The [Thursday] Papers

Scenes from a CTA derailment.

* "Although emergency personnel arrived within minutes, the situation was so precarious that the train operator ordered passengers in the first car, which separated from the rest of the train, to move to one side of the aisle to prevent the car from possibly tipping over and plunging to the ground," the Tribune reports.

* NBC5 photo gallery.

* AP video

This Is Your Media
The media are pigeons.

Take the coverage of Scott McClellan's new book. For less than a day it was about what McClellan revealed about a deceitful White House that blundered into an horrible, ill-conceived war, including the role of what he called the "enablers" in the media.

The story now though - on the front page of today's Tribune for example - is "Bush Team Lines Up To Blitz Tell-All Book."

(On page 22 of the Sun-Times, the headline is "Traitor or Truthteller?", a wholly false frame.)

You'd think maybe the front page headline would be "Bush Team Lied About War, Insider Says." And maybe the subhead would be "Yet another account of White House malfeasance. Impeachment?"

But the story is never about the story. It's a classic pivot. George W. Bush dodged the Vietnam War? Make the story about Dan Rather. John McCain was so close to a lobbyist even while he was decrying lobbyists on the campaign trail that top aides thought he was sleeping with her? Make the story about The New York Times. The president and his inner circle lied about the war and Valerie Plame? Make the story about the traitorous former press secretary.

Here's an idea: Require every reporter to get public relations training so they can finally familiarize themselves with at least the basics in the propagandist's toolbox.

*

I have some more thoughts on McClellan's books in "Press Secretaries."

Press Secretaries
"WHO SENT THE DOGS OUT! Obama's campaign - channeling Murdoch - told the dogs to bark."

Examine the facts, people.

This is just how the Obama campaign played the race card in South Carolina. Despite Obama's soothing rhetoric, it was his campaign that pushed out the Clinton remarks and privately stoked up reporters by feigning outrage.

"The truth about what Clinton said - and any fair-minded appraisal of what she meant - was entirely beside the point," writes John Harris in a fairly stunning piece at Politico.

The old Scott McClellan would be at home in the Obama campaign.

For another example, just look at how Obama has been recalibrating his position on meeting with foreign dictators.

All I can say is, I told you so.

All of which goes a long way toward explaining why this is the most cynical campaign I've ever seen; exploiting race and RFK's assassination more deftly than Lee Atwater could have ever imagined.

Local Draw
If only Jackie Heard would have a fit of conscience and write a memoir about the inside of the Daley Administration.

Purple Punks
I would be a lot happier that some Northwestern students are upset that Daley is giving the commencement speech this year if it was because he's a corrupt bully rather than the idea that they deserve a bigger celebrity because they paid so much to attend such a prissy school. With such a prissy president.

That's Stella!
It's a tough call, but I think my favorite part of today's gem by Stella Foster is when Cardinal George tells her he reads her column whenever he can.

Today's Worst Person In Chicago
"Adua Asaro, 27, of Huntley will dress like Carrie Bradshaw, played by Sarah Jessica Parker, when she sees the Sex and the City movie."

Suddenly, A New Contestant
According to the Tribune, Pops For Champagne is "so Charlotte."

Make it stop.

Kill Me Now
"IT'S ALL ABOUT THE SHOES: Where to buy affordable shoes Carrie would wear."

KILL ME NOW
"Plan A Girls' Night Out - SATC Style."

Is It Over Yet?
Hardly. But that's as much as I can take today. I think I'll start cutting.

Lucky Stiff
Who is Jeffrey Duerwachter, and how did he make $413,000 in one day?

Channel Changers
"[A] consortium of Illinois nonprofits, governments and public access television stations are warning of a new delivery system from AT&T they believe treats public, educational and government programming unequally," Kristen McQueary writes.

"If your town recently offered you the chance to switch to AT&T, you may have noticed public access channels were moved to Channel 99. Rather than being able to channel surf, as Comcast digital cable customers can, AT&T created a feature that resembles "On Demand" for public access television viewing. Once you get to Channel 99, you have to navigate a few screens and wait for programs to download before being able to view them.

"Critics of the new system say it violates the very law AT&T helped write and pass in the General Assembly last year.

"'AT&T apparently believes game shows and sitcoms deserve good quality and speedy delivery but not for civic information and emergency alerts, which are being sidelined into an application that is not like the commercial channels,' said Barbara Popovic, of CAN-TV, who met with lawmakers Wednesday to share her concerns."

*

Disclaimer: I rent my Wicker Park apartment from Popovic.

Disclaimer: While I'm disclaiming I linked to NBC5's photo gallery in the CTA item not because I have a relationship with the station through my blog Division Street, but because I got there through this image on Chicagoist.

Disclaimer: I loathe and detest Sex and the City, and maybe I'll tell you why later today or tomorrow if I have the strength.

Disclaimer: I attended Northwestern for graduate school and it's everything you would imagine it to be.

The Beachwood Tip Line: Like an electronic hug.