Liberal media bias? What liberal media bias?
Posts Tagged ‘ Journalism ’
What’s Killing NPR?
This is the title of a piece by Howard Kurtz in Newsweek. This is a very strange title to a piece that says the following: But with its future on the line, NPR’s decimated management has opted for quiet diplomacy rather than a full-throated defense of one of the few news operations that is actually expanding, reaching an impressive 27 million listeners a week. For some reason unknown to the rest of the world, NPR’s future is “on the line” because the 10 to 15% of its budget that comes from our tax dollars is being threatened by congressional Republicans. I’m not going to address the money issue, but it’s absurd to think “public broadcasting” can’t survive without these funds. I’m more interested in what I’ve heard coming from NPR these last two weeks. It’s been kind of comical to hear NPR reporters and anchors lament that for some crazy reason conservatives see NPR as biased to the left. I heard Ira Glass, the host of the popular NPR staple “This American Life,” venting his frustration on another NPR show, “On the Media” last week at the wimpy defense NPR management is making of its journalistic integrity. He couldn’t fathom why
FTC Staff “Potential Policy Recommendations to Support the Reinvention of Journalism”
A Federal Trade Commission Staff Discussion Draft (link opens a PDF document) was discussed by Glenn Beck during his radio show that aired June 1. The FTC released the document on Friday, May 28, just before a three day holiday weekend. The text below is reprinted directly from the FTC’s working document. It raises serious questions regarding government involvement in the media, including the federal agency exploring ways to “increase revenue to news organizations.” In May 2009, the Federal Trade Commission announced a project to consider the challenges faced by journalism in the Internet age. Now, one year later, staff responsible for this project present this draft for discussion of 1) the tentative conclusions outlined here about the current and likely future environments for news gathering and reporting, and 2) potential policy recommendations to address the issues raised during this proceeding. We note that this draft does not represent final conclusions or recommendations by the Commission or FTC staff; it is solely for purposes of discussion, in particular at FTC roundtable discussions to be held on June 15, 2010, at the National Press Club. Journalism is moving through a significant transition in which business models are crumbling, innovative new forms
Elementary School Principal Promotes Blacks-Only Field Trip
AnnArbor.com reports Dicken Elementary School Principal Mike Madison sent black students on a special trip to hear from a black rocket engineer. Some thought America’s first black President would usher in a post racial era. Instead it seems to be doing the very opposite. An Ann Arbor elementary school principal used a letter home to parents tonight to defend a field trip for black students as part of his school’s efforts to close the achievement gap between white and black students. … Mike Madison wrote the letter to parents following several days of controversy at the school after a field trip last week in which black students got to hear a rocket scientist. … “… as I reflect upon the look of excitement, enthusiasm and energy that I saw in these children’s eyes as they stood in the presence of a renowned African American rocket scientist in a very successful position, it gave the kids an opportunity to see this type of achievement is possible for even them.” “It was not a wasted venture for I know one day they might want to aspire to be the first astronaut or
A Troubling Precedent: NJ Court Says Bloggers Are Not Journalists
The Garden State has a shield law for journalists, meaning the government cannot force reporters or opinion writers to reveal their sources. There is nothing more vigorously defended among journalists than the right to keep secret one’s anonymous sources in service of “the public’s right to know.” The decades-long secret identity of “Deep Throat” in The Washington Post’s Watergate exposés is the standard of that journalistic principle. (And there is going to be reason to snicker at that example later. Be patient.) But a New Jersey state appellate court last weekruled that a woman named Shellee Hale is not a“real” journalist, but just a blogger, so is not protected by the state’s shield law. In the words of New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Judge Anthony J. Parrillo: “Simply put, new media should not be confused with news media.” This backward-looking, snobbish decision is troubling for many reasons. Before we get into the upcoming righteous outrage from someone who was a regular member of the “news media” for nearly 20 years — but is now a “new media” journalist — here’s some background on the case. Shellee Hale, who lives in Washington state, wrote in the comment section of a blog that New Jersey-based software company Too Much Media was the victim
Attend a Tea Party, Support the Arts
Bill Whittle is a clever, erudite and indefatigable proponent ofliberty and limited government. His latest PJTV video, entitled “Support Your Local Tea Party: Vigilance & The Siren Song of the State,” is a must-see, especially if you’re on the fence about attending a Tax Day Tea Party near you. Whittle’s video and the political movement it endorses are incredibly important. At the 2 minute 30 second mark, however, note his list of fields “the enemies of freedom have … taken over.” “Things have gotten this bad because we’ve allowed them to get this bad. We’ve been busy minding our own business for forty years, while the enemies of freedom have slowly and surely taken over academia, newspapers, movie studios, comedy, music, and politics. Now a huge slice of our own people long to escape the responsibilities brought on by the freedoms our forefathers gave their lives for. We can’t let that happen.” As usual, Whittle’s analysis is spot on, but one of those fields doesn’t quite jive with the rest. Everything that Whittle ticks off in his list influences that final item. Politics is a lagging indicator to these cultural influence professions. You can’t change Washington DC and
Breitbart Rips “Objective Media” in Welcome for Tucker Carlson’s New Site
Everyone who works in mainstream media (ok, almost everyone) believes that they are involved in a profession so pure that it believes it can sit in judgment on all that it surveys. What is it that gives these people the bone fides to think they can authoritatively intone upon our society’s many and varied workings? Objectivity. Like some Buddha upon a mountain who inhabits the rarified air that brings clarity not available to mere mortals, modern journalists are convinced they hold the keys to definitive truth on the issues and events of the day. Of course everyone else looks upon them as the emperor who has no clothes. Only Fox News and talk radio are biased and thus cannot claim to be part of real journalism. But Andrew Breitbart isn’t buying it. In his welcome post to Tucker Carlson’s new website The Daily Caller, Breitbart in his inimitable way rips into the pretense of modern journalism’s high horse, objectivity. Here is a taste: Over the last fifteen years, the Internet has become the battlefield, where the mostly false notion of “objective” and “bias-neutral” journalism clashes with those of us on the right who believe that media bias is the central
Brit Hume’s Advice To Tiger Stirs Controversy
By now you’ve probably heard that Britt Hume had the temerity, the unmitigated gall, made the unpardonable social faux pas to suggest that Tiger Words turn to Christianity to find “forgiveness and redemption.” How could he do such a thing? Doesn’t he know that the Christian faith belongs where it should always have been, in the closet? Quiet, minding its own business? Of course this is only controversial to our precious, leftist media elites. I’m sure even some of those same elites that come down on the opposite side of the political/cultural spectrum were even a bit uncomfortable with Hume’s remarks. It is amazing that in less than half a century Christianity came from being the dominant faith of Western civilization, to being “controversial.” How did this happen? The seeds of this rejection are partly the nature of the faith itself. Throughout the gospels, Jesus predicts he and his followers’ persecution, and so do the writers of the epistles. Paul in 1 Corinthians says it well, “e preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to Gentiles.” But culturally speaking, this utter lack of respect for the faith that created Western civilization came about because people of
The Insufferable Helen Thomas Lauded in HBO Documentary
An HBO documentary lauds the arrogant, smugly antagonistic journalist Helen Thomas, longtime lady dean of the White House press corps.
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