Fake News for the Masses
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The migration of sponsored video news releases (VNRs) and B-roll footage from television stations to websites is increasing.
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Media
Featured Participatory Project: Find the Newest Congressional Staffers-Turned-Lobbyists
Submitted by Conor Kenny on
Sixty-four of the members of the last Congress resigned, retired, were defeated or are now sitting in jail.
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San Francisco Zoo Hires PR Flack to Try and Save its Skin After Tiger Mauling
Submitted by Anne Landman on
Look, but don't taunt.The situation was about as bad as it could get for a zoo. On Christmas Day, Tatiana the tiger escaped from her enclosure in the San Francisco Zoo, mauled a 17 year old boy to death and severely injured two of his companions.
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Journalism as Consumer Product?
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Under the current rules of journalism, writes Edward Wasserman, coverage is rewarded if it "racks up the page-views, attracting audiences through search engines and enabling publishers to charge advertisers more." The problem (which Britney Spears seems determined to demonstrate) is that a story's popularity often has little to do with its importance. "Journalists don't peddle goods, they offer a professional service, a relationship," Wasserman writes.
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Stars and Stripes Fights DoD Hype
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Top editors at the military newspaper Stars and Stripes are asking for full disclosure of the paper's relationship with a Department of Defense publicity program, called America Supports You, after disclosures that money for the program was funneled through the newspaper," reports Sara Abruzzesse. "The newspaper's two top editors have asked that the acting publisher, Max D.
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Dumbing Down Dateline
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
In the aftermath of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, recalls former Dateline NBC correspondent John Hockenberry, the network diverted him from reporting on al Qaeda and instead wanted him to come up with a version of "the show Cops, only with firefighters." During the invasion of Iraq, a network exec axed a segment featuring "a reporter in Baghdad who was experiencing the bombing firsthand" on grounds that it conveyed "a point of view." Hockenberry sees these stories as lessons about how t
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The Taming of Al Jazeera
Submitted by John Stauber on
The New York Times reports, "When a Saudi court sentenced a young woman to 200 lashes in November after she pressed charges against seven men who had raped her, the case provoked outrage and headlines around the world, including in the Middle East. But not at Al Jazeera, the Arab world's leading satellite television channel, seen by 40 million people. ...
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Despite Prominence of Coverage, Pakistan Doesn't Merit News Bureaus
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
When former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated on December 27, 2007, the only American TV networks to have full-time employees in Pakistan to call on were ABC and CNN. Other networks were forced to rely on stringers, freelance reporters on retainer with news agencies, until they could get their own reporters to Pakistan.
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The P.U.-litzer Prizes
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Norman Solomon and Jeff Cohen have announced their latest "P.U.-litzer Prizes" for "stinkiest media performances of the year." Winners of the uncoveted award include:
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The Rhetoric Beat
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Language plays a powerful role in shaping political decisions, argues Brent Cunningham. As an example, he points to the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, "when the choice of words -- by the press and government officials -- played a crucial role in setting America on a course that led, ultimately, to our military action in Iraq. ...
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