Free Republic

On April 8, House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi headlined a Boston conference on ''media reform.'' She was joined by four other congressmen, a senator, two FCC commissioners, a Nobel laureate and numerous liberal journalists. The 2,500-person event was sponsored by a group called Free Press, one of more than 180 different media-related organizations that receives money from liberal billionaire George Soros. Soros, who first made a name for himself in investing and currency trading, now makes his name in politics and policy. Since the 2004 election, the controversial financier has used his influence and billions to push a laundry list...

On April 8, 2011, FCC Commissioners Clyburn and Copps spoke at the National Conference for Media Reform, held in Boston by Free Press. The moderator asked Commissioner Clyburn about her comments calling on North Carolina to cease consideration of a bill advanced by Time Warner Cable to preempt local authority to build superior broadband networks. The entire event is available via Free Press' Conference site but we isolated the comments about local authority here.

Barack Obama has weighed-in on the issue of reinstating the so-called “Fairness Doctrine.” After being repeatedly questioned about the candidate’s position, campaign Press Secretary Michael Ortiz stated in an email message that “Senator Obama does not support re-imposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters.” This position could be yet another one of those “deeply-held convictions” that Obama believes in unequivocally, similar to his long-held position on campaign finance reform. In January of 2007, Obama stated in a CNN interview with Larry King that the public-financing system “works.” Later that year, Mr. Obama challenged Republican presidential candidates to join him in limiting...

Minneapolis: Dropping any pretense of objectivity and non-partisanship, the “National Conference for Media Reform” on Saturday night turned into a Barack Obama-for-President rally, as left-wing media figure Arianna Huffington denounced Senator and presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain as a “Trojan horse for the right” who had “sold his soul” to become president. Several speakers, including Federal Communications Commissioner Michael Copps, used the Obama campaign slogan, “Yes, we can,” as they urged the thousands of “progressives” in the audience to bring “change” to Washington, D.C. --------------------------------------------------------- Meanwhile, a Canadian, Naomi Klein, who writes for the British Guardian and The Nation...

MINNEAPOLIS -- There are thousands of journalists and others taking part in a convention in the Twin Cities this weekend. Among the major names in town is former CBS News anchor and "60 Minutes" contributor, Dan Rather. The aim of the convention is to reform the media. Attendees ultimately want to hold the media accountable for serving the public interest. "I have a lifetime of believing the red, beating heart of free and democratic people is a free and independent -- truly independent -- press," said Rather. One of their main goals is to make large national ownership groups and...

DOHA, Qatar (AP) - Al-Jazeera's taboo-smashing newscasts regularly vex politicians in Washington, but not nearly as much as they anger leaders in the Arab world, where the news channel has been banned from operating in 18 countries at one time or another. Now, the network is launching its biggest gamble on its 10th anniversary - an English-language channel with an Arab perspective. Al-Jazeera International plans to hit the airwaves Nov. 15 and hopes to steal viewers from CNN and the BBC. Feisty and sometimes graphic coverage of global carnage is an Al-Jazeera specialty, as is bracing commentary that has shaken...

April 14, 2003 7:15 a.m.Our Western MobFrom the graveyard of Kabul to the quagmire of Iraq to the looting of Baghdad.he jubilation of liberating millions from fascism and removing the world's most odious dictator apparently lasted about 12 hours. I was listening to a frustrated Mr. Rumsfeld last Friday in a news briefing as he tried to deal with a host of furious and crazy questions — a journalistic circus that was nevertheless predictable even before the war started.I thought immediately of the macabre aftermath to the battle of Arginusae in 406 B.C. After destroying a great part of the...