Presstitutes

Pepe Escobar: Manning guilty; war criminals on the loose

"In a show trial/kangaroo court with an American twist, worthy of the Cultural Revolution in 1960s China, Bradley Manning was predictably found guilty of multiple counts of violating the Espionage Act. If only Walter Benjamin were alive to see the Angel of History once again throwing one of his trademark lightning bolts of irony; Manning was pronounced guilty of being a spy - by a Pentagon judge - just next door to Spy Central, the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: Manning guilty; war criminals on the loose

Pepe Escobar: Manning guilty; war criminals on the loose

"In a show trial/kangaroo court with an American twist, worthy of the Cultural Revolution in 1960s China, Bradley Manning was predictably found guilty of multiple counts of violating the Espionage Act. If only Walter Benjamin were alive to see the Angel of History once again throwing one of his trademark lightning bolts of irony; Manning was pronounced guilty of being a spy - by a Pentagon judge - just next door to Spy Central, the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade, Maryland." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingPepe Escobar: Manning guilty; war criminals on the loose

Tennessee newspaper editor is fired after writing an anti-Obama headline

"A Tennessee newspaper editor has been fired after writing a headline critical of President Obama. Drew Johnson's editorial, titled, 'Take your jobs plan and shove it, Mr. President: Your policies have harmed Chattanooga enough,' was published in the Chattanooga Times Free Press earlier this week when Obama visited the city. The timing of the column gave it a national audience it might not otherwise have had. As a result, it went viral online and Johnson, the editor of the Times Free Press editorial page, has since been let go. 'I just became the first person in the history of newspapers to be fired for writing a paper's most-read article,' he tweeted." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingTennessee newspaper editor is fired after writing an anti-Obama headline

Michael Hastings: my friend and his enemies

"When Michael spoke to an annual gathering of military reporters in November 2010, he got few congratulations for writing unquestionably the most consequential piece of war reporting that year, and a lot of hostility instead. Michael could give it right back. His journalist critics were hopelessly compromised Washington pseudo-reporters, he railed, slavishly devoted to the access he considered himself to scorn. It was in this manner that Michael and his critics would forever talk past each other. But Michael didn't start it; they started it. And Michael had thick skin for someone so relentlessly vilified as arrogant." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingMichael Hastings: my friend and his enemies

Glenn Greenwald Tears Into Toobin Over Manning, Snowden

"Guardian journalist Glenn Greenwald faced off against CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin over the sentencing of ex-Army private Bradley Manning and his acquittal on the charge of 'aiding the enemy.' Greenwald brought up Pentagon Papers whistleblower Daniel Ellsberg and people who exposed Bush administration scandals, telling Toobin that if he's going to make all these assertions about what whistleblowers shouldn't do, 'you're essentially calling for the end of investigative journalism.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingGlenn Greenwald Tears Into Toobin Over Manning, Snowden

How the Media Has Distorted a Tragedy

"As a fiction, Zimmerman the white supremacist rivals Obama the Kenyan-born commie Muslim. Obama is right that our racial history—a history in which, a few decades ago, young black males in much of the country really could be murdered at will for looking at a white person the wrong way—gave Trayvon Martin’s death a powerful and painful resonance for black Americans. That made it all the more incumbent on the media to be scrupulously truthful and responsible in their coverage. At this, they have spectacularly failed, with deplorable consequences." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingHow the Media Has Distorted a Tragedy

Ex-Obama Aide (Stupidly) Dismisses Glenn Greenwald as a Fake Journalist

"Steven Rattner, a former member of Barack Obama's Treasury Department, appeared on the news show Morning Joe on Monday offering an opinion about The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, the journalist who broke the story about NSA spying. Rattner's opinion? Greenwald isn't a journalist. This is apparently because Rattner may not have seen how Greenwald's reporting has shifted public opinion and moved public policy. Rattner may actually be unaware of what journalists do. Perhaps this blind spot is because the journalists he hangs out with work for Morning Joe." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingEx-Obama Aide (Stupidly) Dismisses Glenn Greenwald as a Fake Journalist

Limbaugh and Hannity to be dropped by major radio network

"The country’s second-biggest radio network is planning to dump conservative commentators Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh at the end of 2013 to offset a loss in revenues, Politico reported on Sunday. Think Progress reported that the duo has lost 240 advertisers between them since 2012, with Limbaugh in particular being targeted for a boycott over his derogatory remarks against womens’ rights activist Sandra Fluke. That same month, Limbaugh complained that Fox News was losing out on advertising money because 'the media buyers at advertising agencies are young women, fresh out of college, liberal feminists who hate conservatism.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingLimbaugh and Hannity to be dropped by major radio network

Inside TimeSpace, the New York Times’ new startup accelerator

"The program is the first experiment of its kind by the owner of the country’s second largest newspaper. It’s goal is to infuse the 162-year-old Times Company, battered, bruised and barely profitable thanks to digital disruption, with some of that sweet innovation nectar startups are known for. In exchange, the startups get access to decision makers, lawyers, and editorial staff at the New York Times, with a little prestige and credibility to boot. The unspoken hope is that the entrepreneurial spirit will rub off on the slow-moving Times Company like osmosis." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingInside TimeSpace, the New York Times’ new startup accelerator