Mainstream Media

Loder is a Libertarian

By Marc Comtois | March 1, 2008 |

Huh. Anyone who remembers MTV back when they played those things called “music videos” also knows who Kurt Loder is. Like me, you may be surprised to learn that he’s a libertarian. That’s what you get when you stereotype people based on their employer. He recently did an interview for Reason here, which is a…

Geldof – Press Has Shortchanged Bush’s Successful Africa Policy

By Marc Comtois | February 20, 2008 |

Live Aid organizer Bob Geldof is chastising the US Press corps for under-reporting the positive effect that President Bush’s Africa policy has had: Mr. Geldof praised Mr. Bush for his work in delivering billions to fight disease and poverty in Africa, and blasted the U.S. press for ignoring the achievement. Mr. Bush, said Mr. Geldof,…

Najarian: The Providence Journal Statehouse Bureau Strikes Again

By Monique Chartier | February 9, 2008 |

The ProJo reported on Thursday: Governor Carcieri has withdrawn his nomination of Beverly Najarian for reappointment as director of the Department of Administration less than 24 hours before she was supposed to face a Senate committee hearing and confirmation vote. The article went on to strongly imply that Governor Carcieri had done so because he…

Such a Disappointment

By Justin Katz | February 2, 2008 |

Yesterday, Ian Donnis suggested that my latest Providence Journal op-ed “oversteps in prescribing [ascribing?] an advocacy role to [WPRI’s Steve] Aveson, who like [himself] and other panelists, uses various rhetorical devices (the ever-popular devil’s advocate, for example) in the interest of posing questions and stimulating discussion.” Truth to tell, I didn’t see myself as ascribing…

Another Source for Steve Peoples

By Justin Katz | January 27, 2008 |

Talk about transparency (emphasis added): The state will forgo an estimated $23.4 million next year as a result of the flat tax, according to an analysis of the Poverty Institute at Rhode Island College. The average tax cut will be $5,337. And the beneficiaries are overwhelmingly in higher-income brackets: 98 percent of the savings will…

Nit-Picking the Coverage? I Don’t Think So

By Justin Katz | January 23, 2008 |

Something jumps out about this isolated parenthetical “correction” in today’s story about the state of the state address in the Providence Journal, by Katherine Gregg, Steve Peoples, and Cynthia Needham: With respect to state workers, he said: “The average state employee earns $61,000 per year in salary with fringe benefits valued at another $34,000 (a…

The Projo’s Technical Difficulties with Digital TV

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 31, 2007 |

An unsigned editorial in Saturday’s Projo had this to say about the coming transition to digitial television…The government is taking away the analog spectrum to boost wireless services (which are becoming ever more important) and for public-safety needs. That’s why the Feds (i.e., taxpayers) are even offering to help pay for those converter boxes. So…

Narnia Out of Order

By Justin Katz | December 28, 2007 |

Now why would Disney go and make the Narnia movies out of order? I understand why the film makers wouldn’t want to start with The Magician’s Nephew, which is the first book according to the storyline. C.S. Lewis, after all, didn’t write the book until after The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. I suppose…

Tom Shevlin Goes National

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 21, 2007 |

Congratulations to RI Report founder Tom Shevlin on his new gig… The presidential candidates can run, but it will be hard for them to hide from the horde of citizen journalists tapped by MTV’s Choose or Lose ’08 to cover the race for the White House. A group of 51 local reporters — one from…

Incredibly Random Bit of RI Political Trivia

By Carroll Andrew Morse | December 18, 2007 |

I’ve thought of myself as pretty well tuned into Rhode Island political trivia, but until I stumbled across this Weekly Standard article mentioning a “famous Rhode Island drawl”, I never realized that John McLaughlin – the McLaughlin of The McLaughlin Group — was a native Rhode Islander. Here’s the opening of his Rhode Island Heritage…