Indy Media Fall 2011

Lawyer Lawrence Lessig...

2011-12-07T13:31:00.000-08:00

...does a TED talk in 2007 on the potential of the Internet and how outdated laws are choking creativity. (H/t Gabby)

Student Blogs

2011-12-01T08:48:00.001-08:00

As Carly writes, a videogame mag bites the dust, while videogame blogs persevere.

Nicole wrote of 30 Rock making fun of its corporate parent again.

Brittany found a NYT quote from earlier this year:

"By the end of 2012, South Korea intends to connect every home in the country to the Internet at one gigabit per second. That would be a tenfold increase from the already blazing national standard and more than 200 times as fast as the average household setup in the United States."

Why don't we have public TV like this in U.S.?

2011-11-30T10:38:00.000-08:00

Weeks before the Iraq invasion, Jeremy Paxman of BBC's "Newsnight" and skeptical British citizens literally cross-examined Prime Minister Tony Blair about evidence/reasons/legality behind the invasion -- an interview that became part of last year's official Iraq inquiry in Britain. (Here's another tough Paxman interview of Blair having nothing to do with Iraq.)

In our country, bullying from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity at so-called "public television"...as evidenced by PBS surgically removing Tina Fey's swipes at Sarah Palin from a broadcast a year ago.

Country by country comparisons of spending on public broadcasting in this study (at page 31.)

MIT's Annual Biz Plan Competition now allows...

2011-11-30T10:35:00.000-08:00

...1-minute YouTube videos to complement written and in-person pitches(H/t public radio's Marketplace)

Maya "twittering" behind...

2011-11-28T14:51:00.000-08:00

...Obama's back.

And Kera seems to have scooped outlets like L.A. Times and Huffington Post on the Miley Cyrus video supporting Occupy Wall Street worldwide.

USA and Fast Internet

2011-11-25T13:44:00.001-08:00

USA is behind other countries when it comes to broadband access (15th place) and Internet speed(23rd place).

There's a digital divide in our country whereby middle-class kids like my daughters grew up with Web-accessed computers in the home, while kids in rural areas and inner cities don't have computers or fast Internet.

In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T
DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in stimulus grants for building out broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality or Internet Non-discrimination.

In August 2010, Keith Olbermann did a segment about Net Neutrality on his now-defunct show on MSNBC. Olbermann exited MSNBC as it was being taken over by Net Neut-foe Comcast. (I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor.")

ABC News is gathering photos...

2011-11-17T09:14:00.001-08:00

...from various sources about Occupy Wall Street, and maintaining an ongoing slideshow, including photos from arrests today. H/t Julianne)

Blogger puts video distortions into MSM

2011-11-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

Andrew Breitbart, a former Drudge Report staffer, runs BigGovernment.com. In July 2010, the Obama White House fired US Dept of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod soon after BigGovernment posted a 100-second video excerpt purporting to show that, during a speech to the NAACP, Sherrod had boasted about discriminating against a white farmer while she was a federal employee during the Obama administration. Actually -- and Breitbart corrected the error -- she was describing events in the 1980s when she was Georgia field director for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a nonprofit that had grown out of the civil rights movement to help Black farmers.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, a fuller version of the speech showed that Sherrod told the story to illustrate how she had overcome her racial hostility toward whites and ultimately helped the white farmer save his farm.

Months earlier, other selectively-edited tapes distributed by BigGovernment.com (played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere) helped put the anti-poverty group ACORN out of business. Rachel Maddow dissects the distorted presentation that doomed ACORN. (Fox News had goaded others in media for not doing enough ACORN-smearing.)

It wasn't just Fox News that promoted BigGovernment.com's misleading ACORN story. The Public Editor of the paper of record, the New York Times, went to absurd lengths to defend his paper's coverage.

Beware Drudge "Exclusive"

2011-11-16T13:54:00.000-08:00

Perhaps Matt Drudge should stick to aggregating content from elsewhere (with revved-up headlines) rather than "report" -- as demonstrated by this 1999 "world exclusive," which helped push the story into some mainstream outlets.

And as demonstrated by his 2007 "exclusive" in which he accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge's evidence-free charge -- based on an anonymous "official" -- was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times.

Prof Cohen at...

2011-11-14T14:57:00.000-08:00

...Occupy Wall Street, listening in on "think tank" discussion about Media Portrayals of Occupy Wall Street.

For "How Movies Romanticize Journalism"...

2011-11-14T08:10:00.001-08:00

...see blog post with five choices from Isabel B.

Can bloggers/columnists with strong views...

2011-11-11T16:42:00.000-08:00

. . .still engage in independent journalism? Here is some critical commentary from the conservative National Review Online within hours of John McCain selecting Sarah Palin as his running-mate in April 2008.

2008: Mayhill Fowler of HuffingtonPost 'Off the Bus'

2011-11-11T16:32:00.000-08:00

Mayhill Fowler says she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton's angry words about a Vanity Fair reporter, while he greeted voters in public as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost "citizen journalist." Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest take from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)

Shouldn't public figures know nowadays that anything said -- especially rants (or racism) -- in public will be recorded and on record forever? Exhibits A and B.

Mayhill Fowler's earlier reporting scoop that launched "Bittergate" uproar.

Blogger takes ethical step

2011-11-11T16:27:00.000-08:00

Here's an apparent example of a blogger acting professionally and ethically as per SPJ Code of Ethics. Blogger Ken Krayeske -- who gained fame locally by questioning University of Connecticut's basketball coach about his huge taxpayer-paid salary -- announced in Oct. 2009 that he wouldn't be covering Hartford City Hall because his girlfriend had a job there.

Sexism in media

2011-11-11T16:23:00.000-08:00

Trailer for new documentary Miss Representation.

Mac Miller

2011-11-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

Indie music success hitting big THIS WEEK, reports blogger Julianne. Billboard even put Miller on its cover.

Net Neutrality and VideoJournalist Under Attack

2011-11-09T15:29:00.000-08:00

Sen. Al Franken posted Tuesday on HuffPost (h/t Erin): "Net Neutrality is Under Attack...Again."

Net neutrality isn't a government takeover of the Internet, as many of my Republican colleagues have alleged. It isn't even a change from what we have now. Net neutrality has been in place since the very beginning of the Internet...it's what each and every one of us experiences every time we use the Internet. Right now, an e-mail from a friend arrives in your inbox just as quickly and reliably as an advertisement from Amazon.com. Consumers can go online and make a reservation at a small fishing lodge in Ely, Minnesota just as quickly as they can at the Hilton.

But many Republicans want to change that so that the large corporations they represent can increase their profit margins at the expense of small businesses and consumers.

Nikki posted video of a peaceable video guy getting shot at (rubber bullet or something) by Oakland police.

Women Musicians Build Followings...

2011-11-08T15:00:00.000-08:00

...through Facebook, reports Laura Sydell for NPR.

Malcolm Gladwell: "Stop going to journalism programs"

2011-11-08T14:57:00.000-08:00

Author/journalist Malcolm Galdwell ("Tipping Point," "Blink," "Outliers")gave this advice to young journalists in a 2009 Time interview:

The issue is not writing. It's what you write about. One of my favorite columnists is Jonathan Weil, who writes for Bloomberg. He broke the Enron story, and he broke it because he's one of the very few mainstream journalists in America who really knows how to read a balance sheet. That means Jonathan Weil will always have a job, and will always be read, and will always have something interesting to say. He's unique. Most accountants don't write articles, and most journalists don't know anything about accounting. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master's in statistics, and maybe do a bunch of accounting courses and then write from that perspective. I think that's the way to survive. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter.

Gena blogged about a Nation piece by Michael Tracey about journalism degrees. Tracey wrote:

"...if you take a full major’s worth of journalism classes, that’s about twelve (or however many) less classes in the humanities that could’ve equipped you with an intellectual framework from which to approach your work."

YouTube stars get big bucks

2011-11-08T14:22:00.000-08:00

What the Buck? Michael Buckley earned over $100k in a year from his YouTube video-rants about celebs, plus a development deal from HBO, as reported three years ago in the New York Times .

IMHO, YouTube star Lisa Donovan or "LisaNova" has real talent for sketch comedy. Like Tina Fey, she likes to play Sarah Palin, including in this famous McCain/Palin rap.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- more than 55 million views, roughly 20 million of them in the last 6 months). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements within his videos.

My 14-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star, "PhillyD" of The Philip DeFranco Show, offers his take on current events, tech and celeb news. Should I be monitoring my daughter's online activities better?

Become a YouTube Star and appear in a hugely popular music video with Weezer or the earlier one from Barenaked Ladies.

"Where the hell is Matt?" became so popular, the guy has had his travels paid by corporate sponsors for years.

Tracking journalists arrested...

2011-11-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

...while covering Occupy events -- a project of Josh Stearns at the media reform group Free Press.

Google and Yahoo in China

2011-11-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

In response to demands from authorities in China, Google agreed in June 2010 to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a tab users can easily click to be switched. Is it safe to hit that tab?

AFTER Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to the imprisoning of two Chinese dissidents in 2002 and 2004, the families of the victims sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it was establishing a fund for people jailed in China for posting human rights views online. Too little, too late?

First Amendment Restored For Now...

2011-11-01T16:20:00.000-07:00

in Nashville.

Blame Carly

2011-10-31T17:31:00.000-07:00

I learned about Animals Being Dicks blog from Carly, forwarded this one to my 14-year-old daughter, who responded: "Dad, you're so weird."

Isabel blogged about her idea for a documentary, which I think could become a Super Size Me-like hit.

I had this idea (that I considered brilliant) although once told to my roommates I got mixed reviews. My idea is to make a documentary following a woman around for a month who has to do everything that the women’s magazine Cosmopolitan tells you to do– from makeup and dating tips, to “how to please your man”.

Reporter tapes his own arrest at Occupy Nashville

2011-10-31T14:06:00.000-07:00

At Occupy Nashville, a reporter for the long-established weekly Nashville Scene was arrested for violating a curfew imposed by Tennessee's governor (a night judge questioned whether that's legal), was threatened with a "resisting arrest" charge, and was later charged with "public intoxication." Here's a report on the arrest from Nashville's big daily.

Brittany G. notes that You Tube has resisted law enforcement efforts to remove videos which cast them in a bad light.

Washington Post under fire for Occupy coverage (h/t Maya).

Troubled by unfair coverage, some activists fear talking to journalists, as Gena M found out.

Web & Wireless Phone Censorship

2011-10-29T10:17:00.000-07:00

The media reform group Free Press highlights media corporations caught censoring web or cellphone traffic.

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall Street and the United Nations, temporarily is delisted from Google News. The de-listing happened soon after Matt Lee of Inner City Press challenged Google over its commitment to free expression.

In 2007, consumer rights groups mobilized to tell the Federal Communications Commission: "No More Media Consolidation." CommonCause was blocked from placing an anti-consolidation ad on My Space, which Rupert Murdoch had bought in 2005. The banned ad featured a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media."

Was it "My Space" or "Murdoch's space"?

Will Pay Walls Around News Content Work?

2011-10-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 U.S. Senate testimony. And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.

Two journalist uinons end boycott of Huffpost

2011-10-29T09:31:00.000-07:00

Journalist unions say it's okay to write for HuffingtonPost.

Former student blogged...

2011-10-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

...her complaint about Boston Globe's paywall around the Globe's editorial against Time/Warner jacking up postal rates on smaller magazines.

Does Internet "Kill Switch" Legislation...

2011-10-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

...threaten political censorship of the Internet? Online activist groups like Demand Progress have mobilized against such legislation.

Pre-financing of indy media projects

2011-10-26T12:33:00.000-07:00

Spot.Us involves the community in funding local watchdog journalism, as explained by its young founder, David Cohn

Kickstarter.com is "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..." A key aspect of Kickstarter and similar funding platforms is "All or Nothing funding."

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

"The Internet is My Religion"

2011-10-26T12:05:00.000-07:00

Powerful speech from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.

MTV trying to glom onto...

2011-10-24T15:20:00.000-07:00

...Occupy Wall Street, reports Gothamist.

Occupy Maine...

2011-10-24T10:19:00.000-07:00

...protesters attacked by some sort of chemical bomb.

New York Times....

2011-10-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

...profiled Democracy Now! in today's paper.

Visa, MasterCard, PayPal blockade....

2011-10-22T10:08:00.000-07:00

...helping to
strangle WikiLeaks.

Ramparts magazine

2011-10-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

One of the most explosive indy magazines of the 1960s, Ramparts published photos of the impact of U.S. napalm (a chemical weapon that eats away human flesh) on Vietnamese civilians. Martin Luther King, Jr. credited those photos with being the spark that got him to break his silence and speak out loudly against the Vietnam War.

Besides investigative journalism and scoops, Ramparts was known for its cover art. Examples here and
here and here.

1960s alternative sex/drugs columnist Dr. HIPpocrates...

2011-10-16T09:40:00.000-07:00

...paved the way for "Savage Love" column by Dan Savage in today's alternative weeklies.

Egypt's Security Forces...

2011-10-16T08:54:00.001-07:00

...can't intimidate like in the old days,less than a year ago. Watch this video, in which an Al Jazeera journalist turns the tables on Security Service personnel.

"The Mayor's Afraid of You Tube"

2011-10-16T07:23:00.000-07:00

On Friday, hours after New York authorities made a last-minute decision NOT to clear #OccupyWallStreet protesters from Liberty Plaza, Michael Moore said this to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (begin 2:54 for context):

"One cop down there actually today. I asked...'Why don't you think the eviction happened?' And he said, 'Cause the Mayor's afraid of You Tube.'...The power of the new media, the media that's in the hands of the people -- that those in charge are afraid of what could possibly go out."

Harassment of indy journalists

2011-10-14T18:00:00.000-07:00

Since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence and harassment against "underground weeklies," repression against dissenting U.S. outlets has greatly deceased. But it has not fully ended, as in Minnesota during the 2008 Republican convention.

Or as in Alaska, during last year's election. An online reporter was handcuffed and detained for asking questions of the Alaska Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller. The reporter -- a well-known journalist in the area and founder of Alaska Dispatch -- was handcuffed by Miller's security personnel after a dispute over his questioning of the candidate about his role as a former part-time city attorney. Here's Alaska Dispatch's
version of the detention. The critical reporting on Miller's past -- and this heavy-handed incident -- contributed to Miller's stunning defeat in the November election.

Margaret Sanger proves that media heroes...

2011-10-10T18:11:00.000-07:00

...are sometimes flawed. This critique accuses her of flirting with racist (eugenics-based) arguments in support of birth control.

Social upheaval breeds indy media

2011-10-10T15:08:00.000-07:00

Lengthy New York Times piece on The Occupied Wall Street Journal newspaper, inspired by and distributed at the OccupyWallStreet camp. It reports that the founders of the paper hoped to raise $12,000 on Kickstarter.com, but have now surpassed $75,000. See the "liberated" newspaper online.

NY1 on OccupyWallStreet and indy media.

One of Steve Jobs "bibles" -- an indy magazine

2011-10-10T14:49:00.000-07:00

The late Steve Jobs has cited an indy publication as being influential in starting him down his unique path -- The Whole Earth Catalog. From his 2005 Stanford commencement speech:

When I was young, there was an amazing publication called The Whole Earth Catalog, which was one of the bibles of my generation. It was created by a fellow named Stewart Brand not far from here in Menlo Park, and he brought it to life with his poetic touch. This was in the late 1960′s, before personal computers and desktop publishing, so it was all made with typewriters, scissors, and polaroid cameras. It was sort of like Google in paperback form, 35 years before Google came along: it was idealistic, and overflowing with neat tools and great notions....

It was the mid-1970s, and I was your age. On the back cover of their final issue was a photograph of an early morning country road, the kind you might find yourself hitchhiking on if you were so adventurous. Beneath it were the words: “Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.” It was their farewell message as they signed off. Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish. And I have always wished that for myself. H/t OpenCulture.com

Dinner with Amy

2011-10-05T15:15:00.000-07:00

In the early 1900s, the socialist Appeal to Reason newspaper offered yachts, fruit farms and motorcycles as premiums to bring in revenue and subscriptions. Democracy Now! offers Dinner and a Show with Amy Goodman.

After meeting Amy at a dinner party, Regis and sidekick Kelly acknowledge their Regis and Kelly TV show is about "nothing." (Is that a parody of the Saturday Night Live skit, Morning Latte?)

Like Upton Sinclair in his era,

2011-10-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

...Stephen Colbert in our era accepted the challenge of experiencing difficult working conditions -- in the fields doing farm work.

Anti-Lynching Legacy of Ida B. Wells

2011-10-05T12:50:00.000-07:00

In last dozen years, Northwestern University journalism students and their professor have been instrumental in proving the innocence of many prisoners, several of whom had been sentenced to death.

Lynching prompted the classic Billie Holiday song,"Strange Fruit," which she recorded in the late 1930s over the objections of her record company: "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees"

Sports blogosphere ruining sports journalism?

2011-10-03T15:03:00.000-07:00

Loud, already-dated 2008 debate between traditional sports newspaper journalist Buzz Bissinger and editor Will Leitch of Deadspin.com, the sometimes raunchy sports blog/website. Debate aired on Bob Costas' HBO sports show.

Arrest Journalists and You Pay

2011-10-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

There's been a settlement in the lawsuit filed on behalf of Amy Goodman and two Democracy Now! producers who were arrested while covering protests outside the 2008 Republican convention. According to the Democracy Now! statement:

"The settlement includes $100,000 in compensation paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments and the Secret Service. The settlement also includes an agreement by the St. Paul police department to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the First Amendment rights of the press and public with respect to police operations, including proper procedures for dealing with the press covering demonstrations."

Journalists Re-fight Old Battles

2011-10-02T07:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes journalism can help expose a problem -- like the jailing of people for being in debt -- thereby leading to reform. But other journalists -- years or generations later -- may have to keep exposing the issue...as these investigative journalists for the big mainstream daily in Minneapolis recently did.

"It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found."

I.F. Stone pointed out that some reforms don't happen except through the work of generations of journalists and democracy activists:

“The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it.”

Early Indy Newspapers -- NOT Reader-Friendly

2011-10-02T07:35:00.000-07:00

See crowded layout of William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist publication, The Liberator, here and here. Not exactly HuffingtonPost. No half-naked actors.

Cady Stanton's/Anthony's feminist publication, The Revolution, was a tiny bit less dense.

Content was king (or queen) back then.

"Fairly Quiet on the Border" video -- censored by YouTube

2011-09-30T15:29:00.001-07:00

A citizen journalist in Arizona who lives by the US/Mexican border made a video showing our taxpayer money -- and the US Border Patrol -- in action. Mostly the video showed how generally peaceful the border area is -- that it is not usually a "war zone." The US Border Patrol got YouTube to remove the original video. Here is her
remake of the video, now titled "Border Patrol in the Bushes, Part Dos."

The ACLU leader in Arizona criticized the censoring of the original video: "This is yet another example of a private online community trampling on our First Amendment rights and trying to exercise greater control over what we share and watch online. People have the right to film government officials carrying out their duties in public places."

Ida B. Wells School

2011-09-28T16:03:00.000-07:00

How many newspaper editors who ignored or apologized for lynching have schools named after them? (School is in San Francisco, just across the park from the famous "painted ladies" Victorian mansions.)

AOL's journalistic values

2011-09-27T14:07:00.000-07:00

Soon after AOL announced its merger with HuffingtonPost in February, the Boston Globe published leaked AOL documents offering a glimpse into that company's journalistic approach -- a bit different than that of HuffPost. (H/t to former indy media student Leah, for summarizing the Globe piece.)

Is U.S. media system failing U.S. democracy?

2011-09-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

A 2008 academic study compared the level of public knowledge about current events in Denmark, Finland, England and the U.S. It found that the countries with TV/radio dominated by public broadcasting -- Denmark and Finland -- were the best informed. Our country, dominated by corporate commercial media, was the least informed. The study's authors suggest that differing media systems play a role in those results.

A 2003 study of U.S. public knowledge of facts related to the Iraq War found that misperceptions were greatest among those whose primary info source was Fox News -- and least among those whose primary info source was public broadcasting. (A Pew poll taken in Aug. 2010 found that almost 1 in 5 Americans believed President Obama to be a Muslim; only 34% knew he is a Christian. 43% chose "don't know.")

Community Media Projects around the World

2011-09-26T14:45:00.001-07:00

Thanks to Deep Dish TV, here's an interactive map.

"Night(mare) in Tunisia" for its Dictator

2011-09-23T17:31:00.000-07:00

Back in 2007, citizen journalists/bloggers had documented the tourism/shopping trips of the dictator's wife aboard the presidential plane. (H/t Global Voices)

Powerful photo of dictator Ben Ali visiting the hospital bed of the desperate young man who set himself on fire -- the young man didn't live long enough to learn that his act set off a revolution that overthrew Ben Ali.

Amid the protests, Tunisian rapper El General put out this widely-circulated music video attacking Ben Ali and urging folks to join the protests. El General was arrested for it. Soon after, the dictator fled. (H/t to Steve Zunes.)

After the Tunisian dictatorship fell, the bizarre allied dictator in neighboring Libya, Qaddafi, made a rambling speech denouncing the Internet, WikiLeaks, Twitter and Facebook, which he blamed for Tunisia events. In recent weeks, Qaddafi was driven from power by NATO air power and an armed insurrection.

President to Disgruntled Citizen: "Get Lost, You Idiot!"

2011-09-21T13:20:00.000-07:00

President Sarkozy caught on Net video, calling a disgruntled citizen -- depending on your translation -- "idiot" or "asshole" or "stupid bastard." French politicians are having difficulty tolerating the scrutiny from new media, Internet, YouTube -- especially compared to coverage they'd received from traditional media.

Our ex caught on video.

Video & blogging for human rights

2011-09-21T13:16:00.000-07:00

The nonprofit group, Witness.org, distributes video cameras in hopes of minimizing human rights abuses. Their slogan: "See it. Film it. Change it."

Vancouver Film School students created an inspiring video, "Iran, A Nation of Bloggers", and put it online months before the tech-fueled protests over Iran's disputed 2009 election.

Murder of Kahled Said sparks uprising

2011-09-21T10:04:00.000-07:00

In June of last year, 28-year-old Khaled Said was beaten to death by police in public for the crime of Internet use. His martyrdom inspired protests and Internet organizing that led to the victorious uprising. Google exec and activist Wael Ghonim set up the powerful Facebook page "We Are All Khaled Said."

Blogger Marwa Rakha, born and raised in Egypt, posted about a mass detention of bloggers, including Wael Abbas, who tried to cover the aftermath of a massacre of Egyptian Christians.

Egypt: Bloggers/Net activists laid groundwork for uprising

2011-09-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

With the state in control of all major media in Egypt, brave Egyptian "citizen journalists" have risked imprisonment and torture to blog or tweet about human rights abuses. Here's renowned Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas interviewed by BBC. Over the years, Abbas was harassed, censored and assaulted by authorities, and was briefly detained during the uprising earlier this year.

I've been showing this fascinating 2008 video (with not-great English translation) -- "Internet Freedom in Egypt" -- since it appeared online.

Global Voice Online

2011-09-21T09:08:00.000-07:00

Always something interesting, including this new post featuring short videos on gender equality from Ukraine. This post from last year features a public protest by a very brave professor and blogger in China, offering himself as a slave.

One of U.S. media's biggest voices...

2011-09-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

...explains Egypt last Jan/Feb, and how an Islamic Caliphate was ready to take over much of the world. Daily Show excerpt of GLENN BECK from his now-defunct Fox News show. Fuller Beck excerpts here.

Murdoch's Minions

2011-09-21T07:53:00.000-07:00

Fox Sports announces "actual headlines" that weren't.

New study suggests that outlets owned by Rupert Murdoch/News Corp give more positive reviews to movies produced by Murdoch/NewsCorp's 20th Century Fox. (H/t Jim Naureckas of FAIR)

Important websites...

2011-09-20T08:54:00.001-07:00

...that are good sources of story ideas: Voices of New York (formerly Voices That Must Be Heard) and Color Lines.

Izzy Award-Winners Glenn Greenwald and Amy Goodman

2011-09-14T17:21:00.000-07:00

Soon after accepting their Izzy Awards in Ithaca, NY in March 2009, Greenwald and Goodman spoke about independent media with Bill Moyers.

Nonprofit online news sites...

2011-09-14T17:09:00.000-07:00

. . .have sprouted as local dailies have shrunk. These nonprofits include the
well-funded VoiceofSanDiego.org and the professionally-staffed MinnPost -- "a thoughtful approach to news."

Blogger Glenn Greenwald explains...

2011-09-14T17:05:00.000-07:00

Journalism 101 to a CNN correspondent, in a debate over WikiLeaks.

Are young people...

2011-09-09T14:52:00.000-07:00

raised on the Internet, LESS likely to be taken in by hoax emails such as Obama as "radical Muslim" than Jon Stewart's 80-year-old aunt?

Short Indy Video Impacts 2008 Election

2011-09-09T14:25:00.001-07:00

This 2008 Brave New Films video short "McCain's Mansions" (with over 600,000 views) boiled up through the media food chain to become part of the mainstream diet. It impacted the campaign, as shown by this self-promotional video, "The Making of McCain's Mansions."

Does the need for access to newsmaker sources...

2011-09-09T14:21:00.000-07:00

...undermine unfettered journalism? Yes, says indy TV host Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, one of the most successful web-based TV shows.

Top CNN Executive Admits...

2011-09-07T14:32:00.000-07:00

...to giving the Pentagon an advisory role on who its on-air experts would be during the controversial Iraq war.

Upstart Blogger Launches Big Controversy

2011-09-07T14:24:00.000-07:00

Former IC journalism student Chris Lisee tells an important story about the impact a single off-key journalist can have.

Dancing With Your Source?

2011-09-07T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here's video from 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner. While these are social events where journalists and newsmakers are expected to have some fun,is this symbolic of too much coziness?

You Tube video...

2011-09-07T14:19:00.000-07:00

...ends the political career of a powerful Republican.

Huffpost: News, Entertainment, Celebs, plus Sports et al

2011-09-05T12:15:00.000-07:00

So well-rounded now, HuffingtonPost posted this amazing football play on its frontpage this weekend. (When HuffPost distorted a political story, there was Talking Points Memo on Friday to correct the error.)

"Independent Media in a Time of War"

2011-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

Video made by indy collective based on speech delivered by Amy Goodman in April 2003, when many in mainstream media were cheering what they saw as a quick, clean, successful Iraq invasion.

Daily Show on end of NY Times

2011-09-02T13:53:00.000-07:00

The Daily Show's mean 2009 look at the struggles of the New York Times...and its "day-old news." It made me unusually sympathetic to the Times.

"Stickin' It To The Man"

2011-09-02T13:50:00.000-07:00

In the movie "School of Rock," a substitute teacher (played by Jack Black) explains the purpose of rock and roll to his 5th grade students. Do rock & roll and independent media share a purpose?

Former Navy Commander...

2011-08-31T09:16:00.000-07:00

...takes aim at Time magazine's coverage of U.S. soldiers and war.

WikiLeaks -- under federal investigation -- releases huge batch of U.S. Embassy cables

2011-08-31T09:13:00.000-07:00

According to a source referenced by Reuters:

"...the rationale behind the mass release of documents was dismay among WikiLeaks activists that media organizations had lost interest in publishing stories based on the material."

Should political journalists select our presidential candidates?

2011-08-16T07:51:00.001-07:00

Or should voters? The Daily Show asks the right questions (after the obligatory commercial).

S.F. Authorities “Pull a Mubarak”

2011-08-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

To impede protests over police brutality by San Francisco transit cops, authorities shut down cell phone service in several (BART) subway stations. Shades of Egypt?

Student Blogs

2011-08-13T11:48:00.000-07:00

Nikki Black
Isabel Braverman
Laura Brothers
Danielle D'Avanzo
Erin Dunphy
Julianne Feller
Kelsey Fowler
Brittany Gilpin
Maya Kachroo-Levine
Gena Mangiaratti
Kelsey O'Connor
Nicole Ogrysko
Brian Rank
Kera Schulze
Carly Smith
Gabby Waldvogel
Mike Webb

Syllabus

2011-08-01T09:23:00.000-07:00

Fall 2011 syllabus for "Independent Media" course