Mainstream Media

A Step Towards State-Run Media in the US?

By Carroll Andrew Morse | March 24, 2009 |

This is a tad frightening…With many U.S. newspapers struggling to survive, [Democratic Senator Benjamin Cardin] on Tuesday introduced a bill to help them by allowing newspaper companies to restructure as nonprofits with a variety of tax breaks… Cardin’s Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax…

Harriet Lloyd: News Not Fit to Print or Newsmakers Not Fit to Cover?

By Engaged Citizen | March 24, 2009 |

Amidst much wailing and gnashing of teeth, national and local newspapers bemoan dwindling readership and diminishing profits, with many closing their doors, unable to make ends meet. While the demise of the Fourth Estate is a shame, it is hardly a shocker. When a business consistently misdirects its marketing, it must expect to pay dire…

Scatting and Be-Bopping All Over the Paper

By Justin Katz | March 19, 2009 |

There isn’t much advantage to pointing these things out, at the local level. Those who get it will see, and those who choose not to see won’t get it. But I do wonder what the keepers of the Providence Journal’s credibility think of reporter Alisha Pina’s assessment that the following comment had sufficient content to…

But Whose Truth Must We Tell?

By Justin Katz | February 14, 2009 |

Now here’s an interesting, disturbing idea: Undoubtedly you’ve heard the calls for a return of the Fairness Doctrine. Listen, I am so sick and tired of “fair and balanced” as the next person yet I believe in separation of press and state. Hmmm. What to do…what to do? I got it! How about reversing the…

What’s the Stylebook Definition of “Independent”?

By Justin Katz | January 25, 2009 |

It’s not unreasonable to think such things possible in the United States as we tumble down the “stimulus” hill: The French state will help provide free newspaper subscriptions to teenagers for their 18th birthdays, President Nicolas Sarkozy announced Friday. But the bigger gift is for France’s ailing print media. Sarkozy also announced a ninefold rise…

The Warm Glow of Press Affection

By Justin Katz | January 24, 2009 |

It was a sad sort of laugh, but I couldn’t stop the guffaw’s escaping into the tire shop’s waiting area when I read the following from AP writer Charles Babington (emphasis added): At one point in Friday’s meeting in the White House’s Roosevelt Room, GOP Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona objected to a proposal to…

Taxpayer Group’s Message Spun

By Justin Katz | January 17, 2009 |

The East Providence Taxpayer Association is getting a lot of well deserved press, lately. The dispute in their city is big news, and the EPTA is keeping a consistent and measured message out there. From today’s Providence Journal: Standing in the cold outside East Providence High School yesterday, a lone spokesman for the East Providence…

Hashing out New Media/Old Media Roles

By Marc Comtois | January 4, 2009 |

Justin explained in his Newsmakers appearance one potential method by which the “old media”, newspapers (like the ProJo) in particular, could recalibrate and take advantage of the forum that bloggers provide (basically for free). To summarize, let the MSM focus on collecting news and the blogs deal with the discussion of the news . Glenn…

Feeding the Watchdog

By Justin Katz | January 2, 2009 |

And here, beginning in Connecticut, comes the reasoning that many suspected would arise for a mainstream media bailout: “I truly believe that no democracy can remain healthy without an equally healthy press,” said Fiedler, now dean of Boston University’s College of Communication. “Thus it is in democracy’s interest to support the press in the same…

Abandon Hope All Ye Who Run for Office

By Justin Katz | January 1, 2009 |

Is it me, or is the continued media harassment of the Palin clan beginning to seem like a more general warning: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin says her future son-in-law is not a high school dropout as the press is reporting. … Palin said some media outlets also are erroneously reporting that her 18-year-old daughter, Bristol,…