tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-64990835929429448672024-03-13T18:30:34.273-07:00Jeff Cohen's Indy Media Blog (Fall 2016)jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-74758738714486138922016-11-29T11:23:00.003-08:002016-11-29T11:23:30.216-08:00On-campus speaker Atul Singh . . .. . . wrote this analysis of <a href="http://www.fairobserver.com/region/north_america/the-world-this-week-donald-trump-latest-news-23404/">Trump and the presidential election</a>.jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-18325851434038005892016-11-15T16:28:00.004-08:002016-11-15T17:00:56.604-08:00Is U.S. media system failing to inform?<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Typical of similar academic studies over the years, a </span><a href="http://pcl.stanford.edu/research/2008/curran-mediasystems.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">2008 study</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> compared the level of public knowledge about current events in Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom and the United States. It found that the countries where TV/radio is dominated by public broadcasting -- Denmark and Finland -- were the best informed. Our country, dominated by corporate commercial media, was the least informed. The U.K.'s public, with its mix of Murdoch-style tabloids and BBC, was in the middle. The study's authors suggest that differing media systems play a role in those results.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">A <a href="http://www.pipa.org/OnlineReports/Iraq/IraqMedia_Oct03/IraqMedia_Oct03_rpt.pdf">2003 study</a> of public knowledge of </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">facts related to the Iraq War found that misperceptions among U.S. residents (that evidence linked Iraq and al Qaeda; that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq; and that world public opinion favored the US invasion) were greatest among those whose primary info source was Fox News -- and least among those whose primary info source was public broadcasting. (A </span><a href="http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1701/poll-obama-muslim-christian-church-out-of-politics-political-leaders-religious" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Pew poll</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> taken in Aug. 2010 found that almost 1 in 5 Americans believed President Obama to be a Muslim; only 34% knew he is a Christian. 43% chose "don't know.")</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-50259690760659783252016-11-15T16:28:00.003-08:002016-11-16T13:00:56.676-08:00Why can't we have public broadcasting like this in USA?<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Weeks before the 2003 U.S./British invasion of Iraq, the BBC's Jeremy Paxman and skeptical British citizens literally </span><a href="http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/174974-1" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">cross-examined</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Prime Minister Tony Blair about evidence/reasons/legality behind the invasion -- an interview whose </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/newsnight/2732979.stm" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">transcript</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> and Blair's comments became part of Britain's official Iraq inquiry in 2011. (Here's another </span><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/events/newsnight/1372220.stm" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">tough Paxman interview</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> of Blair . . . unrelated to Iraq. And here, Paxman <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPgy9i_YCY8" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">interviews Russell Brand</a> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">in Oct. 2013.) </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In our country, <b>pressure from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity</b> at so-called "public television"...as evidenced by PBS </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_4jBEYkG_g" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">surgically removing</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Tina Fey's comedic swipes at Sarah Palin from a broadcast in November 2010.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Country by country comparisons of taxpayer spending on public broadcasting </span><a href="http://www.documentarytelevision.com/public-television/public-television-funding-compared-across-18-western-countries/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">here</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">DOES IT FOLLOW THAT big public/state/taxpayer-funding of broadcasting leads to state-controlled and propagandistic broadccasting? Not according to the <a href="https://rsf.org/en/ranking">World Press Freedom Index</a>, which shows the countries with the biggest media subsidies seem to have the greatest press freedom. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In Feb 2015 a mini-scandal blew up over corporate underwriting of U.S. public TV and </span><a href="http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=11497" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">I was interviewed</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> on the topic by The Real News Network. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Days before the U.S. election, Dutch public TV aired a strong doc, "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCr9d-3zRyg&feature=youtu.be">Still Berning</a>," on the possible legacy of the Bernie Sanders movement; it would have been deemed too biased or controversial for PBS.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>
<br />jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-26004732277948848432016-11-11T14:45:00.000-08:002016-11-11T15:09:09.650-08:00Internet invented in US. But it's slow and under threat<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In the opening scene of the </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Outfoxed</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> documentary, media scholar Robert McChesney explains how big media corporations (acting almost like gangsters) have made media policy </span><a href="http://vimeo.com/24935369" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">behind closed doors</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">, dividing the cake among themselves. If the FCC were doing its job, it might pose gentle but probing questions of gangsta Murdoch and "Murdochopoly," as </span><a href="http://thedailyshow.cc.com/videos/b10mwj/murdochopoly" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Jon Stewart did</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> in 2013. (Years ago, Murdoch famously said: "Monopoly is a terrible thing, until you have it.")</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The USA, where the Internet was invented, lags behind other countries in Internet speed. Here's one </span><a href="http://www.techinsider.io/akami-global-internet-speeds-rankings-2015-9" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">ranking</a> from 2015<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T </span><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703808904574527873110557350.html?mod=rss_Politics_And_Policy" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">DID NOT APPLY</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding broadband infrastructure, according to the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">Wall St. Journal</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality.</span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">On HBO in June, "investigative comic" John Oliver offered a </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEoRrHyU" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">powerful commentary</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> in support of Net Neutrality, generating so many comments to the FCC that it crashed the Commission's website. Months of public pressure sparked President Obama in November 2014 to </span><a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/net-neutrality" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">speak clearly</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> that his FCC should protect Net Neut.</span><i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> </i><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>So, Net Neutrality was saved in 2015. But under threat <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/9/13579800/net-neutrality-donald-trump-election-open-internet">from President-elect Trump</a>, cheered on by his friends at <a href="http://breitbart.com/">Breitbart.com</a>.</i></span><br />
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">PS "Survey Shows Satire News Programs Inform People Better Than Actual News on Net Neutrality,"</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> reports </span><a href="http://www.themarysue.com/satire-news-better-informs-net-neutrality/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Dan Van Winkle</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> in summarizing a 2014 </span><a href="http://www.udel.edu/cpc/research/fall2014/UD-CPC-NatAgenda2014PR_2014NetNeutrality.pdf" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">University of Delaware survey</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. Respondents said they learned more about Net Neutrality from John Oliver, Colbert and Jon Stewart's Daily Show than from newspapers, online news or TV news. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">PPS In January 2011, I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Keith Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor." </span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-49493234283254161922016-11-10T09:44:00.001-08:002016-11-10T10:53:47.625-08:00President-Elect Drumpf and Freedom of the PressFreedom of the Press Foundation <a href="https://freedom.press/blog/2016/11/freedom-press-foundations-statement-donald-trump-enemy-press-freedom-winning-us">statement</a> on President-Elect Trump, links to this well-researched Columbia Journalism Review <a href="http://www.cjr.org/first_person/donald_trump_lawsuit_new_york_times.php">piece</a>. In the media area, Trump has already <a href="http://www.theverge.com/2016/11/9/13579800/net-neutrality-donald-trump-election-open-internet">threatened Net Neutrality</a>, a move being <a href="http://www.breitbart.com/california/2016/11/10/trump-win-means-fcc-net-neutrality-regulation-dead/">cheered on </a>by Breitbart.com.<br />
<br />jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-14652107316164092422016-11-09T16:15:00.000-08:002016-11-09T16:15:31.616-08:00Mainstream Media Promoted Breitbart's Video Distortions <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The late Andrew Breitbart, a former assistant to Matt Drudge, ran BigGovernment.com and other websites (now found at </span><a href="http://www.breitbart.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Breitbart.com</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">). In July 2010, the Obama White House forced U.S. Dept of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod to quit after BigGovernment posted a </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_xCeItxbQY&feature=related" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">100-second video excerpt</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> purporting to show that, during a speech to the NAACP, Sherrod had boasted about discriminating against a white farmer while she was a federal employee in the Obama administration. Actually, as Breitbart later semi-corrected, Sherrod was describing events in the 1980s when she was Georgia field director for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a nonprofit that had grown out of the civil rights movement to help Black farmers long discriminated against by the U.S. Dept of Agriculture. More importantly, a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9NcCa_KjXk" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">fuller version of the speech</a> (first aired by CNN) showed that</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Sherrod had told the story to illustrate how she had </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">overcome her bias toward whites </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">and ultimately helped the white farmer save his farm.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Ten months earlier, in 2009, other selectively-edited tapes distributed by Breitbart's website (featuring James O'Keefe and played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere) helped put the anti-poverty group ACORN out of business. Rachel Maddow </span><a href="http://www.salon.com/2010/04/07/rachel_maddow_acorn_tapes/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">dissects</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> the distorted presentation that doomed ACORN. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">It wasn't just Fox News that promoted the misleading ACORN story. The Public Editor of the paper of record, the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">New York Times</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">, went to absurd lengths to </span><a href="http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/003228.html" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">defend</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> his paper's inaccurate coverage.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-12628785959437101142016-11-09T16:13:00.001-08:002016-11-09T16:13:03.821-08:00A Drudge "Exclusive" . . . Readers Beware!<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px;">Perhaps </span><a href="https://www.google.com/search?q=matt+drudge+photo&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px; text-decoration: none;">Matt Drudge</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px;"> should stick to aggregating content from others (often with revved-up headlines) rather than "report" -- as demonstrated by this 1999 "</span><a href="http://www.drudgereportarchives.com/dsp/specialReports_pc_carden_detail.htm?reportID=%7BB5E2DC5F-DCB0-4A4A-AD05-95EF060CBA36%7D" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px; text-decoration: none;">World Exclusive</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px;">," which helped push a hoax </span><a href="http://www.ojr.org/ojr/ethics/1017969295.php" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px; text-decoration: none;">into mainstream media</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 14.52px; line-height: 20.328px;">.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-5070494830351619312016-11-01T18:28:00.001-07:002016-11-01T18:28:30.863-07:00Can partisan or openly biased journalists . . . <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. . . engage in independent reporting and commentary -- as opposed to partisan propaganda? Here's some critical commentary from the conservative National Review Online within hours of John McCain selecting Sarah Palin as his running-mate in August 2008: </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Ramesh Ponnuru: "Palin has been governor for about two minutes."</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">
<span style="font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">David Frum: "But question: If it were your decision, and you were putting your country first, would you put an untested small-town mayor a heartbeat away from the presidency?"</span><br /><br />Shannen Coffin: "If John McCain has said that a year plus of statewide office (plus some small town politics) is good enough, why isn't state legislature and a couple of visits to the floor of the U.S. Senate?"<br /><br />Jonah Goldberg: "Downside: She may not be ready for primetime. The heartbeat-from-the-presidency issue is a real one."</blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">This isn't the drumbeat GOP cheer-leading one might get from a less independent source like Fox News at that crucial juncture.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-59616730638071403222016-11-01T18:17:00.002-07:002017-04-06T17:00:36.855-07:00Undercover videotaping of animal abuse on factory farms . . . <span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. . . has prompted "food libel" or "food disparagement" laws in many states, aimed at protecting powerful agribusiness interests that apparently have something to hide. Here's a </span><a href="http://berkeley.news21.com/theration/2011/07/27/video-farms-lies-and-videotape/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">video report</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> from U.C. Berkeley </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">News 21</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> students.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-56658387695623032222016-11-01T17:15:00.001-07:002016-11-01T17:15:56.434-07:00HuffPost Citizen Journalist Impacts 2008 Election<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Mayhill Fowler, a citizen journalist for HuffingtonPost's "Off the Bus" project, posted a report that launched the so-called </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/obama-no-surprise-that-ha_b_96188.html" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">"Bittergate"</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> uproar that nearly derailed Obama's 2008 campaign. </span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The Bittergate of 2012 campaign: "</span><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/09/secret-video-romney-private-fundraiser" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">47%-gate</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">." (The 47% <a href="http://hiphopwired.com/2013/03/14/florida-bartender-scott-prouty-comes-out-as-the-man-who-taped-mitt-romneys-47-comments-video/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">bartender/recorder</a>.) </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">Recently Hillary Clinton </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/hillary-clinton-static-noise-speech_us_570930dae4b0836057a16748" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration: none;">reportedly</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;"> used a noise machine so journalists and others couldn't hear what was happening at her private, high-dollar fundraiser in Colorado.</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In getting a later scoop, Fowler said she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton </span><a href="http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=429_1212521003&comments=1" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">as he verbally trashed</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> a </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">Vanity Fair</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> reporter as "sleazy" and "dishonest" and "a scumbag, while greeting voters in public as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mayhill-fowler/bill-clinton-purdhum-a-sl_b_104771.html" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">"citizen journalist."</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest response from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Should public figures know nowadays that anything said in public -- especially rants (or racism) -- will be recorded and available forever? Exhibits </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r90z0PMnKwI" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">A</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> (and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRfP3vj8Gl8" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">A-1</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">) features a U.S. senator and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pp6WC1Ocz4" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">B</a></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> features a comedic actor.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-75192137277405380592016-11-01T16:40:00.003-07:002016-11-01T16:40:44.363-07:00First "viral video": George Holliday records 1991 LA police beating of Rodney King<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Early "citizen journalist" George Holliday records "world's most famous home video." Here's a </span><a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Archives/video/march-1991-rodney-king-videotape-9758031" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">brief excerpt</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. </span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-4912028507170559332016-11-01T15:51:00.000-07:002016-11-01T16:38:47.022-07:00Snowden coverage: If U.S. media state-controlled, would it look much different?<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">My June 2013 piece on some of the mainstream media </span><a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jeff-cohen/snowden-media-coverage_b_3503971.html" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">reaction to Snowden</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> and his revelations about NSA surveillance on millions of people <i>not</i> suspected of any crime. </span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">NY Times</i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hvpXztqqzCc" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">commented</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">: "I'd arrest him [Snowden] and I'd almost arrest Glenn Greenwald." </span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Meet the Press </i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">host David Gregory <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AAZRf0kNatk" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">asked Greenwald</a>, "</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Why shouldn't you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?" (start 1:30)</span></h3>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4;"> At 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner, top journalists (including then-NBC White House correspondent David Gregory) were literally</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4;"> </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdvHwtRdg_I" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; text-decoration: none;">dancing with a top source</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4;">, the controversial Bush aide Karl Rove. These are social/charitable events where journalists and newsmakers are expected to have some fun, but is it symbolic of too much elite media/government coziness? </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">
</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">On the issue of "objective" vs "advocacy" journalism, here's a <a href="https://www.nyu.edu/classes/stephens/Top%20100%20page.htm" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">list of top works of journalism</a> worth studying.</span></div>
<div style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4;"><br /></span></div>
jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-3698601879847791952016-10-27T16:38:00.001-07:002016-10-27T16:38:14.787-07:00Early You Tube Stars Got Real Income<a href="http://buckhollywood.com/" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">What the Buck?</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Here's Michael Buckley's "</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIUNW6S6pyU&feature=player_embedded#%21" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">My You Tube Story</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">." According to a Dec 2008 </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">NY Times</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> report, </span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/11/business/media/11youtube.html?_r=0" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">"You Tube Videos Pull In Real Money</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">," Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year from his YouTube video-commentaries or rants about celebs. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Since she was about 14, my now-19-year-old daughter's main source of daily news was, for years, </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/sxephil" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Philly D</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news. (Should I have been monitoring my daughter's online activities better?)</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><a href="http://www.youtube.com/smpfilms" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Cory Williams</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> and his smpFilms hit the big-time with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qit3ALTelOo&feature=channel_page" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">"The Mean Kitty Song"</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> -- over 80 million views). He told the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">NYT</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos. </span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-55660777093159329762016-10-27T16:22:00.000-07:002016-10-31T13:54:41.744-07:00The rise of The Young Turks<i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The Young Turk</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">s is a <a href="http://www.tytnetwork.com/" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">web TV phenom</a>, </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/TheYoungTurks?feature=watch" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">YouTube</a> played a major role in its success; here's a </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Turks</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">' </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTVzHCntmNM" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">video on media censorship</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. And here's the </span><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irwd1NpVT60" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">trailer </a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">for new doc, "Mad As Hell," about Cenk Uygur and </span><i style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The Young Turks</i><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">. (Here's the original <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwMVMbmQBug" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">"Mad as Hell" excerpt </a>from the 1976 movie <i>Network.) </i></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">A 2014 London daily </span><a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/opinion/cenk-uygurs-the-young-turks-this-youtube-news-bulletin-is-challenging-the-fogeys-of-us-tv-9761069.html#" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">profiled</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> Cenk. Yours truly was<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZkZ3jmcjMI"> interviewed by TYT</a> about media coverage of candidate Bernie Sanders. </span><br />
<br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Brave New Films' "</span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ek3jAkx9m10" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">McCain's Mansions</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">" played a role in the 2008 election campaign, thanks in part to YouTube. Ditto for this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRW2BJOewcc" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">citizen journalism video </a>about the then-dictator of Tunisia.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-44015088233446671212016-10-27T16:13:00.001-07:002016-10-27T16:13:20.447-07:00AOL's Journalistic Values<div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-6854895918499843891" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Soon after AOL announced its merger with HuffingtonPost in February, 2011 </span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Business Insider </i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">(followed by the </span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">Boston Globe</span><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">) published </span><a href="http://leahsnotebook.blogspot.com/2011/02/aol-huffington-post-merger.html" style="color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">leaked AOL documents</a><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> offering a glimpse into that company's journalistic approach -- not one that Arianna Huffington would endorse. (H/t to former indy media student Leah T, for posting the </span><i style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Insider</i><span style="color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">'s summary of AOL's guidelines.)</span></div>
jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-24564975599037358942016-10-25T11:11:00.002-07:002016-10-25T11:11:36.452-07:00Conservative political blog . . .<a href="http://legalinsurrection.com/">Legal Insurrection</a>, WAS launched by Cornell Law professor William Jacobson in 2008. <a href="http://legalinsurrection.com/tag/college-insurrection/">College Insurrection</a> was launched in 2012.<br />
<br />jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-74439092926327772252016-10-21T21:15:00.001-07:002016-10-21T21:15:23.747-07:00"The Price I've Paid for Opposing Donald Trump"<a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/author/david-french">Conservative journalist David French </a>describes the <a href="http://www.nationalreview.com/article/441319/donald-trump-alt-right-internet-abuse-never-trump-movement">violent, racist deluge</a> he and his wife received from Trump supporters.jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-20356506791342700812016-10-21T12:54:00.002-07:002016-10-21T12:54:34.843-07:00Web censorship in China<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">After Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to 10-year prison sentences for two Chinese dissidents beginning in 2003 and 2005, the families of the victims (</span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wang_Xiaoning" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Wang Xiaoning</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">and </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shi_Tao" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Shi Tao</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">) sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it had <a href="http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2008-04-03/news/27695681_1_yahoo-legal-aid-yang" style="color: #888888; text-decoration: none;">established a fund</a> f</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">or people persecuted or jailed in China for posting political views online. Too little, too late?</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><br style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In response to demands from China's government, Google agreed in June 2010 to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a </span><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tDy57WjTk4M/TCth4aTIB5I/AAAAAAAABi8/HX2VTmbMkHM/google%2Bchina%2Bend%2Bof%2Bredirection%2Bhongkong%2Bstops%2Brerout%2Bto%2Bhongkong%2Bhttp:website%2Bgoogle.cn%2BICP%2Bliscense%2Bimage%2Bshekhar%2Bscreenshot%2Bof%2Bcn.jpg" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">tab</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> users can click to be switched. Should Chinese citizens feel safe when hitting that tab?</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-13062991177658472152016-10-21T12:48:00.001-07:002016-10-28T07:09:34.167-07:00Web censorship in the USA<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In 2008, the media reform group Free Press highlighted media and telecom corporations who'd recently been </span><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WnVqXR5TaQ" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">caught censoring</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> web or cellphone traffic.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms" , "trebuchet" , "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"><a href="http://www.innercitypress.com/">Inner City Press</a> was delisted by Google News not long after its founder/leader asked an <a href="https://media.ithaca.edu/media/UN+Webcast+2/1_f0216oec">embarrassing question of Google </a>at the United Nations.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-67557616200998899892016-10-21T12:47:00.001-07:002016-10-21T12:47:50.127-07:00Tom Tomorrow, editorial cartoonist<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">The chaining and corporatization of alternative weeklies can undermine alternative cartoonists like "</span><a href="http://www.thenation.com/blogs/tom-tomorrow#axzz2XRmD8JMN" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">Tom Tomorrow"</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">/Dan Perkins.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-32129854963691088042016-10-21T12:41:00.002-07:002016-10-21T12:41:55.925-07:00A victory for bloggers' access to courtrooms<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">In March 2012, a Massachusetts court ruled that bloggers deserve the </span><a href="http://readwrite.com/2012/03/02/massachusetts_gives_bloggers_covering_trials_same#awesm=%7EozaONgFshjYw75" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">same privileges</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> in covering courts and trials as traditional media.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-13164230028693015442016-10-21T12:28:00.000-07:002016-10-26T13:47:19.545-07:00John Oliver on decline of newspapers<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 22px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0.75em 0px 0px; position: relative;">
<span style="font-size: 13.2px;">Here's a </span><a href="https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8xkpn09k5YiQmtidlN1M2FDUG8/view" style="color: #888888; font-size: 13.2px; text-decoration: none;">5-min condensation </a><span style="font-size: 13.2px;">of Oliver's 19-min presentation, and full presentation <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bq2_wSsDwkQ">here</a>.</span></h3>
jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-11460495716970515122016-10-20T09:54:00.001-07:002016-10-20T09:55:15.128-07:00Beacon Reader closing down. . . . . . in <a href="http://www.poynter.org/2016/beacon-reader-a-journalism-crowdfunding-platform-is-closing-down/429998/">11 days</a> after a three-year run. Sad news, but someone or something will take its place as a platform for funding/crowd-sourcing journalism.jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-86940272617916532292016-10-18T17:57:00.002-07:002016-10-18T17:57:18.286-07:00Can pay walls save newspapers?<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">No, </span><a href="http://www.c-span.org/video/?285745-1/future-journalism-newspapers" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">says Arianna Huffington</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">, as she testifies on "The Future of Journalism & Newspapers" before the U.S. Senate in May 2009 (at 59:02). </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">(A former indy media student </span><a href="http://kirstenindymedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/my-obstacles-to-reading-news.html" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">complained</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> about </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">Boston Globe</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">'s paywall around the </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; font-style: italic; line-height: 18.48px;">Globe</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">'s editorial.)</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6499083592942944867.post-58323538285963181732016-10-18T17:56:00.001-07:002016-10-18T17:56:14.653-07:00"The Internet is my religion," says Brave New Films cofounder<span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;">Intensely personal 2011 </span><a href="http://www.livestream.com/pdf2011/video?clipId=pla_8a026681-a944-4459-a735-6ff526f72b5a" style="background-color: white; color: #888888; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px; text-decoration: none;">speech</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #666666; font-family: "trebuchet ms", trebuchet, verdana, sans-serif; font-size: 13.2px; line-height: 18.48px;"> from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.</span>jeffcohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13733899391177687284noreply@blogger.com0