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Members of the mainstream media — people who call themselves “journalists” — seem to have paid absolutely no attention to a Congressional Research Service report on energy released Oct. 27 — this, despite the fact that two energy-related measures (i.e., the Kerry-Boxer and Waxman-Markey) are at the center of heated debate now taking place on Capitol Hill.

Here is video of America's future journalists at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism doing a hip-hop rant as part of an assignment, which included an attack on Fox News and Sean Hannity: "But I will never lose touch with my own humanityGet every side to speakBut there's no need to hear crazyOr create false sense of parityLike Fox News and Hannity . . ."Looks like they are training them well, to become clones of the impartial "journalists" at MSNBC. . . (VIDEO)

The journalists of Indianapolis want us to feel sorry for them. See, they've voluntarily signed a contract that includes a 10% pay cut and precludes raises during this contract's 2 year term. And they are wining about it. In a day when papers are failing all across the country, the guild members of Indy journos want us to shed a tear for the fact that they've been successful in keeping their jobs. In a day of the highest unemployment in all sectors of the economy for decades, these newspaper folks want us to get all twisted up over the fact...

Laura Ling and Euna Lee, the two American journalists released after nearly five months in North Korean custody, have been widely portrayed at home as victims of unduly harsh punishment by a repressive government for simply doing their job. But here in South Korea, human rights advocates, bloggers and Christian pastors are accusing them of needlessly endangering the very people they tried to cover: North Korean refugees and the activists who help them. The accusations stem from a central fear repeated in newspapers and blogs here: that the notes and videotapes the journalists gathered in China before their ill-fated venture...

North Korea's Kim Jong Il awarded his son, Kim Jong Un, a special commendation for his direct handling of the 2 captured Americans and Pres. Clinton recently. Internal speech was made by the Domestic Security Bureau, which said "Comrade Kim Jong En in his brilliance is to be awarded for excellent work. He dealt skillfully with the (2 US journalist) spy incident, and even was able to force a former US President to come all the way over the Pacific Ocean to apologize to us."

(SNIP) As it turns out, the preponderance of journalists are Democrats. And socialism, with its idyllic, “progressive” programs, has formed an increasingly important role in Democratic policies. Who wants to investigate a possible dark side of your own party’s plank? (SNIP) Unsurprisingly, self-selection plays an important role in choosing a job. People choosing to do work related to prisons, for example, commonly show quite different characteristics than those who volunteer for work in helping disadvantaged youths. Academicians have very different characteristics than CEOs—or politicians, for that matter. Harry Stein, former ethics editor of Esquire, once said: "Journalism, like social work,...

The story has all the ingredients of a Hollywood blockbuster. Two beautiful girls in peril, an evil North Korean dictator holding them captive and, riding to the rescue, Slick Willy himself, former President Bill Clinton. As journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee collapsed, sobbing tears of joy, into the arms of their relieved families after being pardoned from a sentence of 12 years’ hard labour in North Korea, their palpable relief was perhaps enhanced by the flood of lucrative film, book and interview offers that came pouring in. [Snip] As of last night, the bidding war for the first...

On July 14, in the lawless African nation of Somalia, two French men registered as journalists were eating breakfast at the Sahafi Hotel in Mogadishu. Heavily armed gunmen stormed the hotel. According to Reuters, they went room to room looking for the two men. After being located and abducted, the French citizens were turned over to al-Qaeda’s arm in Somalia, a group called al-Shabaab — this according to Lieutenant-Colonel Muhideen Ahmed, a Somalian police official. To date, they remain hostages. In a bizarre twist, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner went on record saying that the two men were actually posing...

Former President Bill Clinton hugs former Vice President Al gore as Clinton arrives with Laura Ling and Euna Lee at Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2009. The two American journalists freed by North Korea returned home to the United States on Wednesday for a jubilant, emotional reunion with family members and friends they hadn't seen since their arrests nearly five months ago.

Now that all the hoopla and nonstop CNN 24/7 type celebrations and TV interviews and book deals will ramp up over the release of two liberal Democrat California-based freelance/Al Gore journalists from communist North Korea, based on a Bill Clinton secret deal and eventual flying to North Korea to apologize and legitimize the dictatorial regime--developing nuclear strike capabilities and exporting said terror--I say "hold your horses", as we have important unfinished business. I would expect the MSM to gloss over these so I raise them here.

B reaKinG N ews on Fox News Channel..

CNN reporting that North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il has "pardoned" the two American journalist captured within his country.

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Via BNO News: Yonhap: Former U.S. President Clinton will visit North Korea on Tuesday to win the release of two detained American journalists. No link to story yet

It's the peak of summer --when sane people vacation and even Congress has recess. Last summer, it was also time for gas prices that peaked at stratospheric sums. This summer not so much. While drivers might be thrilled, America's media are unhappy. Journalists don't believe no news is good news. No news for the working press means uncomfortable moments of silence punctuated by commercials. It's easy to recall last year. ABC's Chris Cuomo did so July 8, reminiscing about better news days during one "Good Morning America" segment. "Alright, let me take you back one year from today. OK? Gas...

Reported during Your World that Steven Rattner would step down and be replaced by a member of the Auto Task Force. No print story currently available at site.

The press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders says it is concerned by what it calls the growing repression of journalists and cyber-dissidents in Iran. In a report issued Sunday, the RSF (Reporters Sans Frontieres) announced the detention of five more journalists. RSF says 41 journalists are currently imprisoned in Iran a month after the country's contested election. RSF says Iran is currently the world's biggest prison for journalists, and is becoming the world's most dangerous place for them to operate. RSF says the recently-detained journalists include photographers Majid Saidi and Tohid Bighi, blogger Henghameh Shahidi, and journalists Somaieh Nosrati and...

This link is just to the Japanese report, but it is emerging that since March a) Kim Jong Un, the 26-year-old heir apparant/son of Kim Jong il, has essentially been given administrative control of the North Korean Secret Police (국가안전보위부); b) that this also soon puts him in de-facto control of the 10,000 man strong border forces which will be put under control of the DPRK Secret Police next month. Further, Dong-A Ilbo daily newspaper in South Korea (from which the JIJI Japanese report (link) is based) says for all intents and purposes, c) the fates and current handling...

PARIS (Herald de Paris et Cie.) - Before Laura Ling and Euna Lee became household names for entirely the wrong reason; before North Korean missile tests; before UN resolutions for violations of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, Laura’s sister, investigative reporter Lisa Ling, sneaked into North Korea for The National Geographic Channel’s EXPLORER series, in 2006, posing as a member of a humanitarian eye surgery team. The end result was a documentary titled, “Undercover in North Korea.” Lisa’s hour-long Undercover in North Korea defied Kim Jong Il’s ban on outside journalists, and offered a glimpse of life above the 38th parallel...

Sunday, midday, Tehran An extraordinary frustration, irritation and fatigue have set in. My international cellphone hasn't worked for days. Now it's going on 24 hours that my local mobile phone has bee practically useless. Many internet websites crucial to journalists gathering information are blocked and even basic internet service that allows us to send emails, voice and video reports is wildly erratic. And we have less than a day more on the ground here in Iran's largest city to get the story out. Our visas expire Monday and we've been told there will be no permission to extend them. Clearly,...

The press is cleared to Tweet. "Twitter" is among more than 60 new entries in the 2009 Associated Press Stylebook ... along with 5 Arabic terms.

CAIRO: A difference in opinion on whether to attend an exclusive press meeting with President Barack Obama or boycott the meeting in objection to the presence of an Israeli journalist has turned into a full-blown dispute between two of the country’s prominent journalists. Al-Masry Al-Youm chief editor Magdy El-Gallad and renowned Egyptian columnist and Islamic thinker Fahmy Howiedi took their argument to TV, exchanging blame and indirect insults. Howiedi refused to attend an exclusive roundtable with US President Barack Obama following his Cairo speech last Thursday due to the presence of an Israeli journalist. “It wasn’t easy … sitting in...

Don't fall for North Korea's trap -- Rogue states are using US reporters as pawns. -- Only swift retribution will stop the cynical game. -- By Allan Richarz from the June 8, 2009 edition Print this Letter to the Editor Republish -- KANNAMACHI, JAPAN - With North Korea's conviction and sentencing of two American journalists today to 12 years of prison labor, reporters have again been used as proxies in a cynical game waged by rogue states to gain leverage in negotiations with the West. This follows on the heels of now-freed Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who was released last...

SEOUL, South Korea – North Korea convicted two American journalists and sentenced them Monday to 12 years of hard labor for crossing into its territory, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States. The Obama administration said it would pursue "all possible channels" to win the release of Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for former Vice President Al Gore's San Francisco-based Current TV media venture.

Current TV, Al Gore's 'Media Outlet,' Adopts State Department Policy of Giving No Information Whatsoever on Detained Journalists By Ashley Harrell in MediaWednesday, Mar. 25 2009 @ 2:32PM Current TV hired this guy to keep the media out. When Jill Carroll was kidnapped by insurgents in Iraq in 2006, the editor of the Christian Science Monitor quickly released a statement: "Jill's' ability to help others understand the issues facing all groups in Iraq has been invaluable," said editor Richard Bergenheim. "We are urgently seeking information about Ms. Carroll and pursuing every avenue to secure her release." The paper also reported...

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North Korea's top court convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in a prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States. The sentencing came amid soaring tensions fueled by the North's latest nuclear and missile tests. Many believe Pyongyang is using the journalists as bargaining chips as the U.N. debates a new resolution to punish the unpredictable country for its latest military threats. In a cryptic two-sentence report, the North's state news agency said Laura Ling, 32, and Euna Lee, 36 were sentenced after the five-day trial ended Monday....

Headline tells the story

A sombre scoop for Pyongyang's pawns By Donald Kirk WASHINGTON - North Korean strategists must be loving every minute of it. They've got two American women in their net, charged with entering the country illegally and committing "hostile acts". They've got the United States State Department working behind the scenes for their release while talking tough in public about North Korean "provocations". They've got the women's relatives - including an older sister who once made a television documentary exposing the horrors of life in North Korea - appealing publicly for mercy. And they've also got activists across the US staging...

Former Vice President Al Gore may be sent to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists on trial, the AFP reported. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for Gore's California-based Current TV, were arrested March 17 near the North Korean border while on a reporting trip to China on charges they entered the country illegally and engaged in "hostile acts" — allegations that could draw a 10-year sentence in a labor camp. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly did not rule out the possibility of Gore being sent when asked if it would make sense for him to...

Al Gore may visit N.K. for detained reporters The United States Thursday did not rule out the possibility of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore flying to North Korea to negotiate the release of two American journalists detained for alleged illegal entry while reporting in the area, according to news reports. "This is such a sensitive issue, I'm just not going to go into those kinds of discussions that we may or may not have had," State Department spokesman Ian Kelly told reporters when asked about Gore's possible trip to Pyongyang. "The bottom line is that these two young women...

Al Gore may go to NKorea to help US reporters Thu Jun 4, 5:01 pm ET WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States might send former US vice president Al Gore to Pyongyang in order to negotiate the release of two American journalists on trial in North Korea for illegal entry. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly did not rule out such a possibility when asked if it would make sense to send Gore, who is chairman of the California station Current TV, which employs the two journalists. "It's a very, very sensitive issue, I'm not going to go into it," Kelly...

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You may remember the evening of Sept. 29, 2001. On that evening, Rudy Giuliani appeared on Saturday Night Live. It was 18 days after the September 11 attacks. This appearance of the mayor of New York — who had spent almost three weeks comforting a shaken nation, mourning with families of the murdered, and leading — was widely considered a signal: We could laugh again. We needed to laugh. Heaven knows, Giuliani must have needed it as much as anyone. Laughter can be a beautiful thing, a great gift in difficult times. A way to reach those who might not...

Humanities Center event features poets, journalists, novelists Harvard News Office For some, words are both a way of life and a way of risking life. Last year, 877 writers and journalists around the world were killed, jailed, or attacked. That’s according to PEN International, a global association of writers. A recent PEN event celebrated — among others — the memory of Ken Saro-Wiwa, a Nigerian writer hanged for his activism in 1995. In a testament to the fearful power of his words, his body was burned with acid and buried in an unmarked grave. An audience of 90 at Harvard’s...

Note: The following text is a quote: THE BRIEFING ROOM THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary _____________________________________________________________ FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 1, 2009 Statement by the President in honor of World Press Freedom Day World Press Freedom Day is annually observed on May 3 to remind us all of the vital importance of this core freedom. It is a day in which we celebrate the indispensable role played by journalists in exposing abuses of power, while we sound the alarm about the growing number of journalists silenced by death or jail as they attempt to bring daily news...

When new information about Americans who had cooperated with the Soviet KGB began to emerge in the 1990s, no individual case generated as much controversy as that of the journalist I.F. Stone, who had long been installed in the pantheon of left-wing heroes as a symbol of rectitude and a teller of truth to power before his death in 1989.

EOUL, South Korea – North Korean military intelligence officers in Pyongyang are questioning two American journalists for alleged espionage after they illegally crossed into the country from China, a South Korean newspaper reported Tuesday. Laura Ling and Euna Lee, journalists working for the San Francisco-based media outlet Current TV, were undergoing "intense interrogation," with investigators poring through their notebooks, videotapes and camera for signs they were spying on the North's military facilities, the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper said, citing an unnamed South Korean intelligence official. The two were being held at private quarters run by North Korean military intelligence agency on...

Source: U.S. journalists in Pyongyang Seoul tells Washington the detainees could be facing charges of espionage March 24, 2009 A sign warning against illegal border crossing was set up near the Tumen River where two female American reporters were reportedly arrested by North Korean soldiers on March 17. [YONHAP] South Korea has collected intelligence on how two American journalists were recently captured in North Korea and has briefed United States intelligence officials on the details, the JoongAng Ilbo has learned. A South Korean source said that after the capture, U.S. intelligence officials asked South Korea for cooperation in gathering facts...

Two American journalists were detained by North Korean soldiers while on a reporting trip earlier in the week near the country's border with China, South Korean news reports and a South Korean missionary said Thursday. The journalists _ Laura Ling and Euna Lee, reporters for the California-based online media outlet Current TV _ were taken into North Korean custody on Tuesday, a missionary who spoke to them earlier that day told The Associated Press. The Rev. Chun Ki-won of the Seoul-based Durihana Mission said by telephone from Washington that he had been informed that the two women and a guide...

El Informador (Guadalajara, Jalisco) 2/4/09 Ten Mexican journalists were assassinated in 2008, surpassing the six killed the year before. This makes Mexico, for the second consecutive year, the most dangerous country for journalists in the world, according to the International Federation of Journalists, meeting in Brussels, Belgium, today. The president of the federation said that impunity from prosecution is the true threat to journalists and that “if the authorities are indifferent, the attacks will continue.” ——————– El Universal (Mexico City) 2/4/09 Authorities in Panama seized 200 kilos of cocaine, two million dollars in cash and arrested a Mexican citizen supposedly...

Transparency is a hard thing to do these days. Press mad. Prez mad. Everybody take a breath.

Bush opened up his final press conference by telling the White House press corps that he respected and appreciated working with them. "I see a lot of faces that travel with me around the world, to places like Afghanistan and Iraq and Africa," Bush said. “I see some new faces, which goes to show there’s some turnover in this business," he continued. Bush told the press corps that sometimes they "mis-underestimated" him. And sometimes, he said, "I didn’t like the stories you wrote." "Mostly, I’m interested in saying thank you for the job," Bush said. During the press conference, over...

BAGHDAD – Many Iraqis were surprised when an Iraqi reporter hurled his shoes at President George W. Bush during a press conference with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Sunday. While some Iraqis were shocked, others said the shoe-throwing was an act of valor. But in general, many Iraqis believe that the insult directed towards Bush has really reflected badly on them – particularly because of their long history of traditions and customs that focus on respecting the guest – even if that guest is considered an "enemy."

An Iraqi journalist who hurled his shoes at President Bush and called him a dog became a huge celebrity in the Arab world and beyond on Monday, with many supporters exalting him for what they called a courageous act in the face of American arrogance about the war.

(NECN) - President George W. Bush addressed the progress made in the Iraq War on Sunday, in a visit to Baghdad just 37 days prior to handing off the war to President-elect Barack Obama. But President Bush got more than he bargained for -- he was able to show off his dodgeball skills. Or, dodge-shoe skills, in this case. Who throws a shoe, you ask? Al-Baghdadia television correspondent Muntadar al-Zeidi, who peeled off both of his shoes and threw them a the U.S. President, shouting "This is the end!" Bush dodged both shoes as they whipped past his head. "All...

Firearms scare almost everybody. But no demographic gets more wiggy about handguns, shotguns, and rifles than journalists. Ever since the Washington Post ("Gun Sales Thriving in Uncertain Times," Oct. 27) put the idea into circulation that the election and economic turmoil were spurring an increase in gun and ammo sales, a score of other news outlets have published their takes on the topic.

Congratulations are due to President-elect Barack Obama, but as we hand out the kudos, it would be wrong to leave out the mainstream media, which finally succeeded after two consecutive failures to put its preferred candidate over the top and into the White House. By simultaneously protecting and covering for Obama, while treating every McCain criticism of him as a campaign strategy scandal, the MSM clearly played a huge role in creating Obama’s mythical image and helping to sell him to an electorate willing to believe in some sort of mystical messiah. So you might think we can expect the...

In a Fox News Sunday panel segment on the media's pro-Obama and anti-McCain bias, Juan Williams revealed journalists were in such a swoon for Barack Obama that during the primaries “what you saw was that the executive editors and the top people at the networks were all rushing to Obama events, bringing their children, celebrating it, saying they were, there's this part of history.” Though Williams, a former Washington Post reporter who is now a NPR news analyst and regular analyst for Fox News, maintained “there's no question in my mind the media has been more supportive of Senator Obama,”...

Standard & Poor's on Thursday slashed its ratings on the New York Times Co (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) into junk territory and cited concerns about the newspaper publisher's revenue outlook, after it posted a third-quarter loss. Moody's Investors Service also said it may follow the move, adding the publisher faces risks in refinancing its debt. The New York Times posted a quarterly loss from continuing operations on Thursday and said advertising revenue at its news media group dropped 16 percent for the quarter. For details, see [ID:nN23398087]

NEW YORK, Oct 23 (Reuters) - Standard & Poor's on Thursday slashed its ratings on the New York Times Co (NYT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) into junk territory and cited concerns about the newspaper publisher's revenue outlook, after it posted a third-quarter loss. ...SNIP... It cut the Times' rating three notches to "BB-minus," three levels below investment grade, from "BBB-minus." The outlook is negative, indicating an additional cut may be likely over the next one-to-two years.