How to Be a Citizen Journalist

How to Verify a Tweet

2009-06-25T07:12:00.000-07:00

THIS IS A GREAT PIECE, AND TIMELY TOO. From the Twitter Journalism website.

Date : June 25th, 2009 Category : How To's Author : Craig Kanalley

Twitter is the great equalizer. It doesn’t matter if you have 100 followers or 10,000, you can break news. That’s because all tweets are recorded and indexed at search.twitter.com. If someone types the right keyword(s), they can find your tweet.

Breaking Tweets prides itself on giving many different types of Twitterers credit for breaking news, whether it be someone in Honduras with a dozen followers recording the first “earthquake” tweet or a news organization providing the first details of a major story.

But how do you know a tweet’s legitimate?

Here’s some methods I use at Breaking Tweets that you can try too:

1. Timestamp: Anytime something breaks with hundreds of tweets in minutes, like a natural disaster, it’s good to type various keywords and keep paging back until you find the first few tweets about the news. Unless these Tweeters are psychic, they’re probably among the first to have knowledge something’s up and they may have additional context depending on the story.

2. Contextual tweets: Immediately check the Twitter user’s page for related tweets around the tweet you found. You’d be surprised how often someone posts a follow-up tweet later or precedes the ‘breaking tweet’ with other pertinent info. This could provide additional context for the story, but it can also help verify a person, especially if they’re posting pictures or other content from the scene.

3. Authority: Check the Twitter user’s Bio. Is this a journalist? Is it a random person off the street? Is it a prankster? How about a comedian? Check their Web site or blog if they have one listed. See what you can learn about them here. It’s important to have some idea who the Tweeter is as you assess the validity of any tweet.

4. How many past tweets: Be leery of new Twitter users. If it’s one of their first tweets, it could be anybody starting an account and claiming to have info on a breaking story. The newer the account is, the more skeptical you have to be.

5. What are the past tweets: Check for context by examining the person’s Twitter stream. Go back several pages and see what they normally tweet about. Do they interact with people? Check the accounts they interact with for additional background on piecing together who this person might be. If they say they’re in Paris, are they talking about Paris a month ago? Are they tweeting in French? If not, why not? Evaluate the person and get a feel from them as best you can based on past tweets.

6. Google them: Google their Twitter name because sometimes people use a Twitter handle as their user name on other sites. See if you can find a LinkedIn page, a Facebook page and other sites that add to who these people might be. If they don’t list a full name on their Twitter page, and their user name doesn’t turn up much, you have reason to be more skeptical. The more information the person hides, the harder it is to know who they are. Likewise, the more open they are with info, the more likely they’re legitimate.

7. Check for related tweets: If someone says they heard an explosion in Lahore, what are other people in Lahore tweeting about? Check that and see if anyone else is reporting this. Chances are if a series of diverse people are tweeting about it at the same exact time — and they don’t appear related from looking at their accounts –, something’s up.

8. Talk to them directly: Send an @ reply. Start following them and try to send a direct message. Get a conversation going. Ask for more information and build a relationship as best you can. This will help you create a profile of this person and piece together their connection to the story.

These are ways that Breaking Tweets works to verify a tweet. It’s all about context, really – the person’s past tweets, other tweets that support their tweet, seeking more information about them specifically, and seeking more information about the topic. And of course the timing of the tweet is critical too. If you stay on top of the tweets and follow these sorts of steps to verify tweets, you’ll be well on your way to finding great story tips and breaking news well before traditional methods.

Twitter and Revolution

2009-06-24T12:32:00.001-07:00

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

These experts were offered today by the Institute for Public Accuracy -- Reese speaks about the irrelevancy of Twitter in mobilizing Iranian protest outside the city centers, where folx are using telephones and word of mouth to organize effectively.
Eileen talks about the lip service major media is giving to Iranian Twitter news, while ignoring similarly-Tweeted news here in the U.S., namely during the Republican National Convention last year where police used concussion bombs against demonstrators and 1,800 perople were arrested including mainstream reporters -- and 90 percent had the charges dropped later.

REESE ERLICH, http://www.alternet.org/authors/853, http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2007/03/brad_pitt_and_the_girl_guerrillas.html, http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2009/06/10/pm_iran_elections
Just back from covering the Iranian election, Erlich is available for a limited number of interviews with major media. Foreign correspondent and author of "The Iran Agenda: The Real Story of U.S. Policy and the Middle East Crisis," Erlich said today: "This isn't a 'Twitter Revolution.' That description trivializes the broad mass movement that has swept Iran. It is not just the affluent of northern Tehran who are protesting. It's poorer people from southern Tehran -- who organize by plain old phone calls and word of mouth.
"The movement has gone beyond protesting election fraud and now challenges the system. Some protesters want a more moderate Islamic government, others want a return to a parliamentary system that existed in the early 1950s under Prime Minister Mohammed Mossadegh. Mossadegh headed the last democratic government in Iran, which included freedom for political parties to organize, free press and freedom of religion. It was overthrown in a CIA coup in 1953. That's why the government is cracking down so hard; it is threatened to its core.
"There's a big controversy in the U.S. about President Obama's statements on Iran. But they are largely irrelevant to the people of Iran. Given the long history of U.S. meddling in Iran, it's best that the U.S. not further intervene and [instead] let the people of Iran deal with their own government. The U.S. has a long history of sanctions [and] supporting terrorist attacks against Iran that bolster the rightwingers in Iran. The U.S. cannot and should not try to intervene in Iran's upheaval; anything the U.S. does would be counterproductive. It's much more important that Iranians receive people-to-people support in the form of rallies, marches, etc. from American grassroots groups."

EILEEN CLANCY, iwitness@iwitnessvideo.info, http://iwitnessvideo.info
Founder of I-Witness Video, Clancy has for years documented protests in the U.S. and Northern Ireland. Clancy said today: "Protesters in Iran are managing to get some video out to the broader world that challenges the official Iranian government narrative. We've seen similar efforts to expose government repression using cell phone video and the Internet in several countries including Egypt, Turkey and Burma.
"While it's fashionable right now for U.S. politicians to stick up for the peaceful protesters and citizen journalists in the streets of Iran, those sentiments ring hollow. In the U.S., protest events are typically deemed marginal events by the news media, even when extraordinary things happen there. In 2004, 1,800 people were arrested at the Republican National Convention in New York City; 90 percent had charges dismissed; the city's legal bill to date is $8.2 million and hundreds of lawsuits are pending.
"In 2008, the Republican Convention was the most repressive I've ever seen in the U.S.; police were using concussion grenades. I-Witness Video members were followed by undercover police and we were raided twice, once with guns drawn. It was clear that there was an effort to disrupt people who could get video to the broader world. Local reporters were swept up and charges were later dropped. We were actually told by the police that they were tracking us in real-time using geo-location data from our cell phones. Twitter was key for us doing our work."

The Poynter Institute's Romenesko Posts Keller's Memo on David Rohde

2009-06-20T10:23:00.000-07:00

News broke this morning that New York Times Pakistan correspondent David Rohde and his Pakistani colleague Tahir Ludin escaped after being held by the Taliban for the past seven months -- and family members credited the NYT and other major media's agreement to completely black out any coverage of the kidnapping, which they say reduced Rodhe's value as a bargaining chip and bought time for the two journalists' escape. Wild!! And welcome home, David and Tahir!
Above is a link to The Poynter's coverage.

Poynter Forums
View Forum Post
Topic: Memos Sent to Romenesko
Date/Time: 6/20/2009 12:31:12 PM
Title: NYT editor's "joyous news"
Posted By: Jim Romenesko

From: Bill Keller/NYT/NYTIMES
Sent: 06/20/2009 12:16 PM AST
Subject: [NYT Newsroom] To the Staff: David Rohde

Colleagues:

Joyous news.

Last night we got word that David Rohde had escaped from the Taliban kidnappers who have been holding him for more than 7 months. He told his wife, Kristen, that he and his translator climbed over the wall of the compound where they were being held in Pakistan, and made their way to a Pakistani military unit. They were airlifted out by the U.S. military, and after a sleep and a physical at Bagram Air Base David will be reunited with his family.

There will be many people to thank -- the family members who stayed strong throughout David's ordeal, the many people at The Times who worked for his release, officials of several governments who offered information, advice and support, and many other news organizations that agreed to keep David's case quiet until it was resolved. As journalists, we all cringe at the idea of sitting on a story, but the consensus of experts we consulted -- and the judgment of the family -- was that a storm of publicity would at best prolong David's captivity by increasing his apparent value, and could well put him in imminent danger. We have withheld information in similar cases at the request of other organizations with employees at risk.

I expect we will be besieged by understandable questions about who did what to make this happen. I hope that if any of you are probed on the subject you'll keep in mind that anything we say about our efforts to get David out -- whether authoritative or speculative -- risks becoming part of the playbook for future kidnappers.

For now, the main thing is to get David to a place where he can spend time with his family, rest and recover. When the time comes, I expect he'll have a story to tell.

Best,
Bill

View Complete Forum Topic

How to Demystify an FBI File

2009-06-07T08:29:00.000-07:00

That supercool Michael Ravnitsky posted this over on the Investigative Reporters and Editors listserv. Gotta checkit out -- just click above on HOW TO DEMYSTIFY AN FBI FILE.

From the IPA: Interviews Available -- $96 Billion More for War

2009-05-17T15:26:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy -- PM Friday, May 15, 2009

The Washington Post reports today, "The House passed a bill yesterday that would provide more than $96 billion in funding for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq through Sept. 30, as President Obama had requested, but a bloc of 51 Democrats opposed it.

"Democratic opponents are accusing Obama of the same charge they leveled against his predecessor: escalating a war without a clear exit strategy."

JO COMERFORD, jo@nationalpriorities.org
Executive director of the National Priorities Project, Comerford said today: "Each dollar spent on war in Afghanistan and Iraq is a dollar not spent on human needs here at home. For instance, taxpayers in Maryland will pay $2 billion for yesterday's House supplemental vote. For the same amount of money, they could have provided four years of health care for 75,000 people, or sent 50,000 students to four-year colleges -- for free.

"Of President Obama's initial $83.4 billion supplemental request, our analyses showed that $77.1 billion was for war and ancillary operations. Of that, we estimated that $52.7 billion was dedicated to the Iraq war for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2009. The estimated remaining $24.4 billion in war-funding is for the expanding war in Afghanistan and related operations.

"At roughly 70/30 (70 percent for Iraq and 30 percent for Afghanistan), this funding split begins departing from the 80/20 split that existed for years and is an indication of the rising costs in Afghanistan.

"To date, the cost of war approved by Congress is $830.2 billion with $657.3 billion to Iraq and $172.9 billion to Afghanistan. The $77.1 billion from the initial supplemental request brought total war spending to $907.3 billion since 2001. Should the Senate join the House in considering additional supplemental funding, total war spending could easily exceed $915 billion."

The National Priorities Project's webpage features a "cost of war" counter as well as a "trade-offs" section, which calculates the localized cost of federal spending decisions.

Fantastic reporters' resource: Al's Morning Meeting

2009-05-14T19:29:00.000-07:00

If you don't spend lots of time at the Poynter Institute's website, you should. Al's Morning Meeting is just one reason -- check him out. I especially like his "Diggin'" posts, because I am a document junkie. As the editor's note on www.poynter.org says:

"Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible. The column is fact-checked, but depends on the accuracy and integrity of the original sources cited. We will correct errors and inaccuracies when we become aware of them."

This is just from today -- there are loads on his blog, including tips and sources for covering Obama's decision to fight release of the detainee torture photos, and "Covering the Recession's Effect on Social Security, Medicare." L

Al Tompkins
Story ideas that you can localize and enterprise. Posted by 7:30 a.m. Mon-Fri.
Planting Trees on West, South Sides of Houses Can Cut Energy Costs
Posted by Al Tompkins at 3:31 PM on May. 14, 2009
My old friend Jim Sweeney spotted this and sent it to me for Al's Morning Meeting. The idea, which is about how trees can help lower the cost of summer electric bills, comes from the National Institute of Standards and Technology:

"Trees positioned to shade the west and south sides of a house may decrease summertime electric bills by 5 percent on average, according to a recent study of California homes by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)."

Read on for the study's findings.

CHECK AL's TWITTER FEED for nonstop story ideas throughout the day.

A dozen sites
I'm diggin'

*1. Do jockeys matter in a big horse race like this weekend's Preakness?

*2. Poynter's Steve Myers reports on the health of journalism organizations.

*3. Is the honeybee shortage a myth?

*4. Watch these multimedia projects by college students. They'll give you hope that lots of good things are to come for journalism.

5. Check out the newly released Census of Agriculture, "a complete count of U.S. farms and ranches and the people who operate them."

6. The Journalism Center on Children & Families' resource page for journalists covering child sex abuse cases.

*7. The future of fashion electronics is in clothing. Cute Circuit's "Hug Shirt," for instance, lets you "send and feel hugs to and from other Hug Shirt owning friends." There are also jackets with embedded mini-disc players, dresses that sense pollution and body scanners that help design the perfect fitting jeans.

*8. CNET has a resource page tracking the developments of Windows 7, which is to be released this year.

9. This site lets you set up an e-mail address that expires after 15 minutes.

10. Cool widgets from the government that you can use online.

11. The Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma offers tips for journalists covering the Swine flu.

12. Subsidy Scope, a searchable database of TARP transactions, links to a list of banks participating in the FDIC's Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.

All of my Diggin' sites are saved on Poynter's del.icio.us page.

May. 14, 2009
Covering the Recession's Effect on Social Security, Medicare
Posted by Al Tompkins at 6:48 AM on May. 14, 2009
Trustees of the Social Security and Medicare funds said this week that the recession has played hell with their finances and that both programs are heading for insolvency. We can see this problem on the horizon, but are we willing to do something about it?

Social Security will start paying out more than it takes in by 2016 -- a mere seven years from now. The program is now projected to be out of money by 2037, which is four years earlier than last predicted.

Medicare is in "much worse" shape, the trustees said. It is already paying out more than it takes in, and Medicare funds are expected to be gone by 2017, which is two years earlier than the last report forecast.

Trustees said an economic recovery won't fix things. In fact, a recovery is already built in to the bleak outlook.

May. 13, 2009
President Obama Shifts Position on Releasing Military Abuse Photos
Posted by Al Tompkins at 3:06 PM on May. 13, 2009
President Barack Obama promised a new openness in government. But Wednesday, he said he opposes the release of dozens and possibly hundreds of military photos that reportedly show prisoner abuse in facilities other than Abu Ghraib. The photos were taken in Afghanistan and Iraq.

The American Civil Liberties Union fought to have the photos released and this week, the Defense Department agreed to stop fighting the release.

Now, the White House said the president "strongly believes that the release of these photos, particularly at this time, would only serve the purpose of inflaming the theaters of war, jeopardizing U.S. forces, and making our job more difficult in places like Iraq and Afghanistan."

Read on to find out about the criticisms Obama received earlier this week for going along with the release of the photos.

Wednesday, May 13 -- Oregon National Guard soldiers to testify on toxic chemical exposure

2009-05-12T21:08:00.000-07:00

State Rep. Chip Shields

May 12th, 2009
MEDIA ADVISORY

Media Contact:
Eamon McCleery
503-986-1443

Kellog, Brown and Root alleged to have "disregarded and downplayed the extreme danger of wholesale site contamination" in Iraq.

HB 3480 would provide funds to Guard members who develop cancer as a result of exposure to hexavalent chromium at facility.

Hearing details:

Date: Wednesday-May 13
Time: 3:00 P.M.
Room: HR 50
Where: State Capitol Building

Salem, Ore. - Representative Chip Shields (D-N/NE Portland) announced today that the House Committee on Elections, Ethics and Rules will hear from several members of the Oregon National Guard on Wednesday, May 13 who were exposed to the toxic industrial compound hexavalent chromium while serving in Iraq.

The soldiers will be testifying in support of House Bill 3480, which would authorize the Oregon Military Department to make payments to members of Oregon National Guard who develop cancer as a result of their exposure to hexavalent chromium.

"This bill is about standing up for our soldiers and their families," said Rep Shields. "Passing this bill is a very modest recognition of their pain and sacrifice."

In 2003, Oregon and Indiana Guard Members were assigned to protect Kellogg Brown and Root (KBR) employees who were rebuilding a water treatment plant outside of Basra, Iraq. Soldiers reportedly saw large amounts of an orange-colored dust that contained hexavalent chromium on the ground and covering the pipes in the water treatment plant. Exposure to small amounts of hexavalent chromium has shown a high increase the risk of leukemia as well as lung, stomach, brain, renal, bladder and bone cancers. Three Oregon National Guard members who were exposed have already contracted cancer.

A group of Indiana Guard Members began a lawsuit against KBR in February of last year claiming the contractor "disregarded and downplayed" the seriousness of the contamination.

"Not Surprising": U.S. Soldier Kills Five Others in Iraq

2009-05-11T22:13:00.000-07:00

PM Monday, May 11, 2009
From the Institute for Public Accuracy - Interviews Available

The New York Times is reporting: "The United States military said Monday that five American soldiers had been shot to death by a fellow soldier who opened fire on them at one of the biggest American bases in Baghdad, and that the suspected shooter was in custody."

AARON GLANTZ, aaronfglantz@yahoo.com, http://aaronglantz.com, http://newtimesslo.com/cover/2010/the-long-road-home
Glantz is a Rosalynn Carter Fellow for Mental Health Journalism at the Carter Center and author of the book, "The War Comes Home: Washington's Battle Against America's Veterans."

He said today: "This Columbine-style shooting in Iraq is shocking, but unfortunately is not surprising. For eight years now, the Army has stood by silently as more and more American soldiers have taken their own lives under the strain of repeated deployments, an acute lack of mental health services, and a back-door draft. It was only a matter of time before a stressed-out soldier pointed his gun at comrades rather than himself.

"In January, the Army reported more active-duty soldiers had committed suicide than died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. The Army's suicide rate for 2008 (128) was the highest in 28 years."

From the IRE listserv

2009-05-06T10:36:00.000-07:00

Have you ever heard of www.governmentattic.org? Fun fun fun for document junkies........this post is reprinted from the Investigative Reporters and Editors listserv.

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 06 May 2009 07:58:01 -0400
From: Michael Ravnitzky
Subject: [IREPLUS-L] Spotted on Government Attic - Navy Salvage
Reports
To: Discussion of Investigative Reporting Techniques and Training

, State and Local Freedom of Information Issues

, "ireplus-l@ire.org"
Message-ID:
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

SPOTTED ON GOVERNMENT ATTIC - NAVY SALVAGE REPORTS

Seven US Navy Salvage Reports (SUPSALV), 1968 - 1992

http://www.governmentattic.org/SUPSALV_Reports.html

Included are:

US Navy Salvage Report: USS Frank Knox (DDR-742) Stranding Salvage, 25 Oct
1968

US Navy Salvage Report: Suez Canal Salvage Operations in 1974

US Navy Salvage Report: Ex-Tortuga (LSD 26) Salvage Report, 14 Sep 1989

US Navy Salvage Report: USCGC Mesquite Salvage Operation Dec 89 - July 90,
19 July 1991

US Navy Salvage Report: Commercial Aircraft Salvage Operations, 1 Apr 1992

US Navy Salvage Report: Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vol. 1, July
1992

US Navy Salvage Report: Operations Desert Shield/Desert Storm Vol. II, July
1992

Doctors Arrested at Senate "Roundtable" on Healthcare

2009-05-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

PM Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Institute for Public Accuracy -- Interviews Available

Doctors and other advocates of a national single-payer health system -- also known as improved Medicare for All -- directly confronted senators at a Senate Finance Committee "roundtable" on health reform today. Videos are available here http://www.singlepayeraction.org.

One by one, single-payer advocates in the audience stood up and asked why single-payer experts were being excluded from the proceedings. They each spoke out in turn until they were removed from the committee hearing room by Capitol police, at which point another person would speak up. Eight were arrested.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chair of the Senate Finance Committee, has stated on multiple occasions that single payer is "off the table" of health reform. As advocates spoke up today, he joked that he needed more police.

Today's roundtable, the second of three, consisted of 15 witnesses with no single-payer advocates among them. By contrast, several witnesses have direct ties to the for-profit, private health insurance industry.

Among the single-payer advocates who spoke up at the hearing, several have been released from custody this afternoon and are now available for interviews:

MARGARET FLOWERS, MD, nose1@aol.com, http://www.md.pnhp.org, http://www.pnhp.org
Flowers, who is co-chair of the Maryland chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program (a national organization of 16,000 physicians, medical students and health professionals who support single-payer national health insurance), said today: "Health insurance administrators are practicing medicine without a medical license. The result is the suffering and death of thousands of patients for the sake of private profit."
After Flowers and others where removed from the hearing room, Baucus stated that he "deeply respected" their views while "orderly process" was needed. Flowers said: "We tried the orderly process, we contacted the senators, and they excluded us. The first person who spoke up noted that there were doctors who could testify -- and they arrested him."

RUSSELL MOKHIBER, russellmokhiber@gmail.com, http://www.singlepayeraction.org
Founder of Single Payer Action, Mokhiber said today: "It's a pretty spectacular display of raw political power. The health insurance industry demands that not one of the 15 people who testified today shall be a single-payer advocate. And the industry gets what it wants. It’s time for the American people to storm the gates and demand -- put single payer on the table."

KATIE ROBBINS, healthcarenow08@gmail.com, http://www.healthcare-now.org
Assistant national coordinator of Healthcare-NOW, a grassroots advocacy organization in support of single-payer national health care with a network of activists in 42 states, said today: “The current discussion on health reform is political theater at its best. Our elected officials are hosting these events to go through the motions of what developing effective national health policy should look like. There is a big difference between getting health policy experts in the room and the witnesses here today who would profit the most from reform. That difference means our hard-earned dollars will go to further insurance industry profits, not to guarantee health care to the American people."

Wolves Targeted

2009-05-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

PM Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Institute for Public Accuracy -- Interviews Available

AP reports: "Wolves in parts of the northern Rockies and the Great Lakes region come off the endangered species list on Monday, opening them to public hunts in some states for the first time in decades."

RODGER SCHLICKEISEN, SUZANNE ASHA STONE, sstone@defenders.org,
President of Defenders of Wildlife, Schlickeisen said: "This delisting is a potentially disastrous turn for a venture that began in 1995 in such a hopeful and rewarding manner: the restoration of wolves to their natural landscape in the West. We are outraged and dismayed that Interior Secretary Ken Salazar put his stamp of approval on this premature and inadequate Bush administration plan.

"We all expected more from the Obama administration, which repeatedly promised it would consult with conservationists, scientists, and other stakeholders on key issues before making decisions. Secretary Salazar rejected our offer to work with him to find the right way to delist wolves in the region and, instead, made his surprise announcement that he was removing federal protections for vulnerable wolves with no transparency at all. Defenders of Wildlife immediately filed a request under the Freedom of Information Act so we could learn who the Secretary talked to about the issue and what scientific review he undertook -- and we are still waiting for an answer. Meanwhile we are moving to sue Secretary Salazar as soon as possible to overturn this misguided and unwarranted decision.

"The delisting plan allows these two states [Idaho and Montana] to reduce wolf populations to levels that would threaten genetic diversity between populations and undermine the goal of ensuring a healthy, sustainable wolf population in the region. Secretary Salazar's terrible decision leaves us no choice. We will stand up for wolves and endangered species conservation by moving to challenge this delisting in court as soon as the law allows."

Northern Rockies representative for Defenders of Wildlife, Suzanne Stone, added: "All the reasons why this plan was a bad idea when the Bush administration proposed it still stand today. Idaho, which hosts the majority of the region's wolf population, has already publically announced its desire to aggressively reduce its state wolf population once federal protections are lifted. Today, there are at least 25 packs on the short-list that may be targeted for removal. ... Delisting the wolf at this point in time completely undermines the serious work, consideration and cooperation among all stakeholders that is necessary before being able to objectively declare the gray wolf recovered."

Reprint: Newspapers’ Essential Strengths, by David Carr, NY Times, Monday, May 4

2009-05-04T07:56:00.000-07:00

Reporters like to think of themselves as essential to the national well-being, which might be just one more measure of how out of touch we are, but journalists are not the only ones who are suggesting as much.

Speaking Tuesday in Washington at the Reuters Global Financial Regulation meeting, the day after the business magazine Portfolio closed, Mary L. Schapiro, the chairwoman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, suggested that because federal regulators cannot be everywhere at once, experienced reporters constitute additional critical boots on the ground.

“Financial journalists have in many cases been the sources of some really important enforcement cases and really important discovery of practices and products that regulators should be profoundly concerned about,” said Ms. Schapiro. “But for journalists having been dogged and determined and really pursuing some of these things, they might not be known to the regulators or they might not be known for a long time.”

A current accounting of the news business — grim and grimmer by the day — suggests that there may be a subsequent bear market in accountability as well. The day before she spoke, the Audit Bureau of Circulations revealed that for the six months ended March 31, newspapers, which employ the vast share of paid watchdogs, were down an average of 7 percent in circulation from the previous year, a steepening decline that foretells additional layoffs in a business that has already had its share.

On Friday, it was announced that The Washington Post lost $53.8 million in the first quarter of the year, and perhaps more ominously, that revenue in its online properties dropped 8 percent.

CLICK LINK ABOVE TO READ FULL COLUMN

Kagan on the Supreme Court?

2009-05-01T18:03:00.000-07:00

Friday, May 1, 2009, Institute for Public Accuracy

Kagan on the Supreme Court?

For background, see Washington Post: "Memo Lets CIA Take Detainees Out
of Iraq: Practice Is Called Serious Breach of Geneva Conventions"

Interviews Available

Solicitor General Elena Kagan is widely reported to be a leading contender for the Supreme Court position being vacated by David Souter.

FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle@law.uiuc.edu
Professor of law at the University of Illinois, Boyle is author of "Tackling America's Toughest Questions." He said today: "As dean of the Harvard Law School, Kagan hired Bush's outgoing director of the Office of Legal Counsel, Jack Goldsmith, as a law professor. Goldsmith is regarded by myself and many others in the field as a war criminal. He wrote some of the memos that attempted to make violations of the Geneva Conventions appear legal. Kagan actually bragged about 'how proud' she was to have hired Goldsmith after one of his criminal Department of Justice memoranda was written up in the Washington Post.
"Then, during the course of her Senate confirmation hearings as Solicitor General, Kagan explicitly endorsed the Bush administration's bogus category of 'enemy combatant,' whose implementation has been a war crime in its own right. Now in her new job as U.S. Solicitor General, Kagan is quarterbacking the continuation of the Bush administration's illegal and unconstitutional positions in U.S. federal court litigation around the country, including in the U.S. Supreme Court."
Boyle is a former chair of the Harvard Law School Fund Campaign for Greater Illinois and a magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School.

Wanted Man Turns Himself in Through Project Clean Slate

2009-04-30T21:31:00.000-07:00

TheSkannerNews on YouTube: Alex Campbell, facing a warrant for his arrest after years of gang-related activity, is moments away from turning himself in to Multnomah County Sheriffs deputies Friday, April 3, 2009, with the help of Project Clean Slate and its staff Roy Jay and Joe Nunn. His mother Betty Campbell and his girlfriend back him up as he faces the glare of television cameras -- after one of the stations, Fox News, named him the night before as an "armed and dangerous" criminal. Video by Lisa Loving

Sources on Swine Flu

2009-04-29T14:03:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy PM Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Swine Flu: Budgets and Immigration Status

Interviews Available

DAVID KATZ, DavidK@communicarehc.org
Katz is a family physician at CommuniCare Health Centers in Yolo County, California. He said today: "We have had decreased capacity in our clinics in dealing with something like swine flu because we've had county and state cutbacks over the last year. ...
"CommuniCare is a network of community health centers that cares for the underserved population of the county. I'm concerned about budgetary decisions being made in many counties in California that exclude undocumented county residents from the county-financed safety net health systems. County supervisors in Yolo County will hold a public hearing on May 5 in Woodland, California to solicit legally required citizen input on their proposed exclusion of Yolo County residents from the County YCHIP program on the basis of immigration status.
"When you have such initiatives, as we do in our county, you start shifting health care costs to hospital emergency rooms and hospitals. It is quite possible that these costs will overwhelm our community hospitals, resulting in one or more going out of business.
"I am concerned that separating out one segment of the California population from access to our health care system damages everyone. It's obviously bad for the undocumented who have to worry about paying inordinate amounts of money or not going in for care altogether. But it affects everyone else too. If undocumented parents don't get prompt treatment for infectious illnesses, they could pass along infections such as swine flu, TB or whooping cough to other county residents. In short, where health care is for the few, we find more health problems for all in the community."

Money for Haiti Charity Stolen

2009-03-31T16:40:00.000-07:00

Interviews Available -- Will the G-20 Bicker as People Suffer?

2009-03-31T16:36:00.000-07:00

Monday, March 30, 2009

"Globalization from Below"

Interviews Available

ARUN GUPTA, [in NYC] (347) 633-2246, ebrowniess@yahoo.com, http://www.indypendent.org
Gupta is editor of The Indypendent newspaper in New York City. He recently wrote the piece "The Great Unraveling." http://www.indypendent.org/2009/03/19/the-great-unraveling
Gupta said today: "A different reality awaits President Obama as he heads to Europe to meet with other leaders of the G-20. ... On Sunday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner called on all nations 'to affirm our commitment to maintain open policies toward international trade and investment and to avoid protectionist measures that could threaten recovery.' ... [But] U.S. economic policies are being labeled as protectionist by much of the world. ..."

JEREMY BRECHER, (860) 672-6046, (860) 672-6092, jeremy.brecher@gmail.com, http://laborstrategies.blogs.com
Co-founder of Global Labor Strategies, a resource center providing research and analysis on globalization, trade and labor issues, Brecher recently co-wrote the piece "Global Labor’s Forgotten Plan to Fight the Great Depression," which begins: "In the early 1930s, as global unemployment tripled in two years and the world plunged into the Great Depression, the world’s labor movements developed a program for fighting the global crisis through international public works. It's a little-known historical might-have-been that could have helped halt the Great Depression, the rise of Adolph Hitler, and the Second World War. And, as the efforts of world leaders to address today’s 'Great Recession' threaten to break down in nationalist rivalry and petty political bickering, it bears lessons -- and perhaps an alternative vision -- for today." http://laborstrategies.blogs.com/global_labor_strategies/2009/03/global-labors-forgotten-plan-to-fight-the-great-depression.html
Brecher also recently co-wrote "How to Pay for a Global Climate Deal." http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/03/21-4
His books include "Globalization from Below" and "Strike!"

Very Juicy Story Opportunity: Iraq Refugees Resettling in Portland

2008-07-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

THIS WAS FORWARDED FROM KBOO PM NEWS DIRECTOR JENKA SODERBERG:

Dear all:
I (Zahra Alkabi) have been informed from the

Catholic Charities that we will have some Iraqi

refugees in Portland at the end of this month and

the beginning of Aug 2008. They do need a place

to stay at least for the first 3 months and they do

need your hospitality and your welcoming attitude.

I know we will have 1 single woman, 2 or 3

single men so each one of them need a room with

a family or individuals. We will be able to pay

$250 per month for each person. We will also have

a big family of 9 persons and they do need a house

to stay in. If you have a house or know a private

owner that owns houses you may contact this

person and let me know how much should we pay

for the rent.
Iraqi refugees need your help and your kindness.

It's a good opportunity to know about Iraqis

and Iraqi culture for most of you. I have been

telling stories of many Iraqi families who live as

refugees in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

NOW it's the time to help and contribute to

those who come to Portland seeking a stable life

and security. They need your help, they deserve

your help. Please help them.
If you have any question or concerns please feel

free to contact me direct either by email or by phone.
Thanks a lot for your cooperation and kind ,

every thing you offer is highly appreciated
PS: we just started the Iraqi - Portland solidarity

community if you want to be part of this

community you can contact us , welcoming Iraqi

refugees in Portland is the first action that

shows our solidarity.

Yours in the struggle for peace, Zahra AlKabi
Director and Founder www.saverefugees.org
Help Iraqi Refugees 503-422-7321

Story Assignment: Stagflation -- The Military Drain

2008-07-19T12:16:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

* Stagflation * The Military Drain

Interviews Available

DOUG HENWOOD, dhenwood@panix.com,
Henwood is author of the book "Wall Street" and editor of Left
Business Observer. He said today: "The U.S. economy continues to be
dominated by the contradictory forces of stagnation and inflation -- a
reincarnation of that 1970s monster, stagflation. This morning we
learned that inflation is running at a 5 percent annual rate. But just
yesterday, the president took the unusual step of reminding the public
that bank deposits are insured up to $100,000, a bit of reassurance made necessary by the sight of depositors lining up to withdraw money from a failing bank, IndyMac. All this is the culmination of some very serious long-term problems -- the chronic trade deficit, the polarization of rich and poor, the use of debt to compensate for falling incomes. It always looked unsustainable, but somehow we managed to get by with a
short-term fix or a new bubble. But now it's looking like the Bank for
International Settlements, the central bankers' club, had it right when
they said recently that 'the unsustainable has run its course.'"

ERIK LEAVER, erik@ips-dc.org,
Leaver is a research fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. He
said today: "Too little attention is being paid to one of the largest
drains on the economy. The Iraq war is costing $12 billion a month.
These funds could be put to use back here at home.
"Part of McCain�s plan to balance the budget includes a military
draw-down in Iraq. But he's planning on increasing the size of the
military, as is Obama. Both candidates are also discussing plans to
send tens of thousands more troops to Afghanistan. So neither candidate is
talking about relieving the largest drain on the economy -- the
enormous military costs."

Story Assignment: Can the President Detain Anyone Indefinitely?

2008-07-19T12:08:00.000-07:00

FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY:
Thursday, July 17, 2008

Can the President Detain Anyone Indefinitely?

Interviews Available

Ali Al-Marri, who was living in Peoria, Illinois, with his wife and children, was awaiting trial in 2003. A month before his trial, he was
deemed an 'enemy combatant' by the president. He has been held in
solitary confinement ever since. On Tuesday, the Fourth Circuit ruled that the president has the authority to detain anyone deemed an 'enemy
combatant' indefinitely. (See Glenn Greenwald, "Al-Marri and the power
to imprison U.S. citizens without charges," Salon)

MICHAEL RATNER,
mratner@michaelratner.com, http://www.ccr-ny.org
President of the Center for Constitutional Rights, Ratner said
today: "The core of the Bush administration's excesses and illegalities
in the so-called 'Global War on Terror' is the authority he has asserted to detain anyone anywhere in the world as an 'enemy combatant.' The president claims this authority for anyone detained in the 'Global War on Terror' even if that detention was far from a battlefield and the person had nothing to do with a war as traditionally known. It's the assertion that acts of terrorism or affiliation with a terrorist group can be treated as acts of war and alleged terrorist can be held in a way analogous to how POWs are held in a real shooting war. In other words such alleged terrorists can, according to Bush, be held indefinitely until the end of the 'Global War on Terror.' In normal circumstances such people would be tried for crimes in federal courts, but not today.

"Two issues arise from this. The first is what has finally been decided in the Gitmo cases -- assuming the president has the claimed authority to detain people as 'enemy combatants,' can those people at least challenge their detention as 'enemy combatants' and in that challenge what process is due and what is the definition of enemy combatant? This is an important issue, but if we only win that we have lost the bigger battle -- for what we would then have is a preventive detention scheme for alleged terrorists -- albeit one in which the detainee can challenge that detention.

"The second issue to arise is the key one: Can a person who is alleged to commit or plan acts of terrorism or claimed to have affiliation with a terrorist group (as in al-Marri's case) be held indefinitely as an 'enemy combatant' and never tried for a crime -- in other words can he be preventively detained without a criminal trial?
The Supreme Court has not ruled on this either in the Gitmo cases or domestic ones, which is only al-Marri at this point.

"The Fourth Circuit (5-4) has now held that a U.S. resident or lawful immigrant (the reasoning would apply to citizens as well) can be held indefinitely as an enemy combatant and never need be tried (yes he can test that detention -- but the question asked at the hearing is whether he is an enemy combatant -- once that is answered he can be held indefinitely.)

"In al-Marri, the bad part of the decision is based on a congressional statute -- the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which addressed the use of force against al-Qaeda. It is that statute which the court said authorized the detention at issue -- even though the detention took place in the U.S.

"It is a very, very dangerous decision. It literally means citizens in the U.S. can be detained as 'enemy combatants' in solitary confinement indefinitely and, while they can get a hearing, they never need be tried.

"The court in the narrow decision has put its imprimatur on the most dangerous departure from fundamental rights: the administration's treatment of what should be serious crimes as acts of war and its departure from fundamental protections of our constitution that should apply to those who are alleged to have engaged in criminal conduct. The claimed legal underpinning of the brutality of the administration
toward the detainees -- from torture to rendition to special trials -- stems
from its claim to be fighting a war on terror, when in fact it should be prosecuting crimes and giving suspects the protections of a civilized society."

Story Assignment: Implications of Torture

2008-07-19T12:00:00.000-07:00

FROM THE INSTITUTE FOR PUBLIC ACCURACY:

Friday, July 18, 2008

Implications of Torture

Interviews Available

RICK SHENKMAN, editor@hnn.us, http://hnn.us
Editor of the History News Network, Shenkman is author of the
just-released book "Just How Stupid Are We? Facing the Truth About the
American Voter."
He said today: "Despite Watergate, Republicans have never given up
their belief in an imperial presidency. If the president does something,
it's not illegal, was Nixon's line of defense. It might as well be
Bush's and Cheney's, though they are careful never to admit it publicly.
President Bush violated the law numerous times during his presidency
without once expressing remorse at having done so. Violate the law by
going around the FISA court? No problem. Torture terrorist suspects by
waterboarding them? No problem (even as his own attorney general
designate opined that torture is illegal under the Constitution as a
violation of the 14th Amendment)."

LISA HAJJAR, lhajjar@lawso.ucsb.edu,
Hajjar, a professor in the Law and Society Program at the University of California-Santa Barbara, Hajjar said today: "The problem-ridden and
illegitimate military commissions at Guantanamo offer one among many
examples of the adverse consequences of using torture on prisoners. The
fact that the U.S. has adopted a policy of torture is now beyond
dispute, as is the fact that hundreds, if not thousands of totally
innocent people have been subjected to officially sanctioned torture
and abuse. However, supporters of the administration are arguing that if
some 'errors' were made, they were done with good intentions to benefit
American security, and they produced invaluable information. There
evidence that any good intelligence was produced through torture;
people knowledgeable about the interrogations of KSM [Khalid Sheikh Mohammed]
and Abu Zubaydah, for example, have said that any information they
provided came during non-coercive interrogations. But because they were
tortured, the use of this information for their prosecutions becomes
problematic. To understand why the U.S. got to this place, it is
important to appreciate that Cheney and other top officials were
motivated by the goal to roll back the legal constraints on the
executive branch instituted in the wake of Watergate, and to repudiate
international law as ostensibly 'unAmerican.' ...
"Torture is a crime. Now is the time for 'law and order' types to
'get tough on crime' and demand special prosecutors and prosecutions
for those who have authorized the illegal policies of torture that have
destroyed America's reputation and the very institutions responsible
for keeping us safe."
Hajjar is author of the book "Courting Conflict" and co-editor of
"Human Rights: Critical Concepts in Political Science."

Story Assignment -- Scott McClellan Book and John Bolton Citizen's Arrest

2008-06-09T21:33:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Accountability: Scott McClellan and John Bolton Citizen Arrest

Interviews Available
The Washington Post has on its front page a piece headlined "Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled U.S. on Iraq."The British newspaper The Telegraph features a piece today: "John Bolton To Be Target of Citizen's Arrest at Hay Festival: John Bolton, the
former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, faces a citizen's arrest when he addresses an audience at the Hay Festival in Wales this evening." The piece begins: "George Monbiot, the journalist and activist, is planning the action because he believes Mr. Bolton is a 'war criminal.'" www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/28/9236

RICHARD FALK, rfalk@princeton.edu,http://www.transnational.org/SAJT/tff/people/r_falk.html

Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and distinguished visiting professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is the author of more than 20 books including "The Costs of War: International Law, the UN, and World Order after Iraq."

He said: "As we see from today's news, even former White House spokesperson McClellan is admitting that the administration orchestrated events and information to push for the invasion of Iraq in defiance of the UN Charter. This amounts to an aggressive war. Attempts by citizens like George Monbiot to hold officials accountable stem from the fact that the governmental institutions have failed in their duty to hold such individuals accountable for violations of international law. The Center for Constitutional Rights formally urged the prosecution of Rumsfeld in Germany and France, but those cases were dismissed for political reasons. There were attempts to do citizen arrests against [then-Secretary of State Henry] Kissinger and other U.S. officials during the Vietnam War. Having structures to ensure accountability of
government officials for international crimes of state are an elementary facet of a real democracy in our globalized world."

GEORGE MONBIOT, [in Britain]
g.monbiot@zetnet.co.uk, http://www.monbiot.com

Monbiot is author of numerous books including "The Age of Consent: A Manifesto for a New World Order." His office released a statement: "Bolton was one of the key initiators of the war against Iraq. ...
"This appears to be the first time that a citizen's arrest of one of the architects of the Iraq war has been attempted. ... John Bolton was instrumental in preparing and initiating the Iraq war, by disseminating false claims through the State Department and by orchestrating the sacking of an official who tried to provide a negotiated settlement.
"The Nuremberg Principles, which form the basis of customary international law concerning armed action, state that the following action is a crime punishable under international law: 'participation in a common plan' for the 'preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances.'

"The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg ruled that 'to initiate a war of aggression ... is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime.'

"The 2003 war with Iraq launched by the United States and the United Kingdom qualifies under international law both as a war of aggression ... and as a war in violation of international treaties (primarily the UN Charter).

"In the Guardian Tuesday, Mr. Bolton denies that he is a war criminal.

"Many people accept that the launching of the Iraq war was an international crime, but no one has yet been prepared to act on it by arresting one of the perpetrators. Monbiot intends to arrest John Bolton as he comes off the stage after speaking at the festival and to hand him over to the police."

Monbiot posted "Arresting John Bolton: The Charge Sheet" on
his web page: www.monbiot.com/archives/2008/05/27/arresting-john-bolton.

Story Assignment -- Nuclear Subsidies

2008-06-09T21:30:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

$544 Billion in Subsidies for Nuclear Industry

Interviews Available

KARL GROSSMAN, kgrossman@hamptons.com, www.envirovideo.com

Grossman just wrote the piece "Half-Trillion Dollars for Nukes!"
which states: "With Wall Street unwilling to finance new nuclear plants, U.S. Senators Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut and John Warner of Virginia have cooked up a scheme to provide $544 billion -- yes, with a 'b' -- in subsidies for new nuclear power plant development.

"Their move will be debated on the floor of the Senate Tuesday,
June 3.

"A Lieberman aide describes the plan as 'the most historic incentive for nuclear in the history of the United States.'

"The Lieberman-Warner scheme is cloaked in a climate change bill -- the claim being that nuclear power plants don't emit greenhouse gases and thus don't contribute to global warming. However, the overall 'nuclear cycle' -- which includes mining, milling, fuel enrichment and fabrication, and reprocessing -- has significant greenhouse gas emissions that do contribute to global warming." www.commondreams.org/archive/2008/05/29/9268

Grossman is a professor of journalism at the State University of
New York/College at Old Westbury, author of several books on nuclear
technology and host of the nationally syndicated TV program Enviro
Close-Up.

Story Assignment -- Global Warming "Debate"

2008-06-09T21:24:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Global Warming Solutions and Shams:
* Public Transit * Cap-and-Trade Interviews Available

The Senate is debating global warming and a "cap-and-trade" proposal.
HARVEY WASSERMAN,harvey@freepress.org, http://www.solartopia.org
Wasserman is author of the new book "SOLARTOPIA: Our Green-Powered Earth, A.D. 2030." He said today: "With gas prices going through the roof, where's the discussion about public transit? Here in Ohio, the federal government just spent $500 million to widen the freeway between Cleveland and Columbus. For a tenth of that money, we could have re-instated train service. ..."

[Background: On Monday, USA Today reported in its lead story: "Ridership on mass transit breaks records."]
www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-01-mass-transit_N.htm

Wasserman added: "Wind and solar are booming -- the American Wind Energy Association is currently having their convention and it's huge. We will be able to get our electricity from wind and solar. Nuclear is a pre-failed option. McCain has backed that; Obama has verbally said he would consider nuclear, but he has spoken against the subsidies -- but nuclear can't subsist with massive subsidies."

MICHAEL DORSEY, mkdorsey@dartmouth.edu

Professor of global environmental policy at Dartmouth College, Dorsey said last week: "Trading carbon and other market-based proposals will not avert the looming global climate catastrophe. Indeed, the market approaches under consideration on the Hill and the green business leaders promoting them are pushing us closer to catastrophe.

"The architects of the Kyoto Protocol were inspired by the trading system sanctioned by the reauthorized 1990 Clean Air Act, which came into effect under President Bush's father. This program was relatively successful inside the United States. It reduced the amount of sulfur dioxide emissions that cause acid rain. That program succeeded because there were few sources to monitor (about 2,000 smokestacks in the Midwest) and a national legal system by which to enforce the mandated
limits. By contrast, there are far too many carbon source points around the world to monitor, and there is no international legal system or global environmental organization to measure, let alone enforce, emissions limits.

"Thousands of credit-generating projects are being realized under corporate self-monitoring, dangerously relying on the polluters' own integrity. These potential conflicts of interest were at the heart of the Enron and Arthur Andersen scandals, both pioneers in emissions trading.

"The current leading climate change bill and related proposals are akin to putting the mafia in charge of the court system. Polluting industry has effectively dialed in a series of 'new cost containment' provisions that would delay short-term emissions reductions, when all known science says that we must reduce carbon pollution immediately.

"On a global scale, carbon trading is little more than an untested economic experiment that may not avert climate catastrophe in time. The industry-lauded European Union Emission Trading Scheme, the largest regulated carbon market, has failed to reduce greenhouse gases, and is beset by legal challenges from firms and EU members. Just last year, the Financial Times launched an investigation into carbon trading that uncovered numerous problems with trading and offset schemes. 'The rush
to go green suggests easy money for investors in projects that reduce carbon dioxide output,' the FT reported. As recently as last fall, British tax authorities are also investigating fraudulent trading firms. Similar discussions are already underway in Canada, which inaugurated its Montreal Climate Exchange last Friday.

Dorsey is completing a forthcoming book on climate justice for
publication in early 2009. Last year he wrote "Carbon trading won't
work," which was published in the Los Angeles Times
and "Green Market Hustlers" for Foreign Policy In Focus:
www.fpif.org/fpiftxt/4313.

Unions in Crisis -- Story Assignment

2008-06-09T21:21:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Unions in Crisis

Interviews Available

The Wall Street Journal is reporting: "Andy Stern, the president of the Service Employees International Union, is moving to further consolidate bargaining and organizing efforts across industry lines, a move that could limit the power of local unions but give the union greater leverage with big employers." SEIU is currently holding its convention in Puerto Rico.

BILL FLETCHER, www.blackcommentator.com Available for a limited number of interviews, Fletcher is author of the new book "Solidarity Divided: The Crisis in Organized Labor and a New Path toward Social Justice." He said today: "The struggle that's going on now within SEIU in many ways is the struggle that should have happened in 2004 -- dealing with what is the purpose of a union and how can it grow under very harsh conditions." Fletcher is also executive editor of The Black Commentator.

MARK BRENNER, [currently in Puerto Rico] www.labornotes.org/seiuconvention
Brenner is writing about the SEIU convention for Labor Notes, an
independent publication covering unions and labor. He is blogging at:
www.labornotes.org/seiuconvention.
Brenner noted that SEIU was unable to help Obama win Puerto Rico.
He also noted that SEIU has a number of rivals including "the Puerto Rican teachers union, known by its Spanish acronym FMPR. The island's largest union, FMPR is protesting SEIU's attempt to raid over 40,000 teachers it represented. According to the independent union, SEIU brokered a
backroom deal last year with the Puerto Rican governor that paved the
way for SEIU to oust the FMPR. The deal is one of several recent secret deals that have been criticized for prioritizing relationships with employers and power brokers over working people. ...
"Stern and his supporters also face hefty internal opposition over
their plans to centralize more resources and control in the union's D.C.
headquarters."

World Food Crisis -- Story Assignment

2008-06-09T21:16:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Rome Food Conference

Interviews Available

As government leaders from around the world meet at the U.N. food
conference in Rome, nonprofit organizations have also been meeting
there. The following analysts are available for a limited number of
interviews and are in contact with others in Rome from around the
world:

FLAVIO VALENTE, in Rome, valente@fian.org, http://www.fian.org, http://www.foodsovereignty.org
Secretary general of FIAN [Food First Information and Action Network], an international food rights group, Valente said: "I see very little good coming from the governmental meeting in Rome. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund are being turned to as if they will help solve the problem, but it was largely their policies of structural adjustment that made poor countries lose their capacity to control their
food policies and helped bring on the current crisis. The U.S. government -- and to some extent the European Union -- are blocking desperately needed advances; for example any reference in the final documents to people having a right to food."

RACHEL SMOLKER, currently in Rome, rsmolker@globaljusticeecology.org, http://www.globaljusticeecology.org,also via Orin Langelle, orin.langelle@globalforestcoalition.org
Research biologist at the Global Justice Ecology Project, Smolker
said today: "Unfortunately this crisis is being used as an opportunity
to advance GMOs [genetically modified organisms]. The question of land
is emerging as a central issue and business interests are grabbing it up
for biofuels and other purposes. Millions of people were added to the
ranks of the hungry in the last quarter. Meanwhile, the big agribusiness
companies are making huge profits."
Smolker recently wrote the piece "Agrofuels in the belly of the
hungry beast," at: www.egovmonitor.com
She also wrote "Go Ahead, Blame Biofuels: A switch from fossil
fuels to ethanol and its kin diverts resources from food production, leading
to hunger and destabilization of farming" published in Business Week, www.businessweek.com.

Food Crisis -- this just in from our friend Scott Nakagawa

2008-06-09T21:15:00.000-07:00

I just signed a petition urging world leaders at an emergency summit this week to tackle the food crisis now gripping the world. This is urgent and important and I thought you might like to sign it too:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1
--
The United Nations is convening the emergency summit. There is a real danger that rich country leaders will push half measures and band-aid solutions – we need a huge global outcry to demand rapid, massive, coordinated action.

The head of the UN, Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, will receive our petition at the summit in the next day. This is a huge opportunity for our voice to reach our leaders directly, but we need half a million voices heard. Sign the petition below, and watch the video appeal from the foreign minister of Sierra Leone, one of the world's worst hit nations:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/world_food_crisis/tf.php?cl_tf_sign=1

Thanks!

Intern Wanted!!

2008-05-27T18:33:00.001-07:00

May 27, 2008 4:17 PM
Subject: Intern Wanted!!
Body: Looking for a summer internship in Portland? Read on! Know someone who might be perfect? Pass it on!
Thanks
Julie

Intern wanted

When: June 1 – August 30 (dates somewhat flexible)

Where: North Portland, primarily

DIY, Portland is a monthly radio show and podcast with a significant following on the airwaves and the internet. This innovative show has grown up from Portland’s grassroots. It started out as a live monthly show on KBOO Community Radio in early 2006 and has become a full-fledged audio documentary series.

We are seeking a volunteer intern to help support the production of our summer shows. We are not able to offer monetary payment, but the intern will get plenty of hands-on experience working with this radio show.

Duties will include:

* outreach (assisting with promotional materials, listening parties, grant writing/research and tabling at the 2008 Zine Symposium)
* production work (research as well as some audio recording and editing)
* light transcription

This person must be a good writer, have a working knowledge of Mac OSX and be willing to work at least 4 hours/week. Radio experience is desired but not mandatory. Keen radio listeners are strongly encouraged to apply.

In the next few months, we’ll be exploring a vast range of topics including Zines, Bikes, Gender Expression, Urban Farming.

To apply, please send a letter of interest and at least 2 references to julie@destinationdiy.org

Follow the Garbage -- Picked up by Pacifica!!!

2008-05-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

The Pacifica News Network is picking up the KBOO News spring investigative reporting piece, Follow the Garbage, for international distribution on their program, “Sprouts”! Huzzah! And congrats to all those who pitched in to make the show. The three-part podcast of Follow the Garbage has already been downloaded hundreds of times from the KBOO website, www.kboo.fm, since it was posted on Earth Day in April. Yay!!!

News Feature -- Karuk Tribe Talks About the Science of Removing the Klamath Dams

2008-05-17T13:06:00.000-07:00

Always worth covering new developments on the proposed removal of (3?) PGE-owned dams on the Klamath River. Our Karuk colleague Craig Tucker is an EXCELLENT interview. This story breaks every other month, and one of these days it's REALLY gonna break open.....

Karuk Tribe

DRAFT DRAFT DRAFT

P R E S S A D V I S O R Y

For Immediate Release: May 14, 2008

For more information:

Craig Tucker, Spokesperson Karuk Tribe office 707-839-1982, cell 916-207-8294

Top Scientists Endorse Klamath Restoration Agreement

Endorsement Reverses Previous Criticism of Dam Removal Plan

Arcata, CA
– Today the Klamath Settlement Group (KSG) released a summary of a recent science workshop and letters from top scientists indicating support for the pending Klamath Restoration Agreement. The scientists, under contract to the North Coast Environmental Center , had previously raised concerns that the Restoration Agreement provided for inadequate dry year flows for the Klamath River and inadequate protections against excessive groundwater use.

The KSG has been negotiating for over two years on the fate of four antiquated dams on the Klamath River that play a fundamental role in the decline of Pacific salmon and lead to massive blooms of toxic algae while offering little benefit in the form of energy production or flood control. The KSG also tackled the contentious issue of water management in the Klamath Basin .

In January, the KSG released a draft Restoration Agreement contingent on the removal of the lower four Klamath dams. The Agreement includes plans to balance water use between fisheries and agricultural interests, reintroduce salmon to the Upper Klamath Basin , and provide affordable replacement power for farmers. Although PacifiCorp has yet to sign on to the agreement, many KSG members remain cautiously optimistic that an agreement can be reached with PacifiCorp in the near term.

As the KSG neared completion of the draft agreement, the North Coast Environmental Center (NEC), hired several consultants to review the Agreement. Citing concerns raised by the consultants, NEC announced its opposition to the Agreement in March.

In response to the concerns voiced by NEC, the KSG sponsored a science meeting in which scientists from the NEC, Tribes, and governmental agencies compared notes and worked to reach a common understanding of what the Agreement means for river flows and fish habitat.

In the wake of the meeting and revisions to the agreement, two of NEC consultants now voice support for the Agreement. Thus far, NEC has not retracted their opposition.

Dr. Thomas Hardy, a leading expert in Klamath River fisheries and hydrology, wrote, “The opportunity for open discussion provided during the science meetings on April 10th and 11th were also very helpful and served to reinforce my opinion to support the [proposed] settlement agreement.”

Greg Kamman, consultant to the NEC who criticized the agreement also had his concerns addressed. Mr. Kamman wrote, “If asked if I would support the Agreement as currently written, I would do so.”

The number of supporters for the Agreement is growing. Last wee, the cities of Merill, Malin, Chiloquin , Oregon along with Tulelake , CA voted to endorse the agreement.

“The more closely scientists look at the Agreement, the better they like it. The Karuk Tribe is content to let the best available science be the guide for solving the Klamath Crisis and we expect others to do the same,” said Leaf Hillman, Vice-chair of the Karuk Tribe.

# # #

Editor’s notes: A summary of the science meeting along with the letters form Dr. Hardy, Greg Kamman and the Hoopa Valley Tribe are available at http://karuk.us/press/press.php or by emailing a request to ctucker@karuk.us

Author Interview -- NFL Concussions

2008-05-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

This is a groundbreaking topic, as the New York Times has run story after story about NFL players dying young of Alzheimer's disease and teenaged players just plain dying on the field. Check in with the KBOO front desk to find available studio times, write down three that work for you, and THEN call up the PR guy to schedule....remember, you're shooting for 28 minutes final runtime.

Pre-Season NFL Segment / Interview Dr. Bennet Omalu About His Book "PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG" & the Effects of Multiple Concussions
Contact: Adam Rifenberick
Press Box Publicity
Phone: (716) 741-8495
E-Mail: adam@pressboxpublicity.com

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Pre-Season NFL Segment / Interview Dr. Bennet Omalu About His Book "PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG" & the Effects of Multiple Concussions

Dr. Bennet Omalu will be available for interviews from Tuesday, May 20th through Monday, May 26th

As we start to gear up for another NFL season, spend a few moments discussing one of the most important issues in the game today: the long-term health of its players. Interview Dr. Bennet Omalu, author of the new book "PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG" (Neo-Forenxis Books) as he discusses one of the scourges of our favorite sport-the cumulative effect of multiple concussions on the game's superstars.

It's an issue that is not going away and it's an issue that isn't being talked about nearly enough. As a part of you pre-season coverage, please consider an interview with Dr. Bennet Omalu. Dr. Omalu will be available for interviews from Tuesday, May 20th through Monday, May 26th. For more information about "PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG" and/or to schedule an interview with Dr. Omalu, please contact Adam Rifenberick, Press Box Publicity @ Adam@PressBoxPublicity.com or 716.741.8495.

____________________________

Mike Webster. Terry Long. Andre Waters.

Three men who took the hard hits and survived the NFL.

So why couldn't they survive retirement?

From the first physician to examine in autopsy the long-term brain injuries suffered by the league's best .

"PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG"

"Every NFL player ought to be issued a copy of (PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG) when he reports to training camp. Let him know up front the risks that lie ahead. I'd recommend the book to families of NFL players as well."-Rick Gosselin, Dallas Morning News

Each week in the NFL, young men wage war on the field of play. Fans marvel at the jarring hits. At the speed of the game. We are amazed as massive bodies explode into one another. The collisions are loud. The bodies fly, fold, fall, before finally coming to rest on the turf. We hold our breaths until reassured by the first sign of movement. What happened? Nothing. He's shaking it off.

We put these players on a pedestal because of their talent, size and speed. We draft them for fantasy football, collect their trading cards, wear their jerseys, teach our children to emulate them. But they are human. Their bodies are essentially the same as ours. Bigger maybe, but still flesh and bone. Vulnerable. Joints are damaged. Ligaments strained. Brains jostled. Over the course of a career, a player subjects himself to more punishment than can possibly be imagined. Hit after hit. Strain after strain. Concussion after concussion. And as readers will find out, there is no such thing as "shaking it off".

"PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG: Football Dementia, Depression, and Death", by Bennett Omalu, MD (Neo-Forenxis Books) represents the findings of the only forensic pathologist who has examined the brains of retired NFL players and identified a specific type of football-induced brain injury: gridiron dementia. His ground-breaking research exposes the extent of the trauma associated with multiple concussions so many players accept as part of the game.

Dr. Omalu uses three case studies to illuminate a controversial topic. We remember Hall-of-Famer Mike Webster on the field. He was tough. A champion. We remember Terry Long and Andre Waters as fierce competitors. What happened after they left the NFL? Dr. Omalu fills us in-from the first day of retirement to the autopsy table after their untimely deaths. Gridiron dementia is devastating. Dr. Omalu describes the decline of these men from depression to financial turmoil to paranoia and, in two cases, to suicide.

Their bodies are destroyed in stoic silence, as they work in a culture where they can't complain about pain or disorientation for fear of being sidelined, losing starting positions, changing their roles on the team, or losing their jobs. They experience haziness, dizziness, fatigue, headaches, nausea, vomiting, memory problems, sensitivity to noise, sensitivity to light, depression, nervousness, irritability, poor concentration, and poor balance all in the pursuit of perfection on the field. Then when their playing days are done, they are sent out and told to live "normal" lives.

"[T]he estimated incidence of dementia in the U.S. population at ages sixty to sixty-nine is about sixty-six dementia cases per one hundred thousand people per year. Already we know close to sixty retired NFL players who are registered with the NFL dementia plan. The amazing thing is that there are fewer than ten thousand living retired NFL players."-From PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG

With bodies pushed past their limits, retired NFL players may have been well-paid in their playing days, but they pay the price for decades after the cheers have faded. The cumulative effects of concussions cloud their minds. Webster, Long and Waters struggled against symptoms caused by years of abuse. They lost. Others players struggle at this very moment.

Some say that professional football is the soul of America . Nobody wants to antagonize the NFL or put the game in jeopardy. PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG simply begins an important dialogue about what needs to happen next to ensure the safety of these athletes in the long term. It also provides information for family members who are in the process of coming to terms with a dangerous career in the NFL-or any organized full-contact football league. Finally, it is a wake-up call to the NFL, which could be accused of being slow to act on an increasingly obvious and tragic problem.

These are just three stories of many, but this is an issue that will sweep through the sport when the book is released after this year's Super Bowl. Dr. Omalu hopes to help change the culture of this beloved sport so that no more need to be asked to PLAY HARD, DIE YOUNG.

"Omalu's disturbing manuscript gives me a new appreciation for the 'precipice of football history.'"-Dave Krieger, Rocky Mountain News

Bennet Omalu is a medical doctor with an MPH degree, as well as four board certifications in anatomic pathology, clinical pathology, forensic pathology, and neuropathology. He is currently completing a master's in business administration degree program at the Tepper School of Business, Carnegie Mellon University . Dr. Omalu performs autopsies and examines the brains of individuals who suffered brain injuries. Dr. Omalu was the first person to identify gridiron dementia in the brains of NFL players. He has examined the brains of retired NFL players who suffered from dementia and major depression due to repeated concussions sustained from playing professional football.

Investigative Reporters and Editors conference in Miami -- I'M GOING!!!!!!!

2008-05-17T13:02:00.000-07:00

I’M GOING TO THIS!!!! I’ll tell ya all about it when I get back......hundreds of workshops, including a direct-to-web investigative reporting package tutorial....at a very good price.

The IRE Conference in Miami is just a few weeks away. Here are some
important deadlines along with new updates and activities for the
conference.

Registration
Register today to take advantage of the early-bird registration fee of
$175. Registration closes at noon (CST) on Monday, May 19.
After Monday at noon we will only accept registrations on-site for
$200.

HBO Advance Screening, Friday, June 6
6:15 to 8:15 p.m. - Generation Kill: Journalist Evan Wright's series
for Rolling Stone on the Marines who led the invasion of Baghdad in 2003
became a book and, next month, premieres on HBO as a seven-part
mini-series. HBO will do a sneak preview of a one-hour episode from Generation Kill, written by Wright, former Baltimore Sun journalist David Simon (Homicide, The Corner, The Wire) and Ed Burns (The Corner, The Wire), with Simon and Burns among the executive producers. Wright, Simon and Burns will then participate in a panel discussion on how they've turned their experiences as observers into both fiction and non-fiction, in print and on television. Wright will participate in a book signing after the panel.

Free tickets to this screening will be distributed on Friday beginning
at 9 a.m. at the Sales table located in Mezzanine East on the 2nd
floor. Tickets are limited due to seating capacity in the theater. One
ticket per person please.
Advanced Frameworks Mini-Boot Camp - 4 seats remain

You've heard all the hype around web frameworks like Ruby on Rails and
Django. Now see why. In this new advanced boot camp, we'll take you
from the basics to a fully functioning data-driven application in Django,
the web framework that drives award-winning projects like EveryBlock,
PolitiFact, and The Washington Post's congressional votes databases.
Editors and producers know this work is hot. You know it's the next step
for your CAR skills. Now learn how in these hands-on sequential classes.
Because it's an advanced sequence, please plan to attend all of the
mini-boot camp classes. You must register for the optional CAR day to
attend. For details, visit
http://www.ire.org/training/miami08/frameworks.html

South Beach IRE Reception - Friday, June 6
Travel to the trendy Sagamore hotel in South Beach for an IRE reception
in their Video Garden bar. This festive location features a cash bar
for the beverage of your choice, but you can also purchase tickets in
advance that will get you two drinks (featured cocktails, beer and wine)
for $25. Tickets will be available at the IRE sales table located in
Mezzanine East on the 2nd floor. The evening begins at 7 p.m. and you'll
need to find a ride, shuttle, or cab over to the Sagamore on your own,
but it's just a brief 15 minute trip over the bridge to the beach.

And for those seeking additional South Beach nightlife, a special
opportunity will be available: the sizzling hot club Prive has agreed to
open the velvet rope for up to 200 IRE members. Just be at the Sagamore
hotel reception and IRE will distribute 200 free wristbands that will
get you into the oh-so-exclusive dance club. (Once at the club you're on
your own; no drinks are included in this deal). Wristbands will be
offered on a first-come basis beginning around 9 p.m., and once they're
gone, they're gone.

Updated Hotel Information
Our room block at the InterContinental Miami is sold out. We have
rooms available at two overflow hotels, the Courtyard by Marriott Miami
Downtown and the Hyatt Regency Miami at the Miami Convention Center. For
details, visit http://www.ire.org/training/miami08/hotel.html

Story Assignment: China and Dangerous Dams

2008-05-17T12:59:00.000-07:00

Busy week at the IPA.....

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Thursday, May 15, 2008
Are Neglected Dams Time Bombs?

Interviews Available

JACQUES LESLIE, (415) 380-1875, jacques@well.com,
http://www.jacquesleslie.com
Leslie's latest book, "Deep Water: The Epic Struggle Over Dams, Displaced People, and the Environment," won the J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award and was named one of the top science books of the year by Discover magazine.
He said today: "Reports indicate that there are 391 small dams in the vicinity of the earthquake that have been damaged. There is one larger one where 2,000 soldiers have been deployed. It has been well known that dams can cause earthquakes for some time and there is even speculation that the reservoir behind the massive Three Gorges Dam could have helped trigger this earthquake.
"China has more dams than any other country and many of them have the worst construction. They are frequently prestige projects but once completed, too little money is allocated for maintenance.
"We have some of the same problems here in the U.S. -- in 2005, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave United States dams a D. Many of these are privately owned and in some cases the owners don't have the money for upkeep, making many dams time bombs."

Background:

To see Leslie's recent article in Mother Jones "The Last Empire: Can
the World Survive China's Rush to Emulate the American Way of Life?" go to:
www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/01/the-last-empire.html

To see his piece in the New York Times "Before the Flood" go to:
www.nytimes.com/2007/01/22/opinion/22leslie.2.html

Story Assignment: War Funding "On the Ground"

2008-05-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

Big, black F-15 fighter planes are flying over my house (near the Portland International Airport National Guard Base) as I post this -- more from our IPA friends:

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Winter Soldier on the Hill

Interviews Available

Boots-on-the-ground veterans are testifying before Congress on Thursday about the effects of the Iraq occupation. This testimony, presented by veterans who have witnessed firsthand the devastation of Iraq and its people, comes on the same day that Congress is expected to debate a bill extending funding for the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan through 2009.

On Thursday, May 15, members of Iraq Veterans Against the War will
testify before members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

"Before members of Congress vote to provide more funding they need to
hear about the true costs of the occupation of Iraq from those who have
experienced it first-hand. Congress has heard from the Generals and the politicians -- now it's time they heard from the troops," said Kelly
Dougherty, Executive Director of IVAW and former Military Police Sergeant.

Winter Soldier on the Hill is taking place two months after Winter
Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, a four-day summit where hundreds of
members of IVAW gathered to present testimony about their military
experiences to the public. It is being held Thursday, May 15, 9:30 a.m.
to 12:30 p.m. at 2261 Rayburn House Office Building.
:8080/cspan/schedule.csp>.

Among the veterans participating:

ADAM KOKESH, adam@ivaw.org, http://kokesh.blogspot.com
Originally from Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kokesh volunteered in 2003 to

go to Iraq with the 3rd Civil Affairs Group out of Camp Pendleton. He
was attached to the First Marine Regiment, which was responsible for the
Fallujah area. Kokesh will be testifying about the creation of internally displaced refugees during the siege of Fallujah, changing rules of engagement, taking war trophy photographs, and abuse of detainees.

KELLY DOUGHERTY, via Francesca Lo Basso, media@ivaw.org
Dougherty is the executive director of IVAW and a former military
police sergeant. Francesca Lo Basso can also direct media to other
veterans who will be speaking on the Hill Thursday. IVAW was founded in
2004 "to give those who have served in the military since September 11,
2001 a way to come together and speak out against an unjust, illegal
and unwinnable occupation. Today, IVAW has over 1,000 members in 48 states, Washington, D.C. and Canada and on military bases overseas."

GEOFFREY MILLARD, dc@ivaw.org
Originally from Buffalo, New York, Millard joined the New York Army
National Guard in 1998 at the age of 17. He served for nine years
including tours of duty at the World Trade Center ground zero after
9-11 and for 13 months in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Millard will testify on endemic racism during his tour of Iraq, including among high-ranking
Army officers.

Homework Assignment: Cost of the Iraq War

2008-05-17T12:44:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late lately, but this is still a good story -- go for it, My Young Padawan Learners.

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________
PM Wednesday, May 14, 2008

$175 Billion Toward $3 Trillion War

Interviews Available

The House of Representatives is expected to have a full chamber debate
on the war supplemental bill on Thursday.

THEODORE LOWI, tjl7@cornell.edu,
http://falcon.arts.cornell.edu/Govt/faculty/Lowi.html
Lowi is professor of American Institutions at Cornell University
and author of several books including "The End of Liberalism." He said
today: "Supplementals are supposed to be for real emergencies -- like
Katrina. The war supplementals are a way for Bush to attempt to hide
the costs and implications of the war in Iraq. Obviously, Bush deserves the blame for much of how the Iraq war has gone, but Congress has gone
along, funding the war. The Republicans have gotten tremendous mileage
out of accusing anyone opposed to the war of not supporting the
soldiers. The power of the purse -- like free speech and privacy -- has been withering away. Congress has diddled around with little things,
but has fundamentally acquiesced.
"This will also substantially limit the choices of the next
president. The candidates have really done a disservice, indicating that
they will be able to change course when their power will in fact be very
limited."

LINDA BILMES, via Jessica Donovan or Michael Johnson, ljb@ksg.harvard.edu, jessica_donovan@ksg.harvard.edu,
http://ksghome.harvard.edu/~lbilmes/index.htm
Bilmes is a former Assistant Secretary and Chief Financial Officer
of the U.S. Department of Commerce. A professor at the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, she co-authored "The Three Trillion
Dollar War." Bilmes said: "There is no such thing as a free lunch and
there is no such thing as a free war. After five years of war, 4,000
[U.S.] deaths, 60,000 injuries, $600 billion spent so far (with the
price tag expected to reach $3 trillion once we add veterans costs,
military reset, interest on the debt, and economic losses), the U.S.
public is waking up to the fact that the war is hurting the economy."

TRAVIS SHARP, tsharp@armscontrolcenter.org, http://www.theiraqinsider.blogspot.com
Sharp is the military policy analyst at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. He writes the "Iraq Insider" blog and is closely following the supplemental spending process. He said today: "If the
pending $175 billion super supplemental is signed into law, the U.S.
government will have approved $650 billion for Iraq since 2003. The
current veterans' education package under consideration will cost $52
billion over the next decade, only 8 percent of the total cost of the
Iraq war to date."

James Williams: a Real Citizen Journalist Reports Live from NYC

2008-04-26T22:20:00.000-07:00

This is the juice. James Williams is a Pacifica radio affiliated journalist in the finest tradition of citizen reporting. xo L

Report from James Williams, Pacifica reporter in NY outside the Sean Bell trial

Posted: 26 Apr 2008 11:54 AM CDT

James Williams works with WBAI and the People’s Production House in NYC. ~N

Greetings! The Sean Bell verdict came down today, Friday, April 25th handed down by the 75 year old Judge Cooperman(hope I spelled it right) who is set to retire now. The officers who shot the 50 shots at Sean Bell, killing him, Joseph Guzman, and Trent Benefield who were severely injured, it was announced “NOT GUILTY” on all charges. Officers Cooper, whose shots were so far off it hit an elevated train at the Long Island Railroad, Officer Isnora, who got off the first shots, never identified himself, saying “bro, let me holla at you”, and of course, officer Oliver, who fired 31 shots(he emptied his gun then reloaded and shot again) were of course relieved. Oliver, and the others will remain on modified duties for now. Take note, the officers had been drinking liquor at the same club as Bell and his friends. Calls for the Federal Government to step in came immediately afterwards. The families of the persons shot tell me they will file a civil suit against the city, and the officers, not known when, or has it been done already. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called for calm in and around the city, but demonstrators told me they want a call to action, saying “we’re taking it to the streets”, “shut this f—— city down, shut this m—-f—- city down, f— the police, they killing our kids, blacks will not stand for this g– d— s—- no more” this is just some of the sentiment after the verdict was read. Believe it or not, some of these were church going citizens, of all races. There was a white group of people standing in front of the courthouse their chant was “the courts, and the city of N.Y. is run by the KKK”!, amazing stuff. Also, Rev Davidson, whom I just met today calling for the bloods and the crips to call him so they can prepare for “action”. Would you believe a member of the crips walked up and handed him his business card, I mean, they got cards? What action I want to know? The New Black Panther Party saying “it’s on now, get ready N.Y.” Peoples Party declaring “it all ends now, be ready”, group of Af Ams, white, Hispanics, who claim to have several hundred members. Of all the interviews I did today, I probably can’t air any of it due to the cursing all around me, and the noise content and that’s to bad because I got some great interviews, but we can’t air them. I did a live interview on radio today and literally had to run around the corner of the courthouse! Caused my live interview to not be crisp!

I know i’m supposed to be neutral in my reporting, but I was truly touched and disturbed by this verdict. I have spent more than a year with the Bell family, Rev. Sharpton, Lawyer Hardy, Lawyer Rubinstein, Mr. Guzman, Mr. Benefield and their families, NAACP, Operation Push, made imortant contacts for the Community News Production Institute, became very close to my producers, you know who you are, editors, reporters fm FSRN, Pacifica, and of course PPH, but today, today, brought me to tears, how do you handle this, and the threats of violence to come. That being said, I will be receiving info on the coming demos from my sources, hopefully it won’t be to bad, but from what i’m told, expect the unexpected.

BLESSINGS

James B. Williams

Mother Jones offers Interviews

2008-04-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

NEWS FROM MOTHERJONES.COM

Our friend Richard Reynolds over at MoJo offers interviews with their writers all the time -- real experts on stuff. You should drop him a line some time. xxoo L

________________________

If Senate Republicans and Democrats don't act soon to settle a seven-month-old dispute, the 2008 elections may go virtually unregulated for the first time since the Federal Elections Comission was founded more than 30 years ago, says JONATHAN STEIN in an article just published on MotherJones.com.

The FEC normally has six commissioners, three from each party, but a Senate standoff has left four of these seats vacant, in spite of the fact that four commissioners must agree in order to act on most matters that come before the commission. Unless this is settled, says Stein, the 2008 election with be "an election with no referees."
To set up an interview with Mother Jones Washington-based reporter JONATHAN STEIN, call (415/31-1740) or email (reynolds@motherjones.com) Richard Reynolds.

Meanwhile, in case you missed Monday's email, here are five interview suggestions related to our May/June special issue on the "future of energy."

1) "The Seven Myths of Energy Independence"

PAUL ROBERTS, author of The End of Oil, argues that energy independence is "a populist charade masquerading as energy strategy." Fossil fuels are a finite--and planet-killing--source of fuel, he observes, and finding an alternative will require an economic and social transformation as great as the Industrial Revolution.

2) "Put a Tyrant in Your Tank"

Gone are the days when oil-rich nations made lucrative deals with U.S. oil companies to help them develop their oil, reports JOSHUA KURLANTZICK. Big Oil has little influence over Russia, Kazakhstan, Iran, Venezuela, Burma, and other oil-producing countries, he observes, and these state-run companies are proving even more ruthless and environmentally irresponsible than Big Oil.

3) "The Nuclear Option"

JUDITH LEWIS attempts to "shut out the chatter" from both sides and take a fresh look at the other "N" word. Nuclear power is expensive, flawed, and dangerous, she observes. But such is the urgency of the energy and environmental challenges we face that we cannot dismiss it out of hand.

4) "Scrubbing King Coal"

Energy companies' alternative fuel commitment comes down to a three-point strategy, says Mother Jones Senior Correspondent JAMES RIDGEWAY: "First, make small overtures toward developing renewable energy, and milk them for maximum PR value. Second, invest more generously in carbon-based 'alternative energy' that gets passed off as green. Third, invoke the goal of energy independence to pump, mine, transport, and sell more and more of the same old fuels to an ever-hungrier market."

Of the $3 billion BP spent on alternatives between 2006 and 2008, reports Ridgeway, about half is going to dubious alternatives like synthetic gas made from petroleum. BP's 2006 capital expenditures on oil and gas: $16.2 billion.

5) "Breaking the Gridlock"

Our current power system is inefficient and poorly equipped to deal with fluctuations in demand, reports JENNIFER KAHN. Kahn surveys various strategies for changing this, including a "Smart Grid," which would spread the load through microadjustments on how much power consumers use and when. Smart appliances could regulate themselves, making adjustments so subtle that consumers would hardly notice.

Story Assignment: Class and Taxes in Oregon

2008-04-25T11:23:00.001-07:00

News Release

April 24, 2008

For More Information Contact:

* Chuck Sheketoff, Executive Director (503) 873-1201
* Mike Leachman, Policy Analyst (503) 873-1201
* Juan Carlos Ordóñez, Communications Director (503) 873-1201

Oregon State and Local Taxes Hit Poor and Middle Class Harder Than Rich, Study Finds

(Silverton) -- Oregon state and local taxes take a bigger bite out of the pocketbooks of poor and middle-class families than those of wealthy families, according to a new analysis released today by the Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP).

The figures were compiled for OCPP by the Washington, DC-based Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. OCPP is presenting the information today to a state task force examining how to restructure Oregon's tax system.

"Oregon's tax system is upside down," said OCPP policy analyst Michael Leachman. "A tax system promotes opportunity when it is based on ability to pay. But in Oregon, those who can afford to pay more wind up paying the smallest share of their income."

Adding up all state and local taxes, Oregon's low-income families had an effective tax rate of 9.2 percent, compared to an effective rate of 7.8 percent paid by Oregon's wealthiest 1 percent of families.

The effective tax rate paid by Oregon's wealthiest families falls further, to 6.7 percent, when federal deductions for state income and property taxes are taken into account.

Though faring better than the poorest families, middle-income families in Oregon are also paying a larger share of their income than the wealthiest families. Families in the middle had an effective tax rate of 8.4 percent before federal tax offsets and 7.9 percent when factoring in the federal deductions.

According to Leachman, the bigger impact on poor and middle-class incomes is due to the income tax system going easy on the wealthy and to state and local property taxes and excise taxes, such as gasoline and cigarette taxes, eating up a larger share of the income of families in the middle and bottom than of those at the top.

Oregon's wealthy don't pay significantly more in income taxes because Oregon's income tax brackets and rates are flat compared to the federal system and the wealthy can fully use Oregon's subtraction for federal income taxes paid when calculating taxable income, said Leachman.

Even though the wealthy tend to own more valuable homes, the wealthiest 1 percent of Oregon families paid only 1.2 percent of their income in property taxes, compared to 2.6 percent for middle-income families and 4.6 percent for the poorest families.

The analysis comes as a task force created by the state legislature and appointed by the governor is reviewing Oregon's tax system. The Revenue Restructuring Task Force, which includes as one of its members OCPP executive director Chuck Sheketoff, is expected to issue its recommendations this November for the 2009 legislature.

Among the key changes recommended by OCPP is making our tax system more fair by expanding the Earned Income Credit, a tax credit that's targeted at boosting the income of low-income working families.

"The task force has a great opportunity to respond to the imbalance in our tax system and foster opportunity for low-income working Oregonians," said Sheketoff.

The Oregon Center for Public Policy is a non-partisan research institute that does in-depth research and analysis on budget, tax, and economic issues. The Center's goal is to improve decision making and generate more opportunities for all Oregonians.

- 30 -

Story Assignment: Police Brutality and Racism

2008-04-25T11:19:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Friday, April 25, 2008

Police Brutality and Racism

Interviews Available

AP reports: "Three detectives were acquitted of all charges Friday in
the 50-shot killing of an unarmed groom-to-be on his wedding day, a case
that put the NYPD at the center of another dispute involving allegations
Florida and director of the Center for the Study of Race and Race
Relations. She is author of "Protecting Our Own: Race, Crime, and
African Americans."
She said today: "These cases -- Bell, [Amadou] Diallo -- explain
the African American community's reaction to the O.J. Simpson case and its
general disillusionment with the criminal justice system."

Rev. LENNOX YEARWOOD Jr., via Darryl Perkins, darryl@hiphopcaucus.org, http://www.hiphopcaucus.org
President of the Hip Hop Caucus, Yearwood said today: "This verdict exemplifies the inadequacy and shortcomings of local courts/criminal justice systems to adjudicate police shootings, especially those that result in death. We have not been witnesses to 'fair and impartial administration of justice for all Americans' as is stated in the mission of the Department of Justice. If the mission of the Department of Justice and rule of law is being broken, then the integrity of the institution and system is lost, and there is no rule of law. When there is no rule of law, people will organize to work for justice as a means to protect themselves out of necessity."

Story Assignment: Biofuels and Food Shortage

2008-04-23T15:01:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Food Crisis and Biofuels
Interviews Available

The Washington Post reports on its front page today: "More than 100
million people are being driven deeper into poverty by a 'silent
tsunami' of sharply rising food prices, which have sparked riots around the world and threaten U.N.-backed feeding programs for 20 million children, the top U.N. food official said Tuesday."

MARIA LUISA MENDONCA, marialuisa1@uol.com.br,
Maria Luisa Mendonca is based in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and is director
of the Social Network for Justice and Human Rights. She co-wrote an
article titled "Agrofuels: Myths and Impacts." She said today: "In many regions of [Brazil], the increase in ethanol production has caused the expulsion of small farmers from their lands, and has generated a dependency on the so-called 'sugarcane economy,' where only precarious jobs exist in the sugarcane fields. Large landowners' monopoly on land blocks other economic sectors from developing, and generates
unemployment, stimulates migration, and submits workers to degrading conditions.

"This model has caused negative impacts on peasant and indigenous
communities, who have their territories threatened by the constant
expansion of large plantations. The lack of policies in support of food production leads peasants to substitute their crops for agrofuels, and, as a result, compromises our food sovereignty. In Brazil, small- and medium-sized farmers are responsible for 70 percent of the food production for the internal market.

"It is necessary to strengthen rural workers' organizations to
promote sustainable peasant agriculture, prioritizing diversified food
production for local consumption. It is crucial to advocate for policies that guarantee subsidies for food production through peasant agriculture. We cannot keep our tanks full while stomachs go empty."

RACHEL SMOLKER, rsmolker@globaljusticeecology.org, http://www.globaljusticeecology.org
Research biologist at the Global Justice Ecology Project, Smolker said today: "The massive diversion of crops and land to producing biofuel crops instead of food is a major factor in the very dramatic food price increases. Governments and industries have foolishly pursued biofuels in spite of this and in spite of a cascade of scientific studies and statements from all levels of society which clearly
demonstrate that biofuels are not only exacerbating hunger, but also rural displacement, climate change and deforestation. Last week the UK instated its Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation for the use of biofuels even as the European Environment Agency warned that the EU-wide mandate should be reconsidered. Even the World Bank recently stated that biofuels are contributing to rising food prices and hunger.

"Incentives and mandates for the use of biofuels are being promoted
by agribusiness giants like Monsanto, ADM and Cargill along with big
oil, biotechnology and automobile industries -- all of whom stand to
profit enormously. The price is being paid right now by those who can
no longer afford food or access to land. Civil society is pushing back:
this week the Round Table on Responsible Soy is meeting in Buenos Aires
and will be met with intense opposition as people denounce the entire
concept of 'sustainable industrial agriculture' of the sort that has
despoiled so much of Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.

"The International Assessment of Agricultural Science and
Technology for Development report took a strong position opposing industrial
agriculture and GE [genetically engineered] crops while a major new
report from University of Kansas makes it clear that GE crops have not
delivered on the promise of increased yields. We need new models for
food and energy production that do not leave people hungry and
displaced, do not contaminate our crop biodiversity and pollute our
water and soils, and do not leave food and energy production in the
hands of profit-seeking multinational corporations. People are beginning to wake up to this fact.

"Meanwhile, the food crisis is pushing biofuel proponents to argue
that the next generation of technologies based on cellulose will avert
problems with food competition and deliver greater climate benefits. In fact they could worsen the problems: There is limited space available
and we are losing land to desertification and deforestation at an
alarming rate. A few weeks ago, [the journal] Science published a pair
of articles showing that the greenhouse gas emissions that result from
indirect land use changes far outweigh any gains from substituting
fossil fuel use. Wood is considered to be one of the most promising
feedstocks. But demand for wood is skyrocketing as countries attempting
to meet Kyoto commitments are shifting to wood and other biomass for
heat and electricity production, as well as chemicals and manufacturing
processes.

"On top of that, the pulp and paper industry is undergoing a planned fivefold expansion and China has a very rapidly expanding wood products industry. The scale of demand for wood to satisfy all of these demands can only be met by further deforestation and by enormous industrial monocultures of fast-growing trees. The biotechnology industries are racing to genetically engineer both trees and microorganisms for these uses. Next month at the Convention on Biological Diversity, civil society organizations will be asking for a moratorium on the commercialization of GE trees because of the potential risks of contaminating native forests."

KBOO Seeks Animal Rights Show Producer/Host

2008-04-19T20:02:00.000-07:00

Our sister Kathleen Stephenson is looking for someone to take on KBOO's animal rights show. Read on:

Hi All,

Laurie Sonnenfeld has given up hosting Speaking of Animals, our current animal and animal rights show, which airs once a month. I am looking for a replacement host for that program.

I am posting the program opening on my office door, along with applications for hosting the show. I am also attaching the application to this email. To use it, you will probably need to print it and fill it out.

If you have any questions, please let me know.

The Speaking of Animals program is pre-empted this month, so the first show that is open is the May program, which would be Wednesday, May 28th, from 9:30-10AM.

Best,

Kathleen

(Go ahead and contact KBOO or Kathleen for that program application -- she is at amnews@kboo.org, or 503-231-8032.)

Our Sister Ariel is Looking for Portland Queer Experience Anthology Submissions....

2008-04-19T20:00:00.000-07:00

Greetings--

I'm writing because I know that if you're not demographically inclined
to contribute a story to the book I'm working on, then you probably
know someone who is.

It's a PORTLAND QUEER collection -- true tales and fictions of queer
life in Portland, Oregon.

Please submit or spread the word!

This is going to be a delicious book that includes stories by Marc
Acito, Tom Spanbauer, Sarah Dougher, Nicole J. Georges, Dexter Flowers and
many others.

And I'm looking for more first-person literary narratives showcasing
the diversity, hilarity, and talent of emerging and established Portland
writers. Stories can be fiction or nonfiction, but should have a clear
Portland connection.

I'm looking for:
Experimental and traditional short stories / short memoirs featuring
queer characters
Character-driven literary narratives
Stories that mention specific Portland neighborhoods, landmarks,
haunts, or nearby destinations
Some comics/ fine arts/ illustrations/ graphic stories
Up to 5,000 words (shorter pieces welcome)

I'm not looking for:
Opinion essays on what it's like to be queer in Portland
How-to or travel pieces
And I'm not looking for trouble! Please be prepared to change the names
of the guilty.

Send submissions / questions to
Ariel Gore
arielfiona@gmail.com
Subject: Pdx Queer

Story Assignment: Climate Change Proposals Will Harm Low-Income Households

2008-04-17T13:47:00.000-07:00

Oregon Center for Public Policy
Media Advisory

April 17, 2008

For More Information Contact: (503) 873-1201

* Michael Leachman, Policy Analyst
* Chuck Sheketoff, Executive Director

Climate Change Proposals Will Harm Low-Income Households Unless Regional Effort Acts to Protect Vulnerable Households

OCPP submitted comments to the Western Climate Initiative urging the states participating in the regional effort to commit to fully shielding lower-income households from the impact of energy price increases resulting from climate change policies.

"Climate change policies should not push households deeper into poverty," said the public comment memo submitted by OCPP in collaboration with colleagues from California, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington.

OCPP's comments drew on research showing that price increases resulting from capping carbon emissions would hit lower-income households the hardest, and offered overarching principles for developing effective and efficient policies for protecting these households from facing additional hardship as a result of carbon emissions caps.

Read Public comment on the Western Climate Initiative's April 2, 2008 "Draft Allocations Design Recommendations," (PDF) jointly submitted by OCPP and the California Budget Project, the Children's Action Alliance of Arizona, New Mexico Voices for Children, Voices for Utah Children, and the Washington State Budget & Policy Center.

Visit OCPP's new Climate Change Resource Center for additional information.

Story Assignment: Political Analysis on Nepalese Elections

2008-04-17T09:16:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Maoist Victory in Nepal

Interviews Available

AFP is reporting: "Nepal's Maoists, on track for victory in landmark elections, on Wednesday called on the country's embattled king to step down 'gracefully' or else face a humiliating eviction from his palace. "The call came as the former rebels maintained a strong lead in the count from last Thursday's vote on the impoverished country's political future.

"The Maoists so far look set to dominate a 601-seat assembly that will rewrite Nepal's constitution, and have said their first act will be to sack King Gyanendra and abolish his 240-year-old monarchy."

MARY DES CHENE, [in Nepal, nearly 10 hours ahead of U.S. ET] mdeschen@artsci.wustl.edu
Mary Des Chene is an anthropologist and editor of the journal Studies in Nepali History and Society. She is fluent in Nepali and has been conducting research in Nepal for more than two decades. She was interviewed Wednesday on Democracy Now! www.democracynow.org

PRAMOD PARAJULI, pramodp@pdx.edu,
http://www.piiecl.pdx.edu/community_partners/pramod_bio.htm
Professor at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon,
Parajuli was born and raised in Nepal. He is founding executive director of the
Portland International Initiative for Leadership in Ecology, Culture
and Learning.
Parajuli said today: "I was last in Nepal at the end of 2006 and
met with those who will be in the new leadership. The U.S. government
should immediately withdraw its designation of the Maoists as 'terrorists' and
graciously welcome the people's verdict. ... It is natural that the
elites of Nepal are completely shocked and aghast at the new developments; the political class and the media expected the Maoists to come in third. ...
"This victory is partly a vote for the Maoists -- many think they
will do something good -- but it's largely a vote away from the other
parties, for they failed to meet raising expectations of the masses or
make any dent on the very entrenched unequal and unjust structure of
the Nepalese state. ..."

Story Assignment: Interview U.S. Rep. David Wu, D-Portland on Sci-Biz Initiative

2008-04-15T14:39:00.000-07:00

FOR NEWS PLANNING

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Contact: Julia Louise Krahe

202-225-0855

******NEWS ADVISORY******

WU LEADS EFFORT TO SUPPORT INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES

Subcommittee Acts to Reauthorize SBIR/STTR

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today Congressman David Wu introduced H.R. 5789, the Science and Technology Innovation Act of 2008, which reauthorizes the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program and the Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) program. He will lead the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation in marking up the bill tomorrow, Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 2:00 pm EST.

SBIR and STTR comprise the largest source of federal support for technological innovation in the private sector, providing over $2 billion annually to small, high-tech entrepreneurial companies that are creating revolutionary new technologies.

SBIR is designed to increase the participation of small, high-tech firms in federal research and development efforts. STTR provides funding for innovative technologies that have been developed by an eligible nonprofit research institution, such as a university, and are being commercialized in partnership with a small business.

H.R. 5789 reauthorizes SBIR and STTR through 2010, increases the percentage of research and development funds set aside for the program by participating federal agencies, and increases the size of available awards.

“This legislation is a fundamental part of Congress’ innovation agenda,” said Congressman Wu. “Reauthorizing SBIR and STTR will demonstrate our commitment to promoting the fundamental science and technology components that drive our global, innovation-based economy.”

WHAT: Science and Technology Innovation Act of 2008 Markup

WHO: Congressman David Wu, Chairman, House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation

WHEN: Wednesday, April 16, 2008, 2:00 pm EST

WHERE: 2318 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C.

View live webcast at http://science.house.gov/

Author Interview Assignment: Military Analyst Michael T. Klare

2008-04-15T14:34:00.000-07:00

"Well-researched and incisive throughout, Klare provides a comprehensive but approachable overview of a complex problem, and offers promising policy alternatives to disaster." -Publishers Weekly

Dear Producer,
No longer does the possession of a powerful military guarantee the United States its dominant position in the world. A new political landscape has formed, one in which nations with colossal reserves of oil, natural gas and other sources of primary energy wield disproportionate power. Bestselling author of the now-classic Resource Wars Michael Klare argues that the struggle over energy has become the central dynamic of world affairs in his revealing new book, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET: The New Geopolitics of Energy. Energy-rich nations such as Russia and Venezuela have begun to wield disproportionate power. As energy-scarce nations compete for depleting resources they form unlikely partnerships with countries rich in oil, natural gas and uranium reserves, providing them arms, troop deployments and dangerous military alliances.

Despite the gloomy prognosis, Klare believes that the worst can be avoided with several important national and international changes. Calling for a China-United States partnership, RISING POWERS, SHRINKING PLANET shows that if the two world powers cooperate, they can work together to develop alternative fuels and energy-saving technologies, making all of us winners and slowing the disappearance of vital materials.

Interviewed on NPR's Fresh Air on Monday, Klare is the author of thirteen books. A regular contributor to Harper's, Foreign Affairs, and the Los Angeles Times, he is the defense analyst for The Nation and the director of the Five College Program in Peace and World Security Studies at Hampshire College in Amherst.

Would you be interested in interviewing him about the book?
Thank you for your consideration, Kate

Kate Pruss Pinnick
Associate Director of Publicity
Shreve Williams Public Relations
kate@shrevewilliams.com

Story Assignment: Net Worth of the Candidates

2008-04-15T14:30:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

Net Worth of the Candidates

Interviews Available

The following is the net worth as of 2006 for each of the presidential
candidates of the two major parties:

John McCain: $27,817,187 to $45,045,011
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00006424&year=2006

Hillary Clinton: $10,360,009 to $51,021,998
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00000019&year=2006

Barack Obama: $456,012 to $1,142,000
http://www.opensecrets.org/pfds/CIDsummary.php?CID=N00009638&year=2006

For interviews, contact Massie Ritsch at press@crp.org; communication director of the Center for Responsive Politics.

KBOO Community Radio: The Dada Festival is Back! Call for Submissions....

2008-04-11T08:10:00.000-07:00

The original Dada Fest in 2001 became a national sensation, with the involvement of dozens of contributors. Dada's daddy, the beloved Richard Francis, is one of my favorite radio producers because of his penchant for airing audio landscape recordings (Best Of: half an hour of simple ambient noise from a French village square on a summer afternoon, with birds, children and church bells). Here our friends are looking at any cool thing you are willing to commit to radio -- one to three minutes or so. If you're interested, email: onehundredonehours@yahoo.com .

Hi All,

I am passing this along at the request of one of our program hosts--
it's an open call to get involved in some radio surrealism. Please read on.
cheers,
ani

Hello KBOO Volunteer,

In the spring on 2001 I was on the phone with Daniel Flessas in the air room
at KBOO just as Jennifer Robin walked in the door and just as I said to
Daniel "Let's do a Dada/Surrealism festival.

In August of 2001, approximately 200 volunteer and previously non-radio
community people engaged in a KBOO radio celebration of Dada &
Surrealism which lasted over 80 hours spread over one week, won us national
recognition and eventually engaged more radio "producers" than simply Jennifer,
Daniel and myself.

We attempted to do all that we could to make it an historically-based,
content-pure event with a strong emphasis on many of the original written
texts transposed for radio mixed with locally produced, often live
contemporary material created by local and regional artists in the tradition
of Dada or Surrealism.

We are presently planning on organizing another celebration, this one
theoretically running 101 hours continuous from Thursday evening at 7p
until Monday night midnight, titled: "One hundred one hours of innumerable
small events which may or may not be related to one another." Our
Program Director, Chris has us "penciled in" for Labor Day weekend.

Richard Francis (me) and Jennifer Robin are again taking on the job of
primary producer/organizers for the event, at least at the outset. But we
hope to keep this event as open and egalitarian as the 2001 celebration
and are wide open for ideas, potential producers/engineers, artists and
proposals.

You may produce only a 1 minute reading of a poem, you might produce a
scattering of small mini-events, or you might take charge of several
hours to produce your own major mini-event within the festival.

Right now we are just looking to see who might be interested in joining in
the fun and how many of you there are who want to begin the groundwork.

This coming Thursday night, April 10 from 9-midnight Jennifer and I
will be presenting a "best of" special pledge-drive show to kick off awareness
of our upcoming festival and hopefully raise some cash. If you can't
imagine how to do Dada and Surrealism, you might want to have a listen.

If you find yourself to be among the interested, please contact this
email
address:

onehundredonehours@yahoo.com

This will enable us to contact you about any upcoming meetings and
festival
news plus it will open a channel for us to keep in touch. Or if you
are
still not internetted, contact either Richard or Jennifer through their
real
world mail boxes at the station.

I have been collecting many new translations of the historical material
which I will make available for those interested in recreating some of
the
past. And you are free to do your own research or branch out into the
latest developments in the tradition (or anti-tradition).

Please spread the word and please let us know.

Once we have collected email addresses of the interested, we will be
contacting you soon about our first meeting where we will have a large
collection of the original material for you to explore and we will be
discussing potential events and the first major steps required to
really get
things rolling.

Thanks for your time and your interest.

Richard Francis
host of
A Different Nature
primary producer for the 2001:
Several Days of Innumerable Small Events Which May or May Not Be
Related To
One Another

IPA Story Assignment of the Week: Airlines and Whistleblowers

2008-04-11T07:58:00.001-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Thursday, April 10, 2008
Airlines and Whistleblowers
Interviews Available
PAUL HUDSON, acapaviation@yahoo.com
Hudson is executive director of the Aviation Consumer Action
Project and a longtime member of the FAA's Aviation Rulemaking Advisory
Committee for air safety who represents airline passengers. He said
today: "What has in effect happened over the last several years is that
airplane safety inspections have been largely privatized.
"The government is allowing airlines to do self-policing -- that
is, airline employees are charged with doing and monitoring safety
inspections. To the extent that government workers do much of anything,
it's mostly just checking over the paperwork.
"We've been critical of this approach. At minimum, the airline
employees doing this need to have whistleblower protection and should
take an oath of office as deputized FAA inspectors. As it is, they are
conflicted and may even be offered bonuses that encourage going along
with questionable procedures."

MARSHA COLEMAN-ADEBAYO, NoFearCoalition@aol.com,
http://web.mac.com/kbstreetlevel/iWeb/nofearinstitute/Home.html
President of the No Fear Institute, which is organizing
Whistleblower Week in Washington in May, Coleman-Adebayo said today:
"The crisis within the aviation industry is just the tip of the
iceberg. ... The Environmental Protection Agency has voluntary initiatives where
industry is policing itself and public health is calculated using a
cost/benefit analysis. If the cost is too high, the public suffers.
Other agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration, fail to
protect our food supply.
"The brave whistleblowers we've seen this week on the airlines will
likely be retaliated against once the cameras have shut down. Congress
does not protect people who testify before that body, it only allows
them minimal recourse after they've been retaliated against.
"Being a whistleblower almost certainly means the end of your
career in our system. And it frequently means the end of your life -- many
whistleblowers I've met have died from the stress and from the
reprisals.
"A 'perfect storm' composed of corruption, silencing of
whistleblowers, retaliation and discrimination has been gathering for
decades; the outcome of this storm will be devastating.
"I'm currently on leave from the EPA -- I testified twice before
Congress and been retaliated against. The EPA orchestrated a vicious
campaign to force me to take leave without pay. Even with major
congressional leaders, such as John Conyers, Sheila Jackson Lee, Tom
Davis, Henry Waxman and Chris Van Hollen [writing on my behalf], the
EPA has simply ignored them. In fact, Congress generally ignores members
who attempt to fight on behalf of whistleblowers. My situation is not an
isolated case but represents a pattern of vicious retaliation."

Wanna Interview an Author? Here's News from Haymarket Books

2008-04-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

Haymarket is one of the juiciest radical English-language publishers worldwide. I tellya what: you look through their recent releases, send them an email describing your podcast/blog/publication/radio/public access TV show, ask for a review book and set up a date to interview the author. For a TV show, you look to see when the author is in your town, set up an interview with that person when they're there. Then you do it. It's my favorite thing, matter of fact.

Enjoy!

Visit www.haymarketbooks.org
For review copies, email info@haymarketbooks.org
P.O. Box 180165, Chicago IL 60618

NOW AVAILABLE FROM HAYMARKET

We are very pleased to announce the publication of the new paperback edition of Camilo Mejía's acclaimed Iraq war memoir, Road from ar Ramadi: The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejia. After reading this book, you'll want everyone you know to read it.

Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía became the new face of the antiwar movement in early 2004 when he applied for a discharge from the Army as a conscientious objector. After serving in the Army for nearly nine years, he was the first known Iraq veteran to refuse to fight, citing moral concerns about the war and occupation. Despite widespread public support and an all-star legal team, Mejía was eventually convicted of desertion by a military court and sentenced to a year in prison, prompting Amnesty International to declare him a prisoner of conscience.

Far from being an accidental activist, Mejía was raised by prominent Sandinista revolutionaries and draws inspiration from Jesuit teachings. In this stirring book, he argues passionately for human rights and the end to an unjust war.
As New York Times columnist Bob Herbert writes, "The issues [Mejía] has raised deserve a close reading by the nation as a whole. . . . He has made a contribution to the truth about Iraq."

Road from ar Ramadi
The Private Rebellion of Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía: An Iraq War Memoir
Foreword by Chris Hedges
ISBN: 978-1-931859-53-0
Trade Paperback, $16
320 pages

HAYMARKET NEWS

Haymarket Books is proud to have been part of Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan, a historic gathering of antiwar veterans and allies that took place March 13-16 in Washington, DC. The event featured powerful testimony that exposed the realities of military occupation. You can watch Haymarket authors Anthony Arnove, author of Iraq: The Logic of Withdrawal and Dahr Jamail discuss their impressions of the hearings.

Also check out Dahr's front-cover story on Winter Soldier in the April print edition of The Progressive. We will be publishing Dahr's book, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist In Occupied Iraq in paperback this Fall.

This month's issue of The Progressive also features "Olympic Ruin," an eye-opening take on the upcoming Olympics by Haymarket author Dave Zirin, now a regular columnist at the magazine. Be sure to check out Dave's books, What's My Name, Fool? and Welcome to the Terrordome.

Also forthcoming from Haymarket in September is Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupation, a comprehensive documentation of the Winter Soldier gathering authored by Iraq Veterans Against the War and journalist Aaron Glantz that will preserve the courageous contributions of its participants.

In the awards department, a big congratulations to Dahr for winning the James Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism! The award letter states that Jamail's work "has shown the depth of suffering and 'collateral damage' not readily captured in corporate media" and praises his "remarkable contribution to social justice journalism." The award ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m., Monday, April 14 at Hunter College in New York City.

We were thrilled to hear that our friend Jeremy Scahill won the prestigious Polk Award for his book Blackwater. Thoroughly well deserved!

Finally, check out Anthony Arnove's recent appearance on C-SPAN2's program BookTV. Anthony discusses Haymarket Books and the future of independent publishing with host Andre Schriffrin and Jacob Stevens of Verso Books.

Recently released from Haymarket

The Essential Rosa Luxemburg: Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike
Edited by Helen Scott
ISBN: 1-931859-36-3
Paperback, $12, 280 Pages

One of the most important thinkers and leaders of the twentieth century, Rosa Luxemburg is finding renewed interest among a new generation of activists and critics of global capitalism. This new, authoritative introduction to Rosa Luxemburg's two most important works presents the full text of Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike, with explanatory notes, appendices, and introductions.

"Rosa Luxemburg's explorations of themeaning of capitalism and the need for socialist democracy still have relevance for a new century, and helen Scott's thoughtful and informative introduction will be useful for students and activists alike."
--Paul Le Blanc

Authors on the Road

Dave Zirin will be speaking in Washington, DC on Saturday, April 14th and Saturday, April 28th; he'll also be in Chestertown, MD on Thursday, April 19th. And if you can, check out Dave and Chuck D at the Schomburg Center in New York City on Tuesday, May 15. Dave's website Edge of Sports has further tour details.

Dahr Jamail continues to tour his book, Beyond the Green Zone: Dispatches from an Unembedded Journalist in Occupied Iraq. He will be touring Scotland and England this month. Here's information for the tour:

April 8th--Glasgow, Scotland
University of Strathclyde, 5.30 p.m, 5.14 Graham Hills Building
Contact: m.idrees@gmail.com

April 9th--Dublin, Ireland
Dublin Institute of Technology, Aungier St., 6:30 pm—In a debate with RTE, moderated by Pepe Escobar
Contact: dmanning@gmail.com

April 10th--London, England
The Old Lecture Theatre, 7:00 pm, University of Westminster, 309 Regent Street
Contact: david.crouch10@btinternet.com

April 11th--Totnes, England
Methodist Church, Fore Street, 7:30 pm
Contact: bill@scswebdesign.co.uk

April 12th--Taunton, England
Friend's Meeting House, 3 Bath Place, Taunton, TA1 4EP
Contact: alisonchown@aol.com

You can find further tour information at dahrjamailiraq.com.

Catch Haymarket at the following events:

V to the Tenth
April 11 and 12, New Orleans

Labor Notes 2008 Conference
April 11-13, Detroit, Michigan

London Book Fair
International Rights Center (via Roam Agency)
April 15-16

Historical Materialism
April 24-26, Ontario, Canada

Los Angeles Times Festival of Books
April 26-27, Los Angeles

Book launch for Howard Zinn's A People's History of American Empire
May 3, New York, Cooper Union Great Hall, 1pm

Chicago Green Festival
http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/230/200/
May 17-18, Chicago

Book Expo America
June 1-3, New York, NY

Save the Date!

Socialism 2008
A Weekend of Politics, Discussion & Debate
Featuring:
Jeremy Scahill
Amira Hass
Laura Flanders
John Carlos
Sharon Smith
Jeffrey St. Clair
June 19-22, Chicago, IL
Check for updates at www.socialismconference.org

Forthcoming from Haymarket Books

Vietnam: The (Last) War the U.S. Lost
Joe Allen
As the United States now faces a major defeat in its occupation of Iraq, the history of the Vietnam War, as a historic blunder for US military forces abroad, and the true story of how it was stopped, take on a fresh importance. Unlike most books on the topic, constructed as specialized academic studies, The (Last) War the United States Lost examines the lessons of the Vietnam era with Joe Allen’s eye of both a dedicated historian and an engaged participant in today’s antiwar movement.
9781931859493 | $14 | 240 pages | May 2008

Lenin Rediscovered: What Is To Be Done? in Context
Lars T. Lih
In this impressive work, Lih presents an innovative challenge to the prevailing perspectives on one of Russian revolutionary V. I. Lenin's most important essays. While conventional wisdom has been contented to caricature What is to Be Done? as the definitive example of Lenin's authoritarian and elitist method, Lih traces this document's roots in the social and political debates of Russia's emerging socialist movement, and reinvigorates the debate unfolding today by introducing a comprehensive new translation of Lenin's original text.
9781931859585 | $50.00 | Paper | 880 pages | May 2008

The Revolution and the Civil War in Spain
Pierre Broué and Emile Témime
In the 1930s, Spanish workers and peasants captured the world's attention, bursting out in rebellion against poverty, oppression, and a monarchy frequently dependent on military repression for its survival. But the Spanish revolution quickly encountered critical challenges-from its leadership's confusion over their final goal to the rising of a fascist army led by Francisco Franco. In their unparalleled study, Broué and Témime detail the internal dynamics and the external obstacles that led one of the world's most promising movements for human liberation to fascist defeat.
9781931859516 | $50.00 | Paper | 700 pages | May 2008

Visit www.haymarketbooks.org
For review copies, email info@haymarketbooks.org
P.O. Box 180165, Chicago IL 60618

Media Interview Assignment: Mother Jones on Black Ops on Green Groups

2008-04-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Date: 11 April 2008

Contacts:
Dan Schulman, dschulman@MotherJones.com
Steve Katz, skatz@motherjones.com

EXCLUSIVE:
Cops and Former Secret Service Agents Ran Black Ops on Green Groups

Meet the private security firm that spied on Greenpeace and other environmental outfits for its corporate clients. A tale of intrigue, infiltration, and dumpster-diving.

A Mother Jones exclusive (http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/2008/04/firm-spied-on-environmental-groups.html) has exposed that a security firm run by ex Secret Service agents spied on Greenpeace, Fenton Communications, the Center for Food Safety, and others.

James Ridgeway, the Mother Jones senior correspondent who obtained the never-before-published internal company documents now available on the Mother Jones website, revealed in today's story that a private security company organized and managed by former Secret Service officers spied on Greenpeace and other environmental organizations from the late 1990s through at least 2000, pilfering documents from trash bins, attempting to plant undercover operatives within groups, casing offices, collecting phone records of activists, and penetrating confidential meetings. The smoking gun documents show that Beckett Brown International (BBI), collected confidential records�donor lists, detailed financial statements, the Social Security numbers of staff members, strategy memos�from these groups and produced intelligence reports for public relations firms and major corporations
involved in environmental controversies.

BBI also conducted background checks for the Carlyle Group, the Washington-based investment firm; provided "protective services" for the National Rifle Association; handled "crisis management" for the Gallo wine company; engaged in "information collection" for Wal-Mart. It conducted background checks for Patricia Duff, a Democratic Party fundraiser then involved in an acrimonious child custody battle with billionaire Ronald Perelman. And for Mary Kay, BBI mounted "surveillance" and vetted Gayle Gaston, a top executive at the cosmetics company (and mother of actress Robin Wright Penn), retaining an expert to conduct a psychological assessment of her. Also listed as clients in BBI records: Halliburton and Blackwater.

Senior Correspondent James Ridgeway and Washington Bureau Chief David Corn are available for interviews on this or other Mother Jones stories by emailing dschulman@motherjones.com or Steve Katz, at skatz@motherjones.com.

From Airwaves and Liberty: Job Opportunity

2008-04-11T07:38:00.000-07:00

Job Opening: Associate Director at the National Radio Project

Posted: 09 Apr 2008 04:49 PM CDT

National Radio Project / Making Contact seeks a person with a passion for organizational development and fundraising, networking, growing their leadership talents, and creating a world where peace and social justice are paramount.

PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES

1. Together with the Executive Director, lead development activities:
* Manage grassroots fundraising efforts to build upon our solid base of individual donors including: mail campaigns, major donor stewardship, house parties, engagement of volunteers, board members and staff in fundraising
* Manage electronic outreach and fundraising and tap into the potential of online resource development
* Develop written materials for publicity and fundraising
* Build upon our relationships with institutional funders

2. Together with the ED, manage some of the day-to-day administration of the organization:
* Co-create the organizational budget and development plan
* Supervise and engage volunteers and contractors involved in outreach, marketing and station relations
* Financial administration including: Maintain records of payroll, workers comp and insurance, and the filing state and federal forms

3. Inspire staff and community members. Be an effective leader, advocate and ambassador for the organization and the overall independent media sector

Skills and experience: Tell us what you’ve got. The candidates for this position may come from a variety of settings and experiences.

Compensation: Salary DOE plus generous healthcare and vacation package.

FT: This is a full-time position at our office in downtown Oakland, CA. We offer a flexible schedule and some off-site hours.

National Radio Project is an Equal Opportunity Employer and does not discriminate on the basis of race, gender, sexual preference, disability, national origin, religion, or economic status.

HOW TO APPLY:

Please email your resume, a cover letter detailing the reasons why you are an excellent fit for this position, list three references that can speak to your abilities, and include a writing sample (e.g. proposal, report, article).

email to: lrudman[at]radioproject.org

APPLICATIONS ACCEPTED NOW. POSITION OPEN UNTIL FILLED.

From Airwaves and Liberty: Oaxacan Journalists Murdered

2008-04-11T07:35:00.000-07:00

Community Radio Activists Murdered in Oaxaca

Posted: 10 Apr 2008 11:07 AM CDT

April 7th, 2008. Oaxaca, Mexico.

Two indigenous triqui women who worked at the community radio station La Voz que Rompe el Silencio (The Voice that Breaks the Silence), in the autonomous municipality of San Juan Copala (Mixteca region), were shot and murdered while on their way to Oaxaca city to participate in the State Forum for the Defense of the Rights of the Peoples of Oaxaca. Three other people were injured.

According to the State Attorney General, the victims are Teresa Bautista Merino (24 years old) and Felicitas Martinez Sanchez (20 years old).

Francisco Vasquez Martinez (30 years old), his wife Cristina Martinez Flores (22 years old), and their son Jaciel Vasquez Martinez (three years old) were also injured in the attack.

According to prelimary reports, the women had left the station, which is part of the Network of Indigenous Community Radio Stations of the Southeast (Red de Radios Comunitarias Indigenas del Sureste), around 1:00 PM. They were travelling in a truck on their way to Oaxaca city, but were ambushed on the outskirts of the community Llano Juarez.

The two community radio activists were supposed to coordinate the working group for Community and Alternative Communication: Community Radio, Video, Press, and Internet, at the State Forum for the Defense of the Rights of the People of Oaxaca, which was to begin the today (Wednesday) in the auditorium of Seccion 22 of the teachers union in Oaxaca.

The Center for Community Support Working Together (CACTUS as the spanish acronym) released a communique denouncing the murders and demanding that the state authorities investigate and punish those responsible for the crime.

The state attorney general said that 20 bullet shells, caliber 7.62, were found at the site of the murders, along with other arms including an AK-47.

People are encouraged to contact their local embassies and consulates (or to organize demonstrations at their local embassies and consulates) to express their condemnation of this paramilitary repression of indigenous women and community media projects.

From Airwaves and Liberty: NLGJA’s Excellence in Journalism Awards

2008-04-11T07:32:00.000-07:00

Call for Applications for Journalism Awards & Hall of Fame

More information and applications: www.nlgja.org
Posted: 08 Apr 2008 05:01 PM CDT

Nominations are now being accepted for NLGJA’s Excellence in Journalism Awards and for the LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame. Don’t miss your opportunity to shine a national spotlight on journalists and the work of journalists - past and present - that exemplify fair and accurate coverage of the LGBT community.

Excellence in Journalism Awards

Consider submitting your work for NLGJA’s Excellence in Journalism Awards in the following categories:

* Journalist of the Year Award
* Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Media
* Excellence in News Writing Award, Sponsored by Hearst Newspapers
* Excellence in Feature Writing Award, Sponsored by Hearst Newspapers
* Excellence in Writing Award Opinion/Editorial, Sponsored by Hearst Newspapers
* NLGJA/Seigenthaler Excellence in Network Television Award
* NLGJA/Seigenthaler Excellence in Local Television Award
* NLGJA/Seigenthaler Excellence in Radio Award
* NLGJA/RTNDA Excellence in Online Journalism Award
* Excellence in Photojournalism Award
* Excellence in HIV/AIDS Coverage Award
* Excellence in Student Journalism Award

Initial broadcast/publication must have occurred between May 31, 2007 and April 30, 2008 for consideration.

There is a $500 cash award for first place in all categories except the Sarah Pettit Memorial Award for Excellence in LGBT Media and the Excellence in Student Journalism Award. First place winners in these categories receive $1,000.

Winners will be notified in early July 2008. Winners will be recognized during NLGJA Goes to Washington, our 2008 National Convention & 5th Annual LGBT Media Summit, to be held August 21-24 in Washington, DC.

Click here for more information and to download an application. Entries must arrive at NLGJA’s National Office no later than Friday, May 2, 2008.

LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame

The LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame was established in 2005 as part of NLGJA’s 15th Anniversary celebration. At that time, seven journalists were honored for their commitment, courage and dedication.

NLGJA is now seeking nominations for the 2008 class of the LGBT Journalists Hall of Fame. Nominations should include the candidate’s name and a brief statement of your reasons for considering this individual worthy of inclusion. We would also welcome the submission of any Web sites that provide background on the nominee.

To submit a nomination, e-mail NLGJA Deputy Executive Director Tom Avila at tavila@nlgja.org . Please use the subject line: Hall of Fame Nomination. Please include your name, phone and e-mail contact information in case members of the task force want to reach you for additional information.

The 2008 Hall of Fame inductees will be announced at NLGJA Goes to Washington, our 2008 National Convention & 5th Annual LGBT Media Summit, to be held August 21-24 in Washington, DC.

Nominations must be received no later than 5:00 PM PT, Monday, April 21, 2008.

Tom Avila
National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association

Ivestigative Reporters and Editors Fellowships for Freelancers

2008-04-09T10:30:00.000-07:00

Reminder: Deadline approaches for IRE's new fellowship awards for
freelance investigative journalists

Application postmark deadline: April 30, 2008

Freelance journalists looking to launch investigative projects have a
new source of financial support. IRE's Freelance Journalism
Fellowships will provide at least two freelance investigative
journalists at least $1,000 apiece to conduct their projects. (The
number and amount of fellowships is dependent upon how much income the
fellowship fund generates.) Fellowship winners will be announced in
June.

The 2008 applications will be scrutinized by three experienced
freelance journalists; they are ineligible for the fellowships while
serving on the committee. Proposals will be judged in part on the
breadth, significance and potential impact of the investigative
project. For more information on the fellowships, and to download an
application form, please see:
www.ire.org/training/fellowships

Questions? Please contact IRE staff member John Green via telephone
(573-882-2772) or email (jgreen@ire.org).

Regards,

John

Story Assignment: Endangered Wales Sacrificed to Big Oil?

2008-04-08T16:43:00.000-07:00

From the CommonDreams.org Newswire

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2008
12:58 PM

CONTACT: Center for Biological Diversity
Brendan Cummings, (760) 366-2232, x 304

Oil Drilling to Hit Heart of Right Whale Habitat in Bering Sea:
World’s Most Endangered Whale Will Be Sacrificed to Oil Companies

ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - April 8 - The Bush administration today took the first step toward opening up 5.6 million acres in the Bering Sea off Alaska to oil and gas leasing. The proposal, published in today’s Federal Register by the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service, would allow oil development in an area north of the Aleutian Islands near Bristol Bay that has been designated critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale.

The North Pacific right whale, once ranging from California to Alaska and across the North Pacific to Russia and Japan, was decimated by commercial whaling and is now the most endangered large whale in the world. Perhaps fewer than 50 individuals remain in a population that visits the Bering Sea each summer to feed.

“Drilling in Bristol Bay would be drilling through the heart of the most important habitat of the most endangered whale on the planet,” said Brendan Cummings, oceans program director at the Center for Biological Diversity. “If the North Pacific right whale is to have any chance of survival, we must protect its critical habitat, not auction it off to oil companies.”

In July 2006, approximately 36,000 square miles of the Bering Sea were designated as critical habitat for the right whale under the Endangered Species Act. The designation came as a result of a lawsuit brought by the Center for Biological Diversity. More than half of the area proposed today for leasing is within right whale critical habitat.

Ironically, the leasing proposal was made the very same day that a different federal agency, the National Marine Fisheries Service, published a final rule in the Federal Register that reaffirms the designation of portions of the lease area as critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale. Last month the Fisheries Service formally recognized the North Pacific right whale as a distinct species under the Endangered Species Act; previously the whale had been considered the same species as right whales in the North Atlantic. Today’s critical habitat designation protects the same areas in the Bering Sea as the 2006 designation of critical habitat, but transfers this habitat protection to the newly recognized North Pacific right whale.

“Unfortunately, for the right whale it’s one step forward, two steps back,” said Cummings. “One branch of the federal government is acting to protect the critical habitat of the North Pacific right whale, while another branch is simultaneously proposing to destroy it.”

Today’s contradictory government pronouncements in the Federal Register are reminiscent of the Minerals Management Service’s recent decision to lease important polar bear habitat in the Chukchi Sea at the same time another federal agency, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was considering protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act. Both the Minerals Management Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service are in the Department of the Interior under Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne. Secretary Kempthorne chose to delay protection for the polar bear until after the Chukchi lease sale was held. The polar bear listing has yet to be finalized and is in litigation.

Listing and critical habitat decisions for the right whale are under the jurisdiction of the National Marine Fisheries Service, which is in the Department of Commerce rather than the Department of the Interior. The new listing and critical habitat designations for the North Pacific right whale were only issued following petitions and litigation by the Center for Biological Diversity, and would, if the administration complies with the Endangered Species Act, likely prevent the proposed lease sale from going forward.

“By finally affording the North Pacific right whale the full protections of the Endangered Species Act to which it is legally entitled and so desperately needs, this critically imperiled whale has a real chance of recovery,” added Cummings. “But we must not throw away the right whale’s chances of recovery in furtherance of our addiction to oil.”

Under today’s leasing proposal, the North Aleutian Basin lease sale would be held in 2011. In addition to containing critical habitat for the North Pacific right whale, the North Aleutian Basin is important habitat for Pacific walrus, ribbon seals, humpback and beluga whales, and numerous species of seabirds. It also supports some of the largest commercial salmon fisheries in the world. The North Aleutian Basin sale is one of eight lease sales in the federal waters off Alaska scheduled under the 2007-2012 Leasing Program approved by Secretary Kempthorne in June 2007. The Center for Biological Diversity filed a legal challenge to the leasing program in July 2007. That litigation is ongoing.

Story Assignment: ACLU Tries to Take John Ashcroft to Court

2008-04-08T16:41:00.000-07:00

From the CommonDreams.org Newswire:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2008
12:25 PM

CONTACT: ACLU
Maria Archuleta, ACLU, (212) 519-7808 or 549-2666;
media@aclu.org

ACLU Argues That Ashcroft Can Be Held Accountable for Wrongful Detention
Government Cannot Use Material Witness Statute to Detain People As Suspects, Says ACLU

SEATTLE - April 8 - The American Civil Liberties Union is arguing today in the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that former Attorney General John Ashcroft can be held personally responsible for the wrongful detention of an innocent American, Abdullah al-Kidd. The ACLU is also arguing that the federal material witness law cannot be used to preventively detain or investigate suspects without sufficient evidence that they have actually committed crimes.

“Former Attorney General Ashcroft championed the use of the federal material witness law to circumvent the American traditions of fairness and due process,” said ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project senior staff attorney Lee Gelernt. “He shouldn’t escape liability after personally creating and overseeing the policy of deliberately misusing the statute.”

Prior to 9/11, the federal material witness law was used sparingly - especially with U.S. citizens - to ensure that witnesses would be available to testify in criminal cases. Arrests, under the statute, took place in rare cases to secure testimony where there was hard evidence that an individual had material information but would not testify voluntarily. After 9/11, Ashcroft distorted the law into a preventative detention statute, allowing the government to arrest and detain individuals for whom the government lacked probable cause to charge with criminal violations.

The appellate court hearing in al-Kidd v. Ashcroft comes after a U.S. district court in 2006 found that the material witness law may only be used when an individual is genuinely sought as a witness and where there is a real risk of flight. The court also ruled that the law does not allow an end-run around the constitutional requirements for arresting someone suspected of a crime.

Former Attorney General John Ashcroft appealed the ruling and has asked for immunity from liability.

Al-Kidd is a U.S.-born American citizen who was unlawfully arrested and detained on March 16, 2003. Al-Kidd was on his way to Saudi Arabia to study when he was arrested in Washington’s Dulles Airport as a material witness in the trial of Sami Omar Al-Hussayen. For 16 days, al-Kidd was held in heightened-security units of various jails and shackled whenever moved. Eventually al-Kidd was released under onerous conditions that included confining his travel to four states, surrendering his passport and reporting to probation officers. He was held for more than 13 months under these conditions without ever being asked to testify or being charged with any crime.

At the time of his arrest, al-Kidd had already shown that he was not a flight risk and would cooperate as a witness. He had voluntarily met with the FBI repeatedly, never missing a scheduled appointment. For six months prior to his arrest, al- Kidd had not been contacted by the FBI, and he had never been told that he was prohibited from traveling abroad to pursue his studies.

The ACLU lawsuit names former Attorney General John Ashcroft, the United States, several federal agents and local officials in Virginia, Oklahoma and Idaho.

Organizations and individuals who have submitted friend-of-the-court briefs in the case include former federal prosecutors, former presidents of the American Bar Association, the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and Human Rights Watch.

Attorneys on the case are Gelernt, Robin Goldfaden and Lucas Guttentag from the ACLU Immigrants’ Rights Project; Jack Van Valkenburgh from the ACLU of Idaho; Cynthia Woolley from the Law Offices of Cynthia J. Woolley, PLLC; R. Keith Roark from the Roark Law Firm, LLP; Kathleen Elliot from Hampton & Elliott; and Michael J. Wishnie from Yale Law School who is cooperating counsel for the ACLU.

Clinton Campaign Offers VIP Interviews

2008-04-08T16:32:00.000-07:00

***MEDIA ADVISORY***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 8, 2008

Contact: Cassie Trotter 202-797-9001
cassiet@qrsnews.com

Secretary Madeleine Albright and Mike McCurry
Available for Radio Interviews

Hillary Clinton Campaign Senior Advisors Madeleine Albright and Mike McCurry are available Wednesday for Radio Interviews. Both individuals will discuss their support for Hillary Clinton, the war in Iraq and the importance of making every vote count.

Availability

Madeleine Albright, Wednesday, April 9th: 7-8:15am EDT

Mike McCurry, Wednesday, April 9th: 8:00-9:00am EDT

Contact Cassie Trotter for available times and to schedule an interview:
(202) 797-9001

Junot Diaz Wins Pulitzer

2008-04-08T16:17:00.000-07:00

One of the most wonderful novelists I've ever interviewed was named wiinner of the Pulitzer Prize for Literature yesterday. Juno Diaz is a native of the Dominican Republic while also being a native of New Jersey.

His book, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, tells the story of a geeky immigrant kid who loves to write and dreams of being the Dominican JRR Tolkien. I spoke with Junot last fall at the KBOO studios, one of those interviews with someone you had never heard of but after conducting a Google Five Point Search, you suddenly discover he's very, very famous among those who have heard of him.

Plus, wonderful, intelligent, sexy and political; my favorite part of the interview was his analysis on why more and more people should be encouraged to write fiction -- because, he said, where there are more writers, there are more readers. And in the US of A, fewer and fewer people read books.

Here's the interview.

IPA: Interviews Available on Muqtada al-Sadr

2008-04-08T16:15:00.000-07:00

PM Tuesday, April 8, 2008

PATRICK COCKBURN, via Katie Monaghan, katherine.monaghan@simonandschuster.com
Currently in London, Cockburn is available for a limited number of
interviews. He is author of the just-published "Muqtada: Muqtada al-Sadr,
the Shia Revival, and the Struggle for Iraq." An excerpt from the book is
available at: .
Seymour Hersh has called Cockburn, who writes for the British paper
The Independent, "quite simply, the best Western journalist at work in Iraq
today." His previous books include "The Occupation: War, resistance and
daily life in Iraq."

Institute for Public Accuracy

Storytelling Grant: This Just in from Our Friends at Airwaves and Liberty

2008-04-07T15:03:00.001-07:00

National Storytelling Network Invites Applications for Applied Storytelling Award

Posted: 07 Apr 2008 10:47 AM CDT

Deadline: May 2, 2008 (Preliminary proposals)

The National Storytelling Network ( http://www.storynet.org/ ) invites applications for the fifth annual Brimstone Award for Applied Storytelling.

The award focuses on the transformational properties of story-telling and aims to increase understanding of the ways story-telling can promote change in individuals and communities.

The award provides a grant of $5,000 for a project that will be completed in calendar year 2009. The grant will support a model storytelling project that is service-oriented, based in a community or organization, and to some extent replicable in other places and situations. Many different sorts of projects can be considered for the award, including community, organizational or institutional programs, curricular activities, short residencies, and projects combining complementary art forms.

Applicants who are not members of the National Storytelling Network must pay the current membership fee to become an NSN member.

Program information and an application form are available at the NSN Web site.

Oregon Public Broadcasting Hiring a Reporter

2008-04-07T15:01:00.001-07:00

Reporter/Producer II Radio Department
Position: Full-Time, Non-exempt, Regular Status
Compensation: Salary, plus benefits package
Position Summary: Produce high quality, feature and spot news stories for OPB Radio, for a specific beat, within the newsroom. Consistently meet daily deadlines, as well as ethical, technical, legal and aesthetic standards.
Working Conditions: Work between the Portland office/studio and field as needed for newsgathering. In-state travel is common, but trips are often short; some out-of-state travel is required. Travel may include remote locations, working evening or weekends, and possibly working in inclement weather. Lifting and carrying equipment up to 25 lbs may be required, including some extended periods of standing and walking.
Required Qualifications:

* Bachelor's degree in Journalism or related field
* One year full-time professional experience as a news reporter or producer
* Demonstrated experience in use of digital audio recording and editing equipment and computer workstations

Preferred Qualifications:

* Radio news experience, preferably in a public broadcasting environment.
* Advanced skills in digital audio recording and editing
* Knowledge of Northwest region
* Outstanding writing, interviewing and on-air skills
* Ability to deliver reports and engage in conversation during live broadcasts
* Ability to work well with colleagues in collaborative newsroom environment
* Ability to follow multiple stories at once
* Ability to develop sources and follow beat area(s)
* Ability to contribute to shaping coverage of that beat within OPB's editorial structure
* Demonstrated ability and commitment to apply high ethical standards to reporting

To Apply: Please submit cover letter, resume, 2-3 audio samples of recently produced stories and salary history to: OPB HR, MS-WWW, 7140 SW Macadam Ave., Portland, OR 97219 or hr@opb.org
Application screening closes June 6, 2008, 5:00pm

Story Idea: Clinton and Obama Supporting Scaled-Down Occupation in Iraq

2008-04-07T14:59:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Monday, April 7, 2008

Interviews Available

JOSHUA HOLLAND, joshua.holland@alternet.org, http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/81251
Holland just wrote the piece "Obama and Hillary Spin a 'Big Lie' About Iraq," which states: "On the campaign trail, the two candidates often speak of bringing the troops home and ending the war, and Democratic primary voters, 80 percent of whom want U.S. troops out of Iraq within 12 months, reward them with boisterous applause. ... Both Clinton and Obama have been very clear -- in the fine print -- about the fact that they will leave a significant number of 'residual forces' in Iraq, albeit with a more limited mission than the Bush administration has pursued."
Holland told the Institute for Public Accuracy today: "For example, Obama has played this trick of calling for the removal of all 'combat troops' in 16 months; what the campaign doesn't highlight is that it plans to leave 'non-combat troops,' but the idea of 'non-combat' troops in Iraq makes no sense. Also, the campaign is backing off of the 16 months pledge: 'Obama Advisor: 60,000 Troops Should Stay In Iraq Through 2010' ."

JEREMY SCAHILL, jeremy.scahill@gmail.com
Author of "Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army," Scahill said today: "All three of the major U.S. candidates for president have Iraq plans that would continue the occupation for the foreseeable future. McCain clearly would continue the Bush policy, but both Obama and Clinton have plans that would maintain some of the largest encampments of the occupation -- the Green Zone, the monstrous U.S. embassy, U.S. control of the Baghdad airport. Additionally, the Democratic candidates speak of maintaining a U.S. 'strike force' in Iraq and surrounding countries. In all, this could mean as many as 60,000-80,000 troops in Iraq for many years to come. On top of this, both Democrats have plans that would maintain a massive force of so-called 'private contractors' to support their Iraq policy. They are misleading their supporters when they passionately denounce the war and profess to support bringing it to an end. At best, what Obama or Clinton are offering is a scaled-down occupation -- but still a sizable one -- re-branded as a different mission.
"For the first time in 14 years, weapons manufacturers are donating more to Democrats than to Republicans. The Dems have received 52 percent of the military industry's political donations in this election cycle -- up from a low of 32 percent in 1996. There is a reason for this: it is good business policy." See: "Blackwater Seeps Into the Campaign" at .
"Meanwhile, the Bush administration has extended Blackwater's Iraq contract for yet another year. This is hardly a surprise and shows just how morally bankrupt the outsourcing of Washington's war -- and the de facto immunity offered to the shadow army -- has been from day one.
"Instead of holding this force accountable for its alleged crimes, the White House continues to reward Blackwater with lucrative contracts. The White House says Blackwater is necessary to protect U.S. officials. When will we hear any concern for the protection of Iraqi civilians who have consistently been wounded or killed by these forces over the past five years?" See: "Contract Justice: An Iraqi Translator Gets Prosecuted While Blackwater Gets Another Year in Iraq" at .

Story idea: BPA Makes Financial Settlement on Salmon/Dam Issue

2008-04-07T14:57:00.000-07:00

For Immediate Release:
Monday, April 7, 2008

Contact:
Bill Shake, retired U.S. Fish &
Wildlife Service, bill.shake.1@verizon.net, 503-886-9721
Todd True, ttrue@earthjustice.org,
206-343-7340, ext 30
Sara Patton, sara@nwenergy.org,
206- 621-0094

BPA deal won’t recover salmon or protect ratepayers
SCIENTISTS, RATEPAYER GROUPS, AND SALMON ADVOCATES RESPOND TO FEDERAL-TRIBAL DEAL ON COLUMBIA-SNAKE RIVER DAMS

Portland, Ore — Individuals and groups that have long worked to restore abundant Columbia and Snake river salmon say today’s financial settlement between the federal Bonneville Power Administration (BPA) and three Indian tribes lacks scientific credibility and certainty for Northwest electricity ratepayers.

“This deal defies the decades of salmon science that say salmon recovery in the Columbia and Snake River Basin is not possible with habitat and hatchery programs alone,” said Bill Shake, former Assistant Regional Director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Instead, any scientifically sound plan must include increased spill and flow for juvenile salmon survival and removal of four outdated dams on the lower Snake River. The Tribes and many others have said this in comments filed in January with the federal government opposing the plan that is the basis for today’s deal. While increased spill and flow and Snake River dam removal are not silver bullets, they are a necessary part of a larger plan. This deal suggests that salmon can recover without that action, which goes against everything the science tells us.”

The four dams create still water and impair the natural river flows young salmon need to migrate to sea. The dams also hinder the migration of adult salmon trying to return to spawn in the crystal clear, cold waters of high elevation tributaries and greatly exacerbate to the threat salmon face from global warming.

Under the agreement, BPA will pay the Tribes about $1 billion for tribal hatchery and habitat programs over 10years in exchange for the Tribes’ support of the latest federal plan to manage the dams and river flows on the Columbia and Snake rivers. “Support” means the Tribes must disavow their prior biological recommendations, which are steeply at odds with the federal approach. The Tribes also must refrain from advocating for measures they have long said were scientifically necessary for salmon survival such as removing the four dams on the lower Snake River.

Over the past 15 years, a series of court rulings, backed by the Tribes, has disqualified three of the last four federal dam operation plans because they failed to protect and recover Columbia and Snake river salmon listed under the Endangered Species Act.

In addition, court orders won by tribal, conservation and fishing groups have required dam operators to release additional water at certain times of the year to assist the migration of juvenile salmon from the rivers to the sea. Thanks to this additional river flow, federal fishery managers forecast a slight up-tick in returning spring run salmon this year.

“This new deal would rollback recent victories improving dam operations for salmon,” said Earthjustice attorney Todd True. “The opportunity to restore these fish is rapidly slipping away. BPA and the other federal agencies under this administration have consistently been more interested in protecting the status quo than in restoring wild salmon. Today’s deal is a good example of that failed approach.”

The money BPA will pay the Tribes is aimed at restoring salmon habitat primarily below the four problem Snake River dams and funding tribal hatcheries programs. But scientific studies, including those done by tribal biologists, conclude that recovering abundant salmon populations requires unimpeded access to the thousands of stream miles of clean cold water found in Idaho.

“The billion-dollar price tag for this agreement would be enough money to remove these dams and open access to these life-saving waters,” said NW Energy Coalition executive director, Sara Patton. “By ignoring science while suggesting that it is indeed meeting ESA requirements, BPA is continuing the uncertainty that has plagued this region and is putting Northwest ratepayers further at risk.”

Added Shake, the former Fish and Wildlife Service official: “We’ve been able to toss the salmon a life ring through court-ordered water releases for the last few years but we can’t get them off life support and out of the intensive care unit until we open up the good spawning water still available up in Idaho. This deal moves us no closer to that goal,”

To read the four Tribe’s January 2008 comments on the draft Biological Opinion’s scientific and
legal deficiencies, please see http://www.nwr.noaa.gov/Salmon-Hydropower/Columbia-Snake-
Basin/upload/CRITFC_A.pdf

Story idea: Iran Attack?

2008-04-07T14:53:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Monday, April 7, 2008

Petraeus to Target Iran?

Interviews Available

GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50@gmail.com, http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=41886
Porter, author of "Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam," just wrote the piece "Petraeus Testimony to Defend False 'Proxy War' Line," which states: "Based on preliminary indications of his spin on the surprisingly effective armed resistance to the joint U.S.-Iraqi 'Operation Knights Assault' in Basra, Petraeus will testify that it was caused by Iran through a group of rogue militiamen who had split off from Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and came under Iranian control. ...
"Iran has no reason to look for a small splinter group to advance its interests when it already enjoys a relationship of strategic cooperation with the [Iraqi] government itself. ...
"The interest of [the] Bush administration in keeping the 'proxy war' line alive has nothing to do with Iraqi realities. ... As a strategic weapon for justifying the administration's policies toward both Iraq and Iran, the theme of Iranian interference through 'Special Groups' is bound to be a central thread in the testimony [by Petreaus]."

IRE 2007 Investigative Reporting Awards

2008-03-25T14:25:00.000-07:00

Looking for some ideas on stories to cover? Issues to explore? Here are the Investigative Reporters and Editors award winners for 2007 -- dozens of areas of interest are represented. How are any of these topics playing out in your own community?

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2008

IRE Announces 2007 Award Winners

COLUMBIA, MO. - Investigative reports examining the mistreatment of
veterans by their own government, hidden dangers in trade with China - for
both U.S. consumers and Chinese workers - and a 43-year-old murder
case are among the top winners in the 2007 IRE Awards.

Also receiving special recognition is the ongoing effort by a group of
journalists to continue the investigation started by a slain colleague,
Chauncey Bailey.

The awards, given by Investigative Reporters and Editors Inc.,
recognize the most outstanding watchdog journalism of the year. The contest
covers 15 categories across media platforms and a range of market sizes.
IRE is a 4,300-member professional and educational organization based at
the Missouri School of Journalism. The contest, which began in 1979,
received 530 entries this year.

IRE Medals, the top honor bestowed by the organization, were given to:
- Dana Priest and Anne Hull of The Washington Post for "The Other
Walter Reed." Co-winners of the "largest circulation newspaper" category,
Priest and Hull penetrated the secretive world of the Army's premier
medical facility, Walter Reed Hospital, to document in chilling detail the
callous mistreatment and neglect of America's war-wounded. Their expos?
- fueled by immersion reporting and fine narrative storytelling -
fired a shot heard around the world and led to decisive action at the
Pentagon. This brilliant work proved how a local investigation can demand an
international audience and provoke international outrage.
- Walt Bogdanich, Jake Hooker, Brent McDonald and Robert Harris of The
New York Times for "Toxic Pipeline." The project, co-winner of the
"largest circulation newspaper" category, started with a hunch about
obscure poisonings in Panama. But through extraordinary effort and skill,
reporters traced the deaths from a cough syrup back to China. In the
process, they exposed a frightening new reality about globalization: You can
no longer trust that simple household items won't be deadly. When the
FDA learned of the Times' story, it halted imports of Chinese glycerin.
And more than 30 countries recalled Chinese made toothpaste containing
anti-freeze. The project showed reporters tackling the highest level
of difficulty to tell an astounding international story.
- Loretta Tofani, The Salt Lake Tribune for "American Imports, Chinese
Deaths." This ambitious project, winner of the "medium circulation
newspaper" category, shows that the mundane creature comforts of American
lives have debilitating and sometimes deadly consequences for the people
of China who make them. The project takes readers to plants where
young workers touch and inhale carcinogens without gloves, masks or proper
ventilation. Freelance reporter Tofani exposes the abuse of Chinese
workers while American industry conveniently fails to discover bogus
safety audits and fake record keeping. (The Pulitzer Center on Crisis
Reporting and The Center for Investigative Reporting supported the project.)
- David Ridgen, Michael Hannan, Brad Clarke, Judith Greenberg and Scott
Hooker of MSNBC and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for "Mississippi
Cold Case." This compelling documentary, winner of the
"network/syndicated" category, was aired by MSNBC and produced by Ridgen of the CBC,
produced dramatic results. By literally digging up the past, following
every lead and hounding key witnesses and participants, the project
showcased how original investigative reporting can solve cases. And by
stirring up the interest of federal prosecutors, the piece led to the
prosecution of a key perpetrator of a long-forgotten murder of two African
American men in 1964.
The recipients of the Renner award, honoring outstanding reporting
covering organized crime or other criminal acts, were:
- A.C. Thompson, Thomas Peele, Josh Richman, Angela Hill, Mary Fricker,
G.W. Schultz, Cecily Burt, Bob Butler, Paul T. Rosynsky and Harry
Harris of the Bay Area News Group for "The Chauncey Bailey Project." These
stories would have been difficult to pursue under any circumstances,
but it took extreme dedication to get at the truth following the
assassination of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey. In the tradition of the
Arizona Project, this coalition of Bay area journalists delved into
questionable real estate deals and contracts involving the owners of Your
Muslim Bakery in Oakland. The reporters raised questions about the
thoroughness of a police investigation into the group before Bailey's
murder. They probed the interrogation and confession of Bailey's alleged
killer. And they carried on the work that Bailey intended to pursue before
his death. (IRE is providing data analysis and computer services for
the project). www.chaunceybaileyproject.org
The Freedom of Information award, honoring an individual or
organization whose actions further open records or open government, was awarded
to:
- Jim Parsons, Bob Longo, Kendall Cross and Mike Lazorko of
WTAE-Pittsburgh for "Pennsylvania Open Records." WTAE-TV and Parsons pushed open
the front door of a closed government agency, PHEAA, Pennsylvania's
state-run student loan agency, revealing glaring examples of wasteful and
abusive spending of taxpayer money. Documents revealed that bureaucrats
spent thousands of dollars on items and services such as tuxedo
rentals, alcohol, flowers, NFL tickets and aromatherapy massages. Parsons also
organized forums on Pennsylvania's Open Records Act and worked to
obtain legislative support for a new state Right to Know Law.
IRE Board president James Grimaldi said the large number of medal
winners speaks to the quality of work produced last year.
"IRE has never awarded this many medals in one year, and it is a
testament to the amount of groundbreaking investigative journalism
accomplished last year during extraordinarily difficult economic times for the
media industry," said Grimaldi, an investigative reporter at The
Washington Post. "Investigative journalism is alive and thriving and making a
difference in our world."

The other IRE awards, called certificates, are divided into categories
based on market or circulation size.

The 2007 IRE Certificate winners were:

Large newspapers (250,000-500,000) - Jennifer Barrios, Sophia Chang,
Michael Ebert, Reid J. Epstein, Jennifer Sinco Kelleher, Eden Laikin,
Herbet Lowe, Joseph Mallia, Jennifer Maloney, Luis Perez and Karla
Schuster of Newsday for "They Failed to Act." Through tenacious, shoe-leather
reporting, the staff of Newsday documented a public safety danger long
ignored by the Long Island Railroad and by state and federal
regulators. Armed with Stanley tape measures, they found dangerous gaps between
the platform and trains at the railroad's busiest stations, holes large
enough for passengers to fall through. Their reporting - accompanied by
compelling visuals - brought a public outcry and led to long-overdue
reforms.
Small newspapers (under 100,000) - Sandy Hodson of The Augusta (Ga.)
Chronicle for "The Wait of Conviction." This investigation uncovered the
fact that many of the people convicted of serious crimes in Richmond
County, Georgia were not able to appeal their cases. By obtaining and
reviewing hundreds of cases from a 10-year period, the reporter not only
discovered a miscarriage of justice, but also affected change: the
local judges responded with a promise to solve this serious problem. The
piece was unique in that it focused on the administration of the
justice system, not just the results of that system.
Local Circulation Weeklies - Isaiah Thompson of Village Voice
Media/Miami New Times for "The People Under the Bridge." This unusual story
turns all those warnings against sexual predators on its head. The laws on
where sex offenders can live in Miami are so strict that - with no
place else to go -- authorities force offenders to live under a bridge.
Reporter Isaiah Thompson got to know these people - some of whom had
families willing to take them in but couldn't. He does a masterful job
showing the absurdity of their situation.
Top 20 Markets - Brett Shipp, Mark Smith, Kraig Kirchem, Michael
Valentine and Mark Ginther of WFAA-Dallas for "The Buried and the Dead." For
a year, WFAA-TV dug into a story of deteriorating gas pipeline
couplings, not a topic you'd expect to produce compelling video. But what they
found was horrifying: an obsolete pipeline system; gas leaks galore;
explosions that had already cost six lives and threatened tens of
thousands more. The coverage was so powerful that it forced an entrenched
bureaucracy to order the system replaced, costing the utility tens of
millions of dollars and likely saving lives.
Below Top 20 Markets - Demetria Kalodimos and David Sussman of
WSMV-Nashville for "Radioactive Dumping." This original investigation revealed
that the state of Tennessee had, for 20 years, been allowing the
dumping of low-level radioactive waste in ordinary landfills located around
the state. They followed the story from the local level all the way to
the national, including tracing the origin of much of the radioactive
material. The pieces led to dramatic results, state government action
and a moratorium on the dumping.
Magazine/Specialty Publication - Joshua Kors of The Nation for "Thanks
for Nothing." Some stories simply make your blood boil. This
examination of Army soldiers who were denied benefits for being discharged under
phony personality disorder diagnoses poignantly illustrates the impact
this military policy had on soldiers' lives and the difficulty Army
officials had explaining the sharp rise in personality disorder cases. The
magazine's reporting showed that soldiers were not only denied
benefits but also asked to repay their signing bonuses under an obscure
discharge regulation. Many left the Army with several thousand dollars of
debt.
Book - Bob Drogin for "Curveball: Spies, Lies and the Con Man Who
Caused a War." In a strong field, Bob Drogin's "Curveball" stands out. The
sourcing is clear and the writing compelling. The result is a detailed
picture of the lies and mistakes that contributed to the Iraq War. Many
of the key facts were first revealed in Drogin's Los Angeles Times
stories. Now he has added context and history.
Radio - Lorna Benson and Michael Edgerly of Minnesota Public Radio News
for "Toxic Traces Revisted." In 2005, MPR's reporting forced the state
to lower the levels of perflourinated chemicals (PFCs) considered safe
for humans after the chemical was found in Twin Cities drinking water.
In 2007, contaminants were found in the drinking water of another
community. Once again, MPR delivered this complex story to the public. The
result of their digging was an indictment of a system that, without
scrutiny and pressure, continued to fail in its duties.
Online - Nathaniel Heller, Ben Welsh, Marina Walker Guevara, Tom
Stites, Sarah Fort, Patrick Kiger, Michael Bilton, Prangtip Daorueng,
Ignacio Gomez, Andreas Harsono, Alain Lallemand, Yossi Melman, Mutegi Njau,
Paul Radu, Gerardo Reyes and Leo Sisti of The Center for Public
Integrity and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists for
"Collateral Damage: Human Rights and U.S. Military Aid after 9/11." A
comprehensive and compelling examination of US military aid and assistance
to foreign countries in a post- 9/11 world. The work of journalists on
four continents to track the origins of lobbying efforts and amounts of
money involved was impressive by itself. And it was coupled with the
power of an online database, readers were able to view unfiltered data
broken into many categories.
Student (All Media) - Allison Riggio and Hunter Clauss of
creatingcommunityconnections.org for "Public Payroll, Family Affairs: Aldermen Keep
It Relative." After its genesis as a class project at Columbia College
in Chicago, this story grew into an interesting expose of nepotism in
city government. Student reporters used public records requests and
numerous phone calls to identify relatives of city council members on the
public payroll. Persistence and aggressiveness overcame the obstacle of
not being taken seriously by some sources.

"Each of these projects highlights the crucial impact that the best
investigative reporting can have," said IRE Executive Director Mark
Horvit. "Lives were changed, injustices were eliminated and dangerous threats
to public safety were removed as a result of this work."

Contest entries are screened and judged by IRE members who are working
journalists. The IRE Awards program is unique among journalism contests
in the extent of its efforts to avoid conflicts of interest. Work that
includes any significant role by a member of the IRE Board of
Directors or an IRE contest judge may not be entered in the contest.

This represents a significant sacrifice on the part of the individual -
and often an entire newsroom - who may have done outstanding
investigative work. For example, some work from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
The Miami Herald, The Seattle Times, The Washington Post, the Los
Angeles Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The New York Times, the
Houston Chronicle, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and WMAQ-TV was ineligible
for entry in this year's contest.

IRE, founded in 1975, is a nonprofit professional organization
dedicated to training and supporting journalists who pursue investigative
stories and operates the National Institute for Computer-Assisted Reporting,
a joint program of IRE and the Missouri School of Journalism.

The IRE Awards will be presented at a luncheon on Saturday, June 7, at
the 2008 IRE Conference in Miami.

Copies of all contest entries are available to IRE members from the IRE
Resource Center, which has more than 23,000 investigative stories
submitted over the past 28 years. The Resource Center can be reached via
e-mail at rescntr@ire.org or by calling
573-882-3364.

See full list of winners, finalists and judges' comments at
www.ire.org/contest/07winners.

Story Idea of the Week: Soldier Suicides

2008-03-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Monday, March 24, 2008

Veteran and Soldier Suicides: "The Unknown Fallen"
Interviews Available Late last year, a CBS News investigation found that in 2005 "there were at least 6,256 suicides among those who served in the armed forces. That's 120 each and every week, in just one year."

Last week, CBS News reported on data it had just obtained from the government on veterans who were recently treated by the Veterans Administration. In this limited sample, "two age groups stood out between 2000 and 2007. First, ages 20-24 -- those likely to have served during the Iraq-Afghan wars. Suicide attempts rose from 11 to 47. And for vets ages 55 to 59, suicide attempts jumped from 19 to 117."

JOYCE and KEVIN LUCEY, kjlucey@msn.com
Joyce and Kevin Lucey are the parents of Jeffrey Lucey, who committed
suicide after being in Iraq for five months in 2004. Joyce Lucey said
today: "My son was betrayed first by a government who sent him to war and
then by the Veterans Administration for not giving him the treatment he
needed. He and others died from this war but their names will never be on a
memorial wall.
"The letters we received from him were brief and sanitized. But to
his girlfriend of six years, he said in April of 2003 he felt he had done
immoral things and that he wanted to erase the last month of his life.
'There are things I wouldn't want to tell you or my parents, because I
don't want you to be worried. Even if I did tell you, you'd probably
think I was just exaggerating. I would never want to fight in a war again.
I've seen and done enough horrible things to last me a lifetime.'"

Kevin Lucey said today: "Jeffrey had Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, but PTSD is not so much a mental dysfunction as a normal response to an abnormal situation. Jeffrey refused to go to the VA due to the stigma associated with it. We finally got him to the VA, but after he committed suicide, the VA wouldn't give us all his medical records, claiming a Freedom of Information Act exemption. We finally managed to get the records -- Jeffrey had told them how he was thinking of committing suicide and
they put him down as a moderate risk."
Joyce and Kevin Lucey testified at the recent Winter Soldier conference.

CLOY RICHARDS, cloy@grassrootsamerica4us.org,
http://grassrootsamerica4us.org Cpl. Cloy Richards served two tours in Iraq as a Marine, including a siege of Fallujah. He returned home suicidal and fought with the VA for almost two years trying to obtain help for his traumatic brain injury
and PTSD. Ultimately, his mother had to go to Congress to obtain the help
he needed. Richards contributed several poems to "Warrior Writers: Re-Making
Sense," a collection of creative writing and art by members of Iraq
Veterans Against the War. One of his poems, "Survivor's Guilt," is
available at:
.

MIKE BOWMAN, mikebowman@dishmail.net,
http://veterans.house.gov/hearings/Testimony.aspx?TID=11136
Bowman testified before the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs in
December. He said: "As my family was preparing for our 2005 Thanksgiving
meal, our son Timothy was lying on the floor of my shop office, slowly
bleeding to death from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. His war was now
over, his demons were gone. Tim was laid to rest in a combination
military, firefighter funeral that was a tribute to the man he was.

"Tim was the life of a party, happy-go-lucky young man that joined
the National Guard in 2003 to earn money for college and get a little
structure in his life. On March 19 of 2005 when Specialist Timothy Noble Bowman
got off the bus with the other National Guard soldiers of Foxtrot 202 that
were returning from Iraq he was a different man. He had a glaze in his eyes
and a 1,000-yard stare, always looking for an insurgent. ...

"[My son] was not counted in any VA statistics of any kind. He had
not made it into the VA system because of the stigma of reporting mental
problems, he was National Guard, and he was not on a drill weekend when
he took his life. The only statistical study that he was counted in was
the CBS study. And there are many more just like him. We call them KBA's,
killed because of action. The unknown fallen."

YANIA PADILLA, empressyania@sbcglobal.net
Sister of Walter Padilla, Yania said today: "My brother committed
suicide on April 1, 2007. He was about to become engaged, they'd bought
rings, they had gone house-hunting the day before. He'd been discharged
with PTSD in February of 2005. He'd gone to the VA, but they just gave
him some pills. He was withdrawn and introspective."

For background, see:

"Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans"
Nov. 13, 2007
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml

"Suicides Seen Among Vets Treated By VA"
March 20, 2008
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/cbsnews_investigates/main3956210.shtml

CNN reported Feb. 3, 2008 that according to the military's own statistics: "Every day, five U.S. soldiers try to kill themselves. Before the Iraq war began, that figure was less than one suicide attempt a day."
http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/01/military.suicides/index.html

IPA Sources on Corporate Welfare

2008-03-18T14:50:00.000-07:00

Here are today's sources from the Istitutue for Public Accuracy
IPA, 915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Fed Giving Wall Street a Nanny-State Bailout?

Interviews Available

Reuters reports: "A fire sale of Bear Stearns Cos Inc stunned Wall Street and pummeled global financial stocks on Monday on fears that few banks are safe from deepening market turmoil. ... The combination of Bear Stearns' bailout and the Fed's offer on Sunday to extend direct lending to securities firms for the first time since the Great Depression highlighted just how hard the credit crisis has hit Wall Street."

DEAN BAKER, baker@cepr.net, http://www.cepr.net, http://www.ConservativeNannyState.org
Baker wrote the book "The Conservative Nanny State How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer." He said today: "The banking system is experiencing enormous stress due to collapse of the $8 trillion housing bubble. This is an inevitable and entirely predictable result of the collapse. The fact that almost no one in government or Wall Street anticipated this set of events raises serious questions about the competency of people in positions of responsibility.
"Going forward, the public should insist on full openness and transparency in the actions of the Fed. We have an interest in keeping the financial system operating but there is no public interest in putting up tens of billions of taxpayer dollars to protect the managers who have brought on this disaster or the shareholders who had hoped to profit from their actions. The takeover of the Northern Rock Bank by the British government should be the model. The bank was kept operating, but the managers were sent packing and the stockholders will probably lose their investment."
Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research. In August of 2002, the group released a paper by Baker titled "The Run-Up in Home Prices: Is It Real or Is It Another Bubble?" In 2005, Baker co-wrote the paper "Will a Bursting Bubble Trouble Bernanke? The Evidence for a Housing Bubble."

DOUG HENWOOD, [in NYC] dhenwood@panix.com, http://www.LeftBusinessObserver.com
Henwood is author of the book "Wall Street" and editor of Left Business Observer. He said today: "The Federal Reserve's attempts in recent weeks to restore market confidence haven't worked, and the arranged marriage of Bear Stearns and JPMorgan Chase is proof of that: people simply stopped believing in Bear and it was dead in a matter of days. We're clearly in a new phase of managing this financial crisis, but before it's over I think we're going to see the expenditure of real taxpayer money and not just pledges of support by the Fed. The economic question is now how bad the recession we're already in will be. The political question is what the public will get in return for its largesse -- license for financiers to do this all over again a few years from now, or a more stable and equitable financial system? Oh, and let's not forget, in all this high-end melodrama, there are still several million people losing their houses."

Breaking News Story Sources This Week

2008-03-13T16:30:00.000-07:00

The Institute for Public Accuracy puts out bulletins for journalists looking for national sources for stories. I want to post them here for the delectation of my community radio comrades. Don't go calling these folks willy-nilly -- check in with your news directors and set up a story idea, then set up an appointment.

Now get out there and file a story!

Institute for Public Accuracy
915 National Press Building, Washington, D.C. 20045
(202) 347-0020 * http://www.accuracy.org * ipa@accuracy.org
___________________________________________________

PM Thursday, March 13, 2008

Five Years Later -- Oil Contracts: Success of War?

Interviews Available

BEN LANDO, blando@upi.com
President Bush has repeatedly called for the passage of the
proposed Iraqi oil law. Lando is energy editor for UPI. He has recently launched
the web page .

ANTONIA JUHASZ,
antoniajuhasz@gmail.com,
http://www.TheBushAgenda.net Juhasz is the author of the book "The Bush Agenda: Invading the
World, One Economy at a Time" and is with the group Oil Change International.
She said today: "Five years after the invasion, the very same oil companies
that owned and controlled Iraq's oil from the end of World War I until
nationalization in the early 1970s -- Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, Shell
and Total -- are now poised to make their grand return. Each has signed
technical service contracts with the Iraqi government for work on five
of Iraq's largest oil fields. These contracts offer a mere foot in the
door, however, as both the companies and the Bush administration pressure the

Iraqis to pass the Iraq oil law and give the companies the Big Prize:
renewed ownership and control of Iraq's oil. Oil was the reason for
this war five years ago, it is the reason why we remain entrenched in this
war today."
On Friday, Juhasz will be testifying at the "Corporate Pillaging
and Military Contractors" civilian panel at Winter Soldier with journalist
Jeremy Scahill. Juhasz wrote the oped "Whose Oil Is It, Anyway?" which
appeared in the New York Times. Her forthcoming book is titled "The
Tyranny of Oil: The World's Most Powerful Industry and What We Must Do to Stop
It."
Oil Change International will be one of the groups participating in protests on the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the invasion of Iraq on March 19 in Washington. They will lead protests at the American
Petroleum Institute in Washington. See:
and .

Garbage In, Garbage Out: You Are What You Eat?

2008-03-09T16:59:00.000-07:00

I am on the fly here, making dinner and lunch for my graveyard shift tomorrow and clearing out the living room and getting ready to wash the dog. But I wanted to post something for folx to do.

My daughter goes to Grant High School in the Portland Public Schools District. She says her school cafeteria uses the same food service company as the local jail -- or maybe it's the state penitentiary. She's not sure.

My son, who also goes to Grant, says Eric Schlosser, who wrote Fast Food Nation: The Dark Side of the All-American Meal, reported the same thing in his book. Then I said, I think they use the same companies for hospital food at OHSU. When I was hospitalized in Minneapolis, Minn. three years ago for a kidney transplant, I only saw one piece of fresh fruit the whole time, and it was a creepy, droopy banana.

Here is homework assignment #2: Who can document whether or not Portland Public Schools and the Columbia Correctional Facility (or Coffee Creek Correctional Facility for women, or the Oregon State Penitentiary in the Salem area, or any others) use the same food service companies as ANY school dictrict in the state?

Here is a list of all Oregon prisons.

Bonus point goes to whomever can find out whether the same company provides food services to any hospital in the state.

Wierdly,

here is a complete listing, with links, of Oregon medical facilities put together by a 12-step group.

Right on!

Who can find out which are the top food service companies in the state? I know one is Aramark.

What would be the most timely news peg for such a story? I know that a report released last week showed Oregon spends more money per capital to incarcerate people than any other state. I also know that Oregon schools are chronicly underfunded and essentially FUBAR. Several years ago a report found that Oregon spends more $$ to incarcerate people than it does to fund higher education.

So ... what can we find out?

Story of the Week: The Torture Playlist

2008-03-05T11:55:00.000-08:00

This is a headline on Democracy Now today:

Springsteen, Bee Gees, Eminem on US “Torture Playlist”
And the magazine Mother Jones has compiled a so-called “torture playlist”—a list of songs that the US military and CIA have used during interrogations to disorient detainees and to drown out screams. The list includes Neil Diamond’s “America,” “Born in the USA” by Bruce Springsteen, “White America” by Eminem, “Staying Alive” by the Bee Gees, the Sesame Street theme, the Barney theme song and a commercial for Meow Mix. At least one of the artists is happy their song was used during interrogations. Steve Asheim, the drummer of the group Deicide said, “It’s cool. If we’re up to military standards of audio abuse, it makes me feel like Deicide’s doing our part for the troops.”

Mother Jones has the music, you can read the report and listen to investigative reporter Justine Sherrock’s take on it all.

We're talking about Neil Diamond and the Barney theme song. Not exactly a surprise, huh?

Homework Exercise

2008-03-05T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a fun homework assignment for investigative reporting learners. Using just the links on this blog, find out who in the state of Oregon are currently the biggest contributors to the top three presidential candidates.

Now, using these same links, try looking back to previous elections (say, the mid-term elections in 2006) to find out which out of state contributors dumped the most cash in Oregon races. Which races attracted the most $$? What long-term impact has that had on Oregon politics?

I'll try posting a few answers later this week.

Yes, Actual People Can Make a Difference

2008-02-29T08:53:00.000-08:00

This came off the "Citizen Journalism" news ticker today. Naomi Klein is a juicy writer and analyst who appears on Democracy Now!, Alternative Radio and KBOO news and public affairs. Her newest book is "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism."

The Courier International website links to an interview with Naomi...in French. Bon chance avec ca!

Naomi Klein supports citizen journalism
Interviewed by Jade Lindgaard, the journalist and altermondialist militant Naomi Klein explains that blogs are complementary to investigative journalism. "Blogs have become real alternative journalism, places where scandals can be denounced. To a certain extent they play the same role as the radio does, by repeating and sometimes hammering home information that comes from investigative journalism in the written press. ... . Stories protect you from the shock, soften impact. There is a certain way of telling a story, not just scattering facts. It is the loss of the story, of the collective story, that puts you in a state of shock. This is what makes blogs so exciting: they put information by definition anti-narrative, into context. What citizen journalism manages so well is to take facts and turn them into stories."

Check This Out....

2008-02-28T07:39:00.000-08:00

I pulled this from the "Citizen Journalism" News Ticker this morning:

Innovations in Journalism - Orato.com
Posted on February 27, 2008 by Oliver Luft - Filed Under Innovations in Journalism, online communities, Citizen journalism, Online Journalism |
Each week we give technology developers the opportunity to tell us journalists why we should sit up and pay attention to the sites and devices they are are working on. This week it’s citizen journalism site Orato.

1) Who are you and what’s it all about?
I’m Paul Sullivan, editor-in-chief of Orato.
Orato is a citizen journalism site that features stories from 3525 (last count) citizen correspondents from around the world.
Anyone can post text, audio, video story or photo slide show and comment on the site after registering.
We encourage first-person accounts, partly for practical reasons - people are comfortable speaking in their own voice about what they encounter, what’s going on in their lives, and what they think and feel - but also because it communicates on a more intimate level.

2) Why would this be useful to a journalist?
Orato is useful to journalists as a source of fascinating stories that don’t stem from the usual sources or locales.
On the home page, as I write, there’s a piece by a guy who kills baby seals for a living on the ice of Newfoundland, who is unapologetically carrying on a family tradition; there’s a story from the jackman (he jacks up the wheels) for the Nascar Red Bull team…he watches the cars go by at 198 miles an hours, then has to be ready in a split second to change the tires on his driver’s car; there’s a story about a family in Turkey who walks on all fours - their standard means of locomotion, a piece from a guy who spent more than a decade high up in Scientology’s secret army, and a piece from an astronaut on what it’s like to walk in space.
Some of these pieces we’ve solicited; others have come unbidden.
Orato is a treasure chest for journos looking for stories. It is also a place where journalists can and do post pieces that are viewed as too controversial or unpublishable at their own workplace.
3) Is this it, or is there more to come?

We’re already formulating Orato 3.0 (2.0 introduced video and interactive features such as the activity tracker).
In 3.0 we’re going to focus even more on the social media dimensions of the site…allow correspondents to instant message each other, allow them to customize their own MyOrato home page to display the subjects they’re interested in, etc.
We’re constantly thinking about new ways to expand citizen journalism - live video, versions in other languages, syndication of our best pieces using widgets, etc.

4) Why are you doing this?

For these reasons:
Because it’s important. This site has become a platform for people who otherwise may have no public voice - the sex trade workers who covered the serial killer trial in Vancouver, the Scientology refugees who have come to the site to bear witness against an oppressive cult, people who have been abused by authority and people who just love to tell stories and are looking for a safe, reputable and credible place to do it. It’s a democratic phenomenon, one we’re proud to be a part of.
Because people want it: now that the bandwidth and interactive technology exist, people are eager to participate and we give them at least one outlet.
Because it’s exciting. It’s the marketplace for a magnificent variety of voices and experiences; it’s the court of public opinion.
The wonder of it all: Strange and exotic stories appear out of nowhere. One day, the former chief executioner for Kenya decides to tell his story.
It’s great fun.
5) What does it cost to use it?
Nothing. It’s all free.
6) How will you make it pay?

We’re in the process of negotiating with online ad agencies to feature ads on the site. As traffic increases so will our CPM rate and our revenue. We have a number of other ideas in the development phase, but they’re not quite ready for prime time.

Investigative Reporting Fast-Take

2008-02-27T12:58:00.000-08:00

Not every reporter is an investigative reporter, but any reporter CAN BE one.

Defining the term:
Wikipedia says:
"Investigative journalism is when reporters deeply investigate a topic of interest, sometimes involving crime, political corruption , or some other scandal , but also looking into systemic problems in government, business and other sectors."

Wikipedia goes on to quote Hugo De Burgh, author of the classic text, Investigative Journalism: Context and Practice: "An investigative journalist is a man or woman whose profession it is to discover the truth and to identify lapses from it in whatever media may be available."

Some peole say all journalism is investigative in nature -- but that's an exaggeration. Loads of reporting comes from rewritten press releases or info that's otherwise spoon-fed to the writer. And sometimes this is not really a problem -- the newest charity auction by the local elementary school is news, the grand-opening of a neighborhood business can be news, all of which can just as well come from a press release.

But with an investigative project, a tenacious reporter will take the press releases from their local Congressional representatives about US Department of Defense contracts being awarded in Oregon, make a few phone calls -- okay, a lot of phone calls -- to find out who's getting those contracts and for what. And then track down experts, reports and background information about the fact that Oregon has no military bases, yet has apparently become a vortex for war dollars. Some of those dollars have been spent on experiments using primates with microchips embedded in their brains, with the goal of finding out whether pain receptors in soldiers can be short-circuited by remote control. And voila -- details of the studies, conducted at the University of Oregon, are all hiding in plain sight right on a UO website.

A group of citizen journalists at KBOO Community Radio put this project together two years ago, producing a five-part radio news series and a 30-minute documentary entitled "Oregon's War Economy." And it all started with a fistfull of press releases.

YES, YOU CAN DO THIS!
Resources:

Net Tour of the National Institute of Computer Assisted Reporting
– a superfantastic resource – THIS IS REQUIRED READING FOR ANYONE WHO WANT TO KNOW WHERE INFO COMES FROM.

Being a better watchdog - the Net Tour allows you to click on links to jump to each section

Making effective use of the Internet
(Telephone directories, search engines and the Invisible Web)

Finding and cultivating sources
(Listservs and source finders)

The public's right to records
(FOI help)

Paper trails, documents and data you need
(Public records and data, GIS help)

Investigating government
(Federal and local)

Investigating businesses and nonprofits
(Essential data)

Help on your beat and other links for journalists
(Where to go next)

Continuing your training
(Opportunities from IRE and NICAR)

Investigative Reporters and Editors has more How-to Information, a database library, plus a Listserv.

Portland, Oregon-area reporters organization:

Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) Open Records Blog, info on where records are and how to get into them.

Open Oregon, an open media coalition, lists laws on info access and info on filing Freedom of Information Act Requests.

Radio Investigative Projects Audio:

Examples of radio and television investigative reports are also offered by IRE.

Here's a special radio and television investigative project by broadcast networks around the country looking at improper spying on US citizens by the Bush Administration – mainstream but COOL!

This text Search for a listing of investigative (and other) reports by NPR investigative reporter Daniel Zwerdling; look for Military Mental Health stories as well as Abuse of Immigrant Detainees stories (his reporting on detainee abuse has won Daniel national awards). In the search field type: Zwerdling.

Here's a round-up of recently published or aired investigative reports.

Here's a nationwide roundup using all media that’s even better.

NOW GO OUT AND GET STARTED!