] The New York Times newsroom has erupted in anger over
] reporter Rick Bragg and his aggressive defense of relying
] heavily on stringers and interns, with many reporters
] denouncing the practice and insisting that's not the way
] they do business.
]
] Bragg, who had made plans to leave the newspaper this
] summer after being hit with a two-week suspension,
] yesterday "offered his resignation, and I have accepted
] it," Executive Editor Howell Raines told the staff in a
] memo. "We know this has been a difficult period. We have
] full confidence in our staff."
]
] Bragg said last night that he had hoped to stay a little
] longer, "but it's only going to cause more hurt feelings
] if I do. I don't want to cause any more hurt feelings,
] not my own or anyone else's."

Rick Bragg Quits At New York Times (washingtonpost.com)

] WASHINGTON, May 27 - There is no evidence that
] American forces were fired on from the Palestine Hotel in
] Baghdad before they shelled the building, killing two of
] nearly 100 journalists staying there, a journalist
] advocacy group said today.
]
] The Committee to Protect Journalists, which chronicles
] abuses against news personnel worldwide, said that its
] investigation of the April 8 incident concluded that the
] attack on the journalists, while not intentional, could
] have been avoided.

Six days after the incident, the Pentagon spokeswoman, Victoria Clarke, notified the committee in writing that "coalition forces were fired upon and acted in self-defense by returning fire."

In a letter to Spain's foreign minister, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell said last month that the American tank had fired in response to "hostile fire appearing to come from a location later identified as the Palestine hotel." He called the use of force "justified" and "proportionate."

Written by Joel Campagna, CPJ's senior program coordinator responsible for the Middle East, and research consultant Rhonda Roumani, "Permission to Fire" is based on interviews with a dozen reporters who were at the scene of the attack, including two embedded journalists who monitored radio traffic before and after the shelling occurred, and journalists who witnessed the strike from inside the Palestine Hotel.

Read Full Report
http://www.cpj.org/Briefings/2003/palestine_hotel/palestine_hotel.html

American Account of Killing of 2 Journalists Is Disputed

] As part of the ongoing vendetta against the country music
] group Dixie Chicks, two disc jockeys were suspended from
] a Colorado Springs, Colorado radio station for locking
] themselves in the studio while they took listener
] requests for the band%u2019s music. DJs Dave Moore and
] Jeff Singer were suspended May 5 for violating a boycott
] imposed by the management of KKCS 102 FM. The ban has
] been in place since group member Natalie Maines made a
] comment hostile to George W. Bush at a March concert in
] London just prior to the US invasion of Iraq.
]
] The station%u2019s General Manager, Jerry Grant, declared
] in a media release justifying the reprisals against Moore
] and Singer that the Dixie Chicks were censored because
] the station had to be sensitive to its listening audience
] in a city with five military bases. He claimed that
] listeners wanted the music pulled until last week, when
] %u201Cthe tide began to turn%u201D in favor of the
] proscribed group.

Colorado disc jockeys suspended for protesting Dixie Chicks' ban

] For the first time ever, consumers and game enthusiasts
] will get a first-hand virtual look inside the Electronic
] Entertainment Expo (E3Expo), the world's preeminent
] interactive entertainment trade show, the Interactive
] Digital Software Association (IDSA) announced today. The
] Web site, E3Insider (www.e3insider.com), will launch on
] May 14th at 10am when E3Expo's doors open to thousands of
] industry professionals at the Los Angeles Convention
] Center.
]
] "With the launch of E3Insider, we've opened E3Expo's
] `virtual doors' so that consumers and game enthusiasts
] from around the globe can experience the excitement of
] E3Expo," said Douglas Lowenstein, president of the IDSA,
] the trade association that represents U.S. computer and
] video game publishers and the owner of E3Expo. "E3Expo is
] a trade-only event, established specifically as a venue
] for the worldwide interactive entertainment community to
] showcase new products and take care of business. With
] that said, we felt it was important to be able to offer
] the millions of gamers out there who support this
] industry a way to see what's going on at the show, and
] E3Insider will do just that."

The new site will capture the show's action and excitement through interactive coverage, news from exhibitor booths, interviews with industry professionals, video clips, photo galleries and stories about the show.
---------------

Hmmmmm. With over 3,000 international journalists at E3 2002, I'm surprised that show mgt started E3insider because consumers were being under servered. Comdex, CES and NAB have published content rich websites during their huge trade shows. Last year, Comdex even had an online forum that only a few people used. I was one of them. It will be interesting to see if E3insider captures the coolness of the big three day event.

E3Expo Launches Web Site for Consumers

] COMMENTARY--Microsoft this week showed off a new "TV
] client" for Windows XP Media Center Edition, which allows
] content stored on a Media Center PC to be shown on, and
] remotely controlled by, a television set. The problem is
] that the demonstration raised more questions than it
] answers.
]
] The show-and-tell took place at the Windows Hardware
] Engineering Conference (aka WinHEC) in New Orleans.
] WinHEC is where Microsoft tries to woo, cajole, and/or
] arm-twist vendors into building hardware to its liking.
] For the most part, I think this is a good thing--everyone
] benefits from the standardisation that results. (Unless,
] of course, you have a standard Microsoft doesn't care
] for.)
]
] The idea behind the TV client is that, while one person
] is using it to watch a TV program or play music stored on
] a Media Center PC, someone else can be simultaneously
] running a PC app. (This will depend on the concurrent
] session technology also disclosed at WinHEC.)
]
] Microsoft hopes hardware companies, especially those on
] the consumer electronics side of the aisle, will adopt
] its TV client and begin building hardware for it by the
] end of next year; it's possible the first units could be
] out as early as next spring.

How MS will turn your PC into a TV station

] CAMARILLO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 5, 2003--Salem
] Communications Corporation (Nasdaq:SALM), the leading
] radio broadcaster focused on religious and family themes
] programming, announced today the acquisition of two radio
] AM stations.
]
] The Company will be acquiring WAMG-AM in Boston,
] Massachusetts, from Mega Communications for approximately
] $8.6 million.
]
] Edward G. Atsinger III, President and CEO, commented,
] "It is increasingly difficult to find quality radio
] properties at appropriate prices in the large markets,
] specifically the top 10. WAMG-AM has a good quality day
] and night signal and will allow us to launch our
] conservative news/talk format in the Boston market, as
] part of an integrated three-station cluster."
]
] Salem Communications will also be acquiring KKCS-AM
] in Colorado Springs, Colorado, from Walton Stations -
] Colorado, Inc. for approximately $1.5 million. The
] station will be part of a three-station cluster and will
] broadcast a conservative news/talk format

Colorado station KKCS purchased by Salem Communications Monday (DJs Banned for playing Dixie Chicks Songs)

] Two radio DJs in the US have been suspended after playing
] Dixie Chicks songs, after their statio banned the group
] for its comments about President George W Bush.
]
] DJs Dave Moore and Jeff Singer played two tracks by the
] country pop group on Colorado station KKCS on Monday,
] after a discussion over whether to reinstate the group.
]
] Dixie Chicks songs were banned by the station after
] singer Natalie Maines told a London audience, days before
] the start of the Iraq war, she was "ashamed" President
] Bush came from her home state of Texas.

DJs stir Dixie Chicks row

] by John Hiler
]
] Ever since I started Microcontent News, I've gotten many
] emails asking which blogging software is the "best".
]
] I'm hardly an unbiased party - as the CEO of WebCrimson,
] I make my own blog publishing software. But no one
] blogging tool is always best: if you're running a
] community blog, you're probably best off running Scoop or
] Slash, the software that powers Kuro5hin and Slashdot.
] Or if you're a Perl hacker who loves open-source
] software, you probably want Movable Type or Blosxom.

The Microcontent News Blogging Software Roundup

] GREENVILLE, S.C. -- A sold-out crowd cheered, clapped,
] danced and sung along during the Dixie Chicks' summer
] tour kick-off concert, showing little concern for the
] controversy that has surrounded the band since a member
] criticized President Bush over the war with Iraq.
]
] The show marked the first time the group has performed in
] the U.S. since lead singer Natalie Maines told a London
] audience on March 10: ``Just so you know, we're ashamed
] the president of the United States is from Texas.''

Dixie Chicks fans cheer at S.C. concert

] The city's library board announced yesterday that it
] would print and distribute bookmarks warning borrowers
] about the law that allows federal investigators to demand
] the names of patrons and the lists of books they read.
]
] The USA Patriot Act, passed by Congress a month after the
] terrorist attacks Sept. 11, 2001, gives agents the power
] to obtain medical, business and library records after
] obtaining a court warrant.

City library to warn users about Patriot Act