Media

After ABC News correspondent Jeffrey Kofman reported on complaints from U.S. soldiers in Iraq, the White House tried to smear him by leaking the word to cyber-gossip Matt Drudge that Kofman is gay and Canadian.

Former celebrity publicist Lizzie Gruman has changed careers. Grubman spent 37 days in jail following an infamous temper tantrum in which she backed her Mercedes SUV into a crowd outside a Hamptons nightspot, injuring 16 people. She now works as a gossip and entertainment reporter for a New York radio station.

American TV networks gave the Bush administration glowing coverage of Iraq war in exchange for the relaxation of media ownership rules, according to Michael Wolff, a media commentator and New York Magazine columnist.
"Ass kissing has gone on to a profound degree. It's pervasive throughout all these news organisations. They need the FCC to behave in certain ways. In order to do this we have got to go along to get along," said Wolff, who delivered the keynote speech at a MediaGuardian forum on war coverage. Wolff also was critical of the system of the Pentagon embedding journalists with troops.

The Carlyle Group sits at the epicenter of the military-industrial complex that connects the Bush-Cheney administration with crony capitalism. Dan Briody, discusses The Iron Triangle, his new book about the Carlyle Group, which has recently begun to dabble in media acquisition. "We're looking at the potential for having a real controlling influence in the media," he says. "And I personally would not like to see Carlyle Group controlling the information that I receive on a daily basis."