CMC Politics of Journalism

Friday, March 13, 2009

The Pope Must Google!

Awareness of the new media has reached the very, very, very highest levels. The New York Times reports:

The letter released Thursday in which Pope Benedict XVI admitted that the Vatican had made “mistakes” in handling the case of a Holocaust-denying bishop was unprecedented in its directness, its humanity and its acknowledgment of papal fallibility.
But it also contained two sentences unique in the annals of church history.
“I have been told that consulting the information available on the Internet would have made it possible to perceive the problem early on,” Benedict wrote. “I have learned the lesson that in the future in the Holy See we will have to pay greater attention to that source of news.”
In other words: “Note to the Roman Curia: try Google.”

Note: the pope was not denying the doctrine of papal infallibility, which has a very specific meaning. (Sister Anna Gregory would have wanted me to stress that point.)

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Some of you have asked for the contact info for newspaper op-ed pages. I have found a handy collection from Fairleigh Dickinson University. It does, however, contain a misspelling of the LA Times guy (Goldberg, not Goldber). For information specific to LAT, click here.

In any case, you should doublecheck with a newspaper’s own site before submitting anything.

Here are various other web pages with op-ed submission information:

There are some good writing tips here and here.

Campaign Coverage: Tone and the Future

Campaign Tone: A study of 2008

Talk Show Politics in 1992. Ross Perot:

Gore v. Perot in 1993

Comedy News

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Moment of Zen - Tom Daschle's Old Car

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Economic Crisis

Local Media Conference

If you're going to be here over Spring Break (or if you're coming back early and will be spending the last weekend in Southern California), there is a local media conference happening on Saturday March 21, 2009 at Occidental College.

Local Media for Social Change: A Southern California Regional Summit

How happy are you with your local news? How are the issues you care about being covered?

If you are concerned that our democracy and your community are being underserved by the state of today's media, then you should join us for this informative half-day summit.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Occidental College in Los Angeles, CA

11:00am to 5:15pm, with reception to follow

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Nonprofit Newspapers, Twitter, and Ann Coulter

The dying San Francisco Chronicle may become America's largest nonprofit newspaper, reports Gawker. Also, who needs polls when we have twitter? And speaking of debates, this time it's the talking heads' turn to spar.

Obama's mark in history

NYT article, Making Obama's Marks, provides further background on Obama's logo including the intent of the design:

The White House guidelines for each logo were very clear. “It was explicitly stated that the ARRA logo not look ‘governmental,’ ” Juras said. “We were asked to create a ‘visible sign of progress’ in a contemporary way while referencing energy, education and health care.

“The sooner it becomes a historical artifact, the better.”