Harvey Silverglate, who is also a civil rights attorney, appeared on "The O'Reilly Factor" on Dec. 11 to discuss National Security Agency leaks. At first the conversation was surprisingly civil, with Silverglate even ribbing O'Reilly by saying, "Fair and balanced, that's my motto." Silverglate mentioned his recent Phoenix article suggesting that New York Times staff could be indicted for publishing the domestic wiretapping story: he told O'Reilly, "I received more phone calls and e-mail, hostile e-mail, about that from my friends in the news media saying, 'Don't give the Department of Justice any ideas!'" However, as discussion turned to whether exposing the wiretapping could have undermined the war on terror, the segment ended with a brief shouting match. A summary of Silverglate's appearance can be found on O'Reilly's Web site.
Bill Lueders was one of two news commentators asked to predict Madison's news in 2006 by WISC-TV. He guessed it would be a good year for the city's mayor and Sen. Russ Feingold, but "a very rough year for Republicans in Wisconsin."
During a discussion of "the war on Christmas" on the Dec. 13 episode of Fox News' "The O'Reilly Factor," host Bill O'Reilly suggested that "you expect those people to be communing with Satan up there in the Madison, Wisconsin media." A Madison-based Web site decided to investigate further, eliciting several tongue-in-cheek responses from local media and political officials -- including Bill Lueders, news editor for AAN member paper Isthmus. Lueders said, "Actually, I commune with Satan often, and consider him a pal. Not the scary Biblical Satan who eats babies and the like, but the kind of guy who is considered sinister by Bill O'Reilly and friends: You know, the kind who believes that government ought to be on the side of people in need, not people in greed; the kind who supports equality for woman and gay people; the kind who tries to be respectful of religious diversity and not trumpet the 'majority' religion. That Satan. Praise be with him."
On Monday, Moyers' remarks from a Sept. 30 party for the Observer were made available on The Huffington Post. Moyers covers highlights from the Observer's 50-year history as well as his own experiences in Texas. He then moves on to problems with the current administration, saying, "not a day passes that I don't wish we could clone The Texas Observer, plant it smack dab in the center of the nation's capital, and loose the spirit of Thomas Paine."
Two AAN newspapers serving different parts of the San Francisco Bay Area became part of the same organization today as the owner of the Palo Alto Weekly, Bill Johnson, purchased the Pacific Sun of Marin County. The sale coincides with the 70th birthday of Sun owner, publisher and editor Steve McNamara, who purchased the paper in 1966 and grew it into an award-winning newsweekly. McNamara said, "Once the decision [to sell the Sun] was made, it seemed natural to pass the responsibility to my old friend Bill Johnson and his associates at the Palo Alto Weekly." Said Johnson, "Steve and I have known each other and shared our challenges and ideas with each other for the last 25 years, and this seems like a natural outcome of that relationship."
Earlier this month. Hawes Spencer, editor and co-owner of C*Ville Weekly in Charlottesville, Va., was ousted from the paper by the other two owners, Bill Chapman and Rob Jiranek. The two remaining C*Ville owners are quiet on the subject, but Spencer plans to launch a new weekly, The Hook, on Feb. 7 and has taken four C*Ville staff with him..
