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We can, safe behind our computers, armchair-quarterback the decisions made on the ground until the cows come home [...]

For a second, I thought this might segue into mention of Pat Tillman, celebrity football player who stupidly (bravely?) enlisted, and was then killed by friendly fire, with questionable circumstances.

http://www.ap.org/pages/about/pressreleases/pr_040609a.html

I just linked to the article(Press release) about me going to be sued for linking to articles...

Of course, there's nothing in that press release that says anything about suing people for links. AP's specifically looking for copy-and-paste bloggers, along with outfits like AllHeadlineNews.com. Ever seen AHN? It's notorious for telling its contributors to produce "their" articles by repackaging other sites' online news content (rather than doing any actual work themselves), then reselling that content. AP's already filed one lawsuit alleging that AHN does just exactly that with the fruits of the AP's labor.

Meh, I googled you and the first editor and publisher article was how you cut 12,000 circ this year. Even for a big paper like the OWH, that's a hefty chunk, and that sort of measure really kicks your upbeatness in the fork. Not half as bad as the AJC though; those jokers cut almost 6 times that recently.

Nice that you're not corporate owned though. Corporate ownership is the suck. Our profits are eaten up to support larger, less profitable papers, and to pay fat corporate salaries.

Yup, real media never have problems with reporters making stuff up, or plagiarism, or using DoD Propaganda as articles or even using altered photographs. Yup, every single person in the professional traditional media holds to the finest standards of journalism.

Her [Palin] basic political skills are awesome, her political instincts are sound.

I wish you had of said this sooner so, I could have disregarded your article instead of reading this at the end, darn you! =p

As far as her basic political skills, she can't even answer what newspaper or magazines she reads

NEW YORK Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin repeatedly failed to cite a newspaper or magazine when asked what she had read regularly before John McCain picked her as his running mate, saying only that she had read "most of them."

I guess if she's asked if she knows the names of the countries in the Middle East, she might reply, "Yeah, most of them." I wish I had those kind of political skills.

You forget the main point of any realistic dystopian society: at least initially, you have to allow a few dissidents to "prove" that dissent is allowed and that the people are "free". All the while, the people in power are concentrating their power and limiting the media's right to cover dissent by uncovering dissidents and getting them canned, limiting which press have access to key government events, planting people in editorial/analyst/writer positions, bribing commentators, and outing confidential sources, undermining the credibility of the media and endangering the lives of dissenters. I could probably go on for several pages like this.

We can get away with criticism because we are relatively unimportant and unable to create a credible threat against the power structure, whether through force, through block voting, or through running for public office. Someone important criticizes the administration, though, and bad things happen....

There was a time when a small army of fact checkers would verify things like this before they were published.

There was a time when newspapers had massive profit margins from being the only game in town for classifieds and employment ads, commercial and local advertising. That's obviously no longer true.

You can't cut ad staff because they're the people who make money for the paper. You can't cut circulation and distribution because that's always been cut down to the barest minimum.

You can cut mailroom staff and move deadlines up, but they're minimum wage, so that's not much savings.

You can put a bigger workload on the press room to do more commercial jobs, but with higher overtime and press maintenance costs, the gain in revenue is a wash.

You can't cut reporting staffs down too much or you won't have anything to put into the paper.

So where are the cuts taking place? Copy desks. It's cheaper to make a reporter learn to edit copy while maintaining their writing (and now videography, photography, blogging and podcasting) workloads, than it is to hire someone with the software experience, editing skills, contacts and breadth of knowledge to even know what facts to suspicious, much less actually check them.

McCain was not the victim of drive-by endorsements. He actively sought out Hagee's endorsement.

Science already has a vice grip on humanity, it's not like we're moving into an era dominated by superstition.

In an Associated Press-AOL News poll taken at the end of 2006, 1 in 4 Americans expected the second coming of Jesus Christ to occur in 2007.

A 2005 poll by Harris Interactive found that 73 percent of American adults believe in miracles.

Just to put things in perspective:

Bush just this week set a new record in Presidential approval ratings: his approval rating is the lowest Presidential approval rating in Gallup's history, lower even than Nixon's during the Watergate scandal. 50% "strongly disapprove" of President Bush. Only 31% approve.

In two separate articles, I've seen Cheney's approval rating mentioned as 9% and 11%. I could not find a good recent article citing it, surprisingly.

Congress has an approval rating of 23%. It is important to note though, that historically Congress's approval rating is usually between 20-40%.

I agree, though, that we should throw out both those who have abused their positions, as well as those that stood by and let it happen.

The only thing I found was this article in Editor & Publisher magazine: http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003631122

Well, except for the 1M in emotional anguish, it has been done before.

I am referring to the case of David Manning who was a fictitious reviewer created by Sony to use for ad blubs. According to the Wikipedia entry People were offered $5 if they saw movies he recommended

9/11 deaths: 2,819

US soldier deaths (Afghanistan): 901 (total, fourth table)
US soldier deaths (Iraq): 2,823 (total, first table)
Iraqi Security Forces deaths: 15,249 (total, third table)
Iraqi civilian deaths: ~48,000
Afghan civilian deaths: 3,485

And this is just plain scary.
Do the math.

October 19, 2006

BIG LAYOFFS AT NBC, to the tune of $750 million in cost cuts.

Plus, plunging profits at the New York Times. No wonder the Big Media are acting as if the economy is in dreadful shape. For them, it is.

posted at 04:02 PM by Glenn Reynolds

The only conclusion I can come up with is that Reuters isn't actually looking at the images that come in the door.

Reuters also said today it had put in place a tighter editing procedure for images of the Middle East conflict to ensure that no photograph from the region would be transmitted to subscribers without review by the most senior editor on the Reuters Global Pictures Desk, according to a Reuters spokeswoman.

Editor&Publisher: Ever since the case of the raping and killing of an Iraqi and the alleged murder of three of her family members by U.S. troops went public, the age of the rape victim had been in dispute, ranging from about
  15 to 25. Two days ago, Reuters and others news agencies produced proof that she was 14, based on a passport and identity card. Most news organizations then started calling her a girl -- but some persist in referring to her as a "woman."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002803062

"Why bother interviewing the reporter to find out his anon source? just look up his call records for the last couple of weeks and they can find out for themselves."

According to this http://editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_d isplay.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002503697

The USA today story that started all this was somwhat flawed. They claimed that Verison, Bellsouth and AT&T were handing over all these phone records. Verison and Bellsouth have now denied that they were ever asked by the NSA for this stuff so that just leaves AT&T but all they say is that they assist the govt. within the law and wouldn't comment on the NSA charges.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/05/18/national /main1633040.shtml

Bellsouth demands a retraction and USA Today just says they are going to "take a closer look" into their story.

Anyone else want to weigh in on the fact that the NSA "phone-tapping scandal" is turning out to be a big flop for our vaunted mainstream media?

Moderation -1
    100% Flamebait

"Reality has a well-known liberal bias." - Stephen Colbert

it was reported i found this mentioned in another thread below. Now - should you be more concerned that these guys don't know the actual meaning of the 4th or concerned that they are trying to create a meme and general belief that it actually says something different.

perhaps you should be concerned that it wasn't WIDLY reported (or do you watch fox?)

Bush is nominating Hayden to direct the CIA. Even though Hayden broke the law by spying on us, saying the 4th Amendment doesn't require probable cause. It does.

So Bush's government is derailing justice to protect his compiling vast complex databases of our private communications. In the hands of Iran/Contra conspirators.

After Bush's Justice Department agreed to drop their in-house investigation into Bush's NSA wiretap spying because Bush's NSA told them they didn't have security clearance, these lawsuits are the main obstacle to Bush spying on you as much as he can, taxpaid by you.

Next week, NSA whistleblower Chris Strom will reveal to the Senate how the NSA domestic spying goes even further than these latest exposures (despite Bush denial at every step). Probably spying on us with our satellites, which they scare us into paying for as part of that useless $BILLION Star Wars missile shield.

Feel safer?

This one talks about Colbert's performance

WTF? That BBC article was not only pointless, but about three paragraphs long. At least post an article that discusses the topic, like maybe... E&P story

Editor and publisher was also up in arms about this bill. See http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/sh optalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002384406

it is? it seems like mostly what the 'intelligence' community does in the united states these days is spy on unarmed, constitutionally-protected demonstrators. like these cases, for instance:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11751418/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic le/2006/03/14/AR2006031401520_pf.html
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/media/paper410/new s/2006/03/24/TopStories/Students.Fbi.Lecture.Displ ays.Watch.List-1716066.shtml?norewrite200603281210 &sourcedomain=www.dailytexanonline.com
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001995631
http://www.upi.com/SecurityTerrorism/view.php?Stor yID=20060214-053955-9494r
http://www.tbo.com/news/metro/MGBTP976FJE.html

An Iraqi whose corpse was photographed with grinning U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib died under CIA interrogation while suspended by his wrists, which had been handcuffed behind his back, according to investigative reports reviewed by The Associated Press.

US Army Segeant Jeffery Frost was one of the people interviewed during the investigation. The AP article reports " As the guards released the shackles and lowered al-Jamadi, blood gushed from his mouth 'as if a faucet had been turned on,' according to the interview summary."

Pulling this slightly on topic, veterans from MP service tend to be the next generation of civilian law enforcement. Today's prison guards in Iraq may be next year's city cops and jailers.

<sarc>
"yes we know we don't have any newspaper anymore, either"
</sarc>

Don't count on it. .. more... more... more...

For newspapers, at least, online ad revenue is growing quicker than print ads, but still makes up only a fraction of sales. http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/search/art icle_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001570425

Text-based, targeted ads seem to be the rage because of affordability and ease (you don't have to hire someone to create the ad), but you have to keep in mind the masses and masses of people who still muddle through the pop-ups. Sure, it's easy to look through slashdot and hear about people who are quick to turn pop-ups, but don't discount the millions of people who don't understand how to turn them off. (Generally, these are the same people who still have their homepages set to msn or apple, and still have 12:00 blinking on their VCR -- yes, people still have VCRs.) I would guess that these people are likely the most susceptible to advertising messages, too.

I am surprised by the success of advergaming http://www.naa.org/artpage.cfm?AID=6563&SID=103, which is probably most often identified with Orbitz. So popular were the games that Orbitz unveiled orbitzgames.com earlier this year http://pressroom.orbitz.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?Rele aseID=174773, after it says its own study found 78 percent of those who played Orbitz online games would play again in the future. I don't take too much stock in companies' internal studies that are announced in press releases, but I think advergaming has popularity for business folks who might feel guilty (or afraid of getting caught) if they seek out online games. (But hey, if one just opens up while I'm on this site, why not play, right?)

Quick question: What are the feelings on pop-up vs. pop-under ads? I block both, but before I did I tended to dislike the insidiousness of pop-under ads more than the annoyance of pop-up ads.

Someone should point out that the U.S. hardly seems like a country and culture that champions free speech.

Protesters are placed in "free speech zones" (nice euphemism!) where they will not be seen on TV
http://www.cnn.com/2004/LAW/08/04/hilden.freespeec h/
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/ch ronicle/archive/2004/01/04/INGPQ40MB81.DTL

A high-school student who made a political poster got a visit from the secret service (they confiscated the poster)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/170992_prosser 28.html

Police, FBI, and Homeland security frequently target and harrass protesters
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/ACLU_sues_Homeland_S ecurity_for_arresting_spying_on_vegans_who_protest ed_0922.html
http://www.progressive.org/mcwatch04/mc1021a04.htm l

The FBI defines peace groups as "terrorists"
http://rawstory.com/news/2005/ACLU_reveals_FBI_lab eled_peace_affirmative_action_group_terrori_0829.h tml

An Ohio paper did not print some story for fear of being jailed.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000976374

The government has misrepresented and altered the conclusions of scientific panels on global warming and other issues.
http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,62339,00. html

Officials how have an unpopular (but true) message are fired (numerous), their wives are targeted (Plame), etc.

The BBC says the "embedded journalist" restrictions on the Iraq calls into question the credibility of Americas media
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/ 20030425/media_nm/iraq_media_bbc_dc_4

People were excluded from church for being of the wrong party.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/church_politics

Airline passengers who ask questions are targeted
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=512&u=/ ap/20040317/ap_on_go_coairline_passenger_screening _3&printer=1

The US has a history of killing non-US journalists in Iraq...so many times that it's getting hard to believe it's not intentional.

People wearing anti-Bush T-shirts arrested
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/South/08/21/heckler.fir ed.ap/index.html

Teachers Evicted From Bush Event for Wearing 'Protect Our Civil Liberties' T-Shirts.
http://www.progressive.org/mcwatch04/mc101604.htm

Someone wearing an anti-Bush T-shirt was kicked off a Southwest plane.

and so on...

Certainly, America is not as bad off as Saudi Arabia, but that's not saying much.
This is not a country we can trust to safeguard free speech on the internet.

I think Americans only u

Is it just me or is anyone else sick of the politically skewing and destruction of information from both the left and right of politics?

Kerry couldn't have stopped the hurricanes, but maybe he wouldn't have taken funds away from levee mantainance to fight "terror". I'd argue that Bush's actions in trying to stop terror directly caused it in New Orleans. Shows where the ideals of Bush truely lie.

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

This article is intentionally misleading propaganda.

"New Orleans' local newspaper, the Times-Picayune (search), says every FEMA official should be fired for their, "feeble response to Hurricane Katrina." And the paper's editors say the aftermath is "ultimately the president's failure.""

I don't know if that's true because I can't find any google hits for these quotes. The article where they call for the firing of every FEMA official is here. Maybe they did so also somewhere else, but those quotes are not in the article. The actual article is worth a read, by the way.

"But the paper has had nothing but praise for the performance of New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, finding no fault with his failure to enforce the mandatory evacuation order he issued last Sunday."

They only mentioned Nagin once, praising one thing he did, assuming it's the same article as above. This is described as "nothing but praise". They didn't mention the evacuation in this particular piece, this is described as "finding no fault" with the evacuation. Nagin put a mandatory evacuation into effect, but some people stayed anyway, this is described as a "failure" to enforce the evacuation.

"And Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard (search) says officials at the top of the totem pole, "need to be chain-sawed off," federal officials, he means."

Brit Hume knows what he really meant because Brit Hume has PSYCHIC POWERS. Broussard did not specify federal officals. The full quote was "Whoever is at the top of this totem pole, that totem pole needs to be chainsawed off and we've got to start with some new leadership. It's not just Katrina that caused all these deaths in New Orleans here. Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now." see the video. Look at how Brit Hume chose to quote that.

"Senator Mary Landrieu says, if the president criticizes her state's handling of the disaster, she, "might likely have to punch him.""

She was talking about criticizing the sheriff for evacuating the New Orleans prison. This is described as critizing "her state's handling of the disaster". Here's the video

Is there anything more serious you could lie about than this? No really, is there anything more serious you could lie about than this?

Actually, levee maintenance was fine, according to the Army Corps of Engineers and others.

No. Levee maintenance and flood control for the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project was about $250 million dollars behind, due to the war in Iraq. Specifically, the Lake Pontchartrain and Vicinity Hurricane Protection project was funded by the Bush administration at levels far below those requested by the Army Corp of Engineers.

We just don't appreciate infrastructure, to the point where many people actually believe that roads cause traffic!

Well, they do. Poorly planned infrastructure leads to development in ways that stress that infrastructure; our road-building boom of the past few decades created a car culture that leads to more driving, thus more traffic congestion, thus more demand for roads.

This might interest you:

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway, so this (she chuckled slightly)--this is working very well for them." http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054719

This is the local governments (State and NO) fuck up... New Orleans always knew this would happen, and they did not spend the money to fix the levees first (The fed were ready to do it...

Hmm, seems the Feds were aware of the danger too -- since 2001.

Things I've read seem to disagree with you

what about cross referencing
the google map there:
http://www.scipionus.com/

and these stories :
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001054091

more specifically:
http://www.nola.com/weblogs/nola/

This article tends to contradict your assertion. It kind of sounds like the corp was in fact going around Louisiana begging for money to do emergency repairs. Not clear if the repairs would have salvaged the levies that collapsed but one was on the canal levee that failed. When it comes to levees the old saying "a stitch in time" usually applies. If you let a crack develop or let it sink, when flood water starts spilling at the weak spot it quickly takes out the whole thing.

"Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:"

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."

"The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain."

Why don't you read this and come back and see if you stand behind what you said here.

"Also that June, with the 2004 hurricane season starting, the Corps' project manager Al Naomi went before a local agency, the East Jefferson Levee Authority, and essentially begged for $2 million for urgent work that Washington was now unable to pay for. From the June 18, 2004 Times-Picayune:"

"The system is in great shape, but the levees are sinking. Everything is sinking, and if we don't get the money fast enough to raise them, then we can't stay ahead of the settlement," he said. "The problem that we have isn't that the levee is low, but that the federal funds have dried up so that we can't raise them."

"The panel authorized that money, and on July 1, 2004, it had to pony up another $250,000 when it learned that stretches of the levee in Metairie had sunk by four feet. The agency had to pay for the work with higher property taxes. The levee board noted in October 2004 that the feds were also now not paying for a hoped-for $15 million project to better shore up the banks of Lake Pontchartrain."

http://americablog.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/gu itar-710427.jpg

Pictures of bodies floating by are currently on the front page of the New York Times.

I posted the following quote on the previous article, with no conclusions, but it was modded down by people who dislike facts they disagree with. Additionally there's more information now and I am posting a link to the original article from editor and publisher:

"It appears that the money has been moved in the president's budget to handle homeland security and the war in Iraq, and I suppose that's the price we pay. Nobody locally is happy that the levees can't be finished, and we are doing everything we can to make the case that this is a security issue for us." June 8, 2004, Walter Maestri, emergency management chief for Jefferson Parish, Louisiana, in the Times-Picayune

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313 The above article also details what cuts were done by Bush to the SELA grants (for levees in New Orleans), which, by the way, were started and funded in 1995.

Additionally it appears that Louisiana should have been "high on the list of FEMA's biggest disaster mitigation grant program" but received nothing. Here's the article that states this: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2004-09-2 8/cover_story2.html Now, as before, mod this post into oblivion so that you don't have to see Bush smiling and playing the guitar yesterday while bodies float around. I'm not sure what disgusts me more -- him doing that, or people closing their eyes to truth.

The politicians of New Orleans are the only ones to blame here. Their complete lack of planning and preparation has produced thousands of deaths.

What, you think you're the only person on the planet who thought N.O. was vulnerable? You've been trumpeting this danger to the mountaintops, and yet no one would listen?

"New Orleans had long known it was highly vulnerable to flooding and a direct hit from a hurricane. In fact, the federal government has been working with state and local officials in the region since the late 1960s on major hurricane and flood relief efforts. When flooding from a massive rainstorm in May 1995 killed six people, Congress authorized the Southeast Louisiana Urban Flood Control Project, or SELA.

"Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

"Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars. "

Source:editorandpublisher.com

Planning and preparation are useless if someone takes away your ability to execute those plans. You ever been through a major hurricane?

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1001051313

Over the next 10 years, the Army Corps of Engineers, tasked with carrying out SELA, spent $430 million on shoring up levees and building pumping stations, with $50 million in local aid. But at least $250 million in crucial projects remained, even as hurricane activity in the Atlantic Basin increased dramatically and the levees surrounding New Orleans continued to subside.

Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. At least nine articles in the Times-Picayune from 2004 and 2005 specifically cite the cost of Iraq as a reason for the lack of hurricane- and flood-control dollars.

Newhouse News Service, in an article posted late Tuesday night at The Times-Picayune web site, reported: "No one can say they didn't see it coming....Now in the wake of one of the worst storms ever, serious questions are being asked about the lack of preparation."

In early 2004, as the cost of the conflict in Iraq soared, President Bush proposed spending less than 20 percent of what the Corps said was needed for Lake Pontchartrain, according to a Feb. 16, 2004, article, in New Orleans CityBusiness.

Why don't we impeach Bush, who cut the funding for New Orleans preparations for an inevitable storm like Katrina?

"Yet after 2003, the flow of federal dollars toward SELA dropped to a trickle. The Corps never tried to hide the fact that the spending pressures of the war in Iraq, as well as homeland security -- coming at the same time as federal tax cuts -- was the reason for the strain. "

We've heard Bush tell us war requires sacrifice. So he's cut taxes for the rich, which has salvaged the economy only for the rich. That sacrifice is coming only from the thousands of people who have died in Iraq, and now the rest of the country will start to feel the neglect. It's a shame that New Orleans, whose citizens voted to get rid of Bush, was the first undeniable sacrifice to cover our TVs. But they won't be the last.

The question is whether we will sacrifice Bush himself to save ourselves, or whether the $45TRILLION in debts he's so far committed us to will sacrifice us to his agenda instead. New Orleans is down the drain now. Will we all follow it? Or will we toss out the crap that's rotting inside us, all the way at the top?

By Lesley Messer

Published: July 18, 2005 10:20 AM ET

NEW YORK How do you report a story about a man who dies while having sex with a horse? With a snigger? Or straight?

Last Friday, the Seattle Times got wind of an Associated Press item about a local man who died after having sex with a horse. "The sheriff's department didn't expect us to report it because it was too gruesome," said Jennifer Sullivan, the Seattle Times staff reporter who would eventually author two stories on the ordeal.

The AP story gave basic facts about the case. It mentioned that the man -- who died of internal bleeding from anal sex with the animal -- died after visiting a farm in nearby Enumclaw that attracted "a significant number of people" looking to engage in bestiality.

Therefore, Sullivan said, "We thought if there was more than one person participating in this, it needed to be reported."

In her first probe, Sullivan wrote that the farm was discussed in Internet chat rooms as a "destination" spot for people looking to have sex with animals. She reported that this prompted an investigation into whether the chickens, goats and sheep on the property had also been victimized.

"We tried to make it as tasteful as possible keeping out the cause of death. As a surprise, I had at least 70 emails from people and the vast majority wanted to know what killed this guy," she said. "So on the second day we had to be more specific."

Although she never reported the man's name, in her second article Sullivan did say that he was 45 years old and added that he died of acute peritonitis due to the perforation of the colon. But because Washington is one of 17 states that does not outlaw bestiality, having sex with a horse is not a crime and his death will not be investigated.

Perhaps the most lurid detail she added, however, was that when they searched the farm, police had found hundreds of hours of videotape showing men having sex with horses. Police are still making sure that sex was not forced on the smaller, weaker animals, thus constituting animal cruelty (which is a crime). Investigators are also checking to see if other crimes like child abuse or rape occurred on the premises.

When asked if the reporting was especially difficult due to the subject matter, Sullivan explained that she's been working on the crime and court beat for the past six years, three of which have been at the Times, and so is rarely shocked by anything anymore. The community of Enumclaw, however, was not braced for this type of scandal.

"People were very, very willing to talk but they almost thought of it as a joke. It was sort of surreal for a lot of people," she said. "I was surprised with how willing the relatives were to talk."

She said that the man's family -- whom she interviewed for the second story -- asked for anonymity, which the newspaper granted. They never suspected that he was involved in bestiality, and were surprised when they learned that he had purchased a thoroughbred stallion earlier in the year, apparently one of a pair he kept at the farm.

Sullivan also spoke with two neighbors -- a husband and wife -- near the farm who had no idea that this kind of activity had been going on. A few days ago, they were shown a tape of men having sex with horses -- one of which belonged to them.

"It was a really rural community," Sullivan explained. "They were pretty devastated."

But so far, despite the subject matter, public response has been positive, she said. She explained that out of the many emails she's received, only one has been negative. Most of them express sympathy to Sullivan for having to write such a horrific story and thank her for leaving out gratuitous aspects, or using phrases like "horsing around."

The two articles also have

Are you seriously saying that since Clinton lied about getting a blowjob, it is OK that the Bush administration lied about intelligence to justify going to war?

It doesn't make Bush look bad to say that he lied about WMD; it makes you look bad. If you stick to things you can prove and don't overstate your case, you can drum up plenty of opposition to Bush. But remember that opposition alone is not enough -- you also need to bring forth ideas and a person that people are willing to support. Kerry was not such a person, and never was going to be.

Over the weekend I heard that the Cleveland Plain Dealer had dropped 2 investigations, because they feared getting the Miller treatment. (http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/arti cle_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000976374 ) Don't forget, her publisher has been taking on some rather large fines, too. When investigative reporting is stopped before it even really starts, because of fear of legal retribution...

Of course, not that I would mind seeing Karl Rove NAILED, but... (It would be interesting to see John McCain on the committee investigating Karl Rove, if it comes to that. But I doubt it will.)

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/artic le_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000935914

Goodbye Times, you served your bias well.

Parent is exactly right. We should be ashamed.

I can't believe the reaction to the 2004 vote. It's like we're all sheep. We have all these indications of massive fraud, but then we stay still as the media tells us that there isn't any evidence of "widespread fraud."

But there is.

Not only that, the same media that is telling us that there is no evidence of widespread fraud is actually withholding that very evidence, the exit polling data, from the people!

Not only that, they then can point to the election in Ukraine and say with a straight face that there was fraud. Why? Because the exit poll data says there was fraud!

Why can exit poll data be used to determine fraud in Ukraine but not in America?

And here we are, waging war on false pretenses. Killing a hundred thousand or more, and for what? WMD's? Don't exist. Ties to bin Laden? Don't exist. Turns out Iraq was in compliance with U.N. sanctions.

And now we have evidence that this was all a ruse, that a man that was never elected deliberately fabricated evidence to start a war. And what do we do?

Absolutely nothing.

Shame.

The BBC also released a quote from Christopher, claiming he had said he hoped viewers "continued to enjoy the series," but it's now admitted it did not consult him about that statement.

I think what they're trying to say is: "Also, we made up a statement from Christopher that he didn't actually say, but it sounded nice, so we published it."

The practiced way in which they dress up their lying ("released a quote"? There was no @#!$ing "quote"!) shows how endemic this is. Probably a habit acquired from their political reporting where they can often diverge from the facts with impunity.

Fact: George Orwell based much of 1984 on his experience working in BBC news.

FOX News is often pointed to as an example of conservative bias in the media, with good reason. But why isn't there a liberal counterpart? It's not like it hasn't been tried, look at the likes of Bill Maher, John MacEnroe... Al Frankin, Air America. All pretty much tanked. I don't think its fair to label the right's need for sensationalism as why conservative media is so much more successful that the left: there is clearly a similar liberal base who would want the same thing.

I think a reasonable explanation is that maybe unconscious liberalism (even in small amounts) throughout the rest of mainstream media has diluted demand for a full fledged liberal network. They get their news from the NPRs, big city newspapers, CNN, or even network television... where these outlets may often alienate segments of the conservative base driving them towards ultra-conservative alternatives.

Perhaps a left lean results from an establishment where liberals numerically dominate. They do their best to be fair... but their bias will undoubtedly slant their presentation. Take Bill Orielly, for example. He probably genuinely believes it when he says The Factor is not biased conservatively (compared to his radio show, it isn't). But it is clear to the rest of us this is not the case.