There they go again...

Once again, The NY Times is falling for the Republican line, this time on Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Whether it's because of the bias of the reporter or the all-too-often inclination for newspaper editors/reporters to bend over too far to appear objective, the result is a biased position that is poorly sourced and supported.

In the story - In Detainee Furor, a Rare Stumble by Speaker Pelosi - Timesman Carl Hulse frames the story as a score by the right-wing machine, instead of the he said/she said situation that it clearly is. If the predicament is any more than this, his story doesn't support it. He has CIA Director Leon Panetta and Republicans saying she was briefed about the illegal torture methods in 2002, and Pelosi saying she wasn't. But the story provides no evidence for the reader to decide which side is telling the truth. None of the sources are even quoted saying what shows them on the papers they're looking at that indicates specific torture methods were outlined. It's all vague spy speak.

So, why is this a front page story? I guess this is what passes for investigative journalism these days at the Times. They can't meet their profit margins and seek the whole truth anymore. If the nation's paper of record can't do it, how can we expect other news organizations to do what is needed?

The Times has once again lost the bigger picture. This latest "story" has only added to the Republican smoke screen about lying to the American people about the war in Iraq and the atrocities committed there. And the Republicans - aided by the Times - wants to talk about allegations that a Congresswoman lied about whether the Bush administration lied to her? WTF!

McClatchy CEO Less Than Convincing...Again

Gary Pruitt, CEO of McClatchy, the second-largest newspaper corporation in America, tried to boost morale among workers at his struggling company in a video (reported by Editor and Publisher). He said the chain needs to make what amounts to cuts of another $500 million - after a year of $800 million in "debt payments" - and that the company may not have reached bottom. "At this point we simply can't tell when this decline will end," he said.

Not exactly reassuring from an executive who took more than $10 million in compensation the past two years. I guess he can afford to be cheery: he's doing great. And if he drives the company into the ground and get canned by the board, he'll do even better with an even larger compensation send off.

Pruitt insists his company would still be in the same "downturn" if they hadn't purchased the larger Knight Ridder Corporation a few years back. Maybe his company would be, but the papers he acquired wouldn't be as bad off. Granted, the industry is definitely facing declining earnings, but many of the former KR papers wouldn't be facing the same level of cutbacks on their own. Some of them were making pretty good money before McClatchy came to town. I know; I used to work at one.

Yes, Pruitt's compensation is a drop in the big bucket leaking millions, but tell that to the workers in the newsrooms and pressrooms who are struggling on meager pay. Pruitt can make these claimes on video, but I dare him to step into a newsroom with "You Can't Always Get What You Want" playing in the backround.

Clinton's Integrity Problem

The New York Times' lead is dead-on in Clinton Keeps Up Blast Over Obama’s Small-Town Remarks about stoking the controversy, but I'm not sure many readers will get the irony in the rest of the story. The story doesn't let her get away with it, in other words, but the jury's out on voters.

Hoping to stoke the controversy over Senator Barack Obama’s remarks about small-town voters, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton made a hasty campaign stop in Scranton on Sunday and called his comments “elitist and divisive.”

So, let's recap. This is a candidate who has lied (Tell Us Another One, LA Times) and after she's called on it by the media repeats the lies (Fibber In Chief, London Times) for weeks. This person is now criticizing her competitor who has merely misspoke about blue-collar workers feeling bitter? Hell, they're not the only ones bitter. She has no ethical ground to stand upon. Serial lying does not equate with insensitivity, but Clinton is counting on voters not seeing such a distinction. On this count, I hope she is lying to herself. As this is getting a great deal of play in the corporate media, who knows how it will influence the outcome in this increasingly tawdry campaign season.