Media

Media Rely Increasingly on Spokespeople

Submitted by Laura Miller on

The media's use of spokespeople as primary news sources has increased 81% between 1995 and 2000 according to a study by Bob Williams, an ethics fellow at the Poynter Institute. "As a reporter, you look around the newsroom, and the tendency has become to talk to spokespeople rather than to even try to get to the principals," Williams told PR Week. Council of PR Firms president Kathy Cripps suggests reporters and editors sit down with their PR contacts for interviews as a way to improve the relationship between the media and PR practitioners.

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Main Source: 
PR Week, March 25, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
Ethics
Public Relations

Homefront Confidential

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press has issued a special "RCFP White Paper" chronicling the effects the "war on terrorism" has had on media coverage. Available as a free PDF download, the 34-page report outlines actions taken over the last six months by state and federal government agencies that limit the ability of journalists to do their jobs.

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Topics: 
Journalism
Terrorism
Secrecy

The Loyal Opposition

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Today's Republican Party demonizes any criticism of President Bush on the grounds that it will "undermine the war effort," and journalists like Tom Gutting are learning the hard way that they can be fired if they question the president's leadership. Yet one of the GOP's most influential forebears, presidential nominee Thomas Dewey, openly criticized Franklin Roosevelt at the peak of the war against fascism.

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Main Source: 
TomPaine.com
Topics: 
Journalism
Democracy
War / Peace

The Action Coalition for Media Education Takes Off

Submitted by John Stauber on

National conferences of the media literacy movement have been funded by Channel One, AOL/Timer Warner, and other media giants trying to define, co-opt and profit from media literacy. Now, "a new, national organization is forming that will tackle the challenges brought on by our current global media system. ... Join other dedicated and passionate individuals that want to make an impact upon media education at the ACME Summit 2002." The summit will be held in Albuquerque, New Mexico, October 18-20th, and the Center for Media & Democracy is among the supporting organizations.

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Main Source: 
http://www.acmecoalition.org/
Topics: 
Education
Media

Crisis Managers Keep NBC in High Spirits

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

NBC has hired a PR firm that specializes in crisis management to help deflect mounting criticism over its decision to carry hard-liquor ads. Shepardson, Stern & Kaminsky will help the network fend off criticism from groups like the American Medical Association, which recently ran a full-page ad in the New York Times, saying that NBC has "let down America's children."

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Main Source: 
MediaWeek.com, March 4, 2002
Topics: 
Crisis Management
Media

ABC Depicts Tobacco Flack Rick Berman as a Hero in the War Against "Eco-Terrorism"

Submitted by John Stauber on

Rick Berman started ConsumerFreedom.com with $900,000 from the Philip Morris tobacco company. He is waging a corporate-funded smear campaign against public health, environmental and animal welfare organizations and the non-profit foundations that fund them.

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Main Source: 
ABCnews.com, February 26, 2002
Topics: 
Media
Tobacco

Why Are Journalists Targets?

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Following the murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, Robert Fisk ponders "the slow, painful, dangerous erosion of respect" for journalists who cover international conflicts. "We used to risk our lives in wars -- we still do -- but journalists were rarely deliberate targets," he writes. One reason for the change, he says, is that journalists themselves have lost their status as impartial witnesses to war. "What on earth was CNN's Walter Rodgers doing in US Marine costume at the American camp outside Kandahar?

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Main Source: 
ZNet, February 23, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
Terrorism

Court Ruling Gives Green Light to Media Mega-Mergers

Submitted by John Stauber on

The stranglehold that a dozen giant corporations now exert on media in the US will tighten even more in the wake of a federal court ruling. The ill effects of corporate media control such as mind numbing content, self-censorship to serve advertisers, neglect of minority opinions and dissent, sensationalized if-it-bleeds-it-leads news, plagiarism of PR as 'news,' are all set to worsen. Schiesel and Carter write in the New York Times, "Investment bankers, start your engines.

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Main Source: 
New York Times
Topics: 
Corporations
Media

Canadian Journalists Threatened By Media Concentration

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Robert Cribb, the president of the Canadian Association of Journalists, is calling for "a parliamentary inquiry into the effects of media concentration in this country," in response to efforts by the CanWest media empire to muzzle journalists who disagree with management views. "At issue is CanWest's decision to run 'national editorials' in its major dailies, limiting the diversity of viewpoints available to readers," Cribb writes.

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Main Source: 
Vancouver Sun, February 7, 2002
Topics: 
Journalism
Corporations

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