NewsTrust - Mainstream Media - Most Recent Stories: Opinion (Independent)

Why Bob Woodward is wrong about the internet and journalism

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

GigaOM - By Mathew Ingram - Apr. 07 (Opinion) - Veteran investigative reporter Bob Woodward said this week the internet would not be of much use in a case like Watergate, the story he helped break in 1972. But he misses the point about the value of using a multitude of sources instead of just one.

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Rick Steves: Reflections on Israel and Palestine

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Rick Steves - Apr. 05 (Opinion) - I've been duped. Do you know the frustration you feel when you believed in something strongly and then you realize that the information that made you believe was from a source with an agenda to deceive? I just watched a powerful and courageous documentar

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Jon Stewart Rips Fox News For Limbaugh Double Standard

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - Mar. 14 (Comedy News) - Stewart brings a crucial argument to all of this. Clear Channel banned the Dixie Chicks because they disagreed with their clearly political speech in which they criticized President Bush for the war in Iraq. They had no problem banning them from their ai

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Rush Limbaugh backs child kidnappers

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

care2.com - By Paul Canning - Mar. 09 (Opinion) - The LRA have kidnapped thousands of children across central Africa, raped them and forced them to be soldiers. Their leader, Joseph Kony, was indited by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2005 for numerous atrocities. There are 33 charges, 12 counts of crimes against humanity, which include murder, enslavement, sexual enslavement and rape. There are another 21 counts of war crimes which include murder, cruel treatment of civilians, intentionally directing an attack against a civilian population, pillaging, inducing rape and forced enlisting of children into the rebel ranks. ICC Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo said that “Kony was abducting girls to offer them as rewards to his commanders.” Some of the children are forced to hide every night to avoid kidnapping. This is the ‘Christian’ Limbaugh is defending.

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Jon Stewart Mocks CNN & Fox News' Amusing Michigan Primary Coverage (VIDEO)

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - Mar. 01 (Comedy News) - Another week, another GOP primary election in this "Long, Winding, Bumpy-Ass Road to the White House." On Wednesday night's "Daily Show," Jon Stewart recapped the very close race in Michigan Tuesday, saving most of his jabs for the 24-hour cable news networks instead of the candidates.

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Fox News Is the 1%

Fri, 18 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

AlterNet - By Robert Greenwald:, Ed Schultze - Nov. 18 (Opinion) - video

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Ex-New York Times Freelancer Natasha Lennard on Quitting the Corporate Media in an Occupy Era

Thu, 17 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Democracy Now - By Amy Goodman - Nov. 17 (Interview) - We speak with former freelancer at the New York Times, Natasha Lennard, who helped the newspaper cover the initial Occupy protests. She was arrested during the Brooklyn Bridge demonstration while reporting on the event. She no longer freelances for the Times and recently wrote a piece for Salon.com titled "Why I Quit the Mainstream Media." [includes rush transcript]

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Piracy problems? US copyright industries show terrific health

Thu, 03 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Ars Technica - Nov. 03 (Opinion) - A major report from the largest copyright owners shows that they are earning record foreign profits, beat the US economy handily during the recent recession, and pay better than most industries. That's why we need draconian new laws to help them out.

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Colbert Nails Rush Limbaugh Over Obama Christian Killing Accusations (VIDEO)

Thu, 20 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Stephen Colbert - Oct. 20 (Comedy News) - On Wednesday night's "Report," Stephen Colbert featured a segment on the inflammatory radio host's recent on-air claim that Obama is sending troops to Uganda for the purpose of "wiping out Christians." Explaining that the "Christian" group Lord's Resistance Army promotes an objective "to remove dictatorship and stop the oppression of our people," Limbaugh left out that the LRA has terrorized the people of Uganda and other countries for over 25 years by abducting children, brainwashing them and forcing them to become sex slaves as well as torturers and executioners.

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Noam Chomsky on Israel-Palestine Prisoner Exchange, U.S. Assassination Campaign in Yemen

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Noam Chomsky - Oct. 18 (Speech) - MIT Professor Emeritus Noam Chomsky, the world-renowned linguist and political dissident, spoke Monday night at Barnard College in New York City about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, just hours before Israel and Hamas completed a historic prisoner exchange. "I think [Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit] should have been released a long time ago. But there’s something missing from this whole story. There’s no pictures of Palestinian women, and no discussion, in fact, in the story of—what about the Palestinian prisoners being released?

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How Is Occupy Wall Street Not Like The Tea Party? (VIDEO)

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - Oct. 06 (Comedy News) - "So, rage against duly elected government is patriotic -- quintessentially American -- whereas rage against multi-national shareholder-accountable corporations is anti-American. OK, gotcha," Stewart said.

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Hail to the True Victors of Rupert's Revolution

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By John Pilger - Sep. 10 (Opinion) - On 13 September, one of the world's biggest arms fairs opens in London, backed by the British government. On 8 September, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry held a preview entitled "Middle East: A vast market for UK defence and security companies." The host was the Royal Bank of Scotland, a major investor in cluster bombs. According to Amnesty International, the victims of cluster bombs are 98 percent civilians and 30 percent children.

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Keith Olbermann's Debt Ceiling Special Comment: 'Our Government Has Now Given Up The Concept Of Right And Wrong' (VIDEO)

Tue, 02 Aug 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Kieth Olbermann - Aug. 02 (Opinion) - Keith Olbermann excoriated Washington for the debt ceiling deal it struck over the weekend--and called for a protest movement to rise up against it. In a Special Comment on his Monday show, Olbermann did not mince words about the deal, which passed the House on Monday and is headed for a vote in the Senate.

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Rejecting Lucrative Offer, Cenk Uygur Leaves MSNBC After Being Told to "Act Like an Insider"

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Democracy Now - By Cenk Uygur, Juan Gonzalez, Amy Goodman - Jul. 24 (Interview) - After giving a nearly six-month tryout for the internet talk show host Cenk Uygur, the cable news channel MSNBC is preparing to instead award its 6:00 p.m. prime-time slot to the Reverend Al Sharpton. MSNBC President Phil Griffin offered Uygur a well-paid but lower-profile on-air slot, but Uygur rejected the offer, saying the decision to demote him was politically motivated. Uygur is known for aggressively interrogating leading Washington figures and challenging the political establishment, which he alleges made some MSNBC executives uneasy. He said Griffin had called him into his office in April and told him he had been talking to people in Washington and that they did not like Uygur's tone. We speak with Uygur, who also blogs at several liberal websites and hosts a popular internet and radio show, "The Young Turks." "It is corporate media... It's not just MSNBC. You think that the CNN hosts can aggressively challenge government officials? I don't think so," says Uygur.

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7 mistakes journalists make when covering the debt ceiling debate (& how to avoid them)

Sun, 24 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Poynter Institute - By Mallary Jean Tenore - Jul. 24 (Opinion) - This is a complicated story to report on if you’ve been fully immersed in it, let alone if you’re asked to cover it without much prior knowledge of the crisis. To help, we’ve collected tips from journalists at CNBC, Fortune and NPR’s Planet Money. Here are seven common mistakes to avoid when covering the crisis.

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Why We Need the New News Environment to be Chaotic

Sun, 10 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

shirky.com - By Clay Shirky - Jul. 10 (Opinion) - The business environment for newspapers continues to be grim. Pew recently reported that advertising revenue rebounded in 2010 for all forms of media, except newspapers.* This might just be a matter of transitioning from print to digital revenues but for the fact that the market values a print reader far more highly than a digital one. The more or less official label for this problem is “analog dollars to digital dimes”; because of the enormous difference in assumed value per reader, lost value from print is not made up for by gains in digital readership. The ‘analog dollars to digital dimes’ problem doesn’t actually seem to be a problem. It seems to be a feature of reality. Digital revenue per head is not replacing lost print revenue and, barring some astonishment in the advertising market, it never will. There is no supply-side scarcity to boost margins; power over aggregation has moved from producer to consumer; advertisers prefer selling cameras and shoes on purpose-built sites; readers feel the same about finding jobs and dates; and there are few commercial or geographic restraints on competition. The market values analog readers more highly than digital ones because the market is right.

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"Arab Spring" Label Hampers Global Protests' Solidarity Potential

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

truth-out.org - By J.A. Myerson - Jul. 09 (Opinion) - In its unsubtle suggestions of "foreign," "not white" and implicit condescension, the handy moniker American media has developed in its attempt to make sense of 2011's global unrest - "The Arab Spring" - is counterrevolutionary, perhaps deliberately so.

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"CNN Leaves it There" is Now Officially a Problem at CNN

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Press Think - By Jay Rosen - Jul. 03 (Opinion) - You can’t have a "he said, she said" brand and yet stand out as the only real news network. There are signs that the new boss at CNN understands this. Shocking developments in a story I have been following for a long time. It’s the CNN Leaves it There problem, which is illustrated to comic perfection in this Jon Stewart clip.

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Dominique Strauss-Kahn: Will Media Learn Anything?

Sun, 03 Jul 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Mediactive - By Dan Gillmor - Jul. 03 (Opinion) - In the days ahead — and especially after New York prosecutors drop their increasingly pathetic case against former IMF head Dominique Strauss-Kahn, as they surely will — you’ll see some media coverage of journalism’s role in this debacle. There will be a few notes about how everyone rushed to judgment. But almost no one will be asking more basic questions about the way journalists go about their business in criminal cases. You will see little or no self-reflection about the way reporters work in concert with law enforcement in almost all such cases, in ways that are designed by the police and prosecutors to stack the deck against the accused. It starts with the “perp walk” — the parading of the accused before cameras. Try this thought experiment. Imagine you’ve been arrested, and have spent a night in a filthy jail cell, getting maybe an hour of sleep in the clothes you were wearing the day before. Or, perhaps, you’ve been told to put on an orange jump suit that prisoners wear. Either way, now you’re shackled and frog-walked into a van that takes you to the courthouse. Then you’re manhandled out of the van and are frog-walked through a gauntlet of cameras and shouting reporters. How do you imagine you’d look, whether or not you were innocent? You’d look guilty as hell, because the perp walk is designed to make you look guilty. (For more on perp walks, see this piece from the Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins.)

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The 'most consistently misinformed media viewers'

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Washington Monthly - By Steve Benen - Jun. 19 (Opinion) - “In polls,” Stewart said, in a surprisingly angry tone, “who are the most consistently misinformed media viewers? The most consistently misinformed? Fox. Fox viewers. Consistently. Every poll.”

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The Problem of Republican Idiots

Sun, 19 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

The Nation - By Eric Alterman - Jun. 19 (Opinion) - One aspect of American politics that receives insufficient attention is that a significant percentage of self-identified Republicans—around half—are complete idiots. And the candidates who wish to be elected by them must pander to them, either by being idiots themselves—see “Bachmann, Michele”—or pretending to be. Nobody in the MSM is empowered to say this aloud. Indeed, the very act of pointing it out brands one a “liberal elitist” who is biased against proud, patriotic conservatives.

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Daily Kos: Markos Moulitsas's website changed politics

Thu, 09 Jun 2011 00:00:00 -0700

City Pages - By Jessica Lussenhop - Jun. 09 (Opinion) - In a faded casino in Las Vegas, venerable New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd zeroed in on a man she'd decided would be the topic of her next column. Markos Moulitsas, founder of Dailykos.com courtesy of Kos Media Markos Moulitsas, founder of Dailykos.com Howard Dean was the darling of Daily Kos before his ill-advised scream AP Photo/Paul Sancya Howard Dean was the darling of Daily Kos before his ill-advised scream Related Content * Tim Pawlenty debates on Fox: What he said May 6, 2011 * Tim Pawlenty calls Obama a "Doofus," but photo comparison tells the real story May 31, 2011 * Michele Bachmann wants to be prez so she can kill "the crown jewel of socialism" May 31, 2011 * Bachmann flunks Wall Street bailout history, hammers Obama rather than Bush April 19, 2011 * Michele Bachmann paid Bush speech writers $5,000 April 20, 2011 More About * Markos Moulitsas * Howard Dean * Ned Lamont * Science and Technology * Internet The man, a baby-faced political blogger with darting brown eyes, faced a volley of questions from Dowd: What future did he envision for old-school journos like herself? What did he make of the fact that after only two years of blogging at Wonkette, Ana Marie Cox had just landed a gig at Time magazine?

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Get Real

Mon, 23 May 2011 00:00:00 -0700

kunstler.com - By James Howard Kunstler - May. 23 (Opinion) - The failures in journalism are now so stupendous that there are only a few possible explanations. 1. The major media, hard pressed by declining revenues and the extremes of competition on cable TV and the Internet, are in thrall to corporate advertisers who expect cheerleading for the status quo in return. 2. Major media editors and producers - the officer corps of journalism - are not smart enough to tell the difference between what's important and what's not and can't run their newsrooms. 3.

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The Washington Post's dependence on the government it covers

Sun, 10 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Salon - By Glenn Greenwald - Apr. 10 (Opinion) - The Washington Post this morning published a lengthy article detailing the fortune -- and now the trouble -- generated for its parent company, The Washington Post Co., as a result of its acquisition of Kaplan Higher Ed. While The Post continues to lose money, Kaplan -- particularly its sprawling network of for-profit "universities" which the company began building in 2000 -- generates huge profits for the company, profits on which the Post Co. depends almost completely for its sustainability.

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Jon Stewart Says Goodbye To Glenn Beck, Mocks Him For Entire Episode

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Huffington Post - By Jon Stewart - Apr. 08 (Opinion) - Stewart did his beloved Glenn Beck impression while at the same time commenting on Beck's departure and what it means. Donning his signature glasses, he forewent his usual opening segment and re-enacted Beck's melodramatic sign off to a tee before moving on to three more hilarious segments dissecting all his quirks.

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