Month: March 2002

California Uber Alles? San Francisco mayor Willie Brown says that “Free press creates dirty streets” and San Diego police shut down a Michael Moore booksigning. But at least Mike is selling his books. They say that trends start on the West Coast and work their way inland. I hope these trends aren’t making their way…

DIY for Just $4.95 This short Wired News article directed me to the The DIY Report, a new subscription website with a focus on “on teaching people how to create, promote, protect and distribute independent film, music and books using online and offline techniques.” Most of the content requires that you be subscribed, so it’s…

Argentinians Turn to the ‘Net While Their Mainstream Media Turns Against Them Wired News has an article on how the Argentine people are using the ‘net as a medium for organizing and exchanging information regarding the deepening financial and political crisis in that country. It notes how Argentina’s mainstream media has largely sided with the…

Radio Consolidation –> Radio Corruption The LA Times has an article on payola at Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio station owner, and Radio One, the largest broadcaster of black-oriented music. What’s interesting in this case is that it’s a top executive of Radio One who is sounding the alarm bells on conduct at her…

The Philly Inquirer has an unusually fair and accurate article on recent low-power FM barnraisings and the Prometheus Project.

More Critique of Alternet The San Francisco Bay Guardian has this editorial further criticizing Don Hazen, the executive director of the Indepdendent Media Institute and Alternet. At the end there is a good compendium of links to background info and past SFBG articles on this controversy. (via Infoshop.org News Kiosk) I tried to hunt down…

The Angels of Public Interest Will Descend Upon the FCC!

Dept. Of Justice Takes Over Responsibility for Permitting Media Consolidation The DOJ and the Federal Trade Commission have finalized their agreement to allow the DOJ to exclusively review and approve media mergers for antitrust. Originally this was a back-room deal until the Senate Commerce Committe Chair Sen. Hollings got wind of it. He’s still pissed…

New mediageek Radio Show On-Line The still-in-demo mode mediageek radio program aired for the first time at 5:30 PM Friday on WEFT. It consisted mainly of a 25-minute audio documentary on the Champaign-Urbana Grassroots Wireless Internet Project. I think it turned out rather well and got some good feedback on it. You can listen to…

How Alternative is Alternet? Al Giordano, the publisher of the excellent and crusading investigative news site Narco News, has published a scathing critique of Alternet, the largest syndicator of “alternative” news content, and its executive director, Don Hazen. Giordano takes Alternet and Hazen to task for charging a “usurious” fee of 50% of net for…