Redstate

Your comparison is valid. I think the glee with which the MSM pummeled Limbaugh after his admission of drug addiction was exceptional. The pomp and hot air over Air America's launch was humorous. The current cone of silence regarding AirAmerica's receipt of embezzled money, and their utter failure to find a market, is a profoundly sad comment about the state of the MSM.

I bet most mainstream reporters and editors have never even heard of Air America.

Two more years, tops.  Al Franken will be back to writing hystrionics for a living.

... they're just the only ones!

Why this story is about the New York Times?  Why isn't it about Newsday or the Daily News or the Bergen Record or the Star-Ledger or the Wall Street Journal?

Have you guys so lost grip with reality regarding this story that you think that EVERY newspaper in the region except for the most Conservatively partisan one, has actively decided to ignore this story for purely political reasons?

Comparing this story to the Swift Boats story is absurd.  The Swift Boats were a 527 POLITICAL organization.  This is a story of POSSIBLE corruption inside a charity which has only a tangential connection to Air America.  

Just because the Right-Wing Blogosphere is having a feeding frenzy over this DOESN'T make it a real story.

Well, only the New York Times has the resources to look into the Big Stuff, like Judge Roberts' pre-schoolers. If they can do that, we thought maybe the diversion of $800K in taxpayer money from a 501(c)(3) into Air America might stir their interest. But alas, not.

So this is nothing more than partisan nitpicking.

Would you care about this story if instead of Air America receiving the funds it was Club for Growth?      IOW, is it the possible wrongdoing of a 501(c)(3) that bothers you or the fact that some Liberal organization is peripherally involved?  And yes, based on the information provided to date, Air America peripherally tied to this story.  This story is about Evan Cohen and Gloria Wise Club for Boys and Girls.

NYC charity, you would think the NYTimes would be interesting in covering the story.

But you see the NYTimes doesn't want to throw the dirt around on this one, but they are more than willing to get dirty, when say-they want to investigate adoptions of preschoolers, or investigate Swiftboat vets.

You can defend it, and to some degree it is partisan, but the problem here is that it is the NYTimes that is paritsan and doesn't admit it, at least we admit our partisanship.

is it the possible wrongdoing of a 501(c)(3) that bothers you or the fact that some Liberal organization is peripherally involved?

Neither. It is the hilarious spectacle of the New York Times pretending that there is nothing newsworthy about an $800K embezzlement of government funds that happened right under their noses, and which resulted in a serious disruption in services to the city's poorest children.

This is not news? Spare us, flyerhawk. You know it is. And you also why they are spiking it.

So do we.

you, is there any doubt that if this had happened, but instead of air america being the benificiary was EIB (Rush's broadcast company) that the NYTimes would be sitting on the story?

How much do you want to bet the story would receive front page attention, and there would be multiple stories.

How many stories did the NYTimes carry about Rush's drug addiction?

... just keeps sinking deeper into the partisan abyss.

The relevance of the Swift Boat story to this is completely obvious.  It's about how and why they make certain editorial choices.  

When the Swiftie story crests, The Times sends out two top reporters to:

Investigate the charges? (No)

Analyze the political consequences?  (No)

Do a thorough analysis of Kerry's military and post military career (positive or negative)? (No)

Try to blame Bush and Rove for something John O'Neill has been doing for 20 years?  (Yes)

The Times behaves like a house organ for the DNC sometimes, and it's very, very sad when they do.  This is yet another example.  This is the supposedly the papaer of record of the United States.  As recently as two years ago many thought og them as the papaer of record for the whole world.

Malkin pointed out the other day that The Times has published 58 stories that mention Air America.  That's about one per listener.  

It's The Times that decided that Air America is important, not me.

about 8 or 9 major newspapers in the New York Metropolitan area.  The ONLY one that is covering this story right now is the New York Post, one of the LEAST credible news organizations in the area, outside of their sports section.  

This is NOT, to some degree partisan.  It is COMPLETELY partisan.  That is why it is the Washington Times, New York Post, Newsmax, and Right-Wing Blogs that are covering this story right now.  

I keep hearing mention of the nefarious investigation of the adoptions as justification of why they should investigate THIS story.  The fact that you would even TRY to equate the nomination of  a Supreme Court justice to the woes of some minor charity is telling.

this story was the same fact, but replaced air america with EIB that the NYTimes would be sitting on the story?

In point of fact, the Sun is also covering the story. As far as their reliability - so far as I know, neither of those papers has had to fire a reporter who deliberately admitted plagiarizing stories, and fabricating others out of whole cloth.

I keep hearing mention of the nefarious investigation of the adoptions as justification of why they should investigate THIS story.

What you keep hearing is reference to the two official investigations that are underway into this affair. If official investigations are grounds for about 108 stories about Karl Rove, surely we could squeeze one from the NYTimes out of this.

And yes, it does make us wonder why they can send out their own investigators to dig up dirt on Roberts' children, whilst they can't manage to cover the investigation already done by the city into Gloria Wise.

By the way, Gloria Wise Boys and Girls Club received grants from the city in the neighbhorhood of $10 million annually. And if the justification is that Air America isn't worthy of news coverage, then we must wonder why so much news coverage was afforded to it when it began.

I really don't know what the facts are yet.  I do know that much of the controversy stems from a story from the nebulous Bronx News.  

Alleged claims about the Department of Investigation officially investigation this have yet to be corroborated.  

There is also a lot of circular corroboration going on with a handful of blogs using each other to corrborated the evidence.

This story is a blog story until it gets more meat to it.

the press release by Piquant LLC saying they aren't responsible for the missing million and the subsequent one that says they'll pay it back anyway?

Could you please provide a link that corroborates that an "official" investigation is occurring?  I asked for this in the your Air America thread but got nothing more than a derisive response tell me that I was wrong and there was plenty of corroborative evidence.  Oddly none was actually provided.  

The Plame case is irrelevant to this.   The Roberts nomination is irrelevant to this(Note: while everyone here was up in arms about Adoptiongate there weren't any ACTUAL stories written about the kiddies. Perhaps the New York Times IS investigating this but has found nothing so far. Somehow I doubt that Drudge would post a rumor about that though).

I'm not saying that Air America is or isn't newsworthy.  I'm saying that THEY AREN'T the story.  No matter how much the Right-wing blogs try to spin it that way the story is about Evan Cohen and Gloria Wise.  

I haven't seen the press release.  I have seen some excerpts off it from Malkin.  

The New York Sun reported...

Mr. Franken said he has learned details of the story only in the last week. He said Piquant LLC, current owner and operator of the radio network, found a record of the transfers while conducting a "forensic" investigation into the finances of the previous owner, Progress Media, which was run by Mr. Cohen. That internal probe was conducted before the city agency became involved, Mr. Franken said. Efforts by The New York Sun to reach Mr. Cohen for comment in recent days have been unsuccessful.

A Piquant spokesman said yesterday that Gloria Wise would be compensated regardless of the amount of money it transferred. Mr. Franken said he did not know if money from Gloria Wise had been absorbed by the network and used to finance its operations. He said Piquant's payments to Gloria Wise were scheduled to begin this month but were prevented from going through while the city investigation continued.

New York Daily News

NY Post

NY Sun

I could go on and on and on, but the point is that I already have. Every newspaper in New York (besides the Times) is covering this, and if you don't like them, the Arizona Republic might be more to your taste. Whatever. I'm not going to waste more time just because you haven't been paying attention.

the notion that Malkin just made this up out of whole cloth, doesn't this at least hint at the possibility that a) money was transferred, b) Piquant has agreed that it shouldn't have the money, and c) that a "city agency" is investigating?

Here is what the Daily News said about the "official" investigation...

In its initial announcement, the DOI said it was probing allegations that program officials "approved significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various city agencies."

The Post and Sun articles focuse their entire articles on Air America eventhough the OFFICIAL investigation of Gloria Wise makes no mention of Air America...

Today, it is announced that the Department of Youth and Community Development (DYCD), has sent a letter to the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, Inc., and its affiliate, the Pathways for Youth Boys & Girls Club, stating that the Bronx-based not-for-profits have been determined to be Non-Responsible City contractors in connection with several recently submitted contract proposals. In these letters, DYCD said its respective Non-Responsibility determinations were based on an on-going investigation by the New York City Department of Investigation concerning allegations that, among other things, officials of Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club approved significant inappropriate transactions and falsified documents that were submitted to various City agencies. The Department of Education (DOE) and DYCD will terminate all contracts with Gloria Wise and/or Pathways in the best interests of the City, as will the Department for the Aging (DFTA). The New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) is terminating a grant agreement with Pathways for Youth. In anticipation of this action, the City agencies have worked diligently to ensure the continuation of these services and to transfer the programs to other service providers. Anyone with questions about the services or programs provided by Gloria Wise or Pathways may call 311 for assistance.1

I HAVE been paying attention.  And, FTR, I couldn't care less whether Air America crashes and burns or not.  I think it's a crappy station no better than Rush Limbaugh's stupidity.  

But so far this "story" seems to be a two pronged smear attack.  One attacking Air America and the other attacking the New York Times.  

One last thing.  Here is a list of New York Area Newspapers that have as much or greater circulation than the New York Sun.

Wall Street Journal

New York Times

Daily News

Newsday

New York Post

Newark Star Ledger

Bergen Record

Village Voice

New York Observer

Crain's

10 newspapers.  3 of them made a reference to it.  The two most ardently Conservative newspapers seem to be focusing on it.  This is the reality.

The Opinion Journal has also made reference to it, but since I don't have a subscription, I can't link you the story. I notice also that you studiously ignored the Arizona Republic.

The point is, you've been going on and on and on asking people to prove to you from some official source that an investigation is taking place, and the evidence has been provided again and again and again.

So, if you've been paying attention, then you're trolling, deliberately denying facts in order to provoke hostile responses.

Guess what? It's working.

my question.

If this was the same facts, but replace air america with EIB, do you tink the NYTimes would be burying this story?

Perhaps it would be.  Does that make THIS story more worthwhile because the New York Times would resort to partisan reporting?

no one is discussing those other papers. The discussion is about this happening under the nose of the NYT when they had the time and effort to assign one or more reporters to the red hot Roberts adoption story.

So even if there were eleventy-dozen other papers in NYC and environs it would have no bearing on the subject.

I'm not trolling.  

I'm pointing out that the story STILL has little meat.  

Here are the FACTS as so far presented.

The Gloria Wise Club for Boys and Girls was shut down for bad practices and potentially illegal activities, which are being investigated by the NYC Department of Investigation.

Evan Cohen was, at one time, the CEO of Air America and Director of Development for Gloria Wise(Note:Not  certain that he DoD but that is what I have read)

The Attorney General of New York's office has stated that they are looking into the matter in consultation with The NYC DoI.  

That's the facts so far.  Here is what is MOST LIKELY FACT.

Gloria Wise gave money to Air America.

Air America has not paid that money back in full.

From THESE facts are derived ANY NUMBER of editorials that have said all sorts of things.   These editorialists have determined, through clairvoyance apparently, that Spitzer's office and the DoI are investigating Air America eventhough no FORMAL statement of investigation has begun regarding Air America.  

The one way I WILL compare this to Karl Rove is that the Right is being JUST AS PRESUMPTUOUS in this case as the Left has been in convicting Karl Rove.  And for the motivations.  

This was a non-story up until Air America's name got dredged up.  Now it's a hit with the Right Wing blogosphere and media.  

that the New York Times DIDN'T assign a reporter to the story?  

Unlike Adoptiongate we don't have the watchdog of media propriety Matt Drudge telling us whether the New York Times is investigating the story.

No. of Times' stories regarding Gloria Wise and Air America:0

No. of Times' stories discussion Justice Roberts adoption proceedings:0

If you take a peek out of your belly button, it should be plain to see that this is a glaring example how the NYT and the MSM filter stories that are detrimental to the left. This is a real story that deserves airing. The only reason is that it would expose the soon to be gone Air America as an unethical, amateur run enterprise as devoid of business viability as its hosts are devoid of logical thought.

Let Hannity or Gallagher or the Club for Growth ever got caught up in an insider embezzlement scheme and the NYT will not have enough paper to hold the headlines. They would have to invent a new font size to announce it.

In fact, my bet is they are looking into conservative linked charities right now to provide cover and context for the Air America scandal when they finally do decide to report it.

I don't remember a lot of meat with the MSM treatment of the Swift Vets.  I don't remember a lot of meat with the Dan Rather docugate mess.  Unless you consider "meat" baseless allegations, "who-shot-John" and forgeries.

The problem with your logic is that you judge the coverage of the story on the basis of a subjective decision about what facts are "meaty."  And it's subjective based on your political leanings.  And it is this subjectivity that is the downfall of the NYT.  

Oh yeah, and they flat-out make up sh*t too.

If taxpayers' dollars are possibly going to fund a partisan activity, that is a bigger story than partisan funds going to fund a partisan activity that used to be legal but now isn't.

FlyerHawk, I give you credit for hanging in there, those wings are flapping away on this thread, keep at it!

The fact is, nobody really cares about Air America, and people don't want to read about some speculative corruption involving something they may never have heard of. Air America and its employees are not senior officials in the government; it's just not much of a priority. I think this point is proven by the fact that all of the outrage is concentrated on the lack of reporting of the incident, rather than the incident itself; nobody knows exactly what happened, and it's really not that important. Forget for a moment about how you think the nytimes would report on a right-wing organization, and please explain exactly why this story is newsworthy on its own merits?

If taxpayers' dollars are possibly going to fund a partisan activity, that is a bigger story than partisan funds going to fund a partisan activity that used to be legal but now isn't.

The charity organization in question has ALREADY been shut down for improper activities.  It DOESN'T matter that the money was given to Air America.  The problem was they weren't supposed to be giving that money to ANYONE except for the children it was intended for.  

Evan Cohen may face criminal proceeding over this.  But that doesn't change that Air America, the radio network, has only a peripheral involvement in the matter.  In order to make it RELEVANT we must make some assumptions about what the CURRENT leadership of Air America knew.

If you don't understand why the misappropriation of almost a million dollars in funds from a charity that helps kids and Alzheimer's patients is a story that might interest folks, then I can't help you.

If you further don't understand the intrigue that is added when the entity that benefited from the misappropriation was a major liberal media outlet, then you are seriously disconnected from reality.

For your reference, the New York Times to date has done 67 stories about Air America. So, obviously, they consider Air America to be a subject worth discussing. Strangely, they have done zero since this story broke. I guess they cease to become newsworthy when they are involved in fraud?

Move along, nothing to see, here...

... that the Air America infraction isn't newsworthy enough.  Not the point.  One of the involved parties has been sexy enough to be featured in 58 separate NY Times stories.  Big names are news even when the infraction is small.  Air America, despite its horrible ratings, is a participant in the national discussion.  And it's relevant that they are part of this story.

This is about what the Times, and by extension the larger liberal MSM, chooses to attack versus what it chooses to protect.

It's kinda like putting every minor story about abuse allegations at Gitmo on p. 1, then printing the "all's well" declaration by a group of senators who visited there on page A-19.

Or plastering Delay all over p.1, then not printing the "other congressional figures have done the same thing" story at all.