New York Times Columnist Nicholas Kristof Bashes Microsoft Bing

Posted yesterday at 9:00 am by Brian Miller

Don't even ask about the Dalai Lama.

​While several nice things have been written about Microsoft's new Bing search engine, including by his NYT colleague David Pogue, op-ed columnist Nicholas Kristof does not agree. In a scathing Friday blog post, Kristof accuses MSFT of tailoring Chinese-language search queries in Bing to censor sensitive topics like the Dalai Lama, Tiananmen Square, and Falun Gong.

Kristof writes that Microsoft's explanation, a software bug, "insults my intelligence and yours." He continues, "My hunch is that Microsoft simply has decided at a top level that it will compromise what principles it must to ingratiate itself with China." And further, "Now Microsoft is sacrificing the integrity of Bing searches so as to cozy up to State Security in Beijing. In effect, it has chosen become part of the Communist Party's propaganda apparatus."

Got a response to that, Steve Ballmer?

Topics: Business, Media, Newspapers, Politics, and Technology

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Parents Group Asks Microsoft to Drop All "Family Guy" Ads

Posted Nov. 19 at 11:13 am by Caleb Hannan

"Family Guy" creator Seth MacFarlane: Not offensive, just no longer funny.

​When Microsoft found out that Seth MacFarlane's one-hour "Family Guy" special was filled with jokes about the Holocaust, Mother Theresa and incest they canceled their sponsorship. Now, the same busybodies that got the FCC to fine ABC for daring to show a bare ass on "NYPD Blue" have asked them to go one step further.

At today's annual shareholder's meeting, Gavin McKiernan of the Parents Television Council, a non-profit media watcher funded by a conservative Catholic activist, asked Microsoft to stop spending millions to advertise during MacFarlane's shows. Said McKiernan: "Mr. Chairman, by not sponsoring the Seth MacFarlane special, Microsoft demonstrated tremendous courage and leadership. The nation's parents and children are grateful."

Actually, the nation's parents disagree with you, PTC.

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Topics: Media

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The Other Side of the KVI Story, by Kirby Wilbur

Posted Nov. 18 at 9:48 am by Rick Anderson

​He got a jaw-dropping 50 percent raise he never asked for, then got sacked because his pay was too high, and his ratings too low - which he disputes. That's Kirby Wilbur's story, in a nutshell, about how the conservative talk show host got fired by KVI/Fisher Broadcasting. He wishes details of the sacking had remained private, but now he's talking about it (and so, apparently, are his followers: Wilbur says Fisher has set up a separate phone line to take calls on his departure).

"If management had kept this a matter between us, where it belonged," he writes, "I would have said nothing. But, 700 emails on Friday, the loss of a significant advertiser, a steady volume of phone calls, I'm sure they were caught off-guard and had to say something. I understand some even suggested that all these calls were part of a GOP conspiracy and did not reflect real KVI listeners. I know better. They should."

Topics: Media

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Frank Bruni Ignores Washington's R-71 Victory

Posted Nov. 16 at 8:01 am by Caleb Hannan

Frank Bruni failed to mention R-71.

​In his Sunday New York Times "Week in Review" column , Frank Bruni used Ellen Degeneres and Portia de Rossi's Oprah appearance to underscore America's seemingly conflicted views towards gay marriage. As Bruni pointed out, the show, which included footage from the pair's wedding video, aired less than a week after Maine voters rejected same-sex marriage.

It's hard to argue with Bruni's main point. Even though recent polls suggest a majority of Americans support it, same-sex marriage is now zero-for-31 when put to a yes-no vote. But as Washingtonians now well know, that discouraging scorecard comes with a very significant asterisk.

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Topics: Media and Politics

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Yakima Once Home to Insufferable Prigs

Posted Nov. 11 at 12:13 pm by Caleb Hannan

Historians marvel at the Yakima man's ability to disapprove of everything fun.

​Along with being Veteran's Day, today is also Washington State's 120th birthday. And thanks to Brian Zylstra at the Secretary of State's "From Our Corner" blog, we can take this moment to thank our lucky stars Yakima isn't still filled with such snooty bastards.

Zylstra tracked down a Yakima Herald article announcing a move that, at the time, was a really big deal. And you'd think whoever was on deadline that morning would have taken the opportunity to talk up the Evergreen State's new-found unity. Rather than say, I don't know, using it as a chance to talk about how everyone was more civilized in Yakima.

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Topics: Media

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Sounders FC Reward Seattle Weekly's Defense of 0-0 Ties With Miserable, Season-Ending 0-0 Performance

Posted Nov. 9 at 8:47 am by Mark Fefer

Evenly matched—in lameness.

​Just days after this blog leapt to defend Sounders F.C.—and soccer in general—from a know-nothing P-I sports columnist (who called the team's recent 0-0 playoff match "ninety minutes of nothing"), the Sounders delivered yet another scoreless 90 minutes of regulation play against the Houston Dynamo yesterday. But "nothing" would be a too-kind way to describe what went on at Major League Soccer's Western Conference Semi-Final.

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Topics: Media, Rants, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Sports

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Being 'The Guy Who Hates Soccer': Still a Meal Ticket in Local Media

Posted Nov. 6 at 10:22 am by Mark Fefer

These people are excited. But why?

​Fat people like to complain that they're the last minority group of whom you're still allowed to be openly contemptuous in enlightened society.

Not true! Soccer, and its fans, remain a perennial, if thoroughly predictable, subject of bemused contempt among a certain class of wags who think of themselves as grizzled and no-nonsense.

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Topics: Media, Rants, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, and Sports

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Study Says Kill the Dog to Save the Environment

Posted Nov. 2 at 3:48 pm by Caleb Hannan

Sorry Seattle: In order to save the earth you're going to have to off this dog.

​The Seattle Times is having all sorts of fun with a New Zealand report that claims a medium-size dog leaves a larger eco-footprint than an SUV. The study, called "Time to Eat the Dog? The Real Guide to Sustainable Living," argues that the amount of land needed to raise the animals used to feed your average labradoodle is the environmental equal of driving a Hummer.

Is the science any good? That's for smarter people to debate. What's important is finding a way to make this about Seattle, a city that generally enjoys turning up its nose at a lady driving a Land Cruiser while alternately going mushy over the mom walking a Mastiff. That, at least, was the thinking of reporter Mark Rahner.

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Topics: Environment and Media

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Lawyer for King County "Jane Doe" Who Filed Alleged Complaint Against Dow Constantine Blocks its Release

Posted Oct. 29 at 8:43 pm by Caleb Hannan

Flickr

Just what do those documents say about Dow Constantine?

​We've got a mess on our hands here, folks. Let's try to untangle it.

Earlier today, conservative blog Sound Politics posted that they, along with Seattle Times reporter Keith Ervin, had been tipped off about a complaint filed against King County Executive Candidate Dow Constantine alleging inappropriate behavior towards "Jane Doe," a female county employee.

Politics says that when Ervin filed a public records request all he got was a temporary restraining order from "Jane Doe's" lawyer arguing that if the info leaked she might lose her job. Then PubliCola added their own knot to the tangle.

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Topics: Media and Politics

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Boeing Source to Times: Dreamliner Likely Headed for South Carolina

Posted Oct. 28 at 11:16 am by Caleb Hannan

Oh Dreamliner, we hardly knew ye.

​No matter your thoughts on South Carolina — whether they be reasonable and nuanced or stereotypical and just-for-yuks — it seems Boeing has made up its mind. According to Dominic Gates in today's Seattle Times, talks between Boeing and their machinist's union are effectively over, leaving the southern state the likely destination for the aerospace giant's Dreamliner jet.

Gates' source says the union wants to keep talking, Boeing doesn't. An announcement on the move to Charleston could come within the next couple days. We'll keep you posted.

Topics: Business and Media

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Will Bill Gates Come to the Rescue of Journalists?

Posted Oct. 22 at 11:05 am by Nina Shapiro

Can they fit some journalists on their laps?

​Online news site Crosscut's announcement yesterday of a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation surely raised some hopes in the tumultuous world of journalism. Is Bill Gates waking up to the havoc caused by the digital technology he has unleashed? Will his enormously deep-pocketed philanthropy come to the rescue of a profession—and means of informing that the public— that threatens to disappear? Can the New York Times expect a bailout next?

Don't count on it. "We don't have a specific media strategy," says Greg Shaw, director of advocacy for the foundation's U.S. program. That said, he explains that the foundation is concerned with making sure that the public is informed about the issues that it works on: education especially but also, in the Northwest, homelessness, programs for low-income people and libraries. To that end, the foundation has given donations in the past to NPR and Education Week. Shaw says that while the foundation exerts no editorial control, it handed the grant to Crosscut in the "hope that they will be able to cover those issues." (Less on City Hall, more on the homeless hangouts a couple blocks away, Crosscut!)

So the foundation has left a slight opening for the media to come begging. Other philanthropies are being hit up too. As Rick Anderson reported this morning, P-I alum site InvesigateWest announced a $40,000 grant from Seattle's Bullitt Foundation.

Topics: Media and Newspapers

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InvestigateWest Has a Donor, but With Conditions?

Posted Oct. 22 at 9:42 am by Rick Anderson

Up to now, InvestigateWest, one of several P-I alumni web sites, has been a work in progress since its July launch, consisting mostly of blog items and pitches for public support. But, like another non-profit journalism site, Crosscut.com, did yesterday, InvestigateWest today says it has gotten much-needed funding from a wealthy benefactor and will commence to produce those long-promised investigations. The contribution from Seattle's Bullitt Foundation comes to $40,000. That's less than half of what the Gates Foundation gave Crosscut, but, says IW's editor Rita Hibbard (left)

​, a former P-I assistant managing editor, it will allow her site to "do the stories that would otherwise go uncovered." Bullitt and IW have a mutual admiration for preserving the environment so it's a natural teaming.

But, again like Crosscut, IW will need reader contributions to sustain its public model. And there's that nagging question of a supposedly silent partner. Media critic Jack Shafer, writing in Slate, applauds charity journalism. "But before we get out the party hats and noise-makers..." he says, "here's the bad news. In the current arrangement, we're substituting one flawed business model for another. For-profit newspapers lose money accidentally. Nonprofit news operations lose money deliberately. No matter how good the nonprofit operation is, it always ends up sustaining itself with handouts, and handouts come with conditions" - the appearance, at least, that the recipient might pull its journalism punches at the behest of the donor. Can we exepct a hard-hitting probe by Crosscut into the Gates Foundation, for example? The "rise of nonprofit journalism comes at a price," Shafer cautions. "Be prepared to pay it."

Topics: Media

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Crosscut.com Shifts to the 'Public Model'

Posted Oct. 21 at 10:50 am by Rick Anderson

​With a big wad of Bill Gates charity funds, Crosscut.com publisher David Brewster has officially taken his web site non-profit. The former Seattle Weekly publisher announced his news-generating-and-aggregating site has been granted tax-exempt 501(c)(3) status.

In a post this morning, Brewster said the revamped venture received a $100,000 gift from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. "This key lead gift, along with $50,000 of funding from generous individuals, is meant to launch Crosscut's new mission of providing online local journalism in the public interest, and to build Crosscut's capacity and sustainability." He also announced a Charter Membership Drive, seeking support from readers.

In recent months, Brewster was slow in paying contributors during the long march to official non-profit status. Now they've added three new hires, Brewster says, convinced a reader-supported j-site, the "public model," will fly. The question is whether he can do it without Gates as his co-pilot.

Topics: Media

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Colton Harris-Moore Documentary Still in Infancy

Posted Oct. 19 at 8:02 am by Caleb Hannan

Coming soon to a TV near you?

​Last week, a three-person camera crew made their way to Camano Island and Seattle in order to speak with locals, law enforcement and media types about the coverage surrounding Barefoot Burglar Colton Harris-Moore. The crew, sent by a Hollywood producer requesting anonymity, stopped by the Seattle Weekly offices on Wednesday. They asked questions and shot some b-roll footage of me answering the phone and printing out documents. It was, all in all, a profoundly weird experience.

The goal of the shoot, says the producer, is to find out if there's enough material to produce a long-form documentary. In a follow-up e-mail, we tried to get him to explain where the project stands today.

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Topics: Crime & Punishment and Media

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When It Rains It Pours: Thornton Creek Residents Soaked by City's New Flood Maps

Posted Oct. 16 at 10:30 am by Caleb Hannan

Aftermath of the December 2007 flood that's come back to haunt some Thornton Creek residents.

​Hop in the Way Back Machine to December of 2007. As the Seattle Times reported, a "series of extraordinary events" led to the horrific death of Kate Fleming, a local audiobook narrator who drowned in a windowless room in her Madison Valley basement. A surge of floodwater caused by record-setting storms was the culprit. Mayor Nickels and the city acted quickly, setting out on a detailed course of action to resolve flooding issues including remapping local flood plains.

Now, back in present day, we have Daniel, a Seattle resident whose property backs up to Thornton Creek. OK, maybe that's being a bit generous. You can't really see the creek, but it's there, down a steep grade at the end of his lawn, far out of harms way. Even still, last week Daniel got a letter from Seattle Public Utilities telling him that, due to his proximity to the creek, he was now in what the city considered to be a flood-zone. The next day he got a similar letter, this one from his insurance company, politely reminding him that now might be a smart time to invest in flood insurance.

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Topics: City of Seattle, Environment, Media, and Seattle Times

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