My Tropical Depression

Bill Keller may have hurt his chances of appearing on the "Factor," based on this Business Week piece:

Keller "noted that O'Reilly 'denounced' the Times so frequently that 'if he didn't have The New York Times, he might be selling Ginsu knives on late-night TV.' Along the same lines, Keller termed the Fox News Channel's 'fair and balanced' tagline 'the most ingeniously cynical slogan' in media marketing."

Now this strikes me as an exaggeration. O'Reilly only bashes the Times four nights out of five, though he's usually off Friday.

In light of this Times report --"American law enforcement and intelligence authorities have all but discounted the report of a terrorist threat to city's subways"-- I have a message for cable TV execs: you really, badly overplayed that story, with intrepid reporters venturing into subway stations for their scaremongering.

Kos explains why liberal blogs have been more influential than their right-wing counterparts:

"Not only are conservative blogs redundant in the conservative media pantheon, but they have not proven adept at raising money. And in politics, raising money is the first, second, and third most important thing . . .

"As for Democrats, conservatives like to think that sites like Daily Kos meet weekly with Howard Dean and Harry Reid, as though we're an integral part of some well-oiled machine. And that's also not true. We get their press releases. The same press releases all other media outlets get. And, as far as Reid's office is concerned, they answer any questions I send their way, just like any other media outlet. It's helpful, but hardly earth shattering.

"When they do pay attention, most of the time it's naked attempts to score cash from the community, as though we're some kind of ATM. And when they don't ask for money, and try to tackle an issue, parts of the blogosphere erupt in hysterics. You'd think Obama killed everyone's first born to hear some of you wail about his diary. There's a fine line between reasoned discussion and attacks, so if you're a Democratic politician, you sort of have to be a masochist to try and engage the netroots in discussion.

"On the other hand, liberal bloggers are definitely getting attention from the folks wiring the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy. No money yet, but there's hope to start building some blog-supporting infrastructure. A think tank, maybe some fellowships, book deals, cross-media promotions (like my weekly spot on Majority Report Radio), those sorts of thing. Just like the conservative movement has worked to support its best writers and build a wide-reaching media machine, so too is the progressive movement seeking to mimic that. And while the conservative movement was built in the 70s and 80s for a different generation, ours is being built on a digital foundation."

By the way, the NYT won't even tell its own reporter how many people have forked over the 50 bucks to read Times columnists online. If it was an impressive number, don't you think the execs would be putting out a press release?

Finally, the back story here is kinda convoluted. Fox's James Rosen, interviewing Condi Rice, said gee, you should meet my colleague Lauren Green, she also plays the piano and has a new CD. This led to a New York gossip item with some unfortunate personal speculation about the secretary of state, which in turn produced this Minneapolis Star Tribune piece:

" 'Fox & Friends' anchor Lauren Green has a news flash for gossiphounds curious about her love life: Females need not apply.

"'It's hard enough to find a date' said Green, responding to media and bloggers attempting to link her romantically to Secretary of State Condolezza Rice. 'You know what I mean. I don't need that!' Green said, laughing off the rumors that wouldn't be floating if NYC newspaper columnists bothered to call Lauren for comment.

"Gay is cool, but it's just not Green's persuasion: 'I am not gay. I am very straight. All Christian men, single and over 35 can apply.' "

You can't make this stuff up.