PBS' 'Frontline' examines ways politics, business hurt news media

February 13, 2007
PBS' 'Frontline' examines ways politics, business hurt news media

Readers didn't need a week of front-page stories about diaper-wearing astronauts and the alleged cultural significance of Anna Nicole Smith to tell them that the Fourth Estate is having an identity crisis. There's also last week's Pentagon inspector general report criticizing the Bush administration's manipulation of prewar intelligence, reminding Americans that most of the Beltway media danced to the White House's drumbeat to the Iraq war four years ago.

The 4 1/2-hour "News War" series traces the pathology crippling the media business -- financially and legally -- back to the days of the Nixon administration. What it reports is not necessarily new, but it is one of the first televised efforts to connect the factors transforming the news industry at this critical juncture in journalism. And many of the key players -- on both sides of the camera -- are in the Bay Area.

News media cheer ruling on Libby tapes

February 5, 2007
News media cheer ruling on Libby tapes

WASHINGTON -- News organizations praised a judge's decision Monday to release tapes of former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby's grand jury testimony, saying it would open a window into court proceedings.

U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton said he would make the eight-hour recordings public even
though he was worried that jurors could be influenced by outside media buzz.

Federal law supports the public release of evidence presented to a jury. But judges in
high-profile cases occasionally have released only written transcripts or have delayed public
disclosure until the trial's end.

Libby case witness details art of media manipulation

January 28, 2007
Libby case witness details art of media manipulation

WASHINGTON -- A smorgasbord of Washington insider details emerged during the perjury trial of I. Lewis Libby, the vice president's former chief of staff.

No one served up spicier morsels than Cathie Martin, Vice President Dick Cheney's former top press assistant . Martin described the craft of media manipulation -- under oath and in blunter terms than politicians like to hear in public.

Most of the techniques were candidly described: the uses of leaks and exclusives, when to hide in anonymity, which news medium was seen as more susceptible to control, and what timing was most propitious.

Even the rating of certain journalists as friends to favor and critics to shun -- a faint echo of the enemies list drawn up in Richard Nixon's White House more than 30 years ago.

The Bait-and-Switch White House

January 27, 2007
The Bait-and-Switch White House

All of that was distressing enough. But in Friday's Times, Adam Liptak gave an account of the way the administration — after grandly announcing that it was finally going to obey the law on wiretapping — is trying to quash lawsuits over Mr. Bush's outlaw eavesdropping operations by imposing outrageous secrecy and control over the courts.

Justice Department lawyers are withholding evidence from plaintiffs and even restricting the access of judges to documents in cases involving Mr. Bush's decision to authorize the warrantless interception of e-mail and phone calls. In one suit, Justice Department lawyers tried to seize computers from the plaintiffs' lawyers to remove a document central to their case against the government.

In response to these and other serious concerns, the Justice Department offered only the most twisted excuses, which a federal judge rightly compared to "Alice in Wonderland."

Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine

January 18, 2007
Bring Back the Fairness Doctrine

Then, in the late 1970's, came deregulation, and the quality-news incentive began to erode. As the
Federal Communications Commission relaxed programming standards, owners no longer routinely wrote off their news budgets in red ink. They found that, by treating news as entertainment, it could be just as profitable. So they began taking calls from those pesky "consultants." And they were won
over by their brassy concepts ("Eyewitness News" et al); by their focus groups, which (surprise!)
preferred young, good-looking newscasters to seasoned, avuncular ones; and, inevitably, by their
ideas on cutting budgets.

Experienced journalists were laid off wholesale; novices willing to work long hours at minimal
salaries took their place. The savings went toward fancier sets and glitzier graphics. Stories
that were less newsworthy but more visually compelling moved higher in newscasts. "If it bleeds it
leads" became the new standard.