Maynard Institute archives

N.Y. Post Cartoon Depicts WNBC Reporter Unclothed in Bed

N.Y. Post Cartoon Depicts WNBC Reporter Unclothed in Bed

OWN Ratings Soar in Oprah Interview With Houston Family

U.S. Apologizes to Native Americans. Who Knew?

Argentine Firm Buys Controlling Interest in ImpreMedia

Feminists Ask whether Limbaugh Serves Public Interest

Obama Administration Stepped Up Crackdown on Leakers

Romney Launches Charm Offensive With the Media

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Sean Delonis/New York Post

N.Y. Post Cartoon Depicts WNBC Reporter Unclothed in Bed

New York Post cartoonist Sean Delonis weighed in Sunday on the controversy over WNBC’s failure to renew the contract of its longtime anchor Sue Simmons.

His cartoon showed the NBC peacock smoking after emerging from the bedroom of Simmons’ would-be successor, Shiba Russell, shown unclothed, as Simmons, in the doorway, begged for her job back.

Russell, asked for comment, deferred to NBC or her agent.

Delonis caused an uproar in 2009 with a drawing that some said compared President Obama with a chimpanzee — a charge Delonis denied.

Rupert Murdoch, owner of the Post, twice apologized and said, “We all hold the readers of the New York Post in high regard and I promise you that we will seek to be more attuned to the sensitivities of our community.

Whitney Houston’s daughter, Bobbi Kristina, says the fact that her mother is gone feels surreal.(Video)

OWN Ratings Soar in Oprah Interview With Houston Family

“OWN posted its highest ratings ever on Sunday, drawing 3.5 million total viewers for the episode of Oprah’s Next Chapter featuring an interview with Whitney Houston‘s daughter Bobbi Kristina and her family,” Andrea Morabito reported Monday for Broadcasting & Cable.

The interview, which aired from 9-10:30 p.m., earned a 3.1 rating with women 25-54, triple-digit growth over its season average (up 417% in viewers and 444% in the W25-54 demo), according to Nielsen data.. . .

“The network’s previous ratings high was 1.6 million viewers for an Oprah’s Next Chapter episode with Pastor Joel Osteen on Jan. 8.”

Winfrey also demonstrated her master interviewing skills, showing that displays of empathy can yield dividends.

U.S. Apologizes to Native Americans. Who Knew?

“You are invited. I have reserved the space in front of the US Capitol for December 19, 2012, and the entire country is invited. Every citizen, every immigrant, every leader, every member of Congress, every President (present, former and aspiring) is invited to join me for a public reading of the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, H.R. 3326,” began a column Monday on indianz.com.

“My name is Mark Charles. I am not an elected official, I do not lead an organization, nor do I work solely for a specific group or company. I am merely the son of an American woman of Dutch heritage and a Navajo man, who is living on the Navajo Reservation and trying to understand the complexities of our country’s history regarding race, culture and faith so that I can help forge a path of healing and reconciliation for our people.

“What do Native America, the 2010 Department of Defense Appropriations Bill, and reconciliation have to do with each other? And why am I inviting you to join me in reading this document publicly?

“I am doing so because of what is found on pages 45 and 46. These pages contain sub-section 8113 titled ‘Apology to Native Peoples of the United States.’

“I was shocked, confused, embarrassed and ashamed when I learned, two years after the fact, that the US government had issued an apology to its Native American citizens, but did very little to publicize it, and even seemed intent on burying it in a 67-page Defense Department appropriations bill. The White House issued a press release regarding the signing of this bill but it made no mention of the enclosed apology.

“As far as I can find, sub-sections 8113 was not read publicly until six months later, in May of 2010, when Senator Sam Brownback (KS) read it in a small ceremony with only a handful of Native American leaders present. Of the few articles I could find about this apology, many expressed the same sentiment as one published in Indian Country Today on December 3, 2011, which was titled, ‘A Tree Fell in the Forest: The U.S. Apologized to Native Americans and No One Heard a Sound.’

Argentine Firm Buys Controlling Interest in ImpreMedia

A subsiary of the Argentine media company La Nación will become the largest stockholder in impreMedia, the nation’s largest Spanish-language newspaper chain, the companies announced on Monday.

impremedia, known for its top brands such as La Opinión, El Diario and Vista, reaches 25% of all US Hispanics with an audience size of almost 11 million and a footprint in 15 top Hispanic markets, Portada reported. “Over the past year it has experienced an unprecedented 34% growth in total audience and has almost doubled its online audience.”

Monica C. LozanoPortada also said, “Monica Lozano will remain CEO of impreMedia. Its editorial content will remain under the direction and control of impreMedia’s newsroom staff, and current management of impreMedia will also remain. In addition, Francisco Seghezzo, former Corporate Planning Director of S.A. La Nación, will join impreMedia as COO.”

In a Jan. 30 analysis of the possibility that La Nacion would buy impreMedia, Portado asked what La Nacion would see in an Impremedia investment.

The Argentinean advertising market has grown a lot over the last 10 years and La Nacion has profited from it. However, the political waters are very turbulent,” Portado said. “La Nacion and its rival Clarin are immersed in a deep battle with the government of Argentina’s president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The Kirchner government considers that Grupo Clarín (whose interests include television, radio, newspapers, cable services, and ISP companies) act as media monopolies. On their part, the Clarín media conglomerate and also La Nacion consider that the acts of the Kirchner government run contrary to freedom of speech. . . . By acquiring a media property in the U.S. Hispanic market La Nacion is putting some of its eggs in another basket and investing in a more stable growth market.”

Feminists Ask whether Limbaugh Serves Public Interest

“Ironically, the misogyny Rush Limbaugh spewed for three days over Sandra Fluke was not much worse than his regular broadcast of sexist, racist and homophobic hate speech,” Jane Fonda, Robin Morgan, and Gloria Steinem, co-founders of the Women’s Media Center, wrote Monday on the CNN website.

  • “Female Cabinet members are ‘Sex-retaries.’
  • ” ‘The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.’
  • “The National Organization for Women is ‘a bunch of whores to liberalism.’
  • “[Said to an African-American female caller]: ‘Take that bone out of your nose and call me back.’

” . . .That makes this a fitting time to inquire of his syndicator, Clear Channel Communications, whether it intends to continue supporting someone who addicts his audience to regular doses of hate speech. Clear Channel’s Premiere Radio Networks Inc., which hosts Limbaugh’s program, has defended his recent comments.

“If Clear Channel won’t clean up its airways, then surely it’s time for the public to ask the FCC a basic question: Are the stations carrying Limbaugh’s show in fact using their licenses ‘in the public interest?’ “

President Obama talks with Tom Donilon, national security adviser, and Secretary

Obama Administration Stepped Up Crackdown on Leakers

While the Obama administration has promised to strengthen protections for whistleblowers, it has also launched an aggressive crackdown on government employees who have leaked national security information to the press.Cora Currier wrote Friday for ProPublica.

“The administration has brought a total of six cases under the Espionage Act, which dates from World War I and criminalizes disclosing information ‘relating to the national defense.’ (The Department of Justice has five criminal cases and the Army has one against alleged Wikileaks source Bradley Manning.) Prior to the current administration, there had been only three known cases resulting in indictments in which the Espionage Act was used to prosecute government officials for leaks.

” . . . Here’s a timeline of leak prosecutions under the Espionage Act, showing how they’ve picked up steam under Obama.”

Romney Launches Charm Offensive With the Media

It’s the worst-kept secret of the 2012 campaign: The candidate who does the least public media-bashing — Mitt Romney — has the worst relationship of all with the press,” Reid J. Epstein wrote Thursday for Politico.

“But as Romney seeks to nail down the GOP nomination and cement the narrative that the delegate math makes it nearly impossible for his remaining rivals to surpass him, his campaign has launched what passes for a media charm offensive.

“Senior staff is suddenly more accessible. The Commercial Street headquarters in Boston is no longer off-limits. This week featured a happy hour with the traveling press at a downtown Boston pub and Romney himself broke with campaign precedent by visiting the back of the campaign’s charter airplane for a rare chat with reporters Tuesday before a flight from Ohio to Massachusetts.”

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