Journalism

“Billions of dollars are made in shredding the Constitution.
Not a single penny is made in restoring the Constitution.”

Naomi Wolf - January 17, 2009
Big Picture Theater - Mad River Valley, Vermont

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AN INVITATION . . . to affirm the role of news in the classroom
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The Media Giraffe Project at UMass Amherst, the Media Education Laboratory at Temple University and other collaborators invite you to to Philadelphia for some or all of Oct. 23-25 for a short, strategic convening of journalists, teachers, educational administrators, public policy researchers and engaged citizens. The topic: News literacy.

A former Los Angeles Times reporter has launched what he calls "an innovative program to help secondary-school students sort fact from fiction in the digital age." Alan C. Miller plans pilot projects in 2009. The "News Literacy Project" is backed by funding from the Ford Foundation and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation. The idea for the project arose from Alan Miller.s experience talking about his work and why journalism matters to 175 sixth graders at his daughter's middle school in Bethesda, Md. The first pilots will be in schools in New York City and Montgomery County, Md.

Rob's note: I've been sifting through a tremendous number of convention articles - this one seemed useful. Folks familiar with Daniel Boorstin's classic THE IMAGE would do well to re-read it right about now.

Convention stage is a show in itself
By David Bauder, Associated Press Wed Aug 27, (Via Yahoo News)

The stage of the Democratic National Convention is a mix of modern stagecraft and political consciousness.

Three plasma screens tower 103 feet above the stage. A video projection wall backs speakers with a sea of blue. The podium retracts when it's not being used.

The Dark Knight: The Joke Is On U.S.
by Rob Williams, ACME Co-President

I've got one word for you.

Wow.

It is so good to be amongst old friends and colleagues here at the 4th National Conference on Media Reform.

Where to start?

Eating Oil: “The War On Bugs” Sounds A “Pharm Alarm” About the Toxic History of American Agriculture

By Rob Williams

Read more about this book at Chelsea Green Publishing.

Ever since I read the provocatively hilarious book WHERE THE GIRLS ARE, I've enjoyed Susan Douglas' commentary. Here, she comments on how banal "horse race coverage" of the presidential "election" (and I use the term loosely) remains.

News You Can Lose
By Susan J. Douglas

Read the whole article here.

Remember how Dubya got kid-glove treatment during the 2000 debates, while the press incessantly ridiculed Al Gore? Well, here we go again.

From ACME advisory board member Peter Phillips.

An Election Without Meaning

By Peter Phillips

Rob sez: Kudos to ACME partners John Stauber, Sheldon Rampton and Diane Farsetta at the Center for Media and Democracy for their cutting-edge work on this issue.

One might argue that most of what passes for "news" on television is "fake" - a small sliver of our daily reality extruded through a variety of epistemological, economic, and political filters like so much shredded wheat.

But the widespread use of VNRS (video news releases) smacks of propaganda of the highest order. Thanks to CMD, this debate, on the heels of FCC fines, seems like a step in the right direction.