Friday, August 27, 2010
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.
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
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?
Saturday, August 21, 2010
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.”
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.”
Thursday, August 19, 2010
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:
And:
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.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)