Monthly Archives: June 2009

NPR Airs 'All Important [Underwritten] Views'

Posted on 06/20/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Linking to a Felice Pace piece of June 14 that connects the near-absence of single-payer-focused NPR reportage to millions of dollars in underwriting the broadcaster has received from insurance industry heavies, NPR Check's Mytwords (6/17/09) includes his own comment left … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Will Officials Take the Fifth Unless the Daily Show Is Muzzled?

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Jim Naureckas

Do they still teach the First Amendment in law school? That's what you have to wonder when you see a lawyer for the Obama administration's Justice Department arguing that statements made by former Vice President Dick Cheney in the Scooter … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Single-Payer and False Football Analogies

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Peter Hart

In today's New York Times (6/19/09), Kevin Sack's article about the prospects for healthcare reform devotes all of a paragraph to single-payer: Seeking broad popular support, the president and congressional leaders have played between the 40-yard lines of the health … Continue reading →

Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Women in Media: 'Crucial to…Progressive Leadership'

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

In Women In Media & News' announcement (6/18/09) that former FAIR staffer Jennifer Pozner has won a New Leaders Council "40 Under 40" Award–given to those "who exemplify the spirit of progressive political entrepreneurship"–Women's Rights blogger Jennifer Nedeau spells out … Continue reading →

Posted in Gender, Media Activism | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

CNBC's Jim Cramer Still on Air–Still Wrong

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Amanda Terkel of Think Progress (6/18/09) has posted video and transcript of an MSNBC segment in which Joe Scarborough asked CNBC's Jim Cramer about "a stunning poll the New York Times has this morning suggesting that Americans are more concerned … Continue reading →

Posted in Economy | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

On AT&T's 'Arbitrary Intervention in the Open Internet'

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Keeping up with corporate attempts to abuse new media technology, the activists at Free Press (6/18/09) have a new campaign pointing out exactly what's wrong with the fact that "AT&T is allowing Major League Baseball to stream video live to … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Business | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

If It Bleeds, It (Sometimes) Leads

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Looking beyond "the yellow-tape segments that bleed and lead local TV news" Norman Solomon (Creators Syndicate, 6/13/09) discerns what he dubs "Media's Love/Hate Affair with Violence"–as exemplified by the kind of violence–rarely occurring in the light of day–that gets scant … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Downsized Reporters Turn to 'Deceptive' PR

Posted on 06/19/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Writing for CJR.org (6/16/09), Media Bloodhound blogger Brad Jacobson finds that "former CNN correspondent-turned-PR consultant Gene Randall's video 'report' for oil giant Chevron might be unprecedented for how it blurred the line between public relations and journalism," but is still … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment, Media Business | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

New Medium, Old Story: Telecom Greed

Posted on 06/18/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Senator John Kerry's post to the SaveTheInternet.com blog (6/16/09) looks at the fact that "nine of the most popular 10 phones are locked in a deal with one of these big wireless carriers," and how this corporatization limits the new … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Business | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Their Election Fraud versus Ours

Posted on 06/18/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Robert Parry of Consortium News (6/15/09) gives hearing to a "strong case" to "undercut the widespread media assumption" of electoral fraud in Iran. But, true or not, "the rush to the 'fraud' judgment among much of the U.S. news media … Continue reading →

Posted in Election, International | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

When an Author Meets an Author Coming Through the Rye

Posted on 06/17/2009 by Jim Naureckas

In an affidavit supporting a lawsuit against a new novel related to J.D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye (New York Times, 6/17/09), Salinger's literary agent makes a statement that encapsulates a common misunderstanding of what copyright is for. Referring to … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Criticism | 1 Comment

On Corporate Journalism as 'Popularity Contest'

Posted on 06/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

The unlikely news source Voice of America (6/15/09) has Adam Phillips' profile of Amy Goodman and "the largest public media collaboration in the United States," Democracy Now!, in which Goodman lays out "her job as a journalist" as "to bring … Continue reading →

Posted in Media Business | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The L.A. Times' Guide to Sexism and 'Nerds'

Posted on 06/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Blogging about a male-only film promotion contest at San Diego's Comic-Con, Charlie Jane Anders (io9.com, 6/15/09) also notices the "L.A. Times published an insulting 'guide for girls'" about the convention–which starts out by assuring readers that contrary to what you … Continue reading →

Posted in Gender | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

NPR's 'Sanitized, Propaganda-Laden' War Reportage

Posted on 06/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

NPR Check blogger Mytwords has some advice (6/14/09) "in these times of austerity and job 'shedding' at NPR": "Instead of spending all the money it must take to embed a reporter like Tom Bowman with the U.S. military in Afghanistan, … Continue reading →

Posted in International | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

WaPo's Front-Page News Deficit

Posted on 06/17/2009 by Gabriel Voiles

Dean Baker (Beat the Press, 6/14/09) has caught "Fox on 15th (a.k.a. 'The Washington Post')" once again "departing from normal news practice" with "another editorial complaining about President Obama's deficits on the front page." The piece's subhead–"Concern Mounts in White … Continue reading →

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