NPR is worried its listeners will not know which set of financially inept radio taxocrats they're sending all their hard-earned money to, presumably because their total libtard sheeple. "There's plenty of opportunity for confusion," NPR's flack told the Wall Street Journal.

Ha ha, of course there is, just look what happened in Boston:

At WJIB, a commercially licensed oldies station... a listener once sent a check with the subject line marked "WGBH" — a prominent local public-radio station. Owner Bob Bittner says he sent the check back.

Oh, liberals, never knowing who to send their checks to.

Anyway, it should be pretty easy to keep the two left-leaning radio organizations straight: One pays taxes and has faced financial issues and management shakeups; the other doesn't pay taxes and has faced... financial issues and management shakeups. Hmm.

Maybe it's better to focus on the gifts: NPR will give you tote bags, DVDs and hand-cranked radios; Air America would probably offer, more impressively, "access to Air America talent and tickets to special events." (Read: More teabagging with Ana Marie Cox and Rachel Maddow.)

[WSJ]

Conservative media outlets are obviously doing much, much better, due to their innate business savvy and understanding of free markets (*cough*).

(Image via)

TechPresident's Micah Sifry leaked Obama Web guru Katie Stanton's complaint about government bureaucracy.

Boing Boing adventuress continued her travels in Africa.

Jake Tapper, ABC's resident hunk of red hot newsmeat, gave an incomprehensible update about President Obama's quest for culinary knowledge.

VentureBeat blogger Eric Eldon exemplified the South By Southwest work ethic.

As did Air America radio hostess and frequent alcohol seeker Ana Marie Cox.

AMC was briefly forced to beg for donors to support her journalism after her Radar gig collapsed (along with the entire magazine). No matter!

Air America Media (www.airamerica.com) has hired Ana Marie Cox as its first Washington, D.C.-based national correspondent, travelling the country to profile people and stories illustrating life in America. She will contribute text, video and audio content to airamerica.com, as well as to a weekly program to air on Air America’s radio network.

Ana is going to the home of American darling Rachel Maddow. Who has Ana on her MSNBC show frequently now. And they're obviously pals—in the clip below, Maddow even offered her a ride home! Did Rachel Maddow give her the hookup for her new gig? We have no idea, but it's an angle. Congrats to Ana for finding a media job, America's most precious natural resource.

"We at DOI are not surprised to hear that Mr. Montvel-Cohen was arrested on theft and money-laundering charges," said Rose Gill Hearn, commissioner of the city's Department of Investigation, which probed the looting of the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club in Co-op City.

It was Montvel-Cohen who, as development director for Gloria Wise, convinced other club officials in 2003 and 2004 to give $875,000 of taxpayer money to the radio network where he was a top executive and co-founder.

He also received loans from the club of more than $45,000 that were never repaid.

With moneymaking talent like that, he could be a Republican!

But seriously, Air America was quite a terribly run business.

[NYP/ NYS]

A source familiar with Air America's thinking yesterday said, "The company felt Rhodes should apologize for her comments. . . . And she felt Air America should apologize to her for the suspension. And that was it."

The case has caused a similarly deep split among listeners.
Some felt the issue was the offensiveness of the comments. Others felt that since she was doing comedy, off the air, it became a progressive network stifling free speech.

...The Air America source said the network got "a Niagara of e-mails" taking both views, but that in the end, "The issue was her comments. If Larry King said something equivalent about Barack Obama, even if it were off the air, could CNN not have taken action?"

• Cenk Plans to Sue Stephen Colbert! [TheYoungTurks.com]

• What do all these kids have in common? They're being exploited by a Murdoch-owned paper to boost sales in the wake of that whole racist "Big Brother" episode. [Guardian]
  
• Yet another editor leaves Louise McBain's LTB Media. [WWD]
  
• Jack Shafer wants to know why the Journal won't say that Todd Thomson did it to Maria Bartiromo. [Slate]
  
• Meanwhile, Maria's planning a "Charlie Rose style" Q&A show. We can think of a couple of questions already. [NYP]
  
• Here's how the Warren St. John soccer story sold. [WSJ]

• Mark Green's brother buys Air America; Al Franken departs. [NYT]
  
• Demetri Martin, John Hodgman: the latest in geek chic. [NYT
  
• Someone really hurt Gary Kamiya's feelings. [Salon]
  
• David Puttnam, who produced our all-time favorite movie, may become the new chairman of the BBC. [Independent]
  

• Joey Ramone's mom, Charlotte Lesher, died of a heart attack on Saturday night. R.I.P. [JoeyRamone.com]
  
• WaPo New York bureau chief skiddles over to the NYT. [VV]
  
• Al Franken to leave Air America. Also, former Public Advocate/mayor candidate Mark Green's brother has a lot of money, and is buying the network. [NYT]

• Broad and Burkle talk to Tribune directors, who may not sell the company after all. Great, that's six months of our lives wasted. [LAT]
  
• Bids are due for the Time 4 magazines today. [WWD]
  
• Michael Eisner and Jann Wenner: together again. [FT]
  
• That NBC turnaround? A load of crap. [MediaPost]

• Simon Dumenco updates the rules.[AdAge]
  
• Things are going so well on "CBS Evening News with Katie Couric" that there are no plans for changes. [B&C]
  
• Frenchies to buy Air America. Yeah, let's all make it easier for Fox News to make jokes. [WSJ]
  
• The BBC may be coming to a Google near you. [Guardian]
  
• The problem with hi-def DVDs? It shows the track marks on porn performers. [NYT]