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Blog for a Cause!: The Global Voices Guide of Blog Advocacy
Global Voices Advocacy is pleased to announce the second of several planned manuals focused on the topics of circumventing internet filtering, anonymous blogging and effective use of Internet-based tools in campaigns for social and political change.
Free At Last (by Barb Palser, American Journalism Review)
[D]o we really want to live in a subscription-based world? Imagine daily life if all news sites started charging admission. The convenient micropayment system heralded in the ’90s has not materialized, which means we’d be paying a fee to every news site we visited or for every story we read. If we’re trying to drastically shrink the average person’s news diet and broaden the online culture divide — not to mention opt out of the online ad explosion — that’d be a quick way to do it.
I hate to imagine daily life when the day comes that all our media are not only owned by big corporations, but also pressured by big corporate advertisers not to rock the boat. There’s an alternative for progressives, if we’re smart.
Nonprofit News (by Carol Guensburg, American Journalism Review)
Beleaguered journalists who once clung solely to the business model of paid advertising and circulation now recognize the urgency of developing new revenue sources for labor-intensive newsgathering. For some, foundations hold increasing promise as allies in meeting the public’s information needs — beyond superficial headlines and celebrity sexploits — so long as there are safeguards for editorial independence.
A gentler capitalism
Every few decades, America’s business leaders change their minds about what obligations corporations and the wealthy have to society… Such a shift, if truly underway today, will have enormous political consequences in the years to come. If the consensus in the executive suites is that economic inequality has risen too much, or that too many social needs like healthcare are going unmet, or that the polar ice caps might really melt, the next president and Congress will have more success tackling these problems. It is far easier to get things done in Washington when Wall Street isn’t digging in its heels.
So our job as progressives, many of us Democrats, is to determine which of the candidates left to us will be better able and willing to take advantage of this shift in emphasis.
Nuance And Narrative In SC (by Gal Beckerman, Columbia Journalism Review)
Do national media tell local voters what to think?
The Legitimate Change That Should Come From This Primary (by dday at Hullabaloo)
I want to thank Senator Edwards for running a tremendous campaign. He moved the policy in a progressive direction and matured far more than in 2004. He was just up against two juggernauts and couldn’t wedge himself into the media spotlight. (the media, by the way, picked the nominees. Again.)… [I]f you prefer media-driven candidates foisted on the bulk of the country, then go ahead and keep this wonderful primary train going! Maybe within a few cycles we can vote for the nominee and the nominee four years hence on the same day! It’d make things so much easier.
An Appeal That Looks to (and Uses) the Spirit of the 1960s
Barack Obama’s first spot highlighting Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement features images of her father and the Moon landing.
I Have Questions for Barack Obama (by Melissa McEwan of Shakespeare’s Sister blog, writing at No Quarter)
How do you pursue an agenda that appeals to conservatives, but is also progressive?… What is the common purpose around which you envision the country rallying? Do you regard “transcending partisanship” an end in itself, and do you foresee the GOP rallying around this goal? If so, how and why do you imagine that will happen? Assume for a moment that you are nominated and subsequently elected, and, despite being “the kind of president” in whom Americans can believe, the profound partisan rancor that currently plagues the nation doesn’t evaporate, that Americans fail to rally around a common purpose. What is Plan B?
Barack Obama: Bamboozling America (by Larry Pinkney, the Black Commentator)
We Black Americans have often and generally been so physically and emotionally brutalized in this nation that we sometimes vicariously tie up our hopes and dreams with others who appear to have somehow accomplished that which we ourselves have not, due to systemic economic, social, and political oppression. This is a fact that has not escaped the attention of Barack Obama and his political advisors/handlers from the corporate military/industrial complex. Thus, his game is simple: Play on the unfulfilled hopes, dreams, and needs of Black people. Sell the people a pipe dream in order to attain your own personal goals. This is what I refer to as political pimping, and this is precisely what Barack Obama and his advisors/handlers are doing, not only to Black America, but to the nation as a whole. Through the use of double-speak, Barack Obama keeps the people from seeing who and what he really is.
Several white males I know have fallen in love with Obama, while the black males I know have not. The Obama lovers think there will be some kind of rosy future for us all if Obama becomes the Democratic candidate and then wins the election. Hillary Clinton is too divisive, they say, not realizing that the right wing hasn’t even gotten started yet on its vilification of Obama. Many Democrats, and many progressives, seem congenitally incapable of understanding that IT’S THE CORPORATOCRACY, STUPID! We need to stop fooling ourselves into believing any one person can be our savior, no matter how good that person at convincing us to be in love with love, and to believe in belief. I’m not happy with the allegiance of either of the remaining Democratic candidates to the corporatocracy, but of the two, Clinton’s proposals are more progressive. And that’s why, now that Edwards has dropped out of the race, I will vote for her on Tuesday.
‘NY Post’ Endorses Obama
NEW YORK Rupert Murdoch’s New York Post had been, at least off and on, surprisingly kind to Hillary Clinton for quite some time — she is a home state U.S. Senator after all. That ended today when on its Web site (in print tomorrow) it endorsed Barack Obama in next week’s key primary, and used some of its usual colorful language in doing it.
See what I mean? Conservatives love Obama.
Obama eviscerates Hillary (by John Aravosis at AMERICAblog)
[T]his is particularly pointed from Obama. “’I know it is tempting — after another presidency by a man named George Bush — to simply turn back the clock, and to build a bridge back to the 20th century,’ he said in Denver. ‘… It’s not enough to say you’ll be ready from Day One — you have to be right from Day One,’ he added in unmistakable criticisms of Clinton, who often claims she’s better prepared to govern, and her husband, who pledged during his own presidency to build a bridge to the 21st century.”
Actually, Obama has been landing these kinds of barbs from the beginning. His mention of Reagan in Nevada contained a deliberate put-down of Bill Clinton. And every time the Clintons defend themselves they’re crucified.
IN WHICH YOU’RE DECEIVED ONCE AGAIN: (by Bob Somerby at the Daily Howler)
[W]e don’t know Harold Meyerson; maybe he actually doesn’t know that “the old, irrational Clinton hatred is alive and well in certain parts of the media,” including in the “part of the media” known as the Washington Post. (The “part of the media” which employs him.) After all, Meyerson has his head in the clouds; he spends his time with our most pre-eminent philosophers, on Olympian heights, not down here on the teeming plain, where the world’s dumbest people run the “press corps” and indulge in that “old, irrational hatred.” Maybe he doesn’t read Dowd or Herbert, Robinson or Milbank; perhaps he has never heard of Chris Matthews. Perhaps he “deceives” you without understanding. But even then, today’s column deceives.
My evil ways (by Paul Krugman)
Hmm. A little while back I learned from various sources that the reason I criticize Barack Obama is that my son works for Hillary. This was news to me, since I wasn’t aware that I have any children. Now I learn that it’s important that I disclose that I was Bill Clinton’s chief economic adviser in 1992. This is also news to me, since I wasn’t aware that I worked for the campaign at all.
And where do you suppose those rumors are coming from?
The Layoff Cackle (by Josh Marshall at Talking Points Memo)
[There was a weird moment] in the [Republican] debate where John McCain made a crack about job layoffs at Mitt’s companies. And you hear Mitt in the background cackling. Obviously, meant to push back in some sense at the jab, but had the weird effect of having Romney cracking up — Monty Burns style — about people he downsized.
Daily Show: State of the Union
A weird, oddly subdued, utterly insincere State of the Union brought a smile to Cheney’s face.
Click through to watch the video.
Key 9/11 Commission Staffer Held Secret Meetings With Rove, Scaled Back Criticisms of White House
A forthcoming book by NYT reporter Philip Shenon — “The Commission: The Uncensored History of the 9/11 Investigation” — asserts that former 9/11 Commission executive director Philip Zelikow interfered with the 9/11 report. According to the book, Zelikow had failed to inform the commission at the time he was hired that he was instrumental in helping Condoleezza Rice set up Bush’s National Security Council in 2001. Some panel staffers believe Zelikow stopped them from submitting a report depicting Rice’s performance prior to 9/11 as “amount[ing] to incompetence.”
NYT Piece On Corruption in the Medical Device Industry (by Dean Baker)
The NYT has another excellent piece exposing corruption in the health care industry. This one is about medical devices, specifically an artificial spinal disk… The one complaint with this and most other stories is that the reporters never step back and examine how the nature of the current system of financing research will inevitably lead to such distortions. In a situation where government granted patent monopolies allow for large rents, it is virtually inevitable that corruption of this sort will arise.
USA Today Can’t Find Economists Who Are Not Surprised by the Economy (by Dean Baker)
That would seem to be the implication of a quote from former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers that, “the housing sector is in serious trouble, even worse than we supposed.” USA Today readers would be better informed if the paper sought out economists who are not part of Larry Summers’ “we” and recognized the problems in the nation’s housing market.
Media Matters for America headlines
After touting his presidential prospects, Matthews said Giuliani “never really offered a big idea as to why he would be a great president”
Once again, NBC’s Myers ignored Obama’s specific response countering suggestion that Rezko “may have essentially subsidized” Obama’s home purchase
NY Times’ Nagourney says Romney vulnerable to charges of inconsistency … but McCain isn’t?
Byron York’s admittedly “wildly inappropriate” comparison: Giuliani’s Florida concession speech and slain Italian hostage’s final words
Imus on President Clinton: “This is a fat, low-rent hillbilly”
Ignoring response at debate, Matthews praised McCain’s “candor” and “honest[y]” on economic knowledge
Scarborough on Giuliani: “America’s Mayor … will endorse John McCain”
CNN’s King, WSJ reported McCain has shifted “emphasis,” “subtly alter[ed]” position on immigration — but he has reversed himself on it
CBS characterized “attack” as “unusual position” for McCain — but it’s not, even as he has denounced negative campaigning
CNN reporter on issue of driver’s licenses for undocumented immigrants: “It literally drives some off the deep end, like Lou Dobbs”
Scarborough to Brzezinski on Morning Joe: “[D]on’t make me backhand you”
Afghanistan’s Senate Endorses Reporter’s Death Sentence: Official
Afghanistan’s senate has endorsed a death sentence handed down by a court to a reporter and journalism student accused of blasphemy.
New Lexington Contract Allows Eds To Make Reporters Snap Photos
The paper may now require reporters to take photos under a Newspaper Guild contract approved late Tuesday, according to the union. “This is a compromise that we can live with,” Lexington Newspaper Guild president Brandon Ortiz said in a statement.
Google exec: What NYT does as a company isn’t what we do
Google content partnerships veep David Eun is asked about John Ellis’ column about the possibility of Google buying the New York Times. “We feel like we have a great relationship with the Times,” says Eun. “We hope that they’re very successful. But what they do as a company — with journalists, news bureaus, thinking about what people want to read, producing a newspaper — that’s not what we do.”
Gore’s Current Goes IPO (by Mark ‘Rizzn’ Hopkins at Mashable)
Current.com has filed for a $100 million NASDAQ IPO today, according to PaidContent, with the stock ticker symbol “CRTM”. We’ve covered the network a number of times here, and questioned a few of their strategies (as well as their founder). Not surprisingly, the valuation of the company is far less than the $2 Billion valuation given to it by one of its investors, Ronald W. Burkle, supermarket bag boy turned billionaire… [The company] isn’t profitable, with net losses increasing year over year (in 2006, they were $14.3 million, 2007 they were $17 million).
Continental Airlines To Offer Live TV, E-Mail On U.S. Flights
The airline will offer 36 channels of DirecTV as well as Wi-Fi service that allows passengers to access e-mail and instant messaging.
Israeli Prez: Use Facebook To Fight Hate
Israel’s 84-year-old president Shimon Peres told a group of international students about his idea to combat anti-Semitism: Use the social networking site Facebook to counter the spread of hate.
China steps up Internet video control
BEIJING – China will take a new step Thursday to tighten control of the Internet when rules go into force limiting online video-sharing to state companies. But regulators, wary of hurting a fast-growing industry, are expected to let private operators work around the restrictions.
Myanmar arrests blogger, watchdog says
BANGKOK, Thailand – Myanmar’s junta has stepped up surveillance of the Internet, arresting one blogger who wrote about the stifling of free expression in the military-ruled nation, a media advocacy group said.
Founder says Russian authorities hack critical Web site
NAZRAN, Russia (Reuters) – An opposition Web site in the southern Russian region of Ingushetia accused local authorities on Thursday of trying to shut it down after it promoted protests and published details of kidnaps and murders.
Russia’s heir apparent Medvedev puts up Web site
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Dmitry Medvedev, named by Russian President Vladimir Putin last month as his favored successor, launched his personal Internet site on Wednesday.
Air Your Security Gripes on TSA Blog
WASHINGTON (AP) – Frustrated by long airport-security lines? Certain those screeners aren’t paying attention? Wondering why your grandma always gets frisked? The federal government wants to hear – or at least read – your gripes at the “Evolution of Security” blog the Transportation Security Administration introduced Wednesday. And it promises those complaints and suggestions won’t vanish into thin air.
Beauty Blogs Come of Age: Swag, Please!
As more women turn to blogs for advice on beauty, and magazines like Allure and Glamour have started their own beauty blogs, the cosmetics industry has stopped seeing bloggers as bottom feeders.
Study: U.S. broadband goal nearly reached
In 2004, President Bush pledged that all Americans should have affordable access to high-speed Internet service by 2007. A report to be released Thursday by the administration says it has succeeded — mostly.
EU court: Downloaders can stay private
BRUSSELS, Belgium – Record labels and film studios cannot demand that telecommunications companies hand over the names and addresses of people who are suspected of sharing copyright-protected music and movies online, the EU’s top court ruled Tuesday.
Porn to spice up cell phones
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Size matters in pornography, except when it comes to tiny mobile phone screens, the next frontier for erotica.
Media Buyer: TV To Web Shift Not There Yet; Ready For Mobile (Silicon Alley Insider)
When will TV advertising money start moving on the Web? No time soon, says Margaret Clerkin who helps allocate some $175 million in Web advertising money for clients of MindShare Interaction North America, a unit of WPP. But Clerkin says she is itching to start spending money on mobile ads — once the carriers get their act together.