Brent Budowsky: While our politics have become a shouting match of pander and slander, name-calling and talking points, celebrity media and instant misanalysis, C-SPAN shines as an exemplar of what a free press in a free nation should be.
Fox News, the No Embarrassment Zone
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Berry Craig: A fierce anti-intellectualism fires much of the Fox faithful. They’re not troubled by the serial goofs and gaffes of GOP presidential hopefuls like Herman Cain, Michelle Bachmann and Rick Perry.
Maria Armoudian, Kill The Messenger, in Anaheim
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Meet Author and KPFK Pacifica Radio host Maria Armoudian as she gives a talk on her new book “Kill the Messenger: The Media’s Role in the Fate of the World” on Friday, November 11 at 6:45 pm in Anaheim.
NPR Should Hire Roger Ailes
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Randy Shaw: NPR cannot win its fight with Congressional Republicans without completely sacrificing its journalistic integrity. It must either rally the public in its defense or give up federal funding altogether.
Extreme Right 3, American People 0
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Jim Fuller: With Olberman gone, MSNBC is left with Rachel Maddow, its number two star up to now, and Ed Schultz and Lawrence O’Donnell. The network executives, for a time anyway, will be comfortable with that lineup.
It’s Only Unethical When It’s Called ‘News’
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Tina Dupuy: Why doesn’t the Left have a Fox News? Why isn’t there a liberal version of political organizing on television? There are currently nine 24-hour news stations, so why isn’t there one that’s outright for progressives?
Why Liberals Don’t Stand a Chance in the Corporate Media
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Joseph Palermo: Our political spectrum, as refracted through the lens of corporate media, runs from center-right to far-right. No wonder the conventional wisdom in Washington holds, without evidence, that the United States is a “center-right” country. Those making that argument might not be real, informed commentators — but they play them on TV.
There Is No Ground Zero Mosque
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Sharon Kyle: In response to Anthony Samad’s article, “Ramadan: The Best Time To Discuss America’s Growing Anti-Muslim Sentiment”, we posted a quick simple poll to gauge the sentiments of the LA Progressive community on the construction of an Islamic Community Center near Ground Zero.
Why Won’t the FCC Treat Hate Speech the Same As Foul Language?
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Sylvia Moore: It seems to be far easier to punish a broadcaster for one f-bomb dropped on the air, than it is if the same on-air personality unleashed a tirade of bigoted garbage.
Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance
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Author Alexander Zaitchik sits down with Keith Olbermann to discuss his new book, “Common Nonsense, Glenn Beck and the Triumph of Ignorance”. Zaitchik tells Olbermann that we shouldn’t misinterpret Beck’s recent dip in ratings to mean that he is losing popularity.
Why CNN Fails
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Randy Shaw: CNN’s chief problem is not a lack of partisanship. Instead, it is that CNN’s “news” primarily consists of opinions from partisan political hacks. Most work for CNN because no candidate wants to hire them, and it’s an easy gig because they don’t have to know much about the subjects they pontificate about. Does CNN really believe viewers are still interested in the opinions of the corporate-funded James Carville? Or that CNN will steal viewers from FOX News by hiring Erick Erickson of Redstate.com, who publicly threatened to shoot census workers? CNN is failing because it’s selling stale conventional wisdom, which viewers are rejecting.
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Why Keith Left
Mike Price: Everybody seems to have a theory about the “real” reason for Keith Olbermann’s sudden departure from MSNBC. Mine, not that anybody asked, is that it had something to do with his insistence upon reading James Thurber to us every Friday at the close of his show.