Newspaper that sponsors political debates says they are useless

The Republican editorial board of the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus is twisting itself into pretzels in it’s ongoing battle to bash Democratic candidates and promote Republican candidates.

In today’s edition it editorialized that it’s OK for Republican Gubernatorial candidate Rick “Chief Executive Outsourcer” Snyder to continue to duck debates with Democratic nominee Virg Bernero because “Debates are of questionable value.”

Say what?

Is this the same newspaper that sponsores and moderates local debates? Is this the same newspaper that sponsored and moderated a debate between the Republican candidates for the 22nd State Senate seat in July? Why, yes it is. So I guess the paper will no longer sponsor those useless debates where a candidate has to defend his positions, record and actions in front of a neutral audience.

It’s just astonishing what this Republican editorial board will do to promote Republican candidates. Liberal media my butt.

Of course this bastion of the “liberal media” uses the editorial to take its standard cheap shots at Gov. Jennifer Granholm, saying “Voters are likely looking for a change after eight years of an ineffective Democrat in the governor's office,” and ending with this gem:

“Granholm likely would have won the election anyway, but as a challenger, DeVos lost any chance he had to gain ground. So for the next four years, we got the better debater.
But did we get a better governor?”

The answer is yes. Perhaps the newspaper missed the Bush recession, the worst since the Great Depression that led to two of Michigan’s largest employers going into bankruptcy? Perhaps they missed this report that Michigan is leading the nation in job growth, with a gain of 27,800 jobs in July or that every single Michigan governor has tried to diversify the states’ economy away from just auto manufacturing so we don’t feel every economic downturn so hard, but only Granholm has managed to do that?

But back to the debates. The good news is that Detroit TV station WXYZ YV 7 cares more about informing voters then the newspaper does, and they are going to broadcast a 'live' debate on Tuesday, October 21, from 8:00 - 9:00 pm whether the wimp shows up or not.

But the biggest news is that Bernero showed up at one of the wimp’s invitation only townhall meetings held at country clubs, this one held at the Hawthorne Country Club in Westland on Monday with the hope of persuading him to hold the three televised debates the wimp chickened out of. Apparently, Bernero shamed Snyder into meeting “with him personally over coffee to hammer out a gentlemen’s agreement on debates,” according to the Detroit Free Press.

Michigan GOP pulls out the old ‘Liberal media’ myth to raise money

There is nothing like a classic, and Sharon Wise, the Co-Chair of the Michigan Republican Party, rolled out an oldie but a goldie in a mass fundraising email.

Wise used the old standby myth that hatched from the paranoid mind of Richard Nixon of the so-called “liberal media” political strategy that has worked so well for the GOP for more than 30 years. Wise claimed the so-called:
“liberal media is at it again-this time attacking the Michigan Republican Party through a variety of news stories for supporting the thousands of you, hard-working, taxpaying residents who showed up at Tea Parties across Michigan last week.”

We already know the misnamed tea parties were pro-Republican, anti-Obama partisan political rallies organized by Washington, D.C. lobbying firms, and the many of the small minority who showed up were extremist fringe groups. But the bankrupt GOP is continuing to use the Astroturf rallies as fundraisers.

The GOP collected a lot of email addresses on April 15, which was a major reason for the rallies, and Wise is asking people for an online contribution. Did anyone doubt this was coming?

“The Cherry Democrats and the liberal media are mocking you-and Republicans-who want to see accountable and responsible spending from state government.”

The Cherry Democrats?

The news “stories” in question is a single column by Booth Newspapers Lansing correspondent Peter Luke where he simply points out the anti-tax stance taken on April 15 is contrary to the stance taken by business-backed funding increases for transportation of traditional GOP friends like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce.

Luke also pointed out, correctly, that “Republicans intend to run next year against income and business tax increases approved in 2007, even though no Democrat was defeated in 2008 for voting for them.” In fact, the Democrats increased their majority by nine seats in the state House.

I guess it’s true that the facts have a liberal bias.

He also pointed out “the tax protesters conveniently neglected to mention that Michigan's 4.35 percent income-tax rate is lower than it was under most of Republican Gov. John Engler's 12 years in office.”

The simple fact is that the media is, for the most part, impartial, with the exception of GOP cheerleading outfits like Faux “News,” and if anything the media is conservative. Media consolidation by a few mega corporations where profit is the only consideration has proven that.

Pair of local stories illustrate the ridiculous notion of the ‘Liberal media’

I continue to be amazed that people continue to try and float the ridiculous Nixonsque political strategy of the “liberals media.”

It has worked so well that reporters - I know because I was once one of them - work so hard to disprove that disgusting, false label that their reporting is skewed so far right it’s not funny. When you add the fact that 99.9 percent of the traditional media outlets are owned by a few large corporations, the media can truly be called conservative.

We see an excellent example of that in Sunday’s edition of the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus in a pair of pieces from reporter Kristofer Karol. He does an article on Republican presidential candidate Grampy McSame‘s desperation pick of small time mayor Sarah Palin as his VP.

In the article he quotes all local Republican leaders. Not one Democrat is quoted. That would seem to make the article a little one-sided. But it’s their candidate, so it may be nit-picking to criticize. The best quote is from Bill Rogers, the chair of the county Board of Commissioners and the Republican candidate for the 66th District state House seat. He says the pick of Palin is a political ply. I agree, at least with half of his argument.

“To me, this is all a political ploy," Rogers said. "They're going to say she's a novice, which then we ... see that the (Democratic) presidential hopeful is a novice, so it kind of killed that argument."

That’s in sharp contrast to his brother, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, who toes the party lie:
"As a popular maverick governor who fought corruption, Governor Palin has demonstrated she shares Senator McCain's independence and dedication to fix a broken Washington.”

Is this the same Washington a member of the Keating 5 has been a part of for almost 30 years?

I don’t agree with many of Bill’s positions, but I respect him. If he’s elected, it will be refreshing to have someone who will represent all of the people in the 66th District, not just Republicans.

Judy Daubenmier, chair of the Livingston Country Democratic Party, has an excellent analysis of the article on her blog LivingBlue

There is also a story in the same edition by the same reporter on Democratic Presidential Nominee Sen. Barack Obama’s historic acceptance speech called “Area Dems inspired by Obama's speech.”

The problem here is the article quotes three Republicans in the story - all three were also quoted in the Palin story - and all three, of course, toe the party lie that Obama is just a good speaker and nothing else. Term-limited state Rep. Joe Hune’s quote is the most ridiculous, who says it was just fluff. This from a man who has done little in he state House besides collect a paycheck for six years.

“"I compare him to (Gov. Jennifer) Granholm: A lot of fluff," Hune said.

The story only quotes three Democrats, and the obvious question is why quote Republicans in this story and not quote Democrats in the Palin story?

The other disturbing thing is the Democratic quotes were collected at the convention watching party held Thursday at Memories Lounge and Restaurant in Brighton. I was there, and Mr. Karol was there too because I saw him. Why not talk about the excitement there, the overflow crowd or the volunteers making calls to undecided voters at the event?

Why the imbalance? I know reporters on small and mid-size daily newspapers have to churn out lots of copy on tight deadlines, buy one more phone call or two less would have added balance to both stories.

Former media darling McCain acts like jilted boyfriend

Grampy McSame campaign surrogate Phil Graham was half right with his disgusting comments that the U.S. is a nation of whiners, but he must have had his employer in mind when he made the ridiculous comment.

A McCain rant hit my email inbox today, and Grampy McSame is up in arms because he claims the “media is in love with Barack Obama.” The email claims “It's pretty obvious that the media has a bizarre fascination with Barack Obama. Some may even say it's a love affair.”

That got the rightwing echo machine revved up, and rightwing think tanks and organizations are picking up this theme, and the crying and whining can be heard coast-to-coast. The Communications Director for the rightwing propaganda machine the Media Research Center was on the Thom Hartman show today, and I thought he was going to come unhinged trying to get his talking points out. He was engaging in the Republican tactic of screaming over every one else to get his talking points out. It was his claim that this is proof of the myth – effective political strategy actually – of the liberal media. To me, I would prefer the media cover Grampy McSame more because his constant gaffs are rarely covered or are passed off as “senior moments” are going uncovered.

It sounds more like jealously from Grampy. He has courted the media over the years, and he is angry at being jilted. He was the media darling in 2000, and he sounds like a jilted boyfriend.

Hartman, who has to be the smartest man in the world, broke it down very simply. Network news stations, and most media outlets, are for-profit entities owned by a few mega corporations. That’s why the media is conservative. The simple fact is they want to increase their ratings because increased ratings means more profit and more profit means more profit to stockholders. It seems logical that they want to cover what people want to see.

“There going to follow the rock star instead of the boring, old man,” Hartmann said.

The media Research Center is launching a letter-writing campaign aimed at GE stockholders, owners of NBC, to alert them of this alleged love affair with Obama. I don’t think that will work. If you want to spur them to action, show them they are losing money by covering Obama and you will get results.

General Electric: now there’s a liberal corporation.

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.

Alleged liberal media features front-page story on megabucks $500 county GOP donation

I know about slow news days, but you have to wonder how slow a news day it was for a story that the Livingston County Republican Party gave $500 to Toys for Tots to make the Sunday front page of the Livingston County Daily Press and Argus, complete with two submitted photos.

Granted, I’m happy that the county GOP was able to shake loose $500 to buy the toys after a despicable thief made off with about 100 toys from the Salvation Army HQ in Howell. But just a month ago the Republican candidate for governor broke all existing records for campaign spending when he spent $42.5 million during the campaign to buy the seat that only pays $172,000 annually. We’re getting front-page coverage and photos for $500. Why?

I can guarantee that Democrats donated to Toys for Tots, but we didn’t pose a picture and send it to the newspaper.

The Republicans love to say the Livingston County Democrats can hold their meetings in a phone booth. We know that was never true, but the GOP still has a majority in this county. They hold the Congressional seat, the state Senate seat, the two state House seats, all the nine Board of Commissioner seats and control of all 16 of the township boards in the county. But a $500 donation rates the front page?

Just a quick look at the pre-general election campaign finance reports of the two Livingston County state Representatives shows $2,200 in donations just from individuals I personally know and know to be Livingston County Republicans. That does not include PACs or individuals I do not personally know to be Republicans.

You guys can do better than that. So much for the “liberal media” myth.

Former journalist tracks conservative media bias

This was an excellent Neighbors feature in the Press & Argus today from political reporter Dan Meisler. It amazes me that we have so many connected people living in Livingston County. This woman contributes to one of my favorite web sites, News Hounds. I check that one and Crooks and Liars everyday.

By Dan Meisler
DAILY PRESS & ARGUS
The last straw for Judy Daubenmier, a veteran of more than 20 years as a reporter, came when she was helping to cover Proposal A for The Associated Press.
The complicated plan, completed in a late-night, Christmas Eve meeting in 1993, shifted the burden to pay for schools from property taxes to sales tax. As she worked on the story, another media outlet came out with a story on a dispute between lawmakers over parking spots.
An editor suggested that the reporters do more stories like
that — "cute stories ... light stories" — and that's when Daubenmier made her final decision to find another line of work.
"I didn't feel like that is what I was about," she said.
Since then, the Genoa Township resident has earned a doctorate degree in history from the University of Michigan; taught classes there; and contributed to a movie and a Web log monitoring the Fox News Channel for bias.
Her latest project, a book published in October called "Project Rewire, New Media from the Inside Out," is available for purchase on Amazon.com.
One of the main points of the book is that the multitude of blogs devoted to criticizing the media has the potential to improve the performance of the mainstream press and television news.
More specifically, Daubenmier said that for decades, conservatives have pushed the false idea that the media is biased toward the liberal point of view.
Now, through the Internet, liberals are highlighting conservative bias in the media.
Daubenmier's examples of conservative media slant are the treatment of Al Gore when he was running for president in 2000 — when he was characterized as stretching the truth — and the proliferation of conservative talk radio shows.
Plus, when she started monitoring Fox News Channel for the Web site www.newshounds.com, she discovered what she said is reporting slanted to the conservatives.
She disputes the idea that her involvement in a liberal cause after leaving journalism proves there is a liberal bias in the mainstream media.
"It proves that liberals work in the media. There are conservatives in media. The question is, what is the quality of the output?" Daubenmier said.

When in doubt wingnuts blame the “liberal media”

Ah, it’s great to see how the Republicans are spinning losing the U.S. House and Senate and the Michigan House of Representatives.

They could have chosen so many excuses, such as exceptionally high Democratic turnout at the polls, the unpopularity of the President, the Iraq fiasco or any number of reasons. One good one I want them to keep believing is that their candidates were not conservative enough, Yea, go with that one.

But when in doubt always roll out the old battle tested standard alibi of blaming the so-called “liberal media.” One rightwing bloggers in Livingston County known as the “suburban voice” laid the blame squarely on the shoulders of guess who. The media? Right.

Apparently, he must not read the editorial pages of the Gannett Corporation. Listen to this rant:

“The liberals in the news media are trying to tell us Republicans that we lost because of the war. They are doing this on purpose to diminish our support for the war thus paving the way for a pullout. Don’t fall for it.

The is the very same liberal media that mocks us, lies about us, distorts us, misrepresents us, and does everything it can to drive us out of power. But we are listening to that very same liberal media and its assessment of the effect of the war on the American voters? Are we crazy?

To answer his last question, duh.