Posts tagged “mainstream media”

“The situation ended without incident as students gradually left the scene.”

This policeman is captured on film as he is about to smash his baton down upon his victim on Friday, November 20, 2009, outside Wheeler Hall on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

Image: @thedailyclog

This policeman is captured on film as he is about to smash his baton down upon his victim on Friday, November 20, 2009, outside Wheeler Hall on the campus of the University of California at Berkeley.

The headline here is taken from CNN’s shameful coverage of the events of the past week at the University of California system. It refers specifically to a UCLA protest, while the image above comes from UC Berkeley, but it is apropos nonetheless. Remember, the UCLA protest included students being maced, beaten with batons, tasered, and arrested. There is no bastardized version of the English language in which it is possible to make such incidents equate linguistically to “ended without incident.”

CNN is lying to you. MSNBC makes no mention(1, 2) of the police brutality in California or New York City. Fox News? They have been hosting a 24/7 webcam feed for over a year so they can keep an eye on the protesters outside the Marine recruiting station in Berkeley, but they have not made a single mention of the UC protests, at least nowhere I can find online. And of course no one is talking about the students in Vienna marching on the US embassy in support of the UC uprising or the occupations of the various Universities across Europe or how this is a global movement in favor of free or cheap education.

Corporate media are not interested in giving you the truth. They have a singular interest: maximizing profit for their shareholders. That’s why you should consider donating to independent media outlets, places like Democracy Now!, IndyMedia and little ol’ me! If you find yourself at a site that is giving you information that you are not getting from CNN, MSNBC, Fox, and their ilk, throw a dollar or two at the proprietor of the site. You would be amazed at how far that would go if everyone did that. So, check out my brand new, ass-kicking, Ruth Gator Binsburg donation button if you are so inclined. But even if you can’t spare a square, keep fighting the good fight!

Thanks, @erinacb!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jon Stewart focuses the Palin problem

The Daily Show - The Rogue Warrior


As much as I’d like to write another scathing diatribe on the most-favored dullard vacuously promenading around the mainstream media these days, I’ll just kick back and let Jon Stewart skewer Alaska’s quitter-in-chief. Enjoy! See you around Circus Maximus!

Tags: , , , ,

Factoid: Katie Couric’s Salary vs. NPR’s Budget

Katie Couric’s annual salary is more than the entire annual budgets of NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered combined. Couric’s salary comes to an estimated $15 million a year; NPR spends $6 million a year on its morning show and $5 million on its afternoon one. NPR has seventeen foreign bureaus (which costs it another $9.4 million a year); CBS has twelve. Few figures, I think, better capture the absurd financial structure of the network news.Michael Massing
Columbia Journalism Review

Via BoingBoing

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Glenn Beck: just stupid or actually mentally challenged?

Is Glenn Beck actually handicapped?


Poor Glenn. He is a huge star on Fox News and conservative radio across the country (though he is losing his grasp), but claims to be outside the “mainstream” media. He rails against the (wonderful and essential) fairness doctrine, but who would we put up to counter the above clip? A first grade spelling list? There’s nothing fair about that!

I wonder if the crew members in the Fox studios watch this stuff as it is happening and just pull their hair out or are they too inebriated from the kool-aid to notice? Take a moment and vote below so I can get a better feel for how I can proceed with coverage of Beck. After all, it isn’t any fun to mock him if he actually can’t help himself. Then, after the jump, nauseate yourself by watching Glenn try to flirt with/sexually harass one of his “correspondents”.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

The King is dead. Long live the King.

You are looking at an original Thriller picture disc (in original packaging), the very first full-length album I ever owned. I had previously purchased Twisted Sister’s 45 of We’re Not Gonna Take It and Van Halen’s Jump/Panama 45 split (Edit: I’m so old, I’m already beginning to forget important details. Both these 45s came out in 1984, after I got the Thriller disc, so Michael was my very first album!) This piece of Americana, pressed into vinyl, was given to me by my parents on my fourth birthday. All my pre-school friends were at the house and we put it on my Fisher-Price record player and danced around. What a fantastic memory!


As I type this, I’m listening to Number Ones and Michael’s unwitting presence throughout my life is crystallizing. His influence snuck up on me, from my pre-school dance party to my favorite college bar, where I would play Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough, each and every time I was there, on the best jukebox in Lawrence. I was always a fan, but I was never conscious of how much his work touched my life until today. It wasn’t Michael himself (thankfully) that made an impression on me. It was his pervasive presence in world culture, his undeniably excellent music. Regardless of his misdeeds and extreme creepiness, both of which cannot be ignored, that cultural impact is indelible.

Still, I didn’t give him a second thought after Scream was released. As far as I was concerned he was done as an artist at that point; the freak-flag-flying had won the war. But his legions of fans carried on and many are devastated around the world today. I can’t help but think that those who are so very sad today shouldn’t be.

The Michael Jackson that we all loved and were so influenced by died years ago. The “man” that died yesterday was trapped in a body he clearly despised, existing in a state of pseudo-humanity. He is finally free. In spite of any folly or mischief that may have led to this end, we should be happy for him. He could finally stop; he’d gotten enough.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tell me again, why are newspapers failing?

Video: The Daily Show

Evidently, The Times is unfamiliar with The Daily Show.

1) Seriously, Bill Keller, why would you agree to this interview? Did your kids want to see you on the funny news show?

2) Rick Berke: you really never considered that a newspaper contains “aged” news? Your web staff just threw up in their mouths.

3) Kristin Mason: for future reference, the coordination of communications involves the ability to deviate from script.

This was amateur hour with the senior staff of one of the biggest media companies in the world. They got their asses handed to them by the same actor who stole Ted’s fiance on How I Met Your Mother. Perhaps if Keller didn’t spend so much time at the Baghdad bureau, he could turn the news organization he runs into a 21st century operation. Goo.

Disclosure: This was written by someone who occasionally does his own reporting, but usually does get by poking holes in the shoddy work of others.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quotable: Michael Lynton

I’m a guy who doesn’t see anything good having come from the Internet, Period.Michael Lynton
Sony Pictures Entertainment chief executive officer

Hmmm, I wonder why mainstream media outlets are behind the curve?

Via BoingBoing

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Nate Martin, now of the Chicago Tribune

Check out my friend Nate’s big debut in the Chicago Tribune, Creative hosts conjure recession-friendly entertainment. No, this is not Nate’s typical work delving into guerilla warfare, house music, international couch surfing and the intersections contained therein, but hey, it is the eighth-largest daily newspaper in the country. Well done, Nate! Keep digging your fangs into the msm and eventually, you might just seep into their bloodstream!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Jon Stewart nails CNBC (and Cramer) to the wall

Jim Cramer on The Daily Show - Part 1

In this day and age, we find ourselves in an odd world. The people that run around calling themselves journalists are actually much more interested in entertaining their audience than providing insightful reporting. At the same time, our comedians, traditionally the group charged with “entertaining”, find themselves the only truth-tellers left on the block. From David Letterman’s gutting of John McCain to last night, when Jon Stewart captured the populist outrage and unleashed it on CNBC via surrogate JIm Cramer, the comedian has become a last bastion of journalistic truth in this insane society.

I’m with Stewart: I wish journalists would ask incisive questions rather than have a financial news network full of bobble-headed bimbos reading press releases to the frothing masses that make up the financial industry. But until that time comes, I’m thankful to have modern American heros like Letterman and Stewart, stepping into the gaping chasm that should be filled by the Fourth Estate. Kudos and thanks to you, Jon Stewart. Keep fighting the good fight!

Part II and III of the interview after the jump… Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I dislike Bobby Jindal as much as the next guy, but damn, this is bias

Come on, Matthews! Remember the mic!

Thanks, Kevin!

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,