All Blog Posts from Public Eye

The political magazine National Journal has a daily newsletter they send via e-mail called “The Hotline” – a rundown of the day’s major political news.

Each Friday, they interview a DC media/political type. And today, your trusty Public Eye Editor’s number came up.

So, since we’ve never had a formal introduction, I thought this exchange would contribute to your awareness and build a sense of … Ah, it just answers the question you’ve probably had: “Who is this guy?”

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Matthew Felling is the editor of CBSNews.com's media blog "Public Eye." Before joining the site in May, Felling served for 8 years as the media dir. at the Center for Media and Public Affairs. He just wrapped up a couple of weeks as guest co-host on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program and is also a frequent guest host of WAMU's "Kojo Nnamdi Show." But today he's our Friday Feature:

Where's your hometown? What was it like growing up there?

The mean streets of Annandale, VA -- and I was lucky to get out alive. Seriously, though, the town's diversity taught me a lot. On my grade school basketball team, we had a Cambodian, a Phillipino, a Korean, a Palestinian. And we didn't lose a game for more than three years.

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‘Tis the season and that means it’s time for caroling. As they do every year, our friends at The Hotline offer a variety of unique and original carols to fit the season. (Subscription to The Hotline is required but you can check out their open blog here). This one caught our eye from this year’s offerings:

O Speak all Ye Sources

(to tune of "O Come All ye Faithful")



They speak off the record,

And whisper it on background.

They leak, they tip, they nudge, they spin,

They prevaricate.

They're "senior aides" - "advisors" -

And "former Hill staffers"

Their special contribution

Is without attribution.

So there's no retribution,

When they screw their boss.



They say Plame sent Joe to Niger.

They say that Blunt got his share.

A leak here, a leak there,

Levees broken everywhere.

They say Downie's got a good word

For Bernstein, not for Woodward.

The simple fact of course is

We can guess most of the sources.

To find who Novak's source is

Just leak to Robert Strauss.



They get on Bill Gertz' call slips.

Vendehei gets big tips.

Isikoff has his loose lips.

Lloyd Grove his rolodex.

Release it, they'll dismiss it.

Leak it, they'll go with it.

Just what is a good friend for

Than a means to an end for

A staunch free press defender.

-- Anonymous

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Since it’s never to early to start campaigning for the 2008 presidential race (only a few years until Iowa, people!) the folks at the Hotline (sorry, subscription required) have been tracking the air time that all the potential contenders for the White House have been sucking up on national television (cable and the networks) since September.



So far, John McCain is leading the pack, with Newt Gingrich in second place (Hotline notes he and Wes Clark are Fox News contributors) and Joe “I sleep right outside of the Sunday talk shows’ studios” Biden in third. We’ve only included the totals here, the full monthly results and raw data are available at The Hotline. “Take a look at the Thanksgiving week numbers,” Hotline suggests. “It may have been a holiday for most of the country, but there were plenty of TV appearances by those who wish to be president.”

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For all of those on the edge of their seats waiting for Rudy Guiliani to officially announce his run in 2008, visit the Washington Post’s Chris Cillizza’s new blog. “The Fix” provides daily posts for political junkies from Cillizza, a veteran political reporter and Roll Call alum, as well as dispatches from the Post’s political reporters.


Paging John Mercurio! Since Chris Cillizza is just one man and since political news still happens after The Hotline is published (and because our own Vaughn Ververs insisted that we shamelessly plug his former employer’s newest product) Hotline On Call, The Hotline’s new blog (they are all the rage these days) is worth checking out.


You may recall that there was citizen journalism before the blogosphere – the viewer call-in program. After 500,000 viewer phone calls and some 46,000 call-in segments, C-SPAN is celebrating its 25th year of viewer call-in programming. This weekend, the network will feature a 25-hour call-in marathon starting at 8 p.m. Friday. On Saturday night, Erika Barger, a high-school senior from Ormand Beach, Fla., will be hanging out with Brian Lamb, Bill Kristol and Frank Rich to talk about the war in Iraq. Barger was the grand prize winner of an essay contest that asked viewers to describe why they watch or participate in call-in programs on C-SPAN. She’s a brave girl – some of those “Washington Journal” callers can be pretty feisty.

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