Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
University of Kansas' journalism school will award its prestigious William Allen White Foundation Medal for "outstanding journalistic merit" to PR professional and former Reagan and Bush I White House press secretary Marlin Fitzwater. Previous honorees include Charles Kuralt, Bob Woodward and Molly Ivins.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Leftists aren't the only dissenters from the war in Iraq to feel the consequences of the Clear Channel's pro-war tilt. Radio talk show host Charles Goyette, a Goldwater Reaganite, has been bumped from his slot and expects to lose his job because he criticized the Bush administration's shape-shifting case for war. "Management didn't like my being out of step with the president's parade of national hysteria, and the war-fevered spectators didn't care to be told they were suffering illusions," he writes.
Submitted by John Stauber on
Greg Palast writes that "the future for fake and farcical war propaganda is quite bright indeed. ... So M'Lord Hutton has killed the messenger: the BBC. Should the reporter Gilligan have used more cautious terms? Some criticism is fair. But the extraordinary import of his and Watts' story is forgotten: our two governments bent the information then hunted down the questioners. And now the second invasion of the Iraq war proceeds: the conquest of the British Broadcasting Corporation.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The Columbia Journalism Review has started up a new web site, the CampaignDesk, devoted to analyzing their coverage of reporters covering the election campaign. According to Steve Lovelady, the site's managing editor, journalists are the site's primary audience. "Most blogs are 99.9 percent opinion," he said. "This is a Web site run by and staffed by responsible journalists whose job is to monitor, critique and praise the campaign press, on a daily basis."
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Columbia Journalism Review editor Trudy Lieberman, after examining transcripts from some 50 major news shows, concludes that "journalism has morphed into a cog in a great public relations machine." Lieberman blames the prevalence of PR-driven media training: "At a time when the audience makes decisions based on perceptions rather than facts, the goal is to create positive perceptions of companies and their products, politicians and their policies." Recent interview excerpts illustrate how "trained" guests can easily gain control, especially when the "unwritten rules" discourage journalists
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Just in time for the elections, there's a new web site out called FactCheck.org. Headed by Brooks Jackson and sponsored by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania, it is a "nonpartisan, nonprofit, 'consumer advocate' for voters that aims to reduce the level of deception and confusion in U.S. politics. We monitor the factual accuracy of what is said by major U.S. political players in the form of TV ads, debates, speeches, interviews, and news releases.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
The U.S. funded Iraqi Media Network was supposed to bring "independent" journalism to a "liberated" Iraq. The reality, however, is that IMN's Al Iraqiya radio and television station are failing, according to CorpWatch's Pratap Chatterjee. The stations, run by top CIA contractor Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC), seem almost irrelevant given the more popular satellite news channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya and the common criticism that "Al Iraqiya has no news.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Bill O'Reilly, who famously falsely claimed to be the winner of two Peabody Awards, has finally won something for real -- top spot on Pandagon.net's list of "the 20 most annoying conservatives of 2003." According to Pandagon webmasters Ezra Klein and Jesse Taylor, O'Reilly "had a hard time getting on this list.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Jay Rosen thinks coverage of the 2004 presidential election is shaping up as an exercise in "Horse Race Now! Horse Race Tomorrow! Horse Race Forever!" In this time-dishonored tradition of political journalism, reporters use sports as a metaphor for reporting on politics, relying for insights on political insiders who have learned how to spin the "race" as a game of "inside baseball." The result: "An army of sentries encircles the game, guarding every situation from which a glimmer of fresh truth might be allowed to escape."
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Columnist Paul Krugman is wondering if the news media will take its job seriously when reporting on the 2004 elections and offers some suggestions to reporters: "Don't talk about clothes." "Actually look at the candidates' policy proposals." "Beware of personal anecdotes." "Look at the candidates' records." "Don't fall for political histrionics." "It's not about you." Although this is all pretty basic advice, concludes, "I don't really expect my journalistic colleagues to follow these rules. ...
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