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The media on (and the machine behind) the Palin interviews

By Paul Schmelzer | 09.12.08 | 11:24 am

Local media watchdog site Cursor.org offers a series of links on the machine behind this week’s interviews with ABC’s Charlie Gibson. The New York Times looks at the “squad of GOP aides” assigned to Palin interview duty, noting everything from a “partywide, all-hands-on-deck” alert about responding to attacks on her record to the “several veterans” of the Bush campaign who are fighting internet rumors about Palin.

And ABC is rolling out the interview, well, everywhere: Excerpts are being released in dribs and drabs on “World News,” “Good Morning America,” and “Nightline,” with the bulk of it coming out during tonight’s special edition of “20/20,” dubbed “The Interview: Sarah Palin with Charles Gibson.”

Franken’s bad karma spills into nonpolitical ad time

By Chris Steller | 05.01.08 | 9:32 am

Republicans may have done crack oppo-research on Al Franken, but they couldn’t have also arranged for uncannily targeted third-party ad buys on local TV news … could they?

On WCCO-TV’s 10 p.m. news Wednesday, Amelia Santaniello teased…