Town Hall
Aug 24, 2007
- Posted by Deborah
Jones
"On many days the newsprint front page tastes of already chewed gum," says Jack Shafer, in a Slate column reflecting on how his news consumption has shifted to the Internet.
It's an icky comparison but many of us will recognize the reality that print is already old when it rolls off the press. It's also "icky" because nobody has really figured out how to make a living off excellent journalism on the Internet.
It's an icky comparison but many of us will recognize the reality that print is already old when it rolls off the press. It's also "icky" because nobody has really figured out how to make a living off excellent journalism on the Internet.
Aug 24, 2007
- Posted by Heather
McCall
In this seven-minute documentary commissioned by CurrentTV, we follow Nick Angel on his journey of discovery as he reads nothing but UK tabloid Daily Mail for a month. After about 25 days in his "Daily Mail dystopia," Angel looks back at the news he's consumed and finds out he's read only three stories about global warming and 32 about "cuddly animals." You can also watch it here, care of YouTube:
Aug 20, 2007
- Posted by Deborah
Jones
Canadian media have consistently given priority to covering the deaths of Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan; today's Globe and Mail top-front page piece about the death of Simon Longtin of the Vandoos is an example.
In the U.S., however, a weariness with carnage seems to have set in, and there's apparently lessening appetite in the media for the slaughterhouse that Iraq has become: "News coverage of the Iraq war fell sharply in the second quarter of the year, as the news media paid increased attention to the presidential campaign and the immigration debate, according to a detailed analysis to be released today," said a New York Times report.
The story was based on the quarterly research report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the PEJ News Coverage Index. That study, which emphasizes U.S. media from a U.S. perspective, can be found here.
In the U.S., however, a weariness with carnage seems to have set in, and there's apparently lessening appetite in the media for the slaughterhouse that Iraq has become: "News coverage of the Iraq war fell sharply in the second quarter of the year, as the news media paid increased attention to the presidential campaign and the immigration debate, according to a detailed analysis to be released today," said a New York Times report.
The story was based on the quarterly research report by the Project for Excellence in Journalism, the PEJ News Coverage Index. That study, which emphasizes U.S. media from a U.S. perspective, can be found here.
Aug 20, 2007
- Posted by Deborah
Jones
Is Russia cracking down on foreign media? The BBC was effectively kicked out of the country today.
From a story in the Guardian:
The BBC World Service has lost its last FM radio outlet in Russia today, adding further substance to claims of a clampdown on foreign media by the country's authorities.
Russian station Bolshoye Radio today notified the BBC World Service that it plans to stop transmission of BBC programming in Russian as of this afternoon.
Bolshoye Radio was due to air BBC content at 5pm but was ordered by its owner, the financial group Finam, to pull the shows or risk being taken off air altogether.
Here's a Reporters Without Borders press release:
MONTREAL, Aug. 20 /CNW Telbec/ - Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by
the Russian government's decision, announced today, to eliminate the BBC from
the FM waveband in Russia.
"There is absolutely no justification, either political or technical, for
this censorship," the press freedom organisation said. "Is Russia taking the
lead from China or Zimbabwe, where the BBC is jammed? We hope a rapid solution
will be found to this problem and that the BBC will soon be available on FM
again."
The broadcasting of the BBC's Russian-language programming on FM ended
today. The British broadcaster's last Russian partner, Bolshoye Radio, has had
to terminate the relationship on the insistence of the Russian authorities.
Finam, the group that owns the station, said it had been told by regulators
that its contract did not allow it to retransmit programmes produced by other
broadcasters.
BBC Global News director Richard Sambrook said: "We are extremely
disappointed that listeners to Bolshoye Radio will be unable to listen to our
impartial and independent news and information programming in the high quality
audibility of FM."
Sambrook called on the Russian authorities to respect the licensing
accord with Bolshoye Radio, claiming that it allowed for a fifth of its
programming to be foreign-produced. Meanwhile, Finam spokesman Igor
Ermachenkov told the Associated Press: "It's no secret that the BBC was
established as a broadcaster of foreign propaganda."
Relations between Russia and the United Kingdom have worsened
considerably since the start of an investigation into the death of former KGB
officer Alexandre Litvinenko from poisoning in London last November.
Moscow-based Radio Arsenal stopped retransmitting the BBC's programming
on FM at the end of 2006, while St. Petersburg-based Radio Leningrad followed
suit in early 2007. The BBC's Russian-language programmes can still be heard
on short wave and on the Internet.
-30-
From a story in the Guardian:
The BBC World Service has lost its last FM radio outlet in Russia today, adding further substance to claims of a clampdown on foreign media by the country's authorities.
Russian station Bolshoye Radio today notified the BBC World Service that it plans to stop transmission of BBC programming in Russian as of this afternoon.
Bolshoye Radio was due to air BBC content at 5pm but was ordered by its owner, the financial group Finam, to pull the shows or risk being taken off air altogether.
Here's a Reporters Without Borders press release:
MONTREAL, Aug. 20 /CNW Telbec/ - Reporters Without Borders is dismayed by
the Russian government's decision, announced today, to eliminate the BBC from
the FM waveband in Russia.
"There is absolutely no justification, either political or technical, for
this censorship," the press freedom organisation said. "Is Russia taking the
lead from China or Zimbabwe, where the BBC is jammed? We hope a rapid solution
will be found to this problem and that the BBC will soon be available on FM
again."
The broadcasting of the BBC's Russian-language programming on FM ended
today. The British broadcaster's last Russian partner, Bolshoye Radio, has had
to terminate the relationship on the insistence of the Russian authorities.
Finam, the group that owns the station, said it had been told by regulators
that its contract did not allow it to retransmit programmes produced by other
broadcasters.
BBC Global News director Richard Sambrook said: "We are extremely
disappointed that listeners to Bolshoye Radio will be unable to listen to our
impartial and independent news and information programming in the high quality
audibility of FM."
Sambrook called on the Russian authorities to respect the licensing
accord with Bolshoye Radio, claiming that it allowed for a fifth of its
programming to be foreign-produced. Meanwhile, Finam spokesman Igor
Ermachenkov told the Associated Press: "It's no secret that the BBC was
established as a broadcaster of foreign propaganda."
Relations between Russia and the United Kingdom have worsened
considerably since the start of an investigation into the death of former KGB
officer Alexandre Litvinenko from poisoning in London last November.
Moscow-based Radio Arsenal stopped retransmitting the BBC's programming
on FM at the end of 2006, while St. Petersburg-based Radio Leningrad followed
suit in early 2007. The BBC's Russian-language programmes can still be heard
on short wave and on the Internet.
-30-
Aug 20, 2007
- Posted by Heather
McCall
After airing a story that sparked a number of complaints, the CBC offered an apology at the end of a National broadcast for quoting Stephen Harper out of context. The report by Christina Lawand, which aired August 4, 2006, featured a sound bite from a press conference that suggested Harper wasn’t concerned with public reactions to foreign policy. A YouTube video uploaded by the Conservative Party’s Stephen Taylor contrasts the CBC story with Harper's remarks in full context. After the apology aired, a Canada Free Press opinion piece criticized the CBC, saying that "expressing regrets is not the same as apologizing for a mistake."
Aug 20, 2007
- Posted by Heather
McCall
Victoria News editor Keith Norbury was fired August 17 in part due to an advertiser complaint, reports B.C. politics blog Public Eye Online. The complaint came from a local car dealership about an article that described how one woman saved $13,000 by buying a used car in the U.S. The article was written by senior reporter Brennan Clarke, who resigned on August 15. The Public Eye Online report includes a reprint of the article in question.
Aug 15, 2007
- Posted by Deborah
Jones
Dean Starkman offers some strong opinions on the sell-out of the WSJ in the Columbia Journalism Review, and a warning for the NY Times. An excerpt:
And so Dow Jones & Co., once the proud lion of financial news, goes down instead like a jackrabbit shot while sprinting across a field, tumbling just long enough to hold a discussion about tradition, responsibility, ethics, Schumpeter and other conservative-sounding things, before finally coming to rest, belly up.
After the deal was announced, the WSJ's editorial page went on the offensive, or tried to, against anyone who might suggest that Dow Jones's sale might not be as good a deal for business-press readers as it is for top DJ executives and senior Journal editors.
And so Dow Jones & Co., once the proud lion of financial news, goes down instead like a jackrabbit shot while sprinting across a field, tumbling just long enough to hold a discussion about tradition, responsibility, ethics, Schumpeter and other conservative-sounding things, before finally coming to rest, belly up.
After the deal was announced, the WSJ's editorial page went on the offensive, or tried to, against anyone who might suggest that Dow Jones's sale might not be as good a deal for business-press readers as it is for top DJ executives and senior Journal editors.
Aug 14, 2007
- Posted by Bill
Reynolds
Michael Geist, a columnist for The Tyee, lays out the challenges that lay ahead for Konrad von Finckenstein, the newly appointed chair of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.
Aug 14, 2007
- Posted by Bill
Reynolds
Cate Doty, a writer for The New York Times, discusses the demise and influence of the mock tabloid Weekly World News, which folded in July after almost three decades of publication.
Aug 14, 2007
- Posted by Bill
Reynolds
In a column for the Toronto Star, David Eave and Taylor Owen, both bloggers, take a look back at the influence the blogosphere has had on journalism since bloggers first burst onto the new media scene a decade ago.
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