Media

Al Iraqiya Fails To Be 'Independent' News Source

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.

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Main Source: 
CorpWatch, January 6, 2004
Topics: 
Iraq
Media

Another Award for Bill O'Reilly

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.

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Main Source: 
http://www.pandagon.net/archives/00002229.htm
Topics: 
Right Wing
Corporations
Media

The Killing in Shilling

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"Every holiday season, the Toy Guy, aka Christopher Byrne, appears on scores of local and national television and radio shows with his selections of the best and hottest toys," reports William Sherman. ""But what the parents and children don't know, and are not told by anchors and reporters, is that Byrne is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars annually by those toy manufacturers to hawk their products." Byrne is an employee of Litsky Public Relations, which charges $10,000 per product mention.

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Main Source: 
New York Daily News
Topics: 
Ethics
Marketing
Media

New Liberal Radio Network Picks Celebrity PR Man

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"Dan Klores Communications is helping to introduce Progress Media's plans for a liberal radio network to an intensely interested, but highly skeptical press," PR Week reports. The agency has been helping shape Progress Media's communications strategy. "The network has been billed as a way of balancing the strong influence of conservative talk radio, but so far media reporters have been wondering aloud why this would be different than other less-than-successful attempts at left-of-center radio programming, such as journalist Jim Hightower's show," PR Week writes.

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Main Source: 
PR Week, December 8, 2003
Topics: 
Left Wing
Media
Public Relations

Radio Fraudcasting

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Radio listeners tuning into disk jockey Jeff Kovarsky on Dallas, Texas radio station KKMR in late 2000 could hear him extolling a magical weight-loss remedy. iIt helped me lose 36 pounds," Kovarsky said. iI ate so much over Thanksgiving, I still have turkey burps. But thanks to Body Solutions, I keep the weight off and now I'm ready for Christmas. So, bring it on, Grandma. The honey-baked ham, the apple pie, the Christmas cookies.

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Main Source: 
Texas Observer, December 5, 2003
Topics: 
Ethics
Health
Marketing
Media

Ruining "Reagan"

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

The director of "The Reagans" complained Monday that CBS butchered his made-for-TV movie, ultimately making it too incoherent for the network to air. According to Robert Ackerman, CBS expressed no problems until after a "rough cut" was hurriedly delivered in October. At that point, the network ordered changes to the dialogue that were "nonnegotiable," he said. "What they were doing with the structure of the film, I thought, was making it incoherent," Ackerman said.

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Main Source: 
CNN, November 25, 2003
Topics: 
Right Wing
Corporations
Media

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