Media
13-Dec-07
Permanent link to MTA daily media news
The effect of ‘in your face’ political television on democracy
Washington, DC—Television can encourage awareness of political perspectives among Americans, but the incivility and close-up camera angles that characterize much of today’s “in your face” televised political debate also causes audiences to react more emotionally and think of opposing views as less legitimate. These findings come from a research project conducted by political scientist and communications scholar Diana C. Mutz (University of Pennsylvania)… When people experience politicians with whom they disagree from the uniquely intimate perspective of television, their dislike for them only intensifies. This makes it more difficult for the winner in any given context to acquire the respect of the opposition that is often necessary for governing.
A former high school classmate, before our last reunion, called me a baby killer because I believe women should have the right to determine when they will have children. My own sister is derisively superior in her attitude towards me because she doesn’t like my political views.
Bill Moyers talks about media and the events of the week with MSNBC’s popular and provocative Keith Olbermann. (t r u t h o u t | Programming Note)
PBS Airtime: Friday, December 14, 2007, at 9 p.m. EDT on PBS (check local listings [here]).
NATIONAL ROPER POLL RANKS PBS #1 IN PUBLIC TRUST FOR THE FOURTH CONSECUTIVE YEAR
ARLINGTON, VA, March 22, 2007—For the fourth consecutive year, a GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media poll shows Americans consider PBS the nation’s most trusted institution among nationally known organizations. In this latest study, PBS was elevated to the #1 value for tax dollars, tying with military defense.
Regret the Error posts its 2007 errors/corrections round-up
In 2007, Barack Obama was a magnet for press errors, says Regret the Error founder Craig Silverman. “He was mistaken for ‘Osama’ in two news reports by CNN, and in one by the New York Post. Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle once referred to him as a Republican, and the Hartford Courant has misspelled his first name on six different occasions dating back to 2004, with two of those instances occurring this year.” || PLUS: The 2007 plagiarism/fabrication round-up.
Disgraced US attorney general Gonzales ‘Lawyer of the Year’
WASHINGTON (AFP) - Alberto Gonzales spent much of 2007 fighting in vain his ouster as US attorney general, but that has earned him a consolation prize: a top law magazine named him on Wednesday its “Lawyer of the Year.”… The magazine also took the uncommon step of naming its Lawyer of the Year for 2008, 12 months ahead of time: Michael Mukasey, Gonzales’s replacement. Adams said there was little doubt Mukasey would spend much of the year wrestling with the large legal issues Gonzales left behind — like those on torture and domestic spying.
Apparently, it’s not a compliment.
Thomas Friedman’s Flawed Analogy on Iran (by William Hartung, writing at TPM Café)
[B]y echoing the Bush administration’s after the fact “spin” on the NIE’s findings, [New York Times columnist Thomas] Friedman is contributing — consciously or not — to the larger effort to dismiss the impact of the estimate. The NIE on Iran is a positive development, and for once the intelligence community was allowed to state its conclusions without interference from the Cheney/neo-con wing of the administration. The NIE should be a building block for a more reasonable diplomatic strategy — far from reducing U.S. leverage, it might actually make it easier to bring countries like Russia and China on board for a workable joint strategy, as occurred with North Korea.
CIA ‘furious’ at Kiriakou for talking about torture.
On Monday, former CIA interrogator John Kiriakou confirmed to ABC News that al Qaeda leader Abu Zubaydah was waterboarded on orders from the White House. ABC News now reports that officials at the CIA were “furious” at Kiriakou and pushed for “a Justice Department investigation.” A Justice Department official, however, said that no such investigation is planned.
Fox News ‘Comedian’ Declares ‘Waterboarding: It’s A Good Thing’ (Think Progress)
In a FoxNews.com column, Greg Gutfeld — host of Fox’s 2 a.m. “dark humor” news show you’ve never heard of — writes this “comedic” defense of waterboarding: “Now, waterboarding might be torture, but as long as people I hate also hate waterboarding, then I love it more than life itself. … So I cherish waterboarding. I want to make it our national sport, our national bird. I want to make the waterboard the state flower of Vermont, instead of the Birkenstock.” For too many conservatives, waterboarding is a big joke to be taken lightly.
Novak’s Hillary-Obama “Scandal” Story Turns Out To Be A Bust. So Should We Stop Listening To Him Now? (by Greg Sargent at TPM Muckraker)
You may recall that last month, Robert Novak published a much-talked-about column reporting that the Hillary campaign was sitting on “scandalous” information about Barack Obama… Well — surprise, surpise — we now learn that there was really nothing to the Novak column at all… One thing that endlessly puzzles this blog is the unwillingness of so many commentators and media figures to learn from it when they get burned by bogus stories. It doesn’t matter if Drudge’s latest “siren” exclusive has proven to be false yet again — the next time the siren goes up, media people will still say to each other, “have you seen Drudge”?
Re: Robert Novak’s “Prince of Darkness.” (by Lawrence Velvel at Velvel on National Affairs)
I was taken with the fact that Novak goes out of his way to say what a horrible guy he himself is. He admits repeatedly, he in fact proclaims, that he is very dislikable, is a former big time drunk, is a guy with a serious gambling problem, is a man who at times lied to his partner… Since he is appropriately hard on himself, I suppose Novak is entitled, as it were, to level the continuous blasts he directs at others… To me, his views on the political class — which Twain called our only native criminal class — and the journalistic class seem right on.
ABC Exiles Ron Paul Interview to Web (by Matt Simon at The Huffington Post)
So what happens when the champion of freedom and free markets from the U.S. Congress sits down for a chat with his counterpart from the mainstream media? That’s when we learn that freedom is simply too hot for TV, or at least, too hot for ABC.
Media Matters for America headlines
NBC’s Gregory, Lauer didn’t challenge Romney’s claims on religious test
Imus: “Why don’t you like Huckabee? Because you’re gay, or what?”
Rove touted Russert question on Clinton library docs based on falsehood
Limbaugh misrepresented Bill Moyers, said “I’m pretty sure he’s lost his mind”
Dick Morris misrepresented facts of DuMond case in purporting to explain Huckabee’s focus
Teamsters To FCC: Not So Fast On Tribune TV Licenses!
CHICAGO The International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday asked the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to reconsider its decision to grant Tribune Co. waivers from cross-ownership rule that the Chicago media giant needs to go private by the end of the year. Teamsters represent about 2,000 employees across the company, and have been staunch opponents of Chicago real estate magnate Sam Zell’s $8.2 billion deal to take Tribune private using an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP).
US FCC Head Schedules Vote On Media Ownership Rule
The head of the FCC took another step towards possible plans to ease U.S. media ownership rules, scheduling a vote on the issue for next week.
US Army won’t let papers run stories of battlefield heroism
Army lawyers and bureaucrats have blocked requests by the Baltimore Sun and news outlets to tell the stories of three Afghanistan-based American soldiers were were awarded Silver Stars for valor in battle. The military cites, among other reasons, potential threats to soldiers’ privacy and safety. One Army captain calls those arguments “absurd.”
Remaking the Journal (MediaWorks at Advertising Age)
According to The New York Times, in the last few months, Rupert Murdoch has moved into an office at Dow Jones & Company, publisher of The Wall Street Journal. He has pushed the paper’s editors for shorter articles and more hard news. He has personally wooed reporters he wants to keep out of his competitors’ hands. And last week, he oversaw the replacement of top executives, including The Journal’s publisher, with his own lieutenants. And he hasn’t even bought the company yet. After Thursday, when the takeover becomes official, the real changes will begin, including eliminating the Marketplace section, buying out two or three dozen newsroom employees to make room for News Corp. picks, and a decision about whether to make WSJ.com free.
Every page a home page (by Jeff Jarvis)
We’ve heard news sites preach the gospel of making “every page a home page” since readers more and more are coming into content directly from search and links and not from a packaged home page… Well, Aftonbladet seems to have taken the every-page-a-home-page strategy quite literally: As I clicked around from story to story, the bottom half of each page was filled with the content from the home page. The home page followed me around, trying to tempt me to try something else they’d packaged and recommended.
BusinessWeek Layoffs: Will All Magazines Die? (by Kristen Nicole at Mashable)
This year in particular was pretty rough on the printed media industry. After continued declines in subscriptions, newspapers and magazines found it necessary to shift gears, focus a bit more on online distribution models (some even ad-supported), and quite a few people were let go in the process. Most recently, Business 2.0 was completely cut from the Time Inc. family, while the New York Times recently instituted a temporary hiring freeze. And now BuisnessWeek is the latest to do the same.
NBC to Give Back $10 Million to Marketers
Still Searching for Big Hit, Network Opts for Cash Back to Clear Last Season’s Make-goods
MTV to Let Freelancers Stay on Its Insurance
Acknowledging the concerns of hundreds of freelance workers, MTV Networks on Wednesday reversed some of the cuts it had intended to make to benefits packages.
New Jackass Goes Straight to the Internet (by Stan Schroeder at Mashable)
Jackass 2 was a major hit, and now its half-sequel: Jackass 2.5 - will be distributed online… [V]iewers will be able to see the new Jackass free of charge … from Dec. 19 to Dec. 31; and the majors plan to cash in from the ads on the page during this time. After that, it’s the standard route: Jackass 2.5 will appear on DVD as well as iTunes, Amazon (for a price, of course) and other sites on Dec. 26. Nevertheless, this is the “first broadband movie ever distributed by a major studio,” says Thomas Lesinski, President of Paramount Pictures Digital Entertainment. Whether the studios like it or not, if it turns out to be a success, it might be another hit to the current movie distribution models at Hollywood.
Click through for a link to the download.
MySpaceTV Co-Producing Horror Flick in the UK (by Kristen Nicole at Mashable)
MySpaceTV started as a place to showcase videos, and eventually web series. Like a sitcom diva, MySpace soon recognized the potential of producing some of the content showcased on MySpaceTV as well. And so became the social networking site’s partnership with Iron Sink Media. More control plus “star power” equals more money that MySpace can keep to itself.
Jon Stewart Now Free and Legal on AOL Video (by Kristen Nicole at Mashable)
MTV Networks has agreed to provide a hefty amount of clips from its collection of premium shows for availability on AOL Video. Short-form video from favorites like “The Daily Show,” “I Love New York,” “The Hills” and “iCarly” can be found throughout AOL Video, for free. You won’t find free full-length content here, however, so this appears to be a strategic distribution agreement between MTVN and AOL for allowing the clips to be shown within a video-sharing community. Perhaps MTVN is hoping to take advantage of AOL Video’s new ad options as well.
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