Media

Journalism's New Economics

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

As newspapers continue shrinking, Julian Friedland worries about how journalism will handle the "conflict of interest between pleasing the bottom line" versus "upholding its mission to educate the public by publishing a steady stream of hard-hitting investigative reports." As investigative journalism has been "eviscerated" by declining budgets, the "very best news sources in the country" are either family-owned newspapers like the New York Times or

No
Main Source: 
Denver Post, August 15, 2007
Topics: 
Journalism
Democracy

SourceWatch Tracks the Pro-War Lobby and Vets for Freedom

SourceWatch citizen journalist Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a dogged and prolific investigator of the pro-war lobby. AI began digging into the pro-war front group Vets for Freedom in June 2006. AI's research exposing the neoconservative agenda and Republican operatives behind VFF has been used by scores of journalists. Just do a Google search for "Vets for Freedom" and you'll find AI's work in our SourceWatch article right at the top of your returns, next to the VFF's own website.

Pro-war funding appears plentiful for VFF as it gears up to lobby Congress in September. Here's some of the latest from AI and the VFF article on SourceWatch:

Jamming Pearl Jam

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"Over the weekend," comments SaveTheInternet.com, "AT&T gave us a glimpse of their plans for the Web when they censored a Pearl Jam performance that didn’t meet their standard of 'Internet freedom.' During the live Lollapalooza Webcast of a concert by the Seattle-based super-group, the telco giant muted lead singer Eddie Vedder just as he launched into a ly

No
Main Source: 
SaveTheInternet.com, August 9, 2007
Topics: 
Internet
Arts / Culture
Corporations

Drive-Buy Journalism Infests China

Submitted by Bob Burton on

Jamil Anderlini and Mure Dickie report that when the banking company HSBC and the China Charity Foundation recently held a celebration in Beijing, the event organizers paid attending Chinese journalists 200 renminbi ($26.40) as "transport money." "It's awful. It's an embarrassment for Chinese journalism ... and it's corruption," said Ying Chan, director of the Journalism and Media Studies Centre at the University of Hong Kong.

No
Main Source: 
Financial Times, August 5, 2007
Topics: 
Journalism
Democracy
Ethics
International
Public Relations

Bob Burton Takes Readers "Inside Spin"

Submitted by Diane Farsetta on

Cover of Inside Spin: The dark underbelly of the PR industryThe PR industry in Australia "employs more than 10,000 people and turns over more than $1 billion a year," writes the Center for Media and Democracy's Bob Burton, drawing on research published in his new book, "Inside Spin." While some PR campaigns are ben

No
Main Source: 
Sydney Morning Herald, August 7, 2007
Topics: 
Corporations
Democracy
Citizen Journalism
Public Relations
Think Tanks

People Have the Power: Patti Smith Rocks Madison, CMD!

Patti Smith and CMD's IT Director, Patricia BardenIn addition to being a tech geek, I'm a rocker. I've been playing guitar since I was a teenager. So when Patti Smith agreed to a silent auction to benefit the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) at her concert in Madison, Wisconsin, I began looking forward to meeting the quintessential godmother of punk rock. Little did I know how special the evening would turn out to be.

The concert was held at the Barrymore Theatre on August 5. As CMD staff were soliciting auction items, executive director John Stauber asked me if I "had an old guitar laying around that I'd like to donate." I mulled his question over for a few days and then offered my 1958 Gibson LG-1 acoustic guitar.

Pages

Subscribe to Media