The race to replace 35th District Delegate and Democratic Attorney General candidate Steve Shannon is within a 2-point margin – or at least it was two weeks ago, according to polls conducted for Republican candidate Jim Hyland.

Hyland’s margin, described by his campaign manager Kevin Conroy as “within the margin of error,” reflects a tightening of the race since a July benchmark poll, when pollsters Barry Zeplowitz and Bill Lee of TelOpinion Research indicated in a confidential memo posted on Hyland’s website that Hyland held a 7-point lead 43 percent to 36 percent lead, with 21 percent undecided. The memo did not indicate the size of the sample or whether “likely voter” filters were used.

Read more at Collins on Politics

General David Petraeus, Commander of the U.S Central Command, mentioned cooperation with the media as an essential part of the fight against terrorism and insurgencies. Petraeus explained that the U.S military should be the first to make a truthful announcement to the media before the terrorists or insurgents do, so as to prevent propaganda. (0:36)

 

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TRNS Managing Editor Victoria Jones interviews Eric Boehlert from Media Matters about how blogging has changed the face of political journalism. (11:21)

 

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By Michael Ruhl, University of New Mexico – Talk Radio News Service

Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Photo by Michael Ruhl

In the next 5 years, the Pakistani infrastructure will be fortified by almost $10 billion American dollars, if Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) have anything to say about it. The aptly titled Kerry-Lugar Bill will provided money for rebuilding the lives of civilians in war torn Pakistan.

Both Kerry and Lugar said that most of the money that has been funneled into Pakistan in the past few years has gone towards security. The aim of this bill is to shift the balance, to place more of an emphasis on infrastructure.

The Senators want to use the money for building schools, improving health care, building bridges, water projects, and other elements of infrastructure. Kerry said that the target projects are “things that would improve life and give people a sense of progress” to civilians.

The money would also be used for ensuring an independent media, expanding human rights and the rule of law, expanding transparency in government, rooting out political corruption and countering the drug trade.

Additionally military funding would be conditioned upon several things, including Pakistani security forces preventing al Qaeda and Taliban forces from operating in Pakistan. The military forces would not be able to interfere in politics or in the judicial process, according to the provisions of the bill.

The legislation bill would give $1.5 billion each year from FY 2009-2013, and would recommend similar amounts of money over the subsequent five years. There would be required benchmarks to measuring how effective the funding is, and the President will have to submit semi-annual reports to Congress about progress made.

Talk Radio News Service, Victoria Jones, interviews Dan Gainor, vice president of the Media Research Center (MRC) at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. Gainor talks about the results from a media research project the MRC conducted about the media coverage that was done on the economic stimulus bill. Gainor says that the media should have been complaining about the bill and how Congress should have had a couple of more days to see it. Gainor says the media “treated it like it was unimportant.” (05:46)

 

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Independent presidential candidate Ralph Nader says that the media has trivialized the campaign, pointing to how Joe the Plumber received more press coverage since the third debate than his entire campaign (0:24).

 

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Executive Director of Free Press Josh Silver gives an exclusive interview with Talk Radio News Correspondent Elia Herman about the role of free press, social media and new media, which he says is not substantial enough. Silver says that roughly 45 percent of Americans still do not have access to the internet, and that cable and phone companies control 98 percent of internet access. He concludes by stating Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) support for internet neutrality, and speaks out against the consolidation of media ownership. Conversely, Silver says Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is a “telephone company whore”, and that he does what he can to please these companies without question (6:14).

 

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“The gavel allows you to push issues” according to Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Senator Arlen Specter (R-Penn.) and he added that he missed being the one holding the gavel. (more…)

FBI Director Robert Mueller spoke today at the National Press Club Luncheon on the common goals and responsibilities of both the press and the media to serve the public interest and to seek the truth. He said there is an inherent tension between the government and the media, but that this results in a free society. He said to be successful the FBI needs to be transparent, and that scrutiny from Congress, the public, and the press improves the FBI’s ability to protect the people, and promotes trust in the bureau. (more…)

Ellen Ratner interviews Martin Newland, former editor of The Daily Telegraph, about his new English-language newspaper in the United Arab Emirates, The National. (13:06)

 

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