Saturday, November 11, 2017
Undercover video of animal abuse at factory farms . . .
. . . has prompted "food libel" or "food disparagement" laws in many states, aimed at protecting powerful agribusiness interests that apparently have something to hide. Here's a video report from U.C. Berkeley News 21 students.
HuffPo Citizen Journalist Impacts 2008 Prez Election
Mayhill Fowler, a citizen journalist for HuffingtonPost's "Off the Bus" project, posted a report that launched the so-called "Bittergate" uproar that nearly derailed Obama's 2008 campaign.
The Bittergate of 2012 campaign: "47%-gate." (The 47% bartender/recorder.) During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton reportedly used a noise machine so journalists and others couldn't hear what was happening at her private, high-dollar fundraiser in Colorado.
In getting a later scoop, Fowler claims she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton in June 2008 as he verbally trashed a Vanity Fair reporter as "sleazy" and "dishonest" and "a scumbag, while greeting voters in public while on a campaign stop for his wife. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost "citizen journalist." Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest response from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)
Mayhill Fowler and Arianna Huffington photo (H/t Olivia R)
Should public figures know nowadays that anything said in public -- especially rants (or racism) -- will be recorded and available forever? Exhibits A (and A-1) features a U.S. senator and B features a comedic actor.
The Bittergate of 2012 campaign: "47%-gate." (The 47% bartender/recorder.) During the 2016 campaign, Hillary Clinton reportedly used a noise machine so journalists and others couldn't hear what was happening at her private, high-dollar fundraiser in Colorado.
In getting a later scoop, Fowler claims she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton in June 2008 as he verbally trashed a Vanity Fair reporter as "sleazy" and "dishonest" and "a scumbag, while greeting voters in public while on a campaign stop for his wife. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost "citizen journalist." Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest response from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)
Mayhill Fowler and Arianna Huffington photo (H/t Olivia R)
Should public figures know nowadays that anything said in public -- especially rants (or racism) -- will be recorded and available forever? Exhibits A (and A-1) features a U.S. senator and B features a comedic actor.
"1st Viral Video": George Holliday records 1991 LA Police Beating of Rodney King
Early "citizen journalist" George Holliday records "world's most famous home video." Here's a brief excerpt.
Tuesday, November 7, 2017
Snowden coverage: If U.S. media were state-controlled, how much different would it look?
My June 2013 piece on some of the mainstream media reaction to Snowden and his revelations about NSA collecting bulk surveillance on millions of people not suspected of any crime. NY Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin commented: "I'd arrest him [Snowden] and I'd almost arrest Glenn Greenwald." Meet the Press host David Gregory asked Greenwald, "Why shouldn't you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?" (start 1:30)
Snowden on how Thomas Drake retaliation influenced him.
At 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner, top journalists (including then-NBC White House correspondent David Gregory) were literally dancing with a top source, the controversial Bush aide Karl Rove. These are social/charitable events where journalists and news-makers are expected to have some fun, but is it symbolic of too much elite media/government coziness?
On the issue of "objective" vs "advocacy" journalism, here's a list of top works of journalism worth studying.
Here's an (unwitting perhaps) expose of journalistic/political corruption in D.C.
(H/t Sophia T): According to The American Press Institute, the original concept of objectivity in journalism requires “a transparent approach to evidence” so that “biases would not undermine the accuracy of their work” but it was never “meant to imply that journalists were free of bias.”
Here's an (unwitting perhaps) expose of journalistic/political corruption in D.C.
(H/t Sophia T): According to The American Press Institute, the original concept of objectivity in journalism requires “a transparent approach to evidence” so that “biases would not undermine the accuracy of their work” but it was never “meant to imply that journalists were free of bias.”
Saturday, November 4, 2017
Early You Tube Stars Earned Real Income
What the Buck? Here's Michael Buckley's "My You Tube Story." According to a Dec 2008 NY Times report, "You Tube Videos Pull In Real Money," Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year from his YouTube video-commentaries or rants about celebs.
Since she was about 14, my now-20-year-old daughter's main source of daily news was, for years, Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news. (Should I have been monitoring my daughter's online activities better?)
Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the big-time with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- over 86 million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.
MannyMua taking off makeup (h/t Alexis); Jake Paul vs Logan Paul and Daily Grace (h/t Mila)
Since she was about 14, my now-20-year-old daughter's main source of daily news was, for years, Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news. (Should I have been monitoring my daughter's online activities better?)
Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the big-time with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- over 86 million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.
MannyMua taking off makeup (h/t Alexis); Jake Paul vs Logan Paul and Daily Grace (h/t Mila)
The Rise of The Young Turks ("TYT")
The Young Turks is a web TV phenom, and YouTube played a major role in its success; here's a Turks' video on media censorship. (Cenk Uygur is sometimes "Mad as Hell"; it's the title of a doc on Cenk and TYT. Here's the original "Mad as Hell" excerpt from the 1976 movie Network.) A 2014 London daily profiled Cenk. And the doc "All Governments Lie" featured Cenk and TYT. Yours truly was interviewed by TYT about media coverage of former presidential candidate Bernie Sanders.
Brave New Films' "McCain's Mansions" played a role in the 2008 election campaign, thanks in part to YouTube. Ditto for this citizen journalism video about the then-dictator of Tunisia, and for this music video that helped build the successful insurrection against the dictator.
Brave New Films' "McCain's Mansions" played a role in the 2008 election campaign, thanks in part to YouTube. Ditto for this citizen journalism video about the then-dictator of Tunisia, and for this music video that helped build the successful insurrection against the dictator.
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