 40 percent during his tenure.

Finley uses his Sunday column to tell us how wonderful Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is and how bad Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton is.

“Romney gets the auto industry -- in fact, he's offered himself up to run an automaker if this politics thing doesn't work out. “

I’m sure he’s qualified.

Detroit Free Press reporter Dawson Bell came in third in our poll, but I have seen no bias. He wrote three articles last week: a story on the Supreme Court argument on same sex benefits, the court decision to stop the Michigan primary and a feature on term limits.

Detroit News editor chosen as the most biased in Michigan mainstream media

The Michigan Messenger readers have spoken, and after a week of online voting the Big 3 of media bias are Detroit News editor Nolan Finley, radio host Frank Beckmann and Detroit Free Press reporter Dawson Bell.

We asked our readers to nominate which journalists were the most biased, and from that list we asked them to vote last week on which journalists from a list showed the most bias. This is the result. Actually, political pundit Bill Ballenger was tied with Bell for third place, but I am exercising my power as the unofficial media critic at MM to cast my tie-breaking vote for Bell. However, I will play closer attention to Ballenger.

The voter turnout was a little disappointing, but it's certainly consistent with the voter turnout we see for general elections; and it was even better than most primary elections. When you consider that only about a quarter of the registered voters actually decide who is going to run the state, the 43 votes cast in this informal poll isn't all that bad.

Finley was the big winner - or loser depending on your point of view - with 27 percent of the vote, followed by Beckman with 25 percent of the vote and Bell and Ballenger with 16 percent. Also receiving votes were Tim Skubick with three votes; George Weeks, two votes and Murray Feldman with one vote. In the comments section I also received write in votes for Chris Christoff, the Detroit Free Press Lansing bureau chief; Chad Selewski of the Macomb Daily; nationally known sports writer, best-selling author and radio host Mitch Albom; and Detroit News columnist Laura Berman.

Among the other comments I received was that I was concentrating only on conservative media bias. My answer to that is that the myth that has been floated around since the 1970s is that the media is liberally biased, but that is simply not true. I am pointing out the predominant bias of the mainstream media. An argument was also made that some of our slate of candidates are not journalists. However, anyone who conveys information to the public fits our definition of a journalist.

Finley is a columnist and the editorial page editor of the Detroit News, and as a columnist he is expressing his opinion, which by its very nature is biased. But it's clear where his bias lays. It's very hard to find bias in the newspaper's straight stories, but as the editorial page editor, it follows Finley's bias that sets the tone for the entire newspaper. Clearly, his biggest obsession is Gov. Jennifer Granholm. He seems to blame her for everything but the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby. He must not be aware that the governor, any governor, cannot influence macroeconomic activity through the two most important factors: monetary policy and fiscal policy.

In a recent column about the governor's leadership on the budget situation, he used a quote in a column he said was from Speaker of the House Andy Dillon, D-Redford Township: "Why doesn't she take control of these negotiations?" asks Dillon, and then answered, "Because she doesn't have leadership instincts."

When called out on the source of the quote, Finley changed the online version and attributed the quote it its rightful owner; Granholm opponent, Senate Majority Leader Mike Bishop, R-Rochester.

According to the Detroit News official bio, Finley is the "Editorial Page Editor of The Detroit News, a position he's held since May 1, 2000. He directs the expression of the newspaper's editorial position on various national and local issues, and also writes a column in the Sunday newspaper. Prior to that, Finley was the newspaper's Deputy Managing Editor, directing the newsroom. Previously, he served as Business Editor, and in various editing positions on the city, state and metro desks. He was also a reporter, covering Detroit City Hall during the Coleman Young administration. Finley has been with the newspaper since 1976, starting as a copy boy in the newsroom while a student at Wayne State University.

Beckman hosts a show on conservative talk radio station WJR weekdays from 9-11:30 a.m., and he is an occasional columnist for the Detroit News. He shares a similar obsession with Finely for the governor while claiming he is fair and balanced and looking out for us. He seems to be a Bill O'Reilly wannabe with a rather large ego. His bias seems to fit in at WJR, and it's a mystery how the most powerful radio station in a state that has been blue since 1992 located in one of the most liberal cities in America can get way with not having one non-conservative voice on the air.

Beckman drew the ire of progressives in early October when he taped an interview with the governor for replay later in the day, and then he allegedly used a YouTube clip supplied by a conservative blog from an old debate about a completely different topic to accuse the governor of lying to the public about tax increases.

Bell covers Lansing and politics for the Detroit Free Press, and he is the only reporter on the list. Finding bias in a straight news story is difficult, but bias there can cause the most damage because it is not so obvious. Bell helped start the "ipod for every student in Michigan" controversary last spring when he mistakenly wrote in a story that House Democrats were proposing a $58 million line item to buy every student an ipod that was really for new technology. Republicans made hay with that line, and it continues today.

Ballenger is one of the most well-known and respected political pundits in the state. According to his official biography as the former Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government at Central Michigan University, Ballenger "…is a former (Republican) state representative and state senator, an ex-state racing commissioner and director of the Michigan Department of Licensing & Regulation. Mr. Ballenger also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health, Education & Welfare in the administration of President Gerald R. Ford." He also writes and publishes the newsletter "Inside Michigan Politics," and he is a regular panelist on the political talk TV show "Off the Record."

Looking for the big 3 of media bias

Every reporter has heard the unfair charge of liberal media bias, and bristled at what many see as a political strategy hatched by the right. Now, with your help, we plan to take a look every week at the three worst Michigan reporters, columnists, commentators and pundits; the Big 3 so to speak. As we have seen from the attacks on Media Matters from people like radio host Rush Limbaugh and TV host Bill O'Reilly, they do not like having a spotlight focused on them.

Charges of media bias have been around a long time, and are hard to pinpoint and to get rid of.

Benjamin Franklin was accused of being biased in 1728 when he wrote an article advocating the printing of more paper money, but failed to mention his own printing company stood to profit by printing that money. At the turn of the 20th Century major cities had multiple daily newspapers, and many of those dailies were published by political party members and even served as the official publication of the party. That slowly began to change as the separation between the newsrooms and the editorial page widened and newspapers adopted strict codes of ethics.

But the charges of so-called liberal media bias really took off during the Republican administration of Richard Nixon when the media was full of negative press reports on the Vietnam War, reflecting the mood of the country. I November 1969, Nixon’s vice-president, Spiro Agnew, made a landmark speech blasting what he labeled the liberal media's opposition to the war. In that speech he uttered the famous line accusing the media of being "nattering nabobs of negativism." Former Nixon aide and presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan wrote in conservative publications in the 1970s that the "the liberal media establishment” reporting on Watergate brought down a president.

The assault on the media has continued ever since. This is where you come in.

Based on an informal survey of many bloggers who write about politics, this is the list of commentators that was suggested, to be whittled down to the Big 3: Nolan Finley, Frank Beckmann, George Weeks. Dawson Bell, Dave Renkiewicz, Tim Skubick, Murray Feldman and Bill Ballenger.

Finley is Editorial Page editor of The Detroit News, and as such he sets the tone for the page. He has been a constant critic of Gov. Jennifer Granholm. His column runs every Sunday. Beckmann hosts a morning radio show on conservative radio station WJR and also writes a column for the Detroit News. He is also a Granholm antagonist.

Weeks was a political columnist for The Detroit News for 22 years before his recent retirement, but now his weekly column is syndicated by Superior Features, running in the Traverse City Record Eagle. For 14 years, Weeks served on the staff of Republican Gov. William G. Milliken in various positions including press secretary.

Bell is a reporter for the Detroit Free Press covering Lansing and politics. Renkiewicz is the host of the “Live with Renk” show on Sunday on conservative talk station WBCK in Battle Creek. Skubick is the host of the long-running political talk show “Off the Record,” and he covers Lansing for various TV and radio stations.

Feldman is the business reporter for Fox TV 2. Ballenger is a former Republican member of the Michigan Senate and House, a noted political pundit and the editor and publisher of “Inside Michigan Politics.”

We want readers' help in picking the top three, and so we are attaching an online poll to choose the winner. We will announce the winner a week from today. Please go to Michigan Messenger to cast your vote.

News hit piece wants Michigan to ditch new educational technology

I have been around newspapers a long time, but I have never seen such an inflammatory piece of writing passed off as an editorial as I saw in the Detroit News last week.

It starts right off with the headline, “An iPod for every kid? Are they !#$!ing idiots?”

That’s a headline from a reputable, mainstream newspaper? The anti-Democratic crap that continues to flow from the Detroit News should finally dispel the ridiculous “liberal media” myth that the Republic Party has turned into a devastatingly effective political strategy. Then we get statements like this one in the hot piece, “The Democrats, led by their increasingly erratic speaker Andy Dillon.”

What can you expect from a newspaper where Nolan Finley is editorial page editor, and I’ll bet the farm he wrote this piece of garbage. The only thing in this hit piece that even makes sense is this lone sentence, “Michigan can't tax or spend its way out of this economic catastrophe.” Michigan can’t cut its way out either. We have cut taxes for 15 straight years, and the state has cut spending for almost the same amount of time. Where’s the prosperity if all it takes is cuts?

I haven’t really had the time to completely read and digest the Democratic plan, but it seems like a long term investment plan to me to truly lift us out of the economic downturn and address the structural budget problems, not just balance the budget with one-time fixes and gimmicks. We have done this “one-tine budget fix and gimmicks” since 2001.

How do we expect a company and corporation to come into Michigan and invest millions of dollars here when its own citizens refuse to invest in their state?

I have to admit I was a bit surprised and disappointed when I first read about the Ipod idea. That is until I thought about it. I’m not all that old – I’m not using my walker yet, but as a Baby-Boomer I can remember the most high-tech teaching tools we had when I was in high school were film strips and reel-to-feel film projectors and even handheld calculators were rare.

As I’m writing this I’m listening to “Lord of the Flies” from the Playaway hanging from my neck that I borrows from the Howell Library. Can you imagine the outcry that came when VCRs and DVDs were introduced in schools?

Now, we have students sitting in class with cell phones small enough to fit in their pockets taking notes on their wireless laptop computer than has Internet access that gives the student access to almost everything that has ever been printed. If you told us that would have been the case 20 years ago we would have said you were crazy, but now we want to say no to new technology.

We’re talking about MP3 players not the more expensive Ipods that are getting smaller and smaller everyday and dropping in price each day. They can load both audio and video, including such things as the day’s lessons or homework. They can also be modified so that only schoolwork can be downloaded, not just music and music videos.

With the volume buying power the state has the price should be rather low.