On Sept. 10, 2003, while the New York Times and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and affiliated papers were running Judith Miller's stories making the case for the Iraq War and then seeking to justify it, the Guardian published the annual Project Censored list of censored stories.

Our front page had a caricature of Bush, standing astride the globe holding a U.S. Read more »

From: Liz Wolf-Spada
Subject: 9th Circuit Will Not Rehear Josh's Case

Bad news, the 9th Circuit has decided not to rehear Josh's case enbanc. Evidently no judge called for a vote. How depressing is that? Anyway, depressed is how I feel. I am steeling myself, and have been, for him being in jail until July, but I keep hoping against hope that something will change and he will be free again and out of jail. Read more »

Is this the wave of the future? Will our big local news come via Montreal and New York? And will the Hearst and Singleton papers become even more branch offices of corporate headquarters in Montreal, New York, and Denver? Is Hearst so contemptuous of its San Francisco paper that it releases major Hearst stories in New York and Montreal before it appears in the Hearst paper or on its website in San Francisco? Read more »

By Bruce B. Brugmann

Well, after checking page the Daily Digest on page 2 of the San Francisco Chronicle business section (where I sometimes find a spot of Hearst/Singleton news), I found the monopoly story of the day in an online Editor and Publisher story out of New York, sent via Chain Links, the online publication of the Newspaper Guild.

It was another jolly tip of the iceberg of what is happening to the chains that dominate the newspaper business. The head: "SF Chronicle to OUtsource All of its Printing." The lead: "NEW YORK: Hearst Corp. Read more »

Alas. Alas. (B3, disheartened by the news)

Posted Tuesday, Nov. l7th, on the website of the Guardian of London

From Guardian Unlimited: News blog 12:15pm

Here at the Guardian we have long suspected it. But today comes official confirmation: George Bush doesn't read the Guardian often. Read more »

By Bruce B. Brugmann

Norman Solomon, a syndicated columnist who appears on the Guardian website, wrote a chilling column this week
on how the "American media establishment has launched a major offensive against the option of withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq."

He noted that the "heaviest firepower is now coming from the most valuable square inches of media real estate in the USA--the front page of the New York Times. Read more »

By Bruce B. Brugmann

SOS: The news in the media is grim and getting grimmer by the day. Journalists and journalism schools and journalism organizations have been much too passive in this time of great peril and need to start fighting back, particularly through their journalism organizations. The Northern California chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists struck the right note at its splendid annual Excellence in Journalism awards dinner last Thursday night. Below, in our editorial for Wednesday's Guardian, are some of our ideas for action. Read more »

By Bruce B. Brugmann

The City Attorney and City Hall are lathered and steamed these days because of a barrage of public records requests from Kimo Crossman, a public records activist with few equals.

The principle seems to be: go after Kimo full bore but do not molest PG@E on its low franchise fee in perpetuity, the lowest in the state,or its private power monopoly that is illegal under public power mandates of the federal Raker Act and U.S. Supreme Court. So we offer some suggestions on how to deal with the new "sunshine" crisis. Read more »

To the Santa Rosa Press Democrat:

This morning I got an email from Carl Jensen, the founder of Project Censored at your nearby Sonoma State University, complaining that the Press Democrat published an "irresponsible page one article" about Project Censored and its annual Sonoma State Conference. Read more »

Repeating: whenever the Voice/New Times buys a paper, there is usually some sort of signature bloodbath when Editor Lacey and Publisher Larkin begin to impose the cookie cutter New Times template. Thus, when the New Times bought the old SF Weekly years ago, Larkin and Larkin swarmed in, denounced the staff, and cleaned out the office as if they were cleaning out a waterfront saloon.

After buying the Voice chain, they neutered the Voice, did a neutering job on the Seattle Weekly, and are in the process of neutering the LA Weekly. Read more »