When Online Journalism Goes Really Bad

Most of you have already seen the video of former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod "racist" remarks before a NAACP gathering earlier this year. Sherrod was fired as soon as the video came to light by way of the conservative blogger Andrew Beitbert. The problem with the above video is that it was shorten to just show the most controversial bits. Although it has been revealed only after Sherrod was fired that the video didn't show the full explanation of her feelings towards white farmers, Beitbert has yet to apologize.

This brings up questions again about online journalism and the "urgency of now" theory, where the news has to get out first, and accuracy and fairness come later. But I would argue that, while that is a common problem in journalism today, I don't think that was entirely the case here.

My question is why would anyone listen to Beitbert in the first place? He has a history of bad journalism. Please remember he was "allegedly" behind the ACORN video and Sen. Mary Landreau wiretapping controversies. He even admitted he received the Sherrod video unedited and posted it without tracking down the original.

I am sure this will be a hot topic at a certain conference I am attending this week...

BTW, if you want to see the full Sherrod video:

Gaza Boat Crisis: Two Sides to Every Story

There are always two sides to every story.

This morning, the Israel Defense Force raided a flotilla carrying humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, where nine activists were fatally shot. Everyone seems to agree up until that point. The interesting thing about this whole situation is how both sides used online video to plead their cases.

According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the activists on board "deliberately attacked soldiers."

And IDF has video to prove their point:



Meanwhile the folks on the flotilla tell a different story. The Free Gaza Movement says that "Israeli commandoes dropped from a helicopter onto the Turkish passenger ship, Mavi Marmara, and began to shoot the moment their feet hit the deck. They fired directly into the crowd of civilians asleep."

From the Guardian:

The Scottish journalist and documentary film-maker Hassan Ghani, 24 and from Glasgow, was on board the Mavi Marmara, the Turkish vessel attacked by Israeli forces. He was seen broadcasting for PressTV as the commandos took control of the ship. In footage shown on YouTube, Ghani said: "This is the MC Marmara, Hassan Ghani reporting for PressTV. We've had several injuries here; one is critical. He has been injured in the head and we think he may die if he doesn't receive medical treatment urgently. Another person being passed in front of me right now has been seriously injured. We are being hit by tear gas, stun grenades. We've navy ships on either side. We're being attacked from every single side. This is international waters and not Israeli waters, not in the 68-mile exclusion zone. We're being attacked in international waters completely illegally."

You decide...

Post-Racial South Africa? - Nope

While this media attention seems to revolve around the recent murder of Eugene Terre’Blanche, racial tension has been brewing in South Africa for a long time. A lot of people I have been speaking to about this problem - mostly white liberals with good intentions - are actually shocked to hear that blacks and whites there aren't living harmoniously in "post-racial" South Africa.

I think this false view of that society comes from this belief in America that when apartheid officially ended in South Africa in 1993, somehow racism and segregation also ended at the same time. In addition, because of the dismal coverage in the U.S. media of international news and especially fair and balanced news about Africa, Americans have very little knowledge about race relations in post apartheid South Africa.

Twenty years ago, rock stars were putting on benefit concerts and college students rallied in support of a free South Africa. Today the country barely gets any attention unless it has something to do with the high crime rate and the upcoming Fifa World Cup. Interestingly enough, one would think that Zimbabwe is the only African country dealing with racial strife, when in fact, both that country and South Africa have the same shared history of apartheid. Of course, the ongoing madness of Robert Mugabe and his campaign to rid the nation of its white farmers make for intriguing news bits internationally.

I was last in South Africa about two years ago, and I can tell you that the racial hostility being exhibited prominently now has always been simmering at the surface, waiting to overflow. It is still generally a segregated society. For example, in Johannesburg blacks for the most part live in the poorer townships, while the whites live in highly secured communities in the suburbs. Cape Town is mostly white and black and brown folks venture into the city if they have to work there, otherwise they stay in their own communities.

Even in casual conversations with both South Africans, race is always a central topic. While in the country, I always hear constant complaining from both races about the other group. I would argue that South Africans today talk and argue about race more than Americans, and Americans are usually the ones accused of always race-baiting.

So it seems like the murder of Terre’Blanche may have tipped over the boiling racial pot. It will be interesting to see how the country copes in the next few days.

Media Ethics Lesson: Idris Elba and Essence Magazine

The man I love dearly - Idris Elba - is on the August cover of Essence magazine!

(Can you believe I pulled a media ethics lesson out of this!)

Last week while having lunch with my journalist-friend Stacey, we read the accompanying profile piece of the British actor with high anticipation. But you know that feeling you get when you look forward to reading a particular magazine article or new book, only to be disappointed and even cheated out of the money wasted to purchase the magazine or book.

That is how we both felt after reading the profile. Why you ask? Well, lets just say we were not too fond of all the "cake eating" going on in the article.

The article was written by acclaimed journalist Jeannine Amber and was based on her recent lunch date/interview with Elba. While the article is mainly about the actor's recent career moves since leaving The Wire, readers will get distracted by the writer's constant fantasizing of the different sexual positions she would like to do with him.

Oh my!!!

Now, mind you, I'm not an old prude. I love "String" as much as the next woman (or man), but there was something really sleazy and even creepy about the writer's interpretation of the meeting. I have never met the man in person before, although I got to do an email interview with him for a story about a PBS program he hosted last year. Nonetheless, based on other interviews he has done, he doesn't strike Stacey and I as the type of bloke who would want to partake in such an article.

Or maybe I am getting more prude as I get older. Luckily, based on some of the comments on Essence's website for this article, I'm not the only one who feels this way.

But even as a journalist, I couldn't imagine myself writing such an sexually charged article like this, even if I did get a chance to meet Elba. I would be too worried about being taken seriously by editors I would want to work with in the future. Besides being drop-dead gorgeous, Elba has a lot more going on for him, which Amber could have delved into more with him, such as his acting career before his stint as Stringer Bell, or what he likes about being DJ Big Driis. But that's just me thinking out loud.

Stacey had a nuanced view on the article in question; if a similar article about an actress was written by a male journalist, wouldn't people be calling it sexist?

Discuss...

Media Ethics Lesson: Michael Jackson

I have really tried to avoid talking about Michael Jackson for the last three weeks, mostly because I am just sick of Joe Jackson's smugness, LaToya Jackson's conspiracy theories, Debbie Rowe swearing and fighting to get custody of "her" kids. Up until this point, I just wanted to ignore the madness and remember MJ for all the good he did bring to the world.

But then this Pepsi commercial came out of nowhere.

So after 25 years, someone just decided to release the never-before-seen footage of Michael's hair being set ablaze in the now infamous pyrotechnic accident on the set for the commercial. The accident caused him second and third degree burns, as well as an entry path to his painkiller addition.

My first question: why show this now? Okay, maybe Pepsi and Michael had an agreement to not ever show the footage while he was still alive to protect his image. But what is the point of putting it out immediately after his death? I mean, really.

Second question: why does the media insist on showing the images of MJ dancing down the stairs with his head burning from the back angle over and over again? I got on the train this morning and picked up the newspaper with pictures of his burnt scalp on the front page. To top off this madness, Larry King has shown the video multiple times in the last couple of days on his show.

Pepsi released a statement today, claiming they had nothing to do with the footage release.

Pepsi spokeswoman Nicole Bradley spoke with Entertainment Weekly earlier on Thursday, July 17th, and gave them what Pepsi has to say about this. "We don't know how the footage became available. Twenty-five years later, we'd question why anyone would want to share such frightening images. It was a terrifying event that we'll never forget."

My point exactly...

So, I ask you. Is it appropriate to make this video available now, and is it right for the media to excessively show the video?

Phil Wilson on black homophobia, HIV/AIDS

Black AIDS Institute CEO Phil Wilson recently attended the annual convention for the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), the largest organization for black newspapers in the United States. For many years, there has been a reluctance to discuss HIV/AIDS, homosexuality and homophobia in the black community. Wilson, who is openly gay and HIV positive, tells it like it is.

From Seattle Medium:

“We started in a bad place,” Wilson said in an interview before addressing the annual convention of the National Newspapers Publishers Association (NNPA). “We started with the conventional wisdom that AIDS was about White gay men. So we got a free get out of jail card – it was about White people. If I am honest, I was included in that group.

“Secondly, it was about gay people and for most African-Americans, that means that it was not about us. Thirdly, we already had a full plate. AIDS really hit in 1980 to 1982 and we were dealing with unemployment, we were dealing with poverty, we were about to deal with welfare reform. There were all these issues that we were busy with. So this was an issue that we didn’t want to be a part of and we could make the excuse that all these other issues were more important.”

In the early 1980s, there were no Hollywood celebrities adopting HIV/AIDS as their pet project. For Blacks, confronting the issue of HIV/AIDS, there were also other considerations.

“There is an increased reluctance to take on any other possibility to be further stigmatized,” Wilson explained. “So, ‘I’m not willing to take on the banner of homosexuality and I’m not willing to take on the banner of drug use and I’m not willing to take on the banner of having a deadly disease.’”

Wilson began taking up those banners when he helped organize a candlelight vigil for AIDS victims in Los Angeles during the early stages of the epidemic. The issue became personal when Wilson, who is openly gay, learned in 1980 that he was HIV positive. His partner died of AIDS nine years later.

Unlike many Blacks, Wilson does not believe that homophia is any worse among African-Americans than Whites. However, he says, the rejection is much more painful.

“For Black and gay lesbians, we need our community to protect us against the bias of racism. Where do I go when I am called a nigger? I go to our church. I go to my mama and pappa – that’s where I go.

“But when I’m called a faggot, I don’t got anywhere else to go,” Wilson said, intentionally selecting his words for impact. “And particularly if the people who are calling me a faggot are my mommy, my daddy and my church.”

Wilson said White gay men have a different reality.

“When you are a White gay man, you’re still a White man and all of the privileges that go with being a White man are delivered to you,” he explained. “When I am a Black gay man, at the end of the day, I still have to be a Black man in America.”

As you all know, I have worked in the black press for a while now, and I have written articles here and there about these issues. Much of this discussion of battling stigma needs to be taking place in the black media, and I hope Wilson's attendence at the convention is a step forward.

In other news...

Yes, believe it or not, there is actually other stuff going on in the world besides the media circus better known as Michael Jackson's death and the quest to find out who inherits what in the will he left behind. Quite frankly, I'm ready to move on from this story, which seems to be get more bizarre by the minute.

Diana Ross???

WTF...

It's funny how in the middle of Iran imploding and North Korea planning to send missiles to US shores, the media has lost all of its senses and done wall-to-wall coverage of MJ. I just about had it last night when I was watching Entertainment Tonight, and the reporter actually asked Ola Ray (MJ's love interest in the Thriller video) if she had sex with him. Talk about low road journalism...but I digress.

So, here is some other news that has been going on:

Iraq (and its discontents)
American troops pulled out of major cities in Iraq this week. But we all know this don't really mean anything to anyone, right? Aren't the Iraqis free now?

From NY Times:

In BASRA, the mood was generally skeptical.

Haider Muhammed Ali, 31, a communications engineer:
“The withdrawal doesn’t represent national sovereignty because the troops will remain at the airport base and will stay inside Iraq.”

Samir Alwan, 28 years, owner of a mini market:

“They will not withdraw to their homes in their country. They will stay here and in emergency cases they would enter the city. So it is not national sovereignty according to my point of view, and I think the Iraqi Army is only able to control the southern areas. They are unable to make Baghdad and Mosul safe.”

Najim Salim, 40 years, a teacher.

“There is no doubt it is not national sovereignty because they will stay inside Iraq in military bases. The Government wants to convince the citizens that there is a withdrawal of foreign troops, although the Government could not protect citizens in some cities in Iraq even with the presence of U.S. forces. So the Government will fail to protect citizens after the withdrawal, and then the Government will ask the foreign troops to come back.”

Ayman Jasim, 37 years, a photographer .

“ I am happy for the withdraw of Americans it is national day and national sovereignty come back again to Iraq. I believe Iraqi troops will control the city and nothing will happen after their withdrawal.”

The gays vs Obama administration
Meanwhile, President Obama is seemingly throwing the gays under the bus with recent decisions on same sex marriage and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy. Now I know realistic Obama can't come out supporting gay marriage, as most of the country is still against it. However, most Americans are ready to get rid of the military ban on gays.

I have been thinking about this issue for a while. Do you think the hesitation for Obama to support pro-gay initiatives has anything to do with sustaining the black vote in 2012? This might seem silly, but hang on with me here. With such large opposition of same sex marriage in the black community, do you think the first black president fears losing some of his support from his own race if he is seen as being to willing to give in to gay rights? I actually know a few black folks who have said to me recently that Obama is getting "too soft" on supporting gay people.

Vibe magazine is dead
Vibe, the "venerable" hip-hop magazine, shut down yesterday, due to being "the latest victim of the media recession." But other folks are saying that the mostly white management ran it into the ground (thanks for sending that link, Marcy). I say it died because it simply sucked and wasn't relevant anymore. It's funny, I didn't even know it was still in publication...

Cynthia McKinney is out to save the children
And finally news that can by filed under "Embarrassing Black People"

From Washington Post:

The former controversial congresswoman from Georgia has resurfaced - on a boat in the Mediterranean Sea trying to deliver supplies to Gaza.

Israeli forces arrested McKinney and other passengers on board the ship, according to a group called Free Gaza, which said on its Web site that McKinney and the others "have been illegally incarcerated for their solidarity work with Palestine."

The Israeli Consulate General of Israel in Atlanta, however, accused McKinney and her fellow travelers of waging a "reckless political stunt."

McKinney, who ran for president in 2008 as a Green Party candidate, was defeated in 2006, not long after she was accused of punching a Capitol Police officer who mistook her for a tourist. She had made a brief comeback after being defeated in 2002, at which time her father said he blamed the "J-E-W-S" for his daughter's defeat

The "Free Gaza" website, freegaza.org, quotes McKinney as saying that she and her group .

This is an outrageous violation of international law against us," she was quoted as saying. "Our boat was not in Israeli waters, and we were on a human rights mission to the Gaza Strip. President Obama just told Israel to let in humanitarian and reconstruction supplies, and that's exactly what we tried to do. We're asking the international community to demand our release so we can resume our journey.

She's right about Gaza, but must she be the spokesperson on this?

Okay, now you can get back to the real news: Now who gets Michael's kids? Katherine Jackson? Debbie Rowe? Diana Ross? Madonna? (she'a adopting these days...)

A Tale of Two Countries

Bullsh*t of the day.

From CNN:

Two U.S. journalists, who were detained in North Korea while covering the plight of defectors living along the China-North Korea border, have been sentenced to 12 years hard labor in prison, the country's state-run media said Monday.

The Central Court of North Korea sentenced Laura Ling and Euna Lee for the "grave crime they committed against the Korean nation and their illegal border crossing," the Korean Central News Agency said.

As a result, the court sentenced the women to "12 years of reform through labor."

A U.S. State Department spokesman, Ian Kelley, said the Swedish ambassador in North Korea confirmed the sentence with North Korean authorities. Sweden represents U.S. interests in North Korea; the United States does not have formal diplomatic relations with North Korea.

State Secretary Hillary Clinton released a statement:

“We are incredibly concerned on both a diplomatic and, on my behalf, a personal basis. I have met with their families, and I share the grave anxiety that they feel about the safety and security of these two young women. We call again on the North Korean government to release them and enable them to come home as soon as possible. We have explored other approaches, including the use of special representatives strictly for this humanitarian mission. But as things stand now, we know that they’re in the middle of a trial in Pyongyang, and we hope that the trial is resolved quickly and that the young women are released.”

Hold up, Mrs Clinton! While it is despicable what the North Korean government is doing to Laura Ling and Euna Lee, when does the U.S. begin to practice what is preaches for Ibrahim Jassam, who has been in U.S. custody since last September?

From Los Angeles Times:

No formal accusations have been made against Jassam, and an Iraqi court ordered in November that he be released for lack of evidence. But the U.S. military continues to hold him, saying it has intelligence that he is "a high security threat," said Maj. Neal Fisher, spokesman for detainee affairs.

The Obama administration harshly criticized Iran for its imprisonment of Roxana Saberi, the U.S.-Iranian journalist who was convicted of espionage and sentenced to eight years in prison before being freed two weeks ago. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton criticized Iran's treatment of Saberi as "non-transparent, unpredictable and arbitrary."

Washington also has called upon North Korea to expedite the trial of two U.S. journalists being held on spying charges.

Yet the U.S. has routinely used the arbitrary powers it assumed after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks to hold journalists without charge in Iraq, as well as Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Committee to Protect Journalists said.

None of the detained journalists has been convicted of any charge, undermining the United States' reputation when it comes to criticizing other countries on issues of press freedom, committee executive director Joel Simon said.

"The U.S. has a record of holding journalists for long periods of time without due process and without explanation," he said. "Its standing would be improved if it addressed this issue."

Reuters has expressed disappointment over Jassam's detention and has said there is no evidence against him.

Sami Haj, a cameraman for the TV network Al Jazeera, was detained by Pakistani authorities as he tried to cross into Afghanistan in 2001 to cover the offensive against the Taliban. He was turned over to the U.S. military, which held him for six years at the detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. He was accused him of being a courier for militant Islamic organizations, but was never charged. He was released a year ago.

In Iraq, Associated Press photographer Bilal Hussein was held for two years without trial before being released in April 2008 on the orders of an Iraqi judge under the terms of an amnesty law. The U.S. military maintained that Hussein had links to insurgents, but the AP said the allegations were based on nothing more than the Pulitzer Prize-winning photographs of insurgents that he had taken on the streets of Ramadi, in western Iraq.

Jassam is the only Iraqi journalist still in U.S. custody, the last to be detained under wartime rules that predated a U.S.-Iraqi security agreement signed in December. Under the new accord, U.S. forces must obtain a warrant before they can arrest an Iraqi citizen.

WTF!

World Press Freedom Day 2009

Although the official theme of this year's World Press Freedom Day is "media and dialogue," it should really be "resilience." The courage of many of my colleagues who risk their lives to tell the story never ceases to amaze me.

From World Association of Newspapers:

Moussa Kaka, the director of the private radio station Saraouniya Radio talks about his coverage of the Niger Justice Movement that led to a one-year imprisonment. Mohammad Al-Al Abdallah, a 26-year old Syrian blogger, reveals his family hardships that have arisen from the fight for press freedom. In Yemen, Abdel Karim Al-Khaiwani, talks about spending a year behind bars for his reportage on high-level corruption, nepotism, and human rights abuses. Colombian journalist Claudia Julieta Duque discusses the long battle she has faced for her investigative reporting. Barry Bearak of The New York Times describes his arrest, detention and expulsion from Zimbabwe for trying to report from the country during the last elections.

This year, we should also keep in mind freelance reporter Roxana Saberi who was recently convicted in Iran for spying, and Current TV correspondents Laura Ling and Euna Lee still being detained in North Korea for entering the country illegally.

Going Back to Cali!

I am traveling to California the next two weeks!

Doing the trip, I will be attending 09NTC to tune up my tech skills. Following that I will also start my fellowship in LA.

Of course, I will be seeing many of you for consults!

I will be blogging my adventures. See you in Cali!

Somalia, beyond pirates

Speaking of Somalia...

Dan Eldonwas a Reuters photographer who was killed in Mogadishu in 1993 by rebel forces in Somalia. He is one of the reasons I became a journalist. He used his photos and art for social change, and for this, I honor him.

Rocky Mountain News - not anymore

Rocky Mountain News, one of America's oldest newspapers, is calling it a day.

From Rocky Mountain News:

Rich Boehne, chief executive officer of Rocky-owner Scripps, broke the news to the staff at noon today, ending nearly three months of speculation over the paper's future.

"People are in grief," Editor John Temple said at a news conference later.

Boehne told staffers that the Rocky was the victim of a terrible economy and an upheaval in the newspaper industry.

"Denver can't support two newspapers any longer," Boehne told staffers, some of whom cried at the news. "It's certainly not good news for you, and it's certainly not good news for Denver."

Reaction came from across the nation and around the block.

"The Rocky Mountain News has chronicled the storied, and at times tumultuous, history of Colorado for nearly 150 years. I am deeply saddened by this news, and my heart goes out to all the talented men and women at the Rocky," U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet said in a statement. "I am grateful for their hard work and dedication to not only their profession, but the people of Colorado as well."

At least the Christian Science Monitor will stay alive online - for now. With the crap economy and the online revolution, I guess we are going to see the newspaper domino effect happen sooner rather than later.

Making My Media Matter!

Yesterday, I attended the Making Your Media Matter conference at American University. This is a gathering of filmmakers and nonprofit communications leaders who are in the business of producing social issue media.

Like journalists, documentary filmmakers are also seeing their industry being put to a challenge by Web 2.0. In fact, this conference was originally named Making Your Documentary Matter apparently, but it was changed to reflect the evolving multimedia landscape documentarians are faced with. But unlike some in the traditional journalism world, the folks attending this conference are actually embracing their inner new media evangelists.

Convergence was the word of the day.

Of course, getting funding to make a film is almost a full-time job in itself for documentarians. In a panel discussion on funding issues, Alice Myatt of the Grantmakers in Film and Electronic Media said that the organization has now simplified the money seeking process with an online media database where filmmakers can post clips of their unfinished project as a way to solicit funders to see their work and possibly give them money to complete the project.

Also, social media has provided new opportunities for films that would otherwise not get seen because their subject matters are deemed to be too controversial by funders and broadcasters.

On another panel, filmmaker Thomas Allen Harris said that he had a hard time getting out his first film, Vintage - Families of Value, which is about LGBT siblings in black families.

"It was rejected by black film festivals for being too gay and gay film festivals for being too black," he said.

Now his film will have a second life in the near future, both in the virtual movie theatre, SnagFilms, and on the Internet TV network Free Speech TV.

The filmmakers behind the acclaimed film, Made in LA, also gave examples of online grassroots organizing that contributed to the film's success.

Syndicated tech columnist Scott Kirsner as well as other filmmakers at the conference gave some great examples of how filmmakers can use new media for their projects.

Posterous – post anything online via email

Eventful – online marketing/fan targeting

Foneshow – subscribe to podcasts on your phone

Media That Matters - online film festival for social justice documentaries

Prx - online marketplace for distribution, review, and licensing of public radio programming

Mojoco - NBPC's latest outlet for mobile journalists to showcase their work

J-Lab - helps journalists and citizens use digital technologies to develop new ways for people to participate in public life

New Media Women Entrepreneurs - entrepreneurial opportunities for women new media pioneers

Witness/The Hub - uses video and online technologies to open the world's eyes to human-rights violations

Blogtalkradio - put on a free radio show to promote your film

Peanuts for Obama

About President Barack Obama's first press conference...

From Washington Post:

Rather than engage in a spirited dialogue with members of the press corps, Obama filibustered. After an eight-minute opening statement, he got through only 13 questions in an hour -- and allowed no follow-up questions. His answers were an oddly unexciting combination of familiar talking points and wonky dissertations. It wasn't particularly good TV, and it wasn't necessarily what Obama needed, either...

I would give the president a "B+" for at least answering some hard questions on the economy. Maybe I would also give his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, extra credit for making the rounds on the morning cable shows today to peddle the White House's upcoming website, http://www.recovery.gov, which will be "part of an unprecedented effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government." But I digress for now...

If I had a chance to ask President Obama a question last night, it would certainly not have anything to do with Alex Rodriquez and steroids (why did you ask that question????).

My question: Mr President, do you promise that the next FDA commissioner will hold companies accountable for the safety of their products being sold to the American people?

Because of the "surprising" departure of Tom Daschle, the search for the new head of the Food and Drug Administration is being put on hold.

From Reuters:

..."In general, the Daschle mess slows everything down ... it has frankly really made a mess of all the appointments," said Capital Alpha Partners health care analyst Kim Monk.

On Friday, the White House said it planned to announce a new FDA commissioner in the next few days. But many FDA watchers have said a nominee is not likely until an HHS secretary is confirmed.

Many are eager for new leadership at the FDA, which regulates products that make up roughly a quarter of the nation's economy and has been hammered by a string of safety issues, from the withdrawal of Merck & Co Inc's Vioxx painkiller to the current salmonella outbreak from tainted peanuts...

While some people are concerned about dumb athletes and the choices they make in their personal lives, our food system is silently killing Americans, unbeknownst to them. Is it me, or does there seem to be more salmonella outbreaks that usual in recent years? Well, I say there is no coincidence to this issue. The latest outbreak - peanuts - started in a Georgia factory, where workers knew that their product was tainted and didn't bother to tell anyone.

Did you know that this is just business as usual in the corporate food world and the FDA? Food producers are not necessarily required (in practice) to tell the FDA that their products are crap. You did know that, right?

At least someone in Washington is keeping it real...

From Hartford Courant:

...While innocent people continued to get sick from contaminated peanut butter, the case lingered in jurisdictional limbo between the FDA and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, causing critical delays. And when the salmonella's source was finally identified, FDA officials had to wait for industry approval before they could go live with the recall. That is not how a fully functioning regulatory agency is supposed to operate.

To truly fix inherent problems in our food safety system, we must fundamentally restructure the food safety bureaucracy at the FDA. Today, food safety is divided among multiple, separately managed units at the FDA — the Office of the Commissioner, the Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition, the Center for Veterinary Medicine, the field force (Office of Regulatory Affairs) and the National Center for Toxicological Research. As a result, there is no one single individual to be held accountable for food safety at the FDA or anywhere else at the federal level.

Separating food safety regulation from drug and device approvals would go a long way toward restoring the balance that has long been missing at the federal Department of Health and Human Services, and give food safety the attention it deserves. By establishing a Food Safety Administration within Health and Human Services, headed by its own commissioner, we can give food safety experts and researchers the room and the resources to do their jobs...

Fairey vs. The World

Speaking of memorabilia, the artist behind the ultimate Obama memorabilia got busted last night.

From WCVB:

...Shepard Fairey, 38, was arrested on two outstanding warrants as he was about to enter an exhibition of his work at the Institute of Contemporary Art. Fairey was charged with damage to property for having painted two Boston area locations with graffiti, spokesman James Kenneally said.

Fairey told the Los Angeles Times last year that his "Obey Giant" street art campaign had led to his arrest many times.

Boston police said he had painted his "Andre The Giant" graffiti near an entrance to the Massachusetts Turpike and the Boston University bridge across the Charles River...

Up until this week, I thought those iconic red, white and blue images of our president were created by his campaign. I had no clue who the real artist was until I started watching some TV commercial he is in right now and a new tour of his artwork. Then I read an angry letter in this week's Boston Phoenix.

Fairey, who is notorious for having sticky fingers and “appropriating” other artists’ work for his multi-million dollar company, without giving a dime of compensation or credit when he can, is somehow painted as the innocent anti-establishment artist. Give me a break. You were so busy kissing Fairey’s ass you probably didn’t have time to ask him about René Mederos, the Cuban artist that he stole from to create one of his more popular T-shirt designs. Only when caught did Fairey’s company pull the T-shirt and pay the artist’s family a pittance of a royalty fee. Now Fairey’s most famous work of President Obama is proving to be just as mired in plagiarism — he’s attempting to stiff the original photographer. Fairey’s proving himself to be the next Todd Goldman, and trying to say that finding something on Google means he doesn’t need to give credit where credit’s due. Funny, I found his art on Google — but he wants me to pay him to hang it on a wall.

Way to go, Phoenix — you really know how to side with the short-changed artists.

The photographer Fairey is accused of stealing from is a former Associated Press staffer. If the AP is not down with being stiffed by the blogosphere, they are certainly not going to take crap from some street artist.

The Associated Press, which claims the art is based on a photograph taken by one of its photographers, has alleged copyright infringement and wants credit and compensation.

“We have reached out to Mr. Fairey's attorney and are in discussions. We hope for an amicable solution." said Paul Colford, AP's director of media relations.

The image, Fairey has acknowledged, is based on an Associated Press photograph, taken in April 2006 by Mannie Garcia on assignment for the AP at the National Press Club in Washington.

"We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here," Fairey's lawyer, Anthony Falzone, told the Associated Press.

The image was used by Time magazine on its cover when it named Obama its "Person Of The Year."

I am interested in how this will play out. I wonder if the Obama campaign paid Fairey for helping to get its man elected...

No Veggie Love for PETA

PETA is at it again.



I have never been a fan of this "animal rights" organization simply because of their edgy PR stunts. The above commercial is just the latest example of its distasteful publicity tactics. One has to wonder if PETA purposely did this ad to just get attention, knowing full well that no television network would actually broadcast it. If so, it seems like they achieved their goal.

A couple of questions: If this ad is supposed to be pro-animal, isn't it also anti-woman at the same time? Is it me, or is this not sexual exploitation of women?

I agree that other inappropriate ads should also get canned or at least be moderated better during the Super Bowl, like those for Viagra and junk food...

But PETA has just lost its mind yet again.

Retro Film Review: Control Room

The American media was hijacked by the administration so as to be used as a leverage for inducing some fear among the American public.
- Samir Khader, Al Jazeera senior producer

The crisis in Gaza has highlighted the problematic media coverage of how Israel is handling the bombings.

From New York Times:

The Foreign Press Association has been fighting for weeks to get its members into Gaza, first appealing to senior government officials and ultimately taking its case to the country’s highest court. Last week the justices worked out an arrangement with the organization whereby small groups would be permitted into Gaza when it was deemed safe enough for the crossings to be opened for other reasons.

So far, every time the border has been opened, journalists have not been permitted to go in.

On Tuesday, the press association released a statement saying, “The unprecedented denial of access to Gaza for the world’s media amounts to a severe violation of press freedom and puts the state of Israel in the company of a handful of regimes around the world which regularly keep journalists from doing their jobs.”

I just so happen to get from Netflix the great 2004 film, Control Room, which documents the controversial Qatar-based television news service Al-Jazeera and it's coverage of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Launched in 1996, Al-Jazeera broadcasts the war in Iraq to approximately 40 million Arabs. Since then, it has become a punching bag for both Arab governments and the Bush Administration, which has repeatedly called the network "the mouthpiece of Osama bin Laden."

The network gained its reputation for blatant reporting and uncensored images of dead Iraqi civilians. In the film you can see how the Bush administration tried to control what was getting out to the media, including the infamous "playing cards" incident.

I think Barack Obama should force US cable news networks to start broadcasting the "real war."

Could you image if CNN or Fox News started showing images of the dead on a regular basis? The war would end immediately.

Racial strife continues in NOLA

WTF!

And thanks to The Nation on this piece of great journalism. Read the full article on this here.

Media Ethics Lesson: Deep Throat

America’s most famous anonymous source, Mark Felt, or Deep Throat as he was better known to the world as, died yesterday at the age of 95.

From Washington Post:

As the second-highest official in the FBI under longtime director J. Edgar Hoover and interim director L. Patrick Gray, Felt detested the Nixon administration's attempt to subvert the bureau's investigation into the complex of crimes and coverups known as the Watergate scandal that ultimately led to the resignation of President Richard M. Nixon.

He secretly guided Washington Post reporter Bob Woodward as he and his colleague Carl Bernstein pursued the story of the 1972 break-in of the Democratic National Committee's headquarters at the Watergate office buildings and later revelations of the Nixon administration's campaign of spying and sabotage against its perceived political enemies.

By the way, All the President's Men is a slamming movie, as is Frost/Nixon, which I will speak more about in a later post. But I digress.

Woodward and Bernstein promised to not reveal Deep Throat's identity until after his/her death or the person gave consent to be revealed. According to his book, The Secret Man, Woodward speculates on Felt's reasons for keeping silent about his identity as Deep Throat for so many years. Following the Watergate scandal, Felt was seriously investigated by the F.B.I. for possible illegal activities that he had committed as an agent during the Hoover years. In 1980, Felt was convicted of the felony of violating the civil rights of people thought to be associated with members of the Weather Underground by ordering FBI agents to search their homes as part of an attempt to prevent bombings. He was ordered to pay a $7,000 fine but was pardoned by President Ronald Reagan during his appeal.

During the time he was being investigated, Woodward says, Felt needed to preserve his law enforcement ties. He would have placed these ties in serious jeopardy if he had revealed his role as Deep Throat. After Felt's 1980 conviction, Woodward reports, he called Felt and asked if it would help Felt's appeal of the conviction if Woodward were to spread Felt's secret. Felt took exception to his suggestion, under the pretense that if he were revealed as Deep Throat, it would have a pernicious effect on his appeal.

Here are my questions:

Do you think it is ethical for journalists to keep their sources anonymous for an undetermined amount of time?

Yes, I think it was correct for Bernstein and Woodward to protect Felt's identity. While I am a big supporter of transparency, there are times when it is necessary to protect the source from any backlash.

Is it possible for sources to stay anonymous in the age of new media and 24-hour cable networks?

Probably not. Even if a reporter did try to protect its source, the blogosphere would pick up the story anyway. Remember, Felt had been rumored to be Deep Throat for over ten years prior to his revelation. Some blog (maybe mine!) would have found out the truth.

Your thoughts...

Zim Journalist Abducted

I have grown wary of Robert Mugabe; so much so that I really just can't talk about him anymore. At this point, what can you say about someone who denies that a cholera epidemic is killing the population?

But I still feel obligated to speak out about lacking press freedom in Zimbabwe. The International Women's Media Foundation is also doing their part on this pressing issue.

From IWMF:

The IWMF sent a letter to President Robert Mugabe concerning the Dec. 3 abduction of a former journalist in Zimbabwe. Jestina Mukoko, a former broadcaster at the Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation who now heads the Zimbabwe Peace Project, was taken from her home by a group of men, some of whom were armed. The reason for the kidnapping is still unknown, and police have refused to comment. The IWMF advocates for a free press and asks that Mukoko be released.

Read the full letter and sign a petition here.