CMC Politics of Journalism

American Views on Killing Osama

2011-05-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

The good people at, well, GOOD (an organization of individuals, businesses, and non-profits) put together a snappy-looking infographic on American opinion after the killing of Osama Bin Laden. I found it useful for general summary purposes. The layout is pretty neat too!

(Click on the graphic to enlarge the image)

Page One: A Year Inside the New York Times

2011-05-05T00:21:00.000-07:00

This movie sums up a good amount of what we have learned in class

Perfect Coda to the Course

2011-05-04T17:09:00.000-07:00

"Not only did we kill bin Laden, we killed him in Abbottabad. Abbottabad sounds like the name most New Yorkers would have invented for the fictional place they would have loved to kill bin Laden in."

-- Jon Stewart

Another Case of the Made-Up Quote

2011-05-02T23:14:00.000-07:00

Megan McArdle of The Atlantic published an opinion piece today about her hesitance to share in the celebration of Osama's death. She supposed that something was amiss when she saw the following quotation appear in her Twitter feed:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy." - Martin Luther King, Jr

Turns out, the quotation was just what she suspected: a fake. Read the rest of her follow-up post here: http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2011/05/out-of-osamas-death-a-fake-quotation-is-born/238220/

Osama bin Laden death and network news/social media

2011-05-02T13:00:00.000-07:00

I thought several parts of the linked article demonstrated several elements of news making that we have talked about through out the class. I thought that the following excerpt was especially important:

"Reactions were sudden and stunned. Twitter said that it had recorded more than 4,000 Twitter messages per second at some times during Mr. Obama's address.

The confirmation of Bin Laden's death led the major television networks in the United States to dust off the briefing books that they had prepared years ago for the occasion, and led major newspapers to queue up the obituaries that they had written long ago."

http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/05/02/u-s-networks-scramble-on-news-of-bin-ladens-death/?ref=media

Is the news cycle really as fast as we think

2011-05-02T12:05:00.001-07:00

Couple of random things. First in response to Max's photo op post- the kill was planned for Saturday but for unknown reasons was pushed back until Sunday. (according to CNN). Second- I know we have been talking about how fast the news cycle is but last night was complicated the issue. While at a country concert I actually found out about the killing from military personnel who had found out from their friend's in the Middle East before the story broke. I could be wrong as I was not near an actually computer but a quick search on my phone resulted in old theories for the first 5 minutes after finding out.

Lastly. This is an interesting article on the fake photos already circulating and the social impact of this event (on the royal honeymoon).
http://www.beehivecity.com/television/twitter-first-with-osama-bin-laden-death-report-and-conspiracy-theories90843567/

Drudge Losing His Edge?

2011-05-02T11:48:00.001-07:00

Drudge is best known for having breaking news first, even if it is sometimes inaccurate. However, last night when the White House announced its late night news conference on national security, Drudge did not cover it and appeared not to be paying attention. While Fox News and NBC News were reporting that the Bin Laden had been killed, Drudge's headline and picture were about Donald Trump, and there was no mention of the breaking news. Drudge did have many links to the Bin Laden story once Obama announced the news, but Drudge not having any information on the breaking news when other media outlets clearly knew what was going on raises some questions about whether Drudge is losing his edge in being the first to have breaking news.

The End

2011-05-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

Breaking news is ragged, as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be...

Bias?

Contribution data

From a 2008 survey for The State of the News Media

As was the case in 2004, majorities of the national and local journalists surveyed describe themselves as political moderates; 53% of national journalists and 58% of local journalists say they are moderates. About a third of national journalists (32%), and 23% of local journalists, describe themselves as liberals. Relatively small minorities of national and local journalists call themselves conservatives (8% national, 14% local).

Internet journalists as a group tend to be more liberal than either national or local
journalists. Fewer than half (46%) call themselves moderates, while 39% are self-described liberals and just 9% are conservatives.

Among the population as a whole, 36% call themselves conservatives – more than triple the percentage of national and internet journalists, and more than double the percentage of local journalists. About four-in-ten (39%) characterize their political views as moderate, while 19% are self-described liberals, based on surveys conducted in 2007 by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press.

The Future?

Inaccurate

2011-05-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

I don't know if this was the video Maddie was trying to post, but here's a pretty good example of first reports being incorrect, or in this case misspoken. In the video they accidently say "President Obama is dead" rather than "Osama bin Laden."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMP7Ys57ha4&feature=player_embedded

Coincidence

2011-05-02T09:28:00.001-07:00

The news of Bin Laden's death yesterday came eight years to the day of the "Mission Accomplished" photo op. Maybe it would be an appropriate scene today...

A Great Photo

2011-05-02T04:53:00.000-07:00

Stage One Crisis Reporting

2011-05-01T23:03:00.000-07:00

Some information may be inaccurate...

President Obama on Death of Osama bin Laden

2011-05-01T22:27:00.001-07:00

One Word Comment on the Killing of Bin Laden

2011-05-01T20:52:00.000-07:00

Al Jazeera Uses Magic Quotes on Osama

2011-05-01T20:14:00.001-07:00

In its breaking news piece on bin Laden's death, Al Jazeera immediately downplayed the significance of the US military victory:

US president Barack Obama is due to make a statement shortly in which he is expected to announce the death of Osama bin Laden, the leader of al-Qaeda.

Obama's address was due at 0300GMT from the White House.

Qais Azimy, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Kabul, said that Afghan officials have confirmed that Bin Laden had died and that his body was with the United States.

Officials would not confirm whether he had been killed in Afghanistan or Pakistan, and said that the death of the al-Qaeda leader was more of a "symbolic victory", as he was no longer directly connected to the group's field operations, Azimy reported.

Twitter and Osama

2011-05-01T20:07:00.000-07:00

According to an article on TechCrunch, "News of Osama Bin Laden's Death Spreads Like Wildfire on Twitter." As the author writes, "Wow this news isn’t even out and it is already old news." (Read the full article here: http://techcrunch.com/2011/05/01/news-of-osama-bin-ladens-death-spreads-like-wildfire-on-twitter/)
Facebook is also littered with updated statuses regarding Bin Laden's death. The internet has allowed this news - which is currently minimal - to spread exponentially. If something similar were to happen ten or twenty years ago, most people would not know about the death until the morning.

Osama Bin Laden dead, says US government official

2011-05-01T19:52:00.000-07:00

The New York Times published an article stating that the mastermind behind the September 11th attacks has been killed. President Obama to make further announcements later tonight.

The link is here.

Donald Trumps Face Speaks for this video in its entirety

2011-05-01T19:34:00.001-07:00

Why so passive?

2011-05-01T17:12:00.001-07:00

After buddying it up with Strunk and White this past semester, I can't help but notice reporter's excessive use of passive voice in article headings. I found this article, which states:

"Nielsen's thesis is that the passive voice -- which is usually frowned upon by people who love good prose -- enables headline writers to "front-load" their heds with the key concepts from the story, making it easier for people scanning those headlines (as search results or feed headlines) to pick out their meaning more quickly."

An interesting thought, and maybe it will help me get over my annoyance of titles like this one (published in the New York Times on May 1): Costly Afghanistan Road Project Is Marred By Unsavory Alliances

2011 White House Correspondents' Dinner

2011-05-01T15:00:00.000-07:00

This video shows President Obama's speech at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. In his speech President Obama jokes about a number of current events and pokes fun at many pop-culture figures. Particularly amusing is the introduction in which he makes fun of Donald Trump and the birth certificate controversy. As interesting as his speech is the reactions of the variety of recognizable people in the audience.

Obama Visits Tuscaloosa, Alabama After Deadly Storms

2011-04-29T17:01:00.000-07:00

One of the President's duties is to appear on the scene of a national disaster to show sympathy and to speak about what the United States will do to help during the rebuilding process. This video is clearly framed in a way that will help Obama's 2012 campaign. The video shows him eagerly shaking hands with residents, speaking with them personally, speaking to an elderly woman in a shelter, and picking up a small child in a shelter. These images are photo opps for President Obama, which show his compassion. These make him look like a hands-on leader who is not above talking to the average American.

Donald Trump said...

2011-04-28T19:15:00.000-07:00

Just kidding, this isn't about the Donald--as amusing as he can be--rather something we touched on a while ago: the debt ceiling. We're getting close to the limit, Congress is going to vote soon to raise it, that vote will be unpopular and there will be a fight over whether to add conditions or not.

The Congressional Research Service released a report today about what might happen in the limit is reached.

The report is long, complicated, a little scary, and pretty dull. Dave Weigel, a Slate blogger formerly of the Washington Post summarized the report.

The prediction: unprecedented difficulties and structural crises, possible Treasury emergency moves, problems with entitlement payments. The usual

Weigel's pithy summary indicates at least two facts: first, there is an appetite for somewhat wonky news, and second, even that market likely prefers short pithy analysis.

Donald Trump's Gold Apartment

2011-04-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

For reals.

Accuracy and Bias

2011-04-27T11:45:00.000-07:00

I. Scandals and Conspiracy Theories

Paul Farhi, "From the Fringe to the Mainstream," American Journalism Review, December 2010/January 2011.

Watch the full episode. See more FRONTLINE.

II. Another Look at Crisis Coverage

Brian Thevenot, "Myth-Making in New Orleans," American Journalism Review, December/January 2006.

Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow
Tags: SOUTH
PARK more...

III. Viral Misinformation

Carl M. Cannon, "The Real Computer Virus," American Journalism Review, April 2001.

IV. Fraud

IV. Forms of Bias

Defamation of a businessman

2011-04-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Recently, the Washington Post published several stories regarding a lawsuit brought against Washington City Paper (a tabloid) by Washington Redskins owner and businessman Dan Snyder.

In an opinion article, Dan Snyder claims that the paper has yet to issue an apology or retract the false and damaging statements made to his character in a November 2010 article.

A great example of what makes a defamation case. He goes to great extent describing his motivation and intent.

"For more than eight months, the same writer at this tabloid blogged or wrote about me. In producing more than 55 pieces, only three times did this particular writer bother to call my staff to check facts. The reporters of The Post and other papers know that my communications adviser, Tony Wyllie, is available 24-7 to respond to questions about me and the Washington Redskins. This writer, however, chose not to call to check the facts before he wrote an article last November that contained so many false assertions."

The link to his opinion is here.

Barack Obama Releases Birth Certificate, Donald Trump 'Proud'

2011-04-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

Another Brilliant Political Move by Obama?

2011-04-27T10:57:00.001-07:00

President Obama has already been influencing the 2012 Republican field in creative ways. He has praised both Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman--arguably his two strongest competitors in the general election--so that their conservative opponents in the Republican primaries can attack them for being liked by Obama. Obama's praise could come back to hurt him in a general election fight, but Obama thinks that by praising Romney and Huntsman he will hurt them with the political right, and they will not be able to win the Republican nomination.

Today Obama made what is probably another brilliant political move aimed at influencing the Republican field. Obama finally released his long form birth certificate today. The administration claimed that there were more important issues to focus on, and they wanted the issue to go away. However, over the past several weeks Donald Trump has made Obama's birth certificate his issue and has demanded that the White House release it. Now that the White House has released it, Trump can claim victory. Obama's birth certificate was only a serious issue for the far right of the Republican Party; however, these voters are very likely to participate in Republican primaries. Trump will likely become even more popular among the far right because he was the one who finally "forced" Obama to release his birth certificate. This new higher popularity may make Trump more likely to run.

The Obama reelection team would love for Trump to run. Trump has so many issues and has such a tendency to say stupid things that Obama would love to run against him in the general election because it would be a landslide. By releasing his birth certificate after Trump "demanded" it, Obama not only helps to end conversations about whether he was born in the United States but also makes it more likely that Trump will run for President.

Crowdsourcing Strengthens Journalism, says NYU Prof

2011-04-27T10:45:00.000-07:00

In this course we have often discussed the pros and cons to new media outlets (blogs, social media, etc.), but in this recent piece Jay Rosen, NYU journalism professor of 25 years, seems to definitively answer the question--The more people who participate in it the stronger the press will be.

Here is an excerpt of his argument:

"According to the internet’s one percent rule, a very small portion of the users will become serious contributors, which is still a lot of people. Let’s say you’re a beat reporter who has a niche blog on the local public schools (like this one) with a loyal user base of 10,000. If the one percent rule is accurate, 100 of those loyal users are likely to become heavy contributors if given the chance. They should be given that chance. It will strengthen the site. # That’s what I believe. But we still don’t know much about how to make these pro-am combinations work, because for a very long time the news system was optimized for low participation. Switching it over is extremely difficult work. Even CNN’s i-Report, which claims 750,000 contributors worldwide, is poorly integrated into the main CNN newsroom. In what Alan Rusbridger, editor of The Guardian, calls the “mutualization” of journalism, most of the big discoveries lie ahead of us. We ought to get cracking."

You can read the full article here.

Take That Orly Taitz

2011-04-27T09:55:00.000-07:00

Obama finally released his birth certificate this morning. In referring to the debate about where he was born and whether or not he is eligible to serve as president, he was quoted as saying, "We do not have time for this kind of silliness." Touche.

More info here.

More on Gabby Giffords

2011-04-26T00:59:00.000-07:00

After what felt like much debate, Gabby Giffords' doctors have given her formal permission to attend her husband's shuttle launch (the Endeavor) this Friday. It should be interesting to see how the media respond to her physical appearance (because, realistically, we all know that's what they'll mention the most). Because her recovery has been kept rather quiet and visually undocumented, people probably aren't fully prepared to see a Gabby other than the one we saw last, before the shooting occurred.

Onion Parody Featured as fact in New York Times Article

2011-04-25T22:56:00.001-07:00

Apparently, the New York Times referenced a magazine with President Obama on the cover as fact that the Onion released as a parody. The New York Times issued a correction on Sunday to the error. Yahoo News picked up on the story and featured it in its scroller today. The Yahoo article also references James O'Keefe, who we discussed in class. Here is the full article from Yahoo News (it's pretty short): http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thecutline/20110425/ts_yblog_thecutline/new-york-times-falls-for-onion-spoof

A nice example of where parody/comedy mixes with real journalism.

Readings for Wednesday, April 27

2011-04-25T18:13:00.000-07:00

Public Figures' Private Lives

2011-04-25T14:41:00.000-07:00

In class we discussed the ethical boundaries of covering public figures. The British royal weddings serve as a good case study.

... opinion polls saying that barely a half of the British are interested in the wedding, and only a third are certain to watch it on television. Councils report a north-south divide in applications to hold street parties—and far fewer overall than when Prince William’s parents wed in 1981.
What is going on? Most simply, experience has taught the British that to cheer a royal wedding today is to risk feeling a chump tomorrow. After decades of royal divorces and marital wars conducted by tabloid leak or tell-all book, sighing over a new princely union requires a Zsa Zsa Gabor-like leap of faith.
Perhaps, optimists might also hope, the British feel a twinge of collective remorse over the short, pitilessly scrutinised life of Prince William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Perhaps the public simply want to give two young people some space.

Ethics

2011-04-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Ethics Code of the Society of Professional Journalists.

The legal rundown on defamation.

David Krajicek, "Journalism Ethics," Covering Crime and Justice.

Absence of Malice (sorry for the bad aspect ratio)

Greg Marx, "The Ethics of Undercover Journalism," Columbia Journalism Review, February 4, 2010.

There is always occasion for A Man for All Seasons quotation...

Florence George Graves, "Redefining the ‘Private Lives’ of Public Officials," Nieman Reports, Spring 2002.

Martin Linsky"Covering Oliver Sipple" John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Greg Masters, "Fading Away," American Journalism Review, March 2, 2011.

Study Confirms That Fox News=Misinformation

2011-04-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Although this study is neither new nor surprising, it is interesting to see again the effect media can have on people.

A University of Maryland study published in December 2010 found that people in the survey who had the most exposure to Fox News were more likely to believe falsehoods and rumors about national and world affairs when compared to those who paid attention to other news outlets.

For example:

91 percent believe the stimulus legislation lost jobs
72 percent believe the health reform law will increase the deficit
72 percent believe the economy is getting worse
60 percent believe climate change is not occurring
49 percent believe income taxes have gone up
63 percent believe the stimulus legislation did not include any tax cuts
56 percent believe Obama initiated the GM/Chrysler bailout
38 percent believe that most Republicans opposed TARP
63 percent believe Obama was not born in the U.S. (or that it is unclear)

Read the full study here.

Return of the FCC Indecency Policy?

2011-04-21T21:52:00.000-07:00

As we have discussed in class, there are a variety of rules governing broadcast media. This article in the Huffington Post discusses the Obama administration's desire for the SCT to reinstate a policy allowing regulators to fine broadcasters for airing indecent material.

The administration is seeking the high court's review of appeals court rulings that threw out the Federal Communications Commission's rules against the isolated use of expletives as well as fines against broadcasters who showed a woman's nude buttocks on a 2003 episode of ABC's "NYPD Blue."

Last year, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York threw out the FCC policy, saying it was unconstitutionally vague and left broadcasters uncertain of what programming the agency will find offensive. The challenge to the FCC rules arose over celebrities' use of the F-word and S-word on live awards show programs.
...
For many years, the FCC did not take action against broadcasters for one-time uses of curse words. The policy flowed from a 1978 Supreme Court decision that upheld the FCC's reprimand of a New York radio station for airing a George Carlin monologue containing a 12-minute string of expletives in the middle of the afternoon.
But, following several awards shows with cursing celebrities in 2002 and 2003, the FCC toughened its long-standing policy after it concluded that a one-free-expletive rule did not make sense in the context of keeping the air waves free of indecency when children are likely to be watching television

Readings for Monday, April 25

2011-04-21T15:01:00.000-07:00

Obama's Facebook Town Hall

2011-04-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

Kind of a long video, and pretty similar to his past town halls and speeches, but worth a look. Funny introduction by the President who introduced himself as "the guy who got Mark [Zuckerberg] to wear a jacket and tie."

Watch live streaming video from facebookguests at livestream.com

Pt. 2

Watch live streaming video from facebookguests at livestream.com

Not-so-true stories: 7 authors who were charged with deceit

2011-04-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

The recent Greg Mortenson scandal sparked MSN to publish a list of the most famous deceitful authors. Here are the top three:

"1. James Frey
The most famous of recent memoir-fabricators is Frey, who was lambasted by Oprah Winfrey after he admitted his book "A Million Little Pieces" contained embellishments. The Smoking Gun called into question his dramatic account of hitting a police officer with his car while high on crack, as well as other details. Future editions of the book contained an apologetic note from Frey, and his career continued. Most recently, the film adaptation of his young adult novel "I Am Number Four" (a collaboration Jobie Hughes) hit screens in February.

2. Herman Rosenblat

After her trouble with Frey, Winfrey should have been on the lookout, but who could doubt Herman Rosenblat? His "Angel at the Fence: The True Story of a Love That Survived" told the emotional tale of how he survived Buchenwald thanks to a young girl who visited daily to pass him food through the fence. Years later, the two met again on a blind date in New York City, and married. It was "the single greatest love story" Winfrey had ever told on the air, the talk show host proclaimed. Unfortunately, it wasn't actually how Rosenblat met his wife, though he was a concentration camp survivor. Ultimately the books cancelled.

3. Margaret Seltzer

Writing under the pen name Margaret B. Jones, Seltzer penned a memoir about growing up in the rough neighborhood of South Central Los Angeles, where she ran drugs for the Bloods. She even described how her foster-brother Terrell was gunned down outside their home. But Seltzer never lived in foster care; she grew up in Sherman Oaks, far from the mean streets she described. She never sold drugs. She wasn't even half Native American, as her character claimed. In the end, her own sister called attention to the fiction."

READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE

Insight in 140 characters or less

2011-04-20T12:42:00.001-07:00

From Larry Sabato:

"We have to cover Trump because he's moving up in polls!" Um, he's moving up because you're covering him so much.

Says a lot about early polls, name ID, and media coverage.

http://twitter.com/#!/LarrySabato/statuses/60324728077950977

Tech-savvy Obama in an arcane system

2011-04-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post published an article today on President Obama's recent comments on the horrible state of IT within the White House, the Pentagon, Homeland Security, and other offices.

"When we came into office, Federal IT was undeniably broken" - White House Chief Information Officer Vivek Kundra

The article is here

Stewart and Colbert

2011-04-20T10:49:00.000-07:00

Not all interviewees prove to be easy target. John Yoo, January 11, 2010:

The Daily Show - John Yoo Pt. 1
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show - John Yoo Pt. 2
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

The Daily Show - Intro - John Yoo Interview Reflections
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

What happened? Constitutional interpretation does not lend itself to The Daily Show treatment.

The Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism studied The Daily Show in 2008. Among its findings:

The program’s clearest focus is politics, especially in Washington. U.S. foreign affairs, largely dominated by the Bush Administration’s policies in Iraq, Washington politics and government accounted for nearly half (47%) of the time spent on the program. Overall, The Daily Show news agenda is quite close to those of cable news talk shows.
The press itself is another significant focus on The Daily Show. In all, 8% of the time was made up of segments about the press and news media. That is more than double the amount of coverage of media in the mainstream press overall during the same period.
A good deal of the news, however, is also absent from The Daily Show. In 2007, for example, major events such as the tragic Minneapolis bridge collapse were never discussed. And the shootings at Virginia Tech, the most covered story within a given week in 2007 by the overall press, received only a cursory mention.
Republicans in 2007 tended to bear the brunt of ridicule from Stewart and his crew. From July 1 through November 1, Stewart’s humor targeted Republicans more than three times as often as Democrats. The Bush Administration alone was the focus of almost a quarter (22%) of the segments in this time period.
The lineup of on-air guests was more evenly balanced by political party. But our subjective sense from viewing the segments is that Republicans faced harsher criticism during the interviews with Stewart. Whether this is because the show is simply liberal or because the Republicans control the White House is harder to pin down.

A 2007 study from the The Pew Resarch Center for the People and the Press:

A 2010 study from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press:

Most of those who regularly watch O’Reilly (63%) and Hannity (65%) are 50 or older; 44% of the public is 50 or older. By contrast, the Daily Show and Colbert Report have the youngest audiences of any outlet included in the survey. Large majorities of those who say they regularly watch the Colbert Report (80%) and the Daily Show (74%) are younger than 50; 55% of public is 18 to 49.
Entertainment is by far the biggest reason why regular viewers of the Colbert Report and the Daily Show tune into those programs; 53% of the regular Colbert audience and 43% of the Daily Show audience say they mostly watch those programs for entertainment. Yet entertainment also is a factor for many regular viewers of morning news shows (18%), readers of USA Today (16%) and other audiences.

Stephen Colbert

Lyn Westmoreland's Appearance on "Better Know a District" -- Or, "Don't Do This."

ColbertPAC (h/t Caroline Nyce):

Actors and Politics

2011-04-20T09:27:00.000-07:00

Actors, actresses, and other celebrities have often used their fame as a platform from which to make political proclamations. One noteworthy example is Sean Penn, who frequently makes political statements. In 2008 at Coachella music festival, Sean Penn added himself to the lineup to make a speech. According to a Billboard.com article,

The actor, who baffled many when his name showed up on the lineup for this year's Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., plans to board a fleet of biodiesel buses and take about 300 people on an 1,800-mile trek across the U.S., ending in New Orleans.

...

As the biodiesel buses make their way across U.S. cities, the plan is to have its members volunteer for local organizations or do whatever they feel inspired to do.

With the goal to "encourage individuals to take individual actions," the caravan will stop at campgrounds where they'll be joined by musicians, activists, artists, filmmakers and guest speakers.

Although this article provided positive commentary regarding Penn's plan, many observers were less supportive, as evidenced in this video of the speech titled "Sean Penn telling Coachella to join cult?"

Prescient

2011-04-18T23:25:00.001-07:00

The first half of the Daily Show that reaired last night was Jon Stewart mocking Glenn Beck and the interview is with Jamie Oliver about being banned by LAUSD....

This is episode is basically the entire class rolled into 22 minutes

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-april-7-2011/jamie-oliver

Final Paper

2011-04-18T14:32:00.001-07:00

Answer one question

1. Drawing on what you have learned in the course (including the Jones book), write a postscript to the Salzman book that revises and extends its analysis. That is, what did the book miss, botch, or fail to anticipate?

2. On the National Mall last October, Stewart and Colbert held a “Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear” (http://www.rallytorestoresanity.com.) In light of what we have covered inclass (especially Salzman and Jones), explain:

What were they trying to accomplish?
How did they try to achieve their goals?
To what extent did they succeed?
What could they have done differently?

3. You are the press aide for a political figure who will appear on either Colbert or The Daily Show within the next two weeks. (Pick someone who has not yet appeared on this program for real.) Explain:

Why would it be in this person’s interest to appear?
How would you prepare this person for the interview?
What has happened to comparable political figures who appeared on this program? What lessons can you draw from their experience?
What questions would Stewart or Colbert ask? Why?
How would you promote the appearance?
How might the interview go badly? What would you do then?

Be specific in answering these questions.

Exams should be typed, stapled, double-spaced, and no more than five pages long. I will not read past the fifth page..
Cite your sources. You may use either endnotes or parenthetical references to a reference list. In either case, put your documentation in a standard format (e.g., Turabian or Chicago Manual of Style). The endnotes or reference sheet will not count against the page limit.
Watch your spelling, grammar, diction, and punctuation. Errors will count against you.

Return exams to me no later than Monday, May 2. Papers will drop a grade point for one day’s lateness, a letter grade after that.

The Making of the Daily Show

2011-04-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

NPR Fresh Air: Terry Gross Interviews John Stewart (Oct. 2010): "The Most Trusted Name in Fake News"

A behind-the-scenes look at the making of the Daily Show. Terry Gross, as per normal, asks him insightful questions about his role in the current media. (Though it's also the only time I've heard her giggle..she has a mega crush on him).

They discuss the "Rally to Restore Sanity" in detail and Stewart talks about his motivations. (For those writing their next paper on the subject).

2011 Pulitzer Prizes Announced

2011-04-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced this morning for the year 2011.

Awards of note: the Los Angeles Times for Public Service (coverage of corruption in the City of Bell); David Leonhardt at the New York Times for Commentary; and no award for Breaking News Reporting (even in quite an eventful year).

A full rundown can be found here.

The Daily Show

2011-04-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Nixon on Laugh-In:

Stewart did not invent comedic use of news video:

Interrogating Multiple Witnesses: Stewart v. CNBC, March 4, 2009

The Daily Show - CNBC Financial Advice
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Cross-examination: Rove, September 3, 2008

The Daily Show - Sarah Palin Gender Card
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Summarizing the evidence: Iraq, August 25, 2005

The Daily Show - Mess O'Potamia - Talking Points
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Closing Statements: August 25, 2005

The Daily Show - MC Dubya
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John Stewart on Crossfire

2011-04-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

A popular clip from the 2004 election season with a head to head of the Daily Show and CNN - John Stewart on Crossfire, in a discussion about reporting and interviewing techniques. John Stewart vents and criticizes Crossfire for wasting an opportunity to provide a service that Americans need.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFQFB5YpDZE

Stewart begins to criticize the format of Crossfire, saying "You're doing theater when you should be doing debate" 6:57

After being asked which presidential candidate, upon winning would provide The Daily Show with the most comedic material Stewart says, "The absurdity of the system provides us with the most material" 10:19

A Jewish Al Jazeera?

2011-04-18T00:33:00.000-07:00

There has been some talk lately of the development of a news organization to serve as the Jewish alternative to Al Jazeera. Israeli billionaire Alexander Machkevitch has stepped up to the plate to finance this endeavor, but is there enough support? In this article from the Jewish Week, Machkevitch noted that “every day we see that information is more powerful than military troops or weapons...so many networks provide information that divides people. We want to provide information that will unite people.” What a noble idea... Also take a look at this more recent article, which attempts to analyze the viability of the project in terms of sustainability and global relevance.

D.C. Teachers' Union Rally Outside the Washington Post

2011-04-17T13:00:00.001-07:00

The D.C. teachers’ union staged a rally on Friday claiming Kaplan—the for-profit educational services division owned by the Post Co.—influences the editorial positions of the Washington Post. Teachers believe the connection between the Washington Post and Kaplan creates a conflict of interest that slanted the coverage of D.C’s education reform. The teachers’ union believes the newspaper focuses on the importance of testing while dismissing the importance of teachers because test preparation and other Kaplan services account for 62 percent of the Post Co.’s revenue. In true protest form, the rally included a stunt for the media—in this case, a giant inflatable rat.

Coverage of the rally by the Washington Post can be found here.

Hoax!

2011-04-17T06:12:00.000-07:00

James Rainey writes at The Los Angeles Times:

Several big news organizations fell for a stunning, albeit fake, piece of business news this week — that General Electric would voluntarily pay the government a $3.2-billion tax "refund."

Some news-types responded to the hoax with indignation, others bemusement. Both those groups must have been outnumbered, though, by the resolute. This couldn't, wouldn't … shouldn't happen again.

But, take notice, newshounds: The tricksters and political pranksters have numbers. They have big plans. They embrace a lawless tradition and an outlaw code. They will be back. And they are fairly certain you can be had.
In many cases, they will be right. Fake news may not be inevitable. But it will always find a pathway, particularly in the frantic chase that is journalism in the Digital Age. All harried journalists can do is take a moment, breathe deeply and make that extra confirmation phone call, because the next $10,000 Donald Trump restaurant tip, campaign to blockade oil spills with human hair or School for Panhandlers (all fakes swallowed, whole, by some of the media) is just beyond the next deadline.

The responsible group was US Uncut.

The group that staged the fake GE tax-return stunt came together only in the last couple of months, inspired by an article in the Nation magazine that urged activists to build progressive equivalents to the conservative "tea party" movement. "We don't just have a spending problem in America, we have a revenue problem," said US Uncut spokesman Ryan Clayton. "It's not the teacher and cop and their salaries that are the problem. It's the corporations that aren't paying taxes that are the problem."

With a bit of advice from the Yes Men, US Uncut put together its fake press release and dummy GE website (only one letter different than the corporation's actual URL) in about 10 days.

Media organizations that fell for the fakery — including Associated Press and its many clients, who at least briefly picked up the story (including, for just a few minutes, the business page of latimes.com) — didn't do enough to verify the veracity of the emailed press release.

The fake looked and sounded like the real thing, said Tom Kent, standards editor for AP. He declined to give specific details about who failed to verify the news. "If we had followed our procedures this would not have happened," Kent said.

The double-time pace of the news industry has only kicked up a notch in recent years, with reporters rushing to tweet, blog and write the news before the competition. Being first can mean the extra clicks, and ad dollars, that might keep an outlet alive.

The Power of Mockery

2011-04-17T06:01:00.000-07:00

"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon," wrote Saul Alinsky. Salzman makes a similar point in his discussion of media events. And now Nicholas Kristof writes at The New York Times:

The juiciest story behind the Middle East uprisings doesn’t concern Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi’s “voluptuous” Ukrainian nurse or C.I.A. bags of cash. Rather, it’s the tale of how a nonviolent revolutionary strategy crafted by Serbian students and an octogenarian American scholar came to challenge dictators in Egypt, Tunisia, Bahrain and many other countries.

This “uprising in a bottle” blueprint was developed by the Serbian youth movement, Otpor, to overthrow Slobodan Milosevic in 2000. One of Otpor’s insights was that the most effective weapon against dictators isn’t bombs or fiery speeches. It’s mockery. Otpor activists once put Milosevic’s picture on a barrel that they rolled down the street, inviting people to hit it with a bat.

Otpor’s strategy mirrors one promoted by a rumpled Boston academic named Gene Sharp, who is little known in America but inspires tremors among dictators abroad. Sharp’s guide to toppling despots has been translated into 34 languages so far and was widely circulated in Egypt last year in Arabic.

After Otpor toppled Milosevic, it began to hold seminars for pro-democracy activists from other parts of the world, including many from the Middle East.
...
Toppling dictators is only one application of this kind of grass-roots movement. One of the most exciting trends in the struggle against poverty and social pathologies such as crime is the use of similar youth-owned movements to change cultural norms from the bottom up.

Tina Rosenberg, a longtime writer and journalist who contributes to the Opinion section of nytimes.com, offers a brilliant look at bottom-up initiatives to achieve social change in her new book, “Join the Club.” My favorite example has to do with teenage smoking.

From the 1970s through the 1990s, nothing seemed to work to dissuade teenagers from smoking. Television commercials warned that smoking kills you or turns your teeth yellow, but teenagers felt invulnerable. And with adults united in disapproval of teenage smoking, what better way for adolescents to rebel than to cough their way through a cigarette?

Then in the late-1990s, some frustrated anti-smoking campaigners showed teenagers how cigarette companies were manipulating them into addiction. Starting in Florida, the teenagers then designed a series of funny and withering commercials, many based on prank phone calls.

One depicted a couple of teenagers telephoning an ad agency that promoted cigarettes. The kids tried to give the agency a prize for killing teenagers in large numbers, flummoxing the staff.

Politics and Ventriloquism

2011-04-15T05:42:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Animals Affected by Japan Nuclear Accident

2011-04-14T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a video clip from CNN that offers much of what people want to see in news reports. This story is about pets that have been left in the area around the Fukushima nuclear power plant, which is uninhabitable. Many owners left their pets in the area because they had no choice, or because they did not know how long they would be gone.

This clip will capture viewer interest because of the imagery of abandoned homes and emaciated pets who are often chained in yards. People are attracted to disasters like the Japan Tsunami. Further, Americans are still looking on in curiosity at the effects of the nuclear accident. Many may be thinking about American nuclear power in the context of this disaster. People are also usually sympathetic of children, the elderly, and animals because of their vulnerability. These animals appear helpless and many of them are cute. They capture viewers' hearts.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/world/2011/04/14/natpkg.japan.fukushima.photographer.cnn

More Jamie Oliver

2011-04-13T16:10:00.001-07:00

One of the featured shows on hulu.com today is Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. The name of the episode, "Maybe L.A. Was a Big Mistake" and the tag-line "Jamie brings his message of healthy food for all to Los Angeles, but must leap over some meaty diplomatic hurdles," suggests that his publicity stunt was successful.

"Unpaid" Blogger Files Class-Action Suit Against HuffPo

2011-04-13T12:29:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the semester, we discussed the distinction Huffington Post has made between its bloggers and staff writers--one group is paid while the other is not. On Tuesday, former HuffPo blogger Jonathan Tasini filed at $105M suit against the blogging platform and news source.

Huffington Post argues that bloggers are permitted to use their platform to share ideas, much like a guest on a TV show.

Spokespeople for the site compare HuffPo to many other unpaid group blogs, but is this different because of the AOL merger? Did HuffPo profit from the work of those that went unpaid?

Entertainment, News, and the Media

2011-04-13T11:57:00.001-07:00

Case studies of show business, advertising, and news under the same roof:

Letter about The Path to 9/11

A reality food program becomes part of the news

Boycotts and boycott response

Radio and comedy

Will Rogers as precursor both to Rush Limbaugh and Jon Stewart:

Lenny Bruce:

Mort Sahl:

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-march-12-2009/jim-cramer-pt--1

Daily Show with Cramer

Egypt Blogger Jailed

2011-04-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Egypt blogger Maikel Nabil jailed by military court

A military court in Egypt has sentenced an internet activist to three years in jail for criticising the armed forces.

Maikel Nabil was arrested last month for blogs that criticised the army's role during anti-government protests.

The 26-year-old is thought to be the first blogger jailed in Egypt since the ousting of President Hosni Mubarak.

Activists said the trial set a dangerous precedent at a time when Egypt was trying to move away from the alleged abuses of the Mubarak era.

The rest of the article can be found at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-13038937

Intellectual Property, Entertainment, and Campaign Politics

2011-04-12T16:49:00.000-07:00

At Politico, Molly Ball reports:

Charlie Crist isn’t the first or the last politician to use a pop song in a campaign ad without the artist’s OK, but now he owns a certain distinction: he is the most humiliated.

As if the former Florida governor needed more humbling after his last election, he appeared Tuesday on YouTube for the world to see, his permanently tanned skin glowing as radiantly as ever, intoning the words with a politician’s practiced seriousness: “I sincerely apologize to David Byrne.”
Crist then pauses, casts his eyes downward and bites his lip slightly before finishing the sentence: “… for using his famous song and his unique voice in my campaign advertisement without his permission.”
The video was posted as a condition of an undisclosed settlement reached between Crist and Byrne, lead singer of the band Talking Heads. At issue was Crist’s use of the 1985 hit “Road to Nowhere” — without the band’s permission — as the soundtrack for an ad produced by his 2010 Senate campaign.

Budget Cuts to Hurt Poorer Districts

2011-04-12T15:28:00.000-07:00

New York Times Reports: "WHITESBURG, Ky. — Rich Kirby, a part-time producer for WMMT, the community radio station here, was interviewing two local aid officials the other day about the effect of Washington’s proposed budget cuts on this region, in the heart of Appalachia.

“We’re in one of the poorest if not the poorest districts in the country,” Ricky Baker, of the private Community Action Council, which receives 95 percent of its financing from the federal government, said into the microphone. Without that money, he added, “we’ll have people either freeze to death, starve to death or die of a medical condition because they can’t get appropriate health care.”

Mr. Kirby refrained from chiming in that his own employer,WMMT, is also imperiled by the same budget ax. As lawmakers seek to cut billions of dollars in federal spending, the Republican-controlled House voted in February to end financing for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting in 2013. While President Obama wants to continue financing the corporation, the current budget turmoil has left its long-term fate uncertain."

Read Full Article Here

Jon Stewart and Health Care

2011-04-12T13:42:00.000-07:00

Fairly old (August 2009) Daily Show interview, but pretty relevant to the discussion in Chapter 6 of Entertaining Politics. In the video Jon Stewart holds Betsy McCaughey, Chairman, Committee to Reduce Infection Deaths, accountable for her interpretation of the Health Care Bill and he isn't afraid to challenge the merits of her argument at its base.

The Daily Show - Exclusive - Betsy McCaughey Extended Interview Pt. 1
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Politicians, Protests, and Arrests

2011-04-12T12:39:00.000-07:00

Max's post points to a significant phenomenon of the past quarter-century: politicians using arrests as a way to show solidarity with a protest movement. Some examples:

A 2010 immigration rally:

U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez made good on his pledge to get arrested at today's immigration rally outside the White House.

The congressman was among 35 activists detained for failing to move from a sidewalk outside the White House.

"They were asked to move by park police and they did not and they were asked again a couple more times, then they started arresting folks," said Douglas Rivlin, a Gutierrez spokesman.

A 2009 Darfur rally:

Five members of Congress were arrested outside the Sudanese Embassy in Washington Monday as they demonstrated against the situation in Darfur.

Hundreds of thousands of people have died in Darfur in western Sudan in what the U.S. State Department has described as genocide.

The protesters spoke out against the general situation in Darfur and Sudan's expulsion of outside relief agencies.

A spokesman for Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md., told The Hill that the five and organizers of the protest from the Save Darfur Coalition crossed a Secret Service perimeter around the embassy and ignored three warnings to leave the property. They were expected to be fined for a misdemeanor and released.

Members of Congress arrested were Edwards; Jim McGovern, D-Mass.; John Lewis, D-Ga., a veteran of the civil rights movement in the 1960s; Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the only Muslim member of Congress, and Lynn Woolsey, D-Calif.

A 1999 rally against police brutality:

Rep. Charles Rangel (D-New York) and former New York City Mayor David Dinkins were among at least 13 people arrested on Monday at a rally against police brutality.

About 50 people took part in the rally held at Police Headquarters in lower Manhattan. The arrests came when demonstrators sat in front of the door and would not move.

Those arrested, including the Rev. Al Sharpton, were charged with trespassing.

A 1997 union rally:

Representative David E. Bonior was arrested on Friday after refusing to leave the offices of The Detroit News unless it and The Detroit Free Press agreed to reinstate all the employees who went on strike two years ago.

Mr. Bonior, Democrat of Michigan, and five other protesters were charged with trespassing and released. Trespassing can bring up to 90 days in jail and a $500 fine.

A 1985 anti-apartheid rally:

Sen. Lowell Weicker stood under cold, gray skies in Washington, D.C. two weeks ago wearing a matching dark gray suit and handcuffs. Minutes earlier the Republican Senator from Connecticut had linked arms with five other demonstrators and marched up to the front door of the South African embassy. When they were refused admittance, they turned around and began to sing We Shall Overcome, the anthem of the U.S. civil rights movement of 20 years ago. They had come to protest South Africa's policy of apartheid, and they were arrested for demonstrating within 500 feet of a foreign embassy. "The American people feel apartheid is wrong," said Weicker, who that day became the first U.S. Senator ever arrested for civil disobedience.

McCain Makes a Comeback

2011-04-12T12:37:00.000-07:00

Not to say that McCain completely disappeared from the media after the 2008 election (though the tone of this article kind of suggests that to be the case), but according to Newsweek he is finally beginning to get over his loss by making his opinion on US foreign affairs better heard. As it turns out, the Senator has previous encounters with Gaddafi to share; if anyone is curious about how things in Libya would have turned out had McCain won the election, here's a hint.

Great Photo Op-but for whom?

2011-04-12T00:25:00.000-07:00

Saw this photo over at Boston.com this afternoon with D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray being arrested for protesting the budget deal. It will be interesting to see what the media reaction to his arrest and this photo will be.

Coincidental Journalism

2011-04-11T21:57:00.000-07:00

On Monday night, an Air France jet clipped a smaller plane on the runway at JFK. The accident was relatively minor and there were no injuries. Interestingly, Jim Bittermann, CNN's Senior International Correspondent, was a passenger on the larger Air France plane. This CNN article drew heavily on Bittermann's personal experience on the plane. According to the article:

Looking out the window, Bittermann could see that the last foot or so of the Airbus 380's left wing had been damaged. The other plane also suffered some damage.

"You could see the part of the 380's wing hanging down from the horizontal stabilizer of the Delta jet," he said, having seen the damage firsthand from a seat on the larger plane's left side.
...
Bittermann described passengers' mood aboard that flight as relatively light-hearted and calm, after the pilot alerted them of what happened.

"People started making jokes," he said, while waiting to pick up his bags in New York. "But I think the jokes will stop when they start finding out that they may be stuck here for a while."

PSU Great Debate featuring Robert Malley and Michael Singh

2011-04-11T13:19:00.001-07:00

Pomona Student Union Great Debate: The US, Israel, and a Changing Middle East

Wednesday, April 13, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Edmunds Ballroom, PO

The United States has, since World War II, played an influential role in the Middle East by developing strong financial, military, and ideological ties with Israel and a number of Arab states while maintaining hostile relationships with others. Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have only increased the United States' long term commitment to defend its geopolitical interests in this critical part of the world. Yet the region finds itself at a defining moment in history. Protests are erupting across the Middle East and North Africa as citizens call for democracy, security threats to the West and East alike continue to proliferate, and Arab sentiment toward the United States remains sour even as its relationship with Israel seems to deteriorate. What is the future of the U.S.-Israel relationship, how should the United States counter a rising tide of powerful actors whose interests contradict its own, and how should the international community respond to pro-democracy movements in countries across the region?

Joining us to debate these questions are two individuals who have played prominent roles in shaping U.S. policy toward the Middle East over the past decade and a half. Robert Malley, currently the Middle East and North Africa program director for the International Crisis Group, served as Director for Democracy, Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs on President Clinton's National Security Council as well as the Special Assistant to President Clinton for Arab-Israeli Affairs. Michael Singh, currently the managing director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, served as the senior Director for Middle Eastern Affairs on President George W. Bush's National Security Council. We are fortunate to have leaders with such high-level experience joining us at Pomona College to share their perspectives on this timely and contentious topic.

For more info, see the facebook event.

News and Entertainment

2011-04-11T11:01:00.000-07:00

Five linkages between news and entertainment:

First, Back to media ownership: news and entertainment media usually belong to the same companies. In 1958, Edward R. Murrow said:

One of the basic troubles with radio and television news is that both instruments have grown up as an incompatible combination of show business, advertising and news. Each of the three is a rather bizarre and demanding profession. And when you get all three under one roof, the dust never settles. The top management of the networks with a few notable exceptions, has been trained in advertising, research, sales or show business. But by the nature of the coporate structure, they also make the final and crucial decisions having to do with news and public affairs. Frequently they have neither the time nor the competence to do this.

In a New York Times interview, Katie Couric recently had to deal with this connection:

Since your new book, “The Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons From Extraordinary Lives,” is about great advice, imagine that your boss, Les Moonves, called you on Christmas 2009 and said: “Charlie Sheen was just arrested for holding his wife at knife point. He has a history of this sort of behavior with women, but he makes a ton of money for the network.” What do you tell him?
Fire him.

Have you told him as much?
No. He hasn’t really sought my advice on Charlie Sheen. I hope what Charlie Sheen did wouldn’t be consistent with the values of this network. That’s probably an unrealistic response, but that’s my initial gut reaction. Luckily, that’s not my job.

Did you feel less proud going to work at CBS knowing that he was essentially a colleague?
I don’t really consider Charlie Sheen a colleague.

Second, entertainment figures enter news and politics: Reagan and Schwarzenegger were hardly the first. In 1934, novelist Upton Sinclair ran for governor of California. And there was a pop-culture counterattack:

Also see:

Newspeople sometimes involve themselves in the entertainment media. One major example is the movie Dave (1993):

Third, the entertainment media are subject to certain kinds of government regulation. At a Senate hearing, Frank Zappa pushed back.

Fourth, entertainment media are often vehicles for political and social commentary. As Good as it Gets (1997) was a romantic comedy-drama, not a political movie, but it did have a message about health care delivery in the United States:

Fifth, certain kinds of works are hybrids of the two: talk radio, TV interview shows, "fake news," even government propaganda (see here for an example: at 23:00, it is corny, silly, and yet spot-on about what would happen 27 years later.)

Will Rogers pioneered 20th century comedy

The Daily Show - Headlines - Teutonic Plague
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

Covering Gabby Giffords

2011-04-11T09:56:00.001-07:00

cheatsheet:

Giffords still doesn’t know the details of the shooting—though she now knows she was shot. Initially she thought she had been in a car accident, but as her husband read her his newspaper, she noticed he was skipping stories and tried to grab the paper from his hands. He decided then to tell her what had happened. But she still doesn’t know some parts of the story, like that among the dead were a 9-year-old girl, her beloved young staffer Gabe Zimmerman, and her friend Judge John Roll.
Three months after the Arizona congresswoman was shot, Peter Boyer investigates what’s really going on with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords.

Fail-Safe

2011-04-10T18:41:00.000-07:00

During the next two weeks, we discuss the intersection of public affairs and the entertainment media. The death on Saturday of director Sidney Lumet provides an occasion to discuss a vivid example. In 1964, he directed Fail-Safe, about an accidental American nuclear attack on the USSR. Its basis was a novel of the same name by Eugene Burdick and Harvey Wheeler. Burdick was a political scientist familiar with the work of Henry Kissinger, then a professor at Harvard. Kissinger helped inspire one character in the novel. (See Walter Matthau in the clip below.)

In the final sequence, the US and USSR have failed to stop the attack, and the president (Henry Fonda) has to make a difficult decision. The bomber pilot in this sequence, an Air Force general, went to college with the president. The "matador" is a reference to his recurring dream, which we see at the start of the movie.

As you watch the clip, picture the reactions of audiences who had lived through the Cuban Missile Crisis just two years earlier.

Comedy's Role in Politics

2011-04-10T14:30:00.000-07:00

I was reading the New York Times and happened upon this article, which seems relevant to our next unit. The article, "True to Mission, Comedy Central Still Strong at 20" discusses the success of Comedy Central. While the network hosts shows like South Park and Tosh.O, which aren't blatantly political, the Daily Show and Colbert Report are overtly political and engage a lot of young adults through the comedic way in which they discuss politics.

The Next Abu Ghraib?

2011-04-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

I was reading through “Playbook” on April 6^th and this item caught by eye:

“CHARLIE HURT column, "Reporters continue to be snookered by Obama": "Your trusted mainstream media is every bit as much in the bag for the Obama campaign this time as it was last time. The most stunning example of this has played out in the two weeks since the release of grisly photographs showing our own troops murdering Afghan citizens and posing for gruesome pictures with the corpses." http://bit.ly/eJIP7S”

I disagree with the Washington Times columnists’ view that the MSM is entirely in the tank for Obama, but I think that Hurt does raise interesting questions about why certain things get covered by major domestic and others do not. The photos that Hurt is referring too—found here—are among the more grisly war photography that I have ever seen. Certainly, the shock-and-awe affect of this artwork, particularly as a complement to a story about a US military unit that indiscriminately murdered Afghan civilians, as at least equal to that of the Abu Ghraib prison pictures from Iraq in 2003, whose release led to a massive media and public backlash for the Bush Administration. Therefore, why has there been so little media outcry in response to Rolling Stone’s photographs? What with the pictures are so graphic, and the narrative so jarring, it is a story that could sell a lot of papers, so to speak.

If you’re feeling brave, look through the photos—though in all seriousness, exercise discretion. Then tell me you’re not surprised nobody in the image-obsessed, scandal-chasing press corps has made a big deal about it.

Sulzberger On The New NYT Pay Plan

2011-04-06T14:38:00.000-07:00

Arthur Sulzberger, publisher of The New York Times, spoke about the company's new plan to charge online readers at a Columbia journalism school event last night. Sulzberger, whose remarks were apparently "dripping with sarcasm," seemed exasperated that the NYT model has been receiving so much criticism as of late. When an audience member asked how low-income residents are expected to access the paper, Sulzberger responded: "Just translate that question to print,” he said. “‘How will low-income people get access to The New York Times in print?’” A satirical article written by The Onion further exemplifies this sentiment.

Why is it so hard for us to accept these changes?

Influencing the Media III

2011-04-06T12:07:00.001-07:00

Talk Radio:

John and Ken

Their impact on the California budget debate

Editorial board meeting:

Public Service Announcement:

Advertising an Academic Paper

Associated Press

Guerrilla Activism: Ruckus Redux

Sarah Palin just keeps coming back

2011-04-06T10:43:00.000-07:00

Babies get coverage... and get even more when named Palin. TodayMoms has a popular trend for new mothers to pay attention to.

Politico also comments on the mini-bump in "baby Baracks" seen in 2009

Schwarzenegger becomes cartoon superhero The Governator

2011-04-05T22:31:00.000-07:00

BBC reports:

Since giving up the California Governor's office Arnold Schwarzenegger has kept a low profile but that will soon change with a new television series.

The Governator, which features Schwarzenegger as a cartoon superhero, is due to hit screens next year.

Here is the official trailer for the show:

When a small town becomes international news.

2011-04-05T09:58:00.000-07:00

I mentioned this case earlier this semester, but now that the former Grand Dragon of the Florida KKK is running for mayor, even reporters in England are covering it. Lake Wales, my home town, has a population of 10,000 and is a dot on the map, but since it is irresponsible enough to allow someone with Mr. Rogers' background to still be active in local politics, it gets international attention.

From www.dailymail.co.uk:

Former KKK clan member running for town mayor says: ‘I was in the boy scouts too’

They are a racist hate group with a long history of violence but now one former Klu Klux Klan member is running for mayor in a southern Florida city.
John Paul Rogers has his sights set on becoming the next mayor of Lake Wales believing he would be the perfect 'fair minded' ambassador.

Democrat Mr Rogers insists he left his high-ranking position as Florida Grand Dragon within The United Klans of America 30 years ago.

In its heyday in the 1950s and 1960s the organisation was the largest and most violent KKK group in America.

In 1988 it disbanded after losing a $7million civil law suit for its role in the murder of a 19-year-old Alabama teenager Michael Donald in 1981.

According to The Times newspaper, Mr Rogers has refused to apologise for his past, saying: 'If being against communism, against drugs and in favour of states' rights is wrong, then I'm wrong.

'I was in the Boy Scouts and the Cub Scouts and nobody ever asks me about that.'

US news website WTSP said the 70-year-old had dismissed criticism as 'muck-raking and character assassination.'

WTSP reports Mr Rogers described himself as 'fair minded' who has 'never disrespected anyone or violated anyone's rights.'

It's not the first time he has caused a stir in the city. His past emerged when he was elected District Commissioner in 2008 for a four year term.

Voters will decide whether Mr Rogers should be their mayor on April 5.

CMC Alum to Have a Russian TV Program

2011-04-04T16:28:00.000-07:00

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 4, 2011

Contact:

Nena Bartlett

(202) 577-8648

nena@adamvstheman.com -RT America

1325 G St NW

Washington, DC

(202) 942-7440

RT America Launches New Show,

Hosted by Former US Marine, Adam Kokesh

Washington, D.C.: RT America, is set to launch a new program, “Adam vs The Man,” April 11 at 7PM EST. The next generation political program will be hosted by activist, former Republican congressional candidate, and United States Marine veteran Adam Kokesh.

International Emmy-nominated news channel, RT America is an English-language news channel based in Moscow and Washington, DC. With bold, original programming, RT is making inroads into what used to be mainstream media-dominated television markets. Said Margarita Simonyan, RT editor-in-chief, "As an alternative media source often interacting with independent journalists and controversial opinion makers, RT has become a major player in the battle for information in recent years."

“Adam Kokesh brings such a diverse background to any issue,” said former campaign manager, Tina Richards. She continued, “When I want to hear political talking points I can turn to the mainstream networks, but when I want to hear what is really happening and what the younger people of America are thinking, I'll be watching 'Adam vs The Man.'”

"Adam vs The Man" will air daily at 7PM EST starting April 11 on Russia Today.

ADAM KOKESH: Adam is a former United States Marine who became a leader in the American anti-war movement and a congressional candidate who captured the voice of the youth and liberty movements across America. Most recently, Adam brought thought-provoking programming to radio as the host of his own local show. In 2008, the United States presidential elections showed a voter turnout of youth (ages 18-29) that rose to 51 percent. As the 2012 election nears, Adam Kokesh will provide a perspective that potential youth voters will appreciate. As Adam often says, “It’s okay if you don’t do politics, politics will keep doing you.”

In the US, RT is available on cable in the metro areas of Washington DC, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego as well as in North Carolina and South Carolina. For more information go tohttp://rt.com/usa/where-to-watch/

To watch RT livestream simulcast go to http://rt.com/on-air/rt-america-air/

When Talking Points Are Over Used

2011-04-04T15:50:00.000-07:00

This mash-up video of Republicans talking about the healthcare bill is a prime example of when talking points and message repetition are overused and journalists are smart enough to notice.

Somebody had to post it...

2011-04-04T11:47:00.000-07:00

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0411/52457.html Obama launches for 2012.

Influencing the Media II

2011-04-04T11:03:00.000-07:00

New examples of last week's topics:

Press releases (AP contact): nowadays, usually by email
Daybooks
Pitch calls

Media events (from the Ruckus manual)

Interviews, town halls, and press conferences:

Talking points guidelines
What is a sound bite? (And spell it bite, not byte!)
Talking points: The Starbucks papers
Planting questions at town halls ( and video of the question in question). Moral: do not pick questioners who will brag about it afterward.

Quote sluts
Spin rooms
Oppo
Leaks
Document Dumps
Bad News Fridays
Radio call-in shows
Letters to the Editor -- but make sure that they come from real people
Op-Eds

The Donald On Fox

2011-04-03T17:40:00.001-07:00

After announcing his sights on the Presidency in 2012, Donald Trump is now returning to television, though he probably won't be "firing" anybody on this show.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/01/donald-trump-gets-fox-new_n_843474.html

Who can think of a better way to wake up to the work week than Mr. Trump? It will be interesting to see if this little 1 day a week segment becomes anything larger, especially with the election getting closer and closer.

Israel and the Media

2011-04-03T13:57:00.000-07:00

An article in today's New York Times talks about the impact of Richard Goldstone's retraction of his United Nations report on the Gaza invasion in 2008 (operation Cast Lead). The initial report concluded that the Israeli military had committed war crimes in Gaza by intentionally killing Palestinian civilians. While Goldstone retracted his initial statement, the damage is already done, and some Israelis believe the harm of the UN report is irreparable. Once something is already in the media, it is hard to backtrack.

Oppo!

2011-04-03T05:56:00.000-07:00

Politico reports:

Tired of being on the receiving end of damaging stories developed by liberal groups such as Media Matters and the Center for American Progress, conservatives are looking to launch their own opposition research army to dig up dirt on the left.

In the last year, a mix of big-money Republican-allied independent groups, tea party non-profits, guerilla videographers, and some scrappy bloggers and talk show hosts has created a raft of fledgling investigative research and reporting efforts to uncover and publicize alleged corruption, flip-flops and plain-old gaffes by Democrats and their allies headed into the 2012 elections.
The effort attracted notice last month when one of the deepest-pocketed conservative groups, Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies – or Crossroads GPS – launched an initiative called Wikicountability to crowd-source investigations of President Barack Obama’s administration by collecting government documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act. As a start, Crossroads GPS pushed three relatively low-impact findings based on FOIAs – including that $3.66 million in taxpayer money was used to pay for an ad promoting last year’s Democratic healthcare overhaul.

“The left is still beating the right at the game of doing investigative reporting, but I think the right has finally realized both the need and the problem,” said Erick Erickson, editor of Red State, an influential conservative blog that occasionally features or aggregates researched reporting by conservatives critical of the left. “After a couple of years of thinking the right was dropping the ball, I finally think the train is moving and building up momentum.”

The New Sound Bite

2011-04-01T13:39:00.000-07:00

Meredith Shiner at Politico sheds some light on the effect of Twitter on political dialogue with her story "Eric Cantor, Chuck Schumer tap Twitter to push agendas".

"The two lawmakers’ back-and-forth barbs are playing out on Twitter as a sign of how Capitol Hill works these days. In an instant, one tweet can be picked up by partisans, pundits and papers and lay the framework for more nuanced messages in speeches and press releases. It also means message masters like Schumer or Cantor have larger platforms to get their points across — more quickly than ever."

The Great Spaghetti Hoax

2011-04-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, we looked at an old BBC report on the Swiss spaghetti harvest. The Museum of Hoaxes reports:

On April 1, 1957 the British news show Panorama broadcast a three-minute segment about a bumper spaghetti harvest in southern Switzerland. The success of the crop was attributed both to an unusually mild winter and to the "virtual disappearance of the spaghetti weevil." The audience heard Richard Dimbleby, the show's highly respected anchor, discussing the details of the spaghetti crop as they watched video footage of a Swiss family pulling pasta off spaghetti trees and placing it into baskets. The segment concluded with the assurance that, "For those who love this dish, there's nothing like real, home-grown spaghetti."

The Swiss Spaghetti Harvest hoax generated an enormous response. Hundreds of people phoned the BBC wanting to know how they could grow their own spaghetti tree. To this query the BBC diplomatically replied, "Place a sprig of spaghetti in a tin of tomato sauce and hope for the best."

To this day the Panorama broadcast remains one of the most famous and popular April Fool's Day hoaxes of all time. It is also believed to be the first time the medium of television was used to stage an April Fool's Day hoax.

More here.

USA Today Profiles Helena Bottemiller!

2011-03-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

In a story on three remarkable women in food, USA Today profiles our class alum:

For many new college grads, that first job typically is an entry-level gig with little fanfare or responsibility. For Seattle-area native Helena Bottemiller, it's been anything but lackluster. Shortly after she graduated from Claremont McKenna College in June 2009, food-safety lawyer Bill Marler snapped her up to be part of his new online publication, Food Safety News.

The website launched in September 2009; by its first anniversary, Bottemiller had covered the Food and Drug Administration's 85 food recalls (that's more than one a week), including the infamous salmonella outbreak that resulted in a half-billion egg recall last August. She has covered several other high-profile stories, including seafood safety in the wake of the BP oil spill and congressional hearings for the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which passed in December. At just 24 years old, Bottemiller is becoming something of a Lois Lane in food journalism.

Bad Staff Work Yields Embarrassing Story

2011-03-31T17:18:00.000-07:00

At The Washington Post, Ed O'Keefe reports that President Obama accepted a transparency award -- at a meeting closed to the press.

“It’s almost a theater of the absurd to have an award on transparency that isn’t transparent,” said Gary Bass, founder of OMB Watch, and one of five transparency advocates who met with Obama on Monday. “The irony is that everything the president said was spot-on. I wish people had heard what he had to say.”
Bass was joined at the meeting by Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, Tom Blanton of the National Security Archive at George Washington University, Patrice McDermott of OpenTheGovernment.org and Lucy A. Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Bass, Brian and Dalglish later blogged about the meeting.

All five groups have criticized the Obama White House and previous administrations for withholding government information or failing to disclose it in a timely manner. (Dalglish’s attendance at the private meeting may seem most questionable to the White House press corps, considering her group serves as a legal advocacy group for reporters and includes several prominent journalists on its steering committee.)

Bass insists the group didn’t realize the White House failed to disclose the meeting to reporters. “I think this is a particularly bad situation and I’m not going to try to defend the president on that,” he said.

Brian called it “crazy stupid” for the White House to keep mum about the meeting. “He even made a joke when we walked in the room about how he wanted to make sure we would be listed on the White House visitors logs,” she said in an e-mail. “Someone on the White House staff should get their butt kicked for this one.”

Relevant to today's class...

2011-03-30T14:19:00.001-07:00

Cats are always newsworthy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYrR6Lukxt8

Influencing the Media I

2011-03-30T12:15:00.001-07:00

Strategy: ends and means

What do you want to say?
Whom do you want to reach?
How do you want them to react?
What resources are available to you?

Paid media, social media, and earned media (today's focus)

What is newsworthy?

Niche story or general interest?
What geographic area would have an interest?
What beats and bureaus would cover?
Print story or TV story?

Preparation

Build relationships (remember Novak)
Media lists (An example)

Media events (more next week)

Press releases (AP contact)

Daybooks

Pitch calls

Reporters Face "Psychological Warfare" in Libya

2011-03-30T10:59:00.000-07:00

NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro gives us fantastic insight into the harrowing, and frightening, world of foreign correspondence in a piece on today's Morning Edition. Below is one reporter's experience:

"I sometimes feel we are living in a kind of Graham Greene novel here, you know," says Don Macintyre, a longtime foreign correspondent for the Independent newspaper. "There is a sense both of menace and fantasy that is pretty disorienting, frankly."

March Madness

2011-03-30T10:18:00.000-07:00

Today's Christian Science Monitor Cartoon.

Cricket Diplomacy...?

2011-03-30T09:04:00.000-07:00

The New York Times posted a great article on the cricket match between India and Pakistan. Whether the match will help to open conversation between Manmohan Singh and Yousaf Raza Gilani or whether the adversarial nature of sports will overtake any opportunity for long term progress remains to be seen.

The national teams of India and Pakistan both advanced to the semifinal round of the cricket World Cup tournament. When it became clear that the teams would meet in the Indian city of Mohali, the prime minister of India, Manmohan Singh, issued a surprise invitation to his Pakistani counterpart, Yousaf Raza Gilani, to join him in the grandstand.
Mr. Gilani accepted. Both men arrived at the cricket ground on Wednesday and took their places in a private box for the one-day match. Both shook hands with the players from the opposing teams after the national anthems were sung before the game began, meeting first the Pakistani then the Indian players. The prospect of the two leaders’ sitting together for hours in a relatively informal setting has many here asking what they will talk about, and whether a breakthrough could be possible between the two fractious, nuclear-armed neighbors.

If you are interested in reading a play-by-play of the match, The Guardian is keeping a comprehensive record.

Webcomics: A Valuable Source of Information for the News Media

2011-03-29T16:30:00.000-07:00

When cartoonist Randall Munroe of the popular webcomic XKCD.Com designed a Radiation Dose Chart explaining radiation exposure and how it affects the body, he did it as a public service. "I’m not an expert in radiation and I’m sure I’ve got a lot of mistakes in here," he wrote on his blag, "but there’s so much wild misinformation out there that I figured a broad comparison of different types of dosages might be good anyway."

The chart soon appeared in major media outlets such Al-Jazeera English, The Guardian, and the New York Times, proving that the media will consider any sources that will enhance their coverage. The chart's proven so popular that Munroe is currently translating it into Japanese for the Tokyo media.

Personally, it's the first time I've ever seen a major news outlet use a bananaphone to explain current events.

Behind the Scenes

2011-03-29T16:09:00.000-07:00

The New York Times has a great piece up on a conference call by Senate Democrats...they forgot to push the mute button when Chuck Schumer was giving marching orders.

After thanking his colleagues — Barbara Boxer of California, Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, Thomas R. Carper of Delaware and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut — for doing the budget bidding for the Senate Democrats, who are facing off against the House Republicans over how to cut spending for the rest of the fiscal year, Mr. Schumer told them to portray John A. Boehner of Ohio, the speaker of the House, as painted into a box by the Tea Party, and to decry the spending cuts that he wants as extreme. “I always use the word extreme,” Mr. Schumer said. “That is what the caucus instructed me to use this week.”
A minute or two into the talking-points tutorial, though, someone apparently figured out that reporters were listening, and silence fell.
Then the conference call began in earnest, with the Democrats right on message.

Facebook Courting Robert Gibbs

2011-03-28T08:43:00.000-07:00

From NYT's Dealbook:

Facebook is in talks to hire Robert Gibbs, President Obama’s former White House press secretary, for a senior role in helping to manage the company’s communications, people briefed on the negotiations said...

Facebook is increasingly in the public eye and is looking to build its communications team ahead of an initial offering.

Investor interest and the attention the company received from the movie “The Social Network” have put increasing pressure on the company communicate better with the public about its products and its policies.

It will be interesting to see what the response from the media is, as well as from President Obama.

Oppo. Targets Journalists, Too

2011-03-27T16:38:00.000-07:00

This recent article in Politico describes the coming war between Media Matters and Fox News.

Opposition research not only provides fodder for political news stories, but is now being used as a tactic within media circles-- certainly a consequence of the polarizing tactics of networks such as Fox and MSNBC, which have made commentary and punditry their bread and butter.

"The group, launched as a more traditional media critic, has all but abandoned its monitoring of newspapers and other television networks and is narrowing its focus to Fox and a handful of conservative websites, which its leaders view as political organizations and the “nerve center” of the conservative movement."

Stepping Up Censorship in South Carolina: Felons on Facebook?

2011-03-26T17:08:00.000-07:00

A new bill has come up in the South Carolina State Legislature aiming to bann convicted felons from using facebook and other social media websites while in jail. The article touches upon interesting issues such as, the government's future involvement with social media websites and the rights of felons while imprisoned.

Read the story from FOX NEWS here

Jon Stewart offers a comical perspective on GE as a Conglomerate

2011-03-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show - Family Matters
Tags: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

NY Times on Young Journalists in Washington

2011-03-26T15:28:00.000-07:00

From earlier in the semester, but interesting nonetheless:

The New York Times printed an article “Washington’s New Brat Pack Masters Media” about the younger group of Washington journalists/bloggers—dubbed the “Juicebox Mafia”—and their rise in media success. The article describes several young journalists and their opinions on their impact on media as well as several critics of the pack.