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.