Media

In a candid interview about being a conservative reporter, Weekly Standard senior writer Matt Labash explained to JournalismJobs.com why conservative media has become so popular. "Because they feed the rage," Labash said. "We bring the pain to the liberal media. I say that mockingly, but it's true somewhat. We come with a strong point of view and people like point of view journalism. While all these hand-wringing Freedom Forum types talk about objectivity, the conservative media likes to rap the liberal media on the knuckles for not being objective.

"Before arriving in Doha, I had spent hours watching CNN back home, and I was sadly reminded of the network's steady decline in recent years," writes Michael Massing. "Paula Zahn looked and talked like a cheerleader for the US forces; Aaron Brown kept reaching for the profound remark without ever finding it; Wolf Blitzer politely interviewed Washington's high and mighty, seldom asking a pointed question. None of them, however, appeared on the broadcasts I saw in Doha.

The leading PR trade association, the Public Relations Society of America, is calling on its 20,000 members to organize a "broad grassroots initiative to persuade the Federal Communications Commission to postpone its scheduled June 2 vote on the biennial review of regulations for broadcast ownership." The group, which represents government, corporate, institutional and individual public relations practitioners, says it advocates postponement of the FCC vote "until the Commission proactively encourages full public participation in an open, r

"Critics say the chance of hearing unique and offbeat voices in broadcasting could drop dramatically even as the number of outlets proliferates when the Federal Communications Commission votes on media ownership rules in about a week," reports Reshma Kapadia. "Like the Wal-Mart supercenters that have crowded out the mom-and-pop stores on Main Street and changed the U.S. retail landscape, the five major media owners could tighten their grip on programming, squeezing out local and independent views."