[The brigade in action, just not last night]

Jagged contrasts in sharp proximity are part of what can make cities interesting and vibrant, and Providence -- relatively small though it may be -- was a case in point last night.

At Prov, WPRO morning talker John DePetro was holding court, celebrating a recent professional accolade as RI talker of the year. Those making the packed scene included Steve Laffey, Joe Trillo, Bob Watson, Nick Gorham, Lou Pulner, Donna Perry of the RI GOP (who is John's sister), Deputy Police Chief Paul Kennedy, John Ghiorse, Charlie Hall, Frank Carpano, radio moguls Joe Lembo and Paul Giammarco, and others.

Down the street at Nick-a-Nee's, it was time for Segal Fest '08, a slightly more free-wheeling event, what with the superlative What Cheer? Brigade playing in the outdoor patio/parking lot, and a cast of thousands, including Councilors Luis Aponte, Terry Hassett, Seth Yurdin; Representatives Moura, Watson, Gorham, Gallison and Sullivan (among others); unionists, enviros, hipsters, liberal activists (Sara Mersha, Ari Savitzsky); bloggers and newsies (Ariel Werner, Beth Comery, Peter Wells, Scott MacKay, yours truly), and many more.

A good time for all, times two.

Dan Barry, former ProJo scribe-turned-NY Times reporter-and-acclaimed author, makes another one of his occasional forays back to Rhode Island, offering a sharp column today on Buddy Cianci and his perch at WPRO:

At first, Mr. Cianci says, “I was rather docile on the air,” calling a couple of new buildings ugly, criticizing a tax break. But when a city official took the Cianci name in vain again before the City Council, the former mayor chose a road — it wasn’t the high one — and he zeroed in on his successor’s administration.

“When I was locked up, I don’t recall those guys having any qualms saying things about me,” he says. Of course, “those guys” were cleaning up the mess created in part by his betrayal of the public trust.

On the air, Mr. Cianci, 66, tends to tiptoe past the circumstances behind his racketeering conviction (other than to joke that he has a pet dog named Rico); past the corruption that infected his administration, reflected in the F.B.I. videotape of his top aide taking bribes; past the police scandal in which favored officers received advance information about tests for promotions.

Instead, he gleefully attacks Mayor Cicilline and his police commander, Dean M. Esserman. Intermixed with sharp analysis and legitimate criticism — of the city’s poor response to a snowstorm, for example — are taunts and half-truths, released into the radio air like toxic puffs. ....

When asked about this, Mr. Cianci says his job is to be an entertainer, and his on-air persona should not be confused with the real — and changed — Buddy Cianci. Besides, he adds, because he cannot help himself: “I do think they like each other.”

It's good to see how WRNI (1290 AM), with the benefit of increased staffing, is offering a stronger local news report. GM Joe O'Connor recently sent out an e-mail, touting the public radio station's efforts:

The role of immigrants in Rhode Island history is well established.  All this week, WRNI has been exploring the challenges faced by current immigrants, state agencies and

lawmakers.                                                        

 

Our five-part series explores a variety of topics which shed light on the complexities of the immigration issue.  In our final segment, airing tomorrow during Morning Edition at 6:40am and 8:40am, WRNI's Elizabeth Smick goes in-depth into the economic impact of illegal immigration in the state of Rhode Island.  Specifically, her story will examine the economic impact of immigration on the season summer workforce in Newport. 

 

The rest of the stories from our immigration series are available online at wrni.org.  You can also click on the following story titles to access the audio content on our website.

 

Illegal Immigration

by: Flo Jonic

The issue of illegal immigration has recently moved into the forefront. But, even before governor Carcieri issued his executive order designed to crack down on illegal residents, a flood of bills with the same intent had been filed on smith hill. After years of passive acceptance of a broken federal immigration system, some Rhode Islanders are saying 'enough is enough'. Advocates, however, say they're being made scapegoats for years of overspending and corruption. WRNI's Flo Jonic begins our series with an overview.

 

RIte Care Cuts

By: Megan Hall
Two years before the Governor's executive order to crack down on illegal immigration, Rhode Island's general assembly voted to stop giving health care to undocumented and even some legal immigrants. That was through changes to RIte care - the state sponsored program that provides health coverage to low income children and families. Now the state is considering cutting over two thousand immigrant children who were spared from those cuts.

 

Immigrants and Schools

By: Flo Jonic

Education week magazine recently ranked the state's schools among the most expensive and lowest performing in the country. Educators say the disconnect is due in part to the large number of non-English speaking students. There's no question that many English language learners are performing below grade level and dropping out of high school. But, WRNI's Flo Jonic reports that improving academic achievement is complex and costly.

 

Caring for Refugees

By: Megan Hall

As Rhode Island engages in a debate about how to care for immigrants who came here illegally, there's little talk about those newcomers who came here legally, but would go back home if they could. Over the past five years, Rhode Island has welcomed more than a thousand refugees from war torn countries around the world. Many come from parts of Africa like Liberia and Burundi where medical care is nothing like the American health system. A new program through the international institute and the department of health aims to make that transition a little easier.

Providence Schools: In the Shadow of Renaissance    WRNI takes an in-depth look at education issues by talking with parents, students, teachers and civic leaders about the state of our schools.    This five-part series, by WRNI's Education Reporter Rhonda Miller, will air Monday, May 5th during Morning Edition.

From the BDH:

Brown Student and Community Radio has lost, for now, in its long bid to find a new home on the airwaves.

In one of the longest cases in the history of the Federal Communications Commission, the agency has awarded the low-power FM frequency 96.5 to a coalition of two churches and a Bible college.

Since its 1997 creation, BSR has been broadcasting on 88.1 FM, renting time from a frequency owned by the Wheeler School, the nursery-to-12th-grade school on Hope Street. But the station has been seeking a different broadcast outlet "almost since it began broadcasting," according to its Web site.

In 2000, BSR applied for 96.5 FM, Providence's only low-power FM frequency, in hopes of having its own home. Twelve other groups vied for the spot. The station's hope was that broadcasting from Providence - as opposed to Seekonk, Mass., where the antenna is currently located - would strengthen BSR's ties to the city.

BSR's community relationship has been very important to the organization, General Manager Jenny Weissbourd '08 said.

"Remaining local to Providence is really important to us," said Station Manager Mike Dupuis '08.

Will the Scream of the Week be for the resurgent Big Papi?

With the Sox, Bruins, and Celtics competing for time on NESN, New England sports fans have had to turn to some different stations to get their fix. Now, thanks to the Celtics' place in the NBA playoffs, WBRU (95.5 FM) will handle the local radio broadcast for Wednesday's Sox game against the Angels and Saturday's game between Boston and the Tampa Rays.

WBRU got a call from Providence-based WEEI-FM to see if it could handle the local radio broadcasts, says Mark Stachowski, WBRU's general sales manager. The two game broadcasts will be the first Sox broadcasts in the history of WBRU, a nonprofit alt-rock station affiliated with Brown University.

Stachowski described the broadcasts as a chance to ensure that Sox fans in Rhode Island and Bristol County will still be able to hear the games via radio. "We're as committed as we've ever been to the alternative rock format," he says. "We're just looking at it as an opportunity to help."

Radio giant Entercom, which owns WEEI, faces no such conflict in the Boston area because of the other stations it owns, Stachowski says.

Steve Laffey makes for entertaining TV, so would he make for an entertaining (and effective) governor? These questions will come front and center as we move closer to 2010.

During an appearance yesterday on 10 News Conference, Laffey repeated many of the talking points that he shared during an interview for my recent story on Lincoln Chafee:

Laffey says Rhode Island could become “a wining place” by bringing state spending on social programs and other needs into line with the average of the other 49 states, and he supports remaking the state pension system as a 401(k) program, creating a more competitive tax structure, and increasing school choice, among other things.

During the show broadcast yesterday, Laffey strongly endorsed Governor Carcieri's executive order on immigration.

Yet as Matt notes, there some good followup questions that could have been asked of Laffey on this subject:

Question #1 that was not asked: Your executive order in 2005 as Mayor of Cranston stands in stark contrast with Gov. Carcieri's recent executive order.  The key component of many city's "Sanctuary City" policies is to issue government-sponsored ID cards - which is exactly what you did in issuring an executive order giving out ID cards in cooperation with the Guatemalan and Mexican consulates while you were Mayor (ProJo article here). ....  If you support this policy to this day and you said that you did.  Do you stand by this policy decision and would you issue state ID cards to undocumented immigrants if you are Governor? 

Question #2 that was not asked: Many advocates for undocumented immigrants signed the "Draft Laffey" letter urging you to run for the Senate, including, Maria Alvarado, President, Guatemalan-American Association of RI; Julio Cesar Aragon, President, Rhode Island Mexican- American Association; Humberto Castillo, President, Central American United; Juan Garcia, Coordinator, Immigrants in Action Committee at St. Teresa's Church; Aida Hidalgo, Director Hispanic Ministry, Catholic Church and David A. Quiroa, Chairman, Newport Republican Party and President, Latino-American Outreach Project.  Do you support the efforts of your supporters above (including Aragon, who you traveled to the Mexican border with) to have Gov. Carcieri rescind his executive order and do you still count these immigrant leaders as supporters for any future campaign efforts?

Dan Kennedy has some good stuff on this:

Nash McCabe, the Latrobe, Pa., woman who's so disturbed about Barack Obama's decision not to make flag pins part of his everyday wardrobe, turns out to be a known Obama-hater whom ABC News tracked down with malice aforethought.

Josh Marshall: "[I]t does reinforce my sense that the disgraceful nature of the debate wasn't just something that came together wrong, some iffy ideas taken to[o] far, but was basically engineered to be crap from the ground up."

And this:

"Senator Obama is the front-runner," said Stephanopoulos, the network's chief Washington correspondent and a former Clinton White House aide. "Our thinking was, electability was the number one issue," and questions about "relationships and character go to the heart of it."

Besides, he added, "you can't do a tougher question for Senator Clinton than 'six out of 10 Americans don't think you're honest.' "

But the problem wasn't that the questions were unfairly tilted against Obama; it's that they were stupid and demeaning. Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson debased the process by mouthing Colbert-like parodies of Republican talking points as though they were actual questions.

"Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?" is not a question. "I want to know if you believe in the American flag" (from a Pennsylvania woman) is not a question. For that matter, "Six out of 10 Americans don't think you're honest" is not a question.

With the economy in tatters, and no end to the war in sight, among other big problems, it's reassuring to know that the presidential race will turn on such important things as Obama's ties to William Ayers, a former member of the Weather Underground.

But at least 10 million people tuned in for last night's debate on ABC.

Some media dissectors are going to town on Charles Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, such as Tom Shales:

When Barack Obama met Hillary Clinton for another televised Democratic candidates' debate last night, it was more than a step forward in the 2008 presidential election. It was another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

George tells Politico he was doing his job:

“We asked tough but appropriate questions,” Stephanopoulos told me by phone this afternoon.

When I asked whether questions about flag pins or Bosnia are actually relevant to voters, he replied: “Absolutely.”

“The vote for the president,” Stephanopoulos said, “is one of the most personal” decisions that someone makes. 

“When people make that choice, they take into account how candidates stand on the issues,” he said, but also are concerned with “experience, character [and] credibility.”

“You can’t find a presidential election where those issues didn’t come into play,” he said.

Halperin gives Obama a B+ and Hillary a B.

One of the more unusual professional turns is the one pursued by Josh Rushing, a former Marine captain who is now the Washington correspondent at Al Jazeera. At 5:30 pm today, he's the keynoter for a Roger Williams University colloqium, entitled Intellectual Freedom in the Middle East: Perspective and Opportunities.

A former U.S. Marine captain with 15 years of service, Mr. Rushing served as spokesperson at Central Command in Doha, Qatar, during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Unbeknownst to Mr. Rushing, the 2004 independent film “Control Room” captured his efforts to communicate the American message on Al Jazeera and became a critical hit after it was released at the Sundance Film Festival.

 

Since resigning his commission, Mr. Rushing has become the face of Al Jazeera in America. The change of career has come with a price—his loyalty to his nation, once unquestioned as a Marine officer, has been assaulted on Internet blogs, including death threats and hate mail. Yet Mr. Rushing's mission remains unchanged. He unflinchingly believes the United States is in a protracted world war partially fueled by misperception and misunderstanding on both sides of the cultural divide—and Al Jazeera bridges this informational fracture.

 

The purpose of the University’s “by invitation only” Middle East colloquium—to be held April 16 and 17— is to engage in civil discourse about the “Arab perspective” and the issues of intellectual freedom and freedom of the media.

 

Mr. Rushing’s lecture is free and open to the public. The rest of the colloquium is closed to the public. The lecture will begin at 5:30 p.m. and will be held in the University’s Recreation Center Gymnasium located on the Bristol Campus at One Old Ferry Road. To reserve tickets to Mr. Rushing’s event, the public should call (401) 254-3067.

On a related note, Viviana Hurtado, formerly of WPRI-TV, Channel 12, left that station a while back to take a job with Al Jazeera, as it tried to build credibility, although she has since taken a job with ABC in Washington, DC.

Earlier this year, there was a TV report from Afghanistan in which a correspondent from one of the big networks was traveling with US troops. As it happened, a favored officer among the Americans was shot dead in an ensuing firefight with Taliban forces, and it was hard to not empathize with the soldier's distraught comrades. More to the point, this close view of combat seemed unusually rare for an American news broadcast, particularly considering how the war with Iraq has been going on since 2003.

So while the lack of a draft goes a long way in explaining the disconnection that most of us have from the war, the media and its coverage (or lack thereof) have also played a prominent role.

I was reminded of this while reading Scott MacKay's look back at 1968, a tumultous year in which TV brought Vietnam into people's living rooms, and, as MacKay writes, "in which 500 US soldiers were now losing their lives each week."

For Iraq, the counterpart to the famous photo above would be, who knows? -- perhaps some of the images from Abu Ghraib. Yet for most Americans, thanks to media shortcomings, Iraq has been a big instance of out of sight, out of mind.

A few months back, I was watching one of the network evening news broadcasts. A reporter was traveling with US forces in Afghanistan, and when at least one of the soldiers was killed during an ensuing encounter with the Taliban, the emotional reaction of his comrades offered a visceral sense of what can come with life in a combat zone. Suffice it to say, however, that such footage has been remarkably rare on American television in the post-9/11 age.

Instead, we more typically get things like Lester Holt crowing, in introducing a piece last night about John McCain's trip to Iraq, about the dramatic reduction in violence there since the start of the surge. This reduction is relative, of course. As Joseph Stiglitz pointed out in his interview with the Peter Kadzis, the violence in Iraq has diminished only to the level of 2006.

In writing a sidebar for the Stiglitz Q&A, Vanessa Czarnecki makes this point:

This month, as Americans mark the fifth anniversary of the first large-scale military engagement of the Information Age, we are faced with the certainty of never before having waged a modern battle with so little idea of what is going on.

Even if the men and women stationed abroad have a more complete picture, their private knowledge is unlikely to reach those at home. This past May, the Department of Defense blocked 13 popular Web sites, including networking and media-sharing portals MySpace and YouTube, from computers on Iraq bases due to “bandwidth” concerns. (The military, however, has launched its own channel on the latter site, featuring videos of gunfights and gift-bearing troops.) In February, the Air Force announced that nearly every independent site with the word “blog” in its URL would also no longer be accessible. All servicemen and women who wish to publish a blog have long had to seek approval to do so; all content is pre-approved.

Perhaps the government has learned its lesson, having lost the info wars in Vietnam. Wisdom has trained it to thwart investigation. But public ignorance of the Iraq War is not the fault of the government alone.

For all the roadblocks that have been erected, numerous media outlets — including the McClatchy Company, which hosts the excellent Inside Iraq blog, written by local correspondents — have provided harrowing, violent, honest accounts of the war. Independent Iraqi bloggers have borne witness to raids, vanished neighbors, and devastating shortages of electricity and running water. Yet unfortunate — or worse, unknown — circumstances have silenced many of them, often before the public took note.

Now, even though much of the media was far too credulous in the march to war, TV is less interested than ever in reporting the Iraq story.

In responding to recent criticism from Deb Brayton, Providence Mayor David Cicilline's chief of staff, Channel 6 is inviting Police Chief Dean Esserman to take part in a lengthier discussion of crime statistics in Providence:

Dear Ms. Brayton:

 

Thank you for your letter dated February 28th, 2008.

 

I respect your opinion about the story we aired on February 26th, concerning the City of Providence’s crime statistics. However, I respectfully disagree with your conclusion that “this story falls far short of the journalistic standards that this community expects”.

 

There is no more qualified and respected journalist in the City of Providence who understands journalistic standards than Jim Hummel.

 

You should be aware that Mr. Hummel is one of the most respected and honored journalists in the market. He’s reported a combined 26 years for both the Providence Journal and ABC-6. He has also received numerous awards for Excellence in Journalism including the prestigious 2007 Edward R. Murrow award for investigative reporting.

 

In your letter, you use the phrase “Mr. Hummel knew, but deliberately chose to leave out of the story” on eight different occasions. Mr. Hummel didn’t choose to deliberately leave out anything. I am ultimately responsible for making final decisions on the contents of a story. It was MY decision to focus the story on one singular point: “Are crime stats manipulated to bolster the City of Providence’s image”? The statistics are especially important to the city and its leaders. In your words, “The subject of crime affects everyone in the community: residents, business owners, tourist and prospective investors”. I focused the story on that topic. I believe we presented a fair and balanced story. Additionally, the men and women of the Providence Police Department are the source of this story, not victims.

 

Again, I respect your viewpoint and appreciate your passion in defending the City of Providence and the management of the Police Department. In that spirit, I would like to extend an invitation to Chief Esserman to join Mr. Hummel in a live and unedited interview concerning the premise of our story. I’m sure we can work out a date and show-time in the near future to accommodate this request.

 

Sincerely,

 

Regent Ducas

News Director-WLNE/ABC6

From the East Prov-based broadcaster:

News Talk 630 WPRO adds the 99.7frequency to its award winning news talk program.  The new FM signal is in addition to the existing signal at 630 on the AM dial that Rhode Islanders and Southern New Englanders have come to depend on for more than 80 years. The station will be known as: “News Talk 630 WPRO and 99.7 FM”.

 

"With this milestone Rhode Island broadcast event we expect that our listeners will find WPRO's unique blend of news and talk programming with more reliability in more places," Giammarco said.  "Listeners will be able to hear the same great WPRO programs on both the AM and FM dials", whether at home, at work, in their cars or at the beaches," he added.

 

Citadel Broadcasting Providence General Manager Barbara Haynes said, “Adding the 99.7 frequency to the quality news and talk programming of 630 WPRO increases the reach to new audiences that are specific to the FM frequency.  It is exciting to add this option for our listeners, and to invite new listeners to 630WPRO and 99.7 FM.”

 

At 5:00 A.M. on Tuesday, March 11, 2008, a switch will be thrown at the Salty Brine Broadcast Center in East Providence to bring WPRO's heritage news and talk programming to 99.7 FM.  For the past several years, 99.7 FM simulcast Citadel's "Sports Radio 790 the Score". 

 

The addition of WPRO will bring regular FM listeners WPRO's stellar, local news and talk line-up, including "Bill Haberman and the WPRO First News" from 5:00 A.M. to 6:00 A.M.; the "WPRO Morning News with John DePetro" from 6:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M.; "The Buddy Cianci Show" from 10:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.; "The Dan Yorke Show" from 2:00 P.M. to 6:00 P.M., and "The Matt Allen Show" from 6:00 to 7:00 P.M.

At last, the big day.

I'll start by sharing a curious bit from Steve Kroft's report from Ohio, broadcast during 60 Minutes on Sunday night.

The current media meme is that Obama probably wins Texas and loses Ohio. We'll see. Anyway, Kroft spoke with a displaced worker who symbolized the plight of many Ohio residents. Let's go to Newsbusters:

This "malicious campaign" as Kroft sees it is the suggestion by some that Obama is a Muslim. Kroft was shocked to find this belief from one of the voters he talked to, Kenny Schoenholtz, who said:

I'm leaning towards Obama. There's a couple issues with him I'm not too clear on...Well, I'm hearing he doesn't even know the national anthem. He wouldn't use the Holy Bible. He's got his own beliefs, with the Muslim beliefs. And couple of issues that bothers me at heart. [emphasis in original]

Kroft went on to inform Schoenholtz about the mistaken nature of these beliefs.

Not to underplay well-placed concerns about the root of such smears, but it's kind of interesting when someone believes this BS and is still prepared to vote for Obama. 

As part of the continuing clash this week between Channel 6 and the City Hall of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline, WLNE-TV plans to do a story today at 4 and 6, reporting on the letter sent by chief of staff Deb Brayton in response to Jim Hummel's questioning of crime stats compiled by the Providence police.

I talked to Hummel, and he declined to comment on the controversy.

Cicilline, during a taping this morning of Newsmakers, was asked by Steve Aveson whether there should be a review of the PPD's crime data. The mayor responded by repeating many of the points argued in Brayton's letter.

Cicilline had been scheduled to be on Newsmakers a few weeks back, but he rescheduled due to a conflict. He is also slated to appear this weekend on WJAR-TV's 10 News Conference.

It has become an article of faith for critics of Providence Mayor David N. Cicilline that the Providence Police Department is artificially lowering its crime statistics. Some city councilors have groused about this issue, and WLNE-TV's Jim Hummel last night took a crack at the story. You can find a link to view his report here.

As Hummel notes, Cicilline and Police Chief Dean Esserman have steadily touted declines in crime in recent years, in contrast to trends in other cities. Could this news be too good to be true? It's possible. Viewers of The Wire, created by David Simon, an ace former cop reporter at the Baltimore Sun, are familiar with the machinations used by departmental brass in that show to juice crime stats.

Hummel, who says in his report that he looked "at dozens of incidents," describes three cases that appear to have been undercharged, including the three-year-old assault in downtown Providence on then-Cariceri chief of staff Jeff Grybowski and Jeff Britt. He cites "disturbing trends in crime reporting." Robert Paniccia, the retired head of the FOP, is the only on-the-record source who backs the underreporting theory, although Hummel asserts that in talking to people in the AG's office and the state police, "The word is the same: Providence is not being straight with the numbers." 

Cicilline and Esserman, in interviews with Hummel, basically stand by their existing positions.

In my view, the Channel 6 newsman's report amounts to a case of he said/he said. In introducing the spot, Hummel acknowledges that the answer to the question of whether Providence is playing with its crime stats "depends on who you ask."

Bottom line: It would require a more extensive investigation -- which would be incredibly time-consuming -- to offer a definitive answer to the provocative question raised in his report.

Let's acknowledge a few points:

-- Esserman, because of his volatile personality (which is not that unusual for a police chief), can be his own worst enemy. Yet he has also succeed in significantly improving what had been a highly dysfunctional and behind-the-times police department.  It's no surprise that Buddy Cianci is embracing Hummel's report. But let's remember that in 1999, when community policing had become a widely accepted practice in American police departments, integrating it in Providence remained an odd struggle.

-- Police union officials might indeed have legitimate gripes, but a current or retired FOP official speaking critically of a police chief is about as natural as a dog chasing a cat.

-- Hummel's story, while not exactly the "explosive" report described this morning on WPRO-AM by Cianci, has succeeded in creating some buzz, both within the police department and for Channel 6.

To the surprise of no one, all-but-declared gubernatorial candidate Patrick Lynch sidestepped an answer when WPRO-AM's Buddy Cianci asked him a short time ago if he would accept an appointment as US attorney, if Barack Obama is elected president in November.

In related news, the Obama conspiracy theorists have been well represented among Cianci's callers today.

Here's a knockdown by ABC News of the rumor that Obam refuses to pledge allegiance to the American flag.

"This was not during the pledge of allegiance," Obama said of the picture taken at Senator Tom Harkin's, D-Iowa, annual steak fry and first published by Time. "A woman was singing the Star Spangled Banner when that picture was taken.

See the original photo by clicking here.

"I was taught by my grandfather that you put your hand over your heart during the pledge, but during the Star Spangled Banner, you sing!" Obama said.

ABC News has video of the event in question which can be viewed by clicking here.

Obama called the circulation of such pictures a "dirty trick" and mentioned other emails accusing him of being "a Muslim plant."

WPRI-TV's Tim White scored an exclusive (for local TV) interview with Hillary Clinton following her appearance at RIC today. Clinton also talked with Mark Arsenault from the ProJo and someone from CNN.

White tells me that Clinton's local team reached out to him yesterday about the interview, citing his reporting on the flap in which her campaign told Providence Mayor David Cicilline not to attend today's rally. White, having a genetically instilled BS detector, suspects that he was chosen for the special treatment since his employer encompasses two stations, WPRI (Channel 12) and Fox 64. While the decision didn't please WJAR's Bill Rappleye, it marked a coup for White (disclosure: White is a friend, and I'm an unpaid weekly panelist on WPRI/WNAC-TV's Newsmakers).

Anyway, you can watch the five-plus minutes of one-on-one interview footage (second selection, under "Top story videos" on WPRI's Web site.

To me, the most interesting thing is the plastic speak offered by Clinton in response to White's questions about Cicilline. She might be presenting a more feisty persona on the campaign trail, but this stuff is typical evasive boilerplate. The questions below are my paraphrases of the original.

What's your reaction to the mayor reconsidering his support?

Well, Mayor Cicilline is a friend of mine. He has been a longtime supporter whom I value, and I appreciate that support. He and I talked just yesterday. And I know how much he loves and is committed to the city, so I'm looking forward to seeing him sometime in the very near future.

What was the conversation about, and were you able to secure his support?

We just talked on a personal basis. We just talked about our long friendship and our support for one another, and how both of us are committed to doing what we can, he for the city and I for our country. And we hope to be able to work together to make the changes that we know are necessary.

It was reported here more than a week ago that Obama was significantly outspending Hillary on TV in Rhode Island. Today, the ProJo fills in some of the details:

As is often the case in politics, campaign money — or the shortage of it in Clinton’s case — dictates the TV fight, now in the final 10 days before the election.

Obama is outspending Clinton more than 3 to 1 in Rhode Island on TV advertising on four local stations: WPRI-12, NBC-10, Fox Providence and ABC-6.

The Illinois senator has booked more than 640 commercial spots on the four local channels in the 2½ weeks before the state’s presidential primary. The total cost of Obama’s advertising is about $156,000, according to records at the TV stations.

Clinton has booked around 160 ads, at a total cost of about $43,000.

The spending ratio was not quite as dramatic as in the recent Wisconsin race, where Obama dominated the paid airwaves nearly 5 to 1 on the way to a 17-point victory in the Feb. 19 primary.

“Advertising can tell us much about the state of the campaign,” said Ken Goldstein, political science professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, who is overseeing a study on political advertising in that state. “The fact that Clinton was outspent so significantly speaks to the financial situation she faces.

“The simple explanation is he’s got money, she doesn’t,” Goldstein said. “Advertising is reality. You can talk about how well your campaign is going, but if you’re not up on the air, you’re not up. If Hillary Clinton had lots of money, her advertising would be equal to Barack Obama’s.”

To elaborate a bit:

In advance of our March 4 presidential primary, the Obama and Clinton campaigns will today start advertising in the Rhode Island television market.

There are indications that Obama's buy, at least at one local station, is more than double Clinton's.

If you want some indication of how the media is firmly on the side of Barack Obama, consider last night's broadcast of 60 Minutes, which featured separate pieces on the two Democratic frontrunners.

The Obama bit, reported by Steve Kroft, focused on the candidate's meteoric rise, and it included a few quick questions about his level of experience. Katie Couric's Hillary story, by contrast, was heavy on queries about what she'll do if she doesn't get the nomination, and -- in a demonstration of the double-standard still faced by female candidates -- whether she was once nicknamed "Frigidaire" by fellow students in her younger days.

I've seen enough dubious stuff in occasional viewing of 60 Minutes to know that the image and the reality of the show are two separate things. Last night's spots on Clinton and Obama nonetheless tells us quite a bit about the current media meme.

CNN's John King continues to win plaudits for his political coverage, including that of Super Tuesday.

Writing in the Sun of Baltimore, for example, David Zurawik says:

CNN provided a font of fast-breaking information and clear-eyed analysis, particularly from correspondent John King, who pushed and pulled at a touch screen as he broke down states county by county, using an array of lines and colors.

It was mesmerizing to watch him play the board like a musical instrument as he analyzed obscure corners of various states for vote totals and offered predictions based on what he saw - sometimes down to the precinct level. For the most part, King stayed on top of the fingertip technology rather than letting it drive him as he sorted through a maelstrom of data.

What a lot of people might not know is that King, a native of Boston's Dorchester section, has a few Rhode Island connections. He cut his teeth in part in the Providence bureau of The Associated Press (later, after working for the AP in Boston, he trailed Michael Dukakis during his ill-fated 1988 presidential campaign). And while someone on this CNN transcript thinks that King went to Providence College, his own bio describes him as a grad of URI.

Kudos and congrats to longtime local broadcaster John Carpilio, who has been named news director at WRNI (1290 AM), succeeding Mark Degon, who is taking a similar job with WBUR-FM in Boston.

I've periodically encountered Carpilio, formerly a Providence bureau chief for Metro Networks, at news conferences over the years, and he seems like a consummate professional. While Degon will certainly be missed, Rhode Island's public radio station, bolstered by additional staff, is positioned to ramp up its news report -- and that's good news.

The Boston Globe today scoops the ProJo with the news of a potential settlement, in a case against WPRI-TV, stemming from the February 2003 Station fire disaster (disclosure: I am an unpaid weekly panelist on WPRI's Newsmakers).

The Rhode Island television news outlet whose cameraman was filming inside The Station nightclub when a fire killed 100 people has reached a tentative $30 million settlement with families and survivors, the biggest civil settlement stemming from the 2003 tragedy so far, according to two sources familiar with the case.

The images recorded by cameraman Brian Butler provided haunting evidence of the fire's ignition by a pyrotechnics display during a performance of the band Great White and the ensuing panic. His footage has also been used extensively by criminal investigators and civil litigants to build cases.

Butler was, ironically, filming a segment about nightclub safety for station WPRI-TV, whose reporter, Jeffrey Derderian, was a co-owner of The Station nightclub, when the fire broke out. In a federal lawsuit, Butler was accused of blocking an exit while filming, making it difficult for patrons to flee, an allegation that Butler's lawyer has previously and strenuously denied.

The $30 million settlement tentatively reached in mediation last week involves plaintiffs, LIN-TV (the Providence-based owner of the TV station), WPRI-TV, and Butler. According to the two sources, the settlement was propelled as much by a wrinkle in Rhode Island law as it was by any admission of wrongdoing. In Rhode Island, an insurer who rejects a written settlement demand can be forced to pay a judgment handed down by a jury later, even if that judgment is greater than total insurance coverage.

It is the largest settlement so far in the massive civil case pending in US District Court in Providence, which has hundreds of plaintiffs and more than 50 defendants. Last year, several companies settled claims worth a combined $18.5 million. Dozens of defendants remain, including Derderian and his brother, Michael, who co-owned the club; Anheuser-Busch Inc., which sold beer at the concert; and Clear Channel Communications, which owns a Providence radio station which ran advertisements promoting the show.

Among other defendants remaining are the state of Rhode Island, the Town of West Warwick, members of Great White, and various manufacturers of foam insulation that fueled the fire.

The latest settlement was mediated by Paul Finn of Commonwealth Mediation, who decided two years ago how much approximately 550 victims of sexual abuse by priests would receive from the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs argued that Butler caused the death of an undetermined number of people by standing in a doorway and filming the chaos.

"Rather than leaving the building, or assisting patrons of The Station to escape," says the suit, "Butler stood within the building, directly in an egress route, and filmed distressed patrons trying to leave the nightclub. Butler's actions directly impeded the exit of patrons and contributed to the slowdown, backup, and additional logjam for those attempting to leave through the main exit."

At last week's session, Butler insisted he did not block anyone's escape and filmed only briefly as he was leaving the club, the two sources said. After Butler first spotted the flames, he kept his camera running as he exited the club. Plaintiffs charge that he paused at the door for 10 to 15 seconds, an allegation that was in dispute, one source said.

Butler's lawyer, Charles "Chip" Babcock, could not be reached for comment. But he insisted when Butler was added to the lawsuit in August 2004 that Butler did nothing wrong, saying that "Brian Butler saved lives that night." He also implied that Butler was sued because his employer had vast resources that could be tapped by the plaintiffs.

The ProJo has done a voluminous amount of reporting about the Station fire and its aftermath, much of it representing a valuable public service. At the same time, this isn't the first time that out-of-towners have set the pace on some of the important stories related to the fallout of the disaster.

As the presidential race heats up in advance of Super Tuesday, so does spending by candidates on television advertising. This helps to explain why TV stations love the political season.

From The Wall Street Journal:

In a last big push before 24 states hold primary elections and caucuses, yesterday Republican hopeful Mitt Romney announced his first round of campaign advertisements since his loss to Arizona Sen. John McCain in Florida. Mr. McCain responded with a round of national cable-TV ads, which will begin airing today, along with a local ad buy in Missouri. The McCain campaign also will introduce at least one new TV spot before Feb. 5, a campaign official said.

YouTube.com

Democratic contenders Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have unleashed ads in expensive metropolitan markets in recent days amid tightening Super Tuesday polls. Yesterday, the Obama campaign announced an aggressive ad buy in states voting after Feb. 5, including Nebraska, Virginia and Maryland. Neither Democratic campaign will discuss the amount spent on this round of ads.

A Romney spokesman said the former Massachusetts governor's new ads, which focus on the economy and emphasize his business experience, would run in California and other Feb. 5 states. He called the ad buys "significant" but declined to give details on their cost. Mr. Romney has used millions from his personal fortune to bolster his campaign spending. (View the "Experience Matters" ad from the Romney campaign.)

"It is really a tale of two races," said Evan Tracey of TNS Media Intelligence, a media consulting firm. "The Republicans have done very little advertising beyond Florida, and they seem content to puddle jump from primary to primary."

Both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, who have raised more money than their Republican counterparts, skipped campaigning in Florida. They have been on the airwaves in Super Tuesday states since late last week, starting their multistate blitzes with ads appearing in California, New Mexico, Georgia, Utah and elsewhere.

Back in 2002, I looked at the disconnect between diminished political coverage on television and the big bucks reaped by the stations. It doesn't seem as if much has changed since then.

A five-year study of local television by the Project for Excellence in Journalism recently found that quality -- signified by such things as enterprise reporting, airing longer stories, and better sourcing of stories -- is the most likely path to commercial success for local broadcasters. The perception nonetheless remains widespread among even some broadcast veterans -- not to mention among the consultants who help stations to formulate coverage -- that political coverage is a ratings loser. In the scant 12-to-14-minute news quota of a typical half-hour broadcast, other topics get higher priority, with the exception of election-night coverage, debates, and selected sporadic instances.

"If we had five minutes of politics at six o'clock consistently for one year, our ratings would plummet and we'd go out of business," says a Providence TV reporter, who asked to not be identified. "A lot of people think this is boring. It wouldn't take too long before they're going to stop flipping on at six o'clock. People just aren't that interested, and there's no way we can make them interested."

It's possible, though, that some consultants and broadcasters have drawn simplistic conclusions after quizzing viewers on a laundry list of topics. "When you say coverage of politics and government, look out," notes Jim Thistle, director of broadcast education at Boston University and a former TV executive. "[But] a lot of it depends on how you ask the question. If you say coverage of how the government is spending your money, you may get a higher response."

Matt also has a bit on Governor Carcieri being talked up as a VP possibility for Mitt Romney:

The WaPo's Chris Cillizza has a good run-through of the possible VPs for each candidate.  Look who he has listed for Mitt Romney:

  * Don Carcieri: The Rhode Island governor doesn't get much publicity, but he has been elected and reelected in a VERY blue state and, before getting involved in politics, was a successful businessman. Sound like someone else you know?

Meanwhile, Anchor Rising's Justin today publishes another op-ed in the ProJo, taking folks, including my Newsmakers' colleague, to task:

Steve Aveson likened the decrease of public assistance for undocumented children to a “harsh carrot and stick”; “we deprive children of this support” so that their parents will “get the idea . . . and they’ll go away from Rhode Island.” But even a compassionate welcome can be worn out, and in truth, it only makes sense to devote scarce financial resources to their education and non-emergency health care if our invitation is for them to stay.

But the state’s primary moral obligation is to those who are not strangers, to provide an environment in which they can thrive of their own initiative. Thwarted by vested interests at the voting booth, many Rhode Islanders have been attempting, via moving van, to communicate to those Democrats in the Senate that the budgetary policy statement is unjust. It is on their backs, and at the cost of their aspirations, that Rhode Island’s powerful have been solving their deficit of maturity and failed comprehension of consequences.

As someone with a long-running (and unpaid) connection to the show, I think Justin oversteps in prescribing an advocacy role to Aveson, who like myself and other panelists, uses various rhetorical devices (the ever-popular devil's advocate, for example) in the interest of posing questions and stimulating discussion.

My Boston Phoenix colleague Adam Reilly has the scoop on how Mark Degon, longtime news director at WRNI, is heading to Boston's WBUR. No word yet on who will replace him.

Meanwhile, Megan Hall, who's done some freelancing for the Providence Phoenix, has been hired as a health-care reporter at WRNI. Kudos and congrats to her. This continues an upswing at Rhode Island's public radio station, as described in a Q&A I did last year with GM Joe O'Connor.

I wasn't troubled by the game calls of Glenn Geffner last year nearly as much as some Sox fans (though I was sad to see Jerry Trupiano go), but he's gone (h/t Dirt Dogs). No big surprise here, since the departed Dr. Charles Steinberg was considered his rabbi.

Meanwhile, as Dirt Dogs report, just 26 days until pitchers and catchers.