One of CNN's Schiavo reporters was paid by Jeb

This little nugget seems to have gotten lost in a big exposé that ran Saturday across Florida.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050326/NEWS/503260408/1060

TV reporter earned money from state
By CHRIS DAVIS and MATTHEW DOIG

At the same time one of Florida's most visible television reporters brought the news to viewers around the state, he earned hundreds of thousands of dollars on the side from the government agencies he covered.

Mike Vasilinda, a 30-year veteran of the Tallahassee press corps, does public relations work and provides film editing services to more than a dozen state agencies.

His Tallahassee company, Mike Vasilinda Productions Inc., has earned more than $100,000 over the past four years through contracts with Gov. Jeb Bush's office, the Secretary of State, the Department of Education and other government entities that are routinely part of Vasilinda's stories.

... CNN, which aired a Vasilinda story on Terri Schiavo on Thursday, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

lots more

this is the sort of thing Keith loves to expose.

Good doggie...

looks so proud looking over his/her pack.....

"...this is CNN Whoreline News."
John
Couldn't resist. Carry on.

..if the shoe fits... are there any real journalists out there anymore?

There is at least one honest journalist Keith Olbermann, Countdown on MSNBC at 8 pm est.

n/t

How many cops do they pay off? How many judges do they pay off? How many regulators do they pay off? How many people in any organization that the public relies on for law and order do they have "on the pad"?

This is not new. This is a hallmark of organized crime.

Yep.

http://www.jgeoff.com/godfather/gf1/transcript/gf1transcript.html
<snip>
MICHAEL:
Tom, wait a minute. I'm talking about a cop -- that's mixed up in drugs. I'm talking about ah - ah - a dishonest cop -- a crooked cop who got mixed up in the rackets and got what was coming to him. That's a terrific story. And we have newspaper people on the payroll, don't we, Tom?

(Hagen nods in the affirmative)

MICHAEL:
And they might like a story like that.

HAGEN:
They might, they just might...
</snip>

Just like any organized crime family...:thumbsup:

It's so common for any criminal enterprise to bribe and pay off (subvert other organizations) people, that it gets shrugged off without a realization that might come from shock.

Bar-owners bribe liquor control people. Common knowledge.
Restaurant owners bribe health inspectors. Common knowledge.
Builders bribe building inspectors. Common knowledge.

The corruption and subversion of public institutions is widespread. With the Bushbot Regime, it reaches new depths of global evil.

:spank:

Television reporter Mike Vasilinda's Tallahassee company, Mike Vasilinda Productions Inc., has pulled in more than $100,000 over the past four years through contracts with the office of Gov. Jeb Bush, the secretary of state, the Department of Education and other Florida government entities that are routinely featured in Vasilinda's widely broadcast stories.

that's where little brother learned it from (controlling the media).

The greatest danger we face is the loss of a free press.

when covering Terri's case. What was that about?

... why am I NOT surprised?!!!

Everyone should read this article.

... CNN, which aired a Vasilinda story on Terri Schiavo on Thursday, did not return phone calls seeking comment.

When I think of the way Gary Condit was terrorized by the press corps over a story that had no implications to our democracy, our security or corruption in government and having no news value as a continuing story, I am so outraged that such a staggering breach of the public trust doesn't cut it for a mention in the news.

When a gay male hooker inexplicably gets access to the White House, posing as a journalist BEFORE his supposed "publication" was even established, the WH and Scott McClellan throw up their hands and claim ignorance as to how that could happen. In.The.Most.Secure.Building.In.The.World. The story seems to have died with no answers as to how this could happen. Doesn't some agency or gasp! even Congress want to know how this happened so as to provide better security to the POTUS and the people who work there?

I would think the real "journalists" who have worked their asses off in every podunk station across the US to finally make it to the WH might be upset that their profession is treated with such contempt by the people they cover. They actually had to work their way through the scut work, shitty assignments and moving around the country always chasing the bigger market. Why aren't they pissed that it took them real work and real reporting to get where they are - covering the WH from inside the WH, while some male hooker just struts in and is treated like Walter Fucking Cronkite!!!!????? I am truly stunned that the people who sat with him for two years while he lied about identity among other whoppers aren't writing about this and demanding answers. The president of the WH Correspondents Association met with McClellan and it was decided to keep the same policies in place.

There must have been hundreds of hours collectively over the story from Atlanta last week, and while it was tragic - it was basically a local story that did not warrant that kind of hysterical coverage (which continued well into the week AFTER he was captured). However, another reporter exposed as being on the government payroll IS an important story on a national level. It's a disturbing pattern that is being used by the government to get the public to agree with its policies. It's also basically having the public - through the taxes we pay - pay to have propaganda broadcast as "news." We're financing the deception! Now THAT'S news - - now where the in the name of God are the networks, the Tweeties, The O'Reillys, the bloviating radio crowd to cover this anti-intellectual asault on the American people??

I'm so disgusted and ashamed of the worthless hacks who defile the airwaves. How many haven't been bought off???

Let's Blitz the media y'all! 75% of the public already thinks this thing is all about politics. This will prove it to them.

as well as to www.stopfakenews.com (or is it .org?)

These groups can put this in the national spotlight.

...Stations,

(this is a re-post that I posted at this link: <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=1690082&mesg_id=1690082>
Sounds like the same problem)

Reported NPR's David Folkenflik on "All Things Considered" Friday. They also said that CBS provides VNR's from Corporations, but NOT from the Federal Government, like that's supposed to make us feel better.

I don't know how many of you already knew this, but this has really come as a shock to me, and I'm really pissed off about this.

A paid subscription service for Government and Corporate Propaganda for Local T.V. Stations! :mad:

If we are ever going regain control of the U.S. Government, we have to put an end to this Propaganda umbilical cord or "Remove this Propaganda feeding tube." How can we do this?





Click this link to the streaming audio, for the full story:

:bounce: :kick:

But we've got how many thousands of Florida tax-paying residents without health insurance? Fucking scumbag!!!

Nothing but Goebbels wet dream.

Contact list -- first number is phone, second is fax, also has email -- for all the executives at CNN
CNN/Cable News Network Vice President Kim Bondy (404) 827-1500 (404) 827-1099 kim.bondy@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Programming Vice President Bob Brienza (404) 827-4439 (404) 827-1099
bob.brienza@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Senior Vice President Sue Bunda (404) 827-1500 (404) 827-1099 sue.bunda@turner.com
CNN Newsource Affiliate Relations Senior Vice President Fred Burrows (314) 487-1451 (404) 827-2482
fred.burrows@turner.com
CNN en Espanol Public Relations Coordinator Liza Caceres (404) 827-4140 (404) 878-0050 liza.caceres@turner.com
CNN Newsource Affiliate Relations Director Mera Cardenas (404) 827-2915 (404) 827-2482 mera.cardenas@turner.com
CNN Headline News Operations Vice President Jonathan Carreau (404) 827-4994 (404) 827-3144
jonathan.carreau@turner.com
CNNRadio Affiliate Relations Contact Laura Caviezel (404) 827-2750 Not Listed laura.caviezel@turner.com
CNNI/CNN International Media Relations Manager Laurel Chamberlain (404) 827-4949 (404) 827-3319 laurel.chamberlain@turner.com
CNNI/CNN International Promotion Director Kathy Cleary (404) 827-1617 (404) 827-3319 kathy.cleary@turner.com
CNN AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network Senior Vice President & GM Deborah Cooper (404) 827-5131 (404) 827-4434 deborah.cooper@turner.com
CNNI/CNN International President Chris Cramer (404) 827-1519 (404) 827-3319 chris.cramer@turner.com
CNN en Espanol Executive Vice President Christopher Crommett (404) 878-1555 (404) 878-0050 chris.crommett@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Vice President Karen Curry (212) 714-3352 (212) 714-7935 karen.curry@turner.com
CNNmoney Network Public Relations Manager Jeff Cusson (212) 714-7883 (212) 714-7838 jeff.cusson@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Public Safety Correspondent Patty Davis (202) 515-2850 (202) 515-2967 patty.davis@turner.com
CNN Airport Network Operations Vice President Barbara Dean (404) 827-5131 (404) 827-4434 barbara.dean@turner.com
OOPS------>>>NOT CNNI/CNN iInternational Promotion Director NOT Scarry Fitssimmons (xxx) xxxxxx (xxx) xxxxxDO NOT EMAIL Scarry.fitssimmons@tirner.com -"CNNI/CNN Sinternational Promotion Director NOT Scarry Fitssimmons DO NOT EMAIL Scarry.fitssimmons@tirner.com"<<<-----------------This is a misrepresentation and a grave mistake and I want it corrected. Yes, I am a TV new on-air promotion professional, but I do not work, and have not ever worked, for CNN or Turner. I checked with CNN, and they list no one by the name of Barry Fitzsimmons.There are no other Barry Fitzsimmons in my rather
small sector of the TV industry, and I do not wish to be misrepresented in this libelous way. Please adjust your site and issue a retraction immediately.
Gee Barry - we're sorry about that..Here's your retractions - where can we reach you? So you are saying that you DID NOT Support the IRAQ WAR? WHO DO you work for?
CNN Newsource Operations Supervisor R.J. Fletcher (202) 783-6200 (202) 783-4364 rj.fletcher@turner.com
CNN AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network Programming Manager Derek Fournier (813) 349-7127 (813) 349-7227 dfournier@accenthealth.com
CNN Newsource Affiliate Relations Vice President Barbara Frank (404) 827-2916 (404) 827-2482 barbara.frank@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Senior Vice President Matt Furman (404) 827-1511 (404) 827-1099 matt.furman@turner.com
CNNRadio Vice President & GM Robert Garcia (404) 827-1500 Not Listed robert.garcia@turner.com
CNNI/CNN International Executive Vice President Rena Golden (404) 827-1617 (404) 827-3319 rena.golden@turner.com
CNNI/CNN International General Manager Rena Golden (404) 827-1617 (404) 827-3319 rena.golden@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Advertising Sales President Larry Goodman (404) 827-1511 (404) 827-1099 larry.goodman@turner.com
CNN Newsource Advertising Sales President Susan Grant (404) 827-4525 (404) 827-2482 susan.grant@turner.com
Next@CNN Producer Diane Hawkins-Cox (404) 827-3481 (404) 827-4275
diane.hawkins-cox@turner.com
CNN Student News Media Relations Coordinator Heather Higgins (404) 827-5220 (404) 827-3965 heather.higgins@turner.com
CNN Airport Network Marketing Manager Melissa Hoberg (404) 827-4873 (404) 827-4434 melissa.hoberg@turner.com
CNN AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network Marketing Vice President Edith Hodkinson (212) 763-5102 (212) 763-5200 ehodkinson@accenthealth.com
CNNRadio Operations Manager Harley Hotchkiss (404) 827-3461 Not Listed harley.hotchkiss@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Chairman Walter Isaacson (404) 827-1500 (404) 827-1099 walter.isaacson@turner.com
CNN Sunday Morning Producer Susan Jalali (404) 827-1941 (404) 827-4647 susan.jalali@turner.com
CNNmoney Network President Ken Jautz (212) 714-7848 (212) 714-7838 ken.jautz@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Vice President Kathryn Kross (202) 898-7548 (202) 898-7565 kathryn.kross@turner.com
CNN Newsource Advertising Sales Senior Vice President John Lee (404) 827-5032 (404) 827-2482 john.lee@turner.com
CNN Student News Media Relations Director Mitch Leff (404) 827-5220 (404) 827-3965 mitch.leff@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Affiliate Newsgathering Director Nancy Leung (404) 827-1511 (404) 827-1099 nancy.leung@turner.com
CNN en Espanol Programming Senior Producer Willie Lora (202) 515-2990 (202) 515-2995 willie.lora@cnn.com
CNNI/CNN International Programming Vice President Eric Ludgood (404) 827-1617 (404) 827-3319 eric.ludgood@turner.com
CNN Newsource Supervisor Jason Meucci (312) 645-8542 (312) 645-8552 jason.meucci@cnn.com
CNN Student News Producer Kathy Nellis (404) 827-5432 (404) 827-3965 kathy.nellis@turner.com
CNNmoney Morning Producer Jacob Novak (212) 714-7848 (212) 714-7905 jacob.novak@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Operations Senior Vice President Cindy Patrick (404) 827-1397 (404) 827-1099 cindy.patrick@turner.com
CNNRadio Affiliate Relations Contact Ken Pauli (404) 827-2759 Not Listed cnn.radio@cnn.com
CNN Airport Network Advertising Sales Manager Allison Reid (404) 827-4032 (404) 827-4434 allison.reid@turner.com
CNN en Espanol Corporate Communications Director Caroline Rittenberry (404) 827-1035 (404) 878-0050 caroline.rittenberry@turner.com
CNNmoney Network Media Relations Director Christa Robinson (212) 714-5542 (212) 714-6925 christa.robinson@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Executive Vice President Teya Ryan (404) 827-2780 (404) 827-1099 teya.ryan@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Promotion Senior Vice President Scott Safon (404) 827-2309 (404) 827-1099 scott.safon@cnn.com
CNN Headline News Executive Vice President Rolando Santos (404) 878-1555 (404) 827-3144 rolando.santos@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Advertising Sales Vice President Howard Schemer (404) 827-2146 (404) 827-1099 howard.schemer@turner.com
CNN AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network Chairman Ray Scott (813) 349-7100 (813) 349-7200 rscott@accenthealth.com
CNNmoney Network Public Relations Coordinator John Sgro (212) 714-6921 (212) 714-7838 john.sgro@turner.com
CNN Airport Network General Manager Steven Shipowitz (404) 827-3651 (404) 827-4434 steven.shipowitz@turner.com
CNN Student News Media Relations Coordinator Valerie Shue (404) 827-4628 (404) 827-3965 valerie.shue@turner.com
CNNRadio Noticias General Manager Herb Sierra (404) 827-1220 (404) 827-1758 herb.sierra@turner.com
CNN AccentHealth Waiting Room Television Network Senior Vice President Ken Smallwood (212) 763-5119 (212) 763-5200 ksmallwood@accenthealth.com
CNN/Cable News Network Programming Vice President Lucy Spiegel (212) 714-7654 (212) 714-7935 lucy.spiegel@turner.com
CNN Tonight Producer Paul Steinhauser (404) 827-2901 (404) 878-0891 paul.steinhauser@turner.com
CNN Newsource Marketing Vice President Ed Stephen (404) 827-5475 (404) 827-2482 ed.stephen@turner.com
Next@CNN Producer Kate Tobin (404) 827-3837 (404) 827-1099 computernews@turner.com
CNN Newsource Marketing Director Tracy Vasquez (404) 827-2915 (404) 827-2482 tracy.vasquez@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Programming Editorial Producer Erin Vaughn (404) 827-1305 (404) 827-1099 erin.vaughn@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Senior Vice President Wendy Walker-Whitworth (202) 898-7696 (202) 898-7565 wendy.walker-whitworth@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network President Jim Walton (404) 878-1720 (404) 827-1099 jim.walton@turner.com
Next@CNN Producer Marsha Walton (404) 827-3299 (404) 827-1099 marsha.walton@turner.com
CNN/Cable News Network Public Relations Director Ali Weisberg (202) 515-2926 (202) 898-7565 ali.weisberg@turner.com
CNN Headline News Vice President Dave Willis (404) 827-4872 (404) 827-3144 dave.willis@turner.com
CNNRadio Corporate Communications Director Chris Wilmore (404) 827-4771 Not Listed chris.wilmore@turner.com
CNN Newsource Executive Vice President Jack Womack (404) 827-4135 (404) 827-2482 jack.womack@turner.com
Network Executives for MSNBC

Thanks for posting that list of CNN contacts. I read a very interesting opinion on the net, written by some guy in South America, that I hope CNN will run with.

He says that Judge Greer has managed to successfully accomplish a literal coup d' etat. Usually, when we think of a coup, we think of an army raiding a capitol building in some distant country. But, according to this guy, who says he knows a coup when he sees one, Judge Greer has done exactly that, and Jeb Bush has responded by tucking his tail and running away.

He goes on to say that Greer has gotten the police, who are supposed to ultimately answer to Jeb Bush, to obey him instead. Supposedly, DCF does have some legal authority to take Ms. Schiavo out of that hospice without Greers approval or the need to file a court order until after they've taken her. When they attempted to do this, the DCF was told by the police Greer had stationed that they would not be allowed to enter, and the DCF backed off.

If this is true (I wouldn't know. I really don't know anything about who has jurisdiction over what), then Jeb Bush has allowed Judge Greer to pull off a successful coup d' etat in Florida, and I don't think Jeb Bush is smart enough to even realize what has happened.

If CNN and the other news networks could be convinced to see it this way and broadcast it, I think it could be even more damaging to Bush. (I say more damaging, because he's already done plenty to make himself look like a fool.)

kim.bondy@turner.com,bob.brienza@turner.com,sue.bunda@turner.com,fred.burrows@turner.com,karen.curry@turner.com,rj.fletcher@turner.com,barbara.frank@turner.com,matt.furman@turner.com



RE: CNN, which aired a Vasilinda story on Terri Schiavo on Thursday, did not return phone calls seeking comment.


Hello:

CAN WE PLEASE have some independently reported new? Not 'paid for' news .

SMILE: CNN: You're on Democratic Underground: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3365057

RE this article: http://www.heraldtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050326/NEWS/503260408/1060
".....On Friday, Vasilinda told the Herald-Tribune that his business dealings with state government don't influence his reporting.......
But Bob Steele, a journalism ethics professor at the Poynter Institute in St. Petersburg, said Vasilinda's state government work "certainly raises some red flags."

Here is some information about Shiavo and what is taking place in FL:


all associated links are here: http://nashuaadvocate.blogspot.com/2005/03/schiavo-gate.html



Five protesters were arrested outside Schiavo's hospice on Easter Sunday (3/27) for various criminal acts;
Protestors traveled to the home of Michael Schiavo on Easter to throw flowers on his lawn, also a crime (albeit a victimless one);
The Guardian is now reporting that Terri Schiavo's father, Robert, who has expressed nothing but contempt for his son-in-law Michael, in fact made the same decision as Michael in pulling the plug on his own mother after only a week (not fifteen years) of illness; according to The Guardian, "given the vehemence with which he has been fighting to prolong Terri's life, it is a little surprising to learn that Robert decided to turn off the life-support system for his mother. She was 79 at the time, and had been ill with pneumonia for a week...";
As reported by The Nashua Advocate, a boxcutter-wielding religious fanatic was arrested in Seminole, Florida for armed robbery of a gun store; the man's plan had been to use firearms from the robbery to "save Terri Schiavo";
A North Carolina religious fanatic was charged by the F.B.I. with offering money for murder in the Schiavo case; the man, Richard Alan Meywes, offered "a $250,000 bounty for the murder of Michael Schiavo... a $50,000 bounty for the death of a judge in the case";
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that when the Congressional ring-leader of the Schiavo fiasco, Texas Representative Tom DeLay (R), was faced with the same decision as the Schiavo family, he pulled the plug, an act which he now describes as one of barbarism;
The Miami Herald is reporting that Florida Governor Jeb Bush (R) secretly green-lighted a plan to have state officials kidnap Schiavo from her hospice, an act which not only ran contrary to (and was a patent attempt to contravene) the clear intentions of the Circuit Judge overseeing the Schiavo case, but also risked, according to The Herald, "a constitutional crisis and a standoff between dueling lawmen," a crisis which had one local police official concerned about violence at the hospice, and "whether had enough officers to hold off the National Guard";
In an act which stunned medical ethicists the nation over, the Republican Senate Majority Leader, Bill Frist (R-TN), a doctor, diagnosed Terri Schiavo publicly after merely seeing a videotape of her in her hospice bed; many wondered how and why Frist was allowed to keep his medical license after this black eye to doctors everywhere (perhaps it's because he was overshadowed by the bevy of radical Republican doctors who publicly proclaimed that it was and is possible to "rehab" a liquified cerebral cortex);
It took President Bush more than four days to say anything publicly about the murder of ten Minnesotans, including five schoolchildren by an armed juvenile assailant, but he was able to leave his bed at 1:11 A.M. to sign an unconstitutional bill of attainder granting Terri Schiavo special rights unavailable to any other American (it has also been pointed out that Bush's proposed policies on tort reform and Medicaid would have led to Schiavo's death fourteen years ago, making the President's sudden concern for the brain-dead woman incalculably crass and craven);
Pinellas County Circuit Court Judge George Greer, a devout Southern Baptist and the primary trial court judge in the Schiavo affair, was thrown out of his church by his pastor due to his legal decisions in the Schiavo case; The Buffalo News is reporting also that Greer has received death threats and has been under the protection of armed guards for some time, due to countless threats from religious zealots;
Randall Terry, the radical anti-abortion activist who is, oddly, acting as the Schindler's personal spokesman, has called the Pinellas police "Nazis" and, according to NBC, is organizing a "march on Washington" for Monday (3/28);
Hal Turner, a conservative radio talk show host and former G.O.P. County Chair (in New Jersey) has issued a statement which includes the following incitement and solicitation of murder: "I advocate the use of force to rescue Terri Schiavo from being starved to death. I further advocate the killing of anyone who interferes with such rescue";
Radical conservative media outlets, as well as protestors outside Schiavo's hospice, are publicly proclaiming the brain-dead Florida woman to be the second coming of Christ, and comparing Michael Schiavo to Judas and Florida Governor Jeb Bush to Pontius Pilate (see also here, here, and here, for more heretical deification of the 41 year-old Florida woman, and here for our favorite article, "Terri Schiavo Is Dying for Our Sins," which advocates "limiting judicial powers, reorganizing courts, and impeaching judicial tyrants");
The infamous and controversial website, GOPUSA.com, is publicly advocating the immediate impeachment of any and all U.S. judges, at both the state and federal levels, who do not believe Terri Schiavo's feeding tube should be forcibly reinserted against her explicit pre-hospitalization wishes; the site describes pro-right-to-die judges as "Grim Reapers in black robes";
MSNBC analyst Pat Buchanan implied that the doctors who removed Schiavo's feeding tube should be "put on trial for crimes against humanity" in a manner no different than Nazi-era doctors; radical conservative radio host Michael Savage (who, amazingly, has never yet been arrested for criminal solicitation to violence, or sued civilly for incitement to violence) had this to say: "the radical Democratic left is an army of soulless ghouls. Being of the living dead, they live in a world of death and try to impose it on we the living...what is difficult for we the living to comprehend is the reason they can engage in such anti-life abominations is because they have no souls...they can rip an emerging child from the womb, murder it, and call this a compassionate act. Like Mengele--the doctor of death from the Nazi concentration camps--the radical, soulless Democrats keep referring to 'the doctors,' as if a medical degree guaranteed humanity."

I'm reading Tom Fenton's book 'Bad News' and it outlines all the nails in the coffin when it comes to the MSM/News. Fenton's book is pretty down the middle, but worth reading.....When it comes to CNN I long ago gave up.

:kick:

smashing Inevitable ("Because we say so") Clinton