Facebook Gaffes...in public

Can we believe these are real?

Objective Reporting, NYT-style

I had to do a double-take at the cover story in Sunday’s New York Times Magazine and its matter-of-fact subhead referring to Joe Biden as a “sage on foreign policy.” So sage that he was one of the key Senate supporters/enablers of one of the most forseeably unwise foreign policy adventures in recent history: Iraq. In fairness to Biden, he was no less “sage” about Iraq in 2002-2003 than the New York Times front page.

Journalists who want to do startups

Hat tip to Meg for her helpful post on journalism entrepreneurs. Meg links to a blogpost by a London-based multimedia journalist offering a checklist for journalists who want to start their own outlet or website.

Fox News Declares War...

...on left or liberal websites using video clips of its channel. But not conservative sites using Fox News clips.

Digital Divides in the U.S.

My middle-class daughters grew up with computers in the home and fast Internet. In inner cities and poor rural areas, such tools for learning and commerce are often out of reach.

Here are videos of rural Southerners asking the government to step in and help folks get broadband.

Net Neutrality

With Net Neutrality threatening to become federal law despite AT&T's frantic opposition and lobbying, it's worth remembering the ex-senator who was one of the main obstacles for years: Ted Stevens (R-Alaska). Here was his attempt to explain his opposition to Net Neutrality in 2006...and his explanation put to music.

Comcast, one of the big cable/Internet companies, gets caught pushing public out of a public hearing on Net Neutrality and Internet freedom.

Upstate New York Congressmember Eric Massa resists Time-Warner on two-tiered experiment.

Rightwing libertarians claim Net Neutrality is just one more unneeded law in search of a problem. The media reform group, Free Press, offers this over-the-top video on corporations engaging in web censorhsip and other abuses.

Finally, a leader of the Christian Coalition testifies before Congress (March, 2008)in favor of Net Neutrality.

Another Drudge Exclusive

In 2007, Drudge acccused CNN reporter Michael Ware -- during a news conference in Iraq featuring Sen. McCain and other Congressional Republicans -- of "heckling" two Senators and "laughing and mocking their comments." The report was based on an anonymous "official" who Drudge quoted as saying: "I've never witnessed such disrespect." The claim was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times. This videotape of the McCain-led news conference -- obtained by indy outlet Raw Story -- shows Ware sitting in the back, not saying anything.

Rupert Speaks on Net Theft, Paywalls, etc

Jean has posted recent interview with media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Is he crazy like a fox, or just out of touch?

"World Exclusive" according to Drudge

If he stuck to just aggregating, and not this kind of "reporting," might the public be better off?

Why didn't liberal bloggers watchdog candidate Obama?

Liberal bloggers exposed outrageous dishonesty in Republican ads aimed at undermining Obama. How hard would it have been for them to also blow the whistle on indefensible Obama campaign ads -- like this one in Spanish smearing McCain as anti-immigrant with comments made by Rush Limbaugh, who generally detested McCain.

When translated, the ad says, "They want us to forget the insults we've put up with, the intolerance" -- as a picture of Limbaugh appears onscreen with quotes OF LIMBAUGH saying, "Mexicans are stupid and unqualified" and "Shut your mouth or get out." The ad continues: "They made us feel marginalized in a country we love so much. John McCain and his Republican friends have two faces. One that says lies just to get our vote and another, even worse, that continues the failed policies of George Bush."

Here was a McCain Campaign ad and another aimed at Latinos and immigrants that probably got less play than the Obama ad attacking McCain.

Bill Clinton Diatribe Caught on Tabe

Mayhill Fowler openly recorded former President Clinton's angry attack on a Vanity Fair reporter, while he was greeting voters in a rope line as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. He did not know Fowler was a "citizen journalist" for HuffingtonPost. Should Fowler have identified herself? Should politicians talk to some members of the public -- he assumed Fowler supported his wife -- one way and others a different way? Would Clinton have given his honest views to Fowler if he knew she was a journalist?

They make big $$ on YouTube

What the Buck? Good question. Could Buck really be earning over $100k annually from YouTube videos. With a development deal from HBO?

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or "LisaNova" truly is talented. Here she is playing Sarah Palin in the famous McCain/Palin rap.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Mean Kitty Song" (over 27 million views!). He claims to be earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements within his videos.

PhillyD is my 12-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star.

Become a YouTube Star. . .

. . .and appear in a hugely popular music video with Weezer or the earlier one from Barenaked Ladies.

"Where the hell is Matt?" is a helluva success, with his travels ultimately gaining corporate sponsorship.

What if online news gets put behind pay walls?

Arianna Huffington, testifying before a U.S. Senate committee on the future of journalism:

What can't work is to act like the last 15 years never happened, that we are still operating in the old content economy as opposed to the new linked economy, and that the survival of the industry will be found by "protecting" content behind walled gardens. We've seen that movie (and its many sequels, including TimesSelect). News consumers didn't like them, and they closed in a hurry. And the answer can't be content creators attacking Google and other news aggregators.

And here's a vision of the future if Arianna is ignored, "It's 2012 and news is no longer free" -- as summarized by Jean in a blog post.

Devon blogged about efforts by German media companies to collect royalties for posting of it's content.

NY Times Publisher on Future of Journalism

H/t to Jean for her interesting blog post on comments made by NY Times publisher Arthur Sulzberger on young journalists and the what the future holds. On the future of print newspapers, Sulzberger told New York mag:

What was the critical flaw to the Titanic? Even if the Titanic came in safely to New York Harbor, it was still doomed. Twelve years earlier, two brothers invented the airplane.

Good riddance to mainstream media?

Jen L. provides clips to heated Oct. 27 debate on topic.

Big Media Hall of Shame, 2008

2008 contest for worst-behaving, greediest or most freedom-abridging media/telecom corporation, according to video produced by media reform group Free Press.

Three Victims of Web Censorship

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall St. and the U.N., temporarily delisted from Google News.

Wikileaks.org, which posts documents leaked by whistle-blowers inside repressive countries, institutions or corporations, ordered to be shut down (ineffectively) by a federal judge's order, after complaint from none other than a Cayman Islands bank! The judge removed his order after 10 days.

CommonCause had trouble placing ads on My Space: This is the face of Big Media.

Topnotch Journalist: "Stop going to Journalism Programs"

Interviewed by Time, journalist/author Malcolm ("Tipping Point," "Blink," "Outliers") Gladwell said this when asked to give advice to young journalists:
The issue is not writing. It's what you write about. One of my favorite columnists is Jonathan Weil, who writes for Bloomberg. He broke the Enron story, and he broke it because he's one of the very few mainstream journalists in America who really knows how to read a balance sheet. That means Jonathan Weil will always have a job, and will always be read, and will always have something interesting to say. He's unique. Most accountants don't write articles, and most journalists don't know anything about accounting. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master's in statistics, and maybe do a bunch of accounting courses and then write from that perspective. I think that's the way to survive. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter.

Huffpost Postings

Just after reading Matt B's blog post on how HuffingtonPost uses instant A/B testing to see which of 2 headlines gets more interest, I clicked on a huge photo of one of my least favorite politicians, Joe Lieberman, and this clever, banner HuffingtonPost headline:

JOE THE BUMMER
Lieberman Says He'll Join GOP Filibuster on Health Care Reform

Wonder if it was tested before it ran?

Amanda F blogged about how the New York Times is running prominent ads on. . .HuffingtonPost.
1) NYT knows where readers are going.
2)NYT willing to give HuffPost $ to win some of them over or back.

JOE THE BUMMER
Lieberman Says He'll Join GOP Filibuster Of Health Care Reform


Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

FTC tells blogs: disclose $$

It's a mark that blogs have arrived perhaps (in the league of print and TV) that the Federal Trade Commission has said blogs must publicly disclose when they are getting paid or gifted. But, as one blogger asks, do print publications do that today?? (H/t Jen)

Yes Men!

Kate Sheppard, 2006 IC grad who has built a career in indy media, reports for Mother Jones on the latest Yes Men hoax -- a phony U.S. Chamber of Commerce news conference in which the chamber purports to reverse its legislative obstruction on global warming and now plans to support laws reducing carbon emissions. Fox Business channel was briefly hoaxed. Democracy Now! told the story.

Here's trailer for the new doc (will be in Ithaca next month): The Yes Men Fix the World.

Blogger Does Ethical Thing

Upstart blogger takes professional action: blogger Ken Krayeske, who gained fame by bravely questioning Univeristy of Connecticut's basketball coach about his huge taxpayer-paid salary, has announced he won't be covering City Hall because his girlfriend has a job there.

Low Power Radio vs. Big Broadcast Companies

The little guys -- battling for more diversity in radio -- won one against the big guys this week. At least, they won a Congressional Committee vote, 15 to 1. Let's see if the Local Community Radio Act ever becomes law.

Journalists Harassed/Beaten. . .

...for reporting on (or preparing to report on) political demonstrations. Iran? No, Minnesota. Video from events at last year's Republican convention.

Talking Points Memo Keeps Growing

The David blogsite that slew Goliath (Bush's Attorney General forced to resign) keeps growing. After an exciting election, political news sites worry about losing momentum -- but Talking Points Memo is reporting growth and many new hires.

A Warning about NonProfit News

Contrarian Jack Shafer, media critic of Slate (formerly part of Microsoft, now Wash Post Co.), warns about strings attached to big donations to nonprofit news. (H/t to Jean).

Michael Moore on Olbermann

Allowed "free speech" as long as not effective speech? See video.

Times They Are A Changing

J schools a changing. (H/t Mary)
Music sites a changing. (H/t Matt)

Old Old Media -- NOT designed to be reader-friendly

No one will confuse the "design" of William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator -- examples here and here and here -- with a modern, colorful, heavily-illustrated newspaper like USA Today or NY Post. The Revolution, an early feminist newspaper -- here and here -- seems only a little less dense than The Liberator.

Hot Off the...er...Internet: Newsroom coming to S.F.

Big news: San Francisco financier Warren Hellman – in partnership with public broadcaster KQED, the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, and perhaps even the N.Y. Times – is about to launch a "nonprofit, locally focused, online news organization with a medium-sized newsroom of full-time journalists," reports the San Francisco Bay Guardian.

Borat-like Activist Filmmaker vs. ACORN

Two young Borat-like pranksters -- one pretending to be a pimp and one a prostitute -- targeted the anti-poverty nonprofit ACORN and succeeded in getting advice from from ACORN workers in some offices for their fictitious prostitution/tax evasion plans. In other words, ACORN workers -- who are supposed to give advice to poor people on housing and taxes -- seemed to be aiding and abetting criminal schemes. "Activist filmmaker" James O'Keefe (who pretended to be the pimp) was behind the videotaping.

The video has been picked up huge on Fox News and elsewhere, leading to a move in Congress to cut off future federal funds to ACORN, which reportedly has averaged several million dollars per year. Now ACORN is suing O'Keefe and Hannah Giles, the actress pretending to be the prostitute.

The website behind the effort, BigGovernment.com, was launched by Matt-Drudge protege Andrew Breitbart, praised here by Slate's media critic.
(H/t to Laura G.)

Obama on Newspapers vs. Blogosphere & My Response

In a recent interview with newspaper editors, President Obama called himself a "big newspaper junkie" and said the survival of newspapers is "critical to the health of our democracy."

A key Obama quote: "I am concerned that if the direction of the news is all blogosphere, all opinions, with no serious fact-checking, no serious attempts to put stories in context, that what you will end up getting is people shouting at each other across the void but not a lot of mutual understanding."

Despite the "serious fact-checking" that supposedly goes on at the N.Y. Times frontpage or Washington Post editorial page, both were publishing cartoonish distortions of reality in the run-up to the disastrous invasion of Iraq. That is, they were offering a lot of shouting across the void on one of the most important foreign policy controversies in years .

Despite the blogosphere's faults properly alluded to by our newspaper reader-in-chief, I respectfully respond to him by paraphrasing Thomas Jefferson and his preference for "newspapers without a government" over "a government without newspapers."

If forced to choose, I must admit to preferring "the Internet without newspapers" over "newspapers without the Internet."

Ida B. Wells High School, San Francisco, 7/09

That Jeff Cohen guy -- imitating the "Where the hell is Matt?" guy (but without the dancing) -- stands in awe of a pioneer in independent media.

Guerilla Leader Marcos Praises Indy Media

Historic moment: "Free The Media Conference in NY City Jan 1997 receives video greeting from Subcomandante Marcos, leader of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Chiapas, Mexico.

CNN Fiddled While Iran Tweeted

Writer on Gawker.com ridiculed CNN last June for missing Iran upsurge.

Mashable.com quickly offered a "How To" Guide to tracking the Iran election protests.

Indy Media, not MSM, got it right on mortgage crisis

In a Columbia Journalism Review piece, Alyssa Katz explains "Why Alt Media Beat the MSM to the Mortgage Crisis."

Web video allows deeper look

A new indy outlet (h/t Archana M). This video gives a much deeper and scarier look at the 9/12 Tea Party type-gathering inspired by Glenn Beck and Fox News than was available from mainstream outlets. My guess is that the the average moderately-educated, moderately-informed US citizen would find the sentiments expressed by dozens of the participants quite scary in terms of ignorance and paranoia expressed.

Did this MSM reporter not know how Twitter works?

ABC News correspondent tweets Obama's alleged response, a negative one, to Kanye's antics at VMA Awards, and somehow didn't think folks would notice?! Hat tip to Marianne D.

Citizen Journalism

Hat tip to Kerry B. Interesting video on citizen journalism.

Jail Time for Blogging in Vietnam

Reuters reports this weekend on bloggers who've been jailed in Vietnam for criticizing the government.

In Mideast, Blogging Can Lead to Jail, Torture

EGYPT:
Brave Egyptians risk arrest, imprisonment, torture to use blogging, Facebook, Twitter to inform fellow citizens about protests, strikes and human rights abuses. "Internet Freedom in Egypt" is a powerful video (with less than great translation).

IRAN:
Vancouver Film School students created this video short: Iran, A Nation of Bloggers. (Hat tip to Prof. Isakov.) This video was online months before the technology-fueled protests over Iran's disputed election.

International websites

Witness: "See it. Film it. Change it." Nonprofit using video and new technology to expose and mobilize around human rights abuses. In this video, the staff of Witness discusses what images opened their eyes.

Newsdesk.org: Important but overlooked news from around the world

Global Voices a Click Away

Global Voices Online led me to this Egyptian feminist blogger, writing pretty bold stuff here and here on her blog "Just Raise Your Head Up High."

Brother, can you spare $20 for my news report?

David Cohn's Spot.us project gets investigations and journalism funded by small donations from the citizenry. David explains the idea.

Drawbacks to foundation-funded journalism

Everyone agrees that foundation-funded journalism is growing, as foundations (despite their declining assets) notice the decline in serious journalism, especially investigative, in mainstream outlets. But Steve Katz of Mother Jones magazine, one of the most successful foundation-supported nonprofit media outlets, warns of some problems with this funding. His blog post is part of an important recent discussion on SaveTheNews.org, a project of the media reform group Free Press.

White Vigilantes, Black Victims -- Katrina

ProPublica investigation of vigilantes who shot blacks fleeing to safety from flood zones in New Orleans -- published in The Nation magazine, one of the oldest independent publications in our country.

Viral Video Plays Role in '08 Presidential Campaign

This Brave New Films "McCain's Mansions" mini-video went viral...over 600,000 views. First 90 seconds gives the gist of it. And here is a behind-the-scenes video, "The Making of McCain's Mansions" that shows how the video went up the media food chain and became part of the mainstream diet.

Why didn't any MSM reporter ask this Q?

Last semester, I.C. student Chris Lisee made a strong point in his blog about the importance of indy journalists being present to ask questions that insider reporters might not ask. Chris blogged about an indy/gadfly/blogger named Ken Krayeske who used a post-game news conference to question the Univ of Connecticut basketball coach about his $1.5 million state salary -- at a time of salary cuts for almost every other state employee. That question and the coach's angry response generated a huge amount of mainstream media coverage . . .after the expected MSM rumbling and ridicule aimed at Krayeske. All the coverage (and scrutiny of the coach’s salary by state legislators) probably would not have happened but for the gadfly getting into the room posing the difficult question.

Addition to Biggest Moments in Blog History

From student Kristin Lanshe:
I think if the list were to be updated, the whole #iranelection 2009 on Twitter was a huge moment in current blogging history. With no reporters allowed outside in Iran, there were thousands of Iranian people continually tweeting blog posts, flickr pics, and articles related to the election protests. They were even covering the Twitter activity on CNN!

Mainstream Reporters Dancing with White House?

Unlike those amateurish and partisan bloggers, mainstream journalists are professional, objective, neutral. Right? Watch this video from 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Dinner. It made me 'craugh' -- that's crying and laughing simultaneously. It's a dinner where journalists and newsmakers put aside work and enjoy themselves, but it's still embarrassing.

Will federal intervention favor old media over indy/Internet media?

Justin Raimondo, who runs the heavily-trafficked antiwar.com website, warns of possible federal efforts to help struggling mainstream media. He worries that two days of Federal Trade Commission (FTC) "workshops" scheduled for December could lead to government intervention favoring old, corporate media like the New York Times and Washington Post over Craigslist and alternative/Internet sources of news. (The FTC was set up as a consumer protection agency aimed at preventing monopoly and fostering marketplace competition.) As a rightwing libertarian, Raimondo is skeptical of government on principle, not just the Obama administration. He is particularly irked by the dean of U.C. Berkeley’s graduate school of journalism, who told the NY Times that he is sympathetic to FTC efforts to gather experts “to talk about the crisis in mainstream journalism.”

Daily Show visits The New York Times

Correspondent Jason Jones of The Daily Show reports on his visit to The New York Times (June 10, 2009)

SYLLABUS

Click here for course syllabus.

Students' Blog Links

SAMANTHA Allen KERRY Barger MATT Biddle
CURTIS Combs MARIANNE Dabir JESSICA Dillon
AMANDA Fox LAURA Gallup Devon Haley
JEAN Kemshal-Bell KRISTIN Lanshe JENNIFER Levitt
MEGHAN Malone SARAH McCarthy ARCHANA Menon
MARY Michalow JACQUELINE Palochko MARCUS Poon
KATIE Rausch MICHELLE Skowroneck HOLLY Smith