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I'll put news articles
or other content in here that I think people might be interested in. Usually they'll
illustrate some point we're trying to make in class. They're pretty
much in chronological order, from more recent (top) to less (not top). One thing you'll notice--few of these stories come from mainstream commercial sources. Yes, this list is the product of a filtering process. Space is, on the Web anyway, finite. I try to stick to important stories that the press has trouble remembering the next day. And you'll see a focus on the actions and lack of accountability of the powerful as well. And . . . remember the course name--media, politics and propaganda--won't be much on celebrities here. In the interest of full disclosure, be forewarned--this material may contain levels of sarcasm that might not meet with FCC approval. And remember some easy rules that will ensure you're better informed:
- Avoid TV as a source of news (too short, too driven by ratings, too focused on the image, dumbed down, even PBS presents narrow range of viewpoints)
- Never rely on one exclusive source--get your news from multiple sources;
- Include within those sources some non-commercial outlets (less beholden to some of the filtering pressures)
- Include at least one respected international source (e.g., American media consumers were woefully insulated from world public opinion prior to the US invasion of Iraq, and are the least-informed of any industrialized nation of the potential threats of global warming)
- Check out a reputable watchdog site regularly to get a sense of the techniques of persuasion and deception media outlets and newsmakers use
Tea Party-related
WikiLeaks
- A mirror site (get them while U can!) here's the Facebook page
- GOP House intends to go after WikiLeaks (and other things)
- Vanity Fair's piece on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange
- 'Bad journalist!' So sez former NY Times reporter Judith Miller ('former' after her coverage for the Times of the Iraq War run-up was scrutinized)
- From Vanity Fair--details the Guardian's role in collaborating with WikiLeaks
- US Embassy cables from the Guardian's website
- NY Times' website
- From German site Der Spiegel
- Many interviews with founder Julian Assange on youtube (worth comparing US and international sources)
- Who's Bradley Manning?
- from NY Times Magazine
- 60 Minutes interview with Julian Assange (you should be looking for differences in how American outlets, and others, interview the WikiLeaks founder)
- More on the WikiLeaks founder, from the 'better story' department
- Saudi Arabia concerns about 'Peak oil.'
Miscellaneous
- What's happening in Wisconsin? The Governor is attempting to cut collective bargaining rights of state employees
- The Governor created deficits with business tax cuts, but insists unions must go (to pay for them, presumably), according to Wash Post's Ezra Klein
- Democrats leave state to slow things down
- The GOP calls out the State Police (whose union wouldn't be affected by the legislation) to bring back protesting democrats to take a vote on the bill. Wonder how much this is costing?
- Fox also includes on their front page an irrelevant 'flashback' to an August story about 'Milwaukee teachers wanted state-financed viagra.'
- Fox News wants you to decide--check out their editorialized poll
- from the Christian Science Monitor
- Glenn Beck disapproves. He says the protests mark the 'beginning of the American insurrection.' I guess after the Tea Party protests, everything else is just a copycat!
- Fox and different unions
- Protests, more
- Scott Walker, Governor
- Thom Hartmann
- Tim Phillips shows up in the darndest places
- The dispute spreads to other states
- Tom Vilsack, former Governor of Iowa and current USDA Secretary, announces deregulation of Monsanto's roundup-ready alfalfa. Happy birthday, Monsanto!
- Well, the tobacco industry is finally getting serious about asking hard questions (and providing Wiki-Style information), and hiring PR firms to create phony baloney news sites like E-cigstoday. And guess what?? TV doctors--yes, that's right, TV doctors--say e-cig is safer! But ..... Associated Content has concerns (and has ads for Nicoderm!). Here's lawyer John Banzhaf's take (of Supersize Me fame).
- Interesting NY Times take on the Supreme Court ruling affirming corporations' rights as individual citizens exercising free expression by spending billions buying politicians--are media companies (even websites) to be treated separately than others kinds??
- Year of mayhem?? According to Michael Klare.
- Karl Rove's name comes up in WikiLeaks story? Why am I not surprised?
- The Baghdad statue toppling--was it spontaneous? Orchestrated? Spontaneously orchestrated? Maass' article shows how media representation is never far from the mindset of the military in the TV age.
- Arizona shooting :
- CNN on Monday; Fox; Huffington Post; BBC; World Nut Daily; CS Monitor
- Sarah Palin took down her hit list and take a stand maps from her SarahPac.com website (so I've taken the liberty of providing them from other sources). Here's her tweet on the shooting.
- Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting did some research last year on Fox News punidts 'fantasizing' about killing some of the liberal politicians they cover on the network;
- The NY Times covers what it sees as some of the political angles
- CS Monitor's analysis of European coverage
- No one can say Jared Loughner is without complexity
- Sarah Palin's 'blood libel' speech (there's an explanation in the article of the meaning of 'blood libel'); no coverage on Fox's home page
- Everybody's favorite uninvited guests--the Westboro Baptist Church Contingency--will be 'received' (hopefully with some signs)
- Wait! Hold on! Westboro once again gets in the news for doing nothing. Not even posting videos on their facebook site!
- Be sure to write, Tom! (former Texas Congressman Tom Delay will do 3 years in prison, 10 yrs' probation).
- State o' the union speech from Pres. Obama, republican response (from Rep. Paul Ryan), Tea Party response (only covered by CNN, fom Michelle Bachmann); Fox has an on-staff psychiatrist to do analysis .... here's world reactions from CS Monitor . . .
Meanwhile . . . .
Bailout-related (another perspective on being on the brink of 'government tyranny')
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