13WHAM: We're Not Going To Pimp Cuomo's Book

Governor Cuomo canceled a four minute interview he was scheduled to give with 13WHAM in Rochester when they refused to abide by the guidelines he wanted for the interview and only ask questions about his just released book.

Here's how Brian Houseman, the assignment manager at 13WHAM, defended the station:

"We were not going to sit there and pimp his book … This is someone when he comes to town, which is rarely, he gives us very limited time to ask questions."

Cuomo trying to stage manage the interviews, most of the sheep played along, but not 13WHAM.

Cuomo avoided venues where he knew they wouldn't play along, however:

In the past, Mr. Cuomo has steered clear of the national news media, arguing that granting high-profile interviews would lead to speculation that he wanted to run for president. He has defied his own rule in order to promote his book, delivering the Top 10 List on David Letterman’s show on Tuesday and granting some television interviews.

But his promotional efforts have been limited, even cautious, compared with other politicians promoting books.

“The Daily Show” invited Mr. Cuomo to be a guest, but he declined, and he also turned down MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” according to people familiar with the matter.

Reading the Top Ten List on Letterman is safe, but going on The Daily Show is not - so Cuomo wouldn't do it.

Ditto for the Morning Joe Show, where they savaged him over the Moreland Commission controversy back in the summer.

Same for NY1 - notice Errol Louis wasn't on the media tour.

Cuomo's people term his press strategy of just doing friendly or stage-managed interviews "cautious."

I would term it "cowardly" - and not just on Cuomo's part.

The members of the press who agreed to abide by Cuomo's agreement for the interview became nothing more than unpaid extensions of his PR operation.

Not 13WHAM, though.

Good for them for sticking to their guns on the ground rules and then going public with the defense.

Enough playing pimp to Cuomo's agenda.

Bloomberg Propaganda-Meisters All Over The Internet

You see these Bloomberg shills, paid press whores like Howard Wolfson or Andrew Kirtzman, flacking their Bloomberg propaganda all over the place these days as the mayor's Reign of Error sunsets and Bloomberg's anxiety over his legacy heightens.

Here's a recent example from Kevin Sheekey, former deputy mayor and current Bloomberg LP executive (because there is always a gig for you in a BLOOMBERG enterprise if you are a loyal servant to Bloomberg the man):

Is the Progressive the retiring Mayor? Will successor create largest affordable housing plan in nation's history? http://t.co/pVYYQdFGzf
— Kevin Sheekey (@ksheekey) September 18, 2013

Of course it's easy to debunk this jive Sheekey is spewing and somebody quickly does:

.@ksheekey I hope so cuz Bloomberg's 50,000 homeless could use a place to sleep!
— Tom Scocca (@tomscocca) September 21, 2013

Expect the amount of pro-Bloomberg propaganda to increase exponentially as the end of the year nears.

Bloomberg has a ton of press shills and p.r. people on his payroll and tons more who are dying to get on that payroll as their own journalism jobs and outlets die.

Bloomberg is going to have his shills mount a Bloomberg Legacy propaganda-fest that will put Bush's Iraq war propaganda-fest to shame.