I really don't want to know who they cast as Barbara Mikulski!!!!

by: msaroff

Sat Oct 04, 2008 at 11:37 PM EDT

 I suppose that it was inevitable, but Ewwwww!!!


Link

Cross posted from my blog.

The Marc Steiner Firing, Cont'd

by: Isaac Smith

Wed Mar 19, 2008 at 01:13 AM EDT

The Baltimore City Paper tries to uncover the details behind WYPR's controversial firing of Marc Steiner back in February, but without much success:

Though little known even now, the CEM [A production company founded by Steiner] appears to be a part of the dispute that caused Steiner's abrupt exit from Baltimore's National Public Radio affiliate on Feb. 1. But the CEM's finances are murky, and Steiner's own financial arrangements with WYPR (88.1 FM) are more complex than many realize. Steiner can't explain how CEM spent thousands of dollars, and he says any focus on his WYPR contract misses the real issues surrounding his dismissal, which center on the direction and character of the station's programming, and on the outsized ego of WYPR President Anthony Brandon.

And these, too, appear to have been factors.

Nevertheless, the article gives a good read of where things stand vis-à-vis Steiner, WYPR management, and the many WYPR listeners outraged by the firing. Check it out.

A Few Disturbing Items in Today's Capital

by: PMF

Sun Mar 16, 2008 at 06:33 PM EDT

Aaaaah.....the Sunday paper. Lots of ads. The comics. And controversy.

1. FOR THIS WE HAVE THE FIRST AMENDMENT???? The Capital now has the local hospital writing, laying out and paying for the "Health and Fitness" page. Editor Tom Marquardt admits he is "not entirely comfortable with the arrangement" after stating that, "We don't have a health reporter to write about medical issues..." Tom, that's the problem! Get a health reporter! Oh, that would cost money while the new arrangement makes money. Hmmm.

Maybe they should try this model in the entertainment section. The restaurants could write their own reviews. What about with government? Fire the local government reporters and just have the mayor and county executive's staff send in a report every day with a check. After that, we'll just change the name of the newspaper to more accurately reflect the collusion between the state and the media. We'll call the paper PRAVDA. It means "truth" On the other, the paper is considering welcoming columnist Amy Goodman as a regular contributor. That would be a most welcome and interesting development.

2. WHEN THE SCHUH IS ON THE OTHER FOOT.... In a guest editorial, Delegate Steve Schuh of elitist, gated Gibson Island protests that "...Maryland is dominated by the Democratic Party". That's because the people elected them Delegate Schuh. Poor Mr. Schuh is upset about partisanship. I guess those folks on Gibson Island who have been used to owning everything for so long now think the system is unfair once it starts allowing for other to compete with them to own a piece of the big pie.

He notes how 73% of General Assembly members are Democrats. Yeah--well that's because the people elected 73% of them as Democrats. He is upset that leaders of both houses of Maryland's legislature, as well as cabinet members and judges are Democrats. That's the system Mr. Shuh and it was done just the opposite way when Mr. Ehrlich was governor. Did you complain about partisanship control at that time? I don't recall Mr. Schuh complaining about this when George Bush Inc. owned the White House and both houses of Congress. Nor did he complain when both houses of Congress conspired to keep Bill Clinton from being more effective. Mr. Schuh failed to mention how our county is headed up a Republican and the majority of the County Council is Republican as well. Does that not reflect a Republican majority? Nor did he mention that until recently, our governor was a Republican.

I guess it's too bad for Mr. Schuh that Gibson Island cannot be a state. That would certainly guarantee a Republican majority.

3. A MESSIANIC SCIENCE TEACHER AT ANNAPOLIS HIGH.....We read with little more than a raise eyebrow about this one in today's paper until we came to the part where this supposed science teacher said he considers his teaching "to be one form of ministry." Uh oh. CP promises to look into this more....

The Post's Blog Problem

by: Eric Luedtke

Thu Feb 21, 2008 at 04:36 PM EST

I have a soft spot for the Washington Post, despite the various heresies of their editorial page on issues I care about, like, for instance, whether teachers deserve to be paid. Soft spot aside, I think they've been smart to embrace blogs on their website, and Maryland Moment is smack dab in the middle of my favorites list. But it's interesting to me that they haven't taken off in the way I expect they would. Post reporters have access to news stories and newmakers beyond what any volunteer blogger can muster. And yet, their comments pages are often slim on reader responses (as are ours, I'll admit).

So here's my little note of assistance to the Post (who I'm certain don't read this blog): The WashingtonPost.com's loose policy on comments means they have less reader feedback than Ficker feedback. For those of you who haven't had the pleasure, Robin Ficker is the most annoying man in Montgomery County, and perhaps the universe. He's run for Montgomery County executive a dozen times or so, one of those perennial ego candidates that makes you question democracy. So Maryland Moment is periodically plagued by some mildly delusional comment from Ficker, and, when someone steps up to disagree with him, a dozen really obvious sockpuppets pop up to support Ficker. Geeky lingo warning: a sock puppet is a false identity created by a user to submit comments supportive of themselves of their ideas under the pretense of being a third party.

Or, to better understand what I mean, look here. 1. Ficker states his support for a wingnut candidate for the council special election. 2. A couple other commenters call Ficker an idiot. 3. Not one, not two, but six consecutive comments with fairly obviously made up names follow, all in support of Ficker's guy. One even calls the real commenters the KKK. Because, you see, it's racist to dislike Robin Ficker, who's whiter than whipped cream. And bizarrely, Ficker often uses Hispanic names when creating these sock puppets.

Point is this: if the Post wants to create a real online community that allows actual debate on their blogs, they're going to have to go after the Robin Fickers of the world. They'll need to look at banning users who create sock puppets. Whether they care to do that, or have the savvy, is another question. But until then, their attempt at replicating real blogging communities is going to completely stall out.

Morton on Steiner

by: Isaac Smith

Wed Feb 20, 2008 at 11:53 AM EST

Brian Morton uses the firing of Marc Steiner from WYPR as a jumping off point for a discussion of the rarity of having an actual bona fide liberal in the media:

Conservatives have built their towering media machine, starting with the message mavens on K Street and the $25 million-plus budget of the Heritage Foundation, onto the Washington Times and the Wall Street Journal, through the radio shows of Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Michael Savage (the top six talk radio hosts in America are right wingers, according to Talkers magazine), and with the help of Fox News and Bill O'Reilly. They know there's no shortage of places to find their particular brand of political ideology. So what's with the rancor that liberals have a place on their airwaves?

It was only in 2006 when the powers-that-be at MSNBC started seeing the rise in popularity of host Keith Olbermann--not someone you could classically call a liberal, but someone who insisted on using his platform to hold the Bush administration to account for all of the excuses and shifting rationales behind the Iraq War, the fired U.S. attorney scandal, the deplorable conditions at Walter Reed and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, among others. But in 2003, when the Dixie Chicks were made persona non grata in the world of country music (and the larger world of pop radio) and questioning the administration was considered tantamount to treason, Olbermann said that his superiors at the network were angry with him when he featured two liberals on their air back-to-back.

It's now 2008, and we have both a Democratic House and Senate--but unlike five years ago when Olbermann pissed off the network brass by having Janeane Garofalo and Al Franken on one after the other, you don't see that kind of programming happening on the air.

Despite the sea change in public opinion after what Republicans have done to the country over eight years, the media is still living in the frightened grip of pro-business conservatives and right-wingers who do not see liberal points of view as legitimate ones. In some places, and predominantly in the media, "liberal" is a word to be avoided as much as it was back in the 1980s, when Ronald Reagan first made it a dirty word.

Read the whole thing.

Why I care less about Steiner's firing (just in case you were wondering)

by: Robb_Black

Tue Feb 19, 2008 at 01:21 PM EST

Non-Election News, Cont.

by: Isaac Smith

Tue Feb 12, 2008 at 06:04 PM EST

This is a surprise:

WYPR announced today that Baltimore Sun columnist Dan Rodricks will replace Marc Steiner, the talk-show host the station fired just days ago.

"I think he does great radio," said Andy Bienstock, WYPR's programming director and vice president. "He was my first choice."

Rodricks will start in Steiner's noon to 2 p.m. time slot on Feb. 25.

Odd, given that Rodricks objected to Steiner's firing when it happened. Odder still, given that one of the knocks against Steiner was that he was too focused on Baltimore (according to this article) at a time when WYPR was trying to broaden its scope to include all of Maryland. Rodricks will no doubt make a good radio host, but he's definitely a journalist with a Baltimore focus, just like Steiner. I imagine more details about the selection will emerge soon.

Marc Steiner Dumped from WYPR

by: Isaac Smith

Sun Feb 03, 2008 at 07:42 PM EST

This is unbelievable. Marc Steiner is not just a Baltimore institution, but -- since the expansion of WYPR to Frederick and Ocean City -- a Maryland one as well. It's shocking that he would be let go so unceremoniously. Dan Rodricks captures my thoughts on this quite well:

The dumping of Marc Steiner as host of the midday show at WYPR-FM -- a public-radio station that very likely would not exist were it not for him -- is sad and infuriating. Steiner was blessed with the brains, heart, pipes and civic interest for a great talk-show host, and he had a long run of good work. Instead of fixing whatever ailed the show, the station management decided to dump the host.

[...]

We have the station's board president, a PR woman, saying Steiner's "ratings" had dropped. I can't be the only person who read about Steiner's dumping in The Sun and got confused over the words "ratings" and "public radio" in the same sentence. Public radio is supposed to be immune from the pressures that influence commercial broadcasting.

No doubt there are a number of complicating factors involved here, as Rodrick acknowledges, but the way in which WYPR management is handling the matter is rather ham-fisted, I think.

Better Reporting, Please

by: Isaac Smith

Wed Jan 30, 2008 at 03:20 PM EST

So let me get this straight: The Annapolis Capital reports on a possible controversy involving the Center for Climate Strategies, a consulting group that has been working with a number of states, including Maryland, on developing climate change legislation. Specifically, the supposed controversy is that CCS, while claiming to be an impartial source of information on climate change science and policy, is in fact a front group for radical environmentalists. And who are the article's sources for this claim? A pair of fringe right-wing bloggers (Mark and David, I'm looking at you) still living in denial about climate change, and a guy from the right-wing John Locke Foundation, a organization that has been funded heavily over the years, albeit indirectly, by oil and coal companies. Would it have killed the Capital to have pointed that out?

Blue Blogosphere Convention 2008: An Idea

by: Bruce Godfrey

Sun Jan 13, 2008 at 03:42 PM EST