Archive | March, 2003

Covering the Media Covering the War

By the way, a good place to get compiled stories on the media’s war coverage is Romensko’s Media Page at Poynter Online. This is not a strictly critical assemblage — Romensko’s pretty broad and open in what he compiles together, and I’d say that his approach is pretty balanced. He is as likely to link the Post’s Howard Kurtz as he is FAIR.

Romensko’s been at this for a while, though his approach is typically pretty insiderish, focusing on the ins and outs of the media industry and its personalities. But right now his hard work is obvious and appreciated.

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CNN Anchor/Cheerleader Admits News Media Were “A Little Late” To Cover the Anti-War Mov’t

The Oregonian’s media columnist interviews CNN prime time anchor Aaron Brown, who apparently isn’t taking too well to the criticism leveled against him and his network, accusing them of being military cheerleaders. But he does admit that coverage of the anti-war movement was “late,” telling the Oregonian:

“Yeah, I think we were a little late to come to (the antiwar movement). There were some reasons why. It didn’t seem to have a center we could focus on. The Democrats in Congress rolled over on the issue. Then (the movement) seemed to coalesce, and once it did we started to cover it.”

Let me tell you, I’ve been watching CNN on and off since the bombs starting dropping, and I can take only so much of Brown. Whether he likes being called on it or not, the guy is a cheerleader for the military. He gets way too excited talking about military hardware and strategy with CNN’s lineup of ex-military guests, and he editorializes all over the damn place.

Now, I’m not going to sit here and lecture on the need for journalistic objectivity, just simple truthfulness. CNN and Aaron Brown himself need to admit that they’re engaged in advocacy journalism, plain and simple. During this war they’re simply a less shrill version of Fox News, but still actively supporting both the administration and its war on the Iraqi people. Aaron Brown deserves what he gets from critics.

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mediageek update, anti-war protest video & Alt. On-Line News Sources

I’ve not been blogging the last few days because I’ve been saturated with other indie media work. I just finished a video document of the big (by Champaign-Urbana standards) anti-war protest that took place last Thursday and basically took over the streets of the University of Illinois campus, which is central to the twin city area. Just for my pals, like you, I made available a RealVideo version of the video, which is playing locally on public access TV. Click here to watch the video, but note that because it’s a quicky encode and not well optimized for slow connections, it’s best watched on a broadband connection.

Over at the Urbana-Champaign IMC the website users have been compiling a nice list of alternative news sources on the web that’s pretty useful and comprehensive. That’s the power of cooperation.

Finally, there was no mediageek radio show posted this weekend because there was no show this Friday. I agreed to be pre-empted so that WEFT, my host station, could bring an extended version of Pacifica war coverage. The show will be back this week and my guest will be Clint Popetz, who is the U-C IMC’s radio news coordinator. We’ll talk about the IMC’s unique approach to radio news and how Indymedia can respond to war.

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radioshow archives updated

The mediageek radioshow archives are up to date with the March 7 and 14 shows now on-line.

The March 7 show featured a sampling from the diverse public comments made to the FCC on the issue of media ownership at the public forum held in Seattle.

Joshua Breitbart of Rooftoop Films and Clamor Magazine was the guest on the March 14 program, where we talked about the indie-media-filled Power of Living Tour making its way across the Midwest this Spring (and appearing in Urbana on April 9)

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