Why can't we have this kind of public TV in US?

Weeks before the 2003 U.S./British invasion of Iraq, the BBC's Jeremy Paxman and skeptical British citizens literally cross-examined Prime Minister Tony Blair about evidence/reasons/legality behind the invasion -- an interview whose transcript and Blair's comments became part of Britain's official Iraq inquiry in 2011. (Here's another tough Paxman interview of Blair . . . unrelated to Iraq. And here, Paxman interviews Rusell Brand in Oct. 2013.)

In our country, pressure from politicians + lack of insulated funding = embarrassing timidity at so-called "public television"...as evidenced by PBS surgically removing Tina Fey's comedic swipes at Sarah Palin from a broadcast in November 2010.

Country by country comparisons of taxpayer spending on public broadcasting here.

In Feb, a mini-scandal blew up over corporate underwriting of U.S. public TV and I was interviewed on the topic by The Real News Network. Here's a "Family Guy" take on PBS sponsorship and content. (H/t Miranda M)

Are we losing fast, open Internet in USA?

In the opening scene of the Outfoxed documentary, media scholar Robert McChesney explains how big media corporations (acting almost like gangsters) have made media policy behind closed doors, dividing the cake among themselves. If the FCC were doing its job, it might pose gentle but probing questions of gangsta Murdoch and "Murdochopoly," as Jon Stewart does here. (Years ago, Murdoch famously said: "Monopoly is a terrible thing, until you have it.")

The USA, where the Internet was invented, lags behind other countries in download speed and upload speed. In 2009, big Internet providers such as Verizon, Comcast, AT&T DID NOT APPLY for any of the billions in federal stimulus grants for expanding broadband infrastructure, according to the Wall St. Journal, because recipients of our tax money had to agree to respect Net Neutrality.

On HBO in June, "investigative comedian" John Oliver offered a powerful commentary in support of Net Neutrality, generating so many comments to the FCC that it crashed the Commission's website. Months of public pressure sparked President Obama last week to finally speak clearly that his FCC should protect Net Neut. 

P.S. "Survey Shows Satire News Programs Inform People Better Than Actual News on Net Neutrality," reports Dan Van Winkle in summarizing a University of Delaware survey.  (H/t Chelsea T)

P.S.S.  In 2010, a Daily Show segment on Net Neutrality lampooned Google for cutting a deal with Verizon that would subvert Net Neut. 

P.P.S. In January 2011, I was asked to appear on a talk-radio show on a big city station to analyze Keith Oblermann's exit from MSNBC; when I suggested a link to the Comcast takeover and criticized Comcast's opposition to Net Neutrality, a producer asked me during a commercial break to stop the "Comcast-bashing" because "they're our biggest sponsor."

Breitbart website injects video distortions into mainstream media

The late Andrew Breitbart, a former assistant to Matt Drudge, ran BigGovernment.com and other websites (now found at Breitbart.com). In July 2010, the Obama White House forced U.S. Dept of Agriculture employee Shirley Sherrod to quit after BigGovernment posted a 100-second video excerpt purporting to show that, during a speech to the NAACP, Sherrod had boasted about discriminating against a white farmer while she was a federal employee in the Obama administration. Actually, as Breitbart later semi-corrected, Sherrod was describing events in the 1980s when she was Georgia field director for the Federation of Southern Cooperatives, a nonprofit that had grown out of the civil rights movement to help Black farmers. More importantly, a fuller version of the speech aired by CNN indicated that Sherrod told the story to illustrate how she had overcome her racial hostility toward whites and ultimately helped the white farmer save his farm.

Ten months earlier, in 2009, other selectively-edited tapes distributed by Breitbart's website (played repeatedly on Fox News and elsewhere) helped put the anti-poverty group ACORN out of business. Rachel Maddow dissects the distorted presentation that doomed ACORN. (Fox News had goaded others in media for not doing enough ACORN-smearing.)

It wasn't just Fox News that promoted the misleading ACORN story. The Public Editor of the paper of record, the New York Times, went to absurd lengths to defend his paper's inaccurate coverage

When Drudge posts "Exclusive," readers beware

Perhaps Matt Drudge should stick to aggregating content from others (often with his revved-up headlines) rather than "report" -- as demonstrated by this 1999 "World Exclusive," which helped push a hoax into the mainstream media.

And as demonstrated by his 2007 "exclusive" in which he accused CNN reporter Michael Ware of "heckling" Republican senators during a news conference in Iraq and "laughing and mocking their comments." Drudge's evidence-free charge -- based on an anonymous "official" -- was picked up by rightwing blogs and the Washington Times. Video of the news conference showed Ware hadn't opened his mouth.

PewDiePie? WTF?

This guy brings in millions of viewers and big bucks with videos like this. (H/t Chelsea)

Mainstream TV news reports can suffer from formulaic-ness (in content AND form)

BBC correspondent Charlie Brooker lampoons the sameyness (and cliches) of  mainstream TV news reports.

First viral video? George Holliday records Rodney King beating by LAPD

Pre-citizen journalist George Holliday records "world's most famous home video." Here's an excerpt.

Undercover videotaping of animal abuse at factory farms . . .

. . . has prompted "food libel" or "food disparagement" laws in a dozen states, aimed at protecting powerful agribusiness interests that apparently have something to hide. Here's a video report from U.C. Berkeley News21 students.

2008 Presidential Election: Huffpost citizen journalist had major impact

Mayhill Fowler, a citizen journalist for HuffingtonPost's "Off the Bus" project, posted a report that launched the "Bittergate" uproar that nearly derailed Obama's 2008 campaign. The Bittergate of 2012 campaign: "47%-gate."

In getting a later scoop, Fowler said she didn't hide that she was recording ex-President Clinton as he savaged a Vanity Fair reporter as "sleazy" and "slimy" and "dishonest" and "a scumbag, while greeting voters in public as he campaigned for his wife in June 2008. BUT Clinton obviously did not know Fowler was a HuffPost "citizen journalist." Should she have ID'd herself? (She clearly got a more honest take from Clinton than if he'd known she was a journalist.)

Should public figures know nowadays that anything said in public -- especially rants (or racism) -- will be recorded and available forever? Exhibits A (and A1) features a U.S. senator and B features a comedic actor.

Edward Snowden Coverage: If U.S. Mass Media Were State Controlled, Would They Look Any Different?

My June 2013 piece on some of the mainstream media reaction to Snowden and his revelations about widespread NSA surveillance.  NY Times journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin's 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?"

Blogger Took Ethical Action

Here's an example of a blogger acting quite professionally and ethically. Ken Krayeske, who questioned University of Connecticut's basketball coach about his huge taxpayer-paid salary -- announced in Oct. 2009 that he wouldn't be covering Hartford City Hall because his girlfriend had a job there. If he'd disclosed the relationship and kept covering City Hall, that  might have been sufficient from an ethical standpoint.

AOL's Journalistic Value$

Soon after AOL announced its merger with HuffingtonPost in February, 2011 Business Insider (followed by the Boston Globe) published leaked AOL documents offering a glimpse into that company's journalistic approach -- not one that Arianna Huffington would endorse. (H/t to former indy media student Leah T, for posting the Insider's summary of AOL's guidelines.)

Indy Musicians Stay in Touch with 'True Fans' . . .

. . . by using Facebook, reported NPR's Laura Sydell in 2010. The report discusses cellist Zoe Keating and singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

YouTube Videos/Web TV News Can Have Impact

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. A London daily recently profiled Cenk Uygur and The Young Turks


Brave New Films' "McCain's Mansions" played a role in the 2008 election campaign, thanks in part to YouTube.

Early You Tube Stars Get 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 (plus an HBO development deal) from his YouTube video-commentaries or rants about celebs.

For years, my 17-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star and main source of daily news has been 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?)

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or ""Lisa Nova"has talent for sketch comedy and parodies. Like Tina Fey, she liked to play Sarah Palin, including in this infamous McCain/Palin rap. Later she launched a company promoting hundreds of YouTube video producers. Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- 78 million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.

Web Censorship/Persecution in China

After Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to 10-year prison sentences for two Chinese dissidents beginning in 2003 and 2005, the families of the victims (Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao) sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it had established a fund for people persecuted or jailed in China for posting political views online. Too little, too late?

In response to demands from China's government, Google agreed in June 2010 to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a tab users can click to be switched. Should Chinese citizens feel safe when hitting that tab?

Web Censorship in the USA

In 2008, the media reform group Free Press highlighted media and telecom corporations who'd recently been caught censoring web or cellphone traffic.

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall Street and the United Nations, was temporarily delisted from Google News. The de-listing happened soon after Matt Lee of Inner City Press challenged Google over its commitment to free expression.

I.C. grad Kate Sheppard at HuffPost reports on . . .

. . . reduction of environment reporters and enviromental coverage at NPR. 

Tom Tomorrow, editorial cartoonist

The chaining of alternative weeklies can undermine alternative cartoonists like "Tom Tomorrow"/Dan Perkins.

A Victory for Bloggers' Access to Courts

In March 2012, a Massachusetts court ruled that bloggers deserve the same privileges in covering courts and trials as traditional media.

Can Pay Walls Around Online News Content Help Save Newspapers?

No, says Arianna Huffington, as she testifies on "The Future of Journalism & Newspapers" before the U.S. Senate in May 2009 (at 59:02). And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.  (A former indy media student complained about Boston Globe's paywall around the Globe's editorial.)

Pre-financing of "Iraq for Sale" documentary

This Robert Greenwald documentary was funded mostly by small donors BEFORE the movie was made -- an example of grassroots pre-financing of a work that had real impact.

(Brave New Film's latest documentary -- "Unmanned: America's Drone Wars" -- was screened on Capitol Hill, accompanied by Pakistani civilians who testified about having survived U.S. drone strikes.) 

Pre-financing of journalism or media projects

A new project, Beacon, hopes to fund freelance writers by seeking donations of $5 per month; in return, donors have access to all articles on Beacon. Here is NY Times write-up.

Kickstarter.com is "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..." A key aspect of Kickstarter and similar funding platforms is "All or Nothing funding."

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

Here was a successful Kickstarter fundraising drive in 2013 that saved a local movie theater. Here's a documentary movie project that I'm a tiny part of, which has used Kickstarter successfully.

Singer/songwriter Jill Sobule . . .

. . . raised $75,000 in small donations from her fans in 2008 to pay for professional recording fees to produce her next album. Here's one of her semi-hits, "I Kissed a Girl," (not to be confused with Katy Perry song that came out a dozen years later).

Is power over the Web concentrating in a few corporate hands . . .

. . . as happened years earlier to the TV and newspaper and book publishing industries?  According to Michael Wolff in the Sept. 2010 issue of Wired: "the top 10 Web sites accounted for 31 percent of US pageviews in 2001, 40 percent in 2006, and about 75 percent in 2010."

Brave New Films Co-founder Says: "The Internet Is My Religion"

Intensely personal 2011 speech from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.

Some journalists expose problems, others report on fixing them

A non-profit project funded by big, mainstream foundations -- the Solutions Journalism Network -- says it will focus on journalism that points toward solutions (Sojo).

"Bloggers Bring In Big Bucks"

This Business Week slideshow in July 2007 summarized some of the most (financially) successful early blogs covering technology, fashion, celebs, politics. Almost all are still successful today. (Here is the intro to the slideshow.)

Paul Krassner and "The Realist"

The leading satire publication of the underground press from late1950s through 1970s and beyond -- a Mad magazine for adults -- was The Realist. A famous Realist poster from 1963. My humble contribution in 1994.

Can journalists/columnists with strong political ideologies . . .

. . . still engage in independent commentary -- as opposed to partisan propaganda? Here's some critical commentary from the conservative National Review Online within hours of John McCain selecting Sarah Palin as his running-mate in August 2008. (This isn't the drumbeat GOP cheerleading one might get from a less independent source like Fox News at that crucial juncture.)

Glenn Greenwald answers absurd question from elite TV "journalist"

In June 2013, Meet the Press host David Gregory asked Greenwald a question based on false assumptions and ending: "Why shouldn't you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?" He got a loud answer.

Cops vs. Journalists Covering 'Occupy Wall Street' Movement 2011-2012

HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS COVERING OCCUPY MOVEMENT: Citizen journalist with video camera tapes himself apparently getting shot by police rubber bullet while covering a seemingly peaceful moment during Occupy Oakland (CA) protests.  At Occupy Nashville, a reporter for the long-established weekly Nashville Scene was arrested for violating a curfew imposed by Tennessee's governor (a night judge questioned whether that's legal), was threatened with a "resisting arrest" charge, and was ultimately charged with "public intoxication." Nashville's big daily reported on the dubious arrest.

Between Sept 2011 and Sept 2012, more than 90 journalists (both independent and mainstream) were arrested while covering Occupy protests in the U.S. -- as tracked by Josh Stearns of the media reform group Free Press.  Removing journalists and citizen journalists from the scene seemed to be a strategy because acts of police brutality -- when recorded by citizen journalists and ubiquitous cameras & cells -- led to more sympathy and activists for the movement: for example, in NY City and at University of California, Davis. Like in the 1960s, the federal government built a large surveillance apparatus to surveill Occupy activists. 

"THE MAYOR'S AFRAID OF YOU TUBE": In October 2011, hours after New York City authorities made a last-minute decision NOT to clear protesters from the original Occupy Wall Street site in Zucotti Park/Liberty Plaza in Lower Manhattan, filmmaker Michael Moore said this to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (begin 2:54 for context):

"One cop down there actually today. I asked...'Why don't you think the eviction happened?' And he said, 'Cause the Mayor's afraid of You Tube.'...The power of the new media, the media that's in the hands of the people -- that those in charge are afraid of what could possibly go out."

Recent harassment of indy journalists

Since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence and continuous harassment against "underground weeklies," repression against dissenting U.S. outlets has decreased but certainly not ended. Case in point: the 2008 Republican Convention in Minnesota. Three years later, the journalists' suit against the police was settled, with $100,000 in compensation being paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis police departments and the Secret Service. The settlement included an agreement by the St. Paul police to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the 1st Amendment rights of the press and public, including proper procedures for dealing with the journalists covering demonstrations.

Two Alternative Media Stars of 1960s

RAMPARTS: One of the most explosive indy magazines of the 1960s, Ramparts published photos of the impact of U.S. napalm (a chemical weapon that eats away human flesh) on Vietnamese civilians in Jan. 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. credited those photos with being the spark that got him to break his silence and speak out loudly against the Vietnam War a few months later.  Besides its investigative scoops and idramatic story-telling, Ramparts was known for its cover art shown here and here.

"Dr. Hip": Syndicated widely to "underground weeklies," Dr. Eugene Schoenfeld dispensed blunt and humorous advice about sex (and drugs). That legacy is carried on by Dan Savage's "Savage Love" column in today's alternative weeklies.

Independent outlets in Russia facing government intiimidation

Russian government issues warning to an indy publicaton, which is publishing critical stories about Russian military involvement re Ukraine.

"Kill the Messenger" movie on investigative journalist Gary Webb

Here's my column on Webb and "Kill the Messenger" published Monday.  Here's the movie's official website & trailer.

Margaret Sanger -- flawed heroine

Sanger is proof that heroes, including media heroes, are often flawed. This article from Women's E-News discusses her flirtation with eugenics-oriented arguments in support of birth control in the early 1920s.

Dinner with Amy Goodman

In the early 1900s, the socialist Appeal to Reason newspaper offered yachts, fruit farms and motorcycles as premiums to bring in revenue and subscriptions. Democracy Now! offers Dinner and a Show with Amy Goodman.    (After meeting Amy at a dinner party, Regis and his sidekick acknowledge that their Regis and Kelly TV show is about "nothing.")

Is Colbert today's Upton Sinclair?

Stephen Colbert accepted the challenge of experiencing difficult working conditions as a farm worker. Here he is doing farm labor.

Or is it Barbara Ehrenreich, who worked at low wage jobs (waitress, maid, Wal-Mart employee) for her book Nickel and Dimed to see if she could make ends meet?

Students today carry on Ida B. Wells' legacy

In last dozen years, Northwestern University journalism students and their professors have been instrumental in proving the innocence of many prisoners in Illinois, several of whom had been sentenced to death. Their investigative journalism ultimately sparked the abolition of the death penalty in Illinois in 2011.

Lynching prompted the classic Billie Holiday song,"Strange Fruit," which she recorded independently in 1939 -- getting around the objections of Columbia, her record label: "Black bodies swinging in the Southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees." It ultimately became her biggest selling record. Time magazine denounced the song as a "piece of musical propaganda." The song's lyrics were inspired by this photograph of a 1930 lynching in Indiana.

Re Legacy: No schools are named after newspaper editors because they ignored or apologized for racist lynchings. But Ida B. Wells has a high school named after her (school home page here) in San Francisco (just across the park from the famous "painted ladies" Victorian houses.)

Journalists Re-fight Old Battles

Dissident journalists of the past exposed many social problems (like the labor weeklies spotlighting the problem of people being jailed simply for being in debt) and brought about reform. Debtors prisons were abolished. But other journalists --  years or generations later -- may have to keep exposing the issue . . . as these investigative journalists for the big mainstream daily in Minneapolis recently did.

"It's not a crime to owe money, and debtors' prisons were abolished in the United States in the 19th century. But people are routinely being thrown in jail for failing to pay debts. In Minnesota, which has some of the most creditor-friendly laws in the country, the use of arrest warrants against debtors has jumped 60 percent over the past four years, with 845 cases in 2009, a Star Tribune analysis of state court data has found."

I.F. Stone pointed out that some reforms don't happen except through the work of generations of journalists and democracy activists:

“The only kinds of fights worth fighting are those you are going to lose, because somebody has to fight them and lose and lose and lose until someday, somebody who believes as you do wins. In order for somebody to win an important, major fight 100 years hence, a lot of other people have got to be willing - for the sheer fun and joy of it - to go right ahead and fight, knowing you're going to lose. You mustn't feel like a martyr. You've got to enjoy it.”

Did sports blogs ruin sports journalism?

Loud and very dated 2008 debate between newspaper/magazine journalist Buzz Bissinger ("Friday Night Lights") and founding editor Will Leitch of Deadspin.com, the sometimes raunchy sports blog/website. Debate aired on Bob Costas' HBO sports show.

Early Dissident Newspapers Were NOT Very Reader-Friendly

See crowded layout of William Lloyd Garrison's abolitionist publication, The Liberator, here and here. Not exactly HuffingtonPost. No half-naked actresses. Cady Stanton's/Anthony's feminist publication, The Revolution, was almost as dense.  Content was king (or queen) back then.

Internet and Media Hoaxes

Question: Are younger educated people who were raised on the Internet LESS likely to be taken in by hoax emails such as Obama as "radical Muslim" than Jon Stewart's 80-year-old aunt? Or clothing designer Tommy Hilfiger as racist?

Today, viral video hoaxes seem more common than text hoaxes -- like "Golden Eagle Snatches Kid" hoax, which, unknown to this ABC News panel, was perpetrated by animation students using computer imaging in Montreal. And like "Worst Twerk Fail EVER - Girl Catches Fire," a hoax perpetrated by the Jimmy Kimmel show as self-promotion.

NBC "Today" show interviewed me a year ago (9/30/13 -- my bit starts at 2:25) about separating fact from fiction in media and Internet.

Is U.S. media system failing U.S. democracy?

Typical of similar academic studies over the years, a 2008 study compared the level of public knowledge about current events in Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom and the United States. It found that the countries where TV/radio is dominated by public broadcasting -- Denmark and Finland -- were the best informed. Our country, dominated by corporate commercial media, was the least informed. The study's authors suggest that differing media systems play a role in those results.

A 2003 study of public knowledge of facts related to the Iraq War found that misperceptions among U.S. residents (that evidence linked Iraq and al Qaeda; that weapons of mass destruction had been found in Iraq; and that world public opinion favored the US invasion) were greatest among those whose primary info source was Fox News -- and least among those whose primary info source was public broadcasting. (A Pew poll taken in Aug. 2010 found that almost 1 in 5 Americans believed President Obama to be a Muslim; only 34% knew he is a Christian. 43% chose "don't know.")

Does the tree fall in the forest if over 300 thousand people march . . .

. . . through the media capital of the world for action on climate change, and U.S. mainstream media largely ignore the event?

The 40-year secret revealed: These are the citizen burglars. . .

. . . who broke into a Pennsylvania FBI office in 1971 to prove the Bureau was lying when it claimed not to be spying on peace and civil rights activists.

Nightmare in Tunisia . . . for Longtime Dictator

Tunisia is a small, Mediterranean country in North Africa.  Back in 2007, Tunisian citizen-journalists and bloggers had documented the tourism/shopping sprees of the dictator's wife aboard the presidential plane to Europe and global fashion capitals. (H/t Global Voices)

In 2010, the TuniLeaks website was set up to post (WikiLeaks-released) internal U.S. Embassy documents candidly exposing the corruption of Tunisia's dictatorship.

Fascinating photo (released by Ben Ali's office) of dictator Ben Ali visiting the hospital bed of the desperate young man who set himself on fire in protest in Dec. 2010 -- the young man didn't live long enough to learn that his act led to the overthrow of Ben Ali after sustained nonviolent protests.

Amid the protests, Tunisian rapper El General put out this widely-circulated music video attacking Ben Ali and urging folks to join the protests. It led to his arrest for a few days. Soon after, the dictator fled. The song went on to become an anthem in Tunisia, Egypt and elsewhere.

U.S. jazz legend Dizzy Gillespie performs his classic jazz tune "Night in Tunisia," first recorded in 1944.

Hawkish military analysts who appear on TV . . .

. . . are often closely connected to corporations that profit from perpetual war, reports Lee Fang in this expose for The Nation.

A police murder of 28-year-old sparks Egypt uprising

In June, 2010, Khaled Said was beaten to death by police in public for the crime of Internet use and, apparently, exposing police corruption. His martyrdom inspired protests and Internet organizing that led to the uprising six months later that ended the Mubarak dictatorship. Middle East-based Google exec and activist Wael Ghonim set up the galvanizing "We Are All Khaled Said" Facebook page in Arabic.  (Here's an English FB version of "We Are All Khaled Said.")

Video cameras and blogging for human rights

Launched in 1992 with the help of musician Peter Gabriel, the nonprofit Witness.org began distributing video cameras in hopes of minimizing human rights abuses. Now they train people in the safe use of cell phones and cameras to record abuses. Their slogan: "See it. Film it. Change it."

The Israeli human rights group, B'Tzelem, provides cameras to Palestinians so they can record Israeli settlers who harass Palestinians, including incidents of intimidation in and around the Palestinian city of Hebron, which rightwing Israeli religious settlers believe God has bequeathed to Jews.

Vancouver Film School students created an inspiring video, "Iran, A Nation of Bloggers," and put it online months before the tech-fueled protests over Iran's disputed 2009 election.

Mexico's "Yo Soy 132" Youth Movement

This Internet-driven movement didn't alter the outcome of Mexico's July 2012 presidential election -- since the candidate being "imposed" by the two major TV networks ended up winning.  But the student activists of Yo Soy 132 had impact; they set up an historic presidential debate that was carried online (the TV-promoted frontrunner was the only candidate who didn't up).  It was this YouTube video that launched the movement.

President Caught on Video: "Get Lost, You A*#hole"

In 2008, then-President of France Nicolas Sarkozy caught on video calling a disgruntled citizen an "idiot" or "dumbass" or "a**hole" (depending on translation). French politicians are having difficulty tolerating the scrutiny of online coverage (including online video) -- especially compared to deferential coverage they're accustomed to from traditional media.

One of our former presidents (then governor of Texas) caught on video.

Global Voices Online

Global Voices is a community of more than 800 writers, bloggers, experts and translators around the world who post reports from blogs and citizen media, emphasizing "voices that are not ordinarily heard in international mainstream media." For example, this Vlog post on Latin American subway musicians & performers.  Or, an interview with Kim Badawi, who chronicles the "Gaza Stripper" and other cross-cultural subjects.  Or, a win for activists in Brazil. 

This 2011 post features short videos from a competition on gender equality in the Ukraine.

This 2010 post features a public protest by a brave professor and blogger in China, offering himself as a slave.

Egyptian bloggers & online activists paved the way for 2011 uprising

With the Mubarak dictatorship in control of all major media in Egypt, brave Egyptian "citizen journalists" risked imprisonment and torture to blog or tweet about human rights abuses. Here's renowned Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas interviewed on BBC in January 2010. Over the years, Abbas was harassed, censored and assaulted by authorities -- and was briefly detained in Feb 2011 during the uprising.

P.S. Sharif Abdel Kouddous covered the 18-day uprising in 2011 for Democracy Now!, and he was the central character in an HBO documentary about the Egyptian revolution. For his work in Egypt, he was awarded (on I.C. campus in April 2012) the Izzy Award for outstanding achievement in independent media.  (Here's a paperback "Tweets from Tahrir.")

Tavi Gevinson -- fashion blogger becomes publisher at 15

This interview was recorded when fashion blogger Tavi was 15, and had founded Rookie. At age 16, she appeared on Colbert Report. By age 17, she was costarring in the Hollywood movie, "Enough Said."Now, at age 18, she's a Broadway actress, starring opposite Michael Cera.

Upworthy.com: It's a strange place that always strips me of 45 mins of my life

Upworthy.com promotes social/political issues virally through clever headlines and visuals or video, like this animation on advertising/media impact on girls.

Net-based Protest To Save Net Neutrality

In one day, a coalition of groups generated the following, in support of Net Neutrality: 
      Calls made to Congress: 286,192 . . .  Emails sent to Congress: 2,167,092 . . .  Comments filed at the FCC: 722,364 . . . Calls per minute to Congress (during peak hours from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.): 1,000 . . . Participating websites: more than 10,000 . . . Facebook shares of spinning icon: more than 1,120,000

The Controversy over WikiLeaks

In Dec. 2010, blogger Glenn Greenwald (a WikiLeaks supporter) explained independent journalism to a CNN correspondent. WikiLeaks website is here. This leaked video (with more than 14 million YouTube views) shows the killing of employees of the Reuters news agency and wounding of children by US attack helicopters in Iraq.

Photo above was taken in August 2012 when I visited the Ecuadoran embassy in London (WikiLeaks' founder had taken refuge inside); I was there days after the British government threatened to invade the embassy . . . a serious breach of international law.

Local Nonprofit Watchdog News Sites

As dailies have shrunk, local online nonprofit news sites have sprouted, such as the well-funded VoiceofSanDiego.org and the professionally-staffed MinnPost.com ("a thoughtful approach to news"). Across the country, local watchdog outlets are trying to figure out how to survive, reports Jodi Enda in American Journalism Review.

Winners of First Izzy Award: Glenn Greenwald & Amy Goodman

Soon after accepting their Izzy Awards in Ithaca in March 2009, Greenwald and Goodman spoke about independent media on public TV's Bill Moyers' Journal.

News 21: Student Journalism, Multimedia Presentation

News 21 is a foundation-funded student journalism outlet that has emphasized in-depth reporting and multimedia presentation. It originated with 8 journalism schools/departments at big campuses that each investigated and reported on a different area, for example: Univ of Southern California(USC)/money in politics; UC Berkeley/food safety.

Short Video Impacts 2008 Presidential Election

This 2008 Brave New Films video short "McCain's Mansions" (with more than 600,000 views) boiled up through the media food chain into the mainstream.  It impacted the campaign, as shown by this self-promotional video, "The Making of McCain's Mansions."

Glenn Greenwald answers absurd question from establishment journalist

In June 2013, Meet the Press host David Gregory asked Greenwald a question based on false assumptions and ending: "Why shouldn't you, Mr. Greenwald, be charged with a crime?" He got a loud answer.

Are some journalists too cozy with their official sources?

In 2003, a CNN executive actually boasted about having given the Pentagon an advisory role on who his on-air experts would be during the Iraq war. . . . At 2007 Radio-Television Correspondents Association Dinner, top journalists (including then-NBC White House correspondent David Gregory) were literally dancing with a top source, controversial Bush aide Karl Rove. These are social/charitable events where journalists and newsmakers are expected to have some fun, but is it symbolic of too much coziness? . . . Whether dealing with political leaders or celebrity athletes, the quest to gain access to famous newsmakers can undermine independent journalism, according to indy TV host Cenk Uygur of The Young Turks, one of the most successful web-based TV shows.

Billionaire Pierre Omidyar explains First Look Media . . .

. . . and his commitment to supporting independent journalism, in a video released last January.

Bold question from indy blogger launches big controversy

Former student in this class Chris Lisee blogged about the impact that a single off-key journalist can have.

"Independent Media in a Time of War" featuring Amy Goodman

A group of volunteer citizen-journalists (Hudson Mohawk Independent Media Center) produced a short documentary based on an April 2003 speech by Amy Goodman of Democracy Now!  At the time, many in mainstream media were cheering what they believed was a successful, nearly-completed invasion of Iraq; President Bush's approval rating was sky high.

"Stickin' It To The Man"

In the movie School of Rock, a substitute teacher (played by Jack Black) explains the purpose of rock 'n' roll to his 5th grade students. Do independent media share a similar purpose?  (The School of Rock kids in the original cast just had a 10-year reunion with Jack Black. H/t Sabrina D.)

NYT investigative reporter James Risen still threatened with jail . . .

. . . for doing his job as a journalist.  I explained the Risen case on Thom Hartmann's Big Picture TV show (Aug 14).
                                   

Daily Show segment on NY Times is called "End Times"

The Daily Show's cruel 2009 look at the New York Times' "day-old news."  It made me feel quite sympathetic toward the Times.

The new Vox.com

Vox.com, which promises to offer more context and explanation than traditional news outlerts is a few months old. Politico reports on it.

Comca$t and Time Warner. . .

. . . the two cable giants, now seeking a merger, were helping to  honor a Federal Communications Commissioner they want to approve their merger. (H/t Politico)

Indy Media Hero Glenn Greenwald profiled in NYT

"A Web Guerrilla Breaking News From the Jungle: Inside Glenn Greenwald's Mountaintop Home Office," by New York Times media columnist David Carr. Posted Aug 3, 2014. 

Links to Student Blogs

Matt C . . . . Jessica C. . . . Eddie D . . . . Joey H. . . . Katelyn H . . . .Lindsay I. . . . Whit I. . . .Frances J. . . . Miranda M. . . . Lauren M. . . . Steven P. . . . John S. . . . David S . . . . Chelsea T. . . . Michael T. . . . Lindsey W

Syllabus for Indy Media Course

Fall 2014 syllabus