Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Pew Research Center for the People and the Press' recent survey of nearly 550 national and local media workers finds journalists "unhappy with the way things are going in their profession these days." The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz writes, "Two-thirds of national media staffers, and 57 percent of the locals, believe that profit pressures are seriously hurting news coverage.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Los Angeles Times editor John Carroll has penned a blistering critique of "pseudo-journalism" in the United States: "All across America, there are offices that resemble newsrooms, and in those offices there are people who resemble journalists, but they are not engaged in journalism. ... You may have guessed by now that I'm talking about Fox News. I am, but I am also talking about a broad array of talk shows and websites that have taken on the trappings of journalism but, when studied closely, are not journalism at all."
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Piers Morgan has been fired as editor of the Daily Mirror, and the British tabloid devoted its entire front page to an apology for publishing what turned out to be fake photos of British soldiers abusing Iraqi prisoners.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
We've reported in the past on OhMyNews! -- an innovative, Korean-language online newspaper that has transformed journalism and Korea's traditionally conservative political culture by serving as an outlet for tens of thousands of "citizen journalists" teamed up with professional reporters and editors.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
USA Today has become the first major U.S. newspaper to publish a call for U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, with USA Today's founder Al Neuharth editorializing that the war is "the biggest military mess miscreated in the Oval Office and miscarried by the Pentagon in my 80-year lifetime." In addition, Neuharth advises President Bush to take a cue from Lyndon B. Johnson and announce that he will not run for re-election.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
The Associated Press and the Mississippi paper Hattiesburg American filed a lawsuit "against the U.S. Marshals Service over an incident in April in which a federal marshal erased reporters' recordings of a speech Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia gave to high school students" about the U.S. Constitution.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
China's "censorship orders are totally groundless, absolutely arbitrary, at odds with the basic standards of civilization, and as counter to scientific common sense as witches and wizardry," wrote Beijing journalism professor Jiao Guobiao in a recent article that has been widely circulated by Internet in Beijing despite, not unpredictably, being banned by the Communist Party's propaganda department. "Such explicit outbursts of dissent are still rare in China, reports Joseph Kahn. "But Mr.
Submitted by Laura Miller on
"It's easy to complain about the press -- I've been doing it for a good part of my career," Vice President Dick Cheney told tens of thousands of Republican supporters in a conference call. "It's part of what goes with a free society. What I do is try to focus upon those elements of the press that I think do an effective job and try to be accurate in their portrayal of events.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Friday's "Nightline" pays tribute to U.S. servicemembers killed in Iraq, with anchor Ted Koppel reading the names of fallen troops. Saying the show "appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq," the Sinclair Broadcast Group is barring its ABC-affiliate stations from airing the show. The ban affects seven media markets in six states.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Bill Mitchell, whose son was a U.S. Army soldier killed in Iraq earlier this month, has written a letter to The Seattle Times thanking the newspaper for publishing the picture of flag-draped caskets that broke a Pentagon ban. Mitchell believes his son was in one of the caskets shown in the now-famous photo by Tami Silicio. "Hiding the death and destruction of this war does not make it easier on anyone except those who want to keep the truth away from the people," he wrote.
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