Today we will hold a contest to see how the Exempt Media coverage of Air America's funding scandals holds up against that of another stoy of financial shenanigans. Let's take a look at how many articles the Exempt Media has written about the Air America-Gloria Wise misappropriation of public funds, as opposed to the Martha Stewart insider-trading case -- in the past 30 days:

Media outlet.....AA/GW......Martha
NY Times..........0...........16*
Wash Post.........0..........10 (14 day search)
LA Times..........0..........3
CBS News..........0..........1
ABC News..........0.........4

What does this show? The Exempt Media has plenty of resources to continue coverage of a single celebrity who allegedly engaged in insider trading over 4,000 shares of ImClone stock, avoiding $51,000 in losses when bad news hit just afterwards. (Stewart wasn't convicted for insider trading, but obstruction of justice and perjury.) That amounts to 1/18th of what Air America got in misappropriated public funds by sucking money out of Bronx charity -- money intended for poor kids and Alzheimer's patients. Yet the New York Times has mentioned Martha Stewart* in 16 articles over the last 30 days, some of those in-depth reporting on Stewart and her ongoing legal struggles, but have not managed to put "Air America" and "Gloria Wise" into the same article even one time -- despite the misappropriation of public funds occurring in the Paper of Record's own back yard.

Instead of dumpster-diving into the private records of the adoptions of John Roberts' children, Bill Keller should have his paper looking into the public records of the malfeasance that took place in his own back yard. It certainly seems more newsworthy than covering a months-old scandal that has been thoroughly played out. (Inspired by CQ reader Dan Kauffman)

Michelle Malkin also points readers to David Reinhard's column in the Portland Oregonian this morning (Power Line also notes it):

First, its listeners should unleash their "we know better" candlepower and their you-can't-fool-us cynicism to get to the bottom of the Air America's kids-for-kilowatts scandal. And, clearly, a scheme that hurts children and Alzheimer's patients to fund left-wing outreach should appeal to progressives' dark sense of irony.

Second, Air America's listeners should go beyond the network owners on the financial front. Simply repaying funds to club isn't enough. Really, how cover-your-assets corporatist is that? Leftist listeners need to really showcase that storied compassion of theirs. Yes, how about a radio-thon to raise funds for kids and Alzheimer's patients across this broad land? Lefty listeners could, well, "Give piece of change."

Mark Steyn also lends his considerable intellectual heft to increasing the coverage of this scandal, in his latest column, "The New Democratic Strategy -- Almost Winning":

Speaking of shivering coatless girls in Bush's America, spare a thought for the underprivileged urchins of the Bronx. The Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club, a nonprofit social-services organization in New York, receives millions of dollars in government funds to give disadvantaged youth in poor neighborhoods a leg up the ladder of life. But mysteriously much of the money wound up being diverted to the coffers of Air America, the liberal talk-radio network whose ratings are yet another example of "deferred success." The needs of disadvantaged Al Franken and his pals apparently outweigh those of Bronx welfare recipients. Perhaps Janeane Garofalo is the coatless girl John Edwards was talking about all those months. Air America looks like the broadcast version of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program, whereby money earmarked to save starving moppets somehow winds up in the bank accounts of bloated self-described do-gooders with political connections.

The Exempt Media covered for Eason Jordan for nine days. They've protected Air America for almost two weeks now.

UPDATE: If one does a search following the instructions of the NYT on "Martha Stewart" and "prison" using the Boolean + sign, it generates 270 matches. If "prison" is removed and just run on "Martha Stewart", it drops to 16. I'm using the latter number as more accurate. It still shows that the NYT finds Stewart so fascinating that they have to run a story on her every other day.

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» Scandal vs. Scandal: Air America vs. Martha from voices.in.my.head
Captain’s Quarters Compare The Scandals — The Exempt Media has plenty of resources to continue coverage of a single celebrity who allegedly engaged in insider trading over 4,000 shares of ImClone stock, avoiding $51,000 in losses when bad ... [Read More]

Tracked on August 7, 2005 10:50 AM

» Rathergate anniversary - 32 days and counting - MS from The Cassandra Page
The New York Times is faced with an impossible dilemma (much like CBS in September, 2004). Either (1) continue to ignore the scandal and face further erosion of credibility and loss of relevance or (2) acknowledge the scandal (with its best leftist s... [Read More]

Tracked on August 7, 2005 12:14 PM

» NYT Answers Critics, Hires OJ To Investigate Air America from Political Satire Fake News:

The Nose On Your Face
Fellow fake news institution The New York Times today issued a bold response to critics who claim that they have not shone their flashlight of truth on the Air America/Gloria Wise scandal. To further cement their status as the Paper [Read More]

Tracked on August 8, 2005 8:39 AM

» Air America Radio Scandel: New York Times Where Are You? from FullosseousFlap's Dental Blog
No MSM media treatment of this story yet. Flap even noted last week, Air America Scandel: No MSM Coverage …..YET. This non-coverage is being noticed throughout the blogosphere: Michelle Malkin has AIR ENRON: ELITE MEDIA BLACKOUT CONTD. The Ne... [Read More]

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Tracked on August 8, 2005 3:54 PM

» It Ain't Easy Being Al Franken from Brain-Terminal.com
Weeks after the financial scam came to light where Air America ended up with nearly $1 million from a primarily government-funded charity for underprivileged kids, the left-wing radio network's signature host Al Franken finally addressed the issue on h... [Read More]

Tracked on August 9, 2005 10:51 AM

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