Nepal debates "Revolutionary Journalism"

With the new Maoist government locked in vital debates over the future direction of their revolution the practice of journalism has not been left out.

This is a vitally important debate after recent worker mobilisations against an unreceptive parts of the mainstream media, in particular, the Nepali Times. The debate also seeks to clarify the position of revolutionary journalists to mainstream journalist associations who may be, in effect, upholding the old media system and undermining true media freedom

Photo: Anti-Maoist journalists protest

Check out a report on the Revolutionary Journalists Assoc of Nepal here

'Studs' Terkel Will Be Missed

Man of the millions, legendary Pulitzer Prize winning U.S. broadcaster and author, Louis "Studs" Terkel passed away on October 31 at age 96.

Terkel became best known for his interviews chronicling some of America's hardest years, through the eyes of the working masses.

His approach of amplifying the voices of the voiceless was an essential part of his various radio shows, plays, tv shows and books including Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression (1970) and Working (1974).

His work became so synonymous with the struggle for a better world that he drew the eyer of authorties during the McCarthyist, anti-communist witch hunts during the 1950's. NBC chose to cancel his popular, but short lived, television show, Studs' Place, after he refused to say he was duped into signing political petitions by the Communist Party.

Studs represented a kind of journalism that has become a rare commodity in today's media environment. Never afraid of his radicalism, Terkel became a man dedicated to another vision of not only his own profession, but to the world as a whole.

He will be missed.

ABC Chief Praises Murdoch, Calls for More Cash

In a controversial speech to the National Press Club, ABC Chief Mark Scott has praised News Corp boss Rupert Murdoch as the last great hope for newspapers and old fashioned journalism.

With a funding agreement coming up before the end of the year, Scott then went on to pitch the claim for more money to help ABC fill this extra 'space'. Central to this bid is a new C-SPAN like Public Affairs Channel and a commitment to its 12 international bureaus.

Should be interesting to see how it all turns out, as this funding agreement could ultimately decide the future of the abc.

You can read an extract of Mark Scott's speech here

Wall Street Journal Crys Poor For Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch, the world's largest media mogul, whose empire takes in all media platforms and cotninues to grow across the globe is maybe best known for forcing governments to back down on media protection laws wherever he goes.

The Wall Street Journal, however, felt it most important to note that while Murdoch's combined salary, stock and bonus compensation rose 9% last fiscal year, to $27.1 million, his overall compensation dropped 14% due to accounting changes that slightly cut his retirement savings.

How Sad! ;)

While it is important we understand how much moguls like Murdoch are earning, especially in a time when the media is facing one of its greatest crisis and journalists are being sacked by the thousands throughout the western world. It is also important that these kinds of facts are backed up with the context that allows stakeholders to make valid decisions on the issue. But as both Wall Street Journal and its publisher Dow Jones are firmly planted under the Murdoch banner, it may be too much to ask.

Source article here

CIA GOES RECRUITING FOR JOURNALISTS

The history of the CIA in the journalism profession is long and illustrious. The spy agency have played a role in compromising journalism and putting journalists unneccessarily in harms way.

It is therefore unsuprising that the CIA sees journalism conferences as great recruiting ground. Particularly if they can find a way to compromise minority communities by doing so.

Recently, NPR (USA) reported on the CIA's activities at the recent Unity 08 conference. A particularly interesting point in the context of the current media crisis, though it is heartening seeing the resistance of many journalists to the CIA deciding to recruit at their events.

More Here

The Real News Alternative?

Below I have included an interview with Paul Jay, founder of therealnews, where he discusses the problems with current journalism practice and his own plans for therealnews on PBS.

Jay is hoping he can kick off a online video service funded purely with viewer contributions that will represent the story from outside a mainstream framework. The hope is that this kind of service can counter the mainstream news that supported the U.S government in its illegal invasion of Iraq and is currently cheerleading for an attack on Iran.

The problems with this model under the current system are numerous. Lack of internet access, lack of media alternative awareness, lack of financial ability. These are just a few of the wider (governmental responsibility) problems that therealnews is going to have to work around and without funding from foundations, corporations or state growth is going to be a hard slog.

View the Video here

Media Needs To Promote Climate Solutions

The fight against climate change is one of the greatest fights our planet has ever faced. The media still has the attention of the wider public. The responsibility of the media is therefore huge.

The way the media portrays the issues of climate change is therefore paramount in what path is taken in attacking the issue. We need real debate, as well as a media that will reveal the horrible truths of climate change, while not forgetting to tell us about those advancements that can give us hope. But will our media, with its own corporate backers to appease and look alike governments to cover really get to the real story we need... Time will tell.

It's a huge issue that needs to be addressed ASAP, even the Colombia Journalism Review is discussing it. As you can check out at: http://www.cjr.org/feature/climate_change_now_what.php

6,000 U.S. Newspaper Jobs Lost!...Now What?

Today, DemocracyNOW! features an interesting roundtable on the media crisis .

The roundtable involves Linda Jue, former head of the Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California Chapter; Chris Hedges, a former reporter for the New York Times and now with the Nation Institute; and Bernie Lunzer, the new president of the Newspaper Guild.

One of the biggest issues to come out of the discussion was the question of how new media models currently being promoted on the intenet can be funded in order to be able to offer competitive high level journalism.

Chris Hedges, while clearly very pessimistic about the future of journalism, understands the importance of decent budgets in being able to provide high quality journalism. The mainstream media has straggled at the sight of new technology, while alternative sources are held back by lack of resources.

The question is ultimately around what value will our society put into journalism in the future. Will either corporations or governments make the important investments needed to provide this and what will they expect in return?

These are all important issues that need to be discussed within the media reform movement as we fight towards a better (quality, structured and funded) media environment.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/7/29/newspapers_suffer_spate_of_layoffs_decline

Geelong Addy Tries To Reinvigorate Dying Format...One Faultering Inch at a time!

Under headlines of "Readers Sack the Editor", one could be confused into believing that media democracy is just around the corner. But in a piece of Public Relations gold, the Geelong Advertiser has been able to gain mass acclaim, by not doing much at all.

The paper has started to allow its readers to vote on front page stories from a list decided on by the paper's editorial committee. It is hoped the campaign can help excite readers into buying the local paper because it would feature the stories they want to read about on the front page. This is an extremely corporate friendly and ultimately shallow view of how to gain reader empowerment, especially in this age of web 2.0.

Over recent months, the Advertiser has embarked on what it describes as a campaign focus. The key plank to think has been the "Just Think" Campaign against Violent crime. One of the key demands of this campaign has been to get more police on Geelong's streets. This has been a failed strategy. This is because in an effort to get more cops on the street, the Addy has forgotten to address the causes of a lot of crime and violent crime. Central to this are the social factors that surround us all. Geelong is home to some of the most underprivileged people in the state. Until these social problems are addressed, all the cops in the world won't stop violence. They will only heighten tension and make the broader community feel like we are living in some kind of police state.

So one must ask who is the Geelong Addy really serving? Are they really interested in media democracy? It seems that all they are serving is their own bottom lines while doing as little as possible to change their top-down approach to journalism. Let me know what you think.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,24031377-13480,00.html
http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/article/2008/07/15/16082_news_pf.html

O'Reilly's Producer Gets Slammed!

In what was the clear highlight of the recent National Conference for Media Reform in Minnesota, Bill O'Reilly's (of Fox News shame) Producer get journalistically slammed by Bill Moyers (from the Bill Moyers Journal on PBS) for his Pro-War sympathies.
Luckily some guerilla reporters were close by and able to record it and therefore expose the sly tactics adopted by Fox News as they attempted to "EXPOSE" a media reform conference for being partisan!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JN-vrcbHJVA