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Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Sale of Philadelphia newspapers to Dem operatives raises bias concerns

The secret, that everyone who pays attention to knows, is that the media is owned by the liberal NWO banksters anyway, the owners of these are just more blatantly apparent.

I think they think they can do anything they want to now and we can’t stop them! They forced Obamacare down our throats in spite of overwhelming public opposition with an unconstitutional legislative maneuver on a Christmas Eve and got away with it. They think they are now bullet proof.

One group led by ex-governor Rendell

By Dave Boyer, The Washington Times, Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell leads a group seeking to buy Philadelphia's two daily newspapers. "Nobody wants to stifle news," he said of concerns about his ownership. (Associated Press)Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell leads a group seeking to buy Philadelphia’s two daily newspapers. “Nobody wants to stifle news,” he said of concerns about his ownership. (Associated Press)

Philadelphia’s two daily newspapers have long been accused of liberal bias, but critics say a group of potential buyers led by former Gov. Ed Rendell would turn the papers into mere mouthpieces of the Democratic Party in a 2012 swing state.

Mr. Rendell, a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is teaming with George Norcross, the Democratic Party boss of southern New Jersey, and others in an effort to purchase the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News and the company’s website, philly.com.

There is reportedly at least one other bidder for the media company, the most influential in Pennsylvania, though that party has not publicly identified itself.

“The prospect of Rendell’s group owning the newspapers is like the foxes watching the henhouse and all of the sacred cows,” said Paul Davies, former deputy editorial page editor at the Inquirer. “Essentially, the Inquirer will cease to exist as a legitimate newspaper. It will become the insiders’ house organ.”

Mr. Rendell said on a talk-radio show this week that this deal would not be the first time powerful people with an “ideological bent,” such as Rupert Murdoch, have tried to purchase a media company. He also noted that the 183-year-old Inquirer was owned for decades by Republican businessman Walter Annenberg, and said his group is simply trying to save the financially troubled papers.

“Nobody wants to stifle news,” said Mr. Rendell, a two-term mayor of Philadelphia in the 1990s.

Journalists at both papers are so concerned that nearly 300 of them signed a public statement last week calling on the current and any future owners to protect the integrity of their reporting. They said the current owner, Philadelphia Media Network (PMN), has censored their coverage of the sale.

“As The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily News and Philly.com have gone up for sale once again, we watched with dismay as our own coverage of the process was compromised and censored,” the statement says.

PMN Publisher Greg Osberg denied any censorship.

PMN acquired the papers in bankruptcy proceedings in 2010 from a local group of owners led by Republican businessman Brian Tierney.

During his turbulent tenure as publisher in the heavily Democratic city, Mr. Tierney came under fire for bringing aboard conservative columnists at the Inquirer such as Rick Santorum, now a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, and John Yoo, a Bush administration official who helped write the legal justification for “enhanced interrogation techniques” against terrorism suspects.

Enhanced interrogation was on the mind of the loquacious Mr. Rendell, who became so exasperated at the uproar about his potential ownership of the papers that he pledged not to talk about it anymore.

“You’re going to have to waterboard me,” he told a reporter.

His vow of silence ended two days later, when he told WPHT-AM in Philadelphia that his group of investors would consider a pledge of noninterference with the newspapers’ coverage.

“Our group, I’m certain, would be willing to enter into some agreement with the reportorial staff that we wouldn’t influence any of their news reporting,” Mr. Rendell said.

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