Worst Person In the World: Dick Morris

Last night, was another special edition of Countdown, on NBC. And as usual, it featured some of the MSNBC regular features, such as Worst Person In The World. The Bronze, for the third edition in a row, went to WalMart, who own Asda in the UK. They've sued a former employee who was broadsided by a semi, and claimed over $400,000 in compensation which was being used to provide 24 hour care for her, since she was brain damaged as a result of the broadsiding. WalMart sued and won in court a claim for all the money this woman had in the world. I understand that Keith will continue awarding Bronzes every night to Walmart until they atone, which they should do VERY quickly, since this is generating tons of negative publicity for the company.

Silver went to Rush Limburger, I mean, Rush Limbaugh, and former Clinton advisor Dick Morris got the gold. Check out the video below.

American local TV station online 24/7

I've discovered that a local TV station in Witchita, Kansas, broadcasts a channel online 24/7. KCTU's internet channel is different from the broadcast channel, but it does show one thing. If a small local TV station in Witchita can sort out broadcasting 24/7 on the web, why can't some other TV channels do the same?

This all came about as a result of the station losing their affiliation with ION Television, originally known as the PAX network. Kudos to KCTU for a fine idea, well executed.

Posh legs it in PVC, not leather.

The Daily Star's headline "Posh Gets Leathered" got me interested earlier. Victoria Beckham is not known for wearing much leather. In fact, it was somewhat of a surprise when she turned up to the Spice Girls press conference in what looked like a PVC bustier and leggings.

Well, she's back in PVC again, only this time it was treated to look like leather. There was no way you could have leggings that tight made from proper leather. In fact, the Daily Mail called it correctly by calling her "PVC Posh".

I'm certainly not a fan of Victoria Beckham, but certain style choices always interest me, and the fact she chose PVC not real leather is interesting. Perhaps the fetish styling of PVC and latex remains a favourite amongst celebrities, rather than real leather.

Carla Bruni Sarkozy... and that picture!

Today, French President Nicolas Sarkozy arrived in the UK for a state visit, with his new first lady. at the same time, a photographer has released a nude photograph of Carla Bruni Sarkozy from around 15 years ago.

The photograph can be seen on the sites of the Daily Star and Daily Mail. There's no need for me to post the picture here directly, both links, if you choose to visit them, will show you the photograph. I could go off on one of my usual rambles about press intrusion, or about the price of fame, but there is more than that here.

I suspect that the photographer involved is making somewhat of a political statement rather than purely selling a picture. Nicolas Sarkozy is not a popular figure in France these days, largely down to his affair with Carla Bruni. The most recent poll puts his approval rating at just 37%, which is well down on his early approval ratings just after his election.

It'll be interesting to see if the Carla Bruni situation is as damaging for Sarkozy as Iraq has been for "Dubya".

Heritage Foundation, ready and poised... for almost 36 days!

Crooks and Liars some time ago reported that the Heritage Foundation website had a clock counting up the days, hours, minutes etc, since the expiration of the so called Protect America Act.

Well, having just been back there myself to check, I can report that it's still there, still counting, and still wrong. On the Widget it counts the number of days etc, "Since Congress Let Emergency Surveillance Powers Lapse." I think these people need reminding that a version was sent to Bush's desk, and he brought out the veto pen, since it didn't include immunity for the actions of the telecoms companies, actions that Bush refused to confirm happened, even though his VP did confirm it.

If these powers were SO vital, he should have accepted the bill that was sent to him, and then separately negotiated with Congress for the Telecoms immunity. But since he DIDN'T accept that bill, it was BUSH, not Congress who let the powers lapse. Nothing more than pure petty politicing, yet again.

Reporter attacked because she was black.

To say I am angry about this story would be putting it mildly. I am sickened by the actions of those who thought they could intimidate a local news reporter and scare her off a genuine news story, because the reporter happened to be black.

The reporter's name is Charmayne Brown, and she works for CBS-affiliate WSPA News Channel 7. Another news crew from NBC affiliate WYFF News 4 was also on the scene, and like WSPA's crew, they were covering a local story in Union, South Carolina about a murder of an elderly man in Spring Street in Union. The murder victim's grandson had been charged with that murder. It turns out, two of the people who attacked Charmayne, were relatives of the man charged.

Here's the video, courtesy of YouTube. But be warned, I do not believe that this video is suitable for anyone with a nervous disposition.



To me, this is media intimidation, or an attempt at it, with racial undertones at the very least, if they're not overtones. Both WYFF and WSPA report this story, and WSPA anchors Amy Wood and Tom Crabtree have both blogged about this story. I totally agree with Amy. You attack one journalist, you attack us all. We are supposed to be impartial observers, but I happily put my usual impartiality aside for this. I hope these people get the full weight of the law down on them. They have made for themselves more enemies around the world than you could ever possibly imagine.

The attackers names have been released by local police. So, Trina Vinson, Tousha Smith, Billie Taylor and Ronald Harris of Union, SC, you are today's Worst Persons In The World.

PETA is not Protecting our Environment Today at All!

Adult move star Jenna Jameson is fronting a new campaign by PETA, wanting people to "Pleather Yourself" by wearing plastic-based alternatives to Leather.

Now, I've no problem with the idea of wearing plastic, I have PVC trousers myself. But they seem to be so caught up in animal rights, that they haven't figured out that more plastic leather clothes also equals more damage to the environment. You see, Plastic is derived from Oil, and since we are running out of Oil reserves, as well as the plastics themselves being quite damaging if left to attempt to rot, you see just how a single minded approach to an issue can fail to see something just as bad.

"... By choosing pleather, you are keeping the fun alive and helping animals! What could be better?" How about leaving a planet for our children and grandchildren to actually live on?

Viewpoint Extra: NY Governor linked to Prostitution ring!

Okay, so he's finally gone. Eliot Spitzer has finally decided the time was right to resign his post as New York Governor. Lt Governor David Paterson takes over. So I thought the time was right to use some video highlights from whatever sources were available.

First from MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, how Keith reported the story Monday, and fair play to him that he did report it.



And then from Tuesday's Countdown, the Worst Person award, which does relate... just!



Now, some of the Breaking News coverage from Monday's MSNBC daytime news cycle.



Next, the Monday announcement from Eliot Spitzer, that was long on reterick and short on detail.



Next, more coverage from after the announcement.



Now, fast forward to today, and the announcement from Eliot Spitzer of his resignation.



and finally in our video roundup, MSNBC analyses what happens from here on in.



The most interesting thing about this whole affair is just how little Eliot Spitzer has said. He's given very little detail about the allegations, and it would seem that he is preparing to face justice and probably serve time, so he is avoiding saying anything that would damage any defence he can come up with.

We'll keep our eyes on the video screens and let you know what else we find in this story.

NY Governor linked to Prostitution ring!

This is a pretty big story in New York, and to be honest, in my view, this is a pretty big story overall. New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is reported by the New York Times website to have been involved in a prostitution ring. According to the report, he was caught on a federal wiretap meeting up with a high-price prostitute at a hotel in Washington, in relation to a ring, the Emporer's Club VIP, that was broken up last week.

So far, Eliot Spitzer has not indicated that he intends to resign, but sources have told WCBS TV in New York that Spitzer could resign as early as Monday evening and was not expected to continue as Governor. If he does, until the state constitution, The Lieutenant Governor, David Paterson, would serve out the rest of the term, and the post of Lieutenant Governor would be vacant until the next election in 2010.

This is big news, and to be honest, if he doesn't resign, it will be very damaging for Democrats in New York in upcoming elections, not just the Governor's race but other elections including possibly the 2008 Presidential race. By geographic association, if nothing else, this might also damage Hilary Clinton's chances if she doesn't distance herself signifcantly from Spitzer.

Dead And Buried?

I am nothing if not a realist. In the many years that I have been following the media, I've seen the them do a lot of silly things. But the way industry insiders such as Ralph Bernard have recently talked down DAB (Digital Audio Broadcasting) digital radio is almost nothing short of deliberate sabotage. Thankfully few others have gotten in on the act, though DAB does have its problems. But then, so does GCap, the company Ralph Bernard worked for. So maybe, it was telling that Mr Bernard did everything he could to hide GCap's problems behind the façade of a DAB crisis. After all, almost all of GCap's radio stations broadcast simultaneously on analogue AM or FM and on DAB Digital Radio.

But now, a group of analysts have bought into this façade and are trying to suggest that there is a real crisis in DAB, a crisis that - by the way - doesn't actually exist except in the minds of bean counters who are looking for profit all the time. The name of this group of analysts: Enders Analysis. Now, this analytical organisation has tried to claim that in fact DAB is about to become the next Betamax!

First of all, the analogy is way off the mark. DAB is not in competition with FM, or AM, or even DRM (Digital Radio Mondiale) which is fairly new on the scene. If that were the case, then LW would probably have been closed off years ago. Secondly, to look at how long it takes for something to bed in to the public consciousness, you only need to look at VHF/FM. The band was opened up in the 1950s, but it didn't become popular to listen on FM until the 1980s. Even when Radio 1 had to hand over 1053 and 1089 AM to commercial radio in the 1990s, there were still plenty of people to convert over to listening to Radio 1 on FM.

The report's writer then goes onto suggest that DAB's financial health is looking grim by saying:..

"With three of the largest radio groups having reduced their commitment to the DAB platform in recent months, their stations having been replaced by a mix of ethnic, religious and non-commercial broadcasters, the future health of the DAB platform must be under question."

I really think this guy needs to wake up and actually do a little research. There are other issues at work here than just DAB. First, Yes, GCrap GCap is closing stations, not because DAB is a failure, but because of their own lack of confidence in both finances and in broadcasting itself. Remember they tried to sell off 9 stations as a bundle, that they felt were "non-core stations". They failed, miserably. GCap's Gold Network is in danger of collapsing. The whole network of 40 stations gets less than 1.5 million listeners, with some stations doing incredibly pathetic numbers. Gold's Plymouth station gets a mere 7,000 listeners. It's because the product being offered, whether by DAB, FM, AM or online, is one that people think is not up to scratch. It doesn't mean the platform will fail.

Virgin Radio may have closed one digital only station and put the brakes on launching another, but that again has little to do with DAB. SMG, who own STV and Grampian as well as Virgin Radio, are trying to sell Virgin Radio, but again, there are few interested parties. It's an attempt to make the Virgin Radio company more attractive to possible investors. It's got nothing to do with any possible failure of the DAB platform.

People were saying similar things about Digital Terrestrial Television when On/ITV Digital collapsed in 2002. I remember it well, I was reporting on it at Transdiffusion. Now, with Freeview as the base of the platform, the platform is thriving. Commercial Radio went into the platform without looking at how long it takes to establish one. They were looking for a quick 5-year or so turnaround to profits, rather than the 15-20 years it takes to properly establish a new radio platform.

DTT went from being a commercial platform to being a public service platform and has thrived. DAB needs to go down the same route and it won't as long as GCap are in charge of national and local multiplexes. GCap's Digital One and Now Digital are the DAB equivalent of ITV Digital. The daft thing is, this moronic writer of this report, whose name is Grant Goddard, also referenced the ITV Digital debacle!

"Ofcom faces a public outcry if the DAB platform were to fail, with owners of the 6.45 million DAB receivers sold to date demanding a refund of their purchases (remember ITV Digital?)."

Yes, I do. As I mentioned earlier, I reported on it, first hand, you can find the articles over in Bitstream on EMC, along with those of some of my colleagues who also reported on it at the time. And in all honesty, I do not see how over 6 million people would demand refunds for something that they HAVEN'T subscribed to, but just bought a piece of equipment for. Believe it or not, there are still ITV Digital digiboxes out there working, albeit not brilliantly, but they are working, just. But the most moronic statement of them all has to be the one that follows:

"Channel 4 is faced with the task of imminently launching a brand new DAB multiplex in the middle of a snowstorm around the future of the whole platform,"

A 'snowstorm' that has been created predominantly by two people. GCap's Ralph Bernard and Enders Analysis's Grant Goddard. Channel 4 got a taste of running a digital radio station in the recently demised Oneword, and it obviously didn't put them off because they chose to bid for a new national multiplex. And they won. 4 Digital group's stations represent the freshest ideas for DAB ever. All Digital One seems to have done is trotted out the same old tired sound, time and time again, and Joe Public is bored with it. With the growth in online listening, listeners can tune in to stations the world over, and find the cream of the crop.

Sadly for commercial radio, the UK's best stations are run by the BBC. British commercial radio barely flickers across the online 'dials' at all. But stations in the US, Canada, Australia, and Europe are all providing a far superior product to almost anything we have here in the UK. The reason is simple. Whilst our commercial radio stations have cut back content to the bare bones of music, commercials and news, other stations across the world have upped their content levels and because of this, are able to take advantage of the Podcast medium, which out of necessity, has to be speech based.

DAB as a platform is not at fault. It's the stations themselves that have shot themselves in the proverbial foot. Yes, we've lost a number of radio stations on DAB, but they've closed because their business plans were not realistic, in much the same way that a multitude of stations have closed on digital television, not because of the platform, but because their business plans were not realistic, not designed for the new digital broadcast environment that exists these days. And because they aren't making money as quickly as they want to, they want to abandon a broadcast platform. And you, Grant Goddard of Enders Analysis, are actively encouraging them with this piece of anti-DAB propaganda!

The report reads like the kind of hit job that I would expect from Fox News covering a Democrat, rather than an analysis of DAB. It has so many inaccuracies, that I have detailed and more, and come to so many erroneous conclusions, that I have to consign this report to the only file where it seems to fit in. The waste paper bin!

Carol Barnes 1944-2008

This is a sad day for journalists and news junkies alike. Carol Barnes was a consumate professional newscaster, anchoring all of ITN's main news programmes on ITV, including News At Ten. She also launched Channel 4's first breakfast programme, the Channel 4 Daily. Some video clips for your perusal. First, the first edition of the Channel 4 Daily.



Next, an edition of ITN's News at 5.40, on the day that the 1991 ITV franchise round came to an end, and the fate of 4 of ITV's licencees is revealed.



Rest In Peace, Carol Barnes. You will be much missed.

One less extremist broadcasting

It has been noted by many blogs, including Crooks and Liars and Political Blotter, and confirmed by both KSFO and Melanie Morgan herself, that Melanie Morgan no longer works for KSFO in San Francisco.

Upon research, the reason why she was let go becomes clear. KSFO's owners are a company called Citadel Broadcasting, who bought the former ABC/Disney owned and operated radio networks and stations, except for Radio Disney and ESPN Radio, last year. And in 2007, they made a huge loss, over $1 billion, $1.5 billion before income tax. This is a serious amount of money to be losing and about 65% of that loss occured in the last quarter of 2007.

Make no mistake, Citadel cannot afford to be losing that kind of money for any length of time, no company could. Citadel own 243 radio stations, over 60 on AM, including many of the old ABC talk stations. It needs to make cutbacks, quite obviously. Melanie Morgan may not be the first cutback, but she is one of the biggest names to have faced the chop so far. Who else has to fear the axe? I imagine we'll soon find out.

Perhaps this means that not all conservative talk radio is popular in the US. Sure, Rush Limbaugh's show is the most listened to show in America. Thankfully for the realms of sanity, second and third place go to NPR's Morning Edition and All Things Considered respectively. Perhaps the era of dominance for conservative talk radio is over or at least, on its way out. Which does beg the question, if it is on the way out, what will replace it programming wise? Don't get me wrong, conservative talk show hosts will continue to exist on the radio schedules, but hopefully as part of a more balanced schedule of programming, rather than dominating talk radio schedules 24/7/365.

Worst Person In The World: Jonah Goldberg

For those of us outside the US, who sadly cannot watch the show live, I'm very glad that MSNBC allows embedding of video clips from Countdown with Keith Olbermann and other programmes. This clip comes from last night's show, and as usual, Bill O'Reilly manages to feature. He gets a bronze this time. The winner though is Jonah Goldberg, who I hadn't heard of before he tried to equate fascism with socialism. Enjoy the clip.



From "Countdown with Keith Olbermann", Monday 3rd March 2008.

NPR criticises the world of punditry

This is an old entry on NPR's News blog, but I thought it worth highlighting anyway.

NPR's Tom Regan blogs about how pundits have taken over the world of cable news in the US. He references American activist Bethania McKenstry, who said one of the truest things I've ever heard.

"...I'm not sure I want popular opinion on my side -- I've noticed those with the most opinions often have the fewest facts..."

It is so true. Just look at the likes of Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, Russ Limbaugh and Michael Savage. So many opinions, yet so little facts to back them up. The number of times each of them has opened their mouth only to stick their foot in it, I have lost count of.

But there are countless amateur pundits out there on the net, who I catch making fools of themselves more times than I can count in a day, never mind a year. The amount of rubbish that is spouted as hard solid fact and is believed as such, is sad. My previous post, was just one such occasion when I just couldn't stand to read this, without doing a rebuttle. I've done many others, throughout the history of this blog.

Make no mistake, I am as much a pundit as any of them. My difference is, at least I do research, and have facts to back my opinions up, which most of them seem to be sadly lacking on.

A Biased BBC??? Not Likely

I'm not ashamed to criticise the BBC when they get something wrong, but that's not nearly as often as some commentators try to claim. Take the blog Biased BBC.

They have used this online report as an indication of bias against Israel in its reporting. But as usual, this is not the case. The BBC is actually providing an unbiased report, which is not what the blog writer wants.

"...Who are these Hamas "militants" to whom the BBC obliquely refers? Can't they say the word "terrorist" since that is clearly the word which best sums up those who shelter amongst Gaza civilians whilst targeting innocent Israeli civilians with indiscriminate rocket fire?"

What this writer clearly forgets is that the BBC is a global broadcaster and these online stories can be read around the world. To some Palestinians, the people he calls "terrorists" would be called "freedom fighters". Language is much a weapon in these wars as missiles and bombs. So, to avoid being seen to be taking sides, the word "militant" is used, which is defined by the dictionary as "...aggresive or vigourous in support of a cause." "Militant" is a word that avoids taking sides. "Terrorist" means the writer thinks that side are in the wrong.

Perhaps this David Vance, who writes this blog has also forgotten that it was Israeli militants back in 1948 that made a land grab for the area we now know as Israel, which was formally called Palestine. Pre 1948, Israel did not exist. The land grab was illegal at the time, but because the Jews had suffered massively at the hands of the Nazis, it was left relatively unchecked.

But of course, like many conservative minds, and bad tabloid journalists, David Vance never lets the facts get in the way of a good story.

I give him half a point though for the BBC not reporting the many rocket attacks from Gaza to Israel. However, the information he seeks is available from other sources, but it does little to support his cause that the BBC should be reporting this. The following information snippets came from the site of the Intellitgence and Terrorism Information Center (ITIC).

"...terrorist attacks originating in the Gaza Strip continue, the genuine source of the Gazans' suffering. On the day of the human chain six rockets were fired at Sderot and western Negev towns and villages, resulting in the wounding of a 10-year old boy; several civilians were also treated for shock."

"...Rocket and mortar shell fire at western Negev towns and villages continues. During the past week 22 rocket hits were identified in Israeli territory, compared with 45 the week before. In addition, 40 mortar shells were fired at IDF forces and villages near the security fence. The rocket fire on February 25 badly wounded a 10-year old boy. About 15 civilians were treated for shock during the past week."

Not one single death reported from all the rockets fired into Israel. And if David Vance is correct in his assertion that hundreds of these rockets are being fired into Israel, how come only 22 hits were reported? Perhaps this next clipping I've found might answer that question. It comes from the site Global Sercurity.org.

"...The Qassam rocket was first launched into Israeli territory on March 5, 2002, by the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. While the rocket lacks a guidance system and is very inaccurate, the initial psychological effect of the rockets upon Israel has been significant."

So, it lacks any form of guidance and is very inaccurate. No wonder very few deaths have ever been reported from these rockets. It would be more through bad luck on the victim's part, rather than any judgement by Hamas. No wonder the large number of Hamas rocket attacks don't get reported normally.

But David Vance completely ignores the facts, much like his conservative broadcast bretherin at Fox News, and uses any slim opportunity he can to attack a public broadcaster doing its job. His Pro-Israel bias is blatantly obvious, yet he seems to see bias in an unbiased report. As The Doctor once said, "I love humans. Always seeing patterns in things that aren't there!"

The "Biased BBC" blog is like far too many others out there on the web in that they espouse a non-factual, purely political point of view. They present opinion and propoganda as fact and hope you don't notice. Unfortunately for Mr Vance, I could see already that his "story" had more holes in it than a block of Swiss Emmental Cheese! A little research then proved that his story had no legs to stand on. Yet, there are people out there who believe this rubbish and others like it, whether it be politically conservative or liberal.

It just goes to show, choose your information sources carefully, and don't believe everything you read or hear anywhere, without a little research to see if it holds water, like the BBC report does, or leaks like a sieve, like the "Biased BBC" blog entry does. I don't expect him to even acknowledge this entry, despite the hours of hard work that went into it. But for me, the satisfaction comes in getting the facts out into the public domain, something it seems that a lot of blog writers know nothing about.