Media

Letters Home From a Ghostwriter

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"Letters from hometown soldiers describing their successes rebuilding Iraq have been appearing in newspapers across the country as U.S. public opinion on the mission sours," reports Ledyard King. "And all the letters are the same." A newspaper in Olympia, Washington noticed the pattern after receiving identically-worded letters from two different soldiers with the 2nd Battalion of the 503rd Airborne Infantry Regiment.

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Main Source: 
The Olympian (WA), October 11, 2003
Topics: 
Astroturf
Iraq
Media

Clarke Embedded at CNN

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Victoria Clarke, the former Pentagon spokesperson credited with developing its journalist "embedding" strategy during the war in Iraq, has gone to work as a commentator for CNN. Clarke says that the Pentagon ought to reactivate the embedding program to counter negative media reports on the war.

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Main Source: 
Associated Press, September 22, 2003
Topics: 
Media
U.S. Government

Who Owns the Airwaves?

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

Curious about who owns your local media, telephone and cable company? The Center for Public Integrity has created a searchable database that contains basic information on every radio and television station in America as well as every cable television system and telephone company. You can search by company, by call sign or by area. Searchers will find basic information on some of the most important telecommunication companies, including a brief corporate profile and basic financial information.

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Main Source: 
http://www.openairwaves.org/telecom/analysis/default.aspx
Topics: 
Corporations
Media

The Chairman Speaks

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

FCC Chairman Michael Powell, who has spearheaded efforts to abolish limits on media concentration, recently spoke to Newt Gingrich's Progress and Freedom Foundation and shared his thoughts with the Online Journalism Review. Thanks to the Internet, he says, "the problem in society is not concentration and scarcity [of information media] but actually abundance, fragmentation and hyper competition.

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Main Source: 
Online Journalism Review, September 4, 2003
Topics: 
Media
U.S. Government

Bill O'Reilly Decides, You Shut Up

Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on

"Fox News channel talk show host Bill O'Reilly says 'shut up' the way other people say 'um,'" observes Jack Shafer. "On his daily show, The O'Reilly Factor, he uses it as a place-holder for an idea still formulating in his brain. As a way to begin a sentence, end it, or punctuate it. ... He's even heaved this impolite language at entire nations, demanding they recuse themselves from the international conversation. In the half-decade his top-rated show has been on the air, he's called for the muzzling of practically everybody.

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Main Source: 
Slate, August 28, 2003
Topics: 
Right Wing
Corporations
Media

Fox's Suit Sells More Books

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"I'd love to make the case that Fox News will suffer irreparable damage to its reputation as a result of its frivolous lawsuit against satirist and author Al Franken, but I can't," writes Paul Holmes for PR Week. "Because the kind of people who take Fox News seriously won't care, and the kind of people who care are already incapable of taking Fox News seriously. ...

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Main Source: 
PR Week, August 25, 2003
Topics: 
Right Wing
Corporations
Media

Iraq Gets New Media Chief

Submitted by Laura Miller on

"U.S. authorities have appointed a media commissioner to govern broadcasters and the press, establish training programs for journalists and plan for the establishment of a state-run radio and television network -- part of an effort to regulate Iraq's burgeoning news media while dodging allegations of heavy-handed control," the Washington Post's Daniel Williams reports. In June, the U.S. issued "guidelines" for all media outlets in Iraq, forbidding them from inciting violence or opposition to the occupation authority. "Occasionally, U.S.

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Main Source: 
Washington Post, August 19, 2003
Topics: 
Iraq
Media

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