East Coast Elites Control Alabama Newspapers

To the left we have Donald and Susan (presumably his bride) Newhouse via an image I found at some NYC social site of sorts. Actually Mr. Newhouse is rather the philanthropic gem it seems. Yet let's not forget deductions and access and ... also motivates "giving". Anyways, Donald is the President of Advance Publications, Inc. Brother Samuel "Si" Newhouse is the Chairman of Advance and the Chairman and CEO of the magazine unit Condé Nast Publications. Rich as Roosevelt they both are.

The reason for posting on the Newhouse clan is an editorial coming from today's Mobile Press-Register titled Siegelman's jailing backed by legal logic that reads rather contrived. I've mentioned the strange saga of The Don before, here's just one, and I remain troubled by District Judge Mark Fuller's reasoning and potential conflicts or at least the fact he failed to disclose the same. When forced, literally forced, by the 11th Circuit to explain why he failed to cut The Don loose pending his appeal, like nearly every other white collar defendant is given, the Judge finally did explain. So the Press-Register now concludes:

So it's clear that Judge Fuller didn't act capriciously or politically when he ordered Mr. Siegelman and Mr. Scrushy to prison. His decision is backed by sound legal arguments.

Huh? The 11th demanded reasons so he generated lots of paper. "His reasoning makes sense." per the PR. We'll see if the court buys it. And they might go with deference absent obvious error. However, plenty of other questions remain in this curious case and to just offer a ditto for Judge Fuller strikes me as especially odd.

I've been seeing tons of comments about how the Newhouse men control three of Alabama's main papers and have avoided or slanted coverage on this case. I've long thought the three were right leaning, even for Alabama. I'm starting to wonder if there's not some fire here.

Finally, the title of the post is in jest. I really don't care where these particular fatcats reside. I do find it interesting how the right often weeps and gnashes teeth over media ownership from the decadent East Coast. The Newhouse family might be OK with this kind of service to the cause. P/W