Jeez. Whooda thunk it? Rupert Murdoch in a fight for his life. President Obama leading the Republicans around like a kid with a calf; the one-time self-described King of Seattle Talk Radio tanking in local ratings!
- Murdoch has taken the biggest blow of his business career, and is just waiting
for more legal shoes to drop on both sides of the Atlantic. Will The Wall Street Journal, The NY Post, or Fox News Channel become implicated in the sleazy "pay-the-pigs-for-dirt" scandal? That's a good question, but inquiring minds are speaking up and out. Chickens are coming on home to roost for the ruthless, right-wing media billionaire as not only Democrats like Barbara Boxer and Commerce, Science & Transportation Chairman John D. Rockefeller are calling for the Justice Department to investigate, but also Republicans like Rep. Peter King who wants to know if 9-11 victims' families' phones were hacked. Republican jail bird Bernard Kerik had, as New York Police Commish, a close association to The Post after 9-11, and was not above taking a buck or two for the cause (cause he could always use the dough). Now we know that Murdoch money was ready and willing at such times of need.
- Republicans may still bring the economy down on all of our heads with a refusal to raise the debt ceiling, but we liberals can be pretty happy with the President's leadership on this matter. He's got them in a corner in a shit-or-
go-blind position to which he maneuvered brilliantly. It was the kind of bold legislative moves we've come to expect from (photo: Louie Gohmert) Republicans, frankly. We hope calmer heads will prevail in the GOP and the leadership can find a way to buy off the idealogues in the House. Either way, the president has prevailed in this mess. If the GOP chooses the "nucular" (as Louie Gohmert would put it) option, the US would be in huge difficulty, but the GOP would be moribund for a generation.
- And if this all this wasn't a delightful enough turnaround from some recent summers past, the June ratings book has shown, we're told, that Dori Monson's
25-54 numbers haven't been lower since KIRO first flipped from AM to FM. Dori, who has taken some hits this year, is now considered a drag on the station's dayparts. "Wonder what kind of numbers Ron & Don could get if there were somebody on in the midday who doesn't run listeners off?" asks our guy at KIRO.
Despite the kinky weather, and that we could be facing utter economic destruction at the hands of a political party completely cowed by a smallish claque who dress in funny hats, we love our summertime this year. A downfall of the pernicious Rupert Murdoch -- or Robert Murdoch as John Curley (KIRO m-f, 7-10p) insists on calling him- would be very good for the Republic. He's hurt US journalism in a way that may insure it never gets back to normal and credibility. (Fun Fact: Fox News has mentioned the Murdoch scandal but 4 times in two weeks! ... or 26 times if you believe them about it being mentioned on shows conveniently not in the Nexus-Lexus database).
As for Dori: Don't expect anything to happen until Fall... and maybe not then. He's got a pretty strong contract we hear, and he's got to have a few more bad books to trigger any kind of real justice. We'll just have to take heart in his promise he'll retire in June 2016.
Ahhh, the hits just keep comin’
Posted by: excessive moderate | July 14, 2011 at 09:42 AM
Isn't karma a bitch?
Posted by: The Glenn Beck Comedy Tour | July 14, 2011 at 10:22 AM
“He's got them in a corner in a shit-or-go-blind position”
Hood, I’d hate to know where in your brain this came from but devastating and apt description none the less.
Posted by: excessive moderate | July 14, 2011 at 11:11 AM
summer news is cool
Posted by: sparky | July 14, 2011 at 12:43 PM
We are all Pastafarians now…
Posted by: excessive moderate | July 14, 2011 at 01:32 PM
Thanks for the accurate and reliable reporting Mike-I can always rely on Blatherwatch to have the latest news regarding the talk show industry.
I happened to hear Dori boasting about having purchased a second Jaguar on his show last week.With the way his ratings are tanking..he better enjoy that car and big house in Lake Forest Park before they get re'pod.This is a typical conservative weasel-I got mine and to hell with the rest of you
Posted by: Kyle Schmidt | July 14, 2011 at 04:14 PM
Oh by the way speaking of conservative weasels , John Curly admitted last night on his show that as soon as Evening Magazine (On K5)let him go he had problems making payments on his 4000 sf home in Issaquah ..so he had to sell it.
Posted by: Kyle Schmidt | July 14, 2011 at 04:22 PM
Dori's house is nothing too great, a tacky new construction reflective of he conservative values. He definately plays it up to be more than in it is.
Looks like Curley still owns the house. If he has sold it, that's news to King County.
Posted by: Andrew | July 14, 2011 at 04:37 PM
I thought Dori's 3 year contract was ending soon or ended recently...
Did he sign a 5 year deal with KIRO?
I don't care much about his house or what he drives.
Posted by: Rat_Bastard | July 14, 2011 at 05:56 PM
Monson announced a couple of months ago that he had just signed a new 3 year contract eith Bonneville/KIRO.
Posted by: Dr. McCormick | July 14, 2011 at 10:12 PM
I saw Dori's house sale records on the Internets. He only paid a little over 200k for it. I hear it's surrounded by ivy covered dog shit. Real white trash material.
Since he took his blog over to Facebook, his numbers are down. Nobody wants to post to a blog using Facebook. They blacklist you and your nasty comments still show, but to YOU only. I used to love all the over the top insults of the little twerp. Now, since it's been 'cleaned up' (censored), there's no reason to read the blog.
There hasn't been any reason to listen to the show since he caused all that grief for that Somali family about their funeral. What a piece of garbage.
Posted by: D.T. Monson | July 15, 2011 at 09:40 AM
Monson was ordered by the corner office programming wizards to back off from what they perceived his "angry white guy" shtick, do fewer political topics, weave in Gottesman's turgid observations (which rarely, if ever, bring nuance or insight to whatever the topic de jour may be), and -- evidently -- to eschew listener call-ins. And, oh yea, get Jake the producer (who's going through puberty and often sounds like a naive twit) to participate. It's not the same show, less topical, zero listener involvement -- unless it's by e-mail for gawds sake -- no wonder the program is tanking. All Dori all the time is a bore. I'll wager even MRS Monson can't stomach the show in its current permutation.
Posted by: BT | July 15, 2011 at 06:24 PM
The question is can the WSJ go back to a newspaper of integrity? Or will it go down with the rest of his empire. Steve Doocy turned Murdock into a victim. Check out http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/15/fox-and-friends-defends-n_n_899934.html. Fox = hacking = everybody else that was hacked.
Posted by: Jonathan | July 15, 2011 at 07:15 PM
The Huff and Puff post should talk - they are part of the drive by media that didn't get caught this time (like Murdoch did), but like other liberal-biased media outlets, they are guilty as sin of omission - whenever they think thety can get away with it, which is almost any old time - they don't care if they violate the readers' trust. Would there have been the outrage if the NY Times was caught in a scandal ? doubtful. There are many chumps out there that don't question the authenticity of a news story, especially if it validates their politics...
Excerpt from today's WSJ editorial;
"In braying for politicians to take down Mr. Murdoch and News Corp., our media colleagues might also stop to ask about possible precedents. The political mob has been quick to call for a criminal probe into whether News Corp. executives violated the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act with payments to British security or government officials in return for information used in news stories. Attorney General Eric Holder quickly obliged last week, without so much as a fare-thee-well to the First Amendment.
The foreign-bribery law has historically been enforced against companies attempting to obtain or retain government business. But U.S. officials have been attempting to extend their enforcement to include any payments that have nothing to do with foreign government procurement. This includes a case against a company that paid Haitian customs officials to let its goods pass through its notoriously inefficient docks, and the drug company Schering-Plough for contributions to a charitable foundation in Poland.
Applying this standard to British tabloids could turn payments made as part of traditional news-gathering into criminal acts. The Wall Street Journal doesn't pay sources for information, but the practice is common elsewhere in the press, including in the U.S.
The last time the liberal press demanded a media prosecutor, it was to probe the late conservative columnist Robert Novak in pursuit of White House aide Scooter Libby. But the effort soon engulfed a reporter for the New York Times, which had led the posse to hang Novak and his sources. Do our media brethren really want to invite Congress and prosecutors to regulate how journalists gather the news?
***
Phone-hacking is deplorable, and we assume the guilty will be prosecuted. More fundamentally, the News of the World's offense—fatal, as it turned out—was to violate the trust of its readers by not coming about its news honestly. We realize how precious that reader trust is, and our obligation is to re-earn it every day."
Posted by: KS blathering for the halibut | July 18, 2011 at 08:38 PM
"The last time a liberal press demanded a media prosecutor..."
Another Murdock rag. Yes, anyone with integrity would care how journalists gather news. You're an idiot, KS.
Posted by: joanie | July 19, 2011 at 01:08 AM
intersting BT..... I wager that Monson was given the memo about this time last summer, shortly after he disgraced himself asttcking the Ethiopian family, and their community.....although didn't Gottesman come on board only this winter....or was it rarlier......doesn't matter...the show has been neutered somewhat, yes, but not completely deballed.....he is still making jokes about people leaping to their deaths from high places, etc.....his latest shtick is picking on Ann Curry, new cohost of Today on NBC......
Posted by: Dr. McCormick | July 19, 2011 at 01:35 AM
actually it was refreshing to hear Frank filling in for Curley last night, complete with banal cliches and annoying country bumpkin persona, as a nice change from the slick, mean Repug Curley, who lately has been trying to address topics like our jury/court system when he doesn't realize he's too uneducated and ignorant to be up to the task. Stick to the fart jokes John, and the stories about the night you paraded around downtown in a huge weiner dog costume. oh and Frank, nice going last night, but don't make it a habit.
Posted by: Dr. McCormick | July 19, 2011 at 08:08 AM
Just in- Tommy just sent me an email saying he's extending his stay in Monaco, and changing hotels, just fot variety. He's now in the Hotel de Paris. Apparently Monte Carlo's gaming tables have been good to him. He says he spotted a one million dollar plus , pristine black Ferrari Enzo parked in front of a shopping center , close to the French border. He sends his best to all on the board, Dem and Repug alike, except, of course, to that one particular person.
Posted by: Dr. McCormick | July 19, 2011 at 08:38 AM