Now North Decoder is helping to kill journalism. A. Continue reading Others Getting Into the Act

I wonder if TV news twinks ever watch this stuff and realize they’re being made fun of: http://www.theonion.com/content/themes/common/assets/onn_embed/embedded_player.swfIn The Know: Are Reality Shows Setting Unrealistic Standards For Skanks? To wit: A. Continue reading TV News Anchors Discuss Reality Programming: Tonight on Channel 3000 Works for YOU!

Howie Kurtz, whose entire column is full of dumbassery today: Delmar, N.Y.: Why is the Post giving a forum to Glenn Beck? I am certainly against censorship, and Mr. Beck has the First Amendment right to say anything he wants, but not everyone has the right to have a platform on The Washington Post and the degree of legitimacy that such a forum confers. Mr. Beck is not a person to be taken seriously. I know Mr. Beck has a large audience on his Fox show and has the means to have his views widely disseminated. Is the Post that … Continue reading My Washington Post Chat Will Be Next Week

Okay. Via theCrack Den, this: If folks didn’t see this clip from Monday night, it’s a beaut. Not only does the reliable O’Reilly backstop Juan Williams eagerly assure the host that he was right toattackSalon editor Joan Walsh for having “blood on her hands” for defending murdered abortion provider Dr. George Tiller (don’t ask), but Williams also managed to liken anti-abortion crusaders with civil rights protesters from the 1950’s. (Because how many civil rights marchers were ever charged with murdering their political opponents Juan?) In fact, this ispreciselywhy NPR bossesinformedWilliams in February that he was not allowed to be identified … Continue reading On Meaningful Distinctions

People under duress have always found ways to get information out. Always. When you want something to be known, badly enough, when you have something you must say to the world, you’ll do whatever you have to do with the voice you possess. All day I’ve been reading stories and tweets about Iran cracking down on text messaging, cell phone videos, but the pictures are getting out anyway. People who deplore “citizen journalism” and talk about how awful it is that anyone with a cell phone camera can be a journalist should be paying attention right now, because at its … Continue reading Can’t Stop the Signal

The Internet strikes again. A. Continue reading Trivializing Serious Journalism

New and old media on Iran: The screenshots tell a tale more nuanced than the provocative “new media beats old media” narrative. Rather, they show that whileTwitter (), Flickr (), YouTube () and other social media sites are both a source of unfiltered information and a venue for public discussion, we still look to CNN, the BBC and their ilk to add context and meaning to this flood of data. And when they fail us, we demand more of them. This is actually an example, not of the Internet killing journalism, but of people using the Internet’s tools and traditional … Continue reading This is How It’s Supposed to Work

What Chet said. I’ve never found these shows to be anything but cringe-inducing even on their best nights, when I was shamefacedly enjoying their mockery of people I dislike. Old joke is old, for the most part. Once it hits Conan and like a mall somewhere, it’s pretty much over. Plus, you know, so long as we’re on unfunny late-night, regarding Letterman and Palin. I’m not particularly crazy about her dragging her kids around to every political event on the planet and shoving them in front of the cameras. But they are HER kids, and why they don’t feel free … Continue reading On the General Sucktardedness of Late-Night ‘Comedy’

Last night I actually met that rare creature: Ajournalism academic who likes the Internet and seems to have fun with it. My experience with the UW Journalism School’s forays into exploring new media hasn’t been good. At their centennial in 2005 they hosted a panel on blogging that included no bloggers, and featured Owen Ullman of USA Today trash-talking bloggers only to admit to me afterward that he read no blogs at all. So I went intothis event fully expecting it to be a festival of whining about those filthy hippies thinking they can presume toput words down and have … Continue reading *I* Know Enough Not To Get Taken, But You Morons Might Not

Sigh. Never underestimate the ability of management to change the subject to who should be posting what on their fucking Facebook pages while the world burns down. Granted, there is an argument to be made here. I don’t blog about my day job and I think anyone who does either has a remarkable lack of self-preservation or a screw loose somewhere. I don’t bitch about my bosses or my colleagues or write about things I cover for other publications (though I will link). A) None of it’s really that interesting in the context of what happens here and b) none … Continue reading The Internet Wars

The fuss for weeks was aboutwhat tourists and radio traffic announcers will call it, not how much it cost: “Now publicly traded, Willis asked for and received $3.8 million in tax-increment financing from the city to redevelop the Sears Tower space.” Why isn’tthis the story? Why are Chicago taxpayers subsidizing a British insurance company? “It’s going to cost us about $17 million,” said Plumeri. “We’re bringing jobs into the city, and hopefully in the next couple of years it’ll be 600, 700 jobs because we expect our business to grow rather strongly in the next three years.” Hopefully. But if … Continue reading More Blogger Ethics