Incommunicado Bar

Cartoon from New Yorker .(H/t Shaza E)

2nd cartoon: "I have a huge Internet following" (H/t Clara G)

Journalist Malcolm Gladwell: "Stop going to journalism programs"

Author/journalist Malcolm Galdwell ("Tipping Point," "Blink," "Outliers")gave this advice to young journalists in a 2009 Time interview:

The issue is not writing. It's what you write about. One of my favorite columnists is Jonathan Weil, who writes for Bloomberg. He broke the Enron story, and he broke it because he's one of the very few mainstream journalists in America who really knows how to read a balance sheet. That means Jonathan Weil will always have a job, and will always be read, and will always have something interesting to say. He's unique. Most accountants don't write articles, and most journalists don't know anything about accounting. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master's in statistics, and maybe do a bunch of accounting courses and then write from that perspective. I think that's the way to survive. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter.

In a 2011 Nation piece, Michael Tracey wrote: "...if you take a full major’s worth of journalism classes, that’s about twelve (or however many) less classes in the humanities that could’ve equipped you with an intellectual framework from which to approach your work."

Is our 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 about 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.")

Why don't we have public TV like this in the U.S.?

Weeks before the Iraq invasion, Jeremy Paxman of BBC's "Newsnight" and skeptical British citizens literally cross-examined Prime Minister Tony Blair about evidence/reasons/legality behind the invasion -- an interview whose transcript became part of last year's official Iraq inquiry in Britain. (Here's another tough Paxman interview of Blair having nothing to do with Iraq.)

In our country, bullying from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity at so-called "public television"...as evidenced by PBS surgically removing Tina Fey's comedic swipes at Sarah Palin from a broadcast in 2010.

Country by country comparisons of
spending on public broadcasting in this study (at page 31.)

Public access TV channels...

...have offered diverse and local voices, launched careers, and led to Saturday Night Live spoofs from Mike Myers -- such as "Wayne's World" and "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman."

Manipulating Image or Sound

Brittany R blogged about misleading editing at NBC on the George Zimmerman 911 tape.

Laura M blogged about these photos in a post headlined: "A Picture Tells A Thousand Lies?"

Best reporting by the ethnic and community press

"Ippies Awards" (not to be confused with the Izzy Awards). Some great media work recognized.

Open, fast Internet fading in USA?

USA is behind other countries when it comes to broadband access (15th place) and Internet speed (23d place).

There's a digital divide in our country whereby middle-class kids like my daughters grew up with fast Web-accessed computers in the home, while kids in rural areas and inner cities don't have computers or fast Internet.

In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality or Internet non-discrimination.

In August 2010, Keith Olbermann did a segment about Net Neutrality on his now-defunct show on MSNBC. Olbermann exited MSNBC as it was being taken over by Net Neut-foe Comcast. (Here's Jon Stewart's Net Neutrality segment from the same period.)

P.S. I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor."

Blogger puts video distortions into mainstream media

The late Andrew Breitbart, a former Drudge Report staffer, ran BigGovernment.com. In July 2010, the Obama White House fired US Dept of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod soon after BigGovernment posted a 100-second video excerpt purporting to show that, during a speech to the NAACP, Sherrod had boasted about discriminating against a white farmer while she was a federal employee during the Obama administration. Actually -- and Breitbart corrected that one error -- she was describing events in the 1980s when she was Georgia field director for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a nonprofit that had grown out of the civil rights movement to help Black farmers.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, a fuller version of the speech aired by CNN showed that Sherrod told the story to illustrate how she had overcome her racial hostility toward whites and ultimately helped the white farmer save his farm.

Months earlier, other selectively-edited tapes distributed by BigGovernment.com (played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere) helped put the anti-poverty group ACORN out of business. Rachel Maddow dissects the distorted presentation that doomed ACORN. (Fox News had goaded others in media for not doing enough ACORN-smearing.)

It wasn't just Fox News that promoted BigGovernment.com's misleading ACORN story. The Public Editor of the paper of record, the New York Times, went to absurd lengths to defend his paper's inaccurate coverage.

Beware Drudge "Exclusive"

Perhaps Matt Drudge should stick to aggregating content from elsewhere (with revved-up headlines) rather than "report" -- as demonstrated by this 1999 "world exclusive," which helped push the story into some mainstream outlets.(Crack investigative reporting compared baby pictures. H/t Bianca)

And as demonstrated by his 2007 "exclusive" in which he accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge's evidence-free charge -- based on an anonymous "official" -- was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times.

Deeper Transparency

ProPublica offers a new "Explore Sources" feature on some articles where readers can easily go to original source documents behind important facts in the story (H/t Mariana).

Undercover videos of farm animal abuse...

...to become illegal? Here's a helpful report from U.C. Berkeley News21 students.

Election 2008: Mayhill Folwer of HuffPost "Off the Bus"

Mayhill Fowler says she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton's angry words about a Vanity Fair reporter, while he greeted voters in public as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost "citizen journalist." Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest take from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)

Shouldn't public figures know nowadays that anything said in public -- especially rants (or racism) -- will be recorded and on record forever? Exhibits A and B.

Mayhill Fowler's earlier reporting scoop that launched "Bittergate" uproar.

Blogger Takes Ethical Step...And Then Some

Here's an example of a blogger acting professionally and ethically as per SPJ Code of Ethics. Blogger Ken Krayeske -- who gained fame by questioning University of Connecticut's basketball coach about his huge taxpayer-paid salary -- announced (in Oct. 2009) that he wouldn't be covering Hartford City Hall because his girlfriend had a job there.

How Movies Romanticize Journalists...

...as blogged by former indy media student Isabel Braverman.

Sexism in Media

Trailer for new documentary Miss Representation

Student blog round-up April 4

Google's product of the future. Are we okay with it? (H/t Sara)

Young Internet Voices plea for Net Neutrality in this video (H/t Mariana.)

Women Musicians Build Followings...

... through Facebook, reported NPR's Laura Sydell in 2010. The report discusses cellist Zoe Keating and
singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

YouTube stars get big bucks

What the Buck? Good question. Here's Michael Buckley's "My You Tube Story." (H/t Bianca) According to a Dec, 2008 New York Times report, Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year from his YouTube video-rants about celebs, plus a development deal from HBO.

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or ""Lisa Nova"has real talent for sketch comedy. Like Tina Fey, she liked to play Sarah Palin, including in this famous McCain/Palin rap.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- more than 60 million views, about 5 million of them in the last 5 months). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements within his videos.

My 15-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star and main source of daily news -- Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show") -- offers his take on current events and celeb news. Should I be monitoring my daughter's online activities better?

Become a YouTube Star and appear in a hugely popular music video with Weezer or the earlier one from Barenaked Ladies
.

"Where the Hell is Matt?" became so popular, the guy has had his travels paid by corporate sponsors for years.

Is wall between news/ads eroding on Internet?

A weird NY Times example found by "In Other News"(H/t Mariana)

Google - Verizon Deal Erodes Net Neutrality

Jon Stewart's take (H/t Laura M)

Web censorship China and Elsewhere

China's web censorship intensified this week. (H/t Brittany) Bianca found logo for Google- as opposed to Google + ...to indicate "subtracting" content.

Nice button(H/t Carly)

Google and Yahoo in China

In response to demands from China's government, Google agreed in June 2010 to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a tab users can easily click to be switched. Should Chinese citizens feel safe to hit that tab?

AFTER Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to the imprisoning of two Chinese dissidents in 2002 and 2004, the families of the victims sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it was establishing a fund for people jailed in China for posting human rights views online. Too little, too late?

Web & Wireless Censorship

The media reform group Free Press highlights media or telecom corporations caught censoring web or cellphone traffic.

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall Street and the United Nations, temporarily is delisted from Google News. The de-listing happened soon after Matt Lee of Inner City Press challenged Google over its commitment to free expression.

In 2007, consumer rights groups mobilized to tell the Federal Communications Commission: "No More Media Consolidation." CommonCause was blocked from placing an anti-consolidation ad on My Space, which Rupert Murdoch had bought in 2005 (and later sold). The banned ad featured a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media." Was it "My Space" or "Murdoch's space"?

Will Pay Walls Around News Content Work?

No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 U.S. Senate testimony. And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.

Formulaic News

With robots now reporting news (H/t Mariana G and Slate), it puts a spotlight on news by formula, which is lampooned in this BBC deconstruction of the sameyness of TV news reports.

Legal Insurrection blog

...promoted by an embattled Rush Limbaugh here and here.

Will Obama's FCC allow media giants...

...to get still bigger?

Facebook Diplomacy -- Israelis love Iranians and Vice Versa

Did you know "Israelis Heart Iranians" and "Iranians Love Israelis"? A leading Israeli daily
reports on how Israelis and Iranians are bombarding each other . . . with love. Video of Israeli who started campaign of people to people diplomacy toward Iranians

"The Young Turks" web TV show...

...covers the tragic killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Florida.

Pre-financing of indy media projects

Spot.Us involves the community in funding local watchdog journalism, as explained by its young founder, David Cohn.

Kickstarter.com is "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..." A key aspect of Kickstarter and similar funding platforms is "All or Nothing funding."

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

"Iraq for Sale" documentary was...

...funded mostly by small donors BEFORE the documentary was made.

Massachusetts court says bloggers...

...deserve the same privileges in covering courts and trials as traditional media. (H/t Bianca N.)

"The Internet Is My Religion"

Powerful speech from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.

Ramparts magazine

One of the most explosive indy magazines of the 1960s, Ramparts, published photos of the impact of U.S. napalm (a chemical weapon that eats away human flesh) on Vietnamese civilians in Jan. 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. credited those photos with being the spark that got him to break his silence and speak out loudly against the Vietnam War a few months later. Besides investigative journalism and scoops, Ramparts was known for its cover art.

Harassment of journalists covering Occupy movement

Citizen journalist with video camera tapes himself apparently getting shot by police rubber bullet while covering a seemingly peaceful lull Occupy Oakland (CA).

At Occupy Nashville, a reporter for the long-established weekly Nashville Scene was arrested for violating a curfew imposed by Tennessee's governor (a night judge questioned whether that's legal), was threatened with a "resisting arrest" charge, and was later charged with "public intoxication." Here's a report on the arrest from Nashville's big daily.

More than 60 mainstream and independent journalists have been arrested while covering Occupy protests in the U.S. -- as tracked by Josh Stearns of the media reform group Free Press.

1960s alternative sex/drugs columnist Dr. HIPpocrates . . .

...paved the way for "Savage Love" column by Dan Savage in today's alternative weeklies.

Egypt's Security Forces . . .

...can't intimidate as powerfully as they formerly did. This video shows a female Al Jazeera journalist turning the tables on Egyptian Security Service personnel.

Recent harassment of indy journalists

Since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence and constant harassment against "underground weeklies," repression against dissenting U.S. outlets has deceased. But it has not fully ended, as in Minnesota during the 2008 Republican Convention. (Three years later, the journalists' suit against the police was settled, with $100,000 in compensation being paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Departments and the Secret Service. The settlement included an agreement by the St. Paul police to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the 1st Amendment rights of the press and public, including proper procedures for dealing with the press covering demonstrations.)

Or as in Alaska, during the 2010 election. An online reporter was handcuffed and detained for asking questions of the Alaska Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, Joe Miller. The reporter -- a well-known journalist in the area and founder of Alaska Dispatch -- was handcuffed by Miller's security personnel after a dispute over his questioning of the candidate about his role as a former part-time city attorney. Here's Alaska Dispatch's version of the detention. The critical reporting on Miller's past -- and this heavy-handed incident -- contributed to Miller's stunning defeat in the November election.

"The Mayor's Afraid of You Tube"

Last October, hours after New York City authorities made a last-minute decision NOT to clear the Occupy Wall Street protesters out of Zucotti Park/Liberty Plaza, Michael Moore said this to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (begin 2:54 for context):

"One cop down there actually today. I asked...'Why don't you think the eviction happened?' And he said, 'Cause the Mayor's afraid of You Tube.'...The power of the new media, the media that's in the hands of the people -- that those in charge are afraid of what could possibly go out."

The Guardian in England....

...has been far ahead of most daily newspapers in embracing the Net and community participation. Here is its manifesto and video on "Open Journalism" -- a view on involving the public in journalism that is much more Deweyan than Lippmannite. (H/t Mariana G and Prof. Hamula)

Can bloggers/columnists with strong views . . .

. . .still engage in independent commentary (as opposed to partisan propaganda)? Here is some critical commentary from the conservative National Review Online within hours of John McCain selecting Sarah Palin as his running-mate in April 2008.

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."

Access to Newsmaker Sources

Can the need for access to newsmaker sources undermine unfettered journalism? Yes, says indy TV host Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, one of the most successful web-based TV shows.

Top CNN Executive Admits...

...to giving the Pentagon an advisory role on who its on-air experts would be during the controversial Iraq war.

Bold, indy blogger launches major controversy

Former IC journalism student Chris Lisee reports on the impact a single off-key journalist can have.

Too close to official sources?

At 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner, top journalists literally dance with a top source. These are social/charitable events where journalists and newsmakers are expected to have some fun, but is it symbolic of too much coziness?

A You Tube video . . .

...ends the political career of a powerful Republican senator, who had White House aspirations.

"Independent Media in a Time of War"

Video made by indy media collective based on an Amy Goodman speech from April 2003, when many in mainstream media were cheering what they saw as a quick, successful Iraq invasion.

"Stickin' It To The Man"

In the movie "School of Rock," a substitute teacher (played by Jack Black) explains the purpose of rock 'n' roll to his 5th grade students. Do rock & roll and independent media share a purpose?

"Daily Show" on End of NY Times?

The Daily Show's cruel 2009 look at the struggles of the New York Times and its "aged news." It made me unusually sympathetic to the Times.

Student Blogs

Brennin Cummings
Alexa D'Angelo
Keara Dowd
Brandon Doyle
Shaza Elsheshtawy
Sara Friedman
Mariana Garces
Clara Goldman
Carly Halpin
Laura Murray
Bianca Nicolosi
Shea O'Meara
Brittany Romano

Syllabus

Syllabus in Word doc here for Independent Media class.