THE MEDIACRACY
GOVERNMENT BOARD ASSIGNS OFFICIAL CRITICS TO NPR AND PBS
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28476-2005Apr5.html
[This is an unprecedented intrusion on the independence of NPR and PBS and the first step towards government censorship of those networks]
PAUL FARHI AND HOWARD KURTZ, WASHINGTON POST - The government-funded nonprofit group that oversees public broadcasting appointed two veteran journalists to critique the work of public radio and TV programming, following recent criticism over what is seen and heard on the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created by Congress to pass federal funds to public broadcasters, appointed former NBC newsman Ken Bode and former Reader's Digest editor William Schulz to the new positions of CPB ombudsmen. Bode and Schultz periodically will review public radio and TV shows after the programs have aired and report on their journalistic balance and accuracy.
The appointments come after a long history of conservative complaints about alleged bias on PBS and NPR. . . A public broadcasting official, who asked not to be named because CPB provides funding to his organization, remarked, "Even a casual read on this is that this is the [fallout] from 'Buster.' By disputing our content, [CPB] can get more involved in what we do. This is another step forward in the politicization of [public] broadcast content."
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group, said the moves were part of a pattern of conservative appointments at CPB aimed at "neutering public broadcasting editorially."
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NEW FCC CHIEF THREATENS CABLE
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=597&ncid=762&e=8&u=/nm/20050405/tv_nm/media_cable_fcc_dc
JEREMY PELOFSKY AND SUE ZEIDLER, REUTERS - New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin prodded the cable industry on Tuesday to address the racy TV content that is drawing complaints from parents. Martin, in his first public speech as chairman, told the annual convention of the cable industry that parents are more and more worried about children being able to see coarse material on television, and said the industry would be wise to act. . . Asked if the FCC would step in directly, Martin said the agency took its marching orders from Congress. Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have pressed the idea of holding cable to the stricter decency standards applied to broadcast media. "It is the Congress that tries to determine whether or not the rules should be applied to cable," he told the convention.
______________________________________________________________________________
Local hero
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT GETS AROUND WEB CENSORSHIP
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news/cover.asp?pubdate=4/3/2005
ROB MCDONALD, SPOKANE SPOKESMAN REVIEW - A Lewis and Clark High School sophomore brought Internet freedom to his peers for two months with a Web site he called Bad Dog. Then the school put his dog in the pound, and his computer programming teacher was disciplined. Conrad Sykes, 16, created a Web site that bypassed the district's Internet content filter, which was hampering student research, the student said. Sykes said he did this so students could access research sites - but it also allowed students to visit adult sites or others that the school district intends to screen out. Sykes' site was so successful that many Spokane Public School students - and people from as far away as Alabama and Pennsylvania - used it thousands of times between Dec. 14 and Feb. 22. Sykes was even asked by his computer teacher, Wes Marburger, to make a presentation to other classes on the number of visitors to his Web site. The district filter is called Bess, and a dog is in the logo. In the end, Sykes was suspended for two days in February for violating school computer use policies. His teacher was given a written reprimand and removed from teaching computer classes. The state Office of Professional Practices is now investigating and could potentially take away Marburger's teaching certificate. Brown said the Web site used a domain name from the Turks and Caicos Islands nation, which probably sold its domain to Internet companies. District investigators read in great detail on Sykes' blog how he built the site. They're also watching for similar proxy sites. "Our primary goal is to protect the students as best we can and protect the computer environment of the district," Brown said.
______________________________________________________________________________
KEY LAWMAKER WANTS TO ENFORCE TV CENSORSHIP WITH CRIMINAL LAWS
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005040502220002869122&dt=20050405022200&w=RTR&coview
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - The chairman of one of the entertainment industry's most important congressional committees says he wants to take the enforcement of broadcast decency standards into the realm of criminal prosecution. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner III, R-WI., told cable industry executives attending the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. conference here on Monday that criminal prosecution would be a more efficient way to enforce the indecency regulations. "I'd prefer using the criminal process rather than the regulatory process," Sensenbrenner told the executives. The current system -- in which the FCC fines a licensee for violating the regulations -- casts too wide a net, he said, trapping those who are attempting to reign in smut on TV and those who are not. "People who are in flagrant disregard should face a criminal process rather than a regulator process," Sensenbrenner said. "That is the way to go. Aim the cannon specifically at the people committing the offenses, rather than the blunderbuss approach that gets the good actors. . . When asked how he intended to criminalize the violations, Sensenbrenner repeated his assertion that it was the best way to penalize people who violate the statute but avoid "penalizing people who are not violating the law."
______________________________________________________________________________
MEDIA CRITICS TAKE TO THE STREETS & STUDIOS
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/affalert348.shtml
MEDI CHANNEL - Who are those masked men… in invisible suits… walking into live shots… reading the Bible and smashing eggs on their head?When news breaks, they bust it. . . They interrupt your regularly scheduled program. . . to fight "truth decay." They're the Newsbreakers and they say "As citizens in a participatory democracy, we can no longer idly standby and let our government offer the airwaves, our common property, to the highest bidder." It all began last January in Rochester, New York. A group of masked men burst into the local headlines when they disrupted the live news broadcasts of two local television stations, WROC and WHEC. Taken into police custody, they were accused of assault, but later released. In a press statement, Newsbreakers said they are a nonviolent media watchdog group that had "freed two live broadcasts" and "temporarily reclaimed the airwaves in the name of the American people." Their aim: to protest what they termed "the wholesale failure of Federal Communications Commission licensees to honor their obligation to the public." "Today's event marks a new chapter in media criticism," proclaimed Buck Owens, Newsbreakers 'senior political correspondent.' "We are putting television news on notice: We're out here, we're watching and we ain't happy with what we see." A self-described "nonpartisan, nonviolent media watchdog group dedicated to the improvement of journalism," Newsbreakers comments on and critiques television news, mostly by relying on parody and "non-traditional media interventions" to protest core problems like "overzealous" FCC regulations and corporate ownership of media outlets. Their hope is "to get people talking about the issue of TV news quality." . . . Since the initial Rochester action, the Newsbreakers have begun to go national. In February the "Grim Reaper" -- complete with black robe and sickle -- busted a live shot at a Sinclair Broadcasting station in Columbus, Ohio. Newsbreakers say they have a "special distaste" for Sinclair, which operates both the ABC and Fox affiliate stations in Columbus (the stations share programming while operating under the motto "The Power of Television Times Two."). . .
______________________________________________________________________________
GREAT MOMENTS IN THE MEDIA
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best
JAMES TARANTO, OPINION JOURNAL - "Governor Rod Blagojevich [Friday] filed an emergency rule with the Illinois Secretary of State's office requiring birth control prescriptions be filled without delay at pharmacies selling contraceptives," reports the Associated Press. It turns out the governor has a very personal interest in the matter:"Blagojevich is a result of a Chicago pharmacist recently refusing to fill orders for contraceptives because of moral opposition.". . .
CORRECTION IN LA TIMES - An article in Tuesday's California section about hazing at Cal State Chico mistakenly said that a pledge to a fraternity at nearby Butte Community College died of alcohol poisoning. He did not die but was hospitalized. The article also said Chico has a population of 35,000; according to the city, the population is 71,317. In addition, University President Paul Zingg was quoted saying the school would shut down its Greek system if problems with hazing did not abate. Zingg made his comments to a group of 850 students and others, and his remarks were quoted in the local media. He did not speak with The Times. Also, although the article characterized the school as being well-known for its basketball program, its winning baseball program may be best known outside campus.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE - "For the second time in a week, a woman was killed after being struck by passing cars while attempting to run across a busy Houston freeway."
KTRE-TV, TX = "Troopers Say Paying Attention Behind the Wheel Can Save Lives"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28476-2005Apr5.html
[This is an unprecedented intrusion on the independence of NPR and PBS and the first step towards government censorship of those networks]
PAUL FARHI AND HOWARD KURTZ, WASHINGTON POST - The government-funded nonprofit group that oversees public broadcasting appointed two veteran journalists to critique the work of public radio and TV programming, following recent criticism over what is seen and heard on the Public Broadcasting Service and National Public Radio. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which was created by Congress to pass federal funds to public broadcasters, appointed former NBC newsman Ken Bode and former Reader's Digest editor William Schulz to the new positions of CPB ombudsmen. Bode and Schultz periodically will review public radio and TV shows after the programs have aired and report on their journalistic balance and accuracy.
The appointments come after a long history of conservative complaints about alleged bias on PBS and NPR. . . A public broadcasting official, who asked not to be named because CPB provides funding to his organization, remarked, "Even a casual read on this is that this is the [fallout] from 'Buster.' By disputing our content, [CPB] can get more involved in what we do. This is another step forward in the politicization of [public] broadcast content."
Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy, an advocacy group, said the moves were part of a pattern of conservative appointments at CPB aimed at "neutering public broadcasting editorially."
______________________________________________________________________________
NEW FCC CHIEF THREATENS CABLE
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=597&ncid=762&e=8&u=/nm/20050405/tv_nm/media_cable_fcc_dc
JEREMY PELOFSKY AND SUE ZEIDLER, REUTERS - New Federal Communications Commission Chairman Kevin Martin prodded the cable industry on Tuesday to address the racy TV content that is drawing complaints from parents. Martin, in his first public speech as chairman, told the annual convention of the cable industry that parents are more and more worried about children being able to see coarse material on television, and said the industry would be wise to act. . . Asked if the FCC would step in directly, Martin said the agency took its marching orders from Congress. Some lawmakers on Capitol Hill have pressed the idea of holding cable to the stricter decency standards applied to broadcast media. "It is the Congress that tries to determine whether or not the rules should be applied to cable," he told the convention.
______________________________________________________________________________
Local hero
HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT GETS AROUND WEB CENSORSHIP
http://www.spokesmanreview.com/news/cover.asp?pubdate=4/3/2005
ROB MCDONALD, SPOKANE SPOKESMAN REVIEW - A Lewis and Clark High School sophomore brought Internet freedom to his peers for two months with a Web site he called Bad Dog. Then the school put his dog in the pound, and his computer programming teacher was disciplined. Conrad Sykes, 16, created a Web site that bypassed the district's Internet content filter, which was hampering student research, the student said. Sykes said he did this so students could access research sites - but it also allowed students to visit adult sites or others that the school district intends to screen out. Sykes' site was so successful that many Spokane Public School students - and people from as far away as Alabama and Pennsylvania - used it thousands of times between Dec. 14 and Feb. 22. Sykes was even asked by his computer teacher, Wes Marburger, to make a presentation to other classes on the number of visitors to his Web site. The district filter is called Bess, and a dog is in the logo. In the end, Sykes was suspended for two days in February for violating school computer use policies. His teacher was given a written reprimand and removed from teaching computer classes. The state Office of Professional Practices is now investigating and could potentially take away Marburger's teaching certificate. Brown said the Web site used a domain name from the Turks and Caicos Islands nation, which probably sold its domain to Internet companies. District investigators read in great detail on Sykes' blog how he built the site. They're also watching for similar proxy sites. "Our primary goal is to protect the students as best we can and protect the computer environment of the district," Brown said.
______________________________________________________________________________
KEY LAWMAKER WANTS TO ENFORCE TV CENSORSHIP WITH CRIMINAL LAWS
http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005040502220002869122&dt=20050405022200&w=RTR&coview
HOLLYWOOD REPORTER - The chairman of one of the entertainment industry's most important congressional committees says he wants to take the enforcement of broadcast decency standards into the realm of criminal prosecution. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner III, R-WI., told cable industry executives attending the National Cable & Telecommunications Assn. conference here on Monday that criminal prosecution would be a more efficient way to enforce the indecency regulations. "I'd prefer using the criminal process rather than the regulatory process," Sensenbrenner told the executives. The current system -- in which the FCC fines a licensee for violating the regulations -- casts too wide a net, he said, trapping those who are attempting to reign in smut on TV and those who are not. "People who are in flagrant disregard should face a criminal process rather than a regulator process," Sensenbrenner said. "That is the way to go. Aim the cannon specifically at the people committing the offenses, rather than the blunderbuss approach that gets the good actors. . . When asked how he intended to criminalize the violations, Sensenbrenner repeated his assertion that it was the best way to penalize people who violate the statute but avoid "penalizing people who are not violating the law."
______________________________________________________________________________
MEDIA CRITICS TAKE TO THE STREETS & STUDIOS
http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/affalert348.shtml
MEDI CHANNEL - Who are those masked men… in invisible suits… walking into live shots… reading the Bible and smashing eggs on their head?When news breaks, they bust it. . . They interrupt your regularly scheduled program. . . to fight "truth decay." They're the Newsbreakers and they say "As citizens in a participatory democracy, we can no longer idly standby and let our government offer the airwaves, our common property, to the highest bidder." It all began last January in Rochester, New York. A group of masked men burst into the local headlines when they disrupted the live news broadcasts of two local television stations, WROC and WHEC. Taken into police custody, they were accused of assault, but later released. In a press statement, Newsbreakers said they are a nonviolent media watchdog group that had "freed two live broadcasts" and "temporarily reclaimed the airwaves in the name of the American people." Their aim: to protest what they termed "the wholesale failure of Federal Communications Commission licensees to honor their obligation to the public." "Today's event marks a new chapter in media criticism," proclaimed Buck Owens, Newsbreakers 'senior political correspondent.' "We are putting television news on notice: We're out here, we're watching and we ain't happy with what we see." A self-described "nonpartisan, nonviolent media watchdog group dedicated to the improvement of journalism," Newsbreakers comments on and critiques television news, mostly by relying on parody and "non-traditional media interventions" to protest core problems like "overzealous" FCC regulations and corporate ownership of media outlets. Their hope is "to get people talking about the issue of TV news quality." . . . Since the initial Rochester action, the Newsbreakers have begun to go national. In February the "Grim Reaper" -- complete with black robe and sickle -- busted a live shot at a Sinclair Broadcasting station in Columbus, Ohio. Newsbreakers say they have a "special distaste" for Sinclair, which operates both the ABC and Fox affiliate stations in Columbus (the stations share programming while operating under the motto "The Power of Television Times Two."). . .
______________________________________________________________________________
GREAT MOMENTS IN THE MEDIA
http://www.opinionjournal.com/best
JAMES TARANTO, OPINION JOURNAL - "Governor Rod Blagojevich [Friday] filed an emergency rule with the Illinois Secretary of State's office requiring birth control prescriptions be filled without delay at pharmacies selling contraceptives," reports the Associated Press. It turns out the governor has a very personal interest in the matter:"Blagojevich is a result of a Chicago pharmacist recently refusing to fill orders for contraceptives because of moral opposition.". . .
CORRECTION IN LA TIMES - An article in Tuesday's California section about hazing at Cal State Chico mistakenly said that a pledge to a fraternity at nearby Butte Community College died of alcohol poisoning. He did not die but was hospitalized. The article also said Chico has a population of 35,000; according to the city, the population is 71,317. In addition, University President Paul Zingg was quoted saying the school would shut down its Greek system if problems with hazing did not abate. Zingg made his comments to a group of 850 students and others, and his remarks were quoted in the local media. He did not speak with The Times. Also, although the article characterized the school as being well-known for its basketball program, its winning baseball program may be best known outside campus.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE - "For the second time in a week, a woman was killed after being struck by passing cars while attempting to run across a busy Houston freeway."
KTRE-TV, TX = "Troopers Say Paying Attention Behind the Wheel Can Save Lives"
posted by T. Scott Brineman at 11:27 AM
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