Pitching your idea

From "Seinfeld": George proposes to Jerry a unique approach to pitching a new TV comedy series to NBC. George freaks out just before pitch meeting. After the pitch meeting that George screwed up by saying he wouldn't compromise his "artistic integrity, Jerry explodes.

After quitting a job in anger, George ponders career options. (H/t to Sam M.)

Public knowledge/public broadcasting connection

An academic study was conducted into current events knowledge possessed by the publics in Denmark, Finland, UK and US. Guess which country has the lowest level of public knowledge? Us. These academics suggest that the dominance of public broadcasting in Denmark and Finland -- compared to the commercial dominance in US media system -- has something to do with the findings.

Tax funding of public broadcasting in other advanced democratic countries is many times higher than in the U.S. Chart on page 8 of this paper.

Public TV in US ain't like this

Weeks before the Iraq invasion, Jeremy Paxman of BBC's "Newsnight" and skeptical British citizens literally cross-examine Prime Minister Tony Blair about evidence/reasons/legality behind the invasion. This interview with Blair resurfaces during official Iraq inquiry in 2010. Here's another tough Paxman interview of Blair having nothing to do with Iraq.

Broadband stimulus

As part of the Obama stimulus/recovery act, $7-9 billion was aimed at building out our country's broadband network. As the Wall Street Journal reported in November:

The largest U.S. Internet providers, including Verizon Communications Inc., AT&T Inc. and Comcast Corp., opted against applying for the broadband stimulus funds. All of the companies voiced reservations about some of the conditions that grant recipients would face, namely provisions that would require the providers to abide by open Internet, or net neutrality, rules that might hinder some future efforts to offer pricier Internet services.

Net Neutrality

A recent federal court decision in so-called "BitTorrentgate" ruled, according to AP, that the FCC lacks authority to require broadband providers to give equal treatment to all Internet traffic flowing over their networks. That was a big victory for Comcast Corp., the nation's largest cable company."

When Net Neutrality threatened to become federal law late last year, there was intense opposition and lobbying from companies like AT&T. 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 trying to keep the public out of a public hearing on Net Neutrality and Internet freedom.

Rightwing libertarians claim Net Neutrality is just one more unneeded law in search of a problem.

Internet Access: Digital divides

My middle-class daughters grew up with computers in the home and fast Internet.They are NetNerds. In poor rural areas and inner cities, 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.

Internet hoaxes

This hoax portraying Tommy Hilfiger as a racist still circulates.

Indy media should be independent of both parties

During the '08 presidential campaign, liberal bloggers acted in the fine tradition of journalistic watchdogs when they exposed dishonesty in many Republican ads attacking candidate Obama, like this one and this one.

But they didn't blow the whistle on indefensible Obama campaign ads -- like this one in Spanish aimed at Latino voters smearing McCain as anti-immigrant with comments made by Rush Limbaugh, who was not in any way part of the McCain campaign. 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.

Fox New Follies

Whenever I look at Drudge's litany of false claims, the only silver lining I can find is that at least Drudge's factual errors are not as continuous as on Fox News.

Another Drudge Exclusive

In 2007, Drudge accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge based the report 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. Ware responded that he hadn't said a word during the news conference. This video of the John McCain-led news conference -- obtained by indy outlet Raw Story -- shows Ware sitting in the back, silent.

"World Exclusive" according to Drudge

Maybe Drudge is better off sticking to aggregating content from elsewhere (with revved-up headlines) than doing his own "reporting."

Harry Potter Alliance vs. Big Media

H/t to Monica W. Fans of Potter challenge media conglomeration, aka "Voldemedia"

Ethical blogger action?

Here's an apparent example of a blogger acting professionally and ethically as per SPJ Code of Ethics: Blogger Ken Krayeske, who gained fame by questioning University of Connecticut's basketball coach about his huge taxpayer-paid salary, announced a while ago that he wouldn't be covering City Hall because his girlfriend has a job there.

Bill Clinton Diatribe

Mayhill Fowler says she didn't hide that she was recording former President Clinton's angry attack on a Vanity Fair reporter, while he greeted voters in a ropeline as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. (UNFORTUNATELY THE HUFFPOST AUDIO AVAILABLE UNTIL RECENTLY IS NOW INOPERABLE). Clinton 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 fully understood she was an actual journalist?

Mayhill Fowler's earlier reporting scoop that launched "Bittergate" uproar.

Big $$ to YouTube Stars

What the Buck? Indeed. Could Michael Buckley really have earned over $100k in a year from YouTube videos. . .and then gets a development deal from HBO?

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or "LisaNova" truly is talented. Even more than Tina Fey, she's made a career out of playing Sarah Palin, including in the famous McCain/Palin rap.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (better known as "The Mean Kitty Song", 33 million views!). He claims to be earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements within his videos.

PhillyD is my 13-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star, with current events, tech and celeb news.

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?" became so popular, the guy has long had his travels paid by corporate sponsors.

Unplugging article plugs gadgets

Article in Time magazine about unplugging from the grid and gadgets -- laced with links to gadgets, Iphone apps. (H/t Elizabeth)

Court rules against Net Neutrality

Big win for Comcast in court against Net Neut.

Top journalist declares: "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.

Arianna Huffington on future of journalism

In May 2009, publisher/blogger Arianna Huffington testified 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.

What if online news is put behind pay walls?

It’s 2012 and news is no longer free. Fall '09 indy media student Jean Kemshal-Bell edited Simon Dumenco prediction about “Life After the Pay Wall" published in Advertising Age.

It’s 2012 and news is no longer free. Michael Wolff, founder of the news-aggregation site Newser, is in prison, the first high-profile casualty of the 2011 anti-aggregation law. To avoid punishment the Huffington Post has turned into an Arianna Huffington fan-fiction site – and has better traffic than ever. It’s an era where news is luxury, where a yearly subscription to the New York Times cost $7,000. Mobsters are now trafficking pay-wall passwords because it’s more lucrative than counterfeit handbags. All paid-news consumers have to agree to a "Premium Content Code of Honor" that prohibits them from sharing news with non-subscribers.

How the Huffington Post finds headlines

Blogpost from Fall '09 indy media student Matt Biddle summarizes how HuffPost uses help from its community or reactions from its readers in choosing headlines, which are a part of HuffPost's success.

What was the flaw to the Titanic?

Powerful quote from NYT publisher Arthur Sulzberger on the need for mainstream news organizations to "re-create ourselves" to respond to new technologies/blogs:

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.

I saw this quote in a very smart blogpost from Fall '09 indy media student Jean Kemshal-Bell.

Fox News cuts away from Obama . . .

. . .for breaking news of an airplane landing without incident. H/t to Andrew.

Stuff White People Like

Christian Lander on campus tonight chronicled his rise from blogger amusing himself to huge community to major book contract to NY Times bestseller in about six months.

Big Media "Hall of Shame"

"Hall of Shame" video from the media reform group Free Press highlights media corporations caught censoring web or cellphone traffic, and engaging in other misdeeds.

Examples of Web Censorship

Wikileaks.org, which posts documents leaked by whistle-blowers inside repressive countries, corporations or government agencies was ordered to be shut down (ineffectively) by a federal judge's order in Feb. 2008, after complaint from none other than a Cayman Islands bank! The judge removed his order after 10 days.

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall St. and the United Nations, temporarily is delisted from Google News. The de-listing happened soon after Matt Lee of Inner City Press questioned Google's commitment to free expression.

In 2007, the consumer rights group CommonCause was blocked from placing an ad on My Space, owned by Rupert Murdoch, that challenged media conglomerates using a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media."

Maisntream TV news is so formulaic. . .

. . .that a BBC TV correspondent did a segment making fun of the samey nature of stories on BBC and other TV networks. Hopefully, independent outlets can offer alternative approaches.

Oregon blogger...

...trying to get access to city council executive session UPDATED.

"Iraq for Sale" documentary

Here's trailer for the Iraq for Sale doc that was unusually pre-financed by thousands of folks making small donations.

Limits to Indy Voices in Corporate Media?

Here is a fascinating discussion between two media figures -- Keith Olbermann (MSNBC) and Michael Moore -- who have used corporate media or corporate distribution to strongly criticize the power of big corporations. They suggest, near the end of the interview, that their critical speech is allowed within mainstream media if it's not totally effective speech.

Perez Hilton

From solo blogger to huge profit center to Miss USA judge and this.

Repression against indy outlets

Great progress has been made in freedom of the press for dissenting U.S. outlets since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence, harassment, frameups against "underground weeklies." But harassment of indy media continues, as in Minnesota during the 2008 GOP convention.

Independent vs. Party Line Journalism

When John McCain chose Sarah Palen as his running mate on the GOP presidential ticket in Aug. 2008, a Republican party-line publication (even if privately skeptical of the choice) would have embraced and cheered the decision. Here are online comments from the conservative National Review writers...

Ramesh Ponnuru: "Palin has been governor for about two minutes." (8/29/08)

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?" (8/29/08)

Jonah Goldberg: "Downside: She may not be ready for primetime. The heartbeat-from-the-presidency issue is a real one." (8/29/08)

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?" (8/30/08)

(Oddly, when mainstream reporters asked these very same questions -- which is after all what reporters are supposed to do -- it was cited by some as evidence of "liberal bias.")

Innocents on Death Row Today?

Journalism students an Northwestern worked with journalism professor David Protess to free innocent men from lengthy prison terms or death row.

Regis and Kelly Discuss Amy Goodman

Humbled by meeting Amy Goodman at a dinner party, Regis (and Kelly) acknowledge their morning show is about "nothing." No joke. Watch the 2007 video here. (Is it a parody of Morning Latte skit on Saturday Night Live?)

Donation gets you dinner with Amy Goodman

Dinner with Amy.

Lynching of Blacks . . .

. . .prompted this classic Billie Holiday song, which she recorded despite the obstruction of her record company.

One of the last lynchings took place in Poplarville, Mississippi, in 1959.

Early Indy Publications -- NOT reader-friendly

Check out the overly dense layout of William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist publication, The Liberator, here and here and here. Not exactly USA Today. Cady Stanton's/Anthony's feminist publication The Revolution was a tiny bit less dense: here and here. Content was king (or queen) back then.

NBC Olympics Woes

NBC ("Never Broadcast Currently") has long been criticized for its Olympics coverage, delaying live broadcast of events while targeting anyone who puts the events up online earlier. More criticism of NBC's Winter Olympics coverage here and here and here from a US Olympics skier and here.

Public better informed in other countries

A 2008 academic study compared the level of public knowledge about current events in Denmark, Finland, England and the U.S. The two countries with TV/radio dominated by public broadcasting -- Denmark and Finland -- were the best informed. Our country was the least informed. The study's authors suggest that differing media systems play a role in those results.

Tweets and rumors about NYT piece...

Rumors of a NY Times blockbuster expose of New York Governor Patterson around for nine days. Why should the Times have to deny rumors spread by others --in Tweets, blogs, NY Post crazy front page -- about a story they have not published?

Reporters sometimes seem unaware of how potent Twitter is. For example, ABC's Terry Moran -- with a million followers -- once tweeted Obama's off-the-record epithet ("jackass") about Kanye West and his Video Music Awards antics. Moran quickly deleted the tweet and ABC apologized.

Human rights through video and blogs

The nonprofit group, Witness.org, uses new video technology to expose and resist human rights abuses. Their slogan: "See it. Film it. Change it." This intro video describes how Witness distributes cameras to minimize abuse.

Vancouver Film School students created this video, "Iran, A Nation of Bloggers", and put it online months before the tech-fueled protests over Iran's disputed 2009 election.

President to citizen: Get lost, you idiot!

French president Sarkozy caught on Net video; French politicians having a rough time tolerating the scrutiny from new media, Internet, YouTube. Here's video of conservative cabinet member dancing with young folks to Black Eyed Peas tune (hat tip to Christine Pearl).

Egyptian Bloggers

With the Egyptian government dominating all major media in the country, brave Egyptians risk arrest, imprisonment, torture to blog or tweet about human rights abuses. Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas interviewed by BBC. Abbas was attacked in his home in April 2009.

Fascinating video (with not great English translation): "Internet Freedom in Egypt"

Profile of blogger Marwa Rakha, born and raised in Egypt. Her blog post on an incident of mass detention of bloggers, including Wael Abbas, to cover the aftermath of a massacre of Egyptian Christians.

Crowd-Funded Reporting

Would you spend $20 to help underwrite a feature or investigative report? Check out Spot.us, a community-funded journalism project explained in this video by young founder David Cohn.

News 21 Student Journalism

News 21 involves journalism students from 8 campuses nationwide focusing on various topics. Syracuse student journalists focused on impact of technology -- one produced this absorbing multimedia piece on a Latino family in Arizona: 7 kids, 1 laptop.

New nonprofit local news sites...

are filling gaps left by disappearing or shrinking daily newspapers -- from the well-funded, well-staffed VoiceofSanDiego.org to Baltimore's 3-person InvestigativeVoice.com .

New re Sandra Steingraber

Recent interview with the journalist/scientist who was diagnosed with cancer at age 20. Trailer for documentary movie based on Steingraber's book, Living Downstream.

Indy Video Plays Role in 2008 Campaign

A Brave New Films' mini-video "McCain's Mansions" -- over 600,000 views. This self-promotional behind-the-scenes video, "The Making of McCain's Mansions," shows how the video went up the media food chain and became part of the mainstream diet.

Corporate ownership + access obsession = censorship

Host of indy web TV show The Young Turks draws lessons about traditional journalism from National Enquirer suppressing a Tiger Woods expose in 2007.

I don't usually say this, but. . .

. . .DrudgeReport.com's banner headline story this morning -- "COURIC FACES PAY CUT; DEEP LAYOFFS HIT CBS NEWS" -- includes some important reporting from Drudge about the impact of exorbitant anchor salaries in a newsroom. Drudge doesn't have the greatest track record for accuracy; hopefully, the quote is accurate from the "angry" CBS News "veteran producer."

Candidate Obama a RADICAL, MUSLIM...ALL CAPS and !!

Would young people who grew up on Internet find this widely-distributed, anonymous email as at all credible?

Why didn't MSM reporter ask this question?

Last year, I.C. student Chris Lisee made a strong point in his blog about the importance of oustider bloggers being present to ask questions that insider reporters might not ask.

White House Dance?

Unlike amateurish and partisan bloggers, mainstream journalists are supposed to be professional, objective, neutral. But are they too friendly with their elite sources? Here's video from 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner. It's true that these are social events where journalists and newsmakers largely put aside work and enjoy themselves. But this video seems to illustrate the coziness problem.

"End Times"

Is N.Y. Times publishing day-old news? So suggests this somewhat cruel Daily Show segment from last June.

Is Social Media a Fad?

No way, says the author of Socialnomics, who produced this video.

Syllabus

Independent Media course syllabus -- in word document with shiny blue links to articles.

Blog Links

Elizabeth DeLong
Sean Fairorth
Alyssa Figueroa
Raechel Kenealy
Brandon Kurtz
Sam McCann
Caitlin Noerenberg
Christine Pearl
Samantha Rathke
Anna Scheglov
Monica Watson
Andrew Weiser