The Reconstruction of American Journalism

I just read through the document, The Reconstruction of American Journalism by Leonard Downie, Jr. and Michael Schudson. I found it a bit disturbing.

The article discusses the current transition of traditional media in light of the Internet, and the future funding of traditional media.

“As this report will explain, credible independent news reporting cannot flourish without news organizations of various kinds, including the print and digital reporting operations of surviving newspapers. But it is unlikely that any but the smallest of these news organizations can be supported primarily by existing online revenue. That is why we will be exploring a variety and mixture of ways to support news reporting, which must include nonmarket sources like philanthropy and government.” (emphasis mine)

The authors recommend creating government-sponsored news organizations (tax exempt and government funded – in part or in full) as the solution to this problem.

In addition, they want universities to train students in “enterprise and accountability journalism, which by definition bring new information to light, can grow into society-changing work not that dissimilar to academic research that makes original contributions to knowledge in history and the social sciences.” (emphasis mine)

My question is: if government funds the news media, who is going to watch the government? Will we be able to criticize the government if they control the media? Isn’t this a problem in China?

Also, is it the role of news reporting to “change” society? What happened to news reporters simply reporting the news? Using the media to “change” society sounds like propaganda to me. Do we really want government-sponsored, propaganda-based news?

You may (or may not) agree with the current government or like some of the current media offerings, but what will happen when we get a new batch of politicians? How will these people restrict free speech in the process of “supporting” news reporting and “providing” independent reporting. How will this or a new administration want to “change” society using the media or restricting the use of media? You can’t just look at one administration. These rules will evolve as the government evolves, either for good or for bad.

I, for one, am tired of our government bailing out failed and/or outdated companies using taxpayer money. We didn’t bail out the manual typewriter manufacturers or the stagecoach manufacturers. I’m sure jobs were lost, but progress created new jobs in the same or in new industries. If the traditional media dies, a new media industry will take its place. New jobs will be created and media will still be independent of government. Then let’s spend our government money on reeducating those who lost jobs so they can compete in the new industries.

If we keep bailing out automobile manufacturers, banks, and newspapers with government funding, we may keep the same jobs, but will it be worth it? What will we lose in the process?

Update: Snooper has commentary

Originally posted on EmptyNestMom Goes to College

Mainstream Media Sticks up for FoxNews

Check this out. Pay close attention to 2 min 14 sec to about 2 min 20 seconds; The White House tried to bar Fox News, which has been a member of the Press Corp for some time and CNN, ABC, CBS, and NBC flat out told the Obama Administration they would not interview the official in question unless Fox News was included in the invitation. I think hell just froze over.

 

Hat-Tip, Hector, who writes, “Let’s hear it for the press pool!”

 

Golf: Love Obama vs. Hate Bush

When it comes to golf, the media loves Barack Obama but hated George Bush.  Let me give you an example:

The Washington Post on June 9, 2009, in an article with the headline “Just the Sport for A Leader Most Driven.” On August 5, 2002, The Washington Post wrote about President Bush golfing, “Before Golf, Bush Decries Latest Deaths in Mideast.”

The Washington Post mocked George Bush for golfing during a time of war, “wearing khakis and a knit shirt, was holding a driver in his gloved left hand… However incongruous the setting, the president plunged ahead…. His business out of the way, Bush barely paused for breath before saying, ‘Thank you. Now watch this drive.’”

Obama on the other hand, despite the war in Iraq and Afghanistan, violence in Iran, and an economy that Obama has described as the worst since the Great Depression, golfed several times in the past few weeks–on April 26, May 16, May 25, May 31, June 7, June 9, June 14 and June 21.  In return, a Google search will show he received countless praise by the press for his golf adventures.  Take the New York Times recent statement, “Obama was briefed on the latest events on the ground in Iran. Obama also played a round of golf at at Fort Belvior, Virginia, before spending the remainder of his day with his family at the White House. He also took his daughters out for frozen custard Saturday.”

Mark Steyn & Hannity Make Fun of the Media’s Obama Obsession

Mark Steyn and Sean Hannity make fun of how the media has fallen in love with Barack Obama.

 

Merging of Left Wing Blogs and Mainstream Media

This video details how the mainstream media is taking their ideas from left wing blogs like the Daily KOS and Huffington Post.

 

Ignorance Is A Sign At Time

Again we have an illustration of how ignorance is king.

At the left leaning Time Magazine site [partners of CNN] is a blog slamming article where the final paragraph tells the whole story. It ends with,

“But many readers may be reaching the point with blogs and websites that I reached long ago with the Sunday New York Times Magazine–actively hoping there isn’t anything interesting in there because then I’ll have to take the time to read it.”

Two questions jump out to me from that. Shouldn’t your article have been titled, “How Many Magazines Does The World Need”, and will/do you really take the time read it, Michael Kinsley?

Hat-Tip, HotAir

The NY Times In Its Death Throes

With the advent of America selecting a liberal to be POTUS it remains unclear whether we are demonstrating a more liberal preference, or lean more to the conservative side. If the future of the liberal New York Times is any indication one would conclude that America is more conservative.

The New York Times stock again plunged, this time by 9.92%. This drop gives the shares a value of 5 dollars and 72 cents per share. Five years ago it was valued at close to 50 bucks per share.

Over the past 5 years the Times has cut jobs in an effort to remain profitable. They also reduced the size of the paper. Neither had any positive effect on their stock price.

The 5 year fall is most notable over the past 3 month period as it had a high of just over $15.00 a share last September.

Perhaps it is following the market fall, or maybe it is due to people no longer subscribing to the print media. The only thing that is certain is the New York Times is in dire straites.

Note: These charts will vary over time.

Also see: Forbes – Ahead of the Bell: NY Times price target cut

Conservative Journalists! (Yes, seriously.)

From The Phillips Foundation:

$75,000, $50,000 and $25,000 JOURNALISM FELLOWSHIPS OFFERED BY THE PHILLIPS FOUNDATION FOR 2009

Washington, DC, October 20, 2008 — The Phillips Foundation is now accepting applications for the 2009 Phillips Foundation Journalism Fellowship Program. Print and online journalists with less than 10 years of professional experience are eligible. The Foundation created this program to provide fellowships for projects by journalists who share the Foundation’s mission to advance constitutional principles, a democratic society and a vibrant free enterprise system.

The Phillips Foundation awards $75,000 and $50,000 full-time fellowships and $25,000 part-time fellowships to undertake and complete a one-year project of the applicant’s choosing focusing on journalism supportive of American culture and a free society. In addition, there are separate fellowships on the environment, on the benefits of free-market competition, and on law enforcement.

In 2008, the Foundation awarded the following eight fellowships.

• Full-time fellowships to: David Donadio for “The Free Press in the Free Market: A Study of How the Internet is Transforming the Newspaper Business;” Travis Kavulla for “Africa’s New Christianity and the Future of American Influence;” Emily Krone for “Unchartered Territory: Can Entrepreneurial Charter Schools Achieve the Scale and Sustain the Quality to Transform the American Public School System‌;” and Lygia Navarro for “Civil Society and Democracy in Latin America.”
• Part-time fellowships to: Cheryl Chumley for “National Heritage Areas: A Blot against Property Rights or a Boon for the Nation‌;” Matthew Continetti for “The Single Society: The Social Transformation Changing American Business, Politics and Culture;” J. Peter Freire for “The University Shakedown: How Universities Take Donations but Refuse Input from Donors Based on the Myth of Academic Freedom;” and Jonathan Last for “The Fertility Rate and America’s Future.”

For a list of all 76 fellowship winners and their projects since inception of the program in 1994, visit www.thephillipsfoundation.org/fellowship_profiles.

Three Phillips Foundation Trustees serve as judges: Thomas L. Phillips, Chairman of Eagle Publishing, Inc.; Robert D. Novak, long-time national journalist and syndicated columnist; and Alfred S. Regnery, Publisher of The American Spectator.

The Foundation is looking for journalism projects which are both original and publishable. The winning projects will be delivered in four installments with the potential to be published sequentially in a periodical or as a book.

Applications must be postmarked by March 2, 2009. The winners will be announced next May at an awards dinner at the National Press Club in Washington. The starting date for the fellowships will be September 1, 2009. Applicants must be citizens of the United States.

For an application, visit www.thephillipsfoundation.org, or contact: The Phillips Foundation, 1 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Suite 620, Washington, DC 20001, Attention: John Farley. Phone: 202-250-3887, ext. 609. E-mail: jfarley@thephillipsfoundation.org.

(Hat-Tip: blog, p.i.)

Media Bias: Obama positive, McCain negative

The nonpartisan research and educational organization, Center for Media and Public Affairs, recent study shows the news coverage of Barack Obama is 2 to 1 positively skewed compared to John McCain. As they put it:

Since the party conventions kicked off the final phase of the presidential campaign, comments about Senator Barack Obama on the network evening news shows have been 65% positive, compared to only 36% positive comments about Senator John McCain.

Lies and wilful delusions so factually absurd, that only professionals can believe them.

Senior lecturer in strategic studies, Clinton Fernandes, brushes up on his Islamic studies. Rest assured sports, Australian security is in intelligent hands, however hairy the palms.

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Dig. You know in Pakistan, the ‘Stan brimming with nukes and diahorea, they sell mobile phones freely with pictures of 9/11 and Osama Bin Laden, the shit of the desert, printed on them? Pakistan is an unstable, sinking abyss of Islamism and a terrifying madhouse where thousands go to fully train for their Jihad franchise, ready for export and infiltration. It seems that the very people we should be able to trust and turn to for muscular and intelligent security attitudes, are curiously lacking.

Speaking of myopia and counter clockwise spinning eyes, I went to my optometrist and spotted the latest edition of The Bulletin for September 04 2008. That’s the Australian publication that imagines it cuts it but doesn’t really, much like the long time gone and negligible, Time Magazine.

Two bits from an article titled The Dark Web, on cyber Jihad etc, grabbed me by some utterly beyond belief statements. I’ll Fisk the second bit in the following post, sports…Continue Reading on Colonel Robert Neville Always Dresses for Dinner >>

CNN Attacks Sarah Palin

CNN carrying the Democratic banner high goes on the attack. Using two women anchors they go after Palin’s RNC speech. Interestingly, they never did that after Barack Obama or Joe Biden’s speech.

Media Bias #1

Headline: “Rice told embassies to limit aid for Obama, McCain”

Story: Condoleezza Rice sent a memo to all embassies reminding them of the Federal law that prohibits them from certain political activity on the job and that they can not perform campaign work on the public payroll.

SUPPRESS ANYTHING McCAIN HAS TO SAY

NY Times Op-Ed editor Shipley (formerly a Bill Clinton White House staffer) rejects editorial by John McCain. The Drudge report actually presents McCain’s editorial. This occurs after Shipley publishes an Obama editorial on the same subject.

CNN reports that Obama says violence in Iraq has declined significantly, but "political progress, reconciliation and economic development continue to lag,” and just leaves that statement as fact. Not surprising since US Media outlets failed to cover the latest benchmarks report, but the BBC did publish the interim report.

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