Harvard's Alan Dershowitz on Dershowitz

Within a few hours of Chief Justice Rehnquist's death, Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz was on Fox's Hannity and Colmes making a series of ill-informed, partisan, and down-right mean remarks about Rehnquist.

Example: Dershowitz told viewers Rehnquist "started his career by being a kind of Republican thug who pushed and shoved to keep African-American and Hispanic voters from voting."

Dershowitz's remarks have been ably refuted by James Taranto at Opinion Journal and Betsy at Betsy's Page. Their posts are well worth reading if for no other reason than as examples of how intelligent people with class respond to someone speaking as Dershowitz did.

For me, Dershowitz's remarks served one useful purpose. They reminded me to keep in mind what the great social psychologist and Harvard Professor Gordon Allport said: When we speak of others, we may or may not be revealing something about them, but we're always revealing something about ourselves.

The real reason Schumer opposes Roberts?

Among my favorite Roberts nomination op-eds is one I read today by Raymond J. Keating, chief economist for the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council.

Here's part of what Keating says:

New York's senior senator portrays himself as moderation's great defender. In a 2003 letter Schumer arrogantly advised Bush on how to pick a Supreme Court justice: "I start by encouraging you to use the same principles that guide me in evaluating judicial nominees. I consider three criteria: excellence, diversity and moderation."

Speaking in California last week, according to The Associated Press, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia made an excellent point: "Now the Senate is looking for moderate judges, mainstream judges. What in the world is a moderate interpretation of a constitutional text? Halfway between what it says and what we'd like it to say?"

Is it any wonder Schumer will oppose Roberts, someone he fears may turn out to be another Scalia.

None of us like people who call attention to our arrogance and ignorance.

Keating's entire op-ed is here.

Hat Tip: Realclearpolitics.com

Former Air Force officer offers help MSM

Teflon at Moltonthought.blogspot.com wants to help MSM understand what's happened regarding Katrina and what needs to done and how.

I hope Teflon's more successful with MSM regarding Katrina than most of us have been on other matters. Teflon begins:

As a former Air Force logistics officer, let me clarify the following for the idiots in the Left Wing Media:

1. Things can get destroyed far more swiftly than they can get fixed.

2. The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network.

3. You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by prepositioning assets since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region.

4. We do not yet have teleporter nor replicator technology like you saw on "Star Trek" in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grownups actually engaged in the recovery effort today were studying engineering.

5. Getting people out of the stricken areas is the most pressing concern, since we cannot get enough supplies into it to safely sustain them.

6. Getting the airport, bridges, and roads repaired is the next priority, since the supplies and people needed to fix levees, drain the city, and repair the infrastructure cannot be transported via aircraft. You need to truck them in.

Much more follows but I'll bet Teflon lost some of his MSM readers at #4.

Anyway, be sure to read the whole thing. It's packed with infomation.

A heartening Katrina story of the underreported kind

With much of MSM presenting a Katrina "race angle" theme suggesting whites abandoned blacks, it's good to see a needed counterpoint today at Betsy's Page. She begins:

With all the focus on a racial subtext to the New Orleans disaster and Jesse Jackson exacerbating ill will by comparing the evacuees to "Africans in the hull of a slave ship.", this story is a heartening exception.

In the last week, Joseph Brant lost his apartment, walked by scores of dead in the streets, traversed pools of toxic water and endured an arduous journey to escape the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in his hometown New Orleans.

Read the rest of his story. As Betsy says, "(it's)heartening."

A lot of cross-race helping occurred during the worst hours of the storm and has continued since. MSM needs to do more reporting of that. Right now, we're getting a very distorted presentation that serves only those who would divide us for their purposes.

A question about Rev. Jesse Jackson

So Jesse Jackson is comparing the condition of evacuees from New Orleans to "Africans in the hull of a slave ship."

And to whom does Jackson, a wealthy clergyman who wears tailored suits, compare his own condition?

Hat Tip: Betsy's Page

At The New York Times: It's about wishes

However the rest of America may be feeling, you know it’s a good day at The New York Times when the paper runs this headline: Chaotic Week Leaves Bush Team on Defensive

The headline leads what The Times calls "an analysis" by reporter Todd Purdum who begins:

Perhaps not since Richard M. Nixon faced Vietnam-era tumult abroad and at home has an American president had to meet quite the combination of foreign war, domestic tribulations and political division that President Bush now confronts, from the Persian Gulf to the Gulf Coast to Capitol Hill.

Wow! In just one sentence Purdum links Nixon , Vietnam, foreign war, domestic tribulations, and political division to President Bush and events in the Persian Gulf, Gulf Coast, and on Capitol Hill.

Do we need hear anything more? Well, The Times wouldn’t want you to miss this.

The war, high gasoline prices and persistent, low-grade unease that good economic statistics have not left more Americans feeling secure had already taken a toll on Mr. Bush's job approval ratings. The wave of bipartisan criticism of his administration's handling of the hurricane may well constrict his options as he seeks a successor for Chief Justice Rehnquist. His presidency might not be on the level of peril faced by Lyndon B. Johnson, but his authority has come under challenge as never before.

So President Bush’s “authority has come under challenge as never before?” How sweet those words must sound to The Times editorial staff, which has worked ceaselessly since January 2001 to make them a reality.

And lest anyone doubt who’s responsible for the President’s difficulties, The Times has a “presidential historian” explain things to us.

"I think he's really undermined his credibility at this point, and it really saddles him with the kind of problems that Johnson and Nixon faced," said Robert Dallek, a presidential historian and Johnson biographer. "These crises are such a heavy burden, and they are so self-inflicted, except for the court vacancies, that if he is not very careful and tries to put across someone who is seen as an ultraconservative, he is going to touch off a conflagration in the Senate."

Robert Dallek, like historians Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. and Doris Kearns Goodwin, is a Kennedy family “favorite” who can be counted on to provide quotes such as the ones we read above. You wouldn’t expect Purdum to also call someone like Harvard government professor Harvey Mansfield, a conservative, would you?

Dallek overreached on a number of points, especially his remark about an “ultraconservative” Bush Supreme Court nominee possibly touching “off a conflagration in the Senate.”

Federal appellate court nominee Priscilla Owen, unanimously awarded the American Bar Association’s highest rating, is no ultraconservative. But that didn’t stop Sen. Tom Harkin from calling her a “whacko?” Or Sen. Ted Kennedy from grouping her with judges he called “Neanderthals?”

When did the likes of Kennedy, Boxer, Schumer, Leahy, Byrd, Clinton, Harkin, Durbin et al need an “ultraconservative” to set off a “conflagration?” They conflagrate regularly.

No liberal journalist’s current Bush hit piece would be complete without a reference to “the grieving mother.” Here’s Purdum’s:

And that was before a grieving mother named Cindy Sheehan put an unexpectedly galvanizing human face on criticism of the war in Iraq, before the hurricane's desperate victims shined a similar spotlight on the government's failings

Cindy Sheehan a “galvanizing human face on criticism of the war?” Polls show she’s had little effect on public opinion. Here, as in most of his analysis, Purdum’s engaged in wishful thinking.

But count on this: The Times and much else of MSM will do all they can to make those wishes come true.

Hat Tip: Michelle Malkin

Harvey Mansfield on C-SPAN 2 at Noon today

Harvard University government professor Harvey Mansfield is the subject of a 3 hour In-Depth Program today on C-SPAN 2 starting at Noon Eastern.

Mansfield's books on Edmund Burke, Niccolo Machiavelli, and Alexis de Tocqueville are considered classics.

Many of his former students, Bill Kristol among them, regard Mansfield as the greatest teacher they met at Harvard.

If you're interested in endangered species, this is your chance to see and hear a political conservative who survives at Harvard despite constant exposure to its rigid Leftism.

One blogger said of Mansfield: "He's flourished in an environment where even a once- hardy creature like Laurence Summers is threatened with extinction"

C-SPAN 2 starting at Noon Eastern today.

Duhball with Chris Matthews

The Florida Masochist reminds us of an old rule:

Never ask a question in an interview if you don't have a clue to what the answer will be.

The FM then tells us what happened last Wednesday to the eponymous host of MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews when he forgot that rule, assuming he ever knew it in the first place.

Matthews was interviewing Texas Governor Rick Perry about his state’s plans to help Katrina victims. He fired questions at Perry in typical Chris Matthews' "God, I know so much" style.

Perry mentioned housing people from New Orleans in Houston's Astrodome.

Matthews pressed about costs and the availability of the Astrodome, obviously unaware the Astro baseball team hadn’t used the Astrodome since 1999.

The following is from MSNBC’s Hardball transcript for August 31:

MATTHEWS: Where‘s Texas getting the money for this—for this effort?

PERRY: Well, you know, we will find the dollars. The fact of the matter is, this is—by the grace of God, this could have been Houston, Texas, that we were talking about today, instead of New Orleans. And our neighbors are in need and we will find the dollars to make it work.

MATTHEWS: A small point. I don‘t mean to be whimsical, but, at this time, it wouldn‘t hurt for a little whimsy. How did you get the Astros out of their ballpark?

PERRY: Well, they‘re playing at a place called Minute Maid now, not the Astrodome.

MATTHEWS: Oh, really? I‘m brought up to...

PERRY: Welcome—welcome to this year in baseball here, Chris.
(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: Well, I haven‘t been follow them that closely. But I will in the future.
(LAUGHTER)

PERRY: You certainly haven‘t.

MATTHEWS: Thanks to your state‘s wonderful hospitality. It‘s great having you on. And congratulations to your state. It shows a great value system, that you‘re doing this.

PERRY: Thank you, Chris.

It’s not for nothing that many people call Matthews' show Duhball.

Thanks Florida Masochist for the cue and the commentary.

Hold back some of your Katrina money

It's wonderful so many are contributing generously to The Red Cross, Salvation Army and other organizations involved in Katrina relief activities.

But I hope people hold back some of their Katrina money for at least a few weeks or months. That way, they can target their "held back" money as they learn more about who needs what and what various organizations have done and are doing.

Those Louisiana NG members serving in Iraq who may have lost a loved one and maybe everything material they had at home: I want to find out how to target some money to them.

MSM has mostly told us about the chaos and looters and Bush-blaming pontifications of Jesse Jackson and others. But you know that during the worst hours in the worst places there were people acting heroically to make things better. Ministers, for example, who with their congregants and others organized to feed neighbors and homeless, and care as best they could for the sick.

MSM will get around to telling us about those heroes. Some of my money will go to the churches and other organizations those people are associated with.

In the next few weeks, we'll hear of hundreds of organizations who are helping Katrina victims in various ways. I'm keeping my ear out for ones that seek to empower the victims and build on their strengths.

Where are the organizations that believe the best therapy for most victims is the dignity and sense of hope that comes with a job; and so will be offering people a chance to work on a day basis in the clean up effort until more permanent jobs are available. I'll support those organizations.

Thank God we have the government, The Red Cross, Salvation Army and other organizations. Only they can do the massive resource allocation and service delivery work.

But thank God too for those small groups and organizations, often staffed by volunteers, and close to the people they serve. They provide effective, diverse and sometimes unique services the large services organizations don't.

Hold back some money for them. I think you'll be glad you did.

And look to bloggers to take the lead in telling you about them.

Planning a fact attack on Bush blamers? Go here.

At Betsy's Page, she has a post that begins:

EU Rota does some Lexis/Nexis research and takes on the theme that it is Bush's fault that budget requests were cut from plans for flood control in New Orleans. Guess what, Clinton did the same thing. And of course, even if we had supplied all the money requested by the Army Corps of Engineers, none of those plans would have had an effect in time for this hurricane.

If you have a soft spot for Bush blamers, warn them away from Betsy's Page.

On the other hand, if you're planning a fact attack on Bush blamers, Betsy's the place to get linked to some high caliber facts.

Look who else Raleigh's N &O blamed

On August 29 Raleigh's News & Observer ran this front page headline:

Off-duty officer blamed in death

The trouble with the headline was that no one except The N&O was blaming the officer.

To its credit, the next day the paper placed a correction in the same front page spot where the "officer blamed" headline ran. The N&O offered no explanation for its headline.

The August 29 headline brings to mind another recent N&O headline that assigned blame.

Airstrikes kill Mideast truce (July 16, Pg. 16A)

The headline ran above an AP story that began:

A Mideast truce was in tatters as Israel killed six Hamas militants in a series of airstrikes Friday and early today after Palestinian fighters unleashed a deadly barrage of rockets and mortars.

Further into the story, the AP reported the Israeli response followed not just the barrage but 2 terrorist attacks in the preceding 3 days which killed 6 Israelis and wounded 90 others.

The AP reported the attacks many paragraphs into its story; and that part of its report doesn't appear in the story The N&O ran. So perhaps N&O editors didn't read far enough into the AP story to learn about the terrorist attacks.

Nevertheless, the AP's first sentence makes clear that Israel was responding to Palestinian attacks.

Using news.google and yahoo searches, I couldn't find even one other American newspaper that ran a headline blaming the Israelis for killing the truce.

The Boston Globe's headline was typical of headlines in other papers reporting the story.

Mideast violence threatens truce; 8 dead

So how did The N&O decide on the headline:

Airstrikes kill Mideast truce

And why?

Readers are owed explanations.

I'm sending a link to The N&O's executive editor for news, Melanie Sill. I'll invite her to respond to this post and agree to publish her response in full.

Editor Sill often says she welcomes readers' comments. Her email: msill@newsobserver.com

Blog Design/Domain/Hosting Auction for Hurricane Katrina Relief Ends Tonight

Bob Owens at Confederate Yankee is helping pass on word of an auction that will help Katrina victims via the American Red Cross and give bloggers a chance to upgrade their site. Bob begins:

Phin at Apothegm Designs has a rather unique fund-raising effort underway for Hurricane Katrina victims, and the fund-raising effort is targeted squarely at the blogging community, with a great payoff for both us, and the American Red Cross.

He is auctioning off a pair of custom blog designs to the two highest bidders through the end of today, Friday, September 2. You've seen examples of his work at the Llama Butchers, The Jawa Report, Naked Villainy and here among many others. Their designs are fast-loading, technically sound, and aesthetically pleasing.

If you're a blogger, read the whole post and please pass the word.

Katrina response: We need Giuliani

The Associated Press is reporting:

President Bush will tour the hurricane devastated Gulf Coast region on Friday and has asked his father, former President George H.W. Bush, and former President Clinton to lead a private fund-raising campaign for victims, the White House said Thursday.

Fine.

Now how about getting former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani involved?

Remember his leadership following 9/11?

Those daily, sometimes twice daily, news conferences? Giuliani's care and candor built trust and cooperation with the people. He reported what had been done each day and explained why other things weren't done. If asked something he didn't know, he said he's report back and did.

Giuliani did more then explain. He called New York and the rest of us to our best. Example: his press conference the night of 9/11. I can't recall his exact words, but they were very close to these: Let us act now so that this our darkest day leads on to our finest hour.

I hope President Bush will ask Giuliani to serve as the national spokesperson on Katrina recovery efforts.

Giuliani should be given a staff to funnel information to him and ask questions of people involved in recovery operations. The President should tell other government officials to treat a call from Giuliani as if it came from him. Giuliani should have direct access to him.

With information in hand, Giuliani can inform the public each day and take questions from the press.

Problems with what I'm proposing?

Yes, at least three, but they shouldn't prevent Giuliani's appointment.

One, the bureaucratic "don't tell" and "blame someone else" Giuliani's likely to encounter.

That's going to be there anyway. Can you think of a better person than Giuliani to cut through it and get information to the public?

Two, MSM news organizations will play up every complaint about recovery efforts from officials and agencies with noses out of joint because of something Giuliani said.

Sure, but most of MSM will by playing up any complaint they get from anyone in order to paint the bleakest possible picture of recovery efforts anyway. Look how most of them have reported Iraq.

With Giuliani responding to MSM, the public will be much better served than with someone like Scott McClellan responding. And so will the President.

Three, some Republican bigs thinking of a presidential '08 run won't like Giuliani getting a lot of national attention.

The only thing to do about that is for Bush to step forward and say, "Country before party."

We need Guiliani now. He's been there and done it.

Welcome Newmark's Door visitors

I'm delighted to welcome Newmark's Door visitors.

Stay as long as you like and read some posts.

My most recent post: Why Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. needs a friend

A recent post with original reporting concerns Governor Easley, The N&O's executive editor for news Melanie Sill and readers. It's here :The editor, the governor and we, the readers.

I don't currently write on economics but will as soon as I learn to balance my checkbook.

Thanks for coming.

John

Why Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. needs a friend

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, an environmental lawyer who owns 3 large houses and regularly travels in private jets, said the following in a post at Arianna Huffington’s blog.

In 1998, Republican icon Pat Robertson warned that hurricanes were likely to hit communities that offended God. Perhaps it was Barbour’s memo that caused Katrina, at the last moment, to spare New Orleans and save its worst flailings for the Mississippi coast.

The least that’s wrong with Kennedy’s statement is his claim that Katrina spared New Orleans.

The most foolish part is his anointing Pat Robertson as interpreter of God’s will.

The meanest, most self-righteous, and delusional part is Kennedy’s suggestion that Mississippi has been hit by Katrina because its former Governor Haley Barbour wrote a memo opposing the Kyoto treaty, a treaty 95 U.S. Senators voted to oppose.

Does Kennedy believe that God hit India with a tsunami that killed thousands, including babies, because it refused to sign the Kyoto treaty? Even Pat Robinson hasn't said that.

Kennedy frequently directs angry, reckless statements at those who disagree with him. For example, this past April at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he accused President Bush of a federal crime: “(accepting) money from power industries in exchange for relaxed environmental regulations." ["RFK Jr. bashes Bush," Durham Herald Sun, April 21].

But Kennedy's Katrina is God smiting Kyoto opponents statement is more disturbing than anything he’s said before.

I hope Kennedy has a friend who'll help him see what he’s become; and then help him change.

Right now, Kennedy sounds exactly like the extremists who were attacking his father, uncle, and Dr. King in the months before they were assassinated

Good things right in Raleigh

Blogger Scott Pierce at Right in Raleigh does many good things.

A recent example: A very impressive list of major achievements by our side in the War on Terrorism. Scott draws the list from an article by Christopher Hitchens and a post by the Powerline guys.

The list is most important for being first a tribute to the men and women who have been in the front lines sacrificing, dying and making success happen.

It's also something to clip and save for the next time some MSM follower starts chanting defeatist talk-talk.

Nice work, Scott.

Code Pink: It means "Bash America"

Blogger John Byrnes has an crisp, critical and informative post about the Church of MSM's Mother of Peace Cindy Sheehan and her America bashing Code Pink disciples.

John begins:

This is HOT NEWS. Demonstrating that they have absolutely no shame, decency, morals or contact with reality the Code Pink Movement is now blaming infiltrators along with conservatives and counterprotesters for recent bad press. CNS is running the full story.

Code Pink is claiming that they have been "targeted" for right wing attacks.

More follows.

I liked what John said about the Code Pink people having "absolutely no shame, decency, morals or contact with reality."

My only criticism: I thought he was a little too easy on them.

But nobody's perfect. Not even Al Sharpton or Nancy Pelosi.

Anyway, I hope you read John's post.

Katrina blogging

The best Katrina blogging (most comprehensive and up-to-date) is at Michelle Malkin. Surprised? Of course you're not.

Michelle links to one of our North Carolina bloggers, Confederate Yankee.

And at Pirate's Cove, William shares his recollections of what hurricanes did to folks in North Carolina.

Visit all three blogs.

And if you in any part of the storm area stay safe. And know we'll be watching to see how we can help.

The editor, the governor, and we, the readers.

Editors and governors are important. And so are we, the readers.

Raleigh’s News & Observer is suing North Carolina’s Governor, Mike Easley, for release of documents involving gubernatorial pardons. If the courts rule in favor of The N&O, I understand such release will be unprecedented in our state’s history.

The N&O says it wants the documents only to inform readers.

I thought about that when I read a recent column by Melanie Sill, The N&O’s executive editor for news.

Sill pounded many NC public officials for what she says is their lack of full and prompt responses when N&O staffers, including herself, call with questions, requests for interviews, and “deadlines.” Sill made Governor Easley and his staff her special target. Her column’s title: "Governor’s position? No comment."

But what Sill told readers about Easley and his staff didn't sound right. Stuff like Easley not explaining his thinking on major public policy issues. He does that often.

So I called Governor Easley’s office. Folks were very helpful. And wow, is there ever another side to the story Sill told in her column!

If you read on just a bit, you'll get that other side. It’s a copy of a “lengthy email statement” Sill received from the governor’s office.

Sill used the email to hammer the governor and his staff. But Sill never provided readers with a text copy. She just said what she wanted to say the email said.

What follows first is the conclusion of Sill’s column where she's telling readers about the email. Following that, there's an electronic copy of the email's text. After the email, I ask a few questions and invite questions from readers. I also invite Sill to respond and offer to publish in full what she says.

*******************

The conclusion of Sill's column:

While working on this column, I sought to hear Easley’s side of things. I put in a request to interview the governor or his representative on Monday afternoon, noting I was on deadline. The response? No interview with the governor or anyone else. Instead, I received a lengthy email statement from Cari Boyce in the governor’s press office saying that our reporters are free to chase down the governor at public events (as they do as often as they can) and ask him questions.

Thanks, Ms. Boyce, but that’s not what I asked.

************

Here’s the text of the email statement from Cari Boyce in the governor’s press office to Melanie Sill at The N&O.

Thank you for your recent call to our office about the Governor’s availability to reporters at the News & Observer. Specifically, it is my understanding that you are writing a column on “public officials who will not take or answer questions about public policy matters.” You cited, as an example, Barbara Barrett’s recent story on pardons and clemency.

In the past month, the Governor has had at least six public events in the Raleigh area where he has been available and has made public comments about a variety of issues. The News & Observer staff has been made aware of these events and they have all been open to your reporters. As you and your reporters know, the Press Office staff routinely works with reporters who would like to ask “off-topic” questions at public events and attempt to accommodate them whenever possible. For example, Matthew Eisley spoke with the Governor regarding the bonds for the N.C. Art Museum at last Thursday’s Bill of Rights ceremony. Furthermore, Ms. Barrett was also at the event and had the same opportunity to ask the Governor questions as did Mr. Eisley.

Ms. Barrett contacted the Press Office requesting an interview for her story on pardons mid-afternoon on Monday and claimed that she had a Wednesday deadline. She was given all the information that she requested about the process and the status of the cases in question. Subsequent questions also were answered after her stated deadline. Because of the ongoing negotiations with the legislature over the budget, the Governor’s schedule simply did not permit a one-on-one interview with her.

Other than Ms. Barrett, I am not aware of any recent requests by reporters at your paper for interviews with the Governor on any topic. Your assertion that the Governor does not comment on “public policy matters” is simply not accurate.

The Governor’s Press Office will continue to accommodate media requests when appropriate but it will continue to be done in balance with the other responsibilities and scheduling demands of the Governor

___________________

My questions for Editor Sill:

Why didn't you link readers to the email from the governor’s office or publish it in full?

How did withholding the email text from readers serve their interests?

Since you told readers you “sought to hear Easley’s side of things,” what do you say to readers asking why you didn't make the email available to them so they could "hear" for themselves his "side of things?"

Is your reporting on the email and Governor Easley and his staff a fair example of how N&O staffers report on public officials and their staffs?


There are many more questions readers will ask, but the four above are a start.

I'll publish in full your responses to these questions as well as your responses to related questions readers will ask.

Your prompt and full responses will serve to model what you're demanding our state’s public officials do.

What the editor didn't tell Raleigh N&O print readers

Melanie Sill, executive editor for news at Raleigh's News & Observer, is at it again.

Most of Sill's column in yesterday's N&O was taken up with a highly select and sanitized version of the upset and controversy caused by her series of self-contradictory statements made in response to readers who complained about The N&O's delay in reporting on the Air America loan scandal.

If you missed Sill's column, it's here. If you're new to the story and want background go here and here at this blog. Also, at Sill’s blog go here and here and here.

Before reading her column, it's likely almost all Sill’s print readers knew nothing of Sill's statements these past weeks. Or the questions and comments they provoked. Or how Sill responded to them.

After reading her column, print readers knew what Sill told them but not what she left out.

For example, Sill didn’t tell them that editors of major daily newspapers disputed what she said regarding not being able to report on the AA loan scandal story that has already been reported in other newspapers.

Sill didn’t tell readers she has made a series of statements. Look back at her column. If you knew nothing else about the matter but what Sill was telling you, wouldn’t you conclude she had made just one statement?

Sill offers readers not a single example of what she calls “good questions” or of her responses, in the few cases where made a response.

Didn’t Sill’s print readers deserve at least one representative example of the questions and comments most of her internet readers were offering?

An example such as this on a post thread at Sill's blog:

Reader comment: "I must be lacking in imagination, but I cannot see how these two statements could be characterized as anything other than falsehoods:

'We've checked our news services in recent days and do not find this story'

'(I)n checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication.'

If you could explain to your readers how these were truthful, honest, and accurate statements, I am sure they would be glad to hear it."

Editor Sill’s response: "Can you say more about which part seems puzzling -- how the news service queues work?"

Then there's the matter of Sill casting herself as a victim and telling her print readers about “some twisting of my words.”

Sill doesn't tell print readers she was twice invited to make a response at this blog to what so many of us were asking, commenting, and blogging. I offered to publish in full her response.

Sill never acknowledged my offers, ones I’m sure most other bloggers covering this story would make to her, if they have not done so already.

But if Sill told her print readers about offers to print in full her response to say, this post in which the editors disputed what she said, it would have been tough to convince print readers her words were being twisted, wouldn't it?

More on Sill’s print column in a day or two.

Look for a related post this evening: The Editor, The Governor, and We, The Readers.

Have a good day.

Do they dance in South Dakota in August?

Right now it's awfully hot in South Dakota but I'm thinking they're dancing up and down the prairie and across the Black Hills. Ellsworth Air Force Base, one of the state's largest employers, has been saved from a threatened Defense Department closure.

At Betsy's Page she has background on the decision to keep Ellsworth open. Also, some savey thoughts regarding the threatened closure and S.D.'s freshman Republican John Thune. Take a look here.

Unbelievable even for Raleigh's N & O

When a powerful North Carolina state legislator told colleagues he'd suggested to the state's prison system director that the director create a special prison unit for imprisoned gang members and then "put them all in that unit and let them all kill themselves," how did Raleigh's News & Observer, a McClatchy paper with a long history of support for the Democrat Party, handle the story?

Did the N&O treat it as page one news with quotes from prison reform and prisoner rights advocates? What about an editorial concerning the legislator's remarks?

Well, here's how The N&O covered remarks made by Durham Democrat Rep. Mickey Michaux, an NC House member for more than 20 years, a co-chair of its appropriations committee, and a founding member of NC's Legislative Black Caucus.

The N&O first waited a few days before publishing anying. Then it placed a brief story in the paper's second section among a series of stories about such matters as the pensions of Utility Commission members and The NC Academy of Trial Lawyers' decision to hire yet another lobbyist.

Here's the start of The N&O's story (You have to scroll down past the story "Budget gives Utilities Commission a big plum" before you get to the Michaux story):

Harsh words for gangs

Rep. Mickey Michaux showed little sympathy for prison inmates locked up for gang activity as he pushed this week for a bill that would increase penalties for gang-related crime.

He said on the House floor Monday that he suggested to N. C. Correction Secretary Theodis Beck that he create a special prison unit for gang members.

"Put them all in that unit and let them all kill themselves," said Michaux, a Durham Democrat.

The story goes on for another two paragraphs. We learn that the prison system has plans it hopes will help incarcerated gang members reform.

As for any N&O editorial regarding Michaux's remarks, The N&O remains silent four days after he spoke. If it editorializes in the next few days, I'll tell you.

Usually, I can think of something to say about the sort of journalism The N&O often foists on readers. But right now, on its treatment of this story, I'm speechless.

I'll say something in a day or two.

Meanwhile, what are your thoughts about how to make The N&O a better paper?

News and makeovers at The New York Times

Instead of "All the News That's Fit to Print." The New York Times should consider as it's motto, "News Sometimes, and Makeovers Too."

Maureen Dowd, arguably The Times' best-known makeover artist, is at it again.

The latest person to receive a Maureen makeover is Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. Visit Michelle Malkin to learn more about how Dowd clipped, twirled, and colored Rumsfeld's remarks until she had just the perfect makeover for a Times debut.

Makeover Maureen's best-known creation occurred in May 2003. Her subject was the President of the United States. Here's what I said then in a letter published in Raleigh's News & Observer:

One element of McCarthyism involves making a false statement(s) about a person, then fabricating a quote(s) from something the person said to "prove" the falsehood. The theme paragraph of Maureen Dowd's May 15 column "Caught up in terrorism again" is blatant McCarthyism.

It begins with this falsehood: "Busy chasing off Saddam, the president and vice president had told us that al- Qaeda was spent."

President Bush has never said al- Qaeda was spent. He's often says the opposite.

For example, in a recent televised address he said, "Al-Qaeda is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network still operate in many nations, and we know from daily intelligence that they continue to plot against free people."

Here is Dowd's fabricated quote: "'Al Qaeda is on the run,' President Bush said last week. 'That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly but surely being decimated....They're not a problem anymore.'"

Bush actually said: "Al-Qaeda is on the run. That group of terrorists who attacked our country is slowly, but surely being decimated. Right now, about half of all the top al-Qaeda operatives are either jailed or dead. In either case, they're not a problem anymore. And we'll stay on the hunt. To make sure America is a secure country, the al-Qaeda terrorists have got to understand it doesn't matter how long it's going to take, they will be brought to justice."

Bush can be criticized for many things but he shouldn't be subjected to McCarthyism. And neither should your readers.

There are many indicators, including polling results, which suggest that in the last few years The Times has lost respect among the American public and journalists here and overseas.

But with Maureen's Makeover Parlor right in the middle of The Times' editorial office, would you expect anything else?

Confederate Yankee is back up now

If you missed Confederate Yankee while he had some tech difficulty, weep no more.

He's up and running, something that won't please Cindy Sheehan, NPR, NY Times and BBC fans.

But that still leaves a lot of other people saying, "Welcome back."

SF Chronicle covers Air America's Al Franken

Blogger Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer reports the San Francisco Chronicle has still not mentioned the Air America loan scandal.

BUT, the Chronicle's not ignoring liberal Air America's best-known talk show host, Al Franken.

There's a movement underway to convince the U. S. Postal Service to issue a stamp honoring the late Grateful Dead band member and composer Jerry Garcia. The Chronicle tells readers:

Talk show host Al Franken has mentioned the idea of a Garcia stamp on his Air America radio program, and a new Web site, www.garciastamp.org, has just sprung up.

Almost all MSM editors say liberal bias has nothing to do with what and how they report the news.

So ignore any mention of the Air America loan scandal but tell readers about Al Franken's memorial stamp work and give readers a web address where they can learn more about it.

No liberal bias in any of that. Just good MSM journalism.

Brian and Michelle Malkin's blogs remain the places to go for anyone following the evolving Air America mess. If it gets much bigger, New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer won't have any spare time left to campaign for the Gubernatorial nomination.

What the McClatchy editor is saying now.

Regarding Melanie Sill, executive editor for news at Raleigh's News & Observer, a McClatchy paper, many readers made a prediction: Sill wouldn't answer questions concerning statements she made that were disputed by other news editors and evidence from the N&O's archives.

Sill's made her statements in response to readers' questions and comments regarding why the N&O delayed publishing on the Air America loan scandal for almost 2 weeks after other news organizations began reporting it.

While I don't disagree with readers' predictions about Sill's not answering important questions, I think Sill herself would.

So let's take a look at a few recent examples of how Sill’s responding to questions and comments.

(Note: If you're already familiar with the back-and-forth between Sill and readers, you may just want to scroll down to the paragraph that begins: "In the face of questions ... " I put those 5 words in bold as a marker. If you're new to the story, keep reading.)

When Sill claimed "(I)n checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication," her statement was promptly disputed by editors of major newspapers. They said it was common newspaper practice to use material from other papers, even those with whom a paper had no formal agreement, so long as credit was given to the paper originating the story and a whole story wasn't lifted. You can read more of what they said at this post.

Here's a quote from it:

“(R)egardless of any formal contract we (newspapers) have with one another, we can take stories from each other,” one editor explained. “We do it all the time. You can't lift the whole story; and you're supposed to give credit. But a few paragraphs? No problem. You can even take from a couple of different newspapers and blend.”

All four editors interviewed for the blog report said Sill could have published on the Air America story if she wanted to. One editor said, “If she’s really telling you something different … you’re getting stiffed.”

Sill’s credibility was further damaged when evidence from the N&O's archives directly contradicted her. LexisNexis searches of N&O archives revealed the N&O has frequently and recently used as news sources some of the same news organizations that had been reporting the Air America story. Examples are here on this thread at Sill's blog.

In the face of questions and criticisms from many readers challenging what Sill has said, she's made a few responses. Here's an example you'll find on this post's thread at her blog.

Comment from:DeputyHeadmistress [Visitor]
08/20/05 at 15:40
I must be lacking in imagination, but I cannot see how these two statements could be characterized as anything other than falsehoods:

"We've checked our news services in recent days and do not find this story"

"(I)n checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication."

If you could explain to your readers how these were truthful, honest, and accurate statements, I am sure they would be glad to hear it.

Here's Editor Sill’s response in full on the same thread:

Comment from:Melanie Sill [Visitor)• http://blogs.newsobserver.com
08/21/05 at 09:47
Dep.Headmistress: Can you say more about which part seems puzzling -- how the news service queues work?

Further along the same thread, I sent Sill the following comment referencing among other readers’ comments, those of the dep. Headmistresses. My comment in full:

Comment from: John [Visitor] • http://www.johnincarolina.com
08/21/05 at 23:01
Melanie,

You say J. Stuart "misunderstood" what you said.

I see nothing where he "misunderstood" what you said, especially regarding your statements to readers about why the N&O couldn't publish on the Air America loan scandal.

J. Stuart's comments are based on LexisNexis searches of the N&O's archives.

Those searches produced information that directly contradicts statements you made to readers about news sources available to the N&O for publishing on the Air America loan scandal at the times in question and with the news sources available to it.

Why haven't you spoken to those contradictions?

And why have you said nothing in response to those editors of major newspapers who strongly disputed what you told readers about the sources available to you for use in the N&O on the Air America loan scandal?

Why are you silent on such important questions?

The dep. headmistress said to you:

"I must be lacking in imagination, but I cannot see how these two statements could be characterized as anything other than falsehoods:

'We've checked our news services in recent days and do not find this story'

'(I)n checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication.'

If you could explain to your readers how these were truthful, honest, and accurate statements, I am sure they would be glad to hear it."

Who does not understand what the dep. headmistress is saying.
And, Melanie, you responded:

"Can you say more about which part seems puzzling -- how the news service queues work?"

John

Sill responded this morning on the thread to my comment. Here, in full, is her response:

Comment from: Melanie [Member] • http://www.newsobserver.com
08/22/05 at 09:30

John: I'm sorry you had to talk to people off the record, I would have said some of the same things on the record (the accurate parts, not the rest). Why won't these great editors use their names in discussing fairly straightforward issues? In general you've misrepresented much of what I've said, both here and in your own blog... an anonymous blogger quoting unidentified people in criticism of something I didn't say. In some cases I think you confused comments made by others in the thread with my responses. You also interpreted, or misinterpreted, my responses in certain ways. So be it... I expect some of this in blogging.

Meantime I think you'll understand there are other stories and other issues, and this blog is not intended to respond to just one or two people, no matter how persistent. I'm hopeful other readers will weigh in on many different issus and stories. Again, thanks for taking part.

Readers will quickly see Sill said nothing to actually dispute what the editors said.

Sill also said nothing to dispute the evidence from the N&O's archives which directly contradicts what she's told readers.

And Sill again ignored the real and important question the dep.
headmistress asked.

Anyone who goes to posts at Sill's blog here and here and here and reads the threads, will see that Sill has not responded to scores of informed questions and comments bearing on the same matters the dep. headmistress raised.

Her silence in the face of those questions is telling.

Sill's comment beginning: "John, I'm sorry you had to talk ....." is a reminder of the lawyers adage:

When the evidence supports what you say, argue the evidence.
When the evidence contradicts what you say, ignore the evidence and attack the witnesses.

Much more soon.

Update: What we can do to help our military

Yesterday I posted regarding something we could all do for our servicemen and women: Call at least one university or college administrator and ask: "How are you responding to the needs of students who may have special problems or needs as a result of their military service?"

I mentioned the returning serviceman in Texas who was denied an in-state tuition rate by a Texas community college because he had spent too much time out-of-state (Two tours of duty in Iraq with the Marines).

And there was a Betsy Newmark, guest blogging at Michelle Malkin, post concerning the extraordinary problems a university student experienced at his school when his National Guard unit was called to active duty, first in New York City after 9/11 and later in Iraq.

Things eventually worked out for both servicemen, thanks in the Marine's case to media attention, and in the soldier's case to his persistence and his university president's intervention.

But how to make sure student/military people don't have to face the needless problems those servicemen faced?

One solution the soldier and Betsy suggested: Assign a kind of ombudsman on campus to advocate for students with military backgrounds.

Another was that we each call or e-mail those administrators today. I said, "Let me know what happens. I'll update readers."

Well, here's what happened today.

I heard from people all over the country.

Their experiences?

As you would guess, it varied from "The person didn't seem to know what I was talking about" to "They said they have someone doing that."

One e-mail came from John Byrnes, the soldier/student Betsy told us about. He wrote in part:

I'm trying to figure out a good way to maximize efficiency on this. The obvious answer is some sort of organization.

Thank you for your service, John. And you're right. I'll get back to that in a minute.

Then there was this e-mail:

In California, military stationed here from other states pay tuition at the out-of-state rate, while illegal immigrants pay at the in-state rate. Somehow, the word "injustice" seems woefully inadequate. I doubt California is the only state giving preferential treatment to illegals while sticking it to our military, but of course the problem is bigger here. Having all military pay the in-state rate wherever they are stationed would be the right answer. And stopping subsidies of illegal activities would be a common sense approach reducing incentives to illegal immigration.

I hope California-based military will tell us more about the situation there. It would also be important to hear from university administrators and state legislatures there.

Illegals getting in-state tuition rates? Our military stationed there being denied in-state tuition rates? Who will stand for that?

As John Byrnes says, we need organization to help our student/military. And we need organization to pursue questions concerning the California in-state tuition situation. We need to be asking what's happening in other states.

So how to organize to keep the ball rolling and get the job done?

As so often when we think of helping the military, Mudville Gazette comes to mind. Let Mr. and Mrs. Greyhawk know what you think, especially how they might help as the organization John Byrnes talked about or ideas about who could set it up.

I can't for lots of reasons do it, not least because I don't have the experience to do what's needed.

What I will do is serve as a place where people can send e-mails that will get some attention. I'll stay in touch with John and pass things to him. I'll e-mail Betsy and ask if she will do an update post.

Finally, I'll report tomorrow on my phone call today to University of North Carolina System President Molly Broad's office.

Here's a quick summery: Helpful responses from administrators. Lots positive to report. This is a very informative site. Note especially how North Carolina treats for purposes of in-state tuition, military personnel assigned here and their dependents who reside with them.

When I read through the site, I was proud of the 'ol Tar Heel State.

I'll update tomorrow night.

Post delayed

I'd planned to post by noon Eastern concerning N&O matters relating to statements made to her readers by the paper's executive editor for news, Melanie Sill.

The post is being delayed because of what journalists call "late breaking developments."

I plan now to have post up by 8 PM Eastern.

I think it will interest you.

Please come back then.

John

Cindy Sheehan: Something MSM won't say

MSM has said a lot about Cindy Sheehan. But they keep leaving out the fact she's an anti-Semite.

Confederate Yankee gives us background and a link about the lady who may hate Jews even more than she hates the President.

Something you can do to help our military

There’s a chance for every one of us to do something tomorrow for the men and women who defend our freedoms. But first a little background.

You may have read about the returning serviceman in Texas. A state community college there denied him the reduced in-state tuition rate. The university decided he was no longer a Texas resident. He had spent too much time living in Iraq (Two tours of duty with the Marines).

Well, thanks in part to the Fort Worth Star Telegram and other news organizations shining a little light on things, the college decided the former Marine was a resident of Texas after all.

Now, Betsy Newmark, guest blogging at Michelle Malkin, posts concerning the extraordinary problems a university student experienced at his school when his National Guard unit was called to active duty, first in New York City after 9/11 and later in Iraq.

The problems were not unlike what many experience in higher ed (Profs who don’t respond to messages, administrators with an “I’ll find a rule to make this harder” attitude, etc.). But in this case, they were shameful because they were so obviously hurting a student/soldier serving his country.

Example, the soldier got knocked for not having a small check in to the bursar's office by a certain date. Why not? He was in transit to Iraq at the time, and his duffle with checkbook was on a ship he could not reach. Not good enough for us, the bursar's office declared.

A little common sense? Even some gratitude, maybe?

Things eventually worked out, but not before the university president got involved.

The student/soldier seems to have no bitterness toward his university. In fact, he’s offered a constructive suggestion: Assign a kind of ombudsman to advocate for students with military backgrounds.

Betsy likes that idea. I’ll bet most of us do too.

Now here’s something we all can do.

Tomorrow morning call or e-mail the office of a top administrator at a university or college to ask what the school is doing to take care of the special needs of the people who defend this country?

Is there an administrator assigned to do that?

As the academic year begins, what's being done? Is more planned? Has a memo been sent to all administrators and faculty reminding them of how the school treats students whose military service may create special needs?

You get the idea.

Tomorrow, I plan to call the office of the President of the University of North Carolina system, Molly Broad.

I’ll post on what happens. Let me know what you experience. I'll include at least some of your comments in a post.

If you make the call or send the e-mail, tomorrow evening when you put your head on the pillow you’ll be able to say, “Today I did a good thing for our great military people in Iraq and all over the globe.”

No liberal bias at Raleigh's News & Observer?

Melanie Sill, executive editor for news at the Raleigh News & Observer insists there's no liberal bias in the paper's news columns. You have her word on that.

But look at how the N&O treated two recent news stories: one involved Rev. Jerry Falwell; and the other, Sen. Robert Byrd (Dem.-W.Va.)

Falwell sent a fundraising letter to supporters in which he urged them to vote on the basis of religion, telling them: "Vote Christian in 2008."

The Anti-Defamation League issued a press release calling Falwell's comments "divisive and unAmerican." It said he should retract them.

The N&O carried the story with photo on Aug. 12 on pg. 3A.

I'm glad the N&O decided to run that story. It's important people know what Falwell did.

And about Sen. Byrd?

In March of this year, in a prepared speech delivered on the Senate floor, Byrd compared Republicans to Hitler and Nazis for attempting to change Senate filibuster rules, something Byrd himself had tried to do when his party controlled the Senate.

The Anti-Defamation League issued a press release which contained this statement:

It is hideous, outrageous and offensive for Senator Byrd to suggest that the Republican Party's tactics could in any way resemble those of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party.

The Senator shows a profound lack of understanding as to who Hitler was and what he and his regime represented.

Senator Byrd must repudiate his remarks immediately and apologize to the American people for showing such disrespect for this country's democratic process.

I phoned the ADL, and asked a spokeswoman when was the last time the ADL had issued a statement saying a U.S. Senator should apologize for a speech made on the Senate floor.

The spokeswoman said she couldn't remember it ever happening in the 15 years she had worked at the ADL.

So how did the N&O report Byrd's speech? What did Editor Sill and her news staff decide to tell readers?

Nothing. That's right, nothing.

And Sill says there's no liberal bias at the N&O.

I'm shaking my head. How about you?

Air America's troubles multiply

Air America's financial and legal troubles continue to multiply. For more go to Michelle Malkin, Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer and Captainsquarters.

It's interesting that no liberal or group of liberals has stepped forward and said something like:

"Let's do a fund-raiser. No problem raising 10 or 20 million. After taking care of Al Franken's salary, we pay back the government agencies. We make sure Air America is on solid financial footing. If there's anything leftover, we give it to the kids."

If you go there, I think you'll smile

Over at Right in Raleigh, Scott Pierce has a post about what happened when Today Show host Matt Lauer asked a Captain in Baghdad if the morale of the troops there was really as high as the troops were saying.

I think that Captain's answer will make you smile, although it probably wasn't what Matt wanted to hear.

McClatchy editor made false claim

To the growing list of journalists who tell readers things that turn out to be false add Melanie Sill, executive editor for news at Raleigh’s News & Observer, a McClatchy paper.

When readers first complained about the N&O’s failure to report the Air America loan scandal, something the N&O finally did almost two weeks after other papers reported it, Sill told readers:

"We've checked our news services in recent days and do not find this story"

Readers immediately told Sill that newspapers, including the New York Post and New York Daily News, were reporting the story. Why couldn’t Sill find such reports and use them?

Sill then acknowledged she had known other newspapers were reporting the Air America story. But she claimed she still couldn’t publish at the time because nothing was “available to The N&O for publication.” Sill told readers in a blog comment thread:

"(I)n checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication."

Sill’s claim was promptly contradicted by editors of major newspapers.

“(R)egardless of any formal contract we (newspapers) have with one another, we can take stories from each other,” one editor explained. “We do it all the time. You can’t lift the whole story; and you’re supposed to give credit. But a few paragraphs? No problem. You can even take from a couple of different newspapers and blend.”

Another editor added:

“If she’s really telling you something different … you’re getting stiffed.”

Now there’s more evidence directly contradicting Sill. It comes from the N&O itself.

A LexisNexis search by a reader and posted at Sill’s blog reveals the N&O often uses other newspapers, including the NY Post and NY Daily News, as news sources.

The N&O used the Daily News as recently as Aug. 14, just one day before Sill made the “did not find a story available to The N&O” claim.

From the LexisNexis search:

The News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), August 14, 2005 Sunday, Final Edition, ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT; Pg. G6, New Stones song lashes out at Bush, Helen Kennedy, New York Daily News (Bold added)

The search revealed many other recent instances of the N&O’s use of the NY Post and NY News as news sources. (To view LN search results scroll to about the 65th comment on this post by Sill. If you’re new to this story, Sill’s post and the entire thread are worth reading.)

Another example is from a Feb 8, 2005 story (Business section, pg. D4). It includes this:

OshKosh B'Gosh, the children's clothing maker and retailer known for its denim overalls, saw its stock soar 20 percent Monday after a report that the company has put itself up for sale.

The Wisconsin-based company has hired investment bank Goldman Sachs to find a buyer, the New York Post reported (Bold added)

So the editor who insisted that “regardless of any formal contract we (newspapers) have with one another, we can take stories from each other” was telling the truth.

And the other editors who said essentially the same thing, they were telling the truth.

And the LexisNexis search results revealing the N&O’s frequent use of the Post and Daily News as news sources tells a truth, also.

And readers who told Sill she could use some of what papers like the Post and Daily News were reporting, they were telling the truth.

Then we have Melanie Sill, executive editor for news at Raleigh’s News & Observer, a McClatchy paper.

That's really sad, isn’t it?
********************************
Previous posts:

Editors dispute N&O editor's claim
From Editor Sill's blog
Air America: Raleigh's N&O sort of reports
An editor's "One standard for thee; another for me"
Thank you and a bit about the N&O editor
Contact info for McClatchy papers
Air America and N&O editor
Help an editor find the Air America story

Look what the Raleigh News & Observer reported.

(A draft post was placed here by mistake and has been removed.

I hit the publish button when I meant to hit the draft button.

While the factual information in the draft was correct, it contained sentence fragments, notes to myself about material to be added, etc.

I'm sorry if I left you scratching your heads.

My mistake.

John)

Editors dispute N&O editor's claim

What began as a few readers asking the Raleigh News & Observer executive editor for news Melanie Sill why the paper had published nothing about the loan scandal engulfing the liberal talk-radio network Air America has now grown bigger.

Editors of major newspapers are disputing a statement Sill made to readers explaining why the N&O told them nothing about the scandal for almost two weeks. The statement the editors are disputing is at least the third Sill has made concerning that aspect of the N&O’s not reporting the story.

Sill initially told N&O readers:

"We've checked our news services in recent days and do not find this story"

Sill’s statement came days after every other New York City daily except The Times had reported the story. The story had also been reported by newspapers nationwide, as well as by nationally syndicated columnists.

While some readers thanked Sill for her statement, most commenting at Sill’s blog and here have questioned why the N&O couldn’t publish when so many other newspapers and media organizations had. Many presented Sill with what might be called “chapter and verse” responses.

Faced with fact-based questions and commentary, Sill made another statement, this time telling readers there really was an Air America story:

"I found the same stories on Air America that you all mention a couple days ago in Internet searches and by using Factiva, a paid service we use for research"

Sill’s second statement led many readers to ask her why she hadn’t just published from those sources in the first place. They also wanted to know why Sill was only then acknowledging that she had known about the Air America story all along.

Days went by with no response from Sill. During that time many people urged her to respond.

Finally, last evening, Sill made a comment on her blog. I posted it at JinC here.

So what’s Sill’s latest explanation for not publishing on Air America for almost 2 weeks?

She says:

"(I)n checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication."

If we could only accept Sill’s third and latest statement as fact, I’d say, “Let’s forget the other two and move on.”

But Sill’s latest statement has been challenged by four editors of major dailies interviewed for this post. All were given the same background information you received here and were read her third statement.

All four editors said what Sill says in her third statement doesn’t fit with how American newspapers work.

“Look,” one editor said, “regardless of any formal contract we (newspapers) have with one another, we can take stories from each other. We do it all the time. You can’t lift the whole story; and you’re supposed to give credit. But a few paragraphs? No problem. You can even take from a couple of different newspapers and blend. If your editor wanted to publish that story, she could”

Another editor, who in all major respects agreed with the first editor, mentioned the term “précis.”

“It’s a journalistic expression, newsroom.” the editor said. “We all know what précis means. Basically, the lead paragraph. Maybe a little more. You get the basic meaning of the story. You tell someone to lift a précis from, and you name the paper.”

The editor added: “You say that (précis) to your editor. She should know what you mean. We all do.”

One editor, who was especially helpful as I sometimes repeated questions just to make sure I had answers right, ended our interview with this: “I’ve told you your editor can publish on what we have the same as we can publish. If she’s really telling you something different and saying what you’re saying, you’re getting stiffed.

What to do now?

I’m sending Sill this post, and will post in full here any response she makes

There will surely be some who will say that what I’ve reported from the four editors is not really how things work in journalism, and that Sill’s third statement is true. It would be nice if that turns out to be the case.

Thanks to the internet, each of us can search and identify sources which will help us answer the question of whether the N&O could have gone ahead and published as the four editors say it could have.

We can talk to others and then make our individual decisions. We’re all in free-choice land.

Please share your thoughts.

Tomorrow, I’ll be contacting people in journalism and elsewhere, and asking them for advice.

Thanks always for your help.

From Editor Sill's blog

This afternoon I responded to a comment on a thread at N&O exec. editor for news Melanie Sill's blog.

That prompted Sill to respond. I then responded to her.

Below are the three comments.

As you'll see if you read on, I told Sill I hope we hear more from her. She needs to respond to important questions and comments some of you and others have addressed to her.

BTW - The thread, which now has more then 50 comments, is very interesting.

______________________________________________________________
(My comment that lead to Sill's response.)

08/15/05 at 14:43
David,

I read your comment with interest.

If you see this one, I hope you will respond to the following:

The Air America loan scandal involves the loss of significant community social service to about 20,000 poor children and elderly.

Two government investigative agencies are involved.

A nationally know public figure and best-selling author who has been widely discussed as a U. S. Senate candidate in '08 is involved.

This public figure, Al Franken, calls himself "a victim" of the loan scandal and his former employer "a crook."

The former employer can't be located.

The former employer was simultaneously an exec at Air America and the community agency when a series of loans totaling almost $900,000.00 were made by the community agency to Air America.

Air America is considered the liberal voice of talk-radio and has been supported in many ways by some of the country's best known liberals and MSM organizations.

In an unrelated matter, there was a dustup between Robert Novak and James Carville on CNN which led to Novak's walking off the set and subsequently being suspended by CNN.

The day following the Novak-Carville dustup, the N&O covered it with a pg. 2A, three-column story with photo.

For almost 2 weeks the N&O ran nothing on the Air America scandal.

During that time, the N&O exec. editor for news gave readers self-contradictory explanations as to why the N&O was not reporting on Air America.

There's more I could say but I'll end here.

Again, I hope you respond.

John
_________________________________________________
(Now Sill's comment)

Comment from: Melanie [Member] · http://www.newsobserver.com
08/15/05 at 15:14
John: I can see that you haven't understood my responses, so let me clarify again. My first post said accurately that I did not find the story in a search of our news service queues -- these were the stories available for our use at that time through our news services.

There is a difference between what one can find on the Internet and what is available to a newspaper for publication on a given day. My follow up post aimed to clarify. On Tuesday, the day of my first post, I could and did find the links mentioned by you and others on the Internet -- the NY Post and Sun stories and numerous commentaries. However, in checking our many news services I did not find a story available to The N&O for publication. On Friday, both AP and the NY Times moved stories, and we published the Times version on Saturday.

You're certainly welcome to criticize our decisions, but I hope this clears up any confusion you have about my first post and the followup. Perhaps I assumed too much knowledge about the difference between the Internet and national distribution of news content through news services. It's possible that I'll use a post later on to explain a little more about how news services work and how we make decisions at The N&O on what stories to pick up for our national and international news report.
________________________________________________________________
(Now my reply to Sill's comment)

08/16/05 at 00:19
Melanie,

Thank you for your reply.

It deserves a thoughtful answer.

That will probably be sometime tomorrow. Sorry for the delay, but the hour is late.

Meanwhile, I'm going to post your reply at www.johnincarolina.com I’ll title it: From Editor Sill’s blog.

My posting your reply is a proper thing to do since I’ve criticized you here at your blog, at JinC, and in an e-mail for your failure to respond to the many important questions and comments readers sent you here, at JinC, in e-mails they sent you and copied to me, and, readers tell me, in e-mails and phone calls to you.

I’ll post first my comment that preceded yours; then, your comment; and finally, this initial response to your comment. For future reference, I’ll identify your response tonight by date: 8-15-05.

While your comment tonight is well short of what readers are due, I appreciate its civility.

John
________________________________________________________

I'll respond to Sill here and at her blog late Tuesday afternoon.

Meanwhile, any information or suggestions or reactions you have will be most welcome.

I've said a number of times this past week that JinC readers and others have been informative and encouraging in matters relating to a major daily here in Carolina that can be a much better newspaper than it is now.

Where have all those people gone?

The Los Angeles Times is reporting:

Health officials are investigating whether there are any links in the cases of four California women — at least two in Los Angeles County — who have died since 2003 of massive infection after taking the so-called abortion pill, RU-486, and a follow-up drug.

The state and federal probe follows an announcement last month by the Food and Drug Administration, after the June death of a Sherman Oaks woman, warning doctors and patients of the potential for serious bacterial infection under certain circumstances.

Blogger Michelle Malkin asks where are "the usual crowd of pharmaceutical-bashers, who undoubtedly would have lobbied for any other drug with such health outcomes to be pulled." She notes "they have nothing to say about these deaths."

Come to think of it, where are the folks who are always ready to defend our right-to-privacy?

Have you heard anything from them since The New York Times' attempted to get into the Roberts children's sealed adoption records?

Can the pharmaceutical-bashers and the right-to-privacy folks all be on vacation?

I hope a Big Media figure like Maureen Dowd, David Gergen, or Ted Rall will tell us where the folks are and why they're so silent.

I mean, they can't all be on vacation in the Hamptons, can they?

Why the Revs. won't go to the circus.

Usually, the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are first in line for something like the Cindy Sheehan media circus.

So why are they staying home now?

I think because they know there's more than a whiff of anti-Semitism coming from the circus; they have their own anti-Semitic pasts; and they don't want the public reminded of that.

Rev. Jackson called Jews "hymies" and New York City "hymietown." Until recent years, Rev. Sharpton was as much a Jew-baiter as Klansman David Duke.

A decade ago, the Revs. might very well have sought front row seats at the Sheehan circus. They could have counted on the MSM to downplay or remain silent about the circus' anti-Semitic aspects and their own pasts.

But the Revs. know there are bloggers now who won't downplay or remain silent.

So don't look for Jackson or Sharpton under the big top in Crawford.

But you'll see them soon. Another media circus always comes along.

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!

Air America: Raleigh's N&O sort of reports

Yesterday, two weeks after newspapers and bloggers began reporting on the loan scandal engulfing liberal talk-radio network Air America, Raleigh's News & Observer got around to reporting it, sort of. (Loans to Air America under scrutiny, Aug. 13. Pg. 6A). The report began:

The state attorney general's office and the city's Department of Investigation are looking into whether a boys and girls club serving poor children and ailing elderly people in the Bronx had improper financial dealings, including loans to the Air America radio network, state and city officials said yesterday. (The loans tolal almost $900,000.00. - JinC)

The N&O's sort of report is based on a The New York Times report which ran the previous day.

Why is the N&O's report a sort of?

For one thing, readers aren't told why The Times and the N&O delayed for almost 2 weeks reporting a scandal every other New York City daily, and newspapers and columnists across the country were reporting. Neither paper even bothered to inform readers of their delays.

This N&O paragraph in more sort of reporting:

Jim Grossman, a spokesman for Gloria Wise, said the club had given Air America about $875,000. He said the money had been placed in an escrow account and would eventually be repaid to the club.

What escrow account? Where? Who controls it? Is anything signed? If yes, by whom? Did New York City's Department of Investigation (DOI) and the Attorney General's office approve the account?

The last I read about any escrow account, NYC's DOI was complaining that all Air America had done was place $50.000.00 in an escrow account controlled by Air America's lawyer.

Updates, NYT and N&O? Investigative journalism, anyone?

Don't N&O readers deserve more than a delayed sort of report, Editor Sill?

Former NY Times public editor David Okrent has said, "If you think The Times plays it down the middle on (issues), you've been reading the paper with your eyes closed."

I won't dispute that. And to me that explains The Times delay and sort of reporting on Air America's troubles.

But Editor Sill says there's no liberal news bias in the N&O.

Well then, what explains the N&O's delay and sort of reporting?

(Readers of this post may be interested in the next post, "When you care enough to fawn and gush." It reminds us of the kind of coverage liberal news organizations like to give Air America.)

Now will the NY Times hire Michelle Malkin?

Michelle Malkin continues to provide detailed, fact-based coverage of the Air America loan scandal.

This morning she has two posts up here and here. Don't miss either of them.

Yesterday, Michelle reported the NY Times had botched a quote of Al Franken discussing the scandal on his show.

Here's how The Times reported the quote:

"I don't know why he did it," Mr. Franken said, according to a transcript of the broadcast made by the Department of Investigation. "I don't know where the money went. I don't know if it was used for operations. I think he was borrowing from Peter to pay Paul."

Michelle responded:

Here's what Franken actually said (via audio at Brainster's Blog and transcript at Brian Maloney, who busted this story wide open in the blogosphere the Times sneers at):

"I don't know why they did it, and I don't know where the money went, I don't know if it was used for operations [softer, especially fast], which I imagine it was. I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul." (Bold added by Michelle)

Look at the difference those bold words make!

Yesterday, how many MSM "real journalists" would have believed Michelle had the quote right and the "journal of record" had it wrong?

Well, today Michelle reports:

As I reported here on Thursday night, New York Times reporter Alan Feuer botched the Al Franken quote in his article about the Air America loan. To its credit, the New York Times has run a correction acknowledging the error:

An article yesterday about state and city investigations of a loan made by a Bronx social service agency to the liberal radio network Air America quoted incorrectly from comments made on the air by Al Franken, the host of an Air America program. Referring to Evan M. Cohen, a former official of the network whom Mr. Franken accused of having engineered the loan, from the Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club, Mr. Franken said: "I don't know why they did it, and I don't know where the money went. I don't know if it was used for operations, which I imagine it was. I think he was robbing Peter to pay Paul." (He did not say: "I don't know why he did it. I don't know where the money went. I don't know if it was used for operations. I think he was borrowing from Peter to pay Paul.")

The Times still has not corrected its false assertion that the Franken quote came from a transcript of the broadcast provided by the NYC Department of Investigation. Anyone who still cares can write a letter of complaint to reporter Alan Feuer (feuer@nytimes.com), spokeswoman Catherine Mathis (mathis@nytimes.com), spokesman Toby Usnik (usnik@nytimes.com), and ombudsman Byron Calame (public@nytimes.com).

Nice work, Michelle. You make every blogger who believes in fair, full and accurate reporting proud.

An editor's "One standard for thee; another for me."

Remember Raleigh News & Observer exec. news editor and blogger Melanie Sill who famously told readers the N&O hadn't reported on the Air America loan scandal but “if a story is reported and distributed we will look at publishing it." Liberal bias, she said, had nothing to do with the N&O's silence.

Sill recently posted on another matter that has her very upset. She says many public officials and others are giving N&O reporters the brush-off. She's even experienced it herself.

According to Sill, the N&O only wants to ask people:

the kinds of questions readers often ask in online forums, letters to the editor and notes or calls to The N&O.

But Sill says a growing list of public officials:

are comfortable adopting no comment as standard practice.

An example?

The latest example is Gov. Mike Easley’s (denial of a request by an N&O reporter) for an interview.

And there's more:

Public information officers who don't return phone calls. Police chiefs and sheriffs who won't answer questions.

Brush-offs by police chiefs, sheriffs and governors understandably upset journalists.

But it's even worse than that for Sill and her team. All North Carolinians know there are a handful of people here who are far more important than even the governor. And Sill says they too are now brushing-off the N&O:

UNC basketball coach Roy Williams … wouldn't talk to N&O reporters.

And:

N.C. State football Coach Chuck Amato wouldn't grant us an interview — on the phone or in person.

Sill ends with this:

While working on this column, I sought to hear (Governor) Easley’s side of things. I put in a request to interview the governor or his representative on Monday afternoon, noting I was on deadline. The response? No interview with the governor or anyone else. Instead, I received a lengthy email statement from Cari Boyce in the governor's press office saying that our reporters are free to chase down the governor at public events (as they do as often as they can) and ask him questions.

Thanks, Ms. Boyce, but that's not what I asked.

Well, we don’t know what the folks Sill’s talking about would say to us; but we sure know Sill is in foot-stamping mode.

That said, I find myself asking a question: Why is Sill so upset with people she feels don't respond to her and her staff's questions when she hasn't responded to important questions and comments readers posted days ago at her blog?

Examples:

Many readers saw Sill’s “if a story is reported and distributed we will look at publishing it” remark as an excuse or worse for not reporting on Air America.

One of them noted:

On March 31, 2004 (you published) an A1 front page piece entitled "New liberal network takes on conservative kings of radio" on Air America by James Rosen of your Washington Bureau.

So, apparently you have no problem with reporting on Air America on your front page AND doing your own independent reporting on it when it is a good, positive happy piece. However, when it is not so happy, it doesn't even make it into the paper, much less A1.

Many readers made observations such as this:

In her first Air America post, Melanie said:

"We've checked our news services in recent days and do not find this story"

but in her second post (after many commentators told her where to find "this story"), Melanie said:

"I found the same stories on Air America that you all mention a couple days ago in Internet searches and by using Factiva, a paid service we use for research"

Sill tells readers, “ public officials who won't discuss issues central to their public responsibilities are dissing you, the public.”

But she says nothing about news editors who make glaringly self-contradictory statements and don't bother to explain them.

Tell us what they're doing to the public, Melanie?