News
The Salahis, Congress and the Celebrity-Industrial Complex
Andrew Belonsky :: Wednesday, January 20th, 2010 12:10 pm
It’s hard not to be disappointed in Washington these days. The health care debate’s dragging on. There’s an unemployment crisis. Scott Brown has won a seat on the Senate. As you can probably tell, there’s ample material for critical fodder. As if this weren’t enough, there’s Tareq and Michaele Salahi, who gained fame after crashing a state dinner at 1600. Everyone under the sun, from officials to the public, was absolutely furious, of course, and the Secret Service launched an official investigation into the matter. Apparently, that wasn’t enough, because Congress also launched its own review. Already, some of the stylists involved with the Salahis, arriving in a stretch SUV limo, have faced a grand jury, and today the Salahis themselves will plead the fifth before the House Subcommittee on Homeland Security. The appearance won’t amount to much. It does, however, mark the final thrust in Washington and Hollywood’s tawdry affair.
News
Fox’s PAC, News America Holdings, Full of Surprises
Andrew Belonsky :: Thursday, January 14th, 2010 11:30 am
If people were perplexed by news of Sarah Palin’s decision to become a “news analyst,” they were hardly shocked by her choice of television real estate: Fox News. It seems like a perfect political fit, of course, and one that Palin highlighted on the O’Reilly Factor this week when she said she looked forward to presenting “fair and balanced” views while on the air, rather than buying into other network’s “biased journalism.” Cue the collective, all-too-familiar groan: “How can they even claim to be fair and balanced?” And that’s definitely true – on the surface. A deeper look at News Corp’s political action committee, News America Holdings, reveals a more complex network: one that exhibits surprising trends.
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