RSSCBS Producer to Hawaii – GIMME
60 Minutes’ producer sought travel discounts, bureau says a new ethical sticky wicket may surface at CBS News. An e-mail received by the Hawaii Visitors & Convention Bureau last week from “60 Minutes Producer” Ira Rosen solicited discounted media rates for an upcoming family vacation.
Seeking and taking such discounts for personal and, in many cases work-related, travel would be a violation of widely accepted ethical standards for journalists.
“Ira is seeking media rates for hotel accommodations on both Kauai and Maui,” the visitors bureau then e-mailed to public relations agency McNeil Wilson Communications Inc.
“He is also interested in Kauai vendors who provide outdoor activity rental equipment such as fishing charters, bikes, RV’s etc.”
Vendors interested in providing a media rate were encouraged to contact Rosen at his CBSNews.com e-mail address.
CBS denied wrongdoing by Rosen.
“I can assure you that our producer was not seeking any special treatment. This was a complete misunderstanding,” said “60 Minutes” publicist Kelly Edwards.
And the memo’s were a misunderstanding., At least CBS’s damage control is very consistant. Journalists are not paid very well , we all know that. I wonder if this is the tip of the iceburg. Stories like this would have carried the denial and then died. But thanks to blogs and sites such as Drudge, all it takes is one reader to point it out, and it becomes a national story.
And that is why the National Media call us the Digital McCarthyites.
Hat Tip Drudge
Uno sputo. Anzi, due. (One Spit, Indeed Two)
I had thought I had previously posted on Jane Fonda and her run in with a Vietnam Vet, but I was mistaken. From our friends at The Right Nation, this is one of my favorite versions of the story. Of course the fact that its in Italian only makes it that much better. I hope my translator works this time, or a close spitting image of the actual post. Go to their page if not just to see the Hanoi Jane, Commie War Heroine Fuppet.
Durante un book-signing organizzato in un centro commerciale di Kansas City, Michael A. Smith (un veterano della guerra del Vietnam di 54 anni) si à ¨ sorbito una coda di 90 minuti per avere la soddisfazione di sputare in faccia a Jane Fonda, due volte, prima di essere arrestato. Per Michelle Malkin, il comportamento “vergognoso” di Hanoi Jane in Vietnam non giustifica una simile aggressione. Per The Jawa Report, invece, Smith avrebbe meritato una medaglia.
Translated, kind of but I think we get the gist …
During a book-signing organized in a center they of Kansas City trades, Michael To Smith (a veteran of the war of the Vietnam of 54 years) has sorbito a tail of 90 minuteren for having the satisfaction sputare in face to Deep Jane, two times, before being arrested. For Michelle Malkin, “the vergognoso” behavior of Hanoi Jane in Vietnam does not justify one similar aggression. For The Jawa Report, instead, Smith would have deserved one medal.
Update: Veteran Has No Regrets For Spitting On Jane Fonda
Man Says He Did It For Veterans (If one has read the excerpts from Jane Fonda’s book, being spit on seems to be tame in comparison to what her husbands did to her.)
CNBC; Blogs are Available to take Over For Dennis Miller
FLASH: CABLE NEWS RACE
NITE OF WED, APRIL 20, 2005
FNC O’REILLY 1,995,000 [VIEWERS]
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,604,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,450,000
FNC GRETA 1,441,000
CNN KING 907,000
CNN AARON BROWN 652,000
MSNBC SCARBOROUGH 391,000
CNNHN NANCY GRACE 386,000
CNN ZAHN 385,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 334,000
E! JACKSON TRIAL 188,000
CNBC DENNIS MILLER 65,000
In the latest cable news wars, FOX News is still far and away the clear champ. It is hard to imagine that with even these numbers that far exceed all the competition that Fox News is still not carried in many markets in the US.
By the way CNBC, Scared Monkeys is available to take over the time slot for Dennis Miller. I realize that he is one of the few other than SCARBOROUGH, not on Fox that is fair regarding Republicans but man. Scared Monkeys would be just as fair and for the love of God I truly believe we could get more the 65K viewers. That’s just awful. CNBC, give us an email.
Amtrak is off the Track
President Bush looks at Amtrak and sees a boondoggle. Intelligently says that here is a billion dollar subsidy for the Northeast. The company is terribly mismanaged. There famed Acela line does not work. Lets scrap it and let private enterprise in to have a go.
So what does the clueless Administrators of Amtrak do?
They submit a request for 1.82 BILLION DOLLARS!!!
That is 600 MILLION MORE THAN WHAT WAS BUDGETED THIS YEAR!!!
Several senators on Thursday criticized President Bush’s proposal to give Amtrak no money next year, while the railroad submitted a request to Congress for $1.82 billion.
Amtrak is receiving $1.2 billion from Congress this year.
Chairman David Laney said that without a boost in money the railroad would have no cash by year’s end in light of Acela Express brake problems that have sidelined the profitable high-speed fleet until this summer.
Of course, our fiscally responsible Senators from both sides of the aisle are upset, they are the bloviating patrons of pork. So they do not want a penny cut.
How did the administration come up with such a ridiculous proposal?” asked Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., subcommittee chairman. “I was extremely stunned and disappointed that such a proposal was made.”
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said the Bush administration’s stance that zero funding of Amtrak is a “call to action” was baseless.
“Zero funding means you want to shut the place down,” Dorgan said.
Jeffrey Rosen, the Transportation Department’s general counsel, defended Bush’s proposal, saying changes need to be made in Amtrak “before we spend one more taxpayer dollar to prop up a fundamentally broken system.”
Bush’s proposal would set aside $360 million to run trains along the Northeast Corridor if the railroad stopped operating.
So here we have a clueless administrator, a bunch of pork lusting Senators, and an AP writer that wants to put a dagger into GWB with a headline such as “Senators Slam Bush’s Amtrak Proposal; Railroad Asks for More Money”.
It just utterly amazes me. I thought I had nerve.
Where the Tax Dollars Go.
Wonder where all of the discretionary tax spending is going these days in the Federal Budget? Someone came up with this beautiful chart to see the spending. The only thing that I wished they had changed was if they had used millions instead of billions. Decimals for some reason make the numbers spent much smaller.
For a full sized picture, click here
( Link Fixed, sorry!)
Hat Tip to Dann Sheridan at NI3.
