Locally, the various weeklies in the area give a balance to one’s understanding of the region: Main Street Newspapers with The Jackson Herald and Madison County Journal; the Morgan County Citizen; Lake Oconee News; Greensboro’s Herald-Journal; Barrow County News and Newton Citizen. Many of these papers will take on the establishment and are not totally controlled by personal agendas and advertising revenue.

AVOC

.

September 3, 2007

.

Traditional Media suffering circulation and credibility losses

.

By Wendell Dawson, Editor, AVOC, Inc

.

With all the alternative means of learning news, citizens can see through failings and credibility issues that were not as apparent a few years ago.

.

It is interesting to see the problems that Katie Couric and Jane Fonda are experiencing.   Their views are just too “leftist” for most mainstream viewers.

.

I seldom watch the networks for news anymore.   My favorite anchor is Charles Gibson who comes across as genuine and more mainstream than many others.   ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today do get some air time in our household to be “balanced”.   When the Bush Bashing starts, we go to Fox News Channel.   Despite the attacks from left-wingers, I do find Fox, as a whole, is more fair and balanced.   It does give Republicans a better break than the Liberal- Former Dem Staffers like George Stephanopoulos and Chris Matthews.   MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and CNN’s Wolf Blitzer have little credibility with me.

.

On Fox, my favorite is Bret Hume.My least favorite is Geraldo Rivera and Hannity and Combs.   A little bit of Bill O’Reilly is usually enough for me.

.

NewsMax.Com and Drudge gives one a lot of choices of sources.   The Weekly Standard is the intellectual conservative magazine.    I check it from time to time for in depth analysis.

.

The Augusta Chronicle and Savannah Morning News are anti-dotes for the liberal leanings of the Athens Banner-Herald and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

.

Locally, the various weeklies in the area give a balance to one’s understanding of the region:Main Street Newspapers with The Jackson Herald and Madison County Journal; the Morgan County Citizen; Lake Oconee News; Greensboro’s Herald-Journal; Barrow County News and Newton Citizen.   Many of these papers will take on the establishment and are not totally controlled by personal agendas and advertising revenue.

.

It is good to have these alternative sources of news for information and for balance.

.

SEE:

8-23-07 “Old Media” facing stressful challenges from the Internet – No More Monopolies!

9-1-07 Advertising at newspapers Falls 8.6 Percent

.

Print-only advertising at newspapers slumped 10.2 percent to $ 10.5 billion in the second quarter of the year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of declines, according to figures compiled by the Newspaper Association of America.

.

NewsMax.Com

http://www.newsmax.com/insidecover/Newspaper_ads_fall/2007/09/01/29202.html

.

September 1, 2007                      Associated Press

.

Advertising at newspapers Falls 8.6 Percent

.

Advertising revenues at newspapers fell 8.6 percent in the April-to-June period of this year, as an accelerating decline in print ads more than outweighed gains in online advertising, an industry group reported Friday.

.

Print-only advertising at newspapers slumped 10.2 percent to $ 10.5 billion in the second quarter of the year, marking the fifth consecutive quarter of declines, according to figures compiled by the Newspaper Association of America.

.

Online advertising at newspapers continued to grow, rising 19.3 percent to $ 795.7 million, although that was a slower rate than the 22.3 percent gain recorded in the first quarter and the 35 percent gain in the fourth quarter of last year.

.

At the same time, the share of online ads as a portion of all newspaper revenues continued to rise, making up 7 percent of total revenues in the first quarter, compared with 5.4 percent in the same period a year ago.

.

On a combined basis, print and online advertising combined fell 8.6 percent compared with the same three-month period a year ago to $ 11.3 billion, following declines of 4.8 percent in the first quarter and 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter of last year.

.

Newspapers still make up the largest category of overall advertising expenditures in the United States, but advertisers are steadily shifting money out of print advertising to the Internet as people increasingly go online for information and entertainment.

.

A study released by the media investment firm Veronis Suhler Stevenson in early August predicted that overall Internet advertising spending, including the ads on Web sites of traditional media outlets, will overtake print newspaper advertising in 2010 as the largest advertising category.

8-20-07 Jane Fonda’s Radio Network Tanks

.

NewsMax.Com

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2007/8/20/131211.shtml?s=ic

.

August 20, 2007

.

Jane Fonda’s Radio Network Tanks

.

The "feminist” radio company whose founders include Jane Fonda and Gloria Steinem failed to attract an audience and it signed off the air for good on Friday.

.

When the talk-radio network, called GreenStone, officially launched in September 2006, NewsMax reported that it was a "new left-wing radio network that plans to appeal to women listeners and counter the dominance of conservative talk radio.”

.

GreenStone claimed it would deliver "de-politicized, de-polarized talk radio by women hosts for female listeners,” and Steinem said it would offer an alternative to current radio talk, which she described as "very argumentative, quite hostile, and very much male-dominated.”

.

She also said radio was "overbalanced toward the ultra-right.” But "Greenstone Media’s brand of tepid liberalism didn’t appeal to women,” Carrie Lukas, author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Women, Sex and Feminism,” writes in the New York Post.

.

Greenstone offered interviews with such liberals as Ralph Nader, as well as segments on parenting and relationships.

.

But its programming was picked up by only eight affiliates in small to mid-sized markets, and its backers have now pulled the plug.

…………………

8-20-07 Iraq article in liberal New Republic questioned by others

.

The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/20/AR2007072002180.html

.

July 21, 2007

.

Bloggers Raise Red Flags Over New Republic's 'Baghdad Diarist'

.

By Howard Kurtz

.

The column in the New Republic, described as being penned by a U.S. soldier in Iraq, is filled with tales of petty, stomach-churning behavior.

.

The "Baghdad Diarist," writing under the pseudonym Scott Thomas, says he was "shocked by my own cruelty" as he recounts soldiers getting their kicks by running over dogs with Bradley Fighting Vehicles and playing with Iraqi children's skulls taken from a mass grave.

.

But now the liberal magazine, responding to questions raised online by the Weekly Standard and other conservative Web sites, is looking into whether the soldier's account in this and two earlier columns can be substantiated.

.

"The Standard raises some important questions about the piece, and we're investigating them," New Republic Editor Franklin Foer said yesterday. "I've been in touch with several members of the author's unit who corroborate the details under question. And the author has provided compelling responses himself."

.

Standard Editor Bill Kristol remains unconvinced. "Right now, it looks as if the New Republic has been the victim -- and the perpetrator -- of a fraud," he said. "Many vets and experts have raised questions devastating to 'Thomas' s' credibility. Not a single individual has come forward to confirm any aspect of 'Scott Thomas's' account. And who is 'Scott Thomas' anyway?"

.

Foer said he and another editor have met "Thomas," whose identity the magazine is protecting to shield him against retaliation from his superiors. He said the soldier's three columns were fact-checked, to the extent possible, before publication, and that he is now trying to resolve the critics' objections "to my complete satisfaction."

………………..

Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072700037.html

.

July 27, 2007

.

Army Private Discloses He Is New Republic's Baghdad Diarist

By Howard Kurtz

.

The New Republic's anonymous "Baghdad Diarist" identified himself yesterday as Scott Thomas Beauchamp, an Army private in Iraq, and disputed as "maddening" accusations that he had invented his accounts of cruelty by American soldiers.

.

The magazine's editor, Franklin Foer, disclosed in an interview that Beauchamp is married to a New Republic staffer, and that is "part of the reason why we found him to be a credible writer." Foer also said Beauchamp "has put himself in significant jeopardy" and "lost his lifeline to the rest of the world" because military officials have taken away his laptop, cellphone and e-mail privileges.

The Weekly Standard

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,292367,00.html

.

August 07, 2007

.

Author Tells U.S. Army He Made Up Stories Published in New Republic

.

By Michael Goldfarb

.

The Weekly Standard has learned from a military source close to the investigation that Pvt. Scott Thomas Beauchamp -- author of the much-disputed "Shock Troops" article in the New Republic's July 23 issue as well as two previous "Baghdad Diarist" columns -- signed a sworn statement admitting that all three articles he published in the New Republic were exaggerations and falsehoods -- fabrications containing only "a smidgen of truth," in the words of our source.

.

Separately, we received this statement from Major Steven F. Lamb, the deputy Public Affairs Officer for Multi National Division-Baghdad:

"An investigation has been completed and the allegations made by PVT Beauchamp were found to be false. His platoon and company were interviewed and no one could substantiate the claims."

.

According to the military source, Beauchamp's recantation was volunteered on the first day of the military's investigation. So as Beauchamp was in Iraq signing an affidavit denying the truth of his stories, the New Republic was publishing a statement from him on its website on July 26, in which Beauchamp said, "I'm willing to stand by the entirety of my articles for the New Republic using my real name."

.

The magazine's editors admitted on Aug. 2 that one of the anecdotes Beauchamp stood by in its entirety -- meant to illustrate the "morally and emotionally distorting effects of war" -- took place (if at all) in Kuwait, before his tour of duty in Iraq began, and not, as he had claimed, in his mess hall in Iraq. That event was the public humiliation by Beauchamp and a comrade of a woman whose face had been "melted" by an IED.

8-23-07 CNN’s Amanpour and God’s Warriors won ratings count on 8-21-07

FNC attracts most cable viewers

.

DRUDGE

http://www.drudgereport.com/

.

August 23, 2007

.

AMANPOUR BLOWOUT- TOP RATED OF NIGHT
.

Total Views 8/21/07
.
CNN AMANPOUR [10PM] 2,195,000
FOXNEWS O'REILLY 2,170,000
CNN AMANPOUR [9PM] 1,965,000
FNC SHEP SMITH 1,419,000
FNC HANNITY/COLMES 1,311,000
FNC BRIT HUME 1,180,000
CNN DOBBS 868,000

.

http://usliberals.about.com/od/thepressandjournalist1/p/Amanpour.htm

.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN Chief International Correspondent: Christiane Amanpour is CNN Chief International Correspondent and one of the most honored TV journalists in the US. She's also said to be the world's highest-paid correspondent.

8-23-07 In depth book shows the real Katie Couric

.

With ratings falling at NBC, Couric began blaming those around her. She made life miserable for Ann Curry. Klein implies that was because Curry is an attractive newsreader. Couric treated makeup artists and even interns with contempt.

.

NewsMax.Com

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/8/22/184632.shtml

.

August 23, 2007

.

Book on Katie Couric Makes Waves

.

Ronald Kessler

.

"Katie: The Real Story" by Edward Klein, Crown publishers, 288 pages.

Ed Klein's new biography of America's sweetheart Katie Couric hasn't officially been released, but it already is creating media buzz for its surprising revelations about the one-time "perky" morning host who became the anchor of the "CBS Evening News.

.

Klein paints a Katie Couric that is far from the sympathetic character many Americans see her as - a complex and ambitious Jekyll and Hyde figure.

.

On the one hand, Klein's book says she projects an image of the high school cheerleader she once was. But that masks her out-of-control ambition, her narcissism, and her inherent nastiness - qualities that have contributed to her downfall as the anchor of "CBS Evening News."

.

Klein's book "Katie: The Real Story," to be published next week, tells a deeper and more tragic tale: the way network television has squandered its franchise because its executives are out of touch with America. Their liberal agenda, arrogance, and egotism have contributed to the slide in their ratings, argues the author.

.

As Klein tells it, one of Couric's shortcomings and a reason "CBS Evening News" remains in third place is Couric's unabashed liberal agenda.

.

"I think the lesson of Fox News' success is a good lesson," Klein tells me. "Couric and the people around her at CBS are really out of touch with mainstream America.

.

"She hangs out with Steve Tyler of Aerosmith in Nantucket. That says everything. It's the old Chablis-and-cheese liberalism. People don't want to get their news from somebody who wears open-toed shoes, wears purple eye shadow, and who hangs out with Steve Tyler of Aerosmith at night. They want somebody more serious, more trained, more culturally attuned to what's going on in the world."

.

Klein, a former editor in chief of The New York Times Magazine who has written a string of bestsellers, is known for hard-hitting investigative journalism. While his latest work includes plenty of punches, it is balanced.

.

In relating Couric's earliest years in the TV business, Klein portrays her as a professional who is admirably ambitious and hard-working. We sympathize with her when she has stage fright and when she is about to be fired by CNN in 1980.

.

A along the way, her romances tended to be in relationships with men who could help her in her career, Klein writes.

.

Eventually, she became a perfect co-host of NBC's "Today." At one point, the show was making a profit of $ 250 million a year, half of NBC's total annual profits.

.

But after 9/11, its ratings began declining. Its lead over ABC's "Good Morning America" shrank to 600,000 viewers.

.

Compared with Couric, whose favorite expression is "bite me," Diane Sawyer and Charlie Gibson had "more political heft," according to a producer who worked with them at "GMA."

.

With ratings falling at NBC, Couric began blaming those around her. She made life miserable for Ann Curry. Klein implies that was because Curry is an attractive newsreader. Couric treated makeup artists and even interns with contempt.

……………….