Thirty years?

Seemed longer than that…

30 years after the Kent State shootings, the impact in Madison is remembered.

Hearing of the shootings hundreds of miles away, UW-Madison students responded with rallies calling for an end to the Vietnam War. For days in early May 1970, they torched buildings, broke windows and threw rocks at police. Police used tear gas liberally and the governor called for the National Guard to occupy campus.

You knew it, too, right.

No doubt this will be changed soon.

[UPDATE: Yep, they did! Heh. Here's the tweet that referred to the original headline.]

Reason number 1,352 why I don’t watch MSDNC

Read it at Politico.com

In not dignifying at least the office if not the man, the famed MSDNC duo of Olbermann and Matthews lose dignity themselves. Of course, they had none in the first place.

They also lose dignity for their network, but I guess the network bigwigs are finding their niche as evidenced by the recent addition of Air America’s Rachel Maddow.

President Bush has more class than both of these “pundits” combined.

Gannett plans to furlough employees for a week

From the New York Times

The Gannett Company, the nation’s largest newspaper publisher, said on Wednesday that it would force thousands of its employees to take a week off without pay in an effort to avoid layoffs.

This involves about 31,000 employees.

Also on Wednesday, USA Today notified its staff of a one-year pay freeze for all employees.

Most of the readers of this blog know that

With the newspaper industry in increasingly dire financial straits, Gannett’s mandatory week off takes its place in a growing list of grave moves. Layoffs have been widespread, the newspapers in Detroit halted home delivery four days of the week, the Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy protection and owners of The Rocky Mountain News and The Seattle Post-Intelligencer warned that those papers could shut down.

Our local Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has announced a couple of “layoffs” in the recent past (announced as buyouts and early retirements) as well as a price increase for non-subscription newspapers.

What would we do without CNN?

Civilians on both sides caught in crossfire

Amazing.

It does a heart good

The top ten media blunders of 2008

The media took its share of lumps this year, with persistent claims of bias and complaints about often wrong-headed speculation from a seemingly endless parade of talking heads.

The best part? Noting who made these blunders.

1. Pundits
2. NY Times
3. MSNBC, Olbermann, Matthews
4. FOX News (OK, one)
5. MSNBC again! Schuster
6. ABC, Gibson, Stephanopoulos
7. Main stream media
8. New Yorker
9. Pundits
10. CNN

Yes, it was a good year.

The New York Times “error”

Ya gotta love it. You’ve about this, right? The NY Times prints a letter from the mayor of Paris. Only it’s not the mayor; the Gray Lady was punk*d.

Ann Althouse connects it with another famous punking,

Hey, remember that time Sarah Palin thought she was talking on the phone with Nicolas Sarkozy? The NYT presented that mistake as “one of the last straws” that convinced McCain advisors that Palin didn’t have what it takes.

I can now say that the NY Times doesn’t have what it takes.