Majikthise

Beyerstein wins Project Censored award

My story on the Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act has been chosen as one of Project Censored's top 25 most censored stories of the year.

I'll be speaking about the story on October 9 at the Sonoma State University School of Journalism in Senoma, CA.

Sonoma State University
Fall 2008 - alternate Thursdays
             (Aug 28, Sep 11 & 25, Oct 9 & 23, Nov 6 & 20, Dec 4)
Lectures begin at 7 PM
Darwin 103

Story: Examining the Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, In These Times, Nov 1, 2007.

Help a great photojournalist break a story

One of the world's greatest living photojournalists won the 2007 TED Prize, which consists of $100,000 and one wish to change the world. James Nachtwey wished for "help in breaking a news story in a way that demonstrates the power of news photography in the digital age."

Laura Galloway explains: "Nachtwey's work will be simultaneously revealed online, disseminated through numerous media channels, and projected on public buildings throughout the world. The TED Prize organizers have created a blogger page where bloggers can download a badge for their blogs in advance of Oct. 3, find event live event locations, or embed Nachtwey's wish video. On October 3, the site will redirect to reveal the story."

Bloggers, help Nachtwey get his wish by downloading a badge for your sidebar.

Army photoshopped pics of dead soldiers, submitted to AP

The AP was forced to retract two photographs when it was determined that the Army had submitted photoshopped images of dead American soldiers:

Bob Owen, chief photographer of the San Antonio Express-News, notified the AP that the photos of two deceased soldiers, who died in Iraq on Sept. 14, were nearly identical. Upon examining the photos, Owens noticed that everything except for the soldier’s face, name, and rank was the same. The most glaring similarity, Owen told CJR, was that the camouflage patterns of the two uniforms were “perfectly identical.”

After inspecting the photographs, the AP confirmed that the images were, indeed, Photoshopped, and issued eliminations on the two photos. [Columbia Journalism Review]

The pictures were released by the US Army at Fort Stewart, Georgia.

Think Progress has a side-by-side comparison of the two images. Just to clarify, these are not pictures of dead bodies. Rather, they are posed portraits with an American flag backdrop. It appears that someone tacked different faces and serial numbers onto the same shot of a torso in uniform against an American flag.

Attackerman in Afghanistan

My friend and FDL colleague Spencer Ackerman is en route to Forward Operating Base Salerno in Afghanistan for his embed:

BETWEEN BAGRAM AIR FIELD AND FORWARD OPERATING BASE SALERNO – When I arrived at Bagram, a public-affairs officer named Chuck asked me what I thought of Afghanistan, notwithstanding the fact that all I had seen so far was Kabul. I told him that the place reminded me of the moon. Chuck laughed as he said, “You ain’t seen nothing yet.”

Now I know what he meant.

The rest of the story is here, at the Washington Independent.

 

AP's Ron Fournier may command speaking fees of up to $10,000

The Washington Bureau Chief of the Associated Press, Ron Fournier, may command speaker's fees of up to $10,000 per appearance.

As of this writing, Fournier appears to be available for booking through the All American Talent & Celebrity Network's website. I called to confirm that he was still listed with the agency, but I haven't heard back yet.

According to his speaker bio, Fournier co-wrote a book called Applebee's America with Bush's former chief strategist Matthew Dowd and former high-level Clinton adviser, Doug Sosnik. Appropriately enough, the 2006 book is a treatise on political marketing for politicians, captains of industry, and mega-church pastors.

Applebee's contains such pearls of wisdom as: "The most important Gut Values today are community and authenticity. People are desperate to connect with one another and be part of a cause greater than themselves. They're tired of spin and sloganeering from political, business, and religious institutions that constantly fail them."

Before Fournier returned to the AP in March of 2007, he was in negotiations with the McCain campaign about a job.

Fournier drew fire when his over-friendly email to Karl Rove came to light in the course of a Congressional investigation into the death of Pat Tillman

In April, Fournier told the Alaska Press Club that "developing new sources to going out on a date." No word on whether he charged for that advice.

Here's AP's ethics policy on outside appearances:

OUTSIDE APPEARANCES:
Employees frequently appear on radio and TV news programs as panelists asking questions of newsmakers; such appearances are encouraged.

However, there is potential for conflict if staffers are asked to give their opinions on issues or personalities of the day. Advance discussion and clearance from a staffer's supervisor are required.

Employees must inform a news manager before accepting honoraria and/or reimbursement of expenses for giving speeches or participating in seminars at colleges and universities or at other educational events if such appearance makes use of AP's name or the employee represents himself or herself as an AP employee. No fees should be accepted from governmental bodies; trade, lobbying or special interest groups; businesses, or labor groups; or any group that would pose a conflict of interest. All appearances must receive prior approval from a staffer's supervisor.

It would be difficult to have a career as a highly-paid motivational speaker if you couldn't take money from business, labor, government, lobby, or special interest groups.

Update: When Fournier spoke at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, one of the country's most powerful lobby groups, he was billed as AP's top political writer. The event was held in September of 2006, when Fournier was supposed to have quit the AP to do promotional work for his book.

VP speculation "massively moronic"

Chris Lehman is absolutely right about the media's bizarre obsession with guessing the Vice Presidential nominees:

[LEHMAN] The reporters and editors who are composing these inane pieces are pretty much talking to each other. I saw a Washington Post headline the other day, “Who’s No. 2? Obama Keeps Everybody Guessing.” No—the “everybody” in that construction is you. Imagine if you were covering the baseball playoffs and you wrote that there was massive speculation about who was going to win. It’s manifestly moronic because you’re writing about a scheduled event that is going to take place on a known timeline. You’re contributing nothing. It’s the opposite of news; any useful public information is entirely missing. But that’s the way the press bubble operates. Not only do reporters write about what they’re talking about, but they’re writing about each other. Notice the passive construction in these stories about “rampant speculation” and ask yourself, “Who’s doing the speculating?” It’s the reporters who are; most voters, being sane people, might think about it for a second but then they move on to the next thing in their day.

I'm all for spirited debate about who ought to be vice president, but I'm sick to death of the guessing games. It's more intellectually stimulating to guess how many jellybeans are in a jar.

There isn't enough quality information available to sustain an informed discussion. If we insist upon grasping at straws, we put ourselves at the mercy of campaign flaks and rumors.

Rachel Maddow gets her own show on MSNBC

Liberal radio host and TV commentator Rachel Maddow is getting he own show on MSNBC.

Maddow is without a doubt the smartest person on MSNBC. I am absolutely thrilled that the network has decided to give her bigger platform.

Rachel has an easygoing manner and a finely tuned ear for bullshit. Definitely a talent to watch.

Announcement: Majikthise to cover presidential race for Firedoglake

I have a very exciting announcement to make: Starting this afternoon, I will be covering the 2008 presidential race at Firedoglake's Campaign Silo.

Campaign Silo is a reported blog. So, I'm counting on you guys to send me your tips.

As many of you know, I have a special affection for documents. Last month, I was the first to publish a photo of Randy Scheunemann, Stephen Payne, and Ahmed Chalabi. If you have some juicy files you'd like to pass along, please send them to the email address on the sidebar.

I will be blogging from the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. Stay tuned for dispatches and photos.

Private spooks court journalists

A private intelligence outfit busted for infiltrating Greenpeace is now attempting to recruit journalists, PR Watch reports:

Melissa Sweet, a freelance Australian health journalist, reports that she recently received an email from a staffer with the private intelligence company Hakluyt. In it, she was asked if she would like to become part of a "network of well-placed individuals around the world who are able to provide us, very discreetly, with intelligence on specific commercial or political issues that may arise." In particular, they were seeking her assistance for an anonymous "financial institution" client, on "a new project on the new Australian government's healthcare policy -- how realistic their reform ambitions really are," "the role of the private sector" and other matters.

Bob Novak diagnosed with brain tumor

Journalist Bob Novak has been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The diagnosis comes a week after Novak plowed into a homeless man on K Street and drove off. He later claimed he had no idea he'd hit anyone, despite an eyewitness's report that the victim was splayed across Novak's windshield.

The tumor might have had something to do with the crash, and with Novak's impaired speech in news footage recorded after the incident.

"I know Bob will confront this challenge with the same courage with which he has taken on the political establishment in Washington for decades," said House Republican Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

Novak was criticized after he was the first to publicly reveal the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame in a 2003 column. His column came out eight days after Plame's husband, Joseph Wilson, said the Bush administration had twisted prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. [AP]

Doctors don't yet know whether the tumor is malignant.

[HT: Norm Costa.]