TresSugar

Media Research Center Picks Worst Media Offense of the Year

CitizenSugar — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 14:30:43 -0800

For the 21st year in a row, the Media Research Center has rounded up Notable Quotables. The conservative media watchdog group typically chronicles the perceived liberal media bias. This year, winners were selected for categories such as: The Obamagasm Award, Pummeling Palin Award, Obamalot Award, and Pay Up Patriots Award.

Here's who won the Quote of the Year Award:

The Winner: Chris Matthews during primary coverage in February “I have to tell you, you know, it’s part of reporting this case, this election, the feeling most people get when they hear Barack Obama’s speech. My - I felt this thrill going up my leg. I mean, I don’t have that too often."
Runner-up: A postelection headline from Reuters “Media bias largely unseen in US presidential race”
Runner-up: Bill Maher on the mother of Trig Palin “I’m not that convinced that that’s her baby. . . . The daughter - who we know is fertile because she’s knocked up again, or maybe for the first time . . . she did like take a five-month leave from high school because she had [uses fingers to indicate quote marks] ‘mononucleosis’ right around the time the baby was being born. And the mother, the so-called, you know, okay, maybe it is the mother, but, you know, she was back to work three days later. You don’t smell something?...It’s not like they’re not willing to lie about everything else.”
Runner-up: ABC's Sam Champion teasing a segment on Good Morning America “Could global warming one day force us into space to live?”

terrorist fist jab

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Candidates Broke Late-Night Show Appearance Records

CitizenSugar — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 13:30:32 -0800

The Presidential candidates worked the late-night talk show circuit during the 2008 campaign, making more than four times the number of appearances with Letterman, Jay Leno, Jon Stewart, and the likes than the 2004 lineup did, according to new research.

Candidates showed off their face-to-face skills with 110 appearances on late-night comedy shows, a sharp shoot up from 25 in 2004, according to the Center for Media and Public Affairs. Fifty of those spots occurred before the primary votes were even cast, offering the chance for candidates to show their comedic chops and create ideal YouTube or cable news sound bites. And, as a former Hillary Clinton adviser said, "It's a lot more risky, as Sarah Palin will attest, to do an interview with Katie Couric than it is with Jay Leno".

John McCain made 17 guest appearances and created quite a hullabaloo when he canceled on Letterman. President-elect Barack Obama clocked 15 appearances, third behind Republican Mike Huckabee, who now has his own show on Fox News Channel and was promoting his book. Do you think the late-night appearances helped you get to know the candidates?

Photo courtesy of NBC

£10 Million to Rule Death of Princess Diana "Unlawful"

LibertySugar — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:00:56 -0700

Princess Diana still makes news more than ten years after her death. I came across the latest Diana news as the main story on the BBC website yesterday, right there with an "intimate" photo gallery of Diana's life. A British jury ruled that Princess Diana was unlawfully killed due to the "gross negligence" of her driver Henri Paul and the paparazzi. The jury specified that Paul's drunk-driving and a lack of seatbelts contributed to their deaths. Sound like something you've heard before? Well the investigation cost British taxpayers over £10 million!

Whether it is a Broadway musical based on her life, or front page reports that recycle information known a decade ago, everyone seems to think the public has an insatiable appetite for all things Diana. I decided to take a look at how BBC readers reacted to the latest news. Some of the comments insisted that the Diana story be put to rest for the good of the taxpayers, and the good of her memory. To get a taste of the reactions to this "news" story, read more.

"Britain is so short on money that the everyday citizens endure second-class universities, strangle their once fantastic academic research, and wait for hours to receive shoddy health care. And yet your government spends ten million pounds on a boulevard newspaper issue like "who didn't kill Diana"? Keep up the good work."
"You have got to be kidding me. All these years, all the money, all of the trials - and we have come full-circle to what we have known all along: bad driving and the idiotic paparazzi. Let her rest."

Some found a use for the investigation:

"Good. I'm glad the paparazzi have officially been blamed. Surely now the government will have the guts to back proper sanctions against those disgusting vultures."

If the media tell us what we want to hear, are they right in putting a Princess Diana story front and center? Are you surprised that an official inquest just finished? Does the public need this sort of closure?

I Want to Buy a Home Computer

DearSugar — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 08:33:26 -0700

Dear Sugar
I'd like to buy a home computer but I am not sure how to decide what kind to get. There are so many different choices; Laptops, Notebooks, Desktops, PCs, Mac, Sony, Gateway, Hewlett Packard, Dell etc . . . the list goes on and on. What are the important qualities to look for? Computer Geekette

Dear Computer Geekette
It completely depends on what your needs are. Is this going to be for business, leisure or both? What kinds of programs do you want to run? Macs have better graphic design features, laptops are great if you travel a lot or if you like to hang (and blog) at coffee shops and cafes, Sony makes a memory chip so your media center (digital camera, movie camera, TV) can all be interconnected and Desktops are more bulky but you can have a larger screen if you have eye problems or prefer to have a wireless mouse and a larger work space. A good place to start your computer search is at Personal Computer World or at Oxford University's Computer Service Buyers Guide . Do a little bit of research before you actually go into a store or make an online purchase.