Gibbs Fires at Santelli for Chicago Tea Party Proposal

White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, from behind the White House podium, took a personal shot at CNBC reporter Rick Santelli, when a questioned at Friday’s news briefing.

Josh Gerstein of Politico reported Gibbs' statement this way:

“I’ve watched Mr. Santelli on cable the past 24 hours or so. I’m not entirely sure where Mr. Santelli lives or in what house he lives but the American people are struggling every day to meet their mortgages, stay in their jobs, pay their bills, send their kids to school,” Gibbs said. “I think we left a few months ago the adage that if it was good for a derivatives trader that it was good for Main Street. I think the verdict is in on that,” the press secretary said, poking directly at the cable journalist, who reports from the trading floor at the Chicago Board of Trade.

Gibbs insisted Santelli was misinformed when he said Obama’s program would amount to a transfer of money from prudent taxpayers to those who had taken reckless risks.

“Mr. Santelli has argued, I think quite wrongly, that this plan won’t help everyone,” Gibbs said. “This plan helps people who have been playing by the rules. ... I would encouraged him to read the president’s plan. ... I’d be more than happy to have him come here to read it. I’d be happy to buy him a cup of coffee — decaf,” the press secretary said, in a not-so-subtle jab at Santelli’s frantic style.

Gibbs brandished a copy of a fact sheet about Obama’s plan. “Download it, hit print, and begin to read it,” he said. In an unusually personal and direct attack on a specific journalist, Gibbs used Santelli’s name at least five times.

The reason why Santelli drew the wrath of the White House was because he had the audacity to accuse the president of creating a housing bailout that is unfair to the millions who bought their homes in a responsible manner and have been making their mortgage payments.

"Government is promoting bad behavior. Do we really want to subsidize the losers' mortgages?" he asked on air Thursday. "This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage?

President Obama, are you listening?"

Apparently he was.

Here is Santelli's famous Chicago Tea Party in July cry:

Huffington Post Grew the Most in January, Neilsen Online Reveals

Nielsen Online has released its January 2009 list of the 30 most popular news sites by unique visitors, Jennifer Saba of Editor and Publisher is reporting. MSNBC has a sizable lead in the top slot, followed by CNN and Yahoo! News, while The Huffington Post had the largest percentage gain for the month -- a whopping 152 percent. The New York Times was the top newspaper on the list with 21.5 million unique viewers in the month.

Here is the top 30 sites:

Site/Total Unique Users Users in January/Increase or Decrease

MSNBC Digital Network -- 44,844,000 -- 27%
CNN Digital Network -- 41,655,000 -- 17%
Yahoo! News -- 40,499,000 -- 12%
AOL News -- 23,051,000 -- (-3%)
NYTimes.com -- 21,584,000 -- 5%

Tribune Newspapers -- 17,917,000 -- 29%
Fox News Digital Network -- 15,591,000 -- 45%
Google News -- 13,796,000 -- 15%
Gannett Newspapers and Newspaper Division -- 13,758,000 -- 2%
CBS News Digital Network -- 13,223,000 -- 42%

ABCNEWS Digital Network -- 12,771,000 -- (-3%)
washingtonpost.com -- 11,148,000 -- 13%
USATODAY.com -- 10,588,000 -- (-14%)
BBC -- 9,847,000 -- 74%
McClatchy Newspaper Network -- 9,779,000 -- 15%

WorldNow -- 9,773,000 -- (-5%)
Boston.com -- 8,535,000 -- 64%
Advance Internet -- 7,935,000 -- 23%
Hearst Newspapers Digital -- 7,822,000 -- (-1%)
N.Y. Daily News Online Edition -- 7,775,000 -- 150%

MediaNews Group Newspapers -- 7,774,000 -- 43%
TheHuffingtonPost.com -- 7,357,000 -- 152%
Topix -- 7,048,000 -- (-1%)
Cox Newspapers -- 5,940,000 -- 26%
Slate -- 5,655,000 -- 0%

NBC Local Media -- 5,576,000 -- N/A
Gannett Broadcasting -- 5,504,000 -- 1%
Telegraph -- 5,104,000 -- 139%
New York Post Holdings -- 4,992,000 -- 7%
NPR -- 4,903,000 -- 16%

News Cycle was just a bit outside for this list.

Tucson Citizen Likely to Close on March 21

The Tucson Citizen is reporting that its own demise is most likely on March 21:

The deadline for bids on the Tucson Citizen has passed - apparently with no offers - which means the paper likely will cease publication March 21 after 138 years in business.

A spokeswoman for the paper's corporate owner described the Feb. 19 bid deadline as "flexible," leaving the door open for an 11th-hour purchase.

But national media experts say it is doubtful a buyer will come forward because Gannett Company Inc. is not selling its 50 percent interest in the joint operating agreement it has with the Arizona Daily Star.

The Citizen and the Star, owned by Lee Enterprises Inc., have had a JOA since 1940. Under the agreement, each paper produces independent editorial and news content, while production, distribution, advertising and other non-news operations are handled by a third corporation, Tucson Newspapers. The papers share equally in the profits from Tucson Newspapers operations.

The Citizen is an afternoon paper with a daily circulation of about 17,000. Its Linkedin profile says it has between 200 and 500 employees.

Huffington Post Apologizes for Item Claiming John Gibson Compared Holder to a Monkey

The Huffington Post ran a correction today saying the video that supposedly showed FOX News commentator John Gibson comparing Attorney General Eric Holder to a monkey was a hoax:

The Huffington Post has learned that the below video has been doctored. We regret the error and apologize to Mr. Gibson. John Gibson never compared Eric Holder to a monkey with a bright blue scrotum.

Rather, as seen in the unedited video below, Gibson played audio of Holder saying "nation of cowards" -- so his full, unedited remarks were:

"We were talking about Eric Holder today on the radio and his comment that this is a nation of cowards."

The video was doctored to include Trace Gallagher's voice saying, "bright blue scrotum" where Gibson played Holder's "nation of cowards" remark. The Huffington Post does not know the source of the video's doctoring — it was picked up off TVNewser.

This is the unedited video:



The doctored video has been deleted from YouTube.

Here is TVNewser's correction, along with Gibson's reaction:

Yesterday we posted a Fox News clip involving several references to a "bright blue scrotum." The nature of our story was how anchors Julie Banderas and Harris Faulkner got through the story. What we didn't realize at the time is that the very end of the clip includes an exchange with Trace Gallagher and John Gibson. And that portion was doctored to put words in John Gibson's mouth that he did not say.

The Huffington Post, which picked up the clip from us got hundreds of comments on their version of the story which focused on that part of the clip.

HuffPo has issued a full correction:

The video was doctored to include Trace Gallagher's voice saying, "bright blue scrotum" where Gibson played Holder's 'nation of cowards' remark. The Huffington Post does not know the source of the video's doctoring — it was picked up off TVNewser...The Huffington Post regrets the error.

We don't know either. It came from YouTube user "john13210" and arrived in the anonymous tip box. We regret the error as well. The clip has since been removed from YouTube.

Gibson tells TVNewser, "The Huffington Post, in its zeal to slime me, went over the line and posted a phony, fabricated quote, attributed it to me, and which actually constitutes a lie, and a slander. The Huffington Post plays fast and loose on a regular basis, but this time it was caught in an out and out fabricated falsehood."

NY Post Apologizes for Controversial Cartoon

The New York Post offered an apology for publishing a cartoon that criticized the stimulus program, but was viewed as a racist attack on President Barack Obama by civil-rights activists, including the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Late last night, the newspaper published an editorial, headlined "That Cartoon", that said the drawing was meant to mock the stimulus package:

Wednesday's Page Six cartoon - caricaturing Monday's police shooting of a chimpanzee in Connecticut - has created considerable controversy.

It shows two police officers standing over the chimp's body: "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill," one officer says.

It was meant to mock an ineptly written federal stimulus bill.

Period.

But it has been taken as something else - as a depiction of President Obama, as a thinly veiled expression of racism.

This most certainly was not its intent; to those who were offended by the image, we apologize.

However, there are some in the media and in public life who have had differences with The Post in the past - and they see the incident as an opportunity for payback.

To them, no apology is due.

Sometimes a cartoon is just a cartoon - even as the opportunists seek to make it something else.

If Hannity Is Olbermann's Worst Person for His Stanford Ads, What About Obama for Receiving Stanford's Funds?

Keith Olbermann took Sean Hannity to task as his worst person in the world tonight on "Countdown with Keitgh Olbermann" for running ads on his radio show for Stanford Financial Group, Allen Stanford's firm. He's the Texas billionaire who is charged in connection with an estimated $8 billion fraud.



Now, taking a partisan shot at a conservative by implying some kind of link between the two is not a surprise; and Olbermann, who is a paid commentator, not a journalist, can voice his opinions to his heart's content. I just wonder if he would have lodged the same smear toward anyone else who has done business with the accused scammer.

Would Olbermann be just as condescending to other victims of a scam? Hannity certainly wasn't the only person who had business with Stanford. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former President Bill Clinton embraced the billionaire, as ABC's Brian Ross reports:

A video posted on the firm's web-site shows Stanford, now sought by U.S. Marshals, being hugged by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and praised by former President Bill Clinton for helping to finance a convention-related forum and party put on by the National Democratic Institute.

"I would like to thank the Stanford Financial Group for helping to underwrite this," Clinton said to the crowd at the event.

Stanford Financial was listed as the "lead benefactor" for the gathering, and Stanford was permitted to address the audience of several hundred.

Stanford contributed $150,000 to underwrite the event, said NDI president Kenneth Wollack. More recently, Stanford gave $5,000 to help pay for a luncheon hosted by the group. At the time NDI had no idea of Stanford's trouble, and it is has not had any contact with him since the December event, said Wollack.

"We had no reason to believe that a very public company that was also engaged in philanthropic work might be suspect," said a spokesperson for the National Democratic Institute, Amy Dudley

A video report from ABC shows Stanford greeting the House speaker with a hug at the Democratic Convention in Denver (The hug is at -1:43 of the video at the ABC site, and at 2:08 in the video below.)



Stanford certainly was bipartisan. He gave $28,000 to the McCain campaign. The McCain office has said it will give the money to charity. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) was the single biggest recipient of Stanford contributions, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. He received $47,000 from Stanford.

The center also reports other recipients:

Former Rep. Bob Ney (R-Ohio), who served prison time for his role in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal, received $28,200 (this includes contributions to Ney's candidate committee and leadership PAC). Former House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas), who reportedly flew on Stanford's jet, collected $20,100 from the company between the 2000 and 2006 election cycles.

In addition, since 2000, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee received $965,500; Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee received $202,000; the National Republican Congressional Committee received $250,125; and the National Republican Senatorial Committee received $133,345.

But the biggest name on the list is President Barack Obama, who received $31,750. Obama, too, has said the money will go to charity. The center says that Obama ranks third among individual lawmakers, having collected the money from the company's employees during his 2008 presidential bid, including $4,600 from Allen Stanford, the firm's leader.

So, if Hannity is the worst person in the world for being a pitchman, where does that put the president? Didn't he campaign on a platform of changing the way lobbyists and politicians work? Is this the change so many people voted for?

Well, how about change in the way we make social commentary? This is a scandal that will cross party lines. Any commentator who uses it as a springboard to attack his political opponents is taking a cheap shot, and that's exactly what this country does not need right now.

Liberals Pushing for Cenk Uygur or Sam Seder to Get MSNBC's 10 p.m. Slot

MSNBC officials have been deluged with endorsements from liberal viewers who want either Cenk Uygur or Sam Seder to follow Rachel Maddow in the 10 p.m. Eastern slot, a time period that would be attractive to the West Coast audience.

The grass-roots campaigns started when it became apparent that the cable outlet is contemplating creating a new show for the slot that is occupied by a repeat of "Countdown With Keith Olbermann," Matea Gold of the Los Angeles Times reports.

Cenk Uygur is known for the Internet show "The Young Turks" and Sam Seder is an on-air personality for Air America.





Here is some of Gold's report:

The lobbying efforts have drawn thousands of supporters and led fans to pepper MSNBC with e-mails in support of their favorite personality. Hundreds of people have posted messages of support online, some even creating their own video spots. (Give the time slot to "The Young Turks," warns one, "or I'll switch back to CNN.") Liberal bloggers on sites like MyDD.com have also weighed in.

They all hope that MSNBC will choose a host cast from the same left-leaning mold as Olbermann and Rachel Maddow, who have helped power the cable channel's ratings.

"You have a block with two unabashedly progressive voices that doesn't exist anywhere else on cable news," said Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, founder of Daily Kos, who urged his readers to back Seder for the spot. "We want to take advantage of locking up that third hour, if we can."

MSNBC President Phil Griffin said he's not necessarily looking for someone who shares the political leanings of Olbermann and Maddow, but is delighted by the response.

"If people identify with us, I'm thrilled," he said.

"Obviously, we're going to have flow between our shows," Griffin added. "But it isn't going to be ideology that drives it. I want that hour to be edgy, to be smart, to be a little snarky."

A fresh show for the slot is desperately needed for MSNBC. The Olbermann reruns are in fourth place, getting a run for its money by CNN's Nancy Grace. Here are the Feb. 17 numbers from TVbythenumbers.com:

10 PM P2+ (25-54) (35-64)
On the Record w/Greta—1,825,000 viewers (399,000) (645,000)
Anderson Cooper 360—1,443,000 viewers (572,000) (583,000)
Countdown w/Keith Olbermann—727,000 viewers (237,000) (360,000)
On the Money—170,000 viewers (66,000) (123,000)
Nancy Grace –724,000 viewers (273,000) (436,000)

Washington State Newspapers Ask Lawmakers for Tax Breaks

Struggling Washington State Newspaper publishers begged lawmakers Wednesday to give them a temporary break on the state's main business tax.

The Associated Press reports:

Seattle Times Publisher Frank Blethen and Scott Campbell, publisher of The Columbian in Vancouver, told the Senate Ways and Means Committee they need help during tumultuous times in the industry.

Under the proposed measure, the business and occupation tax on newspapers would be cut by 40 percent through 2015.

Blethen said a state tax break wouldn't fix all that ails newspapers, but it would help them preserve jobs.

The loss of advertising revenue, mixed with the current economic climate, has put weekly and daily newspapers in the state under "tremendous financial pressure," he said.

"Some of us, like The Seattle Times, are literally holding on by our fingertips today," Blethen said.

Can Reporters Ethically Join the Obama Administration?

UPDATE, 11 p.m. Eastern, Feb. 18: Calderone defends his story against charges that it was slanted against Democrats.

A number of people are starting to question the latest craze for mainstream media veterans of jumping to the Dark Side to work for government, specially the Obama administration and the Democrat leadership on the Hill. Once considered a suicidal leap in journalism, the trend is growing in light of the fact that so many newspapers are cutting staff (see list to your right, for example) as well as the fact that most journalists are in-tune with what the new president is trying to accomplish.

Michael Calderone of Politico explored this phenomenon extensively:

In an interview, [Jill Zuckman] said that she began looking around for a new job last month, motivated by the grim state of the industry — her employer, the Tribune Co., recently slashed its D.C. bureau — and also by her own feeling that she’d accomplished what she’d set out to do covering politics.

She said she had no plans to go to the administration — until she heard about an opening under Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, a former Republican representative she’s long respected for reaching across the aisle.

So, would Zuckman have taken — or even been offered — such a job if [Sen. John] McCain were president?

“I have a great deal of respect for [McCain] and have thoroughly enjoyed covering him over the years,” Zuckman said. “But there’s no way I can answer your hypothetical because I wouldn’t know who he would have chosen for secretary of transportation. My decision to go to work for the Obama administration is tied up in my relationship with Ray LaHood and his focus on getting the economy back on track.”

Conservative Michelle Malkin calls it "Obama's own little MSM bailout program."

Zuckman isn't alone. She's the latest of a number of high profile journalists who have crossed sides. Calderone provide this following rundown:

*Scott Shepard of Cox is now Sen. John Kerry’s speechwriter.
*Doug Frantz, formerly an investigative reporter, is now chief investigator for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which is chaired by Kerry.
*Tribune's Peter Gosselin is now a speechwriter for Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner.
*Time's Washington Bureau Chief Jay Carney is now Vice President Joe Biden’s communications director.
*Warren Bass left the Washington Post’s Outlook section to write speeches and advise Dr. Susan Rice at the United Nations.
*Daniel W. Reilly left Politico to become communications director for Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.).
*Linda Douglass left the National Journal for the Obama campaign in May and is expected to become assistant secretary for public affairs in the department of Health and Human Services.

The ethical question is once you have jumped over that fence, can you jump back and expected to at least pretend you are covering politics down the middle of the road? The political question is whether this is a sign of a glaring media bias during the campaign or just economic realities?

Of the journalists flocking to government jobs, Pew Project Director Tom Rosenstiel told Calderone that: “There’s no mystery here, and I don’t think the key to this is ideological as much as economic. The newspaper industry, in Washington in particular, is suffering mightily.” The Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism recently published a report on “The New Washington Press Corps,” describing the decline of the Washington Press Corps.

But Brent Bozell had a different take for Calderone:

“If you are in journalism, and you can so easily fit in the world of politics, it tells you something,” Bozell said, “that you were not that detached from it when you were in journalism.”

Perhaps proving Bozell’s point, journalists say that there used to be more stigma attached when a reporter crossed over to cover someone he’s covered. Now, they say, it’s hard to consider a colleague a sell-out when the alternative to a government job could be the unemployment line.