Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

Analysis:

This story is about a new business venture by a company called Freeload Press who sells ad space in college text books in order to provide them at low cost or no cost to students. The story frames the issue as such “Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn’t spread to college textbooks.” Making the issue as just another natural market response to a need, the article never questions the commercialization of education. The article cites the CEO of Freeload Press and a professor who helped found the company. The quotes attributed to them all have to do with concern for the cost of college textbooks that students have to pay. The article states that the average cost for students for textbooks is now about $900 a year, according to “various studies,” even though none of the studies are cited.

There is one statement by the Freeload Press CEO Tom Doran who says ‘Current customers “are primarily business instructors, so they understand there’s a quid pro quo here. When we walk over to the social sciences and humanities, I expect there will be more push back.’” Beyond that no other critical comments are provided in the GR Press version of this AP story. There are other comments provided in the original AP story, but these are also from Doran. There is substantial concern that exists around this issue, since advertising in school curriculum and textbooks is not new in the K-12 level. Some schools have even adopted policies about advertising at any level, whether in the education materials or the school facility itself.

Story:

Textbook prices are soaring into the hundreds of dollars, but in some courses this fall, students won’t pay a dime. The catch: Their textbooks will have ads for companies including FedEx Kinko’s and Pura Vida coffee.

Selling ad space keeps newspapers, magazines, Web sites and television either cheap or free. But so far, the model hasn’t spread to college textbooks — partly for fear that faculty would consider ads undignified. The upshot is that textbooks now cost students, according to various studies, about $900 per year.

Now, a small Minnesota startup is trying to shake up the status quo in the $6 billion college textbook industry. Freeload Press will offer more than 100 titles this fall — mostly for business courses — completely free. Students, or anyone else who fills out a five-minute survey, can download a PDF file of the book, which they can store on their hard drive and print.

The model faces big obstacles. Freeload doesn’t yet have a stable of well-known textbook authors across a range of subjects, and it lacks the editorial and marketing muscle of the “Big 3” textbook publishers (Thomson, Pearson, and McGraw-Hill). Its textbooks don’t come with bells and whistles such as online study guides that bigger publishers have spent millions developing in order to lure professors — who assign textbooks and are the industry’s real customers.

St. Paul-based Freeload’s numbers are modest so far: 25,000 users have registered and 50,000 books have been downloaded, for courses at schools ranging from community colleges to the University of Michigan. But the company says it is rapidly adding titles and will have 250,000 textbooks and study aids in circulation by next year. It has also signed agreements with three small, specialty publishers to make their textbooks available the same way, and is in negotiations with others.

What Freeload has going for it is its arrival on the scene at a time when textbook publishers are under immense pressure to moderate prices. A recent government study found prices have risen at twice the rate of inflation since 1986.

A new Connecticut law requires that textbook sellers tell professors what their books will cost students, and other states are considering similar measures. Cost complaints come not just from students and parents but also teachers. A 2005 study by the National Association of College Stores Foundation found 65 percent of students don’t buy all the required course materials — which means many probably aren’t learning the material, either.

Students “are saying, ‘to heck with it, we’ll try to wing it,'” said Jack Ivancevich, a longtime University of Houston professor who helped found Freeload.

Publishers answer criticism by saying textbooks are expensive to produce, and note they are clobbered by the rapidly expanding secondary market for re-sales in bookstores and on the Internet. Publishers get nothing from those sales, so they essentially have to recoup their investment in one year’s worth of sales.

The industry also is exploring ways to use technology to cut distribution costs and prices. Thomson, for instance, is making “ichapters” of textbooks available, similar to the iTunes model for music. But so far, publishers have resisted selling ads.

A Canadian subsidiary of McGraw-Hill briefly rolled out an ad-based model, but dropped the plan last year. Susan Badger, CEO of Thomson Higher Education, said her company tested the idea with focus groups, in biology, but the professors were adamantly opposed.

Tom Doran, Freeload’s CEO, says McGraw-Hill’s experiment failed because it didn’t use the ad revenue to reduce prices enough to get students’ attention. As for faculty, Doran says he realizes not everyone will go for it.

Current customers “are primarily business instructors, so they understand there’s a quid pro quo here,” Doran said. “When we walk over to the social sciences and humanities, I expect there will be more push back.”

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

As to objections that textbooks shouldn’t have ads, Doran notes ads already appear in academic journals. He says Freeload’s ads won’t be distracting; they will be placed only at natural breaks in the material, and won’t push products like alcohol or tobacco. Schools with other concerns could customize their standards; for instance Brigham Young University, founded by Mormons, could nix ads for caffeine products.

Ultimately, whether Freeload changes the industry or fades away will likely depend on its ability to attract popular textbook authors. Fordham University professors Frank Werner and James Stoner had each written several finance textbooks for traditional publishers, but after their latest was dropped by one company following a merger, they took it to Freeload.

“I was pretty disgusted with the basic textbook model,” Werner said. Textbook authors, he says, often waste time making pointless revisions just so publishers can justify putting out new editions.

“That didn’t seem like an ethical thing to do and it seemed like a hell of a waste of time,” he said, adding there’s no need to do that with Freeload.

The professors assigned the Freeload book to their class last year and said it was a hit. The students include “lots of working-class kids trying to get through college,” Werner said. “To ask them to go to the bookstore and spend $150 is pretty wasteful.”

Shannon Langston, a rising sophomore at Georgia Tech taking classes this summer while also juggling two jobs, said she often won’t buy textbooks unless she hears from other students that it’s absolutely essential.

But when her accounting professor assigned a Freeload book, she was glad not to have to make that call — and worry that she wouldn’t be able to sell back a new book because the publisher had already rushed out a new edition.

“I definitely don’t mind ads,” she said, “if it helps with the price.”

Analysis:

This article is basically an announcement of Dick DeVos’ choice for Attorney General in his race for Governor of Michigan. The article does provide some information on Ruth Johnson, that she was a former state legislator, and worked on education reforms. There is no real assessment of her voting record while in office from 1998 to 2004, nor any mention that she was a County Commissioner prior to that. There are no opposition or independent perspectives provided, even though the state Democrats sent out their own media release on the announcement.

Story:

LANSING — Republican candidate for governor Dick DeVos today chose Oakland County Clerk Ruth Johnson as his running mate.

The pick provides DeVos, an Ada businessman, with gender and geographical balance on the ticket. Oakland County is filled with moderate Republicans, who the conservative DeVos must persuade if he is to win.

Johnson will be formally nominated for lieutenant governor at the Republican convention in Novi Aug. 25-26.

Johnson, 52, spent six years the state House of Representatives. She left in 2004 because of term limits.

During her time in the Legislature, Johnson spearheaded a series of reforms aimed at intermediate school districts after financial abuses at the Oakland Intermediate School District were revealed, including extensive travel and the construction of a lavish headquarters.

Gov. Granholm signed a series of laws in 2004 that required districts to make public information about travel expenses, contracts of more than $100,000 — less than $25,000 if not competitively bid — and salaries of top employees.

Analysis:

This article is based upon the possibility that the Democratic Party could take control of the State House and Senate depending on the outcome of the November 7 election. The focus is on the 75th District House seat beat Robert Dean and Tim Doyle. Both candidates are cited, but no platforms or issues are mentioned. The language that is used at the beginning is interesting in terms of how this story is framed, with comments like “battle” and “bloodier fight.” What would make this election a bloodier fight?

The only other sources that are cited is current 75th District Rep. Jerry Kooiman and former 75th District Rep. John Otterbacher. There is one other source cited, Bill Ballenger. The sentence before his comment is “More impartial observers aren’t sure a sea change is on the horizon.” Does this mean that Ballenger is a “more impartial observer?” Ballenger runs the Lansing based website/newsletter Inside Michigan Politics. Ballenger himself is a former Republican legislator.

Story:

Most West Michigan Republicans can breathe a sigh of relief following Tuesday’s primary elections, secure the battle is over in heavily GOP districts.

Tim Doyle has to take a deep breath and gird for the next, bloodier fight — and the stakes are high. At risk is a state House seat held by Republicans for decades, which Democrats believe could upset the balance of power in Lansing.
Doyle, an assistant prosecutor, is in the race to replace state Rep. Jerry Kooiman, R-Grand Rapids. Last week, he bested two contenders in a hard-fought election.

Now, he faces Democrat Robert Dean, a former Grand Rapids city commissioner and school board president. Located on Grand Rapids’ East Side, the 75th state House District has shifted toward Democrats in recent years, and the race is expected to be one of the most closely watched in the state.

“If you want to measure how each party is going to do statewide, watch that district,” said John Otterbacher, a former lawmaker and current Dean advisor.

Power in the Legislature is presently tilted toward Republicans, who have a six-seat majority in each chamber: 58-52 in the House, and 22-16 in the Senate. Democrats figure to loosen that grip.

Nine House seats are considered toss-ups in this fall’s elections. Three are open, due mostly to term limits, including the Kooiman seat.

The other six feature Republicans seeking re-election in toss-up districts, as rated by Inside Michigan Politics editor Bill Ballenger.

In the Senate, four seats are considered toss-ups. Two are open; the others are held by Republicans, including Sen. Gerald VanWoerkom, from the Muskegon area.

Given the dynamics, Democrats think this could be their year. A three-seat swing in either chamber ties it up.
More impartial observers aren’t sure a sea change is on the horizon.

“The expectation of almost every political observer is it’s going to be very difficult for the Democrats to get a majority in either (chamber),” said Ballenger. “I would be included in that assessment.”

The most likely to flip is the Senate, Ballenger said. If Democrats grab three seats, they’ve got a 19-19 tie. That makes the governor’s race critical: The lieutenant governor becomes the swing vote.

The House is less likely to go to Democratic control. But the 75th District — the Dean-Doyle match-up — has the biggest bull’s-eye.

That’s the one “on paper, the Democrats would have the best chance to win,” Ballenger said. The state House district on Grand Rapids’ West Side long has been solidly Democratic. But the East Side has a Republican heritage, at least in the past few decades.

Before Kooiman, it was held by Bill Byl, the new Republican nominee for county drain commissioner, Richard Bandstra, now a Michigan Court of Appeal judge, and Vernon Ehlers, the area’s congressman.

You have to reach back to the 1970s and early 1980s — when district lines were different — to find a Democrat on the job. That was when John Otterbacher, a young psychotherapist, held the seat.

Redistricting put the area out of reach of Democrats. But Otterbacher and others have seen the demographics shift. He pegs the change on suburban flight and discontent with President Bush.

“The president’s policies have clarified for a lot of people their party affiliation, and in some instances reclarified,” Otterbacher said.

Is Democratic control coming?

Whatever the reason, recent elections provide evidence of a Democratic tilt.

In 2004, all-but-unknown Democrat Chris Vogt put little money or effort into the race, but came within 1,800 votes of ousting Kooiman, then a two-term veteran.

That same year, Democratic challenger Brandon Dillon fell short by only 100 votes against Republican county commissioner Dan Koorndyk in a seat that falls within the House district. Dillon is taking another run at Koorndyk this year.

Even presidential votes on Grand Rapids’ East Side have shifted. U.S. Sen. John Kerry outpolled President Bush by 4,000 votes two years ago. By contrast, Vice President Al Gore lost to President Bush there in 2000. The district’s term-limited lawmaker is well aware of such figures.

“Let’s face it. It’s increasingly more Democratic. Granholm nearly won my district against West Michigan’s Dick Posthumus,” Kooiman said.

In fact, Posthumus bested Granholm in the district by a slim 600 votes in 2002.
That, in particular, is a wake-up call for Republicans and Democrats as the Dean-Doyle matchup picks up steam.
The district holds the city’s largest concentration of black voters, where Dean, who is black, could make inroads. Doyle, with an Irish Catholic background, will appeal to the Catholic neighborhoods to the north.

And on the Southeast Side, both will battle over a heavy dose of Christian Reformed voters — voters who for decades went reliably to candidates with that heritage and are now up for grabs.

Does the governor help?

Dean knows he has to appeal to the middle to win.

“I really felt as far as myself personally, I will be viewed more as a moderate and I’ll be able to pull voters from both sides, and not just Democrats,” Dean said. “I’m viewed more as a fiscal conservative.”

Doyle all but depleted the more than $100,000 he raised in the primary, and now has to start from scratch in the fund-raising game. Political action committee checks already have been pouring in. Dean will see the same largesse from Democratic-leaning causes.

Doyle knows the challenge. “The Republican Party sees the numbers, they see the district is trending Democratic,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of work cut out for us.”

One thing Democrats can’t count on, Ballenger said: coat tails.
In Michigan, where voters are notorious ticket-splitters, pull from the top doesn’t amount to much. Even when former Republican Gov. John Engler was winning big in the 1990s, he couldn’t create huge legislative majorities for his party.

Ballenger’s no-coat-tails rule will be especially true this year, when Granholm is in the political fight of her life, facing a hard-charging, well-funded challenge from Ada businessman Dick DeVos.

“If the Democrats were counting a year ago on Jennifer Granholm winning some landslide re-election, and that could conceivably yield some dividends down the ticket, that expectation or hope is gone,” Ballenger said.

“She’s going to be lucky to even eke out a narrow victory, and she’s certainly not going to have coat tails.”

Analysis:

What is the relevance of this article for voters? Do voters know what Bouchard’s position is on national security?

Story:

Remember US Senate candidate Mike Bouchard’s kitschy, but endearing commercial featuring his 16 year old daughter, Mikayla? The spot depicted the Oakland County sheriff sitting on the couch between Mikayla and a potential boyfriend, posing as the overprotective dad as part of his pitch on national security. At the Kent County Republican unity reception after his election win, Bouchard continued the theme. After an introduction from Mikayla, he said, “If there are any boys in the audience, forget it.” But Bouchard assured the crowd, “No boyfriends were hurt in the making of the commercial.”

Analysis:

The reason cited in the Press for job loss was because “the auto supplier’s biggest customers pulled their business.” Both General Motors and the Lear Corp. are mentioned as customers. The article also states that “MacDonald’s has plenty of company among troubled suppliers. Many face the same crunch with big domestic automakers who — under intense competition — are cutting costs wherever they can.” This statement is never verified, both in terms of what competition and cost cutting means for companies like General Motors. The only people cited in the story were a supervisor and a company spokesperson. No workers are cited in the article, but it was stated that the factory was non-union.

At the very end of the article there is mention of tax breaks given to MacDonald Industrial Products, one by the City of Kentwood worth $3.8 million and one by the City of Grand Rapids for $3.9 million. Both of these tax breaks were tied to the company needing to create more jobs. The company didn’t follow through with the Grand Rapids tax break and had to pay a fine of $300,000 and the article ends there. Why didn’t the reporter ask what the company did with the other $3.6 million if got from taxpayers that didn’t create jobs? The article also doesn’t explore what happens to tax-payer subsidies when companies shut down.

Story:

KENTWOOD — Nearly 300 employees of two MacDonald’s Industrial Products Inc. plants face the loss of their jobs in coming weeks after the auto supplier’s biggest customers pulled their business.

The announcement Saturday did not detail when layoffs at two plants in Kentwood and Grand Rapids would begin, but local workers said they were told they would be jobless in two to four weeks. The plants employ 294.

A third plant in Spencerville, Ohio, that employs 176 will shut down first.

“This day is heartbreak for all of us; we tried everything possible to avoid this,” said Robert MacDonald Jr., the founder’s son.

The family-owned company makes door handles, grilles, emblems and decorative trim.

The announcement was made after MacDonald’s biggest customers — General Motors Corp. and Lear Corp. — dropped their contracts. “We got the notice late Wednesday,” MacDonald said.

The news was shared in letters to employees this weekend. Workers felt the owners’ pain, supervisor Dennis Pearo said.

“It’s been a long decline, but it came really quick at the end,” said Pearo, noting GM and Lear made up 80 percent of the company’s business. “Even the owners were surprised. They were trying until the end.”

The nonunion supplier makes chrome-plated plastic injection-molded parts at its Grand Rapids plant on Oak Industrial Drive SE and zinc die castings at its plant and headquarters on 44th Street SE.
“Like so many other automotive suppliers, we had been putting forth our best efforts to survive,” MacDonald said, “but when General Motors and Lear decided to move their business elsewhere, we just ran out of options.”

MacDonald’s has plenty of company among troubled suppliers. Many face the same crunch with big domestic automakers who — under intense competition — are cutting costs wherever they can.

At the end of a grueling week, MacDonald said he worries most about the employees who will lose their jobs.
“Our work force is incredible,” MacDonald said. “Whoever their potential employer is, he will be getting a work force that puts their hearts and souls in what they do.

In 2004, MacDonald’s sought a Kentwood tax break to add $3.8 million in equipment and 40 to 50 jobs at its 44th Street SE die-cast plant. It planned to diversify into making appliance handles.

That same year, MacDonald’s paid Grand Rapids $300,000 after the company failed to keep a promise to invest $3.9 million in equipment and create 60 jobs at its factory at 850 Pannell St. NW. The company now uses that site for a warehouse.

Analysis:

The story consists of mostly stories about children who have been injured in Iraq from bombs. Each of the children has had plastic surgery in an attempt to repair the damage caused. Besides the victims as sources in the story the only other perspective in the story is that of an Iraqi surgeon who is with the Iraqi Assembly for Plastic Surgeons who states that “we’re seeing more sophisticated ballistics resulting in more serious casualties.” There are also 2 photos included in this story, both of wounded children, which in many ways is rare, since the US news media has been reluctant to show the human cost of the war in Iraq.

In the fifth paragraph is states that 20 of the 34 plastic surgeons registered in the country before the US-led invasion in 2003 have been killed by Islamic extremists or have fled the country due to deaths.” The source cited for this is the Iraqi Assembly for Plastic Surgeons. What is interesting about the statement is that it puts the blame at the feet of Islamic extremists and that no where in the article is there any mention of civilian victims at the hands of US military attacks. According to the Iraq Body Count, at least one fourth of all civilian deaths have been attributed to the US military, 9% to insurgent forces and the rest are to criminal violence or unknown. It seems ironic that in one of the few stories that looks at civilian casualties in Iraq would make no mention of how many civilian deaths the US military is responsible for.

Story:

BAGHDAD — Teba Furat, 4, still has the scars from a roadside bomb that scorched her face and hands, and charred most of the hair from her scalp.

Allah Shaker, 25, says she rarely sleeps because it hurts to lower her eyelids, which were singed when a sabotaged propane tank blew up in her family’s kitchen. The face and hands of her 14-year-old sister, Khauffan, were so warped from burns that she refuses to return to school.

Ayat Jamal, 10, was driven into the ground and badly burned when a car loaded with explosives detonated in a frenzied Baghdad bus station. Unable to walk on her broken left ankle or hold a crutch in her damaged right arm, Ayat has been confined to bed the past year.

These cases are just a teardrop in an ocean of civilian combat casualties here that require the type of extensive reconstructive and plastic surgery most Iraqis are unlikely to ever receive.

According to the Iraqi Assembly for Plastic Surgeons, 20 of the 34 plastic surgeons registered in the country before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 have been killed by Islamic extremists or have fled the country due to death threats.

Meanwhile, officials at the government-run Hospital for Specialized Surgery in Baghdad’s Medical City complex, the main facility for reconstructive and plastic surgery in Iraq, say about three-quarters of their patients now arrive with grave blast or bullet wounds.

“We’re seeing more sophisticated ballistics resulting in more serious casualties,” says Zakaria Arajy, 54, a plastic surgeon at Medical City who has treated patients for nearly three decades.

“This war is by the far the worst one. The battles once took place on the front lines away from civilian society, but today the front lines are at our doorsteps.”

For the most severely injured, the odds are made worse by Iraq’s instability.

Ali Shaham, head of plastic surgery at al-Kindi Hospital in central Baghdad, says it simply is “difficult to schedule multiple surgeries over several months when you can never be certain if you or your colleagues will still be in the country.”

Teba Furat was 19 months old when an improvised explosive device tore through the back seat of the taxi she and her 3-year-old brother, Yousef, were in Sept. 2, 2003, in Baquba, 40 miles north of Baghdad. The blast killed Yousef. Teba sustained second-degree burns to her face, scalp and hands.

“I would sell everything I own in order to take care of her,” says her 27-year-old father, Fahdel, who was riding in the front of the cab and sustained only minor injuries.

Fahdel worries his daughter’s deformities will trouble her when she begins school next year.

“Sometimes she gets jealous of the friends she plays with, because their faces are unblemished and they have hair,” Fahdel says. “She’s already asked about getting a wig.”

The Shaker sisters have similar concerns.

They were critically burned after a propane canister erupted in the kitchen of the family house Dec. 4, 2004, in the Dora district of southern Baghdad, an insurgent stronghold. The explosion killed their parents and 18-year-old sister while inflicting second-degree burns on the left foot and leg of Allah’s 10-day-old daughter, Horan.

Today Allah hobbles on her burned legs but says the public scrutiny often is even more uncomfortable than the physical pain. Neither sister leaves the house except out of necessity, she says.

“People are always gazing at us,” Allah says. “Even my own family stares and asks many questions.”

For her sister Khauffan, a teenager whose entire face is scarred, the psychological damage is almost too much to endure.

“It’s very bad for her,” Allah says. “She’s a clever girl, but she’s too depressed to return to school.”

Ayat Jamal, the 10-year-old who has been bedridden since the Aug. 9, 2005, attack on the bus station, is more hopeful. She is confident that one day she will begin fifth grade.

“I will be able to use my arms and legs again, once the operations are done,” Jamal says, sitting upright in her bed.

Four operations lie ahead of her at al-Kindi to mend her broken bones, and Jamal also believes physicians one day will restore her scarred flesh.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

“I feel uncomfortable looking at my burns now,” she says. “But the doctors tell me once the operations are done, they can perform the surgery to fix my skin.”

Doctors say such expectations present a challenge.

“Some people think we can perform miracles,” Shaham says. “In some cases, especially with third-degree burns, there is no possibility to return them as they were before their injury — not here, not in America, or even on the moon.”

Ahmed al-Jawae, 58, director of the Waseti Hospital for reconstructive surgery in central Baghdad, says deficiencies at home also lead many Iraqi families to harbor “unearthly expectations” of the care they might receive abroad.

“There is tremendous pressure on physicians now to refer patients outside of the country,” al-Jawae says. “Some patients think once they leave the country, wonders and works of magic can be done.”

The reality for most, though, is that they will not be able to leave the country for any kind of treatment. Their best option, the doctors say, might be patience.

“Emergency cases are given priority and are handled first,” says Arajy, the plastic surgeon at Medical City. “For non-emergency cases, we’re making appointments today for July 2007.”

Analysis:

Readers would have learned a little bit about Rev. Falwell’s history, where he went to school, when he began working as a minister, when he founded Liberty University and that he got involved in politics with the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision in the early 1970s. The original AP version of the story was much longer with information about the Moral Majority as well as mentioning his controversial comments made after 9/11 where he said “God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve,” even though he later apologized for those statements.

The article begins with the sentence “The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s conservative politics have earned him both friends and enemies in a long public career” but never really explores what his politics are other than to say he was politicized over the abortion issue. The only source used in the Grand Rapids Press were that of Falwell and a former assistant. The original AP version does have a comment from Rev. Barry W. Lynn, with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, but that comment doesn’t tell readers much. It reads “He is the face of the so-called religious right in America.” One significant omission was that Falwell was the major religious confidant throughout Ronald Reagan’s Presidency. According to the Center for Media and Democracy Falwell was also a major supporter of the State of Israel, had several large legal battles with the pornography industry and was an outspoken critic of homosexuality. On one occasion he said that “AIDS is the wrath of a just God against homosexuals. AIDS is not just God’s punishment for homosexuals; it is God’s punishment for the society that tolerates homosexuals.”

Story:

Falwell’s influence spans 50 years

LYNCHBURG, Va. — The Rev. Jerry Falwell’s conservative politics have earned him both friends and enemies in a long public career– but there’s no denying he’s been a successful pastor.

Joined by thousands of supporters, Falwell will mark the half-century anniversary of Thomas Road Baptist Church tomorrow with a daylong celebration that begins with a service in a new, 6,000-seat sanctuary.

The sanctuary is just a small part of a 1 million-square-foot complex for the Falwell empire’s administrative offices, Liberty University recreational facilities and classrooms and Liberty Christian Academy, which has students from preschool through high school.

Even unfinished, the setting bore no reminder of the church’s beginnings.

Fresh out of Baptist Bible College in Sprigfield, Mo., a 22-year-old Falwell returned to his home town and started his church with 35 members in an old Donald Duck soft-drink bottling plant.

“We scraped syrup off the floors and walls,” he said during a recent interview.

Falwell, whose countenance is jovial even when talking about serious subjects, built his congregation with knuckles and shoe leather. “I began knocking on 100 doors a day, six days a week,” he said. He would invite people to church and leave them with his phone number in case they needed his help.

One year later, Thomas Road Church had 864 members. It has continued to grow dramatically. Today, the rolls number 24,000, with several hundred evangelists going door-to-door in central Virginia.

Within a few weeks of starting the church, Falwell found a way to expand his reach quickly — first with a radio program, then a live Sunday night television show, the “Old Time Gospel Hour,” on the Lynchburg ABC affiliate. In 1956, the move was bold.

“Nobody else was doing it,” Falwell said. Today, the preacher has his own Liberty Channel as well as shows on other cable networks.

Falwell’s influence moved from strictly religious matters to politics in the 1970s, with the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade ruling that established a woman’s right to an abortion. “Believing life begins at conception, I became very exercised over this,” he said.

Falwell was able to travel extensively and still lead a congregation, DeMoss said, because he never stopped being a pastor.

“Even as busy as his schedule was, he still was visiting people in Lynchburg’s two hospitals several times a week,” he said, as well as performing weddings and conducting funerals for everyone who asked.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

Days before the opening ceremony, workmen hustled to install the raised choir loft, lay carpet around the dark gray upholstered seats and put wall coverings over insulation.

Falwell still believes in recycling old buildings, however. Everything but the church sanctuary has been converted from an 888,000-square-foot facility formerly used by Ericsson, a Swedish-based supplier of cellular phone network equipment. Parts of it are still being renovated.

The result was the founding of the Moral Majority in 1979, which Falwell used to mold the religious right into a political power.

“He is the face of the so-called religious right in America,” said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and a sharp Falwell critic.

Falwell hit the road, traveling some 300,000 miles a year to campaign, a schedule that he kept for 10 years and that he now says he realizes was costly to the church and the university.

The congregation was behind him, though.

“They believed that his voice was an important voice, and if that meant sharing him with other people, they were willing to do it,” said Mark DeMoss, his executive assistant from 1984 to 1991.

These days, slowed by health problems and a desire to focus on his ministry, Falwell has pulled back from politics somewhat.

While possible presidential contender Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) was Liberty’s commencement speaker in May, and another potential GOP contender, Sen. George Allen of Virginia, has been invited to speak at tomorrow’s festivities, Falwell carries the weight of being a polarizing figure. Even among evangelicals who share his views, he is sometimes considered tactless in his public comments.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Falwell partly blamed the tragedy on groups that “tried to secularize America,” singling out pagans, abortionists, feminists, gays and the American Civil Liberties Union. “God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve,” Falwell said. He later apologized.

Falwell has taken steps to ensure the future stability of both the church and the university, DeMoss said. One son, Jerry Jr., is a lawyer who manages the finances, while another son, Jonathan, preaches at several of the five regular Sunday services.

Falwell said he views his church as the fulcrum of his ministry, but Liberty University will be his legacy.
“The university produces thousands of young men and women trained as Christian leaders,” he said.

Founded in 1971, Liberty now has 9,600 students on campus and 15,000 more in its distance learning program. A law school opened in 2004, and Falwell’s goal is to have 25,000 on the campus in 13 years.

“At 72, I have to make all my licks count,” he said.

The university began as an offshoot of Thomas Road but once it began to grow, the old church was too small to accommodate the students. The new church is on campus.

“This new church really represents bringing everything full circle,” DeMoss said.

Analysis:

In this story Representative Hoekstra is interviewed and he claims that according to a classified report that his office was able to obtain, US forces in Iraq have uncovered approximately 500 artillery shells containing mustard gas or Sarin nerve agent. Hoekstra does state that these munitions are from before 1991, and that while they are old, they are in his words “still very very dangerous.” The newsreaders ask him three questions, all of which assume the validity of Hoekstra’s claim that these are in fact the WMD’s that the US was looking for in Iraq. The questions asked are “why didn’t the government make this public, where were the weapons found, and was this information kept quiet to protect France, Russia and China. Hoekstra answers that he cannot say where they were found as that is classified, that he has no idea why the existence of these muntions was kept secret, and he does not answer the third question about France China and Russia. At no point do the reporters ask the obvious questions of how dangerous are these two decade old shells, did they actually constitute a threat to the United States, and were they part of an ongoing WMD development program by Iraq.

The station also plays various background footage while Hoekstra was speaking, much of it unrelated to the actual topic addressed. Footage of Ahmed Chalabi attending a meeting is shown, despite the fact that he has nothing to do with this particular story. Also, footage of US troops uncovering a box of munitions that appear to be conventional detonating caps, Iraqi’s pulling unidentified crates out of a hole in the ground, and a room full of unmarked metal barrels are shown. None of these images are actually are of these particular artillery shells and yet if a viewer is not paying close attention, it gives the impression that these are images of WMD’s being found. And no other voices or opinions are presented in this story, congressman Hoekstra is the only source used.

According to CIA weapons inspector Charles Duelfer, who headed the US mission to find WMD’s in Iraq and authored the Duelfer report; “the ones which have been found are left over from the Iran-Iraq war. They are almost 20 years old, and they are in a decayed fashion. It is very interesting that there are so many that were unaccounted for, but they do not constitute a weapon of mass destruction, although they could be a local hazard.” He further said that “these do not indicate an ongoing weapons of mass destruction program as had been thought to exist before the war. These are leftover rounds, which Iraq probably did not even know that it had.”

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader #1 – Find a newly declassified report shows for the past few years the US has made strides in finding those weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Newsreader #2 – The report from the army’s national ground intelligence center says coalition forces have recovered about munitions containing mustard or Sarin nerve agent.

Newsreader #1 – Lets go straight to Washington right now to talk live with the chairman of the house intelligence committee congressman Pete Hoekstra of Holland, who announced the finding today. And Congressman, why wasn’t the information first of all declassified long ago. October 2004 for example the CIA testifying before congress that the weapons of mass destruction program in Iraq essentially destroyed back in 1991, no stockpiles, and there was a push at that time to declassify more information. So what happened?

Hoekstra – Well what’s happened Larry over the last eighteen months since the Iraq survey group finished their work, and remember, they stopped searching in the field five months after they started actually in 2003. But as our troops have been going through Iraq and they have been coming across these weapons caches, they’ve been finding these WMD materials, WMD shells, over 500 shells to date.

Newsreader #2 – Can you tell…

Hoekstra – I don’t know why it has not been declassified.

Newsreader #2 – Congressman, were they found in a number of different locations, can you tell us where they were found or all together?

Hoekstra – I can’t tell you where they’ve been found because that information is still classified but they have been found in a number of different locations. Most of this is pre 1991 shells and artillery but it is still very very dangerous material, it is deadly.

Newsreader #1 – You said you didn’t know why it wasn’t declassified congressman, but why now and some folks suggesting it is political, midterm elections, it supports the Bush White House certainly.

Hoekstra – Sure no, Larry someone came, Senator Rick Santorum came to me last week and said through a non-conventional source somebody outside the intelligence community said you need to be looking for this report. Senator Santorum spent six weeks looking for it; they wouldn’t give it to him. This report was complete in April, I asked for it last week, I received it last week, we asked the same question that you did, is why is this information not public. The American people ought to at least know this information as we continue moving forward.

Newsreader #2 – Did they give you an answer of why it wasn’t made public and may I ask you this. Could it be that it was protecting someone? A retired general who’s name is McInerney is claiming that France, Russia, and China’s fingerprints are all over these weapons. Is that the case as you know it?

Hoekstra _ Well we’re gonna dig into this more deeply because I don’t have a very good answer as to why the intelligence communities were not informed about these findings over the last 18 months. We’ve had a great degree of interest, this has been one of the big questions that have been out there and we’re going to try to uncover exactly why the White House and why the Administration would want to keep this information secret, it makes absolutely no sense to us, they’ve declassified a lot of other things, but for some reason this information they chose to keep classified.

Newsreader #2 – Well everyone is interested in finding out why that is Congressman Hoekstra, we’ll be back in touch with you because when you learn more we want to learn more as well.

Analysis:

The Press article states that Dean made claims such as the Bush administration is more obsessed with secrecy that the Nixon administration, that the Bush administration was seeking to expand Presidential powers, and that the covert activities of this administration are just the tip of the iceberg since 9/11. None of these comments were verified nor did the reporter seek out a position that would refute these claims, either a White House supporter or an independent perspective.

The article does state that “Dean spoke at an event sponsored by the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law and the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU lawyers on Monday are scheduled to make oral arguments in a Detroit court in a suit filed over the Bush administration’s wiretapping of telephone calls without court approval,” but does not provide any commentary from ACLU lawyer Michael Steinberg who also spoke at the event. The ACLU lawyer spoke at length about the case and stated that “The government’s arguments that the president, alone, can decide to spy on Americans without a warrant are fundamentally un-American and contradict the vision of the founders of our democracy.” Also not included in the Press article was the role that phone companies played in the domestic spying issue that was raised at the event. The ACLU recently filed formal comments reminding the Federal Communications Commission of allegations that AT&T and BellSouth illegally provided customer information to the NSA, and pointing out that under existing law the FCC cannot permit the pending merger between those two companies to proceed without investigating the merit of those allegations. ACLU affiliates in 20 states have also filed complaints with Public Utility Commissions or sent letters to state Attorneys General and other officials demanding investigations into whether local telecommunications companies allowed the NSA to spy on their customers.

Story:

GRAND RAPIDS — John Dean says the Bush White House is more obsessed with keeping secrets than his former boss — Richard Nixon — and is using terrorism as an excuse to expand presidential powers.

Dean, a former counsel to Nixon who was the star witness in congressional hearings on the Watergate cover-up, said Saturday he believes much of the thrust for secrecy comes from Vice President Dick Cheney.

Cheney served in the Nixon White House and was President Gerald R. Ford’s chief of staff.

“He was working in the White House in that period after Watergate when the president lost some of his powers,” Dean told a gathering at the Ladies Literary Club. “He has publicly announced that one of his missions was to strengthen the presidency, and we’ve seen him push the envelope.”

Dean spoke at an event sponsored by the Thomas M. Cooley School of Law and the American Civil Liberties Union. ACLU lawyers on Monday are scheduled to make oral arguments in a Detroit court in a suit filed over the Bush administration’s wiretapping of telephone calls without court approval.

Dean said he expects government lawyers to argue that the wiretapping program is a matter of national security and therefore cannot be discussed in court.

“The issue of state secrets is a relatively old concept, but it has been used dramatically under the Bush presidency,” he said.

“When you get into the area of national security, there are few guidelines. It’s the grayest area.”

Dean said Nixon could have Watergate “go away” had he argued that it was a matter of national security.

“He could have made one of the saddest chapters in American history go away,” he said. “Why didn’t he? I don’t think he thought of it early on, and later he was so weakened that I think he didn’t dare.”

Dean said Bush, like Nixon, briefs congressional leaders called “The Gang of Eight” on issues such as the wiretapping, and uses the briefings to imply there is adequate congressional oversight.
“You brief these leaders and tell them what they hear is classified,” he said. “They can’t take notes, they can’t discuss it with their staff, they can’t get a legal opinion.

“Yet what they get are broad generalizations that are an easy way to protect their flank and allows the president to say he informed Congress.”

Dean said a push to expand presidential powers started early on in the Bush administration and expanded greatly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

“In some ways, they were handed a gift by 9-11,” he said. “I believe the covert activity we’ve seen so far is the tip of the iceberg.”

Analysis:

This article was about the recent passage of house bill 5252, the Communications Opportunity, Promotion and Enhancement Act, which is a telecommunications bill aimed at changing the way that phone and cable companies negotiate franchise fees for use of public right of ways. The headline “House aims to hobble cable monopolies” infers that this legislation would break up or limit the existing large cable companies. This is not exactly an accurate depiction. The legislation was actually supported by the major cable and telephone companies, so it seems unlikely that they would support something designed to “hobble” them. The article reports that the bill would “encourage telephone companies and others to enter video markets by scrapping the time consuming system in which prospective providers must negotiate with every locality.” The article is framed around the idea that increased competition will lead to more variety and lower costs for consumers. The bill sponsor, Representative Joe Barton is noted saying that because of the impediments created by the local franchise system, the United States doesn’t even rank in the top ten in broadband deployment. This claim that the local franchise system stymies broadband deployment is not subjected to any scrutiny in the article. In fact, the article does not quote anyone critical of the legislation until the last sentence when it quotes a democratic congressman who predicts that telephone companies would ignore poorer areas or charge higher rates to rural areas. Nobody from consumer advocacy or media reform organizations are quoted in this piece.

According to Marc Cooper of the Consumer Federation of America, “This legislation slams the door on any meaningful video competition and opens a wide window to anti-competitive discrimination over broadband networks,” “The House turned an opportunity to foster vibrant competition in both video and Internet services into a major give-away to giant telephone and cable companies who’ve demonstrated for decades that they’ll use their market power to shut out competition whenever they can. This legislation gives them even greater ability to do so.” The organization Free Press points out that HR 5252 “eliminates existing local requirements that incumbent cable providers continue to offer cable service to all consumers in a community, allowing cable companies to withdraw cable service or refuse to upgrade service to the households they currently serve.” So certainly, there are serious critics to this legislation but the article in the Grand Rapids Press failed to address these voices.

The issue of net neutrality was also addressed in this article, although it was seriously under reported. The article merely stated that the house was divided on the issue of “net neutrality” and that “the bill gives the FCC authority to enforce net neutrality principles and set fines.” According to the grassroots organization “save the internet”, this legislation removes the longstanding notion of net neutrality and instead opens the door for Internet service providers to control net surfers access to websites or affect download speeds as the ISP sees fit, essentially removing the “level playing field” that has characterized the world wide web up to this point.

Story:

By JIM ABRAMS
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Monopolies in many cable TV markets could end under House-passed legislation that supporters said would increase competition and drive down prices.

The far-reaching telecommunications legislation, passed 321-101 Thursday night, would encourage telephone companies and others to enter video markets by scrapping the time-consuming system where prospective providers must negotiate individually with every locality.

“This legislation can increase competition not only for cable services, but also unleash a race for who can supply the fastest, most sophisticated broadband connections that will provide video, voice and data services,” said House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton, R-Texas.

Barton noted that because of the impediments created by the local franchising system, the United States doesn’t even rank in the top 10 worldwide in broadband deployment. “This bill should change that statistic,” he said.

The issue now moves to the Senate, where the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee is to vote on its version of the bill later this month.

“We urge Senate to act soon because every year reform is delayed costs Americans more than $8 billion in their cable bills,” said Peter Davidson, Verizon senior vice president for federal government relations.

While there was wide agreement on the principle of increasing competition, the House was divided over the issue of “net neutrality,” or how to ensure that telephone, cable and other Internet providers don’t discriminate against competitors or users by limiting access or charging higher fees.

The Barton bill gives the Federal Communications Commission authority to enforce net neutrality principles and set fines of up to $500,000 for violations.

Democratic opponents also said the measure did too little to ensure that broadband services would be extended to lower income and rural areas.

Markey predicted that telephone companies would open services in wealthy communities, providing competition for services and lower prices but that it would ignore poorer areas that would be stuck with high prices.

Text from the original article ommitted from the Grand Rapids Press version:

Many Democrats, backed by a diverse lobby of content providers such as Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., and users ranging from religious broadcasters to liberal bloggers, said this wasn’t enough to maintain the Internet’s freewheeling openness.

Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., offered an amendment stating that broadband network providers must not discriminate against or interfere with users’ ability to access or offer lawful content. Opponents argued that it would create government regulations controlling the Internet and make it more difficult for service providers to invest in new high-speed technology. It was defeated 269-152.

“Tilting the cost burden onto end users, which would be the inevitable result of neutrality regulations, will only delay much-needed broadband deployment,” said Mike McCurry, co-chair of Hands off the Internet, a coalition of telephone, business and small government groups.

The White House said in a statement that it supported the bill and its language on video franchising. But on net neutrality, the administration said the FCC has the power to address potential abuses.

“Creating a new legislative framework for regulation in this area is premature,” the statement said.

…..

Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Ill., a black lawmaker from Chicago’s South Side and a co-sponsor of the legislation, disputed that. “I’m from the other side of town,” he said. “This is a bill that will make a difference in the lives of the people on the other side of town.”

“This bill is about cable rates and what we know today is that cable rates are too high in America,” said Rep. Albert Wynn, D-Md., another member of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich, who heads the telecommunications subcommittee, estimated that people could save $30 to $40 each month if given a choice in video services.