Archive for the ‘Media Control’ Category

'Media Matters' Boss' Guard Packs Heat Despite Grant

The recent revelation that the head of Media Matters walked the streets of Washington with a Glock-toting personal assistant acting as a bodyguard may make it a little awkward for the group the next time it seeks a donation from a gun control advocacy group. 

Media Matters reportedly took more than $400,000 from the Joyce Foundation specifically earmarked to promote a $600,000 initiative on "gun and public safety issues." At the same time, Media Matters' gun-guarded boss David Brock reportedly obsessed over his own security. 

"It doesn't look good," said Fraser Seitel, president of Emerald Partners Communications and a public relations expert who authored the book "Rethinking Reputation." 

"But it is a gray area in terms of public relations. Since (Media Matters) is so anti-NRA, to have their members packing heat leaves them open to criticism," he said.

Brock reportedly told confidantes that he feared for his safety and needed hired guns to keep him safe. The District's gun laws are among the strictest in the nation, which raises the question of whether Brock's assistant at times was in violation of its ban on carrying a concealed weapon.

"He had more security than a Third World dictator," one Media Matters employee told The Daily Caller. Brock's guards rarely left Brock's side and even accompanied him to his home in a tony Washington neighborhood where they "stood post" nightly, the source told the DC.

Media Matters proudly claims to be engaged in an information war to bring down Fox News, and has been exposed as a distributor of liberal talking points that regularly find their way into the reporting of mainstream media outlets, according to The Daily Caller.

Officials at the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation did not return repeated calls for comment. The nonprofit doles out donations to a variety of groups to address such issues as urban public education, job training, the environment, and gun violence.

A July 2010 grant of $400,000 to Media Matters was specifically targeted to support a gun and public safety issue initiative. As part of the initiative, Media Matters sent a representative, David Holthouse, undercover to a shooting sports trade show and had him write about the experience.

In a Media Matters article entitled, SHOT Show 2011: "The Second Amendment Ain't About Duck Hunting," Holthouse wrote that "increased lethality has become the nicotine of the firearms industry."

"Every year gun makers roll out new lines of assault rifles, tactical shotguns and handguns that hold even more bullets, or fire even faster, or boast new gadgetry that supposedly enables their user to kill other human beings more efficiently than ever before," reads a line from the January 2011 article.

Holthouse previously wrote an article for a Denver publication claiming he once planned a murder in such detail that he traveled to a neighboring state to buy a gun with a scratched-off serial number so it could not be traced back to him. His intended target was someone who attacked him as a child, forcibly raping him as a 7 year old, according to the article.

The latest revelations about Media Matters has raised questions in Washington, with some lawmakers in Congress considering opening a investigation into the group's tax-exempt status, according to reports in The Daily Caller.

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'Media Matters' Boss' Guard Packs Heat Despite Grant

Why Are Men Dominating the Debate About Birth Control for Women?

Republican politicians are treading into murky (read: sexist) waters in the contraception debate. Earlier today, in protest of House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa's refusal to allow women onto a panel of witnesses at the hearing on the White House mandate to require employers and insurers to provide contraception coverage, Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) and Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) walked out, garnering a significant amount of media attention and setting off an ensuing furor among women and men. Why no women? Issa said, “the hearing is not about reproductive rights and contraception but instead about the Administration’s actions as they relate to freedom of religion and conscience."

RELATED: RNC Asks Justice Department to Investigate Obama Campaign Video

Currently under the Obama plan, in cases where religious groups are involved contraception coverage will be offered to women by their employers’ insurance companies directly, so that religious employers who oppose contraception don't have to be involved with that nasty business. What Issa means is that the hearing is about whether requiring insurers to cover birth control violates the religious freedom of people who don't believe that birth control should, essentially, exist. The people on his panel, then, were men. Religious men. (Two women appeared on a second panel at the hearing. Both spoke against contraception.)

RELATED: How Contraception Ate the News Cycle: A Timeline

But back to Issa's statement: How do you take "reproductive rights and contraception" out of a conversation about birth control? You can't. You might try to ignore those parts of the conversation because you want to get a specific answer, for a specific purpose. And allowing women on a panel to talk about how and why they need birth control -- and how and why they need insurers to pay for it -- detracts from that mission. 

RELATED: Obama's Approval Rating Hits a New Low

In tackier, more sensational headlines, Rick Santorum pal Foster Friess announced on MSNBC today that back in the old days the "gals" used to just put some Bayer Aspirin between their knees as a handy (and cheap!) contraception method. In addition to winning "most moronic statement of the day," Friess went on to further belittle the issue of birth control, insinuating that all this focus on stupid lady crap when there are more important issues at stake (like wars), is the marking of a randy, sex-obsessed culture:

Here we have millions of our fellow Americans unemployed, we have jihadist camps being set up in Latin America, which Rick has been warning about, and people seem to be so preoccupied with sex. I think it says something about our culture. We maybe need a massive therapy session so we can concentrate on what the real issues are. 

Rush Limbaugh comes down on this side, with a bit more of a conspiracy angle, saying Democrats "ginned up" the contraception debate to divide the GOP and distract from the real issues. 

RELATED: Even Republicans Want Employers to Cover Birth Control

But what are the real issues? Sex, and everything related to it -- you could argue that very little is not related to sex in some way -- surely, is one of them. Surely Friess knows that. (We dare say his words have the confessional mark of "methinks the man doth protest too much.") 

RELATED: A Sign of a Third Newt Comeback

Friess, Limbaugh, and Issa, each in different ways, are trying to desexualize and downplay the importance of an issue that is, at its core, about not only sex but also men and women, power, religion, socioeconomics, relationships, healthcare, equal rights, and, not to speak too broadly, but pretty much our entire global future. We'll throw Issa a bone: Fine, this particular hearing is also about freedom of religion and conscience -- things that women have opinions on just as much as men do, just like men should care about birth control just as much as women do. But, two facts: Men don't actually get pregnant, and we have nothing to gain from a one-sided conversation about an issue that impacts us all. It's doubly insulting when women, who have been dealing with birth control on their own for years, are left out of the conversation or added as an afterthought. Come on, politicians. We're all grown ups here. If you feel the need to giggle behind your hand when someone mentions sex, you should excuse yourself from the table. Didn't we all take health class back in high school? (As House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said today, “What else do you need to know about the subject? I may, I may at some point be moved to explain biology to my colleagues.”)

The simple answer of why men are dominating the conversation on birth control is that, regardless of strides made, men continue to largely dominate the conversation in politics. The more complicated answer is that the men who are dominating the conversation on birth control -- and you can count Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio among those who've come out against the White House contraception plan -- are deeply afraid of losing the conservative vote, and, it seems, conservatives continue to be deeply afraid of women having free and equal control over their own bodies and all that follows from that. Like having sex. Creating fewer unwanted children. And women taking care of themselves. What a sin. 

Image via Shutterstock by Mathom.

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Why Are Men Dominating the Debate About Birth Control for Women?

Brock and the Glock: Armed men guarded Media Matters boss as he took $400,000 gun control donation

Media Matters reportedly took more than $400,000 from a pro-gun control group even as its boss walked the streets of Washington with a Glock-toting personal assistant acting as his bodyguard.

A donation from the Joyce Foundation was specifically earmarked for use by Media Matters to promote a $600,000 initiative on “gun and public safety issues.” But reports that paint Media Matters boss David Brock as a gun-guarded boss obsessed with security might make the next solicitation for Joyce funds a bit awkward.

“It doesn’t look good," said Fraser Seitel, President of Emerald Partners Communications and public relations expert who authored the book "Rethinking Reputation." "It’s subject to easy criticism.

“But it is a gray area in terms of public relations. Since [Media Matters] is so anti-NRA, to have their members packing heat leaves them open to criticism.”

Brock reportedly told confidantes that he feared for his safety and needed hired guns to keep him safe. The District's gun laws are among the strictest in the nation, which raises the question of whether Brock's assistant at times was in violation of its ban on carrying a concealed weapon.

“He had more security than a Third World Dictator,” one Media Matters employee told the Daily Caller. Brock’s guards rarely left Brock’s side and even accompanied him to his home in a tony Washington neighborhood where they “stood post” nightly, the source told the Daily Caller

Media Matters proudly claims to be engaged in an information war to bring down Fox News Channel, and has been exposed as a distributor of liberal talking points that regularly find their way into the reporting of mainstream media outlets, according to the Daily Caller.

Officials at the Chicago-based Joyce Foundation did not return calls for comment. The non-profit doles out donations to a varierty of groups to address such issues as urban public education, job training, the environment, and gun violence.

A July 2010 grant of $400,000 to Media Matters was specifically targeted to support a gun and public safety issue initiative. As part of the initiative, Media Matters sent a representative, David Holthouse, undercover to a gun hunting trade show and had him write about the experience.

In a Media Matters article entitled, SHOT Show 2011: "The Second Amendment Ain't About Duck Hunting", Holthouse wrote that “increased lethality has become the nicotine of the firearms industry.”

“Every year gun makers roll out new lines of assault rifles, tactical shotguns and handguns that hold even more bullets, or fire even faster, or boast new gadgetry that supposedly enables their user to kill other human beings more efficiently than ever before,” a line from the January 2011 article read.

Holthouse previously wrote an article for a Denver publication claiming he once planned a murder, so far as to travel to a neighboring state to buy a gun with a scratched off serial number so it could not be traced back to him. His intended target was someone who attacked him as a child, forcibly raping him at 7-years-old, according to the article.

The latest revelations about Media Matters has raised questions in Washington, with some lawmakers in Congress considering opening a investigation into the group’s tax-exempt status, according to reports in The Daily Caller.

 

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Brock and the Glock: Armed men guarded Media Matters boss as he took $400,000 gun control donation

MBC Group Selects Dalet Media Life as Programming MAM Solution With BFE as Integrator

MAINZ, GERMANY--(Marketwire -02/16/12)- MBC Group has been a leader in broadcast technology and innovation in the MENA region, having made the transition to an entirely tapeless environment with file-based workflows in its programming area in 2010. BFE has worked with MBC Group as their partner of choice throughout the tapeless conversion and also helped plan for the transition from SD to HD. BFE also assisted in defining the new workflows, processes and requirements for the centralized MAM.

Dalet Media Life was selected as the programming MAM for the group's ten TV channels after a rigorous RFP evaluation process that included an on-site proof of concept at MBC's Dubai headquarters. Dalet Media Life includes an open, robust and flexible asset management platform that unifies disparate systems into an integrated workflow that streamlines program preparation and facilitates content delivery to broadcast and other distribution outlets. At MBC Dalet will integrate with several systems including Harris Broadcast Master for scheduling and SGL for archiving.

"The openness of the Dalet solution was a very important aspect of this project," says Jürgen Loos, Director of Sales for BFE, "Dalet Media Life acts as the structural "glue" between different systems to create a truly seamless workflow with metadata management throughout the entire production and broadcast chain."

The Dalet MAM platform tracks media, metadata and essences throughout their lifecycle. Assets can be readily searched and retrieved. Even content from archives can easily be restored to production use. Media Life also has fully integrated, task-specific tools that improve productivity throughout the digital production chain. These include tools for content manipulation and program prep, such as ingest, QC, subtitling, and captioning.

About MBC Group
The Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC) Group, headquartered in Dubai, is the first free-to-air satellite broadcasting company in the Arab World. MBC broadcasts 10 TV channels via satellite, creates several radio programs and boasts a broad online and digital presence. With more than 1,500 staff members worldwide, MBC reaches more than 150 million Arabic speakers in the MENA region and around the world.

About BFE Studio und Medien Systeme
BFE is one of Europe's leading suppliers of broadcast turnkey solutions and media systems. Around 250 employees work in specialized fields such as software engineering, electronics, mechanics, joinery, assembly and quality control. BFE also provides services such as project planning, process and requirements analysis, workflow design, IT system design, installation, commissioning, training and support. By combining audio and video technology with innovative, IT-based solutions, BFE turns customers' requirements into tailor-made systems such as TV and radio studios, transmission lines, editing and archiving systems, OB vans and other media technology applications.

About Dalet
Dalet solutions enable broadcasters and media professionals to create, manage, and distribute content to both traditional and new media channels, including interactive TV, the Web, and mobile networks. Dalet combines, into a single system, a robust and proven Asset Management platform with advanced metadata capabilities, a configurable workflow engine, and a comprehensive set of purpose-built creative and production tools. This integrated and open environment enables end-to-end management of the entire News and Sport and Program content chain for Radio and TV, and allows users to effect significant improvements in efficiency, and to maximize the use and value of their assets. Dalet is traded on the NYSE-EURONEXT stock exchange (Eurolist C): ISIN: FR0011026749, Bloomberg DLT:FP, Reuters: DALE.PA. Dalet is a registered trademark of Dalet Digital Media Systems. All other trademarks and products mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.

BFE Studio und Medien Systeme GmbH
Jürgen Loos, Director of Sales
Phone: +49 6131 946 120
e-mail: jloos@bfe.tv
An der Fahrt 1
55124 Mainz
http://www.bfe.tv

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MBC Group Selects Dalet Media Life as Programming MAM Solution With BFE as Integrator

Syria appears to be losing control in north

'Dire conditions' in Syria

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

NEW: At least 40 people are killed in Syria, an activist group says NEW: U.N. focuses on humanitarian access, general assembly resolution A journalist is arrested in Damascus, an activist group says Northern Syria has been "out of government control" for months

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Inside Syria (CNN) -- Syrian security forces resumed their fierce shelling of opposition targets in Homs Thursday but appeared to be losing their tight grip in the northern region.

Government troops were stretched thin in their effort to control all fronts in the volatile country, while violence raged in the grass-roots anti-government uprising. The revolt has now entered its 12th month and the U.N. General Assembly prepared to take up a symbolic resolution condemning President Bashar al-Assad's brutal crackdown.

Syrian forces shelled the flashpoint city of Homs for a 13th straight day Thursday, targeting the opposition stronghold neighborhoods of Baba Amr, Inshaat and Khalidiya, according to the London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition activist group. Heavy sustained bombardment that commenced around 5 a.m., and dozens of injuries were reported.

In Idlib province in the northwest, people appear to be preparing for the possibility of a military offensive. Much of the region is in open revolt with villages and towns in the north out of government control for months.

At least 40 people died across several provinces Thursday, according to the Local Coordination Committees of Syria, the opposition activist group. They include 21 in Idlib, 13 in Hama, two in Rif Damashq -- the Damascus suburbs, two in Daraa, one in Deir Ezzor and one in Homs.

Col. Malek Al Kurdi, deputy head of the Free Syrian Army, reported shelling by government forces in Hama and Daraa province. He cited civilian and FSA casualties.

Among the dead are 10 military defectors in Hama, activists say.

In Idlib, the bodies of 19 people who tried to flee to Turkey were found. The LCC said they were arrested and executed by security forces.

The LCC also said security forces and pro-government militias attacked mourners at a funeral in Damascus.

In central Damascus, the regime's security forces, backed by armed operatives, raided the office of activist and journalist Mazen Darwish, the director of the Syrian Center for Media and Free Expression, the LCC said. Darwish and 14 others at the office, including his wife, an activist and a blogger, were arrested.

CNN cannot independently confirm opposition and government reports of violence because the Syrian government has severely restricted the access of international journalists.

The uprising in Syria -- influenced by the Arab Spring movement that forced regime change in Egypt and Tunisia -- was sparked about a year ago in the southern city of Daraa with demonstrators angered by the arrests of young people who scrawled anti-government graffiti.

Their grievances and calls for reforms were met with a violent security crackdown, and the unrest there served to catalyze anti-government ferment across the nation.

Thousands have died in the crackdown -- well over 5,000, according to the United Nations, but the LCC puts the toll at well over 7,000.

Syria's actions have been strongly denounced around the world. But international powers have backed the Arab League's efforts to deal with the uprising and some countries and groups, such as the Arab League, Turkey, the United States and the European Union, have initiated sanctions against al-Assad's government.

But they have not been able to agree on strong action at the United Nations to rein in the government's onslaught.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met Thursday with French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe. Ban said the top priority was to stop the violence and establish humanitarian access. He said all relevant U.N. agencies were coordinating efforts to provide humanitarian help to the people of Syria.

This afternoon, the U.N. General Assembly is scheduled to consider a resolution after China and Russia blocked the Security Council from approving enforceable measures aimed at curbing the violence.

The anticipated vote follows news that al-Assad has moved up a vote on a constitutional referendum touted by his government as an important reform initiative, a move critics say is nothing more than window dressing. That vote is set for February 26.

While a resolution adopted by the 193-member nation General Assembly would not be binding, it would mark the strongest U.N. statement to date condemning al-Assad's regime.

The draft resolution calls on Syria to end human rights violations and attacks against civilians immediately, and condemns violence by al-Assad's forces and the opposition.

For nearly a year, al-Assad has denied reports that his forces are indiscriminately targeting civilians, saying they were fighting armed gangs and foreign fighters bent on destabilizing the government.

But the vast majority of accounts from within the country say that Syrian forces are slaughtering civilians as part of a crackdown on anti-government opposition calling for al-Assad's ouster.

It is unclear what, if any, effect a resolution would have on what many world leaders see as a relentless campaign by al-Assad's forces to stamp out opposition.

The General Assembly's anticipated vote follows news that France is bringing another resolution before the U.N. Security Council.

"We are currently renegotiating a resolution at the U.N Security Council to see if we can persuade the Russians," Juppe told radio station France Info Wednesday.

Russia is seen as the linchpin in winning passage of a resolution that could force change in Syria because it could open al-Assad's regime up to U.N. sanctions as well as expose the president and his inner circle to possible prosecution by the International Criminal Court.

Syria is not a signatory of the Rome Statute that established the ICC's authority. The Security Council is on the only world body that can refer crimes against humanity to the international court.

Russia, a Soviet-era ally with trade and arms ties to Syria, has been adamantly opposed to a resolution that calls for al-Assad to step down, saying it amounts to a mandate for regime change.

But Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov indicated Moscow may be open to supporting a Security Council resolution that stipulates -- under certain conditions -- that peacekeepers could be deployed to Syria.

"If the issue is about stopping gunfire, everything is possible," Lavrov said at joint a news conference with his Dutch counterpart Uri Rosenthal, according to state-run RIA-Novosti news agency.

Russia has given mixed messages as to whether it would accept a U.N. arms embargo or economic sanctions, even though it has said it is concerned about the prospect of a Syrian civil war.

Meanwhile, China announced Thursday that it was sending an envoy to Syria in an attempt to help defuse the crisis, according to state-run China National Radio (CNR).

Vice Foreign Minister Zhai Jun is scheduled to travel to Syria beginning Friday for a two-day visit, CNR said. The report did not say who the minister would meet with, saying only "his detailed schedule is still in planning."

CNN's Ivan Watson reports from northern Syria. CNN's Arwa Damon reports from Homs. CNN's Saad Abedine, Joyce Joseph, Joe Sterling, Mick Krever, Salma Abdelaziz and journalist Mohamed Fadel Fahmy contributed to this report.

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Syria appears to be losing control in north