Month: April 2002

Michael Moore and the DIY Spirit Michael Moore was in town last night on his DIY-ish book tour for Stupid White Men and, of course, talked about how much trouble it was to get the book published in the first place, and how, then, his publisher refused to fund a real book tour (I believe…

Non-profit webcasters write in to Salon calling ‘bullshit’ on the proposed copyright fees going to the Recording Industry (not the artists, since they already get paid through ASCAP and BMI) and the RIAA’s pompous lies and defenses. I’ll let the absurdities and truth-telling speak for themselves. But I will say that it becomes clearer how…

In today’s Christian Science Monitor Professors John Nerone (who, incidentally, is my excellent academic advisor) and Kevin Barnhurst argue that the redesign of the Wall Street Journal is emblematic of newspapers’ shift to accurate user-friendliness at the expense of “empowering citizens by immersing them in a common news culture. In the industrial newspapers, readers made…

Point and Counter-Point on Pacifica In the newest edition of the Nation magazine Susan J. Douglas, a well-known communications scholar, asks, “Is There a Future for Pacifica?” In it she tries to take a middle-of-the-road approach apparently to objectively survey the prospects of the network as it tries to heal from its years-long conflict. That’s…

Bill Moyers Investigating the Nation’s Largest Radio Crook…er, Company? Broadcasting and Cable reports that PBS’s Now with Bill Moyers is ‘ is said to be working on a piece about “business models and vertical integration” in the radio business,” which apparently will include Clear Channel, the nation’s largest radio station owner, which now also owns…

When Being the Media Is Vital and Necessary The Guardian writes about the Palestine IMC: “When the Israeli tanks rolled into Bethlehem, the only organisation left behind to report was a fledgling DIY news website. But that was enough.” The article shows how IMCs work, along with how important it is to connect the world…

The obvious truth in two sentences: The NY Times interviewed Phil Donahue about his new talk program on MSNBC. I just had to share this simple little pearl of observation: Q: Why do you think liberal voices are so rare on television? A: Conservatives criticize government and liberals criticize business. And that is not something…

Friday’s mediageek radio show Now On-line Despite the last three posts, I promise not all blog entries will be radio show related. Actually, the whole show is not on-line, since it was pledge drive at WEFT and so that consumes a portion of the program that would otherwise be chock-full of prime mediageek content. Rather…

Mad Props for mediageek radio show The esteemed Carl Estabrook noted the aforementioned radio show in his biweekly column in the local alternative weekly, mentioning it as one of The Octopus, calling it one of “a couple of good new radio programs on the subject” of media criticism. Carl further compliments because the other show…

On Today’s Edition of the mediageek radio show: It’s the first pledge drive edition. I’ll have an interview with Skidmark Bob of Freak Radio Santa Cruz, an unlicensed “pirate” radio station that recently celebrated its seventh anniversary on the air. I’ll also have some media news headlines. Hear it live on air Friday at 5:30…