Baghdad's Best Blogger
The blogger formerly known as Salam Pax has written a new post describing the current environment of chaos and fear in Iraq:
News Articles By
Achenbach's Back
Every once in awhile Joel Achenbach's name crosses my viewfinder. We were both undergraduates at the same time at Princeton, although our paths never really crossed socially. The first time he really caught my attention, actually, was a few years after we graduated, when the Princeton Alumni Weekly reprinted a hilarious column he wrote for the Miami Herald, satirizing the way television dumbs people down.
It's Clobberin' Time
Our senior researcher, Diane Farsetta, is one "bad mamma jamma" according to the author of "The Quincy Dump," who interviewed her for his blog about the Fake TV News report that she co-wrote and researched with Dan Price.
Scandals, Scandals, Scandals.
The biggest news in the Capitol this week was undoubtedly the May 20 raid of the congressional offices of Rep. William Jefferson (D-La.) by FBI agents.
NEWS RELEASE: FCC INVESTIGATES "FAKE TV NEWS" COMPLAINT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Diane Farsetta, Center for Media and Democracy, 608-260-9713
Craig Aaron, Free Press, 202-265-1490
FCC Investigates TV Stations for Airing Fake News
Investigation into Video News Releases and Activist Pressure May Lead to Fines, Better Disclosure
New additions to Congresspedia
It's been a busy week on Congresspedia. New additions to the site include:
- lots of contributions by members of the Congresspedia/SourceWatch community on bribery scandals, new legislation, heavyweight corporate campaign contributors, censuring the president and federal investigations into an "improper relationship" with a lobbyist (see full list)
- a new page on the Colbert Report with links to the videos of each of his "Better Know a District" member of Congress interviews
- and a fancy new tool for looking up your particular member of Congress by your home address.
Also well worth checking out is the muckraking action over at the Sunlight Foundation blogs. The new Congresspedia article contributions include:
Food Flack Nation Attacks Journalist Eric Schlosser
"Fast Food Nation" mega-selling author Eric Schlosser must be doing something right. He's under vicious attack from food industry lobbyists and front groups mimicking his book title in their website smearing him. Long time Fleishman-Hillard food flack Becky Johnson and her fellow spinmeisters risk publicizing Schlosser's writings in their over-the-top efforts to condemn him.
The industrial food lobby is freaking-out over "Chew On This", his new book with Charles Wilson aimed at youngsters, and the fact that his "Fast Food Nation" is being made into a major Hollywood movie with the same title. Best Food Nation is the food industry's sound-alike website funded by the American Farm Bureau Federation, American Meat Institute, National Cattlemen's Beef Association, National Council of Chain Restaurants, and 14 other food lobbies. The website highlights anti-Schlosser rants by industry-funded front groups including Heartland Institute and the American Council on Science and Health.
Network neutrality update: more bills, more conflicts of interest
In the week and a half since my first blog entry on network neutrality legisilation and the creation of the corresponding Congresspedia article, there have been two new pro-neutrality bills filed and two new conflicts of interest for the sponsors of the anti-neutrality legislation.
New scandal: Rep. Barney Frank, Henry Waxman, Sen. Frank Lautenberg and the curious HUD Secretary.
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson has been in hot water over comments he made in late April in which he suggested that he cancelled a federal contract because the recipient stated that he didn't like President George W. Bush. Now Jackson is claiming that he made the story up and the spokesperson who originally talked to the press has gone on leave.
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