Media
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FAIR Media Advisory: Erasing Katrina
August 29 marked the fourth anniversary of the day Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf Coast. The devastation wrought by both the hurricane itself and the government’s inept response prompted remarkably critical corporate media coverage that promised to fight for Katrina survivors and change the way we talk about poverty and race. But… Continue reading
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Media Capitalism, the State, and 21st Century Media Democracy Struggles: An Interview with Robert McChesney by Tanner Mirrlees
Robert McChesney: The media is one of the key areas in society where power is exercised, reinforced, and contested. It is hard to imagine a successful left political project that does not have a media platform. The media was not a major political issue for earlier generations of the Left. In the 19th century, a… Continue reading
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Anti-Venezuela Spokespeople Misrepresent Reality of Press Freedom in Venezuela By Mark Weisbrot
Denis MacShane attacks the British left for defending Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez against an onslaught from the media, “New Cold Warriors,” and right-wing demagogues throughout the world. His rhetorical trick is to tar the left with a new media law currently being debated in the Venezuelan Congress, which he says “would impose prison sentences of… Continue reading
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CNN’s Lou Dobbs Problem
This week, we are launching the television ad below against CNN and Lou Dobbs. We purchased airtime on Dobbs’ show as well as on Fox News and MSNBC. It will air starting on Tuesday, and we need your help to run it as many times as possible. Continue reading
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Community Media: The Thriving Voice of the Venezuelan People By Liz Migliorelli and Caitlin McNulty
In Venezuela today a grass-roots movement of community and alternative media is challenging the domination of private commercial media. Community oriented, non profit, non commercial, citizen and volunteer run media outlets are a crucial part of the democratic transformation of society that is occurring throughout Venezuela. Part of this transformation is the understanding of freedom… Continue reading
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Britain’s propaganda offensive on behalf of Afghan war By Chris Marsden
There is growing public concern that Afghanistan is fast becoming a worse and more intractable debacle than Iraq, fueling opposition to the war and demands for an exit strategy. Despite Miliband’s statement that he accepted the public ‘wanted to know whether and how we can succeed’ in Afghanistan, he demonstrated the government’s willingness to defy… Continue reading
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Iran: Riding the “Green Wave” at the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and Beyond by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson
There are many problems with the Campaign for Peace and Democracy’s “Question & Answer on the Iran Crisis,” issued by the CPD on July 7, and widely circulated since then. As we try to show below, when stripped of its didactic format, this Q&A amounts to little more than an emotional plea to its target… Continue reading
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Iran: Riding the "Green Wave" at the Campaign for Peace and Democracy and Beyond by Edward S. Herman and David Peterson
There are many problems with the Campaign for Peace and Democracy’s “Question & Answer on the Iran Crisis,” issued by the CPD on July 7, and widely circulated since then. As we try to show below, when stripped of its didactic format, this Q&A amounts to little more than an emotional plea to its target… Continue reading
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Football game or tear gas and bullets? Palestinians put racist ad to test
In the Cellcom advert, IOF soldiers on patrol along the Wall stop their army jeep when it is hit by a soccer ball from the Palestinian side of the Wall. A game ensues, back and forth with the unseen Palestinians after a soldier dials up “reinforcements,” including two smiling women in uniform, to come and… Continue reading
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Economic History: can we apply the same market principles of the penny press to online news? – Editors Weblog
The lesson in newspaper economic history follows as such: in recognition of competitive market forces, newspapers have in fact not charged for their content since the advent of the penny press in the 1830s. Adoption of cheaper selling prices gained papers broader readerships, access to which advertisers proved willing to pay. Advertising revenues and the… Continue reading
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At the movies, London: THE YES MEN FIX THE WORLD
A documentary following a couple of gonzo political activists, armed with nothing but charity-store suits, as they infiltrate the world of big business. They smuggle out stories that are shocking and hilarious, and pull off outrageous pranks that highlight the ways in which corporate greed is destroying the planet! Continue reading
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Beyond the Hype: Cronkite and the Vietnam War By Norman Solomon
But facts are facts, and history is history — including what Cronkite actually did as TV’s most influential journalist during the first years of the Vietnam War. Despite all the posthumous praise for Cronkite’s February 1968 telecast that dubbed the war “a stalemate,” the facts of history show that the broadcast came only after Cronkite’s… Continue reading
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Honduran Oligarchy: “The War is Against Chavez” By Ricardo Daher – Aporrea
The Honduran de facto government and private media insist on denying the coup d’etat and say that they accept the mediation of Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, but exclude any conversation over the return of Zelaya to the presidency. At the same time they sustain that they are the spearhead of a ‘war’ against the… Continue reading
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Honduran Oligarchy: “The War is Against Chavez” By Ricardo Daher – Aporrea
The Honduran de facto government and private media insist on denying the coup d’etat and say that they accept the mediation of Costa Rican president Oscar Arias, but exclude any conversation over the return of Zelaya to the presidency. At the same time they sustain that they are the spearhead of a ‘war’ against the… Continue reading
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U.S. Press Falsely Claims Honduran Plurality for Coup By Robert Naiman
Did a CID-Gallup poll last week indicate that a plurality of Hondurans support the military coup against democratically elected President Zelaya? Yes, according to the Washington Post (July 9), the Wall Street Journal (July 10), the Christian Science Monitor (July 11), and Reuters (July 9), which all reported that the poll showed 41% in favor… Continue reading
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WIKILEAKS: The News of The World didn’t go far enough
The right to freedom of speech is not short hand for the right to pontificate. We defend speech freedoms for their connection to a deeper underlying concept-the right to know. Without understanding the world around us we can not function. Without an informed public, democracy has no meaning and civilization is adrift. Through understanding the… Continue reading
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International Journalists Union Expels Israel After Fight Over Politics and Money By Alex Weisler and Nathan Jeffay
The Israeli group –— the National Federation of Israel Journalists — was ousted June 7 in a unanimous vote of the international union’s executive committee. The vote immediately raised the specter of another effort by international unions to boycott Israel for political reasons; recently, a number of academic unions around the world have voted to… Continue reading
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Media Disinformation: “Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran” by F. William Engdahl
The world-renowned Times newspaper of London published a report in its July 5th edition titled, ‘Saudis give nod to Israeli raid on Iran.’ The story, were it true, would imply a dramatic change in Saudi foreign and military policy whose consequences potentially could lead to a World War III. A more serious investigation reveals that… Continue reading
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Extra!: Building a Better Journalism
Extra! asked progressive media activists and scholars to share their ideas on how to make journalism’s future better than its present; the following are some of the highlights. Continue reading
The New Dark Age 