Would Upton SInclair be in jail today for his writing?

From Democracy Now! today:

The Iowa State Senate has approved a bill that would punish animal rights activists who go undercover to expose farm animal abuse. Backed by Iowa’s agriculture industry, the "Ag-Gag" bill would impose fines and prison sentences on anyone who seeks agricultural employment to document the conditions of farm animals. In recent years, undercover videos have revealed shocking conditions at a number of locations and have led to plant closures and meat recalls. In a statement, the group Mercy for Animals said: "Lawmakers should be focusing on strengthening [Iowa’s] pathetic [animal cruelty] laws, not silencing whistleblowers who expose animal abuse or other serious issues involving the safety and security of the American food supply."

The Yes Men -- anti-corporate actor/activists

Acting as a spokesperson for Dow on the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal, India, chemical explosion/leak (perhaps the worst industrial accident in history), one of The Yes Men is interviewed by BBC. The Yes Men explain this action. More on the group at TheYesMen.org.

Margaret Sanger proves that media heroes...

...are sometimes flawed. This article discusses her flirtation with racist (eugenics-oriented) arguments in support of birth control.

Dinner with Amy

In the early 1900s, the socialist Appeal to Reason newspaper offered yachts, fruit farms and motorcycles as premiums to bring in revenue and subscriptions. Democracy Now! offers Dinner and a Show with Amy Goodman.

After meeting Amy at a dinner party, Regis and sidekick Kelly acknowledge their Regis and Kelly TV show is about "nothing."

The Upton Sinclair of our era . . .

...Stephen Colbert accepted the challenge of experiencing difficult working conditions. Here he is doing farm labor.

Anti-Lynching Legacy of Ida B. Wells

In last dozen years, Northwestern University journalism students and their professor have been instrumental in proving the innocence of many prisoners, several of whom had been sentenced to death. Their investigative journalism sparked the ending of the death penalty in Illinois

Lynching prompted the classic Billie Holiday song,"Strange Fruit," which she recorded in the late 1930s over the objections of her record company: "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees"

Are sports blogs ruining sports journalism?

Loud and very dated 2008 debate between traditional sports newspaper journalist Buzz Bissinger and editor Will Leitch of Deadspin.com, the sometimes raunchy sports blog/website. Debate aired on Bob Costas' HBO sports show.

Early Indy Newspapers -- NOT Exactly Reader-Friendly

See crowded layout of William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist publication, The Liberator, here and here. Not exactly HuffingtonPost. No half-naked actors.

Cady Stanton's/Anthony's feminist publication, The Revolution, was almost as dense.

Content was king (or queen) back then.

Ida B. Wells High School

How many newspaper editors who ignored or apologized for racist lynchings have schools named after them? Ida B. Wells High School is in San Francisco (just across the park from the famous "painted ladies" Victorian mansions.)

AOL's Journalistic Values?

Soon after AOL announced its merger with HuffingtonPost in February, 2011 the Boston Globe published leaked AOL documents offering a glimpse into that company's journalistic approach -- assumedly very different from that of HuffPost. (H/t to former indy media student Leah, for summarizing the Globe piece.)

Internet offends French politicians...

...and dictators in Arab countries. Fitting cartoon, posted by Laura.

Is U.S. media system failing U.S. democracy?

A 2008 academic study compared the level of public knowledge about current events in Denmark, Finland, England and the U.S. It found that the countries with TV/radio dominated by public broadcasting -- Denmark and Finland -- were the best informed. Our country, dominated by corporate commercial media, was the least informed. The study's authors suggest that differing media systems play a role in those results.

A 2003 study of U.S. public knowledge of facts related to the Iraq War found that misperceptions were greatest among those whose primary info source was Fox News -- and least among those whose primary info source was public broadcasting. (A Pew poll taken in Aug. 2010 found that almost 1 in 5 Americans believed President Obama to be a Muslim; only 34% knew he is a Christian. 43% chose "don't know.")

"Night(mare) in Tunisia" for its Dictator

Back in 2007, citizen journalists/bloggers had documented the tourism/shopping trips of the dictator's wife aboard the presidential plane to Europe and global fashion capitals. (H/t Global Voices)

In 2010, the TuniLeaks website was set up to publish U.S. Embassy and State Department documents candidly describing the Tunisia dictatorship.

Powerful photo of dictator Ben Ali visiting the hospital bed of the desperate young man who set himself on fire in Dec. 2010 -- the young man didn't live long enough to learn that his act set off a revolution that overthrew Ben Ali.

Amid the protests, Tunisian rapper El General put out this widely-circulated music video attacking Ben Ali and urging folks to join the protests. El General was arrested for it. Soon after, the dictator fled. (H/t to Steve Zunes.)

After the Tunisian dictatorship fell, the bizarre allied dictator in neighboring Libya, Qaddafi, made a rambling speech denouncing the Internet, WikiLeaks, Twitter and Facebook, which he blamed for Tunisia events. Last year, Qaddafi was also driven from power -- by NATO air power and an armed insurrection.

Dizzy Gillespie performs his classic jazz tune,plays "Night in Tunisia."

Community Media Projects around the World

Thanks to Deep Dish TV, here's an interactive map.

Web TV Success Story: The Young Turks

Watch trailer on The Young Turks.

Nothing Says "Love" Better Than . . .Democracy Now!

Today's special Valentine edition of Democracy Now! -- featuring StoryCorps dialogues about love -- was a powerful example of independent public radio and TV at its best.

Global Voices Online

Always something interesting on Global Voices Online, including this recent review of Serbian media criticizing Angelina Jolie over the new movie she directed. This 2011 post features short videos on gender equality from Ukraine. This 2010 post features a public protest by a very brave professor and blogger in China, offering himself as a slave.

President Caught on Video: "Get Lost, You Idiot"

President Sarkozy caught on video calling a disgruntled citizen an "idiot" or "a**hole" or "stupid bastard" (depending on translation). French politicians are having difficulty tolerating the scrutiny from new media, Internet, online video -- especially compared to deferential coverage they're accustomed to from traditional media.

Our ex-prez caught on video.

Video & blogging for human rights

Launched in 1992 with the help of musician Peter Gabriel, the nonprofit Witness.org began distributing video cameras in hopes of minimizing human rights abuses. Their slogan: "See it. Film it. Change it."

Vancouver Film School students created an inspiring video, "Iran, A Nation of Bloggers", and put it online months before the tech-fueled protests over Iran's disputed 2009 election.

Murder of 28-year-old sparks Egypt uprising

In June, 2010, Khaled Said was
beaten to death by police in public for the crime of Internet use and, apparently, exposing police corruption. His martyrdom inspired protests and Internet organizing that led to the uprising six months later that ended the Mubarak dictatorship. Google exec and activist Wael Ghonim set up the powerful Facebook page "We Are All Khaled Said."

Blogger Marwa Rakha, born and raised in Egypt, posted about a mass detention of bloggers, including Wael Abbas, who tried to cover the aftermath of a massacre of Egyptian Christians.

Egypt: Bloggers/Net activists laid groundwork for uprising

With the Mubarak dictatorship in control of all major media in Egypt, brave Egyptian "citizen journalists" risked imprisonment and torture to blog or tweet about human rights abuses. Here's renowned Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas interviewed by BBC. Over the years, Abbas was harassed, censored and assaulted by authorities -- and was briefly detained during the uprising early in 2011.

I've been showing this fascinating 2008 video (with not-great English translation) -- "Internet Freedom in Egypt" -- since it appeared online.

Major U.S. Media Voice . . .

...explains Egypt in Jan/Feb of 2011, and how an Islamic Caliphate is ready to take over much of the world. Daily Show excerpt of GLENN BECK from his now-defunct Fox News program. Fuller Beck excerpts here.

The struggles over Pacifica Radio...

...never end. This arrived in my email inbox just minutes ago.

Good sources for...

...story ideas: Voices of New York (a project of CUNY Graduate School of Journalism) and and Color Lines.

Izzy Award-Winners Glenn Greenwald and Amy Goodman

Soon after accepting their Izzy Awards in Ithaca, NY in March 2009, Greenwald and Goodman spoke about independent media with Bill Moyers on public TV

Local Nonprofit Watchdog News Sites.

As local dailies have shrunk, local online nonprofit news sites have sprouted, such as the well-funded VoiceofSanDiego.org and the professionally-staffed MinnPost.com ("a thoughtful approach to news").

Debate over WikiLeaks

Blogger Glenn Greenwald (a WikiLeaks supporter) explains independent journalism to a CNN correspondent.

WikiLeaks website here. This leaked video (with over 12 million YouTube views) shows the killing of employees of the Reuters news agency and wounding of children by US attack helicopters in Iraq. Website of OpenLeaks, a new group that split off from WikiLeaks, website here.

Indy Filmmaker arrested in the People's House

In an unprecedented move yesterday, the Republican chair of the House Subcommittee on Science and Technology ordered Oscar-nominated filmmaker Josh Fox (Gasland)to be arrested and escorted out of a public hearing on fracking. Even without credentials, TV and film crews are traditionally allowed to film in hearings that are open to the public. The hearing focused on the finding from EPA scientists that fracking was the likely cause of major water contamination in Wyoming.

Student Multimedia Journalism

News 21 is a well-funded student journalism outlet (launched by two big foundations) that emphasizes in-depth reporting and multimedia presentation. Journalists at participating campuses investigate broad areas: for example, USC/money in politics; Syracuse/Latinos in Pennsylvania; UC Berkeley/nutrition and food.

Internet Hoaxes

Question: Are younger educated people who were raised on the Internet LESS likely to be taken in by hoax emails such as Obama as "radical Muslim" than Jon Stewart's 80-year-old aunt?

Short Indy Video Impacts 2008 Presidential Election

This 2008 Brave New Films video short "McCain's Mansions" (with over 600,000 views) boiled up through the media food chain into the mainstream. It impacted the campaign, as shown by this self-promotional video, "The Making of McCain's Mansions."