When you care enough to fawn and gush

For almost 2 weeks neither The New York Times nor Raleigh's News & Observer published anything about a $900,000.00 loan scandal involving liberal talk-radio network Air America, even though both New York City's Department of Investigation and the state's Attorney General's office had launched investigations.

So are those newspapers just not much interested in Air America or what, you might ask?

Well, a little search and we find the NYT and N&O are VERY interested in Air America... sometimes.

Here are four NYT articles blogger Michelle Malkin found, along with Michelle's comments:

On March 21, 2004, the Times Magazine ran a 7,659-word cover story about Al Franken titled "Al Franken, Seriously So." The reporter, Russell Shorto, said that everyone he talked to "agreed that Al Franken has excellent prospects for success in talk radio." He also reports that "Franken's political views are more eclectic than you might imagine." Riiiiight.

March 31, 2004--the day of Air America's debut--the Times ran a 1,403 word puff piece on page E1. The reporter, Jaques Steinberg, said Air America host Jeaneane Garofalo is merely "poking fun" at Karl Rove when she accuses him of pursuing ''the elusive 18-25 Klan demo" as if accusing a high-ranking White House official of pandering to one of the most vile organizations in America is akin to telling a lighthearted knock knock joke.

April 1, 2004, media critic Alessandra Stanley followed up with a 752-word review of Franken's first day on the air.

On April 2, 2004, the front page of the metro section carried a 755-word article by reporter Clyde Haberman about the "debut of all-day Air America," which had occurred the previous day.

And I found many others including a 1472-word piece from June 15, 2005, "Comedian for Senator? Don't Laugh." It was about Al Franken's speech at a Democratic fund-raiser where he made "noises about running for the Senate (in Minnesota) in 2008" The Times writer loved Franken's noises.

What about the N&O? Lots. Check it's archives: www.newsandobserver.com

My favorite is a March 31, 2004 front page gusher entitled "New liberal network takes on conservative kings of radio." It was written by James Rosen of the N&O's Washington Bureau.

N&O Executive News Editor Melanie Sill told readers the N&O couldn't/wouldn't report on Air America's troubles until some other news organization did.

Really!