Air America Apathy Ends?...

The Oregonian Breaks Ranks On The Air America Scandal?

Mr. Atos

Well, no! Not Really. But if you wander back to page F4 in the Sunday Commentary Section, David Reinhard has written an editorial that cleared the filter.

There's, like, a major corporate financial scandal goin' down, dude. Some greed-head wheeler-dealer took almost a million in government funds intended for children and Alzheimer's patients and put the money into a private start-up company. The money was supposed to be a loan, but the loan was never repaid, Now, the nonprofit is broke and under investigation for "significant inappropriate transaction and falsified documents." And, you know, like, the mainstream corporate media? They're paying no attention to the story, man. Children and Alzheimer's patients get the short end of the stick while fat-cat private interests line their pockets -- only in George Bush's America, right?

Wrong. Only in the Air America scandal that's unfolding. The recipient of $875,000-plus from the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in New York City is Air America, the left-wing radio network designed to take on the talk-radio right.

Reinhard does a pretty fair job of packaging the scandal for readers in the myopic delusion of Portland, Oregon; even extending appropriate credit to Hugh Hewitt, Michelle Malkin, Captain's Quarter's, and Free Republic.

Its a small start for the Old Busted Media, but far from the front page of a major urban newspaper in one of the few cities where Air America is a hit... AM 620 KPOJ.

Note the News Headlines at the Radio Station's own Website: There's Martha Stewart?

In timely fashion, Captain Ed makes a notable point...

What does this show? The Exempt Media has plenty of resources to continue coverage of a single celebrity who allegedly engaged in insider trading over 4,000 shares of ImClone stock, avoiding $51,000 in losses when bad news hit just afterwards. (Stewart wasn't convicted for insider trading, but obstruction of justice and perjury.) That amounts to 1/18th of what Air America got in misappropriated public funds by sucking money out of Bronx charity -- money intended for poor kids and Alzheimer's patients. Yet the New York Times has mentioned Martha Stewart* in 16 articles over the last 30 days, some of those in-depth reporting on Stewart and her ongoing legal struggles, but have not managed to put "Air America" and "Gloria Wise" into the same article even one time -- despite the misappropriation of public funds occurring in the Paper of Record's own back yard.

Convenient self-servings of apathy will not make a problem go away. In fact, in this case, the ignoring of the problem by so-called 'mainstream' media outlets like the New York Times and The Oregonian news pages contributes to their own demise... their irrelevance. One story here involves a corrupt media organization and the criminal actions of it's Liberal contributors. The other story that grows involves its affiliate media organizations that maintain a vigil of silence regarding that news. Reinhart concludes,

Better yet, progressive forces should do what they do best -- hold a rock concert. Franken probably could put the finger on some major talent. It's hard to imagine that the Dixie Chicks, Madonna, Sheryl Crow, Bruce Springsteen and Barbra Streisand wouldn't want to participate in a Live Air America-Aid concert. The guess here is that even stars who said they would leave the United States if Bush were elected or re-elected would return home to help the victims of this hideous corporate scandal.

Granted, Air America's overall rating have fallen in major markets. But here, the left-wing network is still going strong, particularly in the crucial male-ponytail demographic. A little advice for the network's Portland affiliate:

Think globally and act locally.

Far from demonstrating balance, Reinhard's editorial, buried as it is on F4, behind the screaming silence of Sections A and B tells readers, even in this "male-ponytail demographic," that the Oregonian is perfectly Exempt Media.

Look, three sets of coupons this week. Its not totally useless.

See Also...

We haven't been covering this story much. But, Okie Boy has been all over it. The cartoon says it all.