Media

Is The Media (And Blogosphere) Killing Immigration Reform?

President Obama has resolutely and repeatedly stated his intention to move immigration reform this year and create a path to citizenship for 12 million hardworking, new Americans. The two major American labor federations recently agreed to a plan that will help immigrants as well as US-born workers, ending the stalemate that hampered reform in 2007.

Posted in immigration, Media

How ’07 ABC Interview Tilted a Torture Debate

Posted in Media, torture

Pacifica Radio at 60: A Sanctuary of Dissent

Pacifica Radio, the oldest independent media network in the United States, turns 60 years old this week as a deepening crisis engulfs mainstream media. Journalists are being laid off by the hundreds, even thousands. Venerable newspapers, some more than a century old, are being abruptly shuttered. Digital technology is changing the rules, disrupting whole industries, and blending and upending traditional roles of writer, filmmaker, publisher, consumer. Commercial media are losing audience and advertising.

Posted in journalism, Media

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 13, 2009
2:13 PM

CONTACT: Human Rights Watch (HRW)
Tel: +1-212-216-1832
Email: hrwpress@hrw.org

UAE: Media Law Undermines Free Expression

Vague Content Restrictions, Strict Controls Hamper Independence of Press

DUBAI - April 13 - A new draft law to regulate the news media unlawfully restricts free expression and will unduly interfere with the media's ability to report on sensitive subjects, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today.

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Human Rights Watch is one of the world's leading independent organizations dedicated to defending and protecting human rights. By focusing international attention where human rights are violated, we give voice to the oppressed and hold oppressors accountable for their crimes. Our rigorous, objective investigations and strategic, targeted advocacy build intense pressure for action and raise the cost of human rights abuse. For 30 years, Human Rights Watch has worked tenaciously to lay the legal and moral groundwork for deep-rooted change and has fought to bring greater justice and security to people around the world.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) Links:

Posted in Human Rights, Media

Rising Circulation at Papers Sold by Homeless

WASHINGTON - Newspapers produced and sold by homeless people in dozens of American cities are flourishing even as the deepening recession endangers conventional newspapers. At many of them, circulation is growing, along with the sales forces dispatched to sell the papers to passers-by.

The recession has hardly been a windfall for these street papers, most of which are nonprofits that survive on grants and donations as well as circulation revenue. But the economic downturn has heightened interest in their offbeat coverage and driven new vendors to their doors.

Posted in Economy/Trade, Media

Rahm Emanuel's Think Tankers Enforce 'Message Discipline' Among 'Liberals'

Over the past several weeks, independent journalists and anti-war activists have tried to shine a spotlight on how groups like the Center for American Progress and MoveOn, which portrayed themselves as anti-war during the Bush-era, are now supporting the escalation and continuation of wars because their guy is now commander-in-chief.

Posted in Media, Politics, progressive moment

Drawn-Out Death

When it comes to newspapers, I'm locked into a love-hate relationship.

The love part? I flat-out love them. Always have. As a kid in New York, I came from a mixed marriage - Mom read The New York Times and Pop read the Daily News. Between the two, newspapers made the world real to me.

Posted in journalism, Media, newspapers

Getting a Death Grip on Memory

A headline in the New York Times announced a few days ago: "Brain Researchers Open Door to Editing Memory." This news ran above the fold on the front page.

"Suppose scientists could erase certain memories by tinkering with a single substance in the brain," the article began. Readers quickly learned that it's starting to happen: "Researchers in Brooklyn have recently accomplished comparable feats, with a single dose of an experimental drug delivered to areas of the brain critical for holding specific types of memory..."

Big deal.

Posted in journalism, Media

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 7, 2009
1:37 PM

CONTACT: Media Matters
Brandon Hersh (202) 471-3205
bhersh@mediamatters.org

When in Doubt, Blame Immigrants and ACORN: Media Conservatives Choose Scapegoats Over Substance

WASHINGTON - April 7 - Today, Media Matters for America released a study documenting how conservative media figures have repeatedly used undocumented immigrants and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) as scapegoats in recent discussions of major news stories. As the study details, time and again, these charges have been based on misleading claims or outright falsehoods.

"Media conservatives have made a sport of vilifying ACORN and immigrants. In lieu of engaging in substantive policy debates, they simply point fingers at the poor and disenfranchised.

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Media Matters for America is a Web-based, not-for-profit, 501(c)(3) progressive research and information center dedicated to comprehensively monitoring, analyzing, and correcting conservative misinformation in the U.S. media.

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Posted in Media, Media criticism

Leaders and Champions of Alternative Media

With the rash of newspaper closings and the gobbling up of news outlets by corporate interests, it might appear to be a good time for graduating college students to select "corrupt politician" as their career choice.

It's enough to make one wonder who will be minding the store if the papers that make it their business to poke into the dark corners of government and commerce find themselves turning out the lights.

Posted in journalism, Media