Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on
The Smithsonian Institution is defending a long-term multimillion dollar contract that limits access to some filmmakers in favor of Showtime Networks, a CBS affiliate. The scale of the contract with Showtime enables "an exponential growth in filming projects," Smithsonian Secretary Lawrence Small told the Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Submitted by John Stauber on
Many of CMD's staff will be in Memphis, Tennessee, January 11-14, at the National Conference for Media Reform. Check out the extensive program featuring journalists, activists, FCC Commissioners, media watchdogs, national elected officials, and entertainers. The scores of notables include Bill Moyers, Amy Goodman and Helen Thomas.
Submitted by Jonathan Rosenblum on
The Society of Professional Journalists is moving ahead on a joint venture with Market Wire, a PR industry firm that, among other services, distributes news releases. Columnist Michael Miner of the Chicago Reader exposed the deal last fall.
Submitted by Judith Siers-Poisson on
Late last month, NewsTrust went live. This non-profit online news rating service aims to help people identify quality journalism - or "news you can trust." The project is led by Fabrice Florin, a former journalist and a digital media pioneer at Apple and Macromedia. The concept is simple -- NewsTrust members submit articles, then read and rate them based on key journalistic principles such as fairness, balance, evidence, context and importance.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
"Here is the redacted version of a draft Op-Ed article we wrote for The [New York] Times, as blacked out by the Central Intelligence Agency's Publication Review Board after the White House intervened in the normal prepublication review process," write Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann.
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
PR Week's "PR Toolbox" column has some helpful hints for placing audio news releases (ANRs), the radio cousin of video news releases (VNRs).
Submitted by Diane Farsetta on
Former CIA analyst and National Security Council official Flynt Leverett has accused the White House of trying "to silence his criticism of Middle East policies by ordering the CIA to censor an op-ed column he wrote." Leverett said the CIA's attempt to remove already-public information about prior U.S.
Here at the Center for Media and Democracy, we've made our year-end list, and our readers have checked it 1,204 times. That can only mean one thing -- it's time to announce the winners of the coveted 2006 Falsies Awards!
"Congress and the courts have stressed that as fiduciaries given the free use of the public airwaves, broadcasters are obligated to operate in the public interest. Flagrantly deceptive practices are inconsistent with that obligation and can find no sanction in the First Amendment."
Those words were written by Henry Geller, a former general counsel of the Federal Communications Commission and assistant secretary of commerce for communications and information. Today, the StarTribune in Minneapolis/St. Paul published an op/ed that Geller and I co-authored. The piece (copied below) describes why full disclosure of video news releases (VNRs) is both vital to the public interest and supported by legal precedent.
If you think the public should be told where its news really comes from, you can still support VNR disclosure, via the online action hosted by our colleagues at Free Press.
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