"Mere Hours Left To Save Net Neutrality"

A staffer with Free Press, the media reform group, argues today (with hours left to express yourself to the Federal Communications Commission) that Net Neutrality may be hanging by a thread:

Earlier this month, FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski released a proposal that is Net Neutrality in name only. While details are still scarce, the Genachowski proposal reportedly would not offer the same protections to wireless Internet users as it would to those using wired connections. It would also open the door to "paid prioritization," which could allow phone and cable companies to create toll roads that would favor the traffic of a select few companies that can pay by slowing down everyone else.

Scary Picture of Wireless Web, according to a Free Press staffer.

Downside of the Internet

For months, we've discussed how important Internet has been in growth of independent media. There are downsides to the Internet, of course, such as people blabbing (or lying) in public and shrinking attention spans.

Live blogging from Assange bail hearing

The Guardian, one of the leading dailies in England and a NON-PROFIT, has been live blogging from the Assange bail hearing in London. No daily has worked more closely with WikiLeaks in publishing/analyzing the once-secret U.S. documents.

New whistle-blowing website, OpenLeaks.org, launched this week by former WikiLeaks associates.

Here's writer Ted Rall on what leaked State Dept cables tell us about U.S. support for dictators in Central Asia.

2010 Izzy Award Nominations Now Open

Nominations are now being accepted (until Jan 13, 2011) for the 2010 Izzy Award. The Izzy for outstanding achievement in independent media is named after I.F. "Izzy" Stone, the legendary independent journalist/publisher. Details here.

Good discussion of Net Neutrality

MSNBC's Keith Olbermann on Internet nondiscrimination in August along with Josh Silver of Free Press.

Sen. Lieberman vs. WikiLeaks

The publication by WikiLeaks.org of leaked US diplomatic cables is causing a stir around the world and embarrassment to US officials who did some nefarious things -- like pressure democratic governments not to prosecute torture and kidnapping conducted in the "war on terror." In the land of the free and home of the brave, Sen. Joe Lieberman stepped forward to successfully pressure Amazon.com to drop its hosting of WikiLeaks. I see on the blogs a bunch of folks who won't be shopping at Amazon this holiday season.

Iran Bloggers Face Death?

H/t to Andrew C for this video.

O'Reilly says he doesn't make up his own facts.

Oh really?

Political editing at "public television"

Intimidation from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity at so-called "public television" . . . as evidenced by PBS surgically removing Tina Fey's swipes at Republican hero Sarah Palin from a recent broadcast.

Oddest pitch in history?

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

Don't Get In This Bind: After quitting a job in anger and without a plan of any kind, George ponders career options.

Why don't we have public TV like this in U.S.?

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

Digital Divide -- Many in U.S. Lack Hi-Speed Internet

My middle-class daughters are NetNerds, having grown up with computers in the home and fast Internet. 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.

What's with the language in indy media?

Adam P and Rebeca C posted this "WTF Has Indy Media Done So Far?" slide show.

Kellan D posted this (literally FY) response from a Gizmodo editor to a commenter's claim of bias.

Fast,Open Internet in US?

U.S. falling backward on broadband penetration and Internet speed.

Big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T didn't even apply for any of the billions in stimulus grants for building out broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality.

It wasn't just Fox News...

...and other TV networks that conveyed Andrew Breitbart and BigGovernment.com's false impressions about ACORN, leading to that group's demise. The NY Times "Public Editor" laughably tried to defend an aspect of that paper's bogus coverage.

Victim of video distortion by blogger (and later, MSM)

US Dept of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod was fired by the Obama White House after BigGovernment.com posted a 1-minute, 40-second video excerpt purporting to show that, during a speech to the NAACP, Sherrod boasted about discriminating against a white farmer while she was a federal employee during the Obama administration. Actually, she was describing events in the 1980s when she was Georgia field director for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a private group working primarily with Black farmers that had grown out of the civil rights movement; she was not a federal employee at the time. More importantly, a fuller version showed that Sherrod told the story to illustrate how she had overcome her racial hostility toward whites and ultimately helped the white farmer save his farm.

Debtors again going to jail in the USA?

Remember how the first labor weeklies advocated against jail time for those who owed money? Those brave indy journalists won that battle 170 years ago, right? I guess some social problems have to be addressed and re-addressed through the generations, as these two reporters have done for the Minneapolis daily.

It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found.

Watch out for "Drudge Exclusives"

Perhaps Matt Drudge should stick to aggregating content from elsewhere (with revved-up headlines) rather than "report" -- as demonstrated by this 1999 "world exclusive." And by his 2007 "exclusive" in which he accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge's evidence-free charge -- based on an anonymous "official" -- was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times.

Selectively-edited tapes...

....distributed by Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com, played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere, helped kill the anti-poverty group ACORN. Rachel Maddow dissects the distorted presentation.

Campaign Donations from Mainstream Media

Mayhill Fowler of HuffPost "Off the Bus" let folks know she was an Obama symp. Readers/viewers should know about journalists' and media companies sympathies/donations, but usually don't. Mainstream media owners donate millions -- mostly to conservative campaigns -- and it's rarely news. Working reporters, editors, magazine writers, TV hosts donate thousands; sometimes it becomes news. And huge news, as I'm blogging this, in the case of Keith Olbermann, who is now suspended.

A new WikiLeaks?

Several former WikiLeaks personnel may be starting their own group. A potentially important development.

Bill Clinton 2008 Diatribe

Mayhill Fowler says she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton's angry words about a Vanity Fair reporter, while he greeted voters in PUBLIC as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost "citizen journalist." Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest take from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)

Shouldn't public figures know nowadays that anything said -- especially rants (or racism) -- in public will be recorded and on record forever: Example A, example B.

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

Blogger Takes Ethical Action

Here's an apparent example of a blogger acting quite 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 in Oct. 2009 that he wouldn't be covering Hartford City Hall because his girlfriend had a job there.

Why is there bolder commentary/questioning...

...on network TV comedies or dramas than on network TV news? Adam P raises these questions in an interesting blog post focused on 30 Rock. Somehow comedy/drama ruffles less feathers among the powers-that-be than straight news. Also, TV writers/actors/directors may feel more daring partly because they have stronger unions than do TV journalists.

Wash. Post worries about reporter/reader dialogue

Washington Post management sent a memo to its reporters regarding social media/twitter, saying (if I can understand the memo) they should "embrace social media [to] increase audience engagement with Post content" without answering reader criticism in any way it might go public. (Mashable.com published the memo in an article -- with interesting reader comments.)

Sports blogosphere ruining sports journalism?

Screechy 2008 debate between traditional sports newspaper journalist Buzz Bissinger and editor Will Leitch of the popular, sometimes raunchy sports blog/website: Deadspin.com. (H/t to Mead L.) I just went on Deadspin and saw this at the top of homepage: "Watch The Giants' Championship Parade...Watch it here, but beware of Commies, pinkos, gays, dopeheads and Brian Wilsons." How edgy.

Is "Gasland" a country we live in...

...yet rarely see reflected in US corporate media? Oilman T. Boone Pickens gives big bucks to TV networks & stations to run his energy ads, which include advocacy for transition away from oil . . . to gas.

Big Bucks to YouTube Stars

What the Buck? Good question. 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" has real talent IMHO. Like Tina Fey, she's made a career out of playing Sarah Palin, including in the famous McCain/Palin rap. I wonder who she's hoping will run for prez in 2012.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (better known as "The Mean Kitty Song", nearly 40 million views!). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements within his videos.

PhillyD is my 13-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star, offering his take on current events, tech and celeb news. That's where my girl gets her news. Shouldn't I be monitoring her better?

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.

Malcolm Gladwell: "Stop going to journalism programs."

Top journalist Malcolm Galdwell ("Tipping Point," "Blink," "Outliers")gave this advice to young journalists in an Oct.'09 Time interview:

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.

IC grad wins Online News Award

IC grad Kate Sheppard and colleagues at Mother Jones just won an award from the Online News Association for "Online Topical Reporting/Blogging" about the BP oil spill.

Media Corporations Unite!

To prevent their corporate tax breaks from being repealed by California ballot Proposition 24 (in a state facing huge budget deficits), companies are donating big to the 'No on Prop 24' campaign. Of the nine biggest donors, six are media corporations, reports Brian Stelter in the NYT.

"Why isn't Julian Assange dead?"

On the eve of the Jon Stewart rally to "turn it down a notch," rightwing columnist Jonah Goldberg wonders why the CIA hasn't yet assassinated the WikiLeaks founder.

Future of Journalism

Will erecting pay walls around news content help? No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 Senate testimony. Here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.

Biggest Moments in Journalism-Blogging History

...according to Online Journalism Blog (as of Nov 2008).

Indy Outlet vs. Joe Miller

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Joe Miller in Alaska -- who may still win the election -- has fallen in the polls since the online indy Alaska Dispatch wrote articles about his past (for example, here and here) and then had one of its top staffers arrested by Miller's security people.

Rally to Restore Sanity

Your faithful blogger gets the last word in Sunday's London Observer report on Stewart/Colbert rally: "It is a sad commentary that the two most important news shows are on the Comedy Channel," said Cohen. "In their comedic format they are doing what journalists should be doing."

Clever rally placard here and here and here. (H/t to TPM.) Also, here's one from student Pete B, and another.

Izzy Award Winner Scahill on MSNBC

Independent journalist Jeremy Scahill gives his take about WikiLeaks Iraq documents from his reporting post in Kabul, Afghanistan. Scahill focuses on abuses by private military contractors. (H/t to Andrew C.)

Influence Tracker

Who funds our Congress members? Wired magazine and a nonprofit research group (and American Public Radio) team up to present politicians (in their well-dressed suits) as NASCAR drivers (with their logo-adorned uniforms). H/t to Kellan.

Google deal to keep doing business in China

Google agreed in June to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a tab users can click to be switched. Is it safe to hit that tab?

AFTER Yahoo provided info to China's government...

...that led to the imprisoning of two Chinese dissidents in 2002 and 2004, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it was establishing a fund for people jailed in China for posting human rights views online. Meaningless gesture?

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.

Web censorship

In Feb 2008, Wikileaks.org was 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.

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, consumer rights groups mobilized to tell the Federal Communications Commission: "No More Media Consolidation." CommonCause was blocked from placing an anti-consolidation ad on My Space, which Rupert Murdoch had bought in 2005. The banned ad featured a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media." Is it your space or Murdoch's space?

Filmmaker Josh Fox of "Gasland"

Josh Fox, the director of a documentary about gas drilling or "fracking," will be at Ithaca College Tuesday evening. Here he is on "The Daily Show."

Gay Indy Blogs

Adam P has put a very helpful slide show on his blog re "Most Important Gay Indy Blogs." HuffingtonPost has had great success attracting eyeballs to its slide shows of "10 biggest this" or "8 funniest that"

Turning piracy into profit

Jacob's blog: "How to handle piracy 101."

Kellan D cited by "News 21"

Kellan's "Internet footprint" in the form of a blog post noticed by News 21

WikiLeaks Rap

Cute video from indy producer in Australia. H/t Pete B.

NPR, ABC tell their reporters: Don't Attend...

...Colbert/Stewart rally in D.C. I'm quoted in Christian Science Monitor article on the issue:

The main reason mainstream media is under siege is because on major story after major story, they got it wrong. It’s not because reporters marched in Washington. It’s because of the botched reporting in the run-up to the Iraq invasion and the totally missed financial crisis. The independent new voices have blossomed because of their content failures.

Did WikiLeaks documents expose individuals...

...to danger in Iraq? That's the Pentagon's claim. So far, no evidence supports it, according to this Christian Science Monitor piece.

NYT piece by John Burns and others....

...disparages Julian Assange of WikiLeaks. Blogger Glenn Greenwald calls the NY Times article a "sleazy hit piece" and the journalists "Nixonian henchmen of today."

"Control Your Image: Women Musicians Seize On Social Media"

Laura Sydell's 5-minute NPR report (Aug 19) on indy female recording artists using Facebook and social media: "More women than men use social media, according to several studies. And more women musicians seem to be finding it a good way to connect with fans and sell records without having to resort to some of the old marketing cliches."

Motives of an Accused Leaker

Investigative journalist Jeremy Scahill ended his August report in The Nation, "Wikileaks and War Crimes," with this discussion of the motives of 22-year-old Army intelligence analyst Bradley Manning, facing life in prison as an accused WikiLeaks leaker:

In Manning's online chats with Adrian Lamo, the hacker turned government informant who turned him in, Manning claimed to have access to 260,000 classified State Department cables exposing "almost criminal political backdealings." Lamo asked Manning to list the "highlights" of what he gave to WikiLeaks. Among those described by Manning are documents on the US Joint Task Force at Guantánamo, which Manning called the "Gitmo papers," a video of an airstrike in Afghanistan that killed civilians and State Department cables—the information, Manning said, would cause Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to "have a heart attack." Curiously, there was no mention of Afghan war documents. We may never know whether Manning leaked those documents. But what is clear from the chat logs is that Manning believed he was performing a public service by leaking what he did.

In one chat, Manning and Lamo are discussing Manning's passing of documents to WikiLeaks. Lamo asks Manning what his "endgame" is. Manning replies, "god knows what happens now," and adds, "hopefully worldwide discussion, debates, and reforms if not... than [sic] we're doomed as a species."

In one of his last chats with Lamo, reportedly on May 25, Manning says, "what if i were someone more malicious i could've sold to russia or china, and made bank?"

"why didn't you?" Lamo asks.

"because it's public data," Manning responds. "information should be free it belongs in the public domain...if its out in the open... it should be a public good." He adds: "im crazy like that."

Within days, Manning was arrested.

"You Tuber" makes it into...

...big leagues.

Formulaic TV News

Correspondent Charlie Brooker on BBC's Newswipe offers a segment lampooning the samey nature of stories on TV networks like BBC. Hopefully, indies will find alternative approaches.

Online reporter handcuffed...

...and detained for asking questions of the Alaska Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller. The reporter -- a well-known journalist in the area and founder of Alaska Dispatch -- was handcuffed by Miller's security personell after a dispute over his questioning of the candidate about his role as a former part-time city attorney. Here's Alaska Dispatch's version.

Police repression against indies

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

Are we caught in Zuckerberg's web?

After seeing the movie "Social Network," viewers might ask themselves whether Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's has improved his attitude at all about respecting others' privacy. H/t to The Nation's Ari Melber for these messages from "Zuck" at the beginning.

Flush with thousands of profiles submitted by his peers, Zuckerberg typed out his thoughts via instant message to a friend at Harvard:

ZUCK: yea so if you ever need info about anyone at harvard
ZUCK: just ask
ZUCK: i have over 4000 emails, pictures, addresses, sns
[REDACTED]: what!? how'd you manage that one?
ZUCK: people just submitted it
ZUCK: i don't know why
ZUCK: they "trust me"
ZUCK: dumb fucks

Critique of Margaret Sanger ...

...by a political economist exposing Sanger's dabbling in racist (eugenics-based) arguments in support of birth control.

"Dinner with Amy"

The socialist Appeal to Reason used yachts, fruit farms and motorcycles as premiums for subscription revenue to keep going. On occasion, Democracy Now! has offered big donors a 'Dinner with Amy Goodman."

After meeting Amy at a dinner party, Regis (and Kelly) acknowledge their TV show is about "nothing." (Is that a parody of Morning Latte skit on Saturday Night Live?)

Indy magazine Harper's loses

...its Washington Editor, Ken Silverstein: "Washington and Washington politics has worn me down. Every time I write a story I feel like I wrote it a year ago and five years ago and 10 years ago. Nothing ever changes here." His powerful, depressing "Signing Out" column is here.

Lynching of blacks...

. . .prompted this classic Billie Holiday song, which she recorded in the late 1930s over the objections of her record company: "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees". One of the last lynchings took place in Poplarville, Mississippi, in 1959.

First Indy Publications -- Reader (Un)Friendly

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

Kate Sheppard, '06 IC grad

Kate has built a career in indy outlets, now working at Mother Jones -- where she blogs on energy and environment news. Her latest piece was outside that beat, about U.S. soldiers being exposed by American contractor KBR to toxic chemicals in Iraq. She appeared on Rachel Maddow's MSNBC show last year.

Activists Tell FCC on Net Neutrality...

Quit waffling! A year after the Federal Communications Commission chairman made a speech warning that fast action was needed to keep a free and open Internet, no action has been taken.

Crowd-funded investigative piece...

...just published, thanks to Spot.us.

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. It found that the countries with TV/radio dominated by public broadcasting -- Denmark and Finland -- were the best informed. Our country, dominated by corporate media, was the least informed. The study's authors suggest that differing media systems play a role in those results.

In a related note: A 2003 study of U.S. public knowledge of facts related to the Iraq War found that misperceptions were greatest among those whose primary info source was Fox News, least among those whose primary info source was public broadcasting.

U.S. public misunderstanding seems to be growing: A Pew poll taken last month found that almost 1 in 5 Americans believe President Obama to be a Muslim; only 34% know he is a Christian. 43% chose "don't know."

Global Voice Online, a favorite of mine

Interesting news of the world from bloggers/others who live or hail there! In protest, Chinese professor (and blogger) offers himself up as slave. Online expose of official corruption in India. Earlier this year, a group in Lebanon that was fed up with the reader-unfriendly, unresponsive website of the Daily Star newspaper, offered a redesign of the website themselves.

French President to Citizen: Get Lost, You Idiot!

President Sarkozy caught on Net video. French politicians having difficulty tolerating the scrutiny from new media, Internet, YouTube -- especially compared to coverage they'd received from traditional media. A conservative cabinet member was videoed dancing with young folks to Black Eyed Peas tune. Our ex caught on video.

Video and Blogging for Human Rights

The nonprofit group, Witness.org, distributes video cameras in hopes of minimizing human rights abuses. Their slogan: "See it. Film it. Change it."

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

Egypt: Internet Use Can Get You Killed

With the Egyptian government dominating all major media in the country, brave Egyptians (citizen journalists) risk imprisonment and torture to blog or tweet about human rights abuses. Renowned Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas interviewed annoyingly by elitist BBC anchor. Abbas (and his mom) were assaulted in their home in April 2009, reported Global Voices Online.

Fascinating video (with far-from-perfect 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.

Last June, 28-year-old Khaled Saeed was beaten to death in public for the crime of Internet use.

Crowd-funded Journalism

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 founder David Cohn.

As Daily Papers Shrink

Filling some gaps left by shrinking or disappearing dailies are nonprofit news sites -- from the well-funded, well-staffed VoiceofSanDiego.org to Baltimore's smaller InvestigativeVoice.com

"The Young Turks" Doing Good and Doing Well

A totally web-based TV outlet, The Young Turks, is getting $1 million in annual online revenue and 18 million views last month, according to today's L.A. Times.

Obsession with Access Leads to Pulled Punches

Cenk Uygur, host of the successful indy web TV show, "The Young Turks," draws lessons about corporate media from an incident of National Enquirer suppressing a Tiger Woods "expose" in 2007.

Indy Video Shakes Up 2008 Campaign

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

Blogger's Question Launches Controversy

In a blog post for indy media class, former IC journalism student Chris Lisee tells an important story about the impact a single off-key journalist can have.

"Indy Media in a Time of War"

Video made by volunteer collective in an upstate NY Independent Media Center, based on a 2003 speech by Amy Goodman.

Internet Hoax + Limbaugh-Style Spin = Public Ignorance

Any Internet-savvy, educated person would not fall for this Internet hoax, but many non-savvy folks have. Probably ditto for Limbaugh listeners.

Dances with White House/Dances with Wolves?

Here's video from 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner. While these are social events where journalists and newsmakers are expected to have some fun, is this symbolic of too much cozyness?

Payola for Puffery Illegal Online

If you take compensation to puff products without disclosing the $$, the Federal Trade Commission says that's illegal in print AND ONLINE. Reports the NYT, "The guidelines have often been described as rules for bloggers, but they also cover anyone writing reviews on Web sites or promoting products through Facebook or Twitter."

If it's in the NY Times today. . .

...it may well have been broken by indy media much earlier. Strong piece in Friday's NYT (8/27/10)-- its top national story -- on vigilante violence against blacks and cover-ups in New Orleans in the days after Katrina hit. Briefly acknowledged in roughly graph 15 is the fact that the nonprofit Pro Publica (collaborating with The Nation) broke a big chunk of the story at the end of 2008 and in continuing reporting thereafter. For that work, journalist A.C. Thompson won the 2010 Molly Award.

End Times

Daily Show's sadly scathing mock-report on New York Times publishing "aged news," aired in June '09.

Social Media a Fad?

Not sure of some of the stats, but most of this video (updated in May 2010) seems right.

What Rock and Roll is All About

According to Jack Black, it's about "stickin' it to the man." Is that similar to what indy media are all about?

Why Indy Outlets are So Needed – Part 3,279

Subtitle: So much corporate censorship, so little time

Soon after Boston-area TV journalist Barry Nolan politely protested the presenting of a prestigious Governor’s Award to Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly at the 2008 New England Emmy Awards dinner, he was terminated by his corporate media employer, Comcast.
(Basically, Nolan had put leaflets at the event containing some of O’Reilly’s outrageous or inaccurate comments.)

Now comes a powerful and well-documented report in the Columbia Journalism Review – revealing that O’Reilly had personally complained to the chair and CEO of Comcast about Nolan’s protest, and that Comcast admitted in a wrongful termination suit filed by Nolan that it was concerned the protest had “jeopardized and harmed the business and economic interests of Comcast in connection with its contract with Fox News Channel, and its contract negotiations with Fox News that were ongoing at the time.”

An odd postscript to this incident of conglomerate Comcast putting its “economic interests” ahead of free speech: Terry Ann Knopf’s in-depth article that ended up in CJR was actually written for the Boston Globe Magazine. At the last minute, the Globe – which receives big advertising revenue from Comcast – spiked the story.

“In these difficult times, “ Nolan observed, “backbones seem to be in short supply.”

Broadest press freedom law yet?

With unanimous support in Iceland's parliament and with the endorsement of WikiLeaks, Iceland is "creating the world's most far-reaching freedom of information legislation," reports the Irish outlet RTE News.

The main sponsor of the Icelandic Modern Media Initiative is Member of Parliament Birgitta Jonsdottir, a self described "anarchist" who wears 'Free Tibet' and 'WikiLeaks' pins on her jacket.

RTE reports:

The aspiring 'island of transparency' aims to strengthen source protection, encourage whistleblowers to leak information and help counter so-called 'libel tourism', which consists in dragging journalists before foreign courts in countries with laws that best suit the prosecution.

The idea is to imitate and combine the existing most far-reaching laws in countries renowned for their freedom of expression, like the US, Sweden and Belgium.

'I don't think that there is anything radical in (IMMI). The radicalism around it is to pull these laws together,' Jonsdottir said.

And:

...the resolution will also have implications beyond Iceland's borders.

'In countries where they are oppressed such as China and Sri Lanka, journalists risk their lives,' Ms Jonsdottir said.

'We can't help them with that, but at least we can ensure that their stories won't be removed' from the internet, by posting them on servers located in Iceland where the censors cannot get at them, she said.

According to Ms Jonsdottir, it will take about a year-and-a-half - the estimated time required to change at least 13 existing laws - before IMMI will go into effect.

Student Blog Links

Mary Apesos
Pete Blanchard
Andrew Casler
Rebecca Coffman
Kellan Davidson
Jacob deNobel
Breanne Durning
Aaron Edwards
Whitney Faber
Christine Loman
Sydney Normil
Briana Padilla
Kristin Pellettier
Kaydi Poirier
Adam Polaski
Samantha Schles
Morgan Smith
Rachel Stokes

Syllabus: Independent Media--Issues & Challenges

Click here for word doc of Fall 2010 syllabus