Crackpot Notions: Google Saves The Market; The 'New' Pentagon Papers; Media Braces For Its Next Act - MediaBizBuzz for April 20

It was a good week for conspiracy theorists. After a beatdown from comScore, Google emerged more profitable than ever, displacing losses from the financial sector and posting after-trading gains of close to 20% (that's $80/share). Sunday's epic-sized New York Times expose of a Pentagon initiative to deploy military analysts as stealth "message force multipliers" to all major outlets in print and broadcast media was devastating to the Bush Administration -- and an even greater indictment of the media itself. Likewise, the Journal of The American Medical Association (JAMA) revealed that pharmaceutical titan Merck & Co. slapped the names of scholars and researchers on its own Vioxx research, gutting any pretext of sacrosanct peer review. In this context, of DoJ and FDA "outreach" or indifference, I have to ask aloud: Despite Comcast being far from sainted, does its charge that the FCC has a bias against cable/MSO's in favor of telcos warrant Congressional investigation? Is there a quid pro quo between the telco's participation in DoJ domestic surveillance and more-than-fair hearings by the FCC? With hearings on the Future of the Internet later this week, the Senate has its work cut out for it.

Four Stars' Colored Commentary
Remember when radio host and ardent Leave No Child Behind supporter Armstrong Williams was discovered to have been on the payroll by the Department of Education? Multiply that ethical breach by a... google. The New York Times sued the Department of Justice (DoJ) for access to 8,000 pages worth of emails, transcripts, and assorted docs. What it found will raise the hair on the back of your neck: A cadre of retired military were deployed across the mediascape. Not only did many have vested financial interests in military contracts that were either omitted or undetected, but they were part of a "Mindwar" that the PR wing of the Pentagon was and is waging on behalf of the War Against Terrorism. The DoJ paid for their trips to Iraq and gave them access in exchange for favorable spin. Back in 1998 and 1999 the U.S. Psychological Operation (PsyOp) placed interns at CNN and NPR. Why didn't these news bureaus -- and their peers -- learn from that episode?

Malpractice Suits You
Not that the Ivory Tower is immune to such subterfuge. Last week we learned that Merck & Co. fabricated research (pdf), publishing its own papers across a network of medical journals, packaging them as the work of objective, and respected scholars. The Editor-in-Chief of JAMA, which broke the story, appeared on NPR's On The Media to discuss the repercussions (and dangers to consumers) and also drafted a code of ethicsgoing forward. Perhaps we'll see something similar in news media? Wink, nudge.

Market Price
Google's bountiful earnings call was nitroglycerin to the NasDaq. While Merrill Lynch and Citi were licking their wounds, the search behemoth's results buoyed the market. PaidContent took the temperature of a cadre of tech sector analysts. Traders were quick to dock comScore, but the Silicon Alley Investor was quick to note that it wasn't wrong - it just didn't account for Google's success internationally and how the weakness of the dollar amplified that success. The upshot? PaidContent demands that comScore "show us the data" - not just cherrypick some of your results. Some of Google's good luck rubbed off of Yahoo! -- which via the Wall Street Journal reported initial success in its two-week old test with Google. Yahoo! has an earnings call tomorrow (you'll be able to listen HERE). If it's a strong Q1, SAI's Henry Blodget -- in a very close and careful analysis-- suggests that MSFT will be able save face and raise its bid beyond $31/share. Conversely, if the numbers are down - look for a MSFT endgame. EBay gave its new CEO solid earnings as well; and, for the first time, Donohoe was on record that Skype might be put up for sale at end-year if it doesn't perform.

(Ir)rational Exuberance?
While venture capital investment slowed in the last quarter, it's still robust in NYC. Go figure. John Battelle's blog network Federated raised $50M, even as Gawker Media's Nick Denton shed three of his blogs in preparation for the "bubble bursting." Even more stunning was the investment in socialnetworking vehicle Ning -- which can thank Allen & Co. for securing them another $60M for a $500M market valuation. This coincided with a content-free cover feature in this month's Fast Company which made paidContent's Rafat Ali "threw up a little in my mouth." Tell us what you really think, Rafat.Oddly in synch with Denton, Ning co-founder Marc Andreesen told Venture Beat that the funds were "to make sure we have plenty of firepower to survive the oncoming nuclear winter." Ebullient author Adam L. Penenberg will hear no end about this piece. Me? I smell overripe hype. But a bit of sober perspective: This innovation is occurring simultaneously as Merrill Lynch announced its writedown of $1.96B with 4,000 layoffs expected, and Citi posted a loss of $5.1B with some odd 9,000 jobs on the line.

Policy Shuffles; Domesticating Tech
Last week the FCC made a field trip to Stanford to engagement in debate around Net Neutrality. While proponents -- including the Christian Coalition -- gave impassioned speeches (listen to audio here), those opposed (like Comcast) were No Shows. Tomorrow the Senate Subcommittee on Commerce will hold hearings on NN. Then on Thursday it will debate a "resolution of disapproval" that strips the FCC of its powers. Sidebar: Three Congressmen allegethat Google gamed the 700MHz Wireless Auction by triggering Open Access. Each of them are well-funded by AT&T and their statements have made them the laughing stock of the blogosphere. Apparently, UK politicos do tech better: Gordon Brown is twittering as "DowningStreet" while the Manchester Police are using a Facebook app to thwart crime.

Politics = Strange Bedfellows
As we head into Tuesday Democratic showdown in Pennsylvania, it's anyone's guess who'll eke out a win. Hillary Clinton's endorsement of the Pittsburgh Tribune-News is noteworthy only because it's owned by Richard Mellon Sciafe, the original funder of the attacks against Bill Clinton, named by HRC as the very center of the Right Wing Conspiracy mounted against her husband. With 10.7M viewers, last week's debate might have been a ratings success for ABC, but it also brought more than its share of criticism. The HuffingtonPost's Nico Pitney attempts to subject the evening to a quantitative analysis - finding that it did err on the side of trivial and was slanted against Obama. I tend to agree. As does David Carr of The Times - he with some caveats. Bill Moyers has a great get this coming Friday, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Should be a fascinating Q&A. Remember: Vote Often!

Broadcast News
NAB is a great excuse to reflect on the state of the industry. Broadcasting & Cable provides deep coverage, while our Shelley Palmer thinks that (local) mobile video has legs. And then there's Tim Robbins' keynoting rant. Go on, you know you want to listen. In last week's Think Tank Jack Myers quotes Bob Iger: "The [ABC-TV] broadcast network is not a distribution platform anymore. Today, it's more a program studio." The same seems to hold true for CBS, which has just rejigged Quincy Smith's online arm. NBCU has partnered with Omincom to announce the Universal Digital Studio. But poor CW, it just doesn't get it. It has an Internet phenomenon in Gossip Girl and it has decided to pull streams from CWTV.com, hoping to boost its ratings from 2.5M viewers. Does it not fathom CPM?

Clive Davis Passes The Torch
SonyBMG chairman Clive Davis stepped down last week. To a music business in the midst of reinvention, he epitomized "old school." Last week saw healthy growth of Amazon's DRM-free music store - still a distant second to iTunes -- and the beta launch of The Filter, Peter Gabriel's music recommendation service. Crysalis rejected an offer by EMI and then fell some 20%. Will Smith's Overbrook Entertainment come out with PluggedIn, which hopes to offer music videos in HDand broadcast quality. I guess opening a restaurant is passé?

Lighten Up
OK. The week's news skews dark. But it's a good time for humor. In the wake of FunnyorDie's first anniversary, Virginia Heffernan target="_blank">ssesses the online funny -- with high marks to the Onion News Network. With a week stand in Philadelphia, Comedy Central's Colbert Report posted its best ratings ever, averaging 1.5M in his 11:30pm time slot. His only rival as Arsenio Hall of the '08 election cycle? Jon Stewart, who'll be joined by Barack Obama on the eve of the primary - something his rival did heading into Super Tuesday. Out on the newsstands is a taut parody, MyWallStreetJournal. If straight journalism has lost your vote on The War on Terror, Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay opens in theaters this Friday. And if you like a little gore, (not the Al kind) Wired has a terrific piece on Battlestar Galactica's five second-long animated closers. You'll never blink during end credits again.