Valley News Live – KVLY/KXJB – Fargo/Grand Forks A lot of people don’t realize this, but in the early days of the newspaper industry most publications were supported by lucrative printing contracts with the government. Printing public notices and documents for the government is what subsidized the news reporting and editorializing done by the earliest…
Media Portrayal Of Benghazi Controversy Shifted After Election
According to The Center for Media and Public Affairs at George Mason University, the media’s coverage of the Benghazi controversy shifted after the presidential election: Since House Republicans released an interim report on Benghazi on April 24, 58% of sources in major newspapers have faulted the Obama administration’s response to the attacks, while 42% exonerated…
Shivani Accuses Critics Of Racism, Says University Presidents Don't Want Change
In a column for the Grand Forks Herald, Chancellor Hamid Shirvani takes the gloves off in responding to some of his critics. This is tough medicine a lot of North Dakotans – especially in the political class – aren’t going to want to hear. BISMARCK — It should come as no surprise to anyone who…
Democrats Threaten The LA Times Over Potential Koch Brothers Sale
The LA Times and several other publications all owned by the Tribune Company may be bought by the Koch brothers, the libertarian/conservative billionaires who have become bêtes noires for the left. So, naturally, everybody is freaking out. Because it’s ok when liberals/progressives own mainstream media outlets, but not anyone from the right. Anyway, now the…
To End Media Bias, Journalists Should Stop Pretending They're Objective
There are two ideals the media believes, according to Ross Douthat writing at the New York Times: One is an ideal of balance, nonpartisanship and near-perfect neutrality — distilled to its essence, perhaps, by the former Washington Post editor Leonard Downie Jr.’s longstanding refusal to cast a vote, “so that I never make up my…
Newspaper Ad Revenue Hits 62 Year Low In 2012
IBIS World named the newspaper industry as one of those most likely to become extinct in America, and for good reason it seems. According to the Newspaper Association of America, advertising revenue for newspapers continues to be in free fall hitting its lowest point since 1950. And note that this isn’t just attributable to the…
SAB's Top Five From The Week That Was, Open Thread
Here are the top five most read posts on SAB from the last week. Open thread down in the comments. Spirit Lake Whistle Blower Says “Kudos” To Cramer For Alleged Tirade – Reports about an alleged “tirade” by Rep. Kevin Cramer aimed at tribal officials has made plenty of headlines in the state, but the…
Dorso Column: State Editorial Boards Are Hypocrites About Civil Discourse
I have to admit I read the editorials of the Grand Forks Herald, the Fargo Forum and the Sarasota Herald Tribune. My wife says I need to do that so I know what the other side is thinking. That certainly insinuates that I a conservative am not in sync with the editorial boards of these…
North Dakota's Editorial Bullies
Have the rest of you noticed the tone of the state’s editorial boards, specifically those of the state’s two biggest newspapers in Grand Forks and Fargo, becoming increasingly shrill? As a conservative, you get used to hostility toward your ideas and philosophy from the state’s media. That’s nothing new. Nor are intemperate diatribes from the…
Just 6% Of Americans See The Media As Very Trustworthy, And That's A Good Thing
According to Rasmussen, Americans have a pretty low opinion of the media: Most voters still get their news from television and consider the news reported by the media generally trustworthy. Fifty-six percent (56%) of Likely U.S. Voters say they get most of their news from TV, including 32% who get it from cable news networks…