Jon Stewart on media bias

I want to watch the Daily Show from after reading Jon Stewart commenting on the US news networks.

But the other [than Fox] news networks— you know they have this idea that they’re being objective. But news has never been objective. It’s always— what does every newscast start with? Our top stories tonight. That’s a list. That’s an object— that’s a subjective— some editor made a decision; here’s our top stories.

#1. There’s a fire in the Bronx.

#2. They arrested Martha Stewart.

Whatever— however you place those stories, is a subjective ranking as much as AFI’s 100 Best Films in the World is.

Google News offers the framework for a more democratic way to prioritise stories. Franchise is restricted, however, to Big Publications. Technorati - and others - offer similar services but extend the vote to all (blog) publishers. Unfortunately they currently only group by link, not by story.

[/media] posted at 22:48 #

EU Myths

I went to the Euromyths site to see if they could pull a modern day Publius on me. They did not. There are, however, some useful examples of just how manipulative the British tabloid press are.

Myth number 1 - banning toy and sweet advertising Swedish style - was a disappointment. It still seems like a good idea.

[/media] posted at 17:24 #

Guardian adapting to the new rules of media

The Guardian’s efforts to adapt to the emerging world of an audience poised to “fact check your ass” give hope. At least some of the old media press will maintain some credibility through the transition.

On Wednesday, journalists on the Guardian’s website were alerted to a story running in the German press, in which the US deputy defence secretary, Paul Wolfowitz, was said to have admitted, in effect, that oil was the main reason for the war in Iraq. The German sources were found, translated, and at 4.30pm that day a story sourced to them was posted on the website under the heading, “Wolfowitz: Iraq war was about oil”.

Mr Wolfowitz, in fact, had said nothing of the kind, as a deluge of email, most of it from the US, was quick to point out. Some of it registered disappointment more than anything else - disappointment that a valued source of news and liberal comment had in this instance let them down. “The briefest of searches will bring up articles to totally discredit your story,” one complained.

[/media] posted at 10:17 #

When editors attack

I don’t know how much of Greg Palast’s “The Best Democracy Money Can Buy” has been mutilated, but the page that I happened to open it on had “September 11, 2002” replacing “9/11”. Now I don’t have the motivation to read it, I know I’d be fact checking all the time.

Compare:

and his version.

On my BBC television show, Newsnight, an American journalist confessed that, since the 9/11 attacks, U.S. reporters are simply too afraid to ask the uncomfortable questions that could kill careers

[/media] posted at 01:19 #

Closet fark photoshopper interviewed

Former Los Angeles Times photographer Brian Walski is interviewed about his fake Iraq war photo.

And the Internet thing, that’s hard to deal with. I did a Google search on my name, and it comes up in about 25 languages. Every photographer wants to be known for a picture he’s taken. I’ll be known for this.

Chalk up another old media worker’s education as complete.

[/media] posted at 16:57 #

BBC continues to defy logic by being good

BBC shows interest in becoming enabler in addition to broadcaster.

[/media] posted at 13:38 #

Stalinesque photoshopping in Evening Standard

Sometimes, the anachronisms come from the wrong direction.

The source of the image is footage from the BBC. The Standard’s paperboys were obviously allowed to clone and blur the image in numerous ways to make it look like a gigantic crowd.

[/media] posted at 11:43 #

Iranians blog for freedom

Looks like Iran could be the first country to geek it to freedom.

… the underlying Catch-22 here. Bloggers are under the radar of the hard-liners, and that gives them unprecedented freedom. Losing a prominent voice like Motallebi’s is a blow to the community, but losing Net access would be an even more devastating blow. So while bloggers are asking for his release, they hope for the attention of human rights groups, the mainstream press and objective voices — not the saber-rattling of some ideologues.

Jarvis for one, envisions a future without fear. “Eventually, all but the most Stone Age governments will have to let the Internet in because it has become the price of doing business in the world, and with it comes access to information and the ability to publish to the world (at no cost, with no expertise). The tools of publishing and broadcasting are coming into the hands of the people, and that will make a difference in the world.”

Preach it!

[/media] posted at 18:11 #