Posted on 02/14/2005 7:45:33 AM PST by srm913
How the networks are handling the Ward Churchill story, that is the subject of this evening's "Talking Points Memo." For every day folks, the Churchill story's big. Has emotion, free speech implications, taxpayer involvement, a villain. It's very interesting on a number of levels, but not for the nightly news broadcasts.
CBS and NBC News both ran just one short report, focusing on the speech angle. Peter Jennings (search) has not reported the story at all.
So here again is the difference between the elite world and the real world. Radical Professor Ward Churchill (search) has insulted thousands of American families who lost loved ones on 9/11. And the guy is being paid nearly $100,000 of taxpayer money by the University of Colorado. And other colleges were paying him to speak as well.
This is not an important story that a guy who hates America is profiting from thathate and inflicting pain on the 9/11 families? This is not worthy of some exposition? Come on. This goes right to the heart of our liberties, right to the moral fabric of America. This is huge.
But not to the national news TV people on the broadcast side. If ever there was an explanation of why they are a losing audience and FOX News is gaining, this is it.
"Talking Points" has been considering the lack of interest. And I don't have an answer. Yes, Churchill makes the radical left look stupid. But while the network news generally tilts left, it has little use for radicals.
Howard Dean, for example, was not embraced by the network types. So I don't think they're covering up for Churchill. Perhaps the story's too controversial.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
I like it!
Churchill manure hit other fans too:
Kirkland Project Director Resigns
Action is Effective Immediately
[source http://www.hamilton.edu]
Nancy Rabinowitz, in a telephone call to Hamilton College President Joan Hinde Stewart Thursday night (Feb. 10), announced her resignation as director of the Kirkland Project.
The action, which takes effect immediately, comes in the wake of controversy surrounding a speaking invitation extended by the Kirkland Project to University of Colorado Professor Ward Churchill and the projects offer of a temporary teaching position to former prisoner Susan Rosenberg.
In a paper written immediately after the September 11 terrorist attacks, Churchill suggested that many of those killed that day deserved their fate. He subsequently reaffirmed those remarks. Rosenberg was indicted but never tried for a 1981 armored car robbery that left a guard and two police officers dead. She was sentenced for 58 years on charges of weapons possession, but President Clinton granted her clemency in 2001. Rosenberg was invited by the Kirkland Project to teach a half-credit course on memoir writing but withdrew following criticism of her past.
In a statement posted to the Kirkland Projects Web site, Rabinowitz said, "Hamilton College finds itself in the midst of a crisis that is deeply rooted in the institutions history and set against a backdrop of increasing political and cultural tension. Much of the resulting media attack has been directed personally at me as director of the Kirkland Project. This, in turn, has been destructive to the project and to the educational mission of the college, in particular to its desire to create a more diverse and welcoming environment for all students. In the interests of the college and its community, therefore, I am stepping down as director, effective immediately."
Rabinowitz continued, "I am resigning under duress, for I would have preferred to stay on until I took my long-awaited sabbatical; however, my strengths have been in the intrinsic work of the project itself, and what the project needs now is someone more adept at the kind of political and media fight that the current climate requires. Therefore, it is in the interests of the mission of the project itself and for no other reason that I am yielding to requests that I resign."
Stewart announced that the Office of the Vice President for Academic Affairs, working with the Kirkland Projects Coordinating Council and Executive Committee, will assume oversight of the organization for the remainder of the semester.
She reported earlier that the project would undergo a review. In a Feb. 7 letter to the Hamilton community Stewart wrote "
I have initiated a review of the organizations mission, governance, budget and programming, and have informed the projects leaders that allocations from their budget for the remainder of the year require the signature of the dean."
The review, which is being led by Associate Dean of the Faculty Kirk Pillow and includes four other Hamilton faculty members, will be completed by the end of the academic year in May.
According to the College Catalogue, "The Kirkland Project for the Study of Gender, Society and Culture is a campus organization committed to intellectual inquiry and social justice, focusing on issues of race, class, gender and sexuality, and other facets of human diversity. Through educational programs, research and community outreach, the project seeks to build a community respectful of difference."
Rabinowitz, who teaches comparative literature at Hamilton, has been the projects only director since the organization was founded in 1996. [source http://www.hamilton.edu]
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