mediageek

Month: December 2002

  • Friday’s Radio Show On-Line: Year-End Wrap-Up with John Anderson

    The Dec. 27 edition of the mediageek radio show is now on-line (but not listed on the main radio show page yet). It’s a freewheeling discussion with John Anderson, of DIYmedia.net, about the past year in grassroots and indymedia, with a particular focus on low-power/free/pirate radio. You can listen in: low bitrate mp3 (16kbps –…

  • Local Wireless Internet Coverage

    Local wireless Internet efforts were profiled in yesterday’s Champaign-Urbana News-Gazette. The story covers a company offering high-speed connections via microwave, along with our local grassroots free wireless Internet group.

  • Printed Ephemera — Original American Indymedia

    We see them all the time: posters, flyers, pamphlets, catalogs. But how much notice do we take? Often, they only require a few moments attention, and yet so much about a time and place is communicated. And unlike our tradition conception of the mass media and press, the production of these forms of printed communication…

  • FSRN Report on Media Ownership Rules / Tribune Expands TV Empire

    Today’s Free Speech Radio News featured a segment on the upcoming FCC review of media ownership rules. I was interviewed by reporter Leigh Robartes for this report and Robartes also used a bit from my interview with Ivy Glennon on Dec. 20. You can download a 13 MB broadcast-quality mp3 of the whole show or…

  • Cogent Media Analysis in Service of Liberal Whining

    “Media critic” Neal Gabler submits a reasoned analysis that the true split in the media is not liberal/left vs. conservative/right, but rather the difference “between two entirely different journalistic mind-sets: those who believe in advocacy, and those who believe in objectivity — or, at the very least, in the appearance of objectivity.” … Unfortunately, for…

  • Why the FCC Might Ignore Public Comments

    The Smoking Gun filed a FOIA request for all the public comments made to the agency over the airing of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show on CBS this fall. Predictably, the majority of the comments were negative and many were part of coordinated campaigns run by such outfits as the American Family Association. But, there…

  • Geek Gear Tidbits

    p>Although it has absolutely nothing to do with X-Mas, a load of electronics has arrived at work in the last few weeks, with some interesting items in the mix. I have no inclination to do a full review of anyting, but would like to record some impressions. Here’s the first shot: JVC DV/VHS Combi-VCR (SR-VS30V)…

  • Hacker Gets Back On Air

    After blowing $16000 on legal fees, the famed (and once jailed) hacker Kevin Mitnick had his ham radio license restored by the FCC, though he’s still barred from using the Internet until later in 2003. His license was revoked due to the so-called “character clause” in telecomm law that basically says licensees should be of…

  • Unauthorized Biography of the Baby Bells

    The New Networks Institute is giving away PDFs of a book that “the Bells Don’t Want You to Read.” At first blush it looks interesting and may open some eyes about how our telecomm infrastructure is actually operated (and not operated in our best interest). As far as I can tell the NNI is essentially…

  • Talkin’ ‘Bout Consolidation

    This was the weekend for media ownership and consolidation talk for me on the radio. Last Friday’s edition of the mediageek radio show featured a discussion with Ivy Glennon on the topic of media ownership and community media. Ivy is an associate professor of communicaitons at the University of Illinois and a member of WEFT’s…