UNEMPLOYMENT UP
PRIMARY RERUNS UNLIKELY
GREG MITCHELL ON THE MEDIA AND THE WAR

FROM THE GREAT DEPRESSION 2006 BLOG

• "Bear closed at $57 on Thursday and closed at $30 on Friday. To add insult to injury, they were sold to J P Morgan for $2 a share over the weekend.

• "On Thursday the stock had a market cap of 6.7 billion dollars. At the close on Friday that figure was 3.54 billion. At $2 per share the market cap is 236 million dollars.

• "I'll bet you can't find an investment institution anywhere that even owned one share of this stock (tongue in cheek). 6.7 billion billion dollars went poof and it only took one business day (weekends don't count)! Bear Sterns is a real dynamite stock, just look at the damage."

CNN: Brokers who lie, and more subprime nightmares (CNN.com)

Many homeowners who were subject to predatory lending practices - including brokers who misrepresented payments - are trying to rework their loans. Few are having any luck.

Report: Citigroup to slash 2,000 jobs

Citigroup plans to lay off 2,000 more bankers and traders before the end of the month, according to The New York Times.

FBI AT WORK - FROM HOUSING PANIC BLOG:

The list of corporate fraud investigations focused on subprime mortgage lending practices by major banks and companies has grown since January, when the bureau announced a probe of 14 mortgage lenders.

While the bureau will not comment on the companies that are under investigation, two Justice Department officials confirmed to ABC News reports in last week's Wall Street Journal that Countrywide Financial is under investigation.


Primary Unlikely in Michigan, Obama On The Economy

AP: The Michigan State Senate has adjourned without taking up a presidential primary bill, essentially ending Michigan's chances of holding a June 3 do-over Democratic election.

While there still is a possibility a last-minute deal can be reached, lawmakers' lack of enthusiasm for a second election paid for by private donors means that's unlikely.

Hillary Rodham Clinton supports another primary as a way to get Michigan delegates seated at her party's national convention.

But Barack Obama's campaign has raised a host of concerns."


CHARLESTON, W.Va. - Barack Obama blamed the Iraq war for higher oil prices and skyrocketing debt Thursday as he sought to tie the unpopular war to the slumping economy in working-class West Virginia.

The Democratic hopeful is trying to cut into Hillary Clinton's base in West Virginia. The state's demographics appear to favor Clinton, whose support is strongest among older white voters and blue-collar workers.


Media Tenor studies hundreds of media sources and reports on how the media is or is not covering the candidates:

Media Tenor Presidential Campaign Watch

Obama fights back - but race issue undermines his act; Leadership proves to be Obama's Achilles' heel; Recession in reporting - if not in words

New York, March 20, 2008: Barrack Obama is fighting for the survival of his campaign. Up-to-data analysis of political coverage in US TV news shows a collapse of media support for Barrack Obama after the revelation of the divisive remarks from his long-term spiritual mentor, the Rvd. Jeremiah Wright. "Although Obama fought back with his speech in Philadelphia," explains Roland Schatz, President of Media Tenor International, "the discussion has undermined his claim to transform race relations in the US." At the same time, analysis of political coverage in ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox news, shows Hillary Clinton reclaiming lost ground after her win in Texas.

TV coverage of the Democratic nomination continues to focus on campaigning and leadership issues - which more and more evolve into Obama's Achilles' heel. Doubts about his lack of experie nce have haunted him since the beginning of the campaign, but they have been balanced by the momentum of his early wins. But after his failure to beat Clinton in Texas, criticism prevails. In March, more than 1 in 4 statements on Obama's leadership qualities was negative. The latest setbacks at the polls have driven critical reporting about Obama, while Hillary Clinton profited from her comeback. "As none of the two contenders is expected to win a majority of delegates, journalists anticipate advantages for Clinton," Schatz points out.

Negative TV coverage of the economy reached a new peak in March. As the financial meltdown on Wall Street continues, politicians struggle to maintain an optimistic outlook, while more than 70% of Americans see their country already in a recession. However, the economic problems have had little impact on the Presidential campaign. But when TV reported about the economic policies of the candidates, critical comments prevailed. "It see ms unlikely that one of the contenders can turn the economic upheavals into an advantage," concludes Schatz.

For the third time, International Media analysis company Media Tenor is offering a detailed analysis of the U.S. presidential campaign. TV news coverage of the leading Presidential contenders is scrutinized at a detailed level. "The methodology was developed 15 years ago and has been successfully used not only to analyze the 2000 and 2004 U.S. Presidential campaigns, but also for International politics as well," Schatz explains.

Media Tenor's Presidential Campaign Watch focuses not only on Candidate standings, but also on topics and sources, while adding on an international perspective.

IN THESE TIMES: DAVID MOBERG; WHAT IS OBAMANOMICS?
http://inthesetimes.com/article/3560/obamanomics/

Who knows what his economic policies are?" asks one sympathetic economist from a union that has not yet endorsed a candidate. "They seem pretty unformed."

Obama would certainly shift government priorities to improving job prospects and raising living standards for American workers. He proposes raising the minimum wage to $9.50 an hour, offering refundable $4,000 tax credits for college, expanding the childcare tax credit, reforming bankruptcy laws, rebuilding infrastructure, establishing a new employee savings plan and investing in alternative energy to create "millions of new green jobs."

Yet even the unions that have endorsed Obama-including most members of Change to Win-have found it hard to differentiate his economic policies from those of Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.)

"I had until recently felt that both Clinton and Obama campaigns were quite economically conservative," says Thomas Palley, a progressive economic consultant and writer. "But the Obama campaign does seem more a work-in-progress and, therefore, more open to influence."

Campaigns often fail to foretell presidential policies. Centrist candidate Franklin Roosevelt shifted to the left. Centrist candidate Bill Clinton shifted to the right.

The candidate's advisers offer limited clues. The Guardian's Daniel Koffler tags Obama as a "left libertarian," reflecting the influence of economic advisers like Austan Goolsbee from the University of Chicago-the Vatican of the free market fundamentalists. The work of Obama's advisers suggests that he would rely on marginal tinkering with markets and incentives to try to achieve some progressive ends, such as more equality or opportunity.

Such a strategy would be consistent with what Cass Sunstein, Obama's colleague at the University of Chicago Law School, identifies as Obama's "minimalist" approach to law and politics. As Sunstein argued in The New Republic, Obama would be inclined to make modest adjustments in institutions in search of his "visionary" goals.


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Lewis "Scooter" Libby, the former chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney, was stripped of his ability to practice law on Thursday as a result of his conviction in the CIA leak case.

The former White House aide was found guilty a year ago of obstruction of justice and lying. Those are considered crimes involving "moral turpitude" that under the law require disbarment, the District of Columbia Court of Appeals ruled.

The court had previously suspended Libby from the practice of law in Washington. President George W. Bush in July commuted Libby's 2-1/2-year prison sentence, enraging Democrats who accused Bush of abusing his power.

A federal jury in Washington convicted Libby of lying and obstructing an investigation into who blew the cover of CIA officer Valerie Plame, whose husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, had criticized the Iraq war.

Libby had not been charged with leaking Plame's identity to the news media. But Plame said the unmasking destroyed her career and was retaliation after her husband accused the Bush administration of manipulating intelligence to build its case for the Iraq war.

The local Board on Professional Responsibility had recommended that Libby be disbarred, the court said in its brief order. It said Libby has not opposed his disbarment."

[Sorry, I don't seem to be able to embed links.]


Editor Greg Mitchell Speaks Out About the Press and the War

First a report on a protest at the American Petroleum Institute in Washington by David Swanson (see afterdowningstreet.org.api)

This tongue-in-cheek press advisory preceded Wednesday's action in front of the American Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C.:

American Petroleum Institute To Grant Congress Permission to Stop Funding Iraq War and Occupation

The activist group No War, No Warming today announced that they will be celebrating outside the headquarters of the American Petroleum Institute Wednesday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m. The API is located at 1220 L St. NW, at the corner of 13th and L.

Activists will be celebrating the expected announcement by API that it is changing its name to the Alternative Power Institute. Its first act as the new API is anticipated to be the notification of every member of the United States House and Senate whom it has legally bribed in recent years that, in light of API's just announced transition to promotion of renewable energy technologies, there is no further requirement to fund the occupation of Iraq.

Activists will also be distributing API tax rebate coupons to pedestrians and car drivers. The tax rebate will be partial compensation for the approximately $3800 paid by each taxpayer since 2003 for the Iraq war and federal subsidies to Big Oil.

The action at the newly-named Alternative Power Institute is one of a number of actions in Washington, D.C. on March 19th being coordinated by United for Peace and Justice (www.5yearstoomany.org).


President Bush's defense of the "success" of his war in Iraq yesterday made a mockery of the lives lost as the world marked the fifth anniversary of this quagmire. Both Obama and Clinton took Bush to task for his revisionism, callousness and incompetence

Greg Mitchell is the Editor of Editor & Publisher, the trade journal of America's newspapers. The magazine reports on the newspaper business, chronicles who owns who and who's working there. It is a credible source of information read by editors and publishers nationwide.

Mitchell is not like the usual "business reporter." He writes a widely read column about the issues of journalism and the challenges facing the profession. He has carefully tracked reporting on the war in the mainstream press and emerged as a leading critic of the industry he serves. He's a thoughtful and clear writer and clearly a man of conscience and values. His concerns are well documented and detailed. You would expect that his "insider" voice would be listened to and might influence the way the war is being covered.

He believes that it has affected some of the issues that are covered, and perhaps the way they are covered but really the way the press works.

He thought that they would have that impact.

No such luck. Back in two years ago, he tried to publish a collection of his articles but could not find a publisher (an experience I can relate to.) He was told that the war would soon be over and thus the book would be dated and passe Clearly that didn't happen. Thanks to Union Square Press, that book came out for the fifth anniversary of the war. It's called 'SO WRONG FOR SO LONG: How the Press, the Pundits and the President Failed on Iraq.'

 

The book was compelling enough to get Bruce Springsteen, himself a war critic with such songs as "Who will Be The Last To Die?" to write a short preface.

I have been plugging the book perhaps because I never felt my two volumes on the media war Embedded and When News Lies received the attention they deserved. Reviews were scarce and few newspapers took up the concerns they raised. I figured Greg's book would have much more impact because he is "one of them" and I've gone from insider to outside.

Guess what? That hasn't been the case. While it has had attention in the blogs and online, while Bill Moyers has been attentive, most of his colleagues in the mighty (or, rather, increasingly not so mighty MSM) have not paid attention to it. More importantly, they don't even seem aware of the power of the press or willing themselves to assess its impact.

Greg is not a loud mouth like me, so he is very quiet about his disappointment. "You would think the New York Times would write about the impact of the press, but they haven't," he told me. Why won't they, I kept pressing. "I don't know" he kept responding. He was especially upset about the fact that on this fifth anniversary of the war, there have been no pieces on the way the media has covered the war. He noted that the cable channels, especially have a disproportionate influence

He also reminded me that the New York Times and Washington Post never really apologized for coverage that was proven to be demonstrably wrong. They pointed to the problems, he said, but the conclusion tended to be we are only as good as our sources.

I felt the book does not go far enough in inducting the industry. I think that there are media crimes that contribute to war crimes. I felt he could have done more to talk about the role of new media but, then again, his focus has to be the industry he covers.

Greg Mitchell deserves our thanks for his persistence and commitment to telling the truth and urging others to do so. That's what "the Boss" sees in the book. I recommend that you read it as one contribution to the literature on why war has been such an ongoing disaster. Greg, incidentally also wrote a book about the late and great populist muckraker Upton Sinclair. I asked him about the film "There will be blood" supposedly based on his great book "Oil." Read the book was his reply.

NEWS PRI0RITIES VIA NIKKI FINKE IN HOLLYW00D:

SAY SAYONARA TO THE SUNDANCE CHANNEL?