Selwyn Duke at American Thinker points out that a revived Fairness Doctrine only punished communicators who are honest about their beliefs. After all, who’s to label the various sides of the debate if not the participants themselves? If you don’t label yourself as biased, you need no antidote.
The dirty little secret behind the Fairness Doctrine is that it punishes the honest. Think about it: Radio hosts are the talkers; they wear their banners openly as they proclaim who and what they are. Sure, they may be brash and hyperbolic, loud and oft-sardonic, but there is no pretense, little guile, and you know what they want you to believe. You know what they’re sellin’ and if you’re buyin’.
The mainstream media, however, is a shill. Oh, not shills working with talk radio, of course, as their talkers are entities such as MoveOn.org and Media Matters, but they are shills nonetheless. They masquerade as impartial purveyors of information, almost-automatons who, like Joe Friday, are just interested in the facts, ma’am. They flutter their eyes and read their Teleprompters, and we are to believe God graced them with a singular ability to render facts uncolored by personal perspective.
Hugh Hewitt defends the journalistic legitimacy of blogs against a young skeptic from the Wall Street Journal, who had tried to dismiss the blogosphere as foolish and irrelevant.
As weblogs begin to move into video and site like YouTube gain large audiences, the EU wants to apply broadcast censorship standards to the web.
Viviane Reding, the Media Commissioner, argues that the purpose is simply to set minimum standards on areas such as advertising, hate speech and the protection of children.
But Shaun Woodward, the Broadcasting Minister, described the draft proposal as catastrophic. He said: “Supposing you set up a website for your amateur rugby club, uploaded some images and added a link advertising your local sports shop. You would then be a supplier of moving images and need to be licensed and comply with the regulations.”
The proposal is called Television Without Frontiers.
Try Television Without Competition.
In the early stages of another big-media fakery scandal, Ed Driscoll provides a fine comentary on how the power of ideas rather than authority is giving the blogs a more believable voice than the MSM. He includes this commentary from Glen Reynolds from 2004:
While arguments from authority are hard on the Internet, substantiating arguments is easy, thanks to the miracle of hyperlinks. And, where things aren’t linkable, you can post actual images. You can spell out your thinking, and you can back it up with lots of facts, which people then (thanks to Google, et al.) find it easy to check. And the links mean that you can do that without cluttering up your narrative too much, usually, something that’s impossible on TV and nearly so in a newspaper.
Nielsen, the leading television rating company, will start tracking DVR use and adding it to its ratings reports, which will now come in three forms.
Responding to the requests of clients who wanted to know how DVR use affected viewing, Nielsen will now offer three ratings per program and network: Live, Live/Same Day (which includes same-day playback via DVR) and Live 7 Day Ratings (live along with time-shifted viewing up to 168 hours after
airing).
Blockbuster share prices have dropped on fears that the company may default on some debt payments and close some stores in the next 12 months.
The rapid growth of DVDs and the large inventory and cheap distribution offered by Netflix have shown the video giant to be a little slow to respond.
Hollywood has noticed the overwhelming response to The Passion of the Christ and is actively modifying its product to appeal to Christian audiences.
More often, though, producers, directors, studio executives and marketing specialists have been looking to either mollify or entice an audience that made its power felt with last year’s “Passion of the Christ.” That film, directed by Mel Gibson, took in an astonishing $370 million at the domestic box office when released by Newmarket Films in February 2004 and - along with the empowerment of a Christian conservative bloc after the last U.S. presidential election - helped change attitudes and practices in an industry usually known for its secularism.
A new trend is emerging in the undergraduate college library system. The University of Texas in Austin is attempting to empty its shelves and turn the libraries into an electronic heaven with online resources that can fulfill any undergraduate’s needs. According to NY Times, this is a trend that many colleges are turning to and signing on. However, there are many mixed feelings as to whether or not online materials can replace books. For more information read the NY Times article “College Libraries Set Aside Books in a Digital Age.”
Blogging is all about passion! If a person feels strongly about something, blogging is a great outlet to express his interests. Blogging is a way to get noticed by others with similar interests that you may never meet without the blog. Blogging helps us to learn more than we ever knew on a subject and could potentially make us an expert.
I began a blog this semester and I plan to continue to blog, although I may change my topic to a more career-oriented one. I feel that it is important to continue to blog for career reasons as well as personal ones. Blogging may someday help me to land a job. Bloggers have an advantage because they can rant and rave about anything that they feel passionately about and others will listen. Other bloggers with similar interests will come together and contribute towards the same goal. Blogging is a great way to increase your knowledge and teach others what you know on a particular subject matter. Bloggers can choose a very narrow subject or a broad one. Many times, bloggers are very knowledgeable about their subjects because they are infatuated with what they are blogging. Blogger, Paul Bausch said, “Professional reporters are good at putting things in context, but they don’t have the depth of knowledge in specific areas that the people they’re covering (and often their readers) do. The weblog format provides the structure for people to write about their daily lives–and journalists could look to this as a source of expert knowledge.” (http://www.justagwailo.com/filter/2003/10/01/blogging)
After I graduate college, I plan to become a Pharmaceutical Representative. Blogging may help me to get a job, or it might just increase my knowledge in the field. Whatever it may do, blogging can only be beneficial to my career path. Others who are knowledgeable in the field are likely to contribute to the blog, therefore increasing my understanding. A quote from http://www.justagwailo.com/filter/2003/10/01/blogging said, “Weblogs provide multiple coherent “views” on a distributed discussion simply because each author tries to make his weblog meaningful. This provides a reader with choice of “entry points”: I can always select weblogs fitting my level of understanding and preferred reading style and use them as “lenses” to grasp what’s going on.”
I plan to create a blog on the ins and outs of the Pharmaceutical industry. Compiling a stock of information on the industry will help me as I get ready to find a job and allow me to converse with others who are knowledgeable in the field. Blogging will help me to get some factual information as well as the personal experiences of others in the industry. I am looking forward to beginning this blog because it is going to enrich my understanding and make me more appealing to those who might hire me in the future. Doing the blog will show that I have the determination, knowledge, and most importantly, the passion for my future career.
Blogging is a great way to follow a passion and get opinions and ideas out in the open. Who knows, maybe the right person will read my blog and give me the job that I have always dreamed of.
Here is a great article on the debate and competition between old media and new media and American news. Check it out for opinions on why there is a shift, consequences, and great research on this topic.
If you follow US politics and opinion journalism even peripherally, then you know that the one thing that the entire political spectrum—right, center, and left—can agree on is that the American news media is in trouble.
I happened by this blog about advertising at about.com and obviously this author is not happy about the new Enormous Omelete Sandwich at Burger King.
BK’s newly launched Enormous Omelet Sandwich will pack on 730 calories and 47 grams of fat. And despite a stomach turn for nutritionists who say eating the sandwich is putting you one step closer to a heart attack, BK says it’s all about choices.
Burger King execs say the sandwich will appeal to “the guy who is a Whopper-head.” Experts in the industry say those “Whopper-heads” are young males 16 to 24 who don’t care about nutrition. Research shows young males tend to eat at fast food restaurants 20 times a month.
Excuse me? But who made you the nutrition police? It is about choice, because I chose to eat that thing just the other day! And without bread, too. Great for the Atkins diet. :-p
I guess this is the idea of the freedom of the media thing, and also the idea that people can disagree with anything in the media as well. 
Have video games ever forced legislation? Increasing awareness back in the mid-90s by parents because of overly-violent games like Mortal Kombat was one of the direct causes of a video game rating system. Now, we may have another case in Illinois thanks to Gov. Rod Blagojevich (Dem.) The game in question is the recently-released crime drama game by Midway, NARC.
Blagojevich called for the state Senate to pass his Safe Games legislation, which the Illinois House approved on a 91-19 vote last week. Passage of the measure would make Illinois the first state to ban sales or rental of such games to people younger than 18, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.
“Narc” players take the role of one of two police officers and one of the options allows the game characters to use illegal drugs to change the game performance. It is rated “M” for mature.
The game is being distributed by Chicago-based Midway, which told the newspaper the game is aimed at adults and “it’s up to the parents” to control what their children play.
I find two things interesting about this. If this law is passed, are minors still going to be able to get their hands on it anyway, much like alcohol and cigarettes? Parents do have to put their foot down to keep this out of the house.
And Midway has a history of creating controversy with video games, like the aforementioned Mortal Kombat, and even an arcade game released in December 1988, also called NARC. Your basic violent shoot-’em-up, I’d say. Can’t beat the second level without losing all of my lives, though. :-p
Some Americans no longer must worry about being secretly photographed while taking off their sweaty gym short (eww!) (Who even thinks about that?)Many gyms are banning cellular camera phones in Washington, Maryland and Virginia, according to the Washington Post.
“We haven’t had any problems. People turn their cell phones off or leave them at the front desk,” Jones said.
Phones are banned to prevent problems that could lead to defame while in the gym socks! HMMM….I wonder if I can still have my camera phone in the AC gym…I was planning some good pics…
watch out in the gym!
Ok…I lied. I don’t think Bush is giving them out but for people in D.C. that would be nice! The law says that D.C. residents cannot drive unless they are using a handsfree device. I think that’d be a great law…I could put my makeup on easier while I’m talking and driving. Sometimes I just don’t get the lawmakers. They are playing with tonka toys while they make these laws or maybe its playdough…but they’re obviously distracted.
Does anyone have a hands-free cell phone kit they would like to loan me?
If your cell phone rings the normal, “ring” “ring” you are way out of the loop! In fact, you are ancient history. You are just not cool if you don’t have some snazzy new tone that others can recognize. Allison Hirschlag , a 19-year-old Northwestern University student, says,
“We actually make fun of people who still have the regular ringer on their cells, because when you hear that in a restaurant, 50 people reach for their phones,” Hirschlag said.
I have spent a mini-fortune downloading my personalized tones…but I thinks its worth it. I couldn’t bear getting laughed at because of my ring tone…My how shallow. But I have been sucked in to this trend also. I’m sure you have too!Sales hit $3.5 billion in 2003…WOW!
I love my xanga! A form of blogging, xanga is the latest craze! It’s like an online journal where friends can write about their lives, read about the lives of their friends, and comment! You can get cute layouts and design and even personalize your site to play a particular song. I look foward to writing in my xanga everyday..if only all blogging was so entertaining. So…my point…get a Xanga, you’ll love it!
You gotta give 100% to rock. And even when I don’t…I’m still awesome.
Check out this eccentric blogger…and join the trend!
XANGA ROCKS!
I love it when celebrities voice their opionions…fearlessly, especially on sensitive topics. Maggie Gyllenhaal, who plays in an upcoming movie which is about the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, said she feels the United States is paritally to blame.
“Not to have the courage to ask these questions of ourselves is to betray the victims of 9/11.”
This is a big step for an female actress to be so upforth about her political opinions with the media…way to go Maggie!
With the internet popularity growing newspapers audience have become less and less by the years. I know that if I want to find out the news fast I just go online. You can find news much quicker for through the internet instead of flipping through several pages of paper its only a click away.
In 1995-2003, says the World Association of Newspapers, circulation fell by 5% in America, 3% in Europe and 2% in Japan. In the 1960s, four out of five Americans read a paper every day; today only half do so. Philip Meyer, author of “The Vanishing Newspaper: Saving Journalism in the Information Age” (University of Missouri Press), says that if the trend continues, the last newspaper reader will recycle his final paper copy in April 2040.
No more newspapers!
In December of 2004, Electronic Arts, probably the biggest sports game maker in the video game business, signed a deal with the National Football League to exclusively make video games with NFL players under the EA Sports franchise. This seems like a very, very good thing, because I can say with personal experience that the EA Madden series of football games are the best football games out there. 
But this $200 million deal might have consequences:
When the EA/NFL/NFL Players deal expires, no company will have renders of the league’s 1,400 players, which would cost millions – and could discourage bidding.
“I’m surprise that the naïveté of the NFL and its players,” said (Michael) Pachter (an analyst. “By giving a five-year license and giving EA an exclusive, they’re going to eliminate all of the competition. So in five years, the license fee is going to be whatever EA decides it wants to pay.”
Will this happen? Only time will tell. In the meantime, enjoy the football games! If you play them, that is
In a world dominated by technology, word on the street is that it is much quicker to type than to talk.
“In English, at least, it’s faster to type than it is to talk,” Rashid said. “We’re not moving to a world where those things go away.”
So, in a world where we spend almost as much time talking as typing, what should we start teaching our babies. I mean, what is this man talking about. I think he’s stupid…it is not faster to type than talk. By the time I have typed this word I have said it already in my head and could have said it aloud too if I wanted. We should like put a keyboard in our babies crib instead of teaching them so say mommy or daddy? SILLY!
No technology will conquer the verbal communication…not for girls anyway!