Journalist Malcolm Gladwell: "Stop going to journalism programs"

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.

In a 2011 Nation piece, Michael 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."

Why don't we have independent public TV like this in US?

Weeks before the Iraq invasion, the BBC's Jeremy Paxman and skeptical British citizens literally cross-examined Prime Minister Tony Blair about evidence/reasons/legality behind the invasion -- an interview whose transcript and Blair's comments became part of Britain's official Iraq inquiry in 2011. (Here's another tough Paxman interview of Blair . . . having nothing to do with Iraq.)

In our country, pressure from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity at so-called "public television"...as evidenced by PBS surgically removing Tina Fey's comedic swipes at Sarah Palin from a broadcast in November 2010.

Country by country comparisons of spending on public broadcasting here. 

Jon Stewart's mock interview of Rupert Murdoch

Jon Stewart gently asks questions of Murdoch about "Murdochopoly." The U.S. Federal Communications Commission is even more deferential to Murdoch and other media moguls than Stewart.  (Years ago, Murdoch famously said: "Monopoly is a terrible thing, until you have it.")

Are we losing fast, open Internet in USA?

In the opening scene of Outfoxed, media scholar Robert McChesney explains how big media corporations (acting almost like gangsters) have made media policy behind closed doors, out of public view, dividing up the cake among themselves. 

In recent studies, USA was behind other countries when it comes to access to broadband (15th place) and Internet speed  (23rd place).

There's a digital divide in our country whereby upper-middle-class kids grow up with fast Web-accessed computers at home, while kids in some rural areas and inner cities don't have fast Internet, or even computers.

In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding 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 soon-to-end MSNBC show. Olbermann exited MSNBC as it was being taken over by Comcast, which lobbies against Net Neut. (Here's Jon Stewart's Net Neutrality segment from the same period.)

P.S. In January 2011, 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."

Did blog inject video distortions into mainstream media?

The late Andrew Breitbart, a former Drudge Report staffer, ran BigGovernment.com and other websites. 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, as Breitbart later semi-corrected, Sherrod 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 aired by CNN indicated 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 inaccurate coverage

When Drudge posts "Exclusive," readers beware

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

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. Video of the news conference showed Ware hadn't opened his mouth.

Monetizing and Illustrating our Blogs

Alex L. has decided to get rich for her blogging, so has agreed to let Google AdSense messages accompany her blog. (To send her a couple pennies, I clicked on the chocolate ad.)  Kristen M. (and others) are embedding graphics in her posts.

Can bloggers/columnists with strong views . . .

. . . still engage in independent commentary -- as opposed to partisan propaganda? 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.

Undercover video-taping of farm animal abuse...

...has prompted "food libel" or "food disparagement" laws in a dozen states, aimed at protecting powerful agribusiness interests that apparently have much to hide. Here's a video report from U.C. Berkeley News21 students.

Election 2008: Mayhill Fowler's citizen journalism for HuffPost's "Off the Bus" project

Mayhill Fowler says she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton's angry words ("sleazy" . . . "slimy" . . . "dishonest" . . . "scumbag") 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 in public -- especially rants (or racism) -- will be recorded and available forever? Exhibits A and B.

Mayhill Fowler's earlier reporting scoop that launched "Bittergate" uproar. The Bittergate of 2012 campaign: "47%-gate."

Mainstream TV News Can Have Standardized Content . . . AND FORMAT

A BBC correspondent lampoons and deconstructs the sameyness (and cliches) of  mainstream TV news reports.

NBC News Called the Virginia Governors Race a "Stark Choice"

The Daily Show on Comedy Central called it a non-choice and much worse.

Nikki Finke locked out of Deadline.com

Nikki Finke, a leading reporter on Hollywood, started the independent website Deadline.com in 2006, sold it to Jay Penske's Mail.com company for a reported $14 million in 2009 (while continuing as editor-in-chief, and has now just been kicked out of the outlet she founded and built.

Edward Snowden Mainstream Media Coverage

Column I wrote on how some in mainstream media reacted to Snowden and his revelations of widespread surveillance of Americans.

Blogger Took Ethical Action

Here's an example of a blogger acting professionally and ethically. Blogger Ken Krayeske, who famously questioned 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. If he'd disclosed the relationship and kept covering City Hall, that  might have been sufficient from an ethical standpoint.

Indy Artists Stay in Touch with True Fans . . .

. . . through Facebook, reported NPR's Laura Sydell in 2010. The report discusses cellist Zoe Keating and singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

Indy Glenn Greenwald v. NYT's Bill Keller

Maverick blogger and former top NY Times editor Keller engage in a lengthy debate about insider vs. outsider journalism, indy vs. establishment reporting. (H/t Christian) It is a testament to what Glenn has achieved since he turned to journalism in 2005 that a top Timesperson feels the need to defend the NYT approach in a debate with him. In my view, Glenn was far more persuasive -- and that's without even looking at the powerful links to his earlier, real-time critiques of NYT offenses against journalism

Early You Tube Stars Get Their Income

What the Buck? Here's Michael Buckley's "My You Tube Story." According to a Dec 2008 NY Times repot, "You Tube Videos Pull In Real Money," Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year (plus an HBO development deal) from his YouTube video-commentaries or rants about celebs.

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or ""Lisa Nova"has talent for sketch comedy and parodies. Like Tina Fey, she liked to play Sarah Palin, including in this infamous McCain/Palin rap. Later she launched a company promoting hundreds of YouTube video producers. Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- about 77million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.

For years, my 16-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star and main source of daily news has been Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news, including this recent commentary that mentions the Occupy Wall Street protests of 2011. (Should I have been 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 world travels paid by corporate sponsors for years.

Brave New Films' "McCain's Mansions" played a role in the 2008 election campaign, thanks in part to You Tube. The Young Turks is a web TV phenom, and You Tube played a role in its success; here's a Turks' video on media censorship.

 

Cheezburger.com posts something (semi)serious on politics

Make the politicians wear the logos of their corporate funders on their business suits.

Web Censorship/Persecution in China

After Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to the imprisoning of two Chinese dissidents in 2002 and 2004, the families of victims (Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao) sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it had established a fund for people persecuted or jailed in China for posting political views online. Too little, too late?

In response to demands from China's government, 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 click to be switched. Should Chinese citizens feel safe to hit that tab?

Web Censorship in the USA

The media reform group Free Press highlights media and telecom 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 ad on My Space against conglomerated media. Rupert Murdoch had bought My Space in 2005 (and later sold it at a huge loss). The banned ad featured a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media." Is it My Space or Murdoch's space?

Guest speaker William Jacobson

Cornell law professor William Jacobson is a conservative political blogger with a national following. He launched Legal Insurrection.com in 2008, and smaller CollegeInsurrection.com in August 2012.  

Bloggers' Rights to Cover Courts

In March 2012, a Massachusetts court ruled that bloggers deserve the same privileges in covering courts and trials as traditional media.

Can Pay Walls Around Online News Content Save Newspapers?

No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 U.S. Senate testimony. And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.  (A former indy media student complained about Boston Globe's paywall around the Globe's editorial.)

I hope this kind of thing is beneath the Ithacan. . .

. . . but is okay in Harvard Crimson.  Thought it was a joke. Seems to be product placement or disguised ad. (H/t CI)

Pre-financing websites for independent media/art/service projects

Spot.Us involves the community in funding journalism, and was founded in 2008 by 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.

Here's a documentary movie project that I'm a tiny part of, which has used Kickstarter successfully.

Pre-financing of "Iraq for Sale" documentary

This Robert Greenwald documentary was funded mostly by small donors BEFORE the movie was made -- an example of grassroots pre-financing of a work that had real impact.

It was announced today that Brave New Foundation's latest documentary -- "Unmanned: America's Drone Wars" -- will be screened on Capitol Hill, along with Pakistanis who survived drone strikes. 

Singer/songwriter Jill Sobule . . .

. . . raised $75,000 in small donations from her fans in 2008 to pay for professional recording fees to produce her next album. Here's one of her semi-hits, "I Kissed a Girl," (not to be confused with Katy Perry song that came out a dozen years later).

Paul Krassner's "The Realist"

The leading satire publication of the underground press -- a Mad magazine for adults -- was The Realist. My humble contribution in 1994. A famous Realist poster from 1963.

Michael Wolff reported . . .

. . . this in the Sept. 2010 issue of Wired: "the top 10 Web sites accounted for 31 percent of US pageviews in 2001, 40 percent in 2006, and about 75 percent in 2010."

"The Internet Is My Religion"

Intensely personal 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.

"Bloggers Bring In Big Bucks"

This Business Week slideshow in July 2007 summarized some of the most (financially) successful blogs at that time, whether covering technology, fashion, celebs, politics.  Almost all are still successful or more so today. (Here is the intro to the slideshow.)

Boing-Boing founder posted this video on Sunday. 

Breaking News: Glenn Greenwald to launch new outlet

As I said from day one of class, the good news in independent media is that some of these outlets and startups are actually doing some hiring on occasion. Right after indy media class yesterday, news broke on BuzzFeed that blogger and Izzy Award-winner Glenn Greenwald is leaving the Guardian (on friendly terms) in order to start “a very well-funded … very substantial new media outlet.” The funder is reportedly eBay founder and billionaire Pierre Omidyar.  

Greenwald said in a preliminary statement: “My role, aside from reporting and writing for it, is to create the entire journalism unit from the ground up by recruiting the journalists and editors who share the same journalistic ethos and shaping the whole thing — but especially the political journalism part — in the image of the journalism I respect most.” (My emphasis.) He was quoted in BuzzFeed as saying that it would not just be about politics: "it’s going to have sports and entertainment and features."

Glenn Greenwald finds "The Perfect Epitaph for Establishment Journalism"

Greenwald is appalled by a column just published by the former editor of Britain's daily, The Independent, referring to British MI5, akin to our FBI. This was the headline:  

Edward Snowden's secrets may be dangerous. I would not have published them.    If MI5 warns that this is not in the public interest who am I to disbelieve them?  

Ramparts magazine of 1960s

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 in Jan. 1967. 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 a few months later. MLK became the most prominent critic of the war. Besides investigative journalism and scoops, Ramparts was known for its cover art shown here and here.

Journalists, Police and Occupy Wall Street Movement

HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS COVERING OCCUPY MOVEMENT: Citizen journalist with video camera tapes himself apparently getting shot by police rubber bullet while covering a seemingly peaceful lull Occupy Oakland (CA).  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." Nashville's big daily reported on the dubious arrest.

Between Sept 2011 and Sept 2012, more than 90 mainstream and independent journalists were arrested while covering Occupy protests in the U.S. -- as tracked by Josh Stearns of the media reform group Free Press.  Removing journalists and citizen journalists from the scene seemed to be a strategy because acts of police brutality -- when recorded by citizen journalists and ubiquitous cameras & cellphones -- led to more sympathy and activists for the movement: for example, in NY City and at University of California, Davis. Like in the 1960s, the federal government built a large surveillance apparatus to surveill Occupy activists. 

"THE MAYOR'S AFRAID OF YOU TUBE": In October 2011, hours after New York City authorities made a last-minute decision NOT to clear the Occupy Wall Street protesters out of Zucotti Park/Liberty Plaza, filmmaker 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 continues

Since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence and continuous harassment against "underground weeklies," repression against dissenting U.S. outlets has deceased but it has certainly not ended. Example 1: The 2008 Republican Convention in Minnesota. Three years later, the journalists' suit against the police was settled, with $100,000 in compensation being paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Departments and the Secret Service. The settlement included an agreement by the St. Paul police to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the 1st Amendment rights of the press and public, including proper procedures for dealing with the press covering demonstrations.

Example 2: The 2010 election for U.S. senate in Alaska. An online reporter was detained for asking questions of the Alaska Republican senate candidate, 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.

1960s sex (and drugs) advice columnist "Dr. Hip" . . .

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

Obama Administration vs. Journalists and Their (Unofficial) Sources

New report documents the history of an administration that had promised transparency.

From student blogs

Halloween costumes that are alternatives to Disney princesses (H/t Allie).

Alex L achieves the impossible -- catching McChesney and yours truly with our mouths shut.

Manger Sanger -- flawed heroine

Sanger is proof that media heroes are sometimes flawed. This article from Women's E-News discusses her flirtation with eugenics-oriented arguments in support of birth control in the early 1920s.

Dinner with Amy Goodman

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 his sidekick acknowledge that their Regis and Kelly TV show is about "nothing."

Who is today's Upton Sinclair? Steve Colbert

Stephen Colbert accepted the challenge of experiencing difficult working conditions. Here he is doing farm labor.

Students today carry on Ida B. Wells' legacy

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

Lynching prompted the classic Billie Holiday song,"Strange Fruit," which she recorded independently in 1939 -- getting around the objections of Columbia, her record label: "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees." It ultimately became her biggest selling record. Time magazine denounced the song as a "piece of musical propaganda." The song's lyrics were inspired by this photograph of a 1930 lynching in Indiana.

Re Legacy:How many newspaper editors who ignored or apologized for racist lynchings have schools named after them? Ida B. Wells High School is in San Francisco (just across the park from the famous "painted ladies" Victorian houses.)

Journalists Re-fight Old Battles; Expose Recurring Wrongs

Dissident journalists of the past exposed many social problems (like the labor weeklies spotlighting the problem of people being jailed simply for being in debt) and brought about 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 Dissident Newspapers -- Not Very Reader-Friendly

See crowded layout of William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist publication, The Liberator, here and here. Not exactly HuffingtonPost. No half-naked actresses. Cady Stanton's/Anthony's feminist publication, The Revolution, was almost as dense.  Content was king (or queen) back then.

AOL's Journalistic Values

Soon after AOL announced its merger with HuffingtonPost in February, 2011 the Boston Globe published leaked AOL documents offering a glimpse into that company's journalistic approach -- not one that Arianna Huffington would endorse. (H/t to former indy media student Leah T, for summarizing the Globe piece.)

Internet Hoaxes

Question: Are younger educated people who were 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? Or clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger as racist?

Today, viral video hoaxes seem more common than text hoaxes -- like "Golden Eagle Snatches Kid" hoax, that unknown to this ABC News panel, was perpetrated by animation students using computer imaging in Montreal. And like "Worst Twerk Fail EVER - Girl Catches Fire," a hoax perpetrated by the Jimmy Kimmel show as self-promotion.

UPDATE: NBC "Today" show interviewed me yesterday (Sept. 30 -- my bit starts at 2:25) about separating fact from fiction in media and Internet.

Another journalism source pleads guilty

After combing through weeks of phone records (multiple phones) of Associated Press journalists, the Obama Justice Department was able to identify and prosecute AP's source on a story about a terrorist plot in Yemen.  The source, a former FBI agent, pled guilty yesterday. This is from Agence France-Presse:

Although Obama had promised openness when he entered office, his administration has pursued an unprecedented crackdown on leaks from government employees, attempting more prosecutions under the 1917 Espionage Act than all previous administrations. A US Army private, Bradley Manning, was sentenced to 35 years in prison in August for passing a trove of classified documents to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. Manning's supporters defended him as a whistleblower trying to shed light on US wars and secret foreign policy making but prosecutors called the soldier a "traitor."

John Kiriakou, a former Central Intelligence Agency officer, was charged with leaking secrets after he gave an interview to ABC television describing the use of water boarding in interrogations of terror suspects under the Bush administration. He pleaded guilty in 2012 to disclosing the name of a covert CIA officer and was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. Monday's plea agreement serves as a warning to intelligence leaker Edward Snowden, who has been charged with espionage and condemned for his dramatic disclosures on US electronic surveillance.

"Miss Representation" is a 2011 documentary about sexism in media.

The trailer for the doc is here.  (At 2:35, we see glimpses of female Fox News talking heads in business attire.)

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

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 where TV/radio is 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.")

Night(time) in Tunisia for Longtime Dictator

Tunisia is a small, Mediterranean country in North Africa.  Back in 2007, Tunisian citizen-journalists and bloggers had documented the tourism/shopping sprees of the dictator's wife aboard the presidential plane to Europe and global fashion capitals. (H/t Global Voices)


In 2010, the TuniLeaks website was set up to post (WikiLeaks-released) internal U.S. Embassy documents candidly exposing the corruption of Tunisia's dictatorship.

Fascinating photo (released by Ben Ali's office) of dictator Ben Ali visiting the hospital bed of the desperate young man who set himself on fire in Dec. 2010 -- the young man didn't live long enough to learn that his act led to the overthrow of Ben Ali after sustained nonviolent protests.

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.

Dizzy Gillespie performs his classic jazz tune "Night in Tunisia," first recorded in 1944.

Video cameras and blogging for human rights

Launched in 1992 with the help of musician Peter Gabriel, the nonprofit Witness.org began distributing video cameras in hopes of minimizing human rights abuses. Their slogan: "See it. Film it. Change it."

The Israeli human rights group, Bet Tzelem, provides cameras to Palestinians so they can record Israeli settlers who harass Palestinians, such as these incidents in the Palestinian city of Hebron, which rightwing Israeli religious settlers believe God has bequeathed to Jews.

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

Mexico's "Yo Soy 132" Youth Movement

This Internet-oriented movement didn't alter the outcome of Mexico's July, 2012 presidential election (the candidate being "imposed" by the two dominant TV networks won), but the student activists had impact.  Yo Soy 132 set up an historic presidential debate carried online (only the TV-promoted frontrunner failed to show up).  It was this YouTube video that launched the movement.

President Caught on Video: "Get Lost, You A*#hole"

Then-President of France Nicolas Sarkozy caught on video in 2008 calling a disgruntled citizen an "idiot" or "dumbass" or "a**hole" (depending on translation). French politicians are having difficulty tolerating the scrutiny from new more aggressive online media (including online video) -- especially compared to deferential coverage they're accustomed to from traditional media.

One of our former presidents (then governor of Texas) caught on video.

Global Voices Online

Global Voices is a community of more than 500 bloggers and translators around the world who publish reports from blogs and citizen media, emphasizing "voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media."

This 2011 post features short videos from a competition on gender equality in the Ukraine.

This 2010 post features a public protest by a brave professor and blogger in China, offering himself as a slave.

A police murder of 28-year-old sparks Egypt uprising

In June, 2010, Khaled Said was beaten to death by police in public for the crime of Internet use and, apparently, exposing police corruption. His martyrdom inspired protests and Internet organizing that led to the uprising six months later that ended the Mubarak dictatorship. Middle East-based Google exec and activist Wael Ghonim set up the galvanizing "We Are All Khaled Said" Facebook page in Arabic.  (Here's an English FB version of "We Are All Khaled Said.") 

Egyptian bloggers/Net activists paved the way for 2011 uprising

With the Mubarak dictatorship in control of all major media in Egypt, brave Egyptian "citizen journalists" risked imprisonment and torture to blog or tweet about human rights abuses. Here's renowned Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas interviewed on BBC. Over the years, Abbas was harassed, censored and assaulted by authorities -- and was briefly detained during the uprising early in 2011.

P.S. Sharif Abdel Kouddous covered the 18-day uprising last year for Democracy Now!, and he was the central character in an HBO documentary about the Egyptian revolution. For his work in Egypt, he received last year's Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.

Upworthy.com

Upworthy.com promotes social/political issues virally through clever headlines and visuals or video, like this video featuring a child of gay parents and this animation on advertising/media impact on girls.

Local Nonprofit Watchdog News Sites

As dailies have shrunk, local online nonprofit news sites have sprouted, such as the well-funded VoiceofSanDiego.org and the professionally-staffed MinnPost.com ("a thoughtful approach to news"). Across the country, local watchdog outlets try to survive, reports Jodi Enda in American Journalism Review.

News vs. Advertising

The following quote has been attributed to George Orwell and to a U.S. newspaper publisher: "News is something somebody doesn’t want printed; all else is advertising.”

The WikiLeaks Controversy

Blogger Glenn Greenwald (a WikiLeaks supporter) explains independent journalism to CNN correspondent Jessica Yellin. WikiLeaks website is here. This leaked video (with more than 14 million YouTube views) shows the killing of employees of the Reuters news agency and wounding of children by US attack helicopters in Iraq. Photo above was taken in August 2012 when I visited the Ecuadoran embassy in London (with WikiLeaks' founder having taken refuge inside); I was there days after the British government threatened to invade the embassy.

Glenn Greenwald & Amy Goodman: Winners of First Izzy Award (2009)

Soon after accepting their Izzy Awards in Ithaca, NY in March 2009, Greenwald and Goodman spoke about independent media on public TV's Bill Moyers' Journal.

Matt Drudge's success as news curator

David Carr in NY Times tries to explain success of www.drudgereport.com.

News 21: Student Journalism, Multimedia Presentation

News 21 is a well-funded student journalism outlet (launched by two big foundations) that emphasizes in-depth reporting and multimedia presentation. It originated with 8 journalism schools/departments at big campuses that each investigated and reported on a different area, for example: Univ of Southern California(USC)/money in politics; UC Berkeley/food safety.

Short Video Impacts 2008 Presidential Election

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

Miley Cyrus Twerks on Famous Paintings

Don't blame me. I saw this in The Ithacan, which found it on Buzzfeed.

Are some journalists too cozy with their official sources?

In 2003, a CNN executive actually boasted about having given the Pentagon an advisory role on who his on-air experts would be during the Iraq war. . . . At 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner, top journalists were literally dancing with a top source, controversial Bush aide Karl Rove. These are social/charitable events where journalists and newsmakers are expected to have some fun, but is it symbolic of too much coziness? . . . Whether dealing with political leaders or celebrity athletes, the quest for access to star newsmakers can undermine independent journalism, according to indy TV host Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, one of the most successful web-based TV shows.

Bold, indy blogger launches major controversy

Former IC journalism student Chris Lisee reports on the impact that a single off-key journalist can have.

"Independent Media in a Time of War" featuring Amy Goodman

A group of volunteer citizen-journalists (Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center) produced a short documentary based on an April 2003 speech by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!  At the time, many in mainstream media were cheering what they believed was a successful, nearly-completed invasion of Iraq.

Brazil's Media Ninja reporters

Going deeper into the mass protests that have shaken Brazil -- armed with smartphones, cameras and the Internet -- Brazil's nonprofit, volunteer "Media Ninja" journalists have had scoops and some influence on the big outlets in the country.

Did ESPN pull out of doc on NFL & concussions due to pressure?

Here is ESPN ombudsman Bob Lipsyte (former star NY Times sports columnist) exploring why ESPN pulled out of its collaboration with PBS "Frontline" in producing a documentary on the NFL, football and concussions. The documentary was not going to portray the NFL put the Nat'l Football League in a good light, and the NFL is a key business partner with ESPN. They make huge profits together. Was the pull-out due to pressure from the NFL or from corporate parent Disney? A longtime ESPN journalist/consultant told Lipsyte that many ESPN journalists are "demoralized by the capitulation."

"Stickin' It To The Man"

In the movie "School of Rock," a substitute teacher (played by Jack Black) explains the purpose of rock 'n' roll to his 5th grade students. Do independent media share a similar purpose?  (The School of Rock kids in the original cast just had a 10-year reunion with Jack Black. H/t Sabrina D.)

The Daily Show segment on "End Times" at NY Times

The Daily Show's cruel 2009 look at the New York Times' "day-old news."  It made me feel quite sympathetic toward the Times.

As the U.S. prepares to bomb Syria . . .

. . . over chemical weapons, it's only in independent outlets like CommonDreams.org ("US Complicity in 'Some of the Most Gruesome Chemical Weapons Attacks' Revealed") and Democracy Now! ("Ten Years Later, U.S. Has Left Iraq with Mass Displacement & Epidemic of Birth Defects, Cancers") that I've learned about the U.S. government's complicity in the use of chemical weapons by Iraq in 1988 -- or the hardship from U.S. use of depleted uranium and white phospherous arms against Iraq. (I'm glad no super-superpower bombed us back then in "punishment"for what our government had done.)

David Carr: "War on Leaks is Pitting Journalist vs. Journalist"

The New York Times media columnist explores why a number of traditional, mainstream journalists are so outraged at independent journalists like Glenn Greenwald (who exposed NSA spying on Americans) and indy online whistleblowing publishers like Julian Assange. Part of it is envy:

If the revelations about the N.S.A. surveillance were broken by Time, CNN or The New York Times, executives there would already be building new shelves to hold all the Pulitzer Prizes and Peabodies they expected. Same with the 2010 WikiLeaks video of the Apache helicopter attack.

Syllabus for Fall 2013 Independent Media course

Here you'll find word doc of syllabus (with links).

Links to Student Blogs

Katherine Alexander . . . Christian Araos . . . Tim Bidon . . . Sabrina Dorronsonro . . . Allie Healy . . . Emily Helwig . . . Jordana Jarrett . . . Candace King . . . Alex Leslie . . . Dylan Lyons . . Kristin Mansfield . . . Mia O'Brien . . . Max Ocean . . . Kristin Tomkowid . . . Mark Warren