Jeff Cohen's Indy Media Blog (Spring 2014)
Tuesday, April 22, 2014
U.S. continues to fall behind . . .
. . . in speed of Internet access. (H/t Evan)
Tuesday, April 15, 2014
Why don't we have this kind of public TV in US?
In our country, pressure from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity at so-called "public television"...as evidenced by PBS surgically removing Tina Fey's comedic swipes at Sarah Palin from a broadcast in November 2010.
Country by country comparisons of spending on public broadcasting here.
Friday, April 11, 2014
Jon Stewart's mock interview of Rupert Murdoch
In a 2013 segment, Jon Stewart gently asks
questions of Murdoch about "Murdochopoly." The U.S. Federal
Communications Commission is even more deferential to Murdoch and other
media moguls than Stewart. (Years ago, Murdoch famously
said: "Monopoly is a terrible thing, until you have it.")
Are we losing fast, open Internet in USA?
In the opening scene of Outfoxed, media scholar Robert McChesney explains how big media corporations (acting almost like gangsters) have made media policy behind closed doors, dividing up the cake among themselves.
In recent studies, USA was behind other countries when it comes to access to broadband (15th place) and Internet speed (23rd place).
There's a digital divide in our country whereby upper-middle-class kids grow up with fast Web-accessed computers at home, while kids in some rural areas and inner cities don't have fast Internet, or even computers.
In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality or Internet non-discrimination.
Here's a 2010 Daily Show segment segment on Net Neutrality after Google cut its deal with Verizon, that would subvert Net Neut.
P.S. In January 2011, I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Keith Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor."
In recent studies, USA was behind other countries when it comes to access to broadband (15th place) and Internet speed (23rd place).
There's a digital divide in our country whereby upper-middle-class kids grow up with fast Web-accessed computers at home, while kids in some rural areas and inner cities don't have fast Internet, or even computers.
In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality or Internet non-discrimination.
Here's a 2010 Daily Show segment segment on Net Neutrality after Google cut its deal with Verizon, that would subvert Net Neut.
P.S. In January 2011, I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Keith Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor."
Wednesday, April 9, 2014
Did Breitbart blog inject video distortions into mainstream media?
The late Andrew Breitbart, a former assistant to Matt Drudge, ran BigGovernment.com and other websites. In July 2010, the Obama White House fired US Dept of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod soon after BigGovernment posted a 100-second video excerpt purporting to show that, during a speech to the NAACP, Sherrod had
boasted about discriminating against a white farmer while she was a
federal employee in the Obama administration. Actually, as
Breitbart later semi-corrected, Sherrod was describing events in the
1980s when she was Georgia field director for the Federation of Southern
Cooperatives, a nonprofit that had grown out of the civil rights
movement to help Black farmers. More importantly, a fuller version of the speech aired by CNN indicated that Sherrod told the story to illustrate how she had overcome her racial hostility toward whites and ultimately helped the white farmer save his farm.
Months earlier, other selectively-edited tapes distributed by BigGovernment.com (played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere) helped put the anti-poverty group ACORN out of business. Rachel Maddow dissects the distorted presentation that doomed ACORN. (Fox News had goaded others in media for not doing enough ACORN-smearing.)
It wasn't just Fox News that promoted BigGovernment.com's misleading ACORN story. The Public Editor of the paper of record, the New York Times, went to absurd lengths to defend his paper's inaccurate coverage
Months earlier, other selectively-edited tapes distributed by BigGovernment.com (played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere) helped put the anti-poverty group ACORN out of business. Rachel Maddow dissects the distorted presentation that doomed ACORN. (Fox News had goaded others in media for not doing enough ACORN-smearing.)
It wasn't just Fox News that promoted BigGovernment.com's misleading ACORN story. The Public Editor of the paper of record, the New York Times, went to absurd lengths to defend his paper's inaccurate coverage
When Drudge posts "Exclusive," readers beware
Perhaps Matt Drudge
should stick to aggregating content from elsewhere (often with revved-up
headlines) rather than "report" -- as demonstrated by this 1999 "world exclusive," which helped push the story into mainstream media.
And as demonstrated by his 2007 "exclusive" in which he accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge's evidence-free charge -- based on an anonymous "official" -- was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times. Video of the news conference showed Ware hadn't opened his mouth.
And as demonstrated by his 2007 "exclusive" in which he accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge's evidence-free charge -- based on an anonymous "official" -- was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times. Video of the news conference showed Ware hadn't opened his mouth.
Monday, April 7, 2014
Another new general news site launches
Founded by 29-year-old Ezra Klein, who built the Washington Post's Wonkblog into a big deal, has launched Vox.com. Here's some background. Vox.com is part of a new media group that includes SB Nation and The Verge.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)