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Blog and Media Roundup - Sunday, Feb 8, 2009; News Roundup
Topic Started: Feb 8 2009, 05:13 AM (349 Views)
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http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/columns/story/1397932.html


Published: Feb 08, 2009 12:30 AM
Modified: Feb 08, 2009 12:23 AM

Looking at a lobbyist-newsletter relationship
Ted Vaden, Staff Writer Comment on this story
The relationship between one of The News & Observer's subsidiary publications and a Raleigh lobbyist has raised questions about independence of news coverage.

The N&O last month launched an e-mail newsletter called N.C. Legislative HealthWatch to cover health-related legislation in the General Assembly. The newsletter is written by Harrison J. Kaplan, a lawyer with the firm of McGuire Woods in Raleigh.

It is produced in partnership with The Insider, a state government affairs newsletter owned by The N&O. The Insider does the production, distribution and marketing of the health care newsletter, for which a subscription costs $399 a year.

Kaplan is an experienced and respected lobbyist in the General Assembly whose list of clients includes some large health care organizations. Among them are drug companies Novartis and Purdue Pharma, radiology firm MedSolutions, the American Heart Association and others. Those ties to health care interests prompted questions from Adam Searing, project director of the N.C. Justice Center's Health Access Coalition.

"(T)his new partnership raises questions about whether a health industry lobbyist should be joining with one of the largest media companies in the state to report on health issues," Searing wrote in a blog for N.C. Policy Watch, a liberal public policy advocacy group. "What gets reported on in this sort of newsletter may well end up in the more mainstream media. And, even with good will and the best of intentions all around, Kaplan's business provides an appearance of a conflict of interest regarding how and what he chooses to cover."

(Full disclosure: N&O publisher Orage Quarles III is on the Justice Center board.)

Kaplan said that criticism reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the newsletter. It is intended not as a traditional news coverage medium, he said, but as an insider tip sheet for health care attorneys and other professionals following bills in the legislature. "The purpose is not to report the news like the newspaper does," he told me. "It was to let people know what is happening down at the legislature from someone who is down there all the time."

Kaplan noted that he produced the same newsletter on his own for eight years, until 2006, when he gave it up because of the administrative headaches associated with production and marketing. Partnership with the Insider gives him the opportunity to resume his reporting without the backshop work.

Clifton Dowell, general manager of the Insider, said he saw the relationship as a way to expand the company's legislative newsletter franchise without having to staff it internally. Such a publication covering covering bill summaries and legislative process requires specialized legal training and familiarly with the legislature, he said. "We knew we would have to contract with someone to drive it because we just can't employ someone who has the expertise."

Dowell said Kaplan is compensated based on the success of subscription sales.

Kaplan and Dowell both said they saw no conflict between Kaplan's reporting product and his representation of clients who might be affected by the material he covers. His lobbying work is known by potential subscribers, who would be buying his expertise, and if anyone perceived slanted coverage they wouldn't buy the newsletter, they said. "It's a valid question, but when you investigate it, it's just a misunderstanding," Kaplan said. "My track record is pretty good. People can decide for themselves. If it doesn't serve the purpose I say it does, they're not going to buy it."

John Drescher, executive editor of The News & Observer, said he doesn't see any conflict with The N&O's news coverage mission because the Insider and HealthWatch are separate entities not associated with his newsroom. "We're completely independent from them. I have no control over them, and they have no control over me. So it's not anything that would compromise the independence of the newsroom."

Drescher said material from Kaplan's newsletter would not end up in The N&O. He said the important thing is that there be full disclosure to potential subscribers who Kaplan is and what he does for a living.

The Insider's promotional material for HealthWatch discloses that Kaplan follows health care and related issues for McGuireWoods Consulting, but it does not specify that he represents clients in the industry or who they are.

This is a tricky issue for The N&O, which is trying to find new opportunities in the information marketplace as it deals with declining advertising revenues for the traditional newspaper. The decline is related to the growth of the Internet and the miserable economy.

To be successful, the company has to be more entrepreneurial, but that places it in unfamiliar territory. The newspaper itself would never have gone into partnership with a lobbyist whose clients' interests he may be writing about.

As Drescher indicates, there are information firewalls between the newspaper and the newsletters, intended to secure the independence of the newspaper reporting. But it's apparent, from questions that have been raised by Searing and others, that even fairly sophisticated observers don't automatically grasp the distinction. People are going to associate the product of the subsidiary publications with The News & Observer brand.

HealthWatch is a subsidiary, arms-length publication that, no doubt, offers value to health care professionals that derives in large part from Kaplan's expertise. People, after all, pay him for his knowledge and experience. Still, I think The N&O has to be careful about the relationship. At the least, the Insider and HealthWatch need to disclose more fully Kaplan's lobbying interests.

The Public Editor can be reached at ted.vaden@newsobserver.com or by calling (919) 836-5700.
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/durham/4-1091761.cfm?

ACLU wants Obama backers
BY MATT GOAD : The Herald-Sun
mgoad@heraldsun.com
Feb 8, 2009

DURHAM -- When ACLU leaders gathered Saturday in Durham, the message was that they were happy with President Obama's election, but that they want to avoid complacency.

The North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union met at the American Tobacco Campus for an awards presentation, with the national president of the ACLU, Susan Herman, as the keynote speaker.

Herman said she hoped the ACLU could recruit Barack Obama supporters who were energized to get involved in politics for the first time in the 2008 election.

"The reasons they wanted Obama are the same reasons we exist," Herman said.

Herman said she was glad to hear Obama say in his inaugural address that the nation doesn't have to give up liberties to be safe, and that he signed an executive order closing the Guantanamo Bay detention facility, but she added that the ACLU must still pay attention to the details.

If detainees are just moved to other facilities where they continue to be held indefinitely, nothing has been won, she said.

The ACLU is at odds with Obama over the death penalty, which he supports.

In her state of the ALCU-NC address, Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the North Carolina ACLU, gave a list of state issues the organization will continue to push, leading with education on the case of Smithfield-based Aero Contractors reported involvement with extraordinary rendition of terrorism suspects to countries known for torture.

Other issues the ACLU will focus on in 2009, Rudinger said, include the Forsyth County sectarian prayer before county commissioners meetings; a case in Winston-Salem where two lesbian teens were suspended from high school for hugging in the hallway; a House bill that offers a two-track sex education program, one track an abstinence-only class; and policies to restrict the use of Tasers on children, pregnant women, the disabled and passive resisters.

The Frank Porter Graham Award was given at the ceremony to Bertha "B" Merrill Holt, a longtime activist for women's rights, religious liberty, racial justice and other causes. A onetime law student at UNC, Holt served in the N.C. House of Representatives from 1975-1994.

The Rev. William J. Barber II was awarded the Paul Green Award for opposition to the death penalty. Barber has worked against the death penalty as president of the North Carolina conference of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Shirley Andersen of the Wake County chapter was the winner of the Norman Smith Award for extraordinary volunteer efforts.
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http://heraldsun.southernheadlines.com/opinion/hsedits/56-1088866.cfm

Seek options to expanding jail
Feb 8, 2009

We're all for new projects to revitalize downtown. But we're not so sure expanding the Durham County Jail falls into that category.

It was good to see Durham County Commissioners expressing skepticism about a jail expansion projection in the county's preliminary capital improvement plan for 2010 to 2019 -- $155 million to nearly double the facility's size and capacity.

For starters, the increase in the project's estimated cost has been astronomical, from $60 million in 2007 to two-and-a-half times that in the latest estimate.

There's also the fact that, when the jail was planned and built in the early 1990s, there wasn't much else going on downtown. Now the jail is next door to the new Durham Performing Arts Center, the revitalized American Tobacco complex, the Durham Bulls Athletic Park and the new Diamond View office buildings.

It turns out the jail occupies a prime piece of downtown real estate. We question whether an expansion there makes sense.

At a meeting this week, County Manager Mike Ruffin and commissioners were thinking the same thing.

"I believe we should first explore something off-site," Ruffin said. "I fully support that," said Commissioner Ellen Reckhow.

The other question is whether an expansion is needed at all. The increase in inmate population is driving the supposed need.

In 1994, when the new jail was under construction, the total number of inmates in Durham was 300. In May of last year, it was 631, or about 100 inmates below the current jail's capacity. As of Wednesday, the number of inmates was 568, according to a Sheriff's Office official.

Durham isn't alone. Across the nation, jails and prisons are overcrowded. The U.S. imprisons more of its citizens than any other country, even China, which has four times our population. And the prison population is disproportionately composed of young African-American males.

Before expanding the jail, we need to think not only about what would be the best location, but also about ways to reduce the prison population so that an expansion becomes unnecessary.
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http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/feb/08/books-the-associate/


BOOKS: The Associate
Christian Toto (Contact)

THE ASSOCIATE By John Grisham
Doubleday, $27.95, 384 pages
REVIEWED BY CHRISTIAN TOTO

The inspiration for John Grisham's latest novel, "The Associate," could have come from 2006's notorious Duke lacrosse rape case. It wouldn't be the first time the author turned a headline into a best-seller — "A Time to Kill" also spun from an actual legal case.

But Mr. Grisham's new book also shares a connection with the novelist's own past.

It's hard to read about "The Associate's" Kyle McAvoy and not recall Mitch McDeere, the protagonist from his first literary smash, "The Firm."

Both feature young, cocky lawyers who get themselves in way over their heads when they join their first giant law firm. And "The Associate" should similarly satiate the author's flock — at least until its remarkably drab conclusion.

"The Associate" is the more cynical of the two books, spreading mistrust around to not just the courts but also greedy arms dealers and the modern spy game. It's a conspiracy story gussied up as a legal thriller.

Kyle is about to graduate at the top of his class from Yale Law School when an incident from his past threatens his future.

Years ago, he belonged to a fraternity that treated a local coed like a sexual plaything — with her consent. One day, Kyle and some of his aggressive frat brothers crossed the consensual line, but potential rape charges were dropped. Problem solved, or so Kyle thought.

Now, a creepy man named Bennie has a video of the night in question taken from a cell phone, and he uses it to blackmail Kyle into joining one of the largest law firms in the world, Scully & Pershing. Bennie wants Kyle to infiltrate the firm and steal some of its secrets — information regarding a massive lawsuit involving the Pentagon and weapons sales.

Kyle must do precisely as Bennie wants or he'll be part of a media circus that could derail his ambitions indefinitely at best — or end with him behind bars.

Mr. Grisham cranks out page turners, not Pulitzer Prize-winning prose. His writing here is perfunctory, nothing more. What makes a Grisham novel snap is the dizzying events surrounding the main characters as well as the author's intimate feel for legalese.

Mr. Grisham breaks down complex regulations, and the cutthroat attorneys who live and die by their arcane rules, with a grace even his detractors must envy. It doesn't take a law degree to appreciate the behind-the-scenes maneuvering behind Kyle's plight.

Small details, like false deadlines meant to humiliate green associates and partners who urge their underlings to fudge billable hours, give complexity and color to a story that doesn't derive either from traditional sources.

The phrase "billable hours," drawn and quartered here by Mr. Grisham, becomes akin to an obscenity long before the book ends.

The story's modest romance, between Kyle and a similarly bedraggled associate, also lends some humanity to the proceedings.

But while Mr. Grisham ratchets up the tension chapter by chapter, a gnawing feeling starts to build. Can the payoff measure up?

Mr. Grisham doesn't even try. The final pages wrap the tale in such a rushed, unsatisfying manner it's as if an intern had been summoned to complete the manuscript.

The book also asks the reader to accept some pretty hoary plot devices. The rape incident occurred roughly five years ago, a time when cellular phones could barely take a sharp photograph, let alone an extended video sequence.

And the plan Kyle embarks upon to save himself seems like it could have been started on Page 50, not just during the final passages.

It's hardly a shock "The Associate" will soon make its way to the big screen. USA Today reports Shia LaBeouf is already signed on to play Kyle McAvoy.

But the film won't succeed unless it strays far from the book's disappointing finale.

• Christian Toto, who writes frequently on popular culture for The Washington Times, lives in Denver.
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Quasimodo



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Ragging_at_Cambridge_university/articleshow/4094560.cms
'Ragging' at Cambridge University
8 Feb 2009, 1124 hrs IST, PTI

LONDON: In what could be described as the outer limits of ragging, students are often initiated into Cambridge University by being asked to drink water containing a live goldfish, eat raw squids and wear kippers around necks.

According to student newspaper 'Varsity', the tests, organised by sport and drinking clubs for first years, usually involve excessive amounts of alcohol and can include carrying out degrading and depraved acts often by female students.

(snip)

(Where's Gottlieb when you really need him?)





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FYI. Scottsboro

http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/alumni/foralumni/classnotes/upload/Winter2002Forum.pdf

http://www.lawschool.cornell.edu/alumni/foralumni/classnotes/upload/Spring2003Forum.pdf
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Quasimodo

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Feb 8 2009, 11:24 AM
"The Scottsboro Boys did not die in the electric chair. Not then, and not later. Who saved them? In this tragedy there were heroes—individuals or groups whose skill or courage or commitment saved the lives of these young victims."

[Note : not the press (there was no Zola); not the civil rights leaders; not the federal government nor the politicians...]
Edited by Quasimodo, Feb 8 2009, 11:56 AM.
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Quasimodo
Feb 8 2009, 11:38 AM
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Feb 8 2009, 11:24 AM
"The Scottsboro Boys did not die in the electric chair. Not then, and not later. Who saved them? In this tragedy there were heroes—individuals or groups whose skill or courage or commitment saved the lives of these young victims."
Just finished watching this:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0425094/

I had tivoed it when it was on Cinemax the other day. Catch it if you can. Worth renting even.
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http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/4495665/
Teen shot in Durham
Posted: 13 minutes ago

Durham, N.C. — Durham police were investigating a shooting that injured a teenage boy early Saturday afternoon.

The teen was shot in the leg at Yancey Street and Arnette Avenue, police said. He was transported to Duke University Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

Police did not release the victim's name but said he was around 16 years old.

More details about the shooting were not immediately available
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http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/4494666/
Fire damages house, cars in Durham
Posted: Today at 8:39 a.m.

Durham, N.C. — A fire damaged a home and several cars in southwestern Durham early Sunday, fire officials said.

The fire broke out in the house at 1311 Cobblestone Place around 3:15 a.m. The blaze spread to the roof before firefighters contained it, said Lebanon Volunteer Fire Department Chief Howard Sykes.

Two people were in the house when the fire broke out, but they managed to escape uninjured.

Sykes said the fire caused extensive damage to one side of the house, as well as several cars parked in a garage.

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http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/4495555/
AP: Some states disregard juvenile justice law
By MEAD GRUVER
Associated Press Writer
Posted: Today at 1:34 p.m.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — When Erica Olivares ran away from home at age 16, the penalty was not a stern lecture - it was a month in Laramie County jail. Soon, under the tutelage of adult criminals, she was addicted to drugs. "Methamphetamine, I'd never even heard about that. And I heard about that in there," said Olivares, now 26.

Legally, she should never have been in position to learn such harsh lessons. Runaways are not supposed to be put in jail, let alone meet adult lawbreakers on the inside, under a 34-year-old federal law called the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act.

Yet year after year, some states disregard key parts of the law with little consequence, an Associated Press examination has found. Those states included Wyoming, Mississippi, South Carolina and Washington in 2006, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act.

The federal law provides funds for compliance, money that can be withheld for failure to comply, just as millions in federal highway funds can be lost by states not setting a drinking age of 21. But the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act provides far less grant money - from $600,000 to about $7.5 million annually per state. This is less than the cost of building juvenile lockups and hiring guards trained to work with juveniles. States feel less public pressure to comply, juvenile advocates say.

snip...
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http://www.johnincarolina.com/

Sunday, February 08, 2009
Follow-up to: Informed commentary re: Duke/Durham discovery

On this thread Steve Hoffman (Duke ’77, Parent ’10) commented in part:

You never posted [follow-up comments to Informed commentary re: Duke/Durham discovery] as you promised.

The “Informed commentary …” post contains three very informative reader comments. I didn’t say anything in response to them because the post was clear, had a topical coherence, and was long.

But, as Steve says, I promised follow-up comments and didn’t do that.

I apologize to Steve and others. I also thank Steve for his nice words about this blog and for reminding me to do what I promised.

And now I’ll do it:

From the Ex-prosecutor’s “Informed commentary …” comment:

[O]nce the depositions begin, I'll bet that all defendants, including those from Duke, will try to lay it off on each other.

and from Drew’s:

[During discovery in cases] with multiple [defendants] there's never any guarantee that you won't find yourself thrown under the bus, either by "your" counsel (who occasionally has a vested interest in defending the employer just a little bit harder), or by one of your co-respondents, who thinks they can dodge a bullet by re-aiming the gun at someone else.

I’m sure just about all of us agree with the Ex-prosecutor and Drew.

So who among the defendants is likely to throw whom under the bus?

The default answer, of course, is everyone else will throw Nifong there.

Running through President Brodhead’s public comments since December 2006 when Nifong was shown in open court to have withheld DNA evidence exculpatory for the lacrosse players, and running through Duke’s suit filings are statements that amount to: “’Throw Nifong under the bus?’ That works for us.”

But it’s not going to work for Brodhead, Duke and almost all the other defendants.

Yes, I know some reasonable people disagree.

But I think such a strategy – understood and not explicitly talked about among the defendants – will be no more effective for most of them than was Duke’s “throw the students under the bus” strategy in response to Mangum’s and Nifong’s lies, and what followed.

A "throw Nifong" strategy won’t work for almost all the defendants because it's so far from the reality of what happened.

Nifong may have asked for FERPA-protected student information.

But it was Duke’s decision to release it to him.

Weeks afterward, to cover-up the illegal information release, Nifong lied to the court and said he was seeking it.

He’s responsible for that deception.

But if was Duke’ counsel’s office which sent letters to the students and/or their parents asking for permission to release the FERPA-protected information Duke knew it had already given Nifong.

Duke’s responsible for that deception.

And on we could go with examples of actions and inactions other defendants won't be able to lay off on Nifong.

To sum up:

I’m confident we’ll have discovery and at least some portion of a trial (Mid-trial settlements are possible).

I think Ex-prosecutor and Drew are bang on about defendants finding themselves thrown under the bus by other defendants.

I see no way a “throw Nifong” strategy will, with maybe a few exceptions (Addison, Michael, & Himan come to mind), be much help to the individual defendants; and it could backfire on those who try it.

I see no way defendant organizations - Duke, Durham City/DPD and DNA Security - can successfully pass the buck to Nifong for things they did and shouldn't have done or for things they didn't do which they should have.

What do you think?

Again, thanks Steve.
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sceptical

A comment to the above JinC post:

Ex-prosecutor said...

I completely agree with your analysis. The Durham PD will have the best shot at Mr. Nifong, claiming that he took over and directed the investigation. However, I don't think that will get them off the hook because I don't see how the officers can argue that Mr. Nifong's involvement absolved their responsibility to recognize the students' rights.

As for the various groups of defendants, common practice in such a situation is for the higher-ups to claim blissful ignorance of actions of underlings.

Police officers are masters of deception. It's a necessity in dealing with criminals. So, I expect police records to be missing and/or doctored and officers to have failed memories as to important facts.

3:58 PM
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