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No get out of jail free card for Conrad Black
The right-wing former press baron has lost his appeal. A unanimous decision confirms he's guilty of fraud and obsructing justice.
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Media treats Michelle Obama's comment worse than McCain's
On several occasions, McCain has said he "really didn't love America until he was deprived of her company." Yet the news media hardly says anything about his comments, instead they continue to focus on Michelle Obama's comment when she said, "for the first time in my adult life I am proud of my country." The comments really aren't all that different, are they? On several occasions, McCain has said he "really didn't love America until he was deprived of her company." Yet the news media hardly ... more
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CBS news reporter trashes the news
CBS News chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan has some very harsh words for what passes as news in the U.S.
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Dan Rather: What's wrong with the news
Dan Rather talks about what's wrong with broadcast news in America -- and the movement to help fix it gathering at the National Conference for Media Reform. Dan Rather talks about what's wrong with broadcast news in America -- and the movement to help fix it gathering at the National Confer... more
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Is the heavy-handed corporate media controlling Americans?
Every decade, monumental struggles for social change finally tip in favor of the public interest. We’ve seen the relief of a 40-hour work week, the long-awaited arrival of women’s right to vote, and the even longer fight to end segregation.
This decade it's to reform our broken media system, and to stop heavy-handed corporate control of what Americans read, watch and hear.
Every decade, monumental struggles for social change finally tip in favor of the public interest. We’ve seen the relief of a 40-hour w... more -
Bill Clinton Kicks Reporter's Ass
The former president has another run-in with the press. -- TheRepublicant.org
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Bill Moyers addresses NCMR 2008
Legendary journalist Bill Moyers electrified an audience of more than 3,500 in Minneapolis this morning calling the media reform movement "the most significant citizens' movement to emerge in this new century." Legendary journalist Bill Moyers electrified an audience of more than 3,500 in Minneapolis this morning calling the media reform movem... more
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Michael Crichton's 1993 prediction of mass-media extinction now looks on target
By Jack Shafer// Slate Magazine
(Excerpt from main article)
"The biggest change is that contemporary media has shifted from fact to opinion and speculation. You can watch cable news all day and never hear anything except questions like, 'How much will the Rev. Wright hurt Obama's chances?' 'Is Hillary now looking toward 2012?' 'How will McCain overcome the age argument?' These are questions for which there are endless answers. Contentious hosts on cable shows keep the arguments rolling," he says.
Crichton believes that we live in an age of conformity much more confining than the 1950s in which he grew up. Instead of showing news consumers how to approach controversy coolly and intelligently, the media partake of the zealotry and intolerance of many of the advocates they cover. He attributes the public's interest in Mike Huckabee, Ron Paul, and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright to its hunger for a wider range of viewpoints than the mass media provide.
He tosses out a basket of questions he'd like to see the press tackle, some of which I've seen covered. "What happened at Bear Stearns?" got major play this week, after Crichton answered my questions, in a Wall Street Journal series. And I know I've seen "How much of the current price of gas can be attributed to the weak dollar?" answered a couple of times but can't remember where. (Answer: a lot.) But such Crichton questions as "Why have hedge funds evaded government regulation?" and what specific lifestyle changes will every American have to make "to reduce CO2 emissions by 60 percent?" would be great assignments for news desks.
"I want a news service that tells me what no one knows but is true nonetheless," he says.
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Full story at link.
http://www.slate.com/id/2192382/pagenum/all/
By Jack Shafer// Slate Magazine (Excerpt from main article) ... more -
Nissan PR stunt backfires
Dressed like ordinary commuters, the free-stylers found an extraordinary way of negotiating London Waterloo's morning traffic.
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Reverend Wright and The White (Media) Double Standard
"...This is crazy; this is wrong -- white preachers are given leeway in politics that others aren't.
Which means it is all about race, isn't it? Wright's offensive opinions and inflammatory appearances are judged differently. He doesn't fire a shot in anger, put a noose around anyone's neck, call for insurrection, or plant a bomb in a church with children in Sunday school. What he does is to speak his mind in a language and style that unsettle some people, and says some things so outlandish and ill-advised that he finally leaves Obama no choice but to end their friendship. We are often exposed to the corroding acid of the politics of personal destruction, but I've never seen anything like this--this wrenching break between pastor and parishioner before our very eyes. Both men no doubt will carry the grief to their graves. All the rest of us should hang our heads in shame for letting it come to this in America, where the gluttony of the non-stop media grinder consumes us all and prevents an honest conversation on race. It is the price we are paying for failing to heed the great historian Jacob Burckhardt, who said "beware the terrible simplifiers."
--Bill Moyers (Journal) "...This is crazy; this is wrong -- white preachers are given leeway in politics that others aren't. ... more -
13 photographers arrested for trying to get 'dungeon family' pictures
Thirteen press photographers have reportedly been arrested for attempting to breach the Fritzl family's privacy and obtain 'exclusive' photos.
Despite a plea from the so called 'dungeon family,' photographers were still intent on grabbing that 'special' picture. Some have reportedly gone beyond the call of duty wearing bogus police outfits, posing as hospital cleaners with some even reported as donning camouflage gear to scale a nearby tree to try and get a look inside the hospital.
In an attempt to maintain the family's privacy, Austrian authorities have sent members of their elite anti-terror Cobra unit, equipped with thermal imaging cameras, to patrol the hospital and weed out any pesky paparazzi.
Thirteen press photographers have reportedly been arrested for attempting to breach the Fritzl family's privacy and obtain 'exclusive'... more -
Bush mocks Obama and Clinton
"Senator Clinton couldn't get into the building because of sniper fire and Senator Obama's at church."
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PBS breaks ‘media blackout’ of NYT story on Pentagon propaganda
On Sunday, The New York Times published an explosive report exposing the Pentagon’s secret campaign to use analysts in order to “generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance.” Since that time, TV news organizations have largely been silent on their role in the propaganda. Ari Melber notes that last night, PBS’s Newshour finally broke this blackout, but couldn’t convince the other networks to participate On Sunday, The New York Times published an explosive report exposing the Pentagon’s secret campaign to use analysts in order to “gener... more
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Al Gore Makes Waves On My Little Pond!
The press was locked out of the recent ceremony in which Al Gore received a Doctor Honoris Causa degree at the famous Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne) in Switzerland. As a result, there are no photographs, no videos, no audio tapes of the event. Naturally, Al Gore did not charge for the speech he made. The local press, however, is pretty sore. The press was locked out of the recent ceremony in which Al Gore received a Doctor Honoris Causa degree at the famous Ecole Polytechni... more
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Media Panic
The British are renowned for remaining calm in a crisis, but why is it that the media fly into a panic at the slightest opportunity?
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Attendance was required at McCain high school event
Student: I think judging by the amount of press representatives here and also by the integration of your previous political endorsements in your earlier personal narrative, we can see that this isn’t completely absent – er political motivation isn’t completely absent,” “Yet we were told that this isn’t a political event. So what exactly is your purpose in being here – not that I don’t appreciate the opportunity, but I’d just like some clarification.”
Mc: "I knew I should have cut this thing off. This meeting is over ... “I hope that attendance here was not compulsory…I apologize if you were unwillingly in attendance here.” Student: I think judging by the amount of press representatives here and also by the integration of your previous political endorsemen... more -
Madonna says "step off" "for real" and maybe "yo yo yo yo yo yo"
Madonna wants to take care of troubled pop star Britney Spears and has demanded the media leave her alone. "They need to step off," she told a radio show in the US. "For real . . . Let's go save her." Madonna wants to take care of troubled pop star Britney Spears and has demanded the media leave her alone. "They need to step off," sh... more
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Uncensor - Activism Against China’s Net Censorship
While China vowed to end human rights abuses in seeking to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Amnesty International is actually claiming that quite the opposite is happening.
It has released a report that alleges abuses have increased rather than decreased as a result of it being awarded the Olympics.
The Guardian reports that "China: The Olympics Countdown" details how peaceful protesters and critical journalists have been targeted in a crackdown intended to allow China to use the Games to portray a harmonious image to the world.
Read the Amnesty page now, and sign up to the Facebook group if you believe in freedom of speech. While China vowed to end human rights abuses in seeking to host the 2008 Olympic Games, Amnesty International is actually claiming tha... more -
Propaganda, Filler And Fodder: How The News Doesn't Work
They say a free press is the cornerstone of any democracy. But since there's nothing free about our press, and very little that's democratic about our government-for-hire, America's house of democratic illusions is only held up by those naïve enough to still believe the fairy tale, and those too apathetic to do anything about it (which, if we're honest, is most of us).
George Bush is certainly under no illusions about the role of the media in our pseudo-democracy. After a speech intended to welcome journalists to the new White House briefing room in July 2007, a photographer took a now infamous snap of the president's speech. The man charged with maintaining what should be the greatest democracy in the world had taken a black pen to his own neatly typed address, and, after the phrase "a free press is", had scrubbed out the words "one of the cornerstones of." But then, as he wages wars in the name of democracy abroad, he's waged another cold war on democracy at home, which has been aided and abetted by the very cornerstone our "democracy" is supposed to rely on.
But if you won't pay 50 cents per day for a newspaper, $29 a year to support an independent online news service such a Salon.com, or $50 a year to fund news on PBS or NPR, then don't blame the press for the current fix we're in. It's a matter of value. What do we value more, the news, or the cars and burgers sold in between the news? If it's the former, we should economize on the latter and be prepared to pay for quality journalism.
Like any other commodity, with news you get what you pay for. Purveyors of infotainment, such as Fox "News", which comedian Lee Camp succinctly called out live on air last week for being a "parade of propaganda" and a "festival of ignorance," serves no higher purpose than to provide fodder to keep viewers tuned-in for the advertisements. Like any other mainstream news outlet owned by one of the big media conglomerates, Fox News serves its parent company's bottom line, and is under no illusions that its purpose is to provide a check and balance to curtail the activities of a runaway government.
While pumping billions into an ill-advised war overseas, Bush is trying to cut off the lifeblood of those that report on it with an independent voice at home. His proposed federal budget would cut more than half of the funds allocated to public broadcasters in 2009 and 2010. And with the New York and Los Angeles Times both announcing three-figure job cuts in the past month, don't be expecting their much maligned journalists to have the time to come up with as much original thought or news as they have in the past. With less staff but the same column inches to fill, many of our once grand newspapers are being reduced to nothing more than printed blogs, reprinting the same recycled news, press releases and wire stories by the inch, and commenting on the commentary of others in place of the time consuming task of researching their own fresh news and opinion.
Ask yourself why the word "divisive" ubiquitously sits next to Hillary's name, as does "change" next to Obama's. In truth either world could equally apply to both. But these clichés have become ingrained in our culture thanks to a media that doesn't have the time, money or inclination to find the news, but merely reports on the same "news" briefings and press releases, representing the often unchecked facts and quotes they contain as news.
If you want to arrest entropy you need to put more energy into a system. Write to your congressman or woman and demand that they fight the PBS budget cuts. Consider where you should get your news from (the BBC is a great place to start), rather than reaching for the remote or reading whatever's on your homepage out of habit. Refuse to be another Faux News viewer or clicker. Don't let these masqueraders make money off you. And don't just take the news as read, but consider where a story is really coming from, who's promoting it, and, most importantly, why? They say a free press is the cornerstone of any democracy. But since there's nothing free about our press, and very little that's demo... more -
Africans for Obama
Its like the world is ready to move on!
"President Bush is visiting Africa this week, but he can't escape the campaign to succeed him. CNN's Erika Dimmler took this photograph from the president's motorcade in Tanzania."
-CNN.com Its like the world is ready to move on! ... more
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