Who are the most powerful in the UK’s media right now? Dugald Baird Christine Oliver
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• Rating cut by three notches to Ca, one notch above default • Warning bailout sets a negative precedent for investors Ratings agency Moody’s has cut Greece’s debt rating by three notches to Ca on Monday, leaving it just one notch above what is considered default, and said the chance of a default is now “virtually 100%”. The ratings agency warned that last week’s bailout package agreed by eurozone leaders will make it easier for Greece to reduce its debt, but the country still faced medium-term solvency challenges and there were significant risks in implementing the required reforms. “The announced EU programme implies that the probability of a distressed exchange, and hence a default, on Greek government bonds is virtually 100%,” the agency said. “[Greece's] stock of debt will still be well in excess of 100% of GDP for many years and it will still face very significant implementation risks to fiscal and economic reform,” it added. The ratings agency is wary that the eurozone bailout package sets a negative precedent for investors. “The support package sets a precedent for future restructurings should the finances of another euro area sovereign become as problematic as those of Greece,” Moody’s said. According to the ratings agency, obligations rated Ca are highly speculative and are likely in, or very near, default, with some prospect of recovery of principal and interest. The outlook is developing. Standard & Poor’s and Fitch have already downgraded Greece to CCC, one notch above Moody’s. European debt crisis Greece Europe Ratings agencies guardian.co.uk
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Social Media in Today’s Society Another Reason to Avoid Facebook Etc: Social Media Background Checks – 21/07/11 Companies now doing social media background checks tracyrenee70 says: Start-Up Handles Social Media Background Checks – NYTimes.com: http://t.co/y0ge267
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Click here to view this media Republican presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty Sunday accused President Barack Obama of “hiding in the basement” instead of speaking to the American people directly about his plan to raise the debt ceiling. “As important as the debt ceiling is, the other issues of whether we’re going to fix the spending problems of the country also deserve attention, and if not now, when?” Pawlenty told CNN’s Candy Crowley. “He’s ducking, he’s bobbing, he’s weaving, he’s not leading leading, and that’s not the kind of president we need. And that’s why he needs to be removed from office.” “We should say that apparently with Speaker Boehner, he has talked about some of these reforms,” Crowley noted. “In hiding,” Pawlenty interrupted. “If you’re the leader of the of the free world, would you please come to the microphone and quit hiding in the basement about your proposals and come on up and address the American people? Is he chicken?” “Is he?” Crowley pressed. “I love Paul Ryan, but we should not have to have a congressman from Wisconsin leading the debate on the nation’s financial challenges in one of the most historically moments in the country’s history. The president should be standing out courageously and leading on these issues specifically, and you can’t find him,” Pawlenty said. “If we wanted to do it in private, we can go down to the VFW basement. I can go have a beer with my neighbor over that. He’s the president. Come on out of the basement and come out to the lawn of the White House to the microphone and tell us your plan on entitlement reform and he won’t do it because he doesn’t have the courage to do it.” But Obama has spoken to the American people about the need to raise the debt ceiling in a series of interviews and press conferences in recent days. “President Obama has been spending more time in the White House briefing room that a C-Span cameraman the past couple of weeks,” Mediate’s Tommy Christopher observed Sunday. And the White House has presented the public with the same proposal to raise the debt ceiling as past administrations. “Our very strong view is that the debt limit should be passed as a clean, standalone bill,” Office of Management and Budget director Jack Lew told Bloomberg TV in April. “It has always been a straight up or down vote,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) said Thursday . “The new leadership in the House has decided that they want to add some budget cuts or other considerations to this vote, because that is their preference, and they are the leadership, so we are in this quagmire.” “The problem here is that there are two issues tied together that shouldn’t be,” Christopher opined. “If Republicans want to see a ‘plan’ to avoid a default, here it is: raise the goddam debt ceiling. Is that specific enough?”
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• Markit household finance index drops to two-and-a-half-year low • Hometrack reports widening divide in housing market A sustained decline in living standards, soaring inflation and worries about job prospects sent the UK’s main index of household finances down last month to its lowest level since the depths of the recession, adding to concerns that the chancellor, George Osborne, needs to make greater efforts to boost the economy. The Markit household finance index dropped to its lowest level for two and a half years, marking eight months of falling consumer confidence . A survey of the housing market also painted a gloomy picture, with only 8% of postcodes posting a small rise, all of them in London. Hometrack, the property data company, noted a widening north-south and east-west divide, with a 0.3% rise in prices across the south-east and East Anglia, compared with a 0.6% decline in the south-west. Vince Cable, the business secretary, highlighted the growing alarm in cabinet at the poor state of the economy when he said that growth was so worryingly weak that the Bank of England should undertake another round of monetary expansion through quantitative easing. Cable believes that without further action Britain could wait many years for a recovery after being locked into a long L-shaped recession. “There is a genuine problem with demand, especially consumer demand,” he said, speaking ahead of Tuesday’s second-quarter UK growth estimates, which are likely to show minimal or no growth, way below what the Treasury needs if it is to meet its three-times downgraded 1.7% growth forecast for this year. A year ago the Office for Budget Responsibility was forecasting 2.3%. Cable was careful to follow Osborne’s argument that looser monetary policy is preferable to a U-turn on tax increases and spending cuts. Speaking on the BBC, Cable said: “If there is a sustained period of weakness of demand, the right approach to that is not for the government to relax its fiscal discipline. We have to keep that going. “It is about the Bank of England pursuing policies of low interest rates, which also help keep our exchange rate down and help exports, but also using expansion, quantitative easing in more imaginative ways, not just in acquiring government securities.” Osborne appeared to rely on deregulation and promised corporation tax as his chief weapon to combat stagnation. He told the Sunday Telegraph he wanted to do away “with very high rates of tax that only damage growth and enterprise”. His remarks reflect frustration that public spending has not been cut as planned, leaving the deficit higher than forecast. In another sign of cabinet nerves, Kenneth Clarke, the justice secretary, spoke of “icebergs” facing the UK economy, which he said were “probably the worst in the lifetime of anyone now living”. Clarke, a past chancellor of the exchequer, said that it might take another two to four years for the economy to recover. The minutes of the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee have shown board members increasingly willing to try more quantitative easing if inflation falls and the economy is not growing. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, warned that unless the UK economy grew by 0.8%, Osborne’s borrowing would rise above current forecasts. “Simply to be on track for his plans, the economy’s got to grow by 0.8%,” he said. “I don’t hear many people in the City who think that’s going to work. If it doesn’t work, it undermines his credibility.” A study of wages over the past 30 years found that the bottom half of earners have seen their share of GDP fall by a quarter, at the same time as the share going to the top 1% of earners increased by half. The report, Missing Out, by the thinktank Resolution Foundation said that of each £100 of GDP, only £12 is paid as wages to the bottom half of earners, down from £16 in 1977. In comparison, £3 is paid to the top 1% of earners, up from £2 in 1977. The report said: “The largest factor explaining the declining fortunes of the bottom half of earners is the growing gap between the best and worst paid. Inequality has increased in all sectors – from finance to retail – resulting in a wage squeeze for ordinary workers.” Consumer spending Economics Housing market Vince Cable George Osborne Kenneth Clarke Ed Balls Quantitative easing Interest rates Tax and spending Bank of England Patrick Wintour Phillip Inman guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media By now, there’s no question in anyone’s mind that the tragic Norway shootings are the work of a right-wing extremist who appears to at least have been influenced by web sites like StormFront.org, among others. But watch these Fox talkers avoid it completely, even in the beginning, where they open up by asking if this can “really be compared to the Oklahoma City bombings.” Not only do they deny it, they manage to turn everything on its head to portray the guy as someone with a deep fear of Islamic extremists. By far, the most intellectually dishonest and insidious part of this report is the characterization of Anders Behring Breivik as a “domestic extremist.” I defy anyone here to explain exactly what the hell a domestic extremist is. Seriously. Taking apart this silly video step by step, let’s begin with who they decided to put on as an “analyst”. Fox News “correspondent” Catherine Herridge, author of the book ” The Next Wave: On the Hunt for Al Qaeda’s American Recruits “. Just to give you a flavor of her thought processes, here’s a small snippet from her book from a section recording her thoughts during the KSM tribunal: So Janet fixes the sketch to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s satisfaction. Within minutes, the sketch is carried to our live shot position on the tarmac about 50 yards from the courthouse. It is filmed by the pool TV crew and then broadcast to millions. Later in the evening, I sit on the equipment box near the live shot position. The sun is dropping like a red, hot ball into the Cuban hills. “Who’s in control,” I say under my breath. “Us or the terrorists?” There you go. Typical Fox News them-or-us thinking, resplendent with lots of fear of the brown guys. Now, on to the transcript: ANCHOR: Many comparisons made to the Oklahoma City bombing. Are they valid? HERRIDGE: Well, I think they are valid. I spoke with a US official last night in Oslo and I said “Hey, is this Oklahoma City comparison appropriate” and they said absolutely because on the face of it, based on what we know from the investigation, it’s a case of domestic extremism and there do not appear to be any known links to an outside terrorist group. We’ve had a series of arrests this morning but it really does appear to be an act that was driven by a single suspect or lone wolf operative , Dave. DAVE: And it’s this guy, Anders Brevik who was not hiding his extremism, he had this video online, he was very active in social media. How was this missed and is that the takeaway? … Can someone please tell me what a “domestic extremist” is other than a euphemism for Fox News avoiding their responsibility to report the truth to their viewers? As Dave pointed out yesterday , this is part of the reason these people get away with what they do. As you can see, the host is getting away with blaming social media, Norway’s law enforcement authorities for not monitoring social media more closely for people like this, and just about everything but coming out with the truth: Brevik was not a “domestic extremist.” He is a radical right-wing cultural warrior who has been influenced by many different people, including Tim Phillips, director of Freedomworks , apparently. Herridge, instead of discussing the fundamental problem here, spends an inordinate amount of time blaming the Internet for his views. There is some truth to what she says. It’s easy to turn social media, blogs, and other content into an echo chamber which then magnifies anger and hate. Just have a look at Andrew Breitbart’s timeline sometime for an example. He specializes in that kind of tactic. Still, it’s beside the point. The point here is that Brevik espoused extreme right-wing political positions and acted on them to inflict political mayhem on his countrymen. Let’s not forget that he didn’t just target a random group of people. He chose to target the youth movement of the current political party in power, which is further evidence of just how far he was willing to go to eradicate opposition. Unfortunately, deluded Fox News viewers will just go on thinking he was some sort of amorphous ‘extremist’ deluded by social media. Business as usual.
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The LA Galaxy star may seek an ambassadorial role rather than coach when his playing career comes to an end The sun is beating down on the Home Depot Centre, the grinding routine of training is over for another day and David Beckham is making his way to the side of the pitch, looking every inch the modern‑day American superstar. Outside, on Avalon Boulevard, there are already photographers gathering, just as they do every day when Beckham has
Continue reading …Fox Business correspondent Gasparino falsley claims network has covered Murdoch scandal ‘very seriously’
July 24, 2011 No Comment
Click here to view this media Fox Business Network senior correspondent Charlie Gasparino insisted Sunday that the Fox News Channel and the Fox Business Network had provided adequate coverage of the scandal involving their parent company News Corp. “It’s a story, we’ve been covering it a lot,” Gasparino told ABC’s Christiane Amanpour. “Thank God I cover Wall Street. I don’t have to report on my boss.” “If you look at this from a purely business standpoint, you know, the market — I think the stock fell to $13 a share. Nineteen was the high. After Rupert Murdoch spoke [to Parliament], it went up to $17 a share. When they heard his explanation, they believed him. Confidence was returning back to the company.” “Actually, the coverage on Fox and The Wall Street Journal of the story has been embarrassing for journalism,” The Huffington Post’s Arianna Huffington pointed out. “Editorials in The Wall Street Journal — forget Fox, nobody really expects Fox to do this seriously…” “Fox has covered this very seriously, Arianna,” Gasparino objected. ” The Wall Street Journal ‘s editorial is whitewashing what is a very serious scandal that we have not seen the end of,” Huffington continued. “I think we have covered this well. We have straight news reporters that have covered this all day,” Gasparino claimed. In fact, the Pew Research Center found that Fox News’ coverage of the Murdoch scandal trailed far behind CNN and MSNBC between July 6 and July 15. Fox News had devoted less than 30 minutes to the story, while CNN and MSNBC each devoted over 140 minutes.
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Hundreds of gay and lesbian couples wed on the day New York state legalises same-sex marriage
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Local authorities must protect budgets, says Lord Moynihan, as drive to get more people playing sport falters The chairman of the British Olympic Association , Lord Moynihan, has called on the government to make local authority spending on recreation facilities mandatory to bring about a “sea change” in faltering attempts to boost the number of people playing sport as an Olympic legacy. With just over a year to the London Games, Sport England and the government have admitted they are highly unlikely to hit the target set by the previous administration of getting 1 million more people playing sport at least three times a week by 2013. “Local authorities should be mandated to provide recreational facilities, as they are in Scotland, rather than it being the first thing to go in difficult economic times,” said Moynihan, a former Conservative sports minister. “That should be one of the components of an overall sports legacy programme. We need to leave a sports legacy of a different magnitude from the one we had before we were awarded the Games.” Heavy cuts to local authority budgets have raised fears that non-statutory leisure budgets will be among the first to be hit, more than cancelling out any increased investment linked to the Games. Lord Coe, chairman of the London organising committee, helped win the Games for London on the back of a series of promises about the legacy they would leave. In addition to regenerating east London and inspiring young people through sport, the government resolved to boost the number of active adults. Labour set a target of 1 million more playing sport three or more times a week, and a further million engaging in more physical activity by 2013. Sport England was charged with delivering the first of those missions. More than halfway through the four-year period covered by the Whole Sport Plan , in which £480m is being invested through sports governing bodies, the figure has gone up by just 100,000. The number of people playing no sport at all has continued to increase. “It’s important to have a target, but it’s precise numerical character is not that important, because this is not going to be achieved by lots of little steps,” said Sport England’s chief executive, Jennie Price. “It’s creating that critical mass and momentum.” Price said that she believed the approach could still bear fruit if it reached a tipping point, but only if more sports followed the lead of cycling and netball and fundamentally rethought their approach. “It has to be participant-led. They can do this, but they have to do it now in order to maintain confidence in their ability to deliver.” The sports minister, Hugh Robertson, said: “I don’t think we should be under any illusion whatsoever that this is going to be a very tough ask. It’s trying to do something that no other Olympic city has achieved.” He added: “What you’re seeing now is partly the teething problems of a new system and partly the fact that we underestimated how long it would take to turn this ship around. We are discovering that the hard way.” Seventeen sports have seen a decrease in the number of people participating once a week since 2007-08, while only four – athletics, mountaineering, netball and table tennis – have recorded a statistically significant increase. The Football Association , the Rugby Football Union and the Lawn Tennis Association have all launched mass participation schemes in an attempt to shift their stalled figures. If they do not, the government has said their funding will be severely cut from 2013. In a bid to tackle the failing participation legacy scheme, a new £135m strategy dubbed Places, People, Play was announced last autumn. Price said it was too soon to say whether the Whole Sport Plan investment had failed. ” We created a very different sort of system in which we said here is the money and here are the very specific results we want. It took a while for the governing bodies to realise we meant it – and also to realise what they needed to do.” Sport England’s review Basketball : Has “struggled to address the decline in weekly participation among young people aged between 16 and 19″. Recently had its funding award docked for failing to deliver. Cricket : Faces a “significant challenge” to achieve its 2013 participation target, with the number of adults playing the game in gradual decline. But satisfaction among those playing cricket continues to increase and more women are playing. Cycling : Provides “some of the best examples of a national governing body working hard to understand and satisfy its customers” with mass participation initiatives such as Skyride . Football : The FA “is not currently on track to achieve its four-year target for growing participation”. Its new Just Play initiative will be critical. Netball : An “excellent example of a governing body taking a participant-centred approach to its work”. Has “developed a really significant understanding about what current and former players want from the game”. Rugby union : Recently had its funding docked for missing targets, must focus on small sided, tag and touch rugby alongside the traditional 15-a-side game if it is to grow participation. Swimming : “Has failed to generate growth in swimming participation and needs to continue to improve its activities.” Needs to focus on converting infrequent swimmers into weekly participants. Tennis : “The next six months are critical if the LTA is to reverse the downward trend in weekly tennis participation and maintain current levels of investment.” Olympic Games 2012 Sport politics Sebastian Coe Local politics Conservatives Labour Communities Health Local government Owen Gibson guardian.co.uk
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