Tuesday, October 01, 2002

Mike McConnell of 700WLW thinks the American public, including him, are not being "sold" on War with Iraq. We are all being fed propaganda and he knows it. It just happens to like the propaganda or is just getting on board what he thinks will be the "winning" side in the game of "one upsmanship." He wants to say "I' told you so" to those against war when Saddam uses chemical weapons during the war. "Think of what Iraq would have done if we had not followed the blood lust of my callers," is something like he might think to say at that point. I wonder if he would get the irony. I do not know when the GOP became so hawkish, but it has not always been that way. I wonder if the hawks that called in to Mike's show would have been calling Republicans who opposed sending aid to England before we entered WWII "unamerican" for not wanting to go to war against Hitler. I am sure in hindsight they would have one opinion, but it would not be consistant with their rantings now.
Suit claims newspaper wrong on arrest identity
This case must be a problem for the Enquirer. I cannot find the referenced article on thier archive that the suit refers to. My knee jerk reaction to the conspiracy claim about Mr. Williams being tarnished intentionally to reduce his chances to become the new assitant police chieif is to disregard it. I do think this warrents looking into. There is some smoke here, and the source of Jane Prendergast's story is a question that I think needs answering. I do not know how the source shield rule is applied for civil cases, if at all, especially when the source appears to be wrong. I hope the Enquirer releases it soon. The longer they wait the worse it looks. It might just be a case of bad reporting or bad reseach, for which the newspaper should just confess, settle, and get on with their business.

Monday, September 30, 2002

I hate to report rumors but the grapevine is reporting that 1160 WBOB-AM will be switching formats to "Christian" programming. Listeners are indicating that commercials are already appearing that are fundamentalist Christian advertisements. There is no information as to when this might take place. I really hope this does not happen. I am not a big "BOB" listener, but this town has more than 3 full time "Christian" radio stations now. I do not think any more are needed. I don't think any are needed, but that is a side issue. Radio is dying in this town as it is, but this will push it a little faster if it happens.
Men attempted to jump off hotel
Are these guys totally nuts? Why only try a 34-story building? The late "Sky Punk" jumped from Carew Tower twice, so why not stick to the tallest building in town? I wonder how these crackpots got out on the roof in the middle of the night. I would have bet that at least one of them would have died. They are luck to have been caught.
West Chester Man Gets Jail Time For Fraud
This man should have gotten a much bigger fine. I would guess it cost far more than $3,000 to process his false claim and to prosecute him.
School Illegally Reopens Under New Name
Are there any sanctions to back up this action? What responsibilities lie with the Cincinnati Public Schools? I hope no State funds were used to run this version of the school.
Age Confusion for High School Student Suspended for Threat
Jay Love from 1230 the Buzz complained on his show today about the media reporting LeRoy Brazile's identity and showing his picture in the newspapers and on TV. His age is listed as both 17 and 18 in various media outlets. Examples:

Age 17 Listed: WCPO ABC9, Cincinnati Enquirer, Cincinnati Post
Age 18 Listed: WLWT NBC5
No Age Listed: WXIX Fox19, WKRC CBS12, Akron Beacon-Journal

This suggests that maybe WLWT was incorrect or the others were lazy. Regardless of that I think the issue of reporting his name and showing his face on TV is made moot by two things. One is that his father filed a civil lawsuit on his behalf, which is what made this a public issue. The media generally only hold back the juvenile’s identity when only criminal charges are in play, the civil suit changed things. The other reason is that the young man willfully was interviewed on camera, as shown on WLWT. In this interview Leroy also contradicted his father's comments to Jay Love on the radio this afternoon. In the interview Leroy stated that he was hoping that the Judge would allow him to play in the Homecoming game that night. The father stated that the only reason for the lawsuit was to get him back in school for academic reasons. That sounds like a little bit of spinning the issue to gain position for the lawsuit, not an honest statement.