Archive for October, 2007
Religion and Politics Collide in a Cathedral
I have been aware that the religious leaders of the Washington National Cathedral have been pushing a Christian-only, pro-Iran agenda for some time. Last night, I witnessed it first-hand at, “an evening of respectful engagement and open discussion between representatives from the United States and Iran.”The purpose of the event, held in the Cathedral [...]
FEMA Flap Costs Faker New Job
As the scandal intensifies over last week’s fake FEMA news conference, it appears that the character who was behind it will not be getting a promotion. The media today is reporting that John “Pat” Philbin will not be named head of public affairs for the nation’s top intelligence official, Mike McConnell.
If Philbin [...]
Phony Events by Phony PR People
John “Pat” Philbin, the top public affairs guy at FEMA, told CBS News today that he should have stopped a fake FEMA press conference last week when no reporters showed up. No media was present at the briefing simply because Philbin and his FEMA staff staged the phony event with only 15 minutes advance [...]
FEMA Stages Fake News Conference
Why am I not surprised?! FEMA or the Federal Emergency Management Agency staged a fake news conference last week for propaganda purposes to brag about how well the beleaguered agency had responded to the fire devastation in south California. FEMA PR people pretended to be reporters and asked fluffy questions in an attempt [...]
Cable News Kicks Networks on Fire Coverage
News anchors and reporters for cable news channels CNN and MSNBC are live, on-the-scene in southern California today, covering the out-of-control fires that are sweeping the region. Their respective Web sites … using instantaneous blog technology … reflect outstanding and updated coverage.
The anchors for the traditional TV network news programs — NBC’s [...]
FEMA Fiddles While California Burns
It seems like Katrina and New Orleans all over again … FEMA and the enormous, bloated federal agency, Homeland Security, move at snails-pace toward possible help for hundreds of thousands of people driven from their homes and businesses in southern California because of raging fires.
On the other hand, Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger is again demonstrating authentic [...]
ABC News Clears Debat; Changes Hiring Practice
I have written about Alexis Debat and ABC News before because it is such an odd story in the mainstream news media –
After two internal investigations, ABC News says it has found that anti-terrorism consultant Debat did no false reporting as the network had originally alleged.
The network’s explanation is ambiguous and deftly dances [...]
Worse Than “No Comment!”
An $8.5-million survey of 24,000 pilots about air safety in the United States apparently is so shocking that NASA, which had commissioned the study, is blocking its release.
Senior NASA official, associate administrator Thomas S. Luedtke, said revealing the findings could damage the public’s confidence in airlines and affect airline profits. NASA has even opposed [...]
News Sites Embrace Blog Technology
I believe this is significant in the area of online leadership — The New York Times online, MSNBC online, BBC News online and some other major news organizations have shifted over to blog technology rather than traditional html Web sites. Why? Because of immediacy.
Any number of editors can be updating The New [...]
The Mystery of Cell Phone Companies
The cell phone business is anathema to me. On one hand, they spend fortunes in advertising to attract new customers only to treat customers with disdain once they are signed up.
Let me share an example — if a cell phone company touts its superb service, why would it feel compelled to charge [...]
BoomerCafé Goes Home
BoomerCafé — the online magazine for baby boomers with active lifestyles — has gone back home to its own place on the Internet. We had it parked for a while at Typepad but there’s nothing as good as a designated URL.
Former ABC newsman Greg Dobbs (he’s now on HDNet) and I launched BoomerCafé in [...]
America’s Ill-Informed
According to a survey by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Americans are “woefully ill-informed,” despite the Internet.
The research compared the level of awareness about current events in 1989 with now.
