The global crisis of newspaper has a new victim: Gourmet Magazine. Now there's a photographic blog that reports the last days of the magazine, between boxes and white walls. http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/theweb/gourmetmagazinechiude061109.htmlThe global crisis of newspaper has a new victim: Gourmet Magazine. Now there's a... more
Essentially Maggwire is a site where you can go to read articles from a variety of famous magazines (mostly US but nonetheless interesting) and rate your favourites. The most popular rise to the top and, if the wisdom of crowds theory is to be believed, also showcase the 'best' articles.
From a scan of the headlines, the stories on there don't seem to be any better than the ones most aggregators or RSS feeds surface, this could be a pretty interesting option for struggling magazines to find a new home on the web.
Stand up for Journalism: tomorrow we will celebrate, in Europe, the day for the press freedom. Today, in Italy, this is a real problem, because journalists have to fight against censorship and precarious job. http://www.inaltreparole.net/en/journalism/standupforjournalism2009041109.htmlStand up for Journalism: tomorrow we will celebrate, in Europe, the day for the press... more
The MPAA scored a victory last night when millions of people tuned in to CBS’s 60 Minutes. The ‘investigative’ news magazine ran a propaganda piece on movie piracy yesterday, allowing the MPAA to insinuate once again that organized crime and BitTorrent go hand in hand.
Are we living in an Orwellian dystopia of misinformation, or are we on the path to freedom through truth? Arianna Huffington shares her thoughts ...Are we living in an Orwellian dystopia of misinformation, or are we on the path to... more
At least 142 journalists have been killed in the field in the last three years, according to data collected by the Committee to Protect Journalists. Most of those killed were reporting in conflict zones—notably Iraq, Somalia, and Pakistan.
A new project from FRONTLINE/World seeks to address the challenges journalists face while reporting from countries gripped by civil wars and violent conflicts.
By gorging yourself on headline news, editorials and opinion pieces, features, blog posts, podcasts and videos, you’ll learn about industry standards and style trends for quality reporting.By gorging yourself on headline news, editorials and opinion pieces, features, blog... more
For a genuine presidential war on the press, see the one FDR waged in the 1930s.
How touchy can you get?
The White House fires a few pop-guns in the direction of Fox News Channel, and suddenly everybody from Louis Menand in The New Yorker to Michael Scherer in Time to Charles Krauthammer in the Washington Post is heralding the Obama administration's declaration of war on Rupert Murdoch's cable station.
The direct declaration came not from Barack Obama, but underlings Anita Dunn, who called Fox the communications arm of the GOP; David Axelrod, who said Fox isn't really a news station; and Rahm Emanuel, who invoked the president's views to say, "It's not a news organization so much as it has a perspective." The closest His Obamaness has come to criticizing Fox on the record was in June, when he complained of "one television station that is entirely devoted to attacking my administration."
o get a genuine picture of what a war on the press looks like, you can't fan the pages of Nexis for grouchy things George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, or even Richard Nixon said about reporters, newspapers, and networks. You've got to go back to the 1930s, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt raged against the press like noisy clockwork.
Roosevelt's fury couldn't have been more displaced, in part because newspapers and reporters received him like a conquering hero after his 1932 election, reports Graham J. White in his 1979 book, FDR and the Press:
The initial victory of Franklin Roosevelt over the Washington press was swift and glorious. Demonstrating a virtuosity that amazed them, the new president took the Capital correspondents by storm, winning, from the outset, their affection and admiration; securing, over the crucial early stages of the New Deal, their allegiance and support.
Roosevelt especially disliked "interpretive reporting," which Time and Newsweek were popularizing, writes Betty Houchin Winfield in her 1990 book, FDR and the News Media. Roosevelt recoiled when a reporter asked him what interpretive angle the president would take if he were to write a piece about the Democratic Party's 1934 landslide victory. "I think it is a mistake for newspapers to go over into that field in the news stories," Roosevelt said. His prescription for what reporters should do for readers: "Give them the facts and nothing else." (One can almost see Dunn and Axelrod giving Fox the same advice.)
The president reserved his greatest disdain for press proprietors, whom he blamed for what he considered unfair and distorted coverage. "It is not the reporter" who is responsible for "colored news stories and the failure on the part of some papers to print the news," Roosevelt said in December 1935. "It goes back to the owner of the paper."For a genuine presidential war on the press, see the one FDR waged in the 1930s.... more
"United in what appears to be deep and profound grief, a phalanx of more than a dozen chimpanzees stood in silence watching from behind the wire of their enclosure as the body of one of their own was wheeled past.
Journalist Rozanna al-Yami was ready to get 60 lashes inflicted by the Saudi court. But the King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz has revoked the sentence.
Otherwise she would have been the first woman to undergo a sentence so harsh.Journalist Rozanna al-Yami was ready to get 60 lashes inflicted by the Saudi court.... more
Tired of media outlets singing the same old tune? Ewan Watt is calling for more substantive reporting, and a lot less repeating. And he points to the "stop campaigning and start governing" attack on Obama as a great example.
Here's what he's saying:
"By doing a simple Google search one finds a plethora of articles ... about Obama and the "stop campaigning..." narrative. How very dull. The latest culprit is Toby Harnden of the London Daily Telegraph.
Yes, the Daily Telegraph is for a British audience, and Mr. Harnden may have thought he was raising a topic that would be new to his readers. But the Independent had a very similar article around six months ago by Rupert Cornwall.
In the media's defense, there is the argument that it is the public's unquenchable thirst for news that has made 24-hour coverage ooze vapidity. (Perhaps some of you have an interest in hearing about Hillary Duff getting a parking ticket as she took a sojourn to the spa. But what about issues analysis?)"Tired of media outlets singing the same old tune? Ewan Watt is calling for more... more
The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 is a collection of the finest magazine writing in the United States with examples of quality prose and excellent journalism.
The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 is an essential guide to that year's most entertaining, politically charged, and sophisticated essays. The anthology illuminates the most compelling issues of the year written by prize-winning authors that can be used as examples by aspiring writers.The Best American Magazine Writing 2008 is a collection of the finest magazine writing... more
this video taken from media matters an unbiased organization that i feel serves as a very effective watchdog organization....
Fox News should be renamed, or taken off the air.
This is right wing talk radio masquerading as News.. it is lies and misconceptions and acts to instill fear, and deliberately mislead the american people.
It is more conservative than Logo is liberal.this video taken from media matters an unbiased organization that i feel serves as a... more
If you try to explain to a foreigner what are the recommendations in Italy often he doesn't understand. Because in English the word means to mention someone, and it's completely normal. It's when a person is suggested for a job because someone deem him worthy and capable. In Italian the meaning of the word is just the opposite. It's when is mentioned for a job someone who is neither worthy nor capable, only well-connected.If you try to explain to a foreigner what are the recommendations in Italy often he... more
From the NY Times:
Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest is this: Fewer journalists are available to watch people die. But Michael Graczyk has witnessed more than 300 deaths, and many of those were people he had come to know.
An Associated Press reporter based in Houston, Mr. Graczyk covers death penalty cases in Texas, the state that uses capital punishment far more than any other, and since the 1980s, he has attended nearly every execution the state has carried out — he has lost track of the precise count. Whenever possible, he has also interviewed the condemned killers and their victims’ families.
What makes his record all the more extraordinary is that often, Mr. Graczyk’s has been the only account of the execution given to the world at large. Covering executions was once considered an obligatory — if often ghoulish — part of what a newspaper did, like writing up school board meetings and printing box scores, but one by one, such dutiful traditions have fallen away.From the NY Times:
Of all the consequences of shrinking newsrooms, one of the oddest... more
In this episode: Whining, Random Musical Interludes, Dead Bears at Day Care, Racism, Srsly WTF Lousiana, Gay Marriage, The Sorry State of Journalism, Shamless plug for T-Shirt Sales, Crackling Audio ProblemsIn this episode: Whining, Random Musical Interludes, Dead Bears at Day Care, Racism,... more
An alternative newspaper in Denver, Colorado, Westword, is seeking a marijuana critic. More than 120 people have applied for the job to review the drugs legally available in the state's medical dispensaries.
One condition: the critic must have a medical ailment that allows him or her to buy and use marijuana at one of Colorado's 100 dispensaries. And the pay, unlike the job, is not expected to be high.
There are already several online reviewers of cannabis, such as marijuanareviews.com and weedmaps.com.An alternative newspaper in Denver, Colorado, Westword, is seeking a marijuana critic.... more
Joining recent condemnations by the Obama White House, Democratic political action group MoveOn.org is urging its network to petition Democrats in congress against appearing on Fox News at all until the start of next year.
"Democrats often appear on FOX in hopes of reaching out to conservative viewers. But FOX cuts off their mic, distorts what they say, or runs biased headlines at the bottom of the screen," the group said in a recent mass e-mail. "In the end, Democrats always lose on FOX."
The e-mail references a New York Times article in claiming that President Obama will not be appearing on Fox News until 2010.Joining recent condemnations by the Obama White House, Democratic political action... more
Report calls Eritrea world's worst country for press freedom
Posted: 05:36 PM ET
(CNN) - How bad is it to be a journalist in Eritrea? Even reporters who leave the Horn of Africa nation are fearful of talking about what happens there, according to Reporters Without Borders.
The group rated Eritrea as the world's worst place to be a journalist in its annual report on press freedom, issued Tuesday.
"Nobody knows about that country, because you can't report on what's going on there," said Clothilde Le Coz, the Washington director of Reporters Without Borders. Eritrean journalists who travel abroad won't talk, she said, because "they really fear for their lives."
The group's report offered a mixed view of how much freedom journalists had in 175 nations from September 1, 2008, through August 31, 2009, based on a 40-question survey completed by hundreds of media figures around the world.
It showed the Baltic Sea region as the best place for media freedom, with five of the top six nations on the list - Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway and Sweden - located there.
Conversely, Eritrea was rated the worst - No. 175 - slightly behind North Korea, Turkmenistan, Iran, Burma and Cuba.
The United States was rated No. 20, an improvement of 20 places over the previous year, with the report citing "Barack Obama's election as president and the fact that he has a less hawkish approach than his predecessor."
What blackmarket crazy stuff are these people hiding?!Report calls Eritrea world's worst country for press freedom
Posted: 05:36 PM ET... more
