Posted on 07/09/2009 1:57:14 PM PDT by Nachum
(CNSNews.com) – Michael Copps, a commissioner with the Federal Communications Commission and its former acting chairman, has circulated an internal report examining the state of media journalism in America and discussing ways to address issues such as the rise of media conglomerates and the prevalence of opinion journalism.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnsnews.com ...
The list, ping
“localism” and “diversity” are the keywords here. Thats how they will try to shut down free speech on the radio
Copps blamed the Internet for what he saw as journalism’s decline, adding that consolidation and “mindless” deregulation of media ownership was undermining democracy.
“We’re not only losing journalists, we may be losing journalism,” he said. “Some blame the Internet and bloggers, and that’s certainly a part of the story. All that consolidation and mindless deregulation, rather than reviving the news business, condemned us to less real news, less serious political coverage, less diversity of opinion, less minority and female ownership, less investigative journalism and fewer jobs for journalists.”
who appointed him Czar? Oh, wait, I think I know....
“Since we still need broadcasters to contribute to the democratic dialogue, we need clear standards that can be fairly but vigorously enforced,” said Copps. “It is time to say ‘Good-bye’ to post-card renewal every eight years and ‘Hello’ to license renewals every three years with some public interest teeth.”
The trouble being that this writer has not the faintest clue as to what the public interest is. It is patent from his article that he buys the journalist's definition that "whatever is good for journalism is in the public interest." But what is good for journalism is a "great story." And a "great story" is nothing if not bad news and - to state the obvious - bad news is bad for the public. The claim that whatever is good for journalism is in the public interest therefore cannot possibly be right.
It is my considered opinion as an amateur media historian and a full-time student of the media that the FCC is completely powerless to control or otherwise affect information distribution today. The internet is simply too powerful and widespread for any government entity on Planet Earth to thwart.
It will change the way we live to an extent not seen since Gutenberg. Everything I read and see every day reinforces that prediction.
FCC Commissioner Circulates Document on ‘The Journalism of State Media'
Your public interest may be different from my public interest.
And I do know that my idea of public interest is radically different from that of the leadership of NBC, ABC, NYT et al.
As you correctly stated, for them, bad news IS good news. I don't watch any media or read papers anymore and have not for years, because the salacious is gold to them. They love it when people are tied up and twisted with fear and angst...it sells.
One of the most INCISIVE songs to me was "Dirty Laundry". Now, I know Don Henley is a major league liberal, but how could one argue with THIS:
We got the bubble-headed-bleach-blonde who
Comes on at five
She can tell you bout the plane crash with a gleam
In her eye
Its interesting when people die-
Give us dirty laundry
Can we film the operation?
Is the head dead yet?
You know, the boys in the newsroom got a
Running bet
Get the widow on the set!
We need dirty laundry
I agree completely.
I understand the media of the Internet is a double-edged sword, but I will take the risk of figuring out how to grasp that double edged sword by the blade and using it as I see fit, rather than having someone wield a safe sword handle on my behalf and putting my trust in them.
They betrayed my trust long, long ago, beginning with Joseph McCarthy, filling in the middle with Walter Cronkite commenting on The Tet Offensive and culminating with the Bush Presidency and the War in Iraq.
Well put. The internet - again, imo - represents freedom to a degree greater than any since the dawn of mankind. The free flow of information is the antidote to control.
"...But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science..."
I wonder how long it will inevitably be before a tyrannical government uses the technology to trap an unsuspecting populace. Look at what the Iranian government was said to do with Twitter, using it as somewhat of a Venus Fly Trap to track down and ensnare people who were using it to communicate with each other and the world.
Even still...I will take my chances.
Great posts. The State Sponsored Broadcast Propaganda...we might as well scrap it all and listen to mindless music from American idols...(and an intro by Dennis Miller to boot)...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2PxAIAI1QQ
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