Tom Burlington Sues Fox29

Award-winning TV reporter Tom Burlington, who is white, is claiming that racism is the basis of Philadelphia’s Fox 29 failure to renew his contract in 2007.

And the lawsuit that he filed in 2009 has been finally green-lighted to go to trial.  U.S. District Judge Barclay Surrick wrote a memorandum last month This case has been pending for over five years. We will not further delay its resolution by permitting “piecemeal review and its attendant delays and waste of time.”

What Burlington says happened is that during a June 23, 2007 discussion about a possible story regarding a mock funeral of the word “nigger” by the Philadelphia Youth Council of the NAACP, Burlington said “nigger.”

Burlington was to co-anchor the show that night with Joyce Evans, who did not attend the meeting. It came back to Ms. Evans, who is black, what he said. She made a complaint the next day to the station’s Assistant News Director, Leslie Tyler, who is also black.

Joyce Evans Tom Burlington Sues Fox29
We kind of doubt that Joyce Evans understands what it’s like to be called a “nigger” at least by a white person.

Burlington claims that Ms. Evans told him “Because you’re white you can never understand what it’s like to be called a nigger and … you cannot use the word nigger”

Burlington says Ms. Evans then encouraged fellow employees to denounce him to management.

He said he was forced to meet with the station’s Department of Human Resources, Ameena Ali, who is black. She asked him to give his side of the story. He did verbatim. “Tom, you’re still saying that word; why are you doing that?” said said according to court papers.

Burlington was suspended.

Tom Burlington Sues Fox29
We have no doubt that Tom Burlinton understands what Franz Kafka was getting at when he wrote The Trial.

Burlington says he apologized to the station’s black employees, was given a stern warning in writing, and made to undergo racial-sensitivity training.

It wasn’t enough. The station told Burlington on July 12, 2007, after 20 years his contract would not be renewed.

Ms. Evans remains the anchor of the weekend “Fox 29 News at Six.”

Hopefully, Burlington takes these gutless fools and bigots for everything they have. While it is sign of immaturity and low intelligence to be pointlessly offensive — which Tom Burlington by all accounts  wasn’t — it is a sign of evil to be merciless.

Speech codes and political correctness have no place in true journalism, which the establishment media has long since stopped practicing.  It is time to start destroying them. Speech codes and political correctness, that is. The old media is doing just a fine job destroying itself. Enjoy your vacation Brian Williams. What are the odds comedian Jon Stewart replaces him?

Tom Burlington Sues Fox29

Obama Creates Propaganda Arm

Emmy-award winning investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson is reporting that the Obama Administration is using tax dollars to create self-serving propaganda while ignoring questions from traditional media outlets. Sharyl Attkinsson Obama Creates Propaganda Arm

“White House officials have exploited non-news media to spoon-feed unfiltered messaging, at times pure propaganda, into the public’s mouth. The Google-sponsored chat I mentioned – that came with a pre-selected audience and questions submitted in advance by the White House’s own YouTube channel – that’s the way they like it,” Attkisson, the author of Stonewalled, said during a speech at Hillsdale College. “They generate their own content, rely on surrogates to help spread partisan blogs, Twitter and Facebook, give lots of interviews to entertainment programs, digital media and feature press.”

She noted that the Department of Agriculture has more than 1,200 media relations employees nationwide and that the Deparment of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Transportation Security Administration all have television studios.

She pointed out that the Department of Defense which cried poor over the sequester runs its own 24-hour channel which features military news, interviews with top defense officials and programs like The Grill Sergeants.

Hat tip Nicholas Ballasy of PJMedia.com.

Obama Creates Propaganda Arm

Internet Passes Old Media In Trust

eMarketer.com reports that the internet has passed the old media in trust. Bill Lawrence -- Internet Passes Old Media In Trust

A survey by the Edelman public relations firm shows that 64 percent of internet users world wide trusted online search engines, up 1 point from the previous year, versus 62 percent who trusted traditional media, down 3 points from last year.

Less than half those surveyed — 48 percent — trusted social media.

Internet Passes Old Media In Trust

Rob McCord Democrat — And Corporate Connected

This morning’s (Jan. 31) The Philadelphia Inquirer has a huge front-page headline about the looming guilty plea of  Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord.Rob McCord Democrat -- And Corporate Connected Philadelphia Inquirer Rob McCord Headline

McCord attempted to extort money during his failed gubernatorial run last year by warning potential donors that they should not make an enemy of the state treasurer. He is charged with violation of federal campaign finance law as it is illegal to solicit campaign funds in exchange for official acts.

No where on the front page does it mention McCord’s party affiliation.

In fact, it’s not until the very last paragraph on the jump page that it is noted that McCord’s gambit happened in the Democrat Primary.

Compare that to how The Washington Post covered it.

McCord is from Montgomery County and like fellow Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf is a rich, white guy who made a fortune in the private sector, in McCord’s case as a venture capitalist with Safeguard Scientifics.

McCord founded the Eastern Technology Council in 1998 and ran it through 2007.  We think its safe to say that another spelling for the Eastern Technology Council would be “cronyism”.

What this illustrates is that not all capitalists believe in free markets.

McCord, who on Thursday (Jan. 29) announced that he would resign on Feb. 12, said he will now resign immediately. His successor will be appointed by Wolf.

Rob McCord Democrat — And Corporate Connected
Rob McCord Democrat although you’d have trouble learning that from The Philadelphia Inquirer story

Daily Times Loses Subscriber

A particular person I know — hi Mom — has cancelled her subscription to the Delaware County Daily Times that she had for at least 40 years.Daily Times Loses Subscriber

Was it because of some editorial or news story she didn’t like?

No. It was because of billing dispute involving new rates and missed deliveries.

Joe Grace would never have let that happen.

Once upon a time newspapers bent over backwards for subscribers.

Daily Times Loses Subscriber

 

 

Philadelphia Inquirer Tries, Fails

Today’s front page of The Philadelphia Inquirer featured a rousing, inspiring  article concerning the response by the French to the Jan. 7 terrorist attacks which included the murders of 12 staff members at the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.

It triumphantly noted that 5 million copies of the first post-attack edition of the magazine — again with an image of Mohammed on the front page — quickly sold out as throngs lined up pre-dawn at newsstands to buy one.

The rousing, inspiring article was missing just one thing. This:

Philadelphia Inquirer Tries, Fails Mohammed Je Suis Charlie Hebdo

Yes, the actual image, which is the only honest way of expressing solidarity with the unbowed.

We have to grade the Inky’s attempt at journalistic courage a failure. Still, we give them a half-point (well, quarter-pointer, OK tenth of a point) for trying.

The Inquirer also carried an interesting article concerning Pope Francis’ take on the controversy which is that speech should be free but used wisely i.e. don’t look for stupid fights, respect the religious views of others etc. and we agree completely.

As we had not heard of Charlie Hebdo until last week, and do not speak French hence cannot fairly put in context images we have seen on the web, we can’t speak to what it had published in the past.

We can, however, say that this week’s cover showing a tearful Mohammed expressing remorse at what was done in his name with the victims saying “All is forgiven” is the epitome of the wise use of free speech.

Shame the Inquirer didn’t have the guts to show its readers.

Philadelphia Inquirer Tries, Fails

Elizabeth Lauten And Media Priorities

Elizabeth Lauten, a Republican staffer, watched the White House’s annual Thanksgiving turkey pardoning and was less than enthralled with the behavior of Obama’s daughters.

So she posted this on Facebook:

“Dear Sasha and Malia, I get you’re both in those awful teen years, but you’re a part of the First Family, try showing a little class. . . . Rise to the occasion. Act like being in the White House matters to you. Dress like you deserve respect, not a spot at a bar.”

Oh, did the earth quake.

Ms. Lauten was forced to quit her job and her career was ruined.

The establishment media types are still chattering about it to the point where they couldn’t find much room to report on the indictment of Obama confidant Terry Beam for sexual assault of a minor or the conviction of Democrat player Donny Ray Williams for drugging girls and rapping them.

Hat tip Debra Heine at Breitbart.com

Elizabeth Lauten And Media Priorities

Elizabeth Lauten And Media Priorities

Sharyl Attkisson Describes Sophisticated News Silencing

Sharyl Attkinsson Describes Sophisticated News Silencing

Emmy Award-winning, former CBS investigative journalist Sharyl Attkisson is pushing her book Stonewalled: One Reporter’s Fight for Truth Against the Forces of Obstruction, Intimidation, and Harassment in Obama’s Washington and recently appeared on Mark Reardon’s talk show on KMOX in St. Louis.

She said that the political elite have developed a highly sophisticated system of pushback to discourage investigative journalism. She said that “public relations by special interests, political interests, corporate interests  have learned how to scare (journalists) off from meaningful stories.”

She said the Obama administration ” enlisted expert help again from their PR people, their surrogates, their bloggers to print untrue things to controversialize the reporting, to controversialize the reporters who were doing the reporting.”

She said it worked with CBS News.

She also described how her CBS laptop computer and her home Apple computer were compromised during her pursuit of stories detrimental to Obama.

“It’s pretty chilling when you consider the extent of the abilities they had, according to the forensics reports, to monitor my every keystroke, to activate Skype by getting the password to my account, and listen through Skype on to audio if I was talking in the room or talking on the phone,” she said. “Being able to exfiltrate files using Skype, downloading and refreshing these surveillance methods periodically using something called a BGAN satellite terminal, using WiFi when I was at a Ritz Carlton at one point. I mean they left some very distinct trails because I don’t think they ever thought I would have the ability to have highly-skilled specialized forensics people be able to find what was in there. Ordinary computer analysts may be very good, but unless they know exactly where to look and they’re familiar with some of the proprietary government practices, I’m told, they will never be able to find the things that were found in my computer. But I was able to go to some very good sources.”

Sharyl Attkisson Describes Sophisticated News Silencing

 

 

CNN Says SEAL Killed Obama

CNN’s Erin Burnett did a report, Nov. 7, on the controversy about Navy SEAL Robert O’Neill going public with the claim he was the one who fired the shot that killed Osama Bin Laden. The banner beneath beneath kind of undercut the credibility of what she was reporting assuming the declining network has any credibility left to undercut.

CNN Says SEAL Killed Obama

No, it didn’t just run for a second. It ran for the entire piece.

And such is the state of the old journalism outfits.

CNN Says SEAL Killed Obama
CNN Says SEAL Killed Obama

Hat tip Cathy Craddock