July 01, 2009

By Penny Starr and Fred Lucas

CNS News

Following a testy exchange during Wednesday’s briefing with White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, veteran White House correspondent Helen Thomas told CNSNews.com that not even Richard Nixon tried to control the press the way President Obama is trying to control the press.

“Nixon didn’t try to do that,” Thomas said. “They couldn’t control (the media). They didn’t try.

“What the hell do they think we are, puppets?” Thomas said. “They’re supposed to stay out of our business. They are our public servants. We pay them.” [...]

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Link@sig

Gotta love the old gal.

The flier came out of the office Charles Pelton, who joined The Post recently to find ways to generate business through conferences and events. The Post, like many struggling newspapers, is desperately seeking new sources of revenue.

“There’s no intention to influence or peddle,” Pelton said this morning. “There’s no intention to have a Lincoln Bedroom situation,” referring to charges that President Clinton used invitations to stay at the White House as a way of luring political backing.

(my emphasis)

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ombudsman-blog/2009/07/wps_salon_plan_a_public_relati.html

Charles Pelton is seemingly general partners in a company called Modern Media.

http://modernmediapartners.com/?p=1

Modern Media provides many things including:

Modern Media delivers consulting and sales services to bloggers and media entrepreneurs large and small. We work with independent publishers and bloggers to package and sell advertising and sponsorships, and to develop new products.

Business Development Services

* Revenue models for blogs, web sites, newsletters and events

* Sponsor/advertiser sales

* Launch brand extensions, such as events or newsletters

* Business plans and exit strategies

(my emphasis)

http://modernmediapartners.com/?page_id=7

Modern Media Partners LLC also is a minority owner in Ypulse--Youth marketing to teens, tweens & Generation Y (Gen Y).

http://modernmediapartners.com/?p=1

The 2009 national Ypulse Youth Marketing Mashup is where today's top brand, corporate and social marketers, media professionals, educators and non-profit organizations gather to share best practices, research and latest strategies on marketing to youth with technology.

This is the event where you'll find out what leading-edge technologies youth are using today – and will be using tomorrow. You'll also get an insider's view into youth-focused tech and media startups and learn how to leverage social media, gaming, virtual worlds, mobile and more to authentically reach youth.

(emphasis in original)

http://mashup.ypulse.com/event-overview/

Events include:

Urban/Multicultural Mashup

* Discover the latest trends in African American, Hispanic and Asian American youth culture

* Learn about new opportunities in the ‘urban’ mobile space

* Discuss marketing to youth in the age of Obama

http://mashup.ypulse.com/agenda/

Pre-Conference A: Cracking The Code: Marketing To Teens In The Digital Age

This presentation and workshop focuses on the major technology and cultural trends that impact the buying habits and behaviors of American teens and suggests how the Fortune 1000 can succeed with this difficult-to-penetrate, multi-billion market.

http://mashup.ypulse.com/national07/agenda.php

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The Washington Post traded Dan Froomkin for this guy? They knew very well what they were buying.

It is my experience that marketing is aimed at young people not because the youth are gullible, but because old people are gullible when it comes to young people.

ABC News Reporter (Lara Setrakian) Tweets That Iranian Detainees Are Being Waterboarded (see sig)

Tehrani source close to those detained says some have been beaten heavily and waterboarded with hot water #iranelection

In my younger years, I would simply expect this news to be greeted with universal outrage, knowing that the techniques being described had long been deemed to be well across the Bridge Too Far. Now that I've lived through the Bush administration, however, I am forced to contemplate the possibility that Iran is merely taking legitimate steps to obtain critical information in their nations' vital national security interests. One mustn't preclude the possibility that many of those being waterboarded are privy to information about "time bombs" that may, at this moment, be "ticking."

The whole matter could be investigated, I suppose, but I'm also forced to consider that once Iran is through this rough patch, it would be better if everyone involved just looked forward, not backward.

Anyway, I guess everyone's really playing follow-the-leader on this nation's innovations in the area of what our press calls "enhanced interrogation techniques." Pop champagne.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/02/abc-news-reporter-tweets_n_225237.html

Thank god. WaPo has probably single handedly permanently killed any and all hope of a corporate media shield law, the one that always seemed more like it would protect big corporations from serving as propaganda mouthpieces for lawbreaking government officials than any genuine whistle blowers.

Now maybe something can be crafted that only protects real whistle blowing.

That's Alicia Shepard? Must have been one hell of a prodigy to get the job (assuming, of course, it was not entry level). Or apparently not.

Very nice research! Thanks.

I do, heru-ur!

And to see Obama brush her off like some superannuated, worthless joke just burns me up inside. I am glad she put the reminder out there that he works for us.

Thanks.

I should add that Pelton is also listed as the Publisher of Ypulse.

http://mashup.ypulse.com/contact/

That Ypulse is some creepy stuff. It is a very intellectual and profitable discussion about how to use candy to lure some kid into your van.

If you read the Ypulse site and see how they structured the "Mashups", which were really just conferences, I think you can get a good idea of what the Washington Post was trying to do here--and it isn't pretty.

The site reads like satire.

Yes, it is torture.

I have chronicled everything I can get my hands on re: this subject via Lt. Col. Wingard (whose WaPo op-ed you linked to in this article). I am still writing posts as he gives me more info on the heart-wrenching story of his client, Fayiz al-Kandari.

If you'd like to see the extensive work I've done, and learn yet another story about a detainee who has been imprisoned for nearly 8 years without charges that go beyond triple hearsay, and who has been tortured with everything but waterboarding, go here:

http://thepoliticalcarnival.blogspot.com/search/label/barry%20wingard

After you do that, please write to your representatives, the White House, and every paper you can think of.

I sincerely thank Glenn Greenwald for his contribution.