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Media silence

"After barrels of ink and hours of breathless TV promotion, the Air America radio network has gone from its media boost to a quick bust," the Media Research Center's Tim Graham writes at www.mediaresearch.org.

"After just two weeks, the six-station network went off the air in Chicago and Los Angeles on April 14. By April 27, CEO Mark Walsh had left. On May 7, co-founder Evan Cohen signed off. On May 10, the network disbanded its Chicago and Los Angeles sales offices, laying off 15 to 20 people," Mr. Graham says.

"Then, on May 14, the Chicago Tribune revealed that one inside source said, 'Chicago staffers were never enrolled in a health insurance plan, though Air America promised coverage and deducted health insurance premiums from their paychecks.' Would that spur a juicy liberal-hypocrisy story in the middle of what big-government lobbies touted as 'Cover the Uninsured Week' (May 10-14)? No.

"A quick review of the media coverage shows a very biased pattern of boosterism followed by radio silence," said Mr. Graham, citing the lavish coverage of Air America's debut by ABC, NBC, NPR, CNN, Newsweek, the New York Times and The Washington Post, but little if any coverage of the subsequent woes.

"These ongoing struggles may not seem like big breaking news. But by that standard, neither was the dinky network's launch, either," Mr. Graham said. "What the national media promoted as the roar of a new liberal lion turned out to be the quiet whimper of a sickly kitten."

Daniels ahead

Former White House budget director Mitchell E. Daniels Jr. has opened up a six-point lead in the race for governor of Indiana, the Indianapolis Star reported Friday.

Mr. Daniels, who won the Republican nomination in the May 4 primary, now leads Democratic Gov. Joseph Kernan, 46 percent to 40 percent, among the 540 likely voters surveyed for the Star and television station WTHR, with 10 percent of those surveyed saying they are undecided.