Posts by The Masher

The Masher reveals inner secrets and social linkages, while exposing the media misbehaviors of the corporate bad guys.

Jumping Jack Rachel Maddow
Posted by The Masher, AlterNet on August 25, 2008 at 4:55 PM.

It was a cute scene, Rachel Maddow jumping up and down on the stage, her exuberant, comfortable self coming out amidst her progressive stalwarts and Air America cohorts at the Big Tent. "How freaking awesome it is to be here at the Democratic Convention and with all you progressives," she yelled.

She reminded the audience at the Air America Radio/Progressive Book Club super author panel: "The right wing still has this massive infrastructure that funds think tanks and pays writers and buys up tons of books, too often dominating the public dialogue. What we have is great authors, and a small, but kick-ass progressive media, but we've got to keep working until we have an omni media."

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Media Mash: Rachel Maddow Gets Own Prime-Time Show on MSNBC
Posted by The Masher on August 19, 2008 at 5:54 PM.

The hottest newscaster in TV land just landed her own show, when former MSNBC general manager Dan Abrams stepped aside for other tasks, paving the way for Maddow to take over the 9 p.m. slot on September 8th. This move solidifies the rebranding of MSNBC, with Keith Olberman as the centerpiece, as a progressive alternative to the right-wing, White House driven drivel at Fox News.

The Masher screams Hallelujah!

New York Times Bill Carter's TV Decoder column provides the background.

The addition of Ms. Maddow as prime-time host had been expected for some time. Only a month ago, Mr. Griffin said she was at the top of the list to get a show at the network, and would likely get one soon.

Media Mash: Crashing an Obama Book | CNN: Getting as Bad as Fox
Posted by The Masher, AlterNet on August 19, 2008 at 6:29 AM.

Chelsea Green, the independent, opportunistic Vermont book publisher, is crashing a new Obama book -- Obama's Challenge: America's Economic Crisis and the Power of a Transformative Presidency by Bob Kuttner, co-founder and editor of the American Prospect -- to launch at the DNC next week in Denver.

The new book has the goal of encouraging Obama, should he get elected, to rise to the challenge of the multiple crises the country faces, particularly with the economy in deep trouble and the poor and middle class increasingly in crisis. But the book also has the potential to serve as an antidote to The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality by Jerome Corsi, a book that has been thoroughly discredited for its numerous falsehoods as well as its author's track record, which includes a slew of bigoted posts on the conservative website Free Republic and co-authorship of a discredited book attacking Sen. John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign. Nevertheless, despite a critical examination by portions of the media, the Corsi book has received tons of publicity, and because of right wing bulk buying and heavy promotion on right wing talk shows, it debuted at the top of the New York Times best-seller list.

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Protecting the Vote-- AlterNet Resources Page
Posted by The Masher on November 4, 2006 at 12:47 PM.

Many dozens of groups, lawyers, video makers, activists, bloggers, and concerned people are gearing up to make sure voters rights are protected and their votes counted.

AlterNet has gathered together in one place many of the resources and ideas available to help. Whether it is locating your polling place, reporting voter suppression, shooting video, receiving emergency text messages or getting rewards for evidence of voter fraud, you will find it all here, in AlterNet's Voter Protection: Action & Resources.

Do us a favor. Keep Air America on the air!
Posted by The Masher on October 31, 2006 at 5:37 PM.

One of the reasons it would be a mistake to let Air America Radio (AAR) fade away, or get into the hands of corporate suits with no politics, or suitors more interested in themselves than a powerful progressive voice, are the numbers.

Numbers of course speak louder than words, but these numbers speak volumes:

Rush Limbaugh: 13.5 million listeners
Sean Hannity: 12.5 million listeners
Michael Savage: 8.25 million listeners
Dr. [sic] Laura Schlessinger: 8 million listeners
Laura Ingrham: 5 million listeners

Do the math: 47.5 million estimated minimal audience weekly for conservatives. And the billions of progressive dollars out there, and we can't even keep one progressive talk station going? So what if it cost $10 million a year to keep it thriving-- that's the monthly interest for some of the wealth on our side. It would be worth it. The ripple effect is huge, and Air America never got its web presence down-- a sure source of growth in the future. But Air America was never meant to be a vanity project; it is a viable business, that aims to harness the progressive marketplace, something that has yet to be effectively tried. And it takes some time.

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Media Mash: The Dixie Chicks' coup
Posted by The Masher on October 28, 2006 at 10:23 AM.

When I saw the item: NBC and CW Television bans Dixie Chicks spot, for the new documentary Shut Up and Sing, the Masher smiled... Jeez, NBC must be a fan of the Dixie Chicks and Harvey Weinstein, because the publicity surrounding the ban -- and its delicious irony -- "Network refuses to air ads for movie about artists being condemned for exercising their free speech," will no doubt spur people into the theatres. Or maybe General Electric-- NBC network's owner-- wanted to suck up to the Bushies... but why now? All the other biz elites are covering their butts by giving late money to the Democrats.

Nevertheless, the NBC claims that the network "Cannot Accept These Spots as They are Disparaging to President Bush" is so ludicrous... just about everything more than half the population says these days is disparaging to Bush. Harvey Weinstein, co-chairman of The Weinstein Company and the film's distributor, stated, "It's a sad commentary about the level of fear in our society that a movie about a group of courageous entertainers who were blacklisted for exercising their right of free speech is now itself being blacklisted by corporate America. The idea that anyone should be penalized for criticizing the president is sad and profoundly un-American."

Media Mash: The media battle over predator protection
Posted by The Masher on October 3, 2006 at 6:02 PM.

There's a mad scramble by Republicans to prevent a total meltdown political disaster from the Foley revelations and the ongoing predator cover-up. The heat on Dennis Hastert to resign as Speaker increases by the hour. But these guys have no shame. The race to scapegoat and avoid responsibility is escalating.

Rush Limbaugh had Hastert on his show, with Hastert claiming that the Foley Scandal Is A Liberal Conspiracy To 'Get To Me' And 'Affect Our Election.' He promised Limbaugh "we are going on offense." The "offense" is an effort to portray the scandal as a conspiracy specifically timed by liberals.

Limbaugh, of course is in tune: "Well, it's clear to me that what the Democrats are doing here in some sort of cooperation with some in the media is to suppress conservative turnout by making it look like you guys knew this all along but because you're so interested in holding the House rather than protecting children that you covered it up."

Some Democrats are quickly going full bore to take advantage of the Republican mess: check out this ad for Patty Wetterling, Congressional candidate in the 6th District in Minnesota. Many are urging other Dem. candidates to get on the air quickly with similar attacks.

Fundamentally, this is primarily battle for the hearts and minds of the religious voters who have given the Republicans their edge since 2000, but who are shaking their heads right now. The latest shocking revelation are Instant Messages in the hands of ABC's Brian Ross, where Foley is, in essence, having internet sex with an 18-year-old while waiting for a vote on the House floor. Ross, who broke this story, continues to ladle out mind boggling new developments every day. What else is waiting in the wings? ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys under the age of 18.

A second front on the scapeboating effort is the link right-wingers are attempting to make between homosexuals and pedophiles, insisting that "Pro-Homosexual Political Correctness Sowed Seeds for Foley Scandal," according to Family Research Council President Tony Perkins:

"This is the end result of a society that rejects sexual restraints in the name of diversity. If our children aren't safe in the halls of Congress, where are they safe? Maybe it's time to question: when is tolerance just an excuse for permissiveness?"

It seems a big leap to think that the permissive society of diversity and liberals are responsible for Tom Foley's fiasco, and the Republicans long-term collusion to cover it up -- because they had to be so politically correct. How about they wanted to win elections, pure and simple? Wouldn't it be swell if there was RICO statute that covers conspiracy to protect Congressional pedophiles? Then we'd see a long line of Republican leaders on their way to the slammer.

Media Mash: Fearless Huffington
Posted by The Masher on September 26, 2006 at 4:43 PM.

The timing wasn't so good. Virtually on the eve of the book bash for Arianna Huffington's latest book: "On Becoming Fearless...in Love, Work and Life," (Little Brown), Tom Freston, the party's co-host, along with his wife Kathy, had just been canned as the boss of Viacom by Sumner Redstone, the octagenarian, and sometimes capricious corporate mogul. Freston, one of the founders and then CEO of MTV, rose to be co-president and co-COO, with Leslie Moonves of Viacom. The company was then split into two, with Freston in charge of Paramount Pictures, the cable properties including Comedy Central, etc, while Moonves was put in charge of the CBS Corporation. But Freston's role ended on September 5th.

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