Hello everyone. My name is Kaushal Kurapati. Some of you might know me as JeevesGuy. JeevesGuy Exposed!
The Blog, The Press, The Media: Cash for Commentary' is Business as Usual
Conservative commentators Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher and Michael McManus have been outed recently for taking money under the table to endorse Bush administration programs. These cases are only the tip of a much bigger iceberg ...
On a section of the website that has subsequently been removed, Omega List was quite straightforward about the fact that it pays conservative commentators to endorse clients and their causes. A series of web pages featured conservative radio show host Blanquita Cullum explaining exactly how the system works and how other radio hosts could get in on the gravy. "You do what you do best!" she said. "Get on the air and talk to your listeners! Drive them to your website by conducting a daily survey or a contest on the topic of your choosing." Eberle's "polling wizard" software, installed on the site, would then capture the names of respondents so that they could be hit up for money. "What happens next is a cakewalk," Cullum continued. "Omega will call you with an opportunity to send an endorsement e-mail to your list . . . and receive a royalty for lending your name to a cause, organization or product you believe in. . . . Omega gives you their specialized software absolutely FREE and presents you with an opportunity to earn an extra $25,000 or more annually.
• Sheldon Rampton: The pundits in question took money from someone whose interests they were plugging and didn't disclose the payments to their audience [Credits: I was supposed to be on the Larry King Live show Monday night. I was asked to be on the show to offer my opinion on the election in Iraq from the perspective of a mom whose son was killed in the war prior to the elections. One of the questions I was going to be asked was: Do I think my son’s sacrifice was “worth it?” Well, I didn’t get a chance to be on the show that night because I was bumped for something that is really important: The Michael Jackson Trial. Not Worth It ; Media Cash in on Michael Jackson; I don't know what [the union leader] was thinking when he gave that money to Melissa, but when my mind wanders to the possibilities, I find it outrageous Union boss says $500 slipped to reporter was a "thank-you"]
• · According to Jack Shafer. "The two best ways to keep people stupid and nodding is by shutting down the information flow and by stiffing the press," he writes. "At these chores, [President] Bush excels. ... Inside the White House briefing room, press secretary Scott McClellan controls the topics discussed by playing rope-a-dope with reporters, absorbing and ignoring the tough questions until they give up. Bush admin is the first to challenge legitimacy of the press - Slate; The Examiner marks the latest attempt by billionaire Philip F. Anschutz to create a new model of newspaper aimed at readers who say they don't have time to read traditional broadsheets. We're just out to provide the news in a format that's easier to read and that happens to be in a tabloid format Almost everything we're doing is an experiment
• · · "On the one hand, some observers believe that the proliferation of free newspapers and free news sites on the Internet means a larger number of voices that cater to niche audiences. But others worry that websites and newspapers supported purely by advertisers may not be able to sustain a vast network of professional news gatherers." March toward free news seems unstoppable, say analysts ; [Much has been written about the risk-averse culture of newspapers and how it locks newsrooms into a losing cycle of defensive decision-making. Philip Meyer tells us how that culture came to be: Newspapers are the victims of a "history of easy money." Reading the Vanishing Newspaper, 1 & 2: How Newspapers Make Money ]
• · · · Time Warner now owns 8% of Google, making it the third largest outside owner Content: Google as Portal?
• · · · · hat's the scoop. Ask Jeeves is integrating Bloglines into their search system (it's not yet live on their main site, til Monday as reported). Rumours Are Flying ...
• · · · · · Starting with the basics, feeds.scripting.com has a "River of News" style aggregator, subscribed to all the sites that have ever been in the Top 100 most-subscribed-to feeds Digital River of Data