Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy

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.

Analysis:

While GRIID has not noted a marked partisan preference in the election reporting of the Grand Rapids Press in general, this story seems to be biased somewhat in terms of tone and language. The descriptions of the potential committee chairs use phrases that seem prejudiced. For example, one senator is described as a “die-hard liberal” and another as a “free spending progressive.” Readers should ask them selves are the adjectives “die-hard” and “free spending” objective descriptions or do they have negative connotations. No is any information included that would substantiate the claim that Rep. Obey is more “free spending” than other representatives or that Rep. Rangel is more “die-hard” than his peers.

Story:

Detroit’s U.S. Rep Dingell among potential chairmen

Associated press

WASHINGTON – If the chips fall right for Democrats and their party seizes control of the House, President Bush’s agenda on Capital hill would fall into the hands of some of his most dogged opponents.

It’s not just would-be Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California but a boat-load of Democrats newly running committees who would determine what legislation ets debated and which programs and agencies get scrutiny.

So who are the chairmen in waiting, and for which committee?

• Detroit’s SU Rep. John Dingell, a Polish-American lawyer with a reputation for making witnesses quiver: Energy and Commerce Committee.

• Charles Rangel, a die-hard liberal from New York’s Harlem with 35 years in the house; Ways and Means committee.

• David Obey, a free-spending progressive from Wausau, Wis,;Appropriations.

• George Miller of California, one of the few remaining “Watergate babies” swept into Congress in 1974; Education and Workforce Committee.

Analysis:

This story tells readers that because of Federal Communication Commission regulations, radio talk show host Robert S. will have to step down from his job while running for a Kent County Commission seat. The article mentions that Robert Womack will be challenging current Commissioner Paul Mayhue and Jim Talen in the August 8 Primary. However, the story tells readers nothing about why Robert Womack is challenging Commissioner Mayhue, what his platform is or what Mayhue’s track record is as a commissioner.

Story:

GRAND RAPIDS — Radio personality Robert S. is going off the air next month to become political candidate Robert S. Womack.

Womack, who is running as a Democrat for a seat on the Kent County Board of Commissioners, said he will abide by a Federal Communications Commission rule that forbids stations from giving air time to candidates within 45 days of a primary election.

“I believe this will give me time to get door to door and let the people meet the face behind the voice,” said Womack, who has hosted a call-in show on WJNZ-AM as Robert S. for the past two years.

Womack said he will leave his “Pulse of the City” show June 22 — 47 days before the Aug. 8 primary. But that’s not soon enough for Paul Mayhue, the Democrat who has held the 16th District seat for 17 years.

“He’s announced his candidacy three times since May 10, 2005,” said Mayhue, who claimed his requests for equal time on the station have been ignored.

Jim Talen, a former county commissioner, also filed as a Democrat for the mostly Southeast Grand Rapids seat.

Mayhue, the target of frequent barbs by Robert S. during the past two years, also once left the spotlight to run for office.

In 1999, Mayhue was required by Grand Rapids charter to resign his County Board seat in order to run for mayor. He lost that race to John Logie, but was re-elected to the county job in 2000.

If Womack wins the primary, station owner Mike St. Cyr said he hopes to bring him back on the air until 60 days before the general election, when the FCC would require him to sideline Womack again. The winner of the primary election will face Republican Scott Seibt in November.

The FCC regulation would allow St. Cyr to keep Womack on the air, but he would be required to give other candidates equal time — an offer he can’t afford to make.

St. Cyr said he probably will reassign Womack to production and engineering tasks during his hiatus. He said he has not found a replacement for Womack’s 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. time slot.

Analysis:

This article is the result of a public hearing held by the Michigan Civil Rights Commission in Grand Rapids on May 22 in regards to claims of fraudulent practices in the gathering of signatures for the ballot initiative known as the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Readers hear from just two of the people who testified that night and from the Civil Rights Commission chairperson Mark Bernstein.

The article also includes some information on hearings in other parts of the state and what the ballot initiative would change if passed. Over one third of the article is devoted to polling information, some of it unsourced and some of it attributed to Steve Mitchell, someone who has had clients ranging from big business, elected officials and media outlets. What was omitted in the story was the organizing work done by several groups to turn people out, particularly the group BAMN, By Any Means Necessary. BAMN has been organizing on this issue across the state and even has an online resource for people to find out if they signed the petition to put a ban on affirmative actions programs on the November 7 ballot.

Story:

Their angry testimony may not be enough.

But to people like Harry Campbell, that is all the more reason to stand up and vote down a November ballot initiative that would ban affirmative action in Michigan.

“This is fraud, and it’s got to go,” Campbell said at a hearing Monday before the Michigan Civil Rights Commission.
Like many others, Campbell said he was tricked by a petition circulator into signing a petition against affirmative action.

“He said, ‘This is to keep affirmative action,”’ said Campbell, who was recently elected to the Grand Rapids Board of Education.

If the measure cannot be kept off the ballot, Campbell said later, there is but one option: “Get out and vote. Vote it down.”

This was the latest in a series of state hearings on claims that thousands were duped into signing petitions to put the anti-affirmative action measure on the ballot. More than 200 people jammed into the Grand Rapids Board of Education meeting room to vent their frustration at the means petition circulators allegedly employed.

Commission Chairman Mark Bernstein said he has heard “compelling, credible and very disturbing” testimony at hearings in Flint, Lansing and Detroit that voters were misled.

But he conceded it is “not likely” legal challenges will keep the measure off the ballot. If passed, it would ban race or gender as a factor in university admissions and state hiring or contracting.

Support for the measure has dropped from 64 percent in January 2004 to 46 percent in a recent poll, while the percentage of undecided voters grew from 14 percent to 26 percent.

Analysts attribute much of that drop in support to the fact the approved ballot language includes words “to ban affirmative action programs.” Proponents of the measure proposed language that did not include the words “affirmative action.”

Claiming fraud and deception over the signature gathering, opponents filed suit to block the measure, but the Michigan Court of Appeals ordered in on the ballot, and the state Supreme Court declined to hear the case.

Polls continued to reveal a wide disparity by race in how the measure is viewed.

According to a poll earlier this month by pollster Steve Mitchell, the affirmative action ban is favored by whites 44 percent to 24 percent. Blacks oppose it 60 percent to 17 percent. It is favored by Republicans 55 percent to 13 percent, but opposed by Democrats 45 percent to 28 percent.

Grand Rapids resident Tracey Kperzs said she has been a consistent supporter of affirmative action.
But she recalled a petitioner coming to her door, assuring her the petition was to help keep affirmative action in place. She signed it.

“I was duped. Every time this gets raised in the news, I get very angry,” she said.

Analysis:

The story is mostly data about the rise in the US prison and jail population. According to the AP story “Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.” The only source used in the story was Allen Beck with the Bureau of Justice who says that “the jail population is increasingly unconvicted” and that “Judges are perhaps more reluctant to release people pretrial.” None of Beck’s comments are verified by the reporter, nor explored in any serious way. There is also a statistics box that accompanies the story, with numbers on the states with the top 5 ratio of prisoners to residents.

As you can see about half of the original AP story was omitted from the GR Press version. The original version also cites Mark Mauer, with the Sentencing Project, who was talking about the racial makeup of the US prison population. One statistic cited was “In the 25-29 age group, an estimated 11.9 percent of black men were in prison or jails, compared with 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males.” The Sentencing Project also provides greater analysis of what has contributed to the rise in US incarceration numbers, like changes in drug laws, more juveniles being charged as adults, and the mandatory minimum laws which have disproportionately impacted minorities. Why were these aspects omitted from the story?

Story:

WASHINGTON – Prisons and jails added more than 1,000 inmates each week for a year, putting almost 2.2 million people, or one in every 136 U.S. residents, behind bars by last summer.

The total on June 30, 2005, was 56,428 more than at the same time in
2004, the government reported Sunday. That 2.6 percent increase from mid-2004 to mid-2005 translates into a weekly rise of 1,085 inmates.

Of particular note was the gain of 33,539 inmates in jails, the largest increase since 1997, researcher Allen J. Beck said. That was a 4.7 percent growth rate, compared with a 1.6 percent increase in people held in state and federal prisons.

Prisons accounted for about two-thirds of all inmates, or 1.4 million, while the other third, nearly 750,000, were in local jails, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Beck, the bureau’s chief of corrections statistics, said the increase in the number of people in the 3,365 local jails is due partly to their changing role. Jails often hold inmates for state or federal systems, as well as people who have yet to begin serving a sentence.

“The jail population is increasingly unconvicted,” Beck said. “Judges are perhaps more reluctant to release people pretrial.”

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

The report by the Justice Department agency found that 62 percent of people in jails have not been convicted, meaning many of them are awaiting trial.

Overall, 738 people were locked up for every 100,000 residents, compared with a rate of 725 at mid-2004. The states with the highest rates were Louisiana and Georgia, with more than 1 percent of their populations in prison or jail. Rounding out the top five were Texas, Mississippi and
Oklahoma.

The states with the lowest rates were Maine, Minnesota, Rhode Island, Vermont and New Hampshire.

Men were 10 times to 11 times more likely than women to be in prison or jail, but the number of women behind bars was growing at a faster rate, said Paige M. Harrison, the report’s other author.

The racial makeup of inmates changed little in recent years, Beck said.
In the 25-29 age group, an estimated 11.9 percent of black men were in prison or jails, compared with 3.9 percent of Hispanic males and 1.7 percent of white males.

Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, which supports alternatives to prison, said the incarceration rates for blacks were troubling.

“It’s not a sign of a healthy community when we’ve come to use incarceration at such rates,” he said.

Mauer also criticized sentencing guidelines, which he said remove judges’ discretion, and said arrests for drug and parole violations swell prisons.

“If we want to see the prison population reduced, we need a much more comprehensive approach to sentencing and drug policy,” he said.

Analysis:

This is a very short piece reporting on some local fundraisers by the gubernatorial candidates. Other than the fact that these fund raisers took place, no other information is provided that would help make the viewer a more informed voter. If voters did want to learn more about where the gubernatorial candidates are getting their funding, that information can be found at the website for the Michigan Secretary of State Campaign Finance Reporting Database.

Story:

WOOD 8 Newsreader – Well both candidates for Governor are getting some help from some big names. Sean Hannity of FOX News Channel speaking at a fund raiser for Dick DeVos. Last week DeVos appeared at and event with former New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani and Governor Granholm held a fundraiser with Senator Hillary Clinton. Tonight’s event was at the Amway grand Plaza Hotel, it cost one thousand dollars to attend.

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