Volume 1 Issue 41

January 15, 2003

Dissecting the Media

Is the Wall Street Journal going liberal, Bush bashes his head against a wall with Korea, and the problem with Bob Graham

In a very interesting article in the Wall Street Journal today, the head of the highway safety agency (NHTSA) said that SUV's were unsafe, and consumers should not buy them. So why is that not in other papers? That's sort of strange, especially when it is a conservative paper like the WSJ that prints it. But, and this brings me to another interesting point, the Journal is actually a good newspaper. Why? Because there is a real difference between the news division there and the ultra-conservative editorial page. The news division really takes things as they are, and doesn't really put a spin on many of them. For instance, when Bush unveiled his tax plan last week the WSJ ran a headline that said "Bush unveils audacious tax proposal". Now, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines audacious as: "recklessly bold; contemptuous of law, religion" and suggests synonyms such as "rash" and "insolent." Not exactly a great term if you're supposedly a pro-administration paper. This brings us to another paper I malign regularly, the New York Times. While the Times still has great news coverage, they have been accused lately of having their editorial page run their paper, with incidents such as the spiking of two columns in the paper that disagreed with the Editorial page's opinion on the banning of women from the Augusta National Golf Club. So, the question becomes - is it easier to see the separation between the news and editorial parts of the WSJ because it is so conservative, any non-biased story would look liberal by comparison? Or is the New York Times really allowing its editorial slant to affect its news coverage? If so, is this a bad thing? Some have suggested that if the Times just stops saying it has "All the News that's Fit to Print" and rather says it is "A Liberal Crusading Newspaper", that all could be fine. While I'm not one to agree with the "liberal media" argument, there is the possibility that the Times has gotten a little too ridiculous, and instead of reporting the news all the time has begun to shift its coverage in a direction. Let's hope that stops, and that once again the Times can be the paper of record again. In the meantime, perhaps I'll start thinking about subscribing to the Wall Street Journal!

On to the insanity...and today there may even be real insanity. Like this:

Whoops: Well, so much for North Korea being willing to negotiate now, and so much for their round-about ways of talking with Richardson and all. They today rejected the Bush Administration's offer for talks, and encouraged South Korea to attack the US. Guess this isn't going to go too well -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A59278-2003Jan15.html

Is Truth imitating Fiction? Onion Headline: "Bush on North Korea: We Must Invade Iraq" Sadly, while reading this I at first thought it could be a real story... -

http://www.theonion.com/onion3901/bush_on_north_korea.html

Damn Poor People: Apparently the Bush/GOP "tax the poor" initiative hasn't gone away, its just hiding -
http://slate.msn.com/id/2076725/

Look Who's Running For President: Bob Graham (D-Fla) met with former President Clinton recently to discuss his potential bid for the White House -

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/palmbeach/sfl-pagraham15jan15,0,5400721.story?coll=sfla-news-palm
Greg's Pick of the Day: Um, but one problem. Bob is kinda insane. You see, he keeps notebook logs of his days. Like everything. Like when he puts his pants on or goes to the bathroom or returns a video. This is disturbing. I can't remember what I ate yesterday usually, much less have a log of it -

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/columnists/jim_def ede/4939724.htm
Btw, rumor has it that Bob Graham is somehow related to the family that owns the Washington Post. Anyone know how? (this is not a trivia question, I don't know the answer..)

Look Who's Running For President 2: But why would anyone run for President. Howard Kurtz discusses -
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58768-2003Jan15.html

Look who's ahead in New Hampshire: John Kerry holds a commanding lead in New Hampshire, according to a recent poll CONDUCTED MORE THAN A YEAR BEFORE THE PRIMARY! Sorry. Howard Dean is a surprisingly strong 2nd...a sign of things to come, or is he peaking too early? -

http://americanresearchgroup.com/nhpoll/nhp41a.shtml

Is Starbucks planning to take over the world? Some are concerned that Starbucks has begun to make inroads in Europe, where coffeehouses were a tradition long before the Seattle company came to power. But Jackson Kuhl says not to worry, Starbucks won't be homogenizing the whole world quite yet. -

http://www.reason.com/0301/cr.jk.tempest.shtml

Greetings from the Confederacy: After Presidential Candidate Dick Gephardt said he thought the Confederate Flag should fly nowhere (24 hours after saying it was ok to fly it), Missouri removed the flag from two Confederate memorials. And all hell has broken loose in Georgia and a few other places where they want the flag flown. Ok, so I can see it being flown at memorials, but what is the whole thing with this erupting again. Has no one realized the WAR IS OVER?! -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56800-2003Jan14.html

Have we gone insane? Famous British Writer John La Carre says the US has -
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,482-543296,00.html

Fashion Revolution in the Keystone State? Fashion people are aghast at future Pennsylvania First Lady Midge Rendell's declared intention to wear a once-worn dress to her husbands inaugural! The horror! Man, if women can wear dresses more than once, then the whole economy is heading down the toilet... -

http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/4948023.htm

Questions? Comments? Corrections? Large Pizza with sausage and anchovies? greg@fromtheswamp.com

Have a great Wednesday!

Gregory S. Gadren