Some of the news that is fit to print

Extra! Read all about it!

From Slate.com's Today's Papers from NYT's Thomas Fridman's column today...

Thomas Friedman, tireless reporter ... "Many authors hate to go on grinding book tours," writes the NYT columnist. Friedman, though, says he for one is willing to make such sacrifices: "I've always found it a useful way to be a foreign correspondent in America and take the pulse of the country." The two big insights of his Tour of Duty: Many people 1) want a good education; 2) get their news from ... The Daily Show.

So-long 'HFS

I noted about DC-alt music standard WHFS suddenly switching formats three months ago to the Latino mix. The WP notes this morning that some of us may have been disappointed, but the station in the most recent ratings book saw a 69 percent increase. I guess there is an untapped market. A few interesting tidbits fromt the piece:
* Viacom's Infinity Radio started the station with essentially no staff. They used feeds from other stations and have backfilled the posts.
* Accordinig to the Arbitron rating people, 96 percent of hispanic homes get radio. Um, I don't mean to sound snooty, but  are there really homes that don't have a radio? I guess I just listen to so much radio, I just assumed.
* And a term I had not heard of -- "hurban."

All I have to say is thank goodness for XM Radio.

Nothing lies like numbers

The WSJ has a wonderful columnist that the paper calls "The Numbers Guy," who delves into the statics and numbers trying to make sense of them. And today, he has an excellent bit about the "fact" people keep throwing around -- that Canadian police estimate that more than 100,000 Web sites contain images of child sexual abuse.

It turns out the Canadian police were citing the statistic from a three-year-old article in a magazine that stopped publishing in 2003. The magazine's source is a U.S. agency that no longer exists. And the agency that has replaced it can't track down the original source of the stat. The lesson: An old stat can get new life when "experts" repeat it, especially when there is no conflicting version of the number.

I love it when reports go above and beyond and question something that we all consider as a fact. As a journalist for years, it is always surprising to me that people take almost anything that is written down -- especially in newspapers or magazines -- as if it is Gospel. Just like nearly everything, they need to be interpreted through common sense. As always, the reader needs to ask, "Does this make sense?"

In this particular case, I'm not exactly sure how anybody would calculate how much child porn is online. And I'm not sure it really matters. If the number were larger, would we be any less horrified? Or would authorities be putting any more or less resources dealing with the problem based on the number? Kiddie porn is horrible and we know that it out there, but I'm not sure the number adds a lot to the debate.

Not that I have an opinion, of course.

Wired... the computer issue???

I just got my new issue of Architectural Digest and the issue is headlined as the "architecture issue." Um, what? Is that like the people issue of People magazine?
Obviously, AD doesn't have the May 2005 issue posted online yet.

Dodging the issue

The much-watched blogger decisions came down yesterday. Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James P. Kleinberg ordered [Word version] three online reporters to reveal their sources to Apple Computer.

The company brought a lawsuit against the reporters demanding they reveal who leaked them information about a new music software the company considers to be a trade secret. Most of us were watching the case to see what it would mean say about online reporters and bloggers in the future, but Kleinberg skirted the issue of whether the writers could be considered journalists. Instead, the judge equated releasing proprietary information to stealing. (Of course, if somebody else passes you information, it is not really stealing, right?)

Shockingly, a MSNBC poll shows that 71 percent of the people responding think the decision is correct and that people shouldn't be allowed to post such information.

It is somewhat shocking these days but I think if Watergate happened today, people would go after Woodstein for having sources inside the White House that weren't towing the line. It is just shocking to me.

Sexless city

That get's you to pay attention, doesn't it.
So lawmakers, concerned about morals on television, may try to apply decency rules to cable and satellite. So no so fast Howard.
CONGRESS PUSH TO APPLY DECENCY RULES TO CABLE (WP)
Senate Commerce Committee Chairman Ted Stevens said on Tuesday he would push for applying broadcast decency standards to cable television and subscription satellite TV and radio. Chicago Tribune: No bleeping was needed for Chris Rock, but the post-Super Bowl "malfunction" environment has broadcasters grappling with self-censorship, writes Clarence Page.

 

Talk about a crime...

You want to talk about a crime. A U.S. appeals court ruled today that New York Times reporter Judith Miller and Time's Matthew Cooper must comply with a subpoena from a grand jury investigating whether the Bush administration illegally leaked Valerie Plame's name to the news media.
This is a total witch hunt that hurts the press and hurts the people's right to get information. It's just bad!
I know people are never interested in hearing about how difficult it is to get and collect the news -- all of our jobs are difficult, after all. And people generally don't like the press, so in a way, I think they are happy that it is difficult. But his Plame case is the antithesis of free speech and freedom of the press. And the sad and frustrating part of this is that common sense seems to have evaporated.

The day the music died...

Updated 3:30p...
I mentioned earlier about DC's alternative rock radio station, WHFS, suddenly dumping its format for the Spanish demo, becoming "El Zol -- Siepre de fiesta."  (A side note: Apparently America Online has purchased the WHFS Web site and AOL is now pointing to AOL radio. Unusually smart!)

But now, the listen-at-work radio station, WETA-FM, which has played classical music during the day, has decided to go to a news talk format, the Washington Post reports this morning. Here is their new schedule and it sucks! Just what we need -- another talk station! The nice thing about WETA is that I could listen to classical music throughout the day but still get NPR news at the top of each hour. And WETA played better music then DC's commercial classicial music station, WGMS. WGMS also doesn't have play news. All of this means my XM radio boom box will have to make its way back to the office.

Meanwhile, even less noticed was a switch in DC AM radio -- WWRC 1260 AM , formerly a sports talk station, has become Progressive Talk 1260, part of Air America, a left-wing talk radio network featuring Al Franken and Jeneane Garofalo. I'm not sure how well they are doing given that the program manager has posted a letter on the station's Web site that one can forward to all your progressive friends enlisting grass roots support for the station. All I know is that they carry the Imus in the Morning radio program -- and it is better then the horrible WTNT 570 AM, which is conservative talk. They carry hacks such as Laura Ingram, Joe Scarborough, and the supreme hate monger Michael Savage.

I am not a talk radio listener generally -- Imus being the exception. I traveled to Hershey, Pa. in October for a conference, however, and I decided to take a listen just to see what all the rumble is about and it is no wonder we have the level of political discourse we have these days.  It is really shocking! As I said at the time, there is a lot to argue and many differences of opinion, but talk radio debate has devolved into back biting, personal attacks.

So I just try to stay above the fray and watch programs like PBS's NewsHour, NBC's Meet the Press, and, to a lesser degree, CNN's NewsNight with Aaron Brown -- and I read! And I listen to my iPod. But I avoid like the plague the all-news cable networks any more -- they have become mirrors of talk radio -- and I avoid talk radio, including progressive talk! It helps maintain a level of sanity.

The CBS Evening News with...

CBS officials announced yesterday that they will be seeking to replace Dan Rather with what the Washington Post TV reporter called a "hipper" news team for the CBS Evening News, possibly including Jon Stewart from Comedy Central's Daily Show. Yes, you heard that right.

Here is how AP reported the story.

Asked twice, Moonves wouldn't rule out a role on the evening news for Comedy Central's Jon Steward, whose "The Daily Show" skewers politicians and the news media each night. Moonves is co-chief executive of Viacom, which owns both CBS and Comedy Central.

Radio personality Don Imus noted this morning that it was fake news that got CBS News in trouble in the first place.

DC radio shocker...

WHFS, which has been a Washington, D.C. radio tradition as the alternative station, suddenly changed formats today to... all Spanish!
According to the Washington Post, the change was sudden.

The abrupt switch came as a shock. Since 1969, WHFS has served as the arbiter of cutting-edge rock in the Washington area, introducing listeners to acts such the Cure and the Violent Femmes.

Truely amazing because WHFS used to be the leader, but in recent years it has just become lame -- like many alternative radio stations out there these days.
Still, it is a shocker!