- FORUMS -
Questions for . . . John Noble Wilford
To mark the 25th anniversary of the section, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/readersopinions/questions-wilford.html?th
Here are some expamples of questions and answers in an interview from the above:
QUESTIONS FOR . . .
John Noble Wilford
This week, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
November 11
When you first covered the 1996 Mars meteorite story, were you more skeptical or more excited? Can you describe the arc of your own take on the likelihood that it provided evidence for real life on Mars, from Aug. 1996 until now? -- Dr. James Strick, Lancaster, Pa.
A. Dear Dr. Strick:
A very interesting question. For two or three days, as I tried to learn details about the rumored "life on Mars" rock, I was quite excited. Late one afternoon, when the embargo on the journal report was lifted, I read the paper and spoke with some of the authors and others familiar with the work. I was still excited. But I could see that the conclusion of a possible discovery of signs of past life on Mars was highly qualified at several turns. My story began by saying what the researchers thought they had discovered, but quickly raised questions and noted that the scientists would be defending their announced results at a news conference the following day. The story out of that conference was somewhat more skeptical, though one had to repeat what the researchers said they were claiming.
Two or three weeks later, I wrote a story that took a reverse tack. The skeptics and critics described their misgivings and reservations, and the original research team responded to their best defense. Four months later, I wrote a story that appeared on page one of The Times that cast strong doubt that the Mars meteoritic rock contained evidence of past life on Mars.
My view of Martian life (microbial or some such) has risen and fallen several times since the Viking landings in 1976. Martian life then looked extremely doubtful. Then in the 1980s, geologists studying the Viking orbital pictures saw so much evidence of erosion (water perhaps) that they developed scenarios in which Mars in its earlier history was warmer and wetter and life could have emerged, perhaps about the same time (3.6 billion years ago) that it apparently did on Earth and then it vanished as Martian conditions worsened. Or life emerged and still exists in some forms, presumably in subsurface watery layers or near the polar ice caps. To be honest, I hope that there is some simple form of life on Mars and that we detect it; it would make a great news story and stunning revelation in scientific and philosophical terms. We will have all the more reason to keep searching for the planets and moons of other stars, looking for cosmic companionship.
Best regards,
John Noble Wilford
Q. In your perception of the responses of readers to your journalistic work on science, have there been any significant changes regarding the attitudes and perceptions about science over the time?-- Rainer Kamber, Basel, Switzerland
A. Dear Rainer Kamber:
For the most part, readers of Science Times over the years tend to be eager to savor and learn about what is happening in science and medicine. A few occasionally object to the emphasis we give one line of research over another, or one scientific group over another. A few call our attention to omissions and mistakes on our part. But mostly they write in appreciation and with suggestions for other stories they would like to read.
But we do have some who write in with complaints that we misrepresent or overlook other theories and points of view. There are a few who reject the Big Bang, or the overall Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. Science has certainly not resolved all issues regarding these two pillars of research, but a strong case has been made and repeatedly tested that the theories are the most reasonable explanations for cosmology and biological evolution.
For more observations on public perceptions of science today, you should take a close look at the lead article by Bill Broad and Jim Glanz in today's 25th anniversary issue of Science Times. Several polls and observations by specialists indicate a growing unease over science. The prestige of scientists has apparently slipped, though it remains relatively high. Irrational beliefs like miracles, ghosts and astrology are strong. And there's a nagging feeling that science is failing to solve social ills. Give the article a read; it goes to the heart of your question.
Regards,
John Noble Wilford
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
- FORUMS -
Questions for . . . John Noble Wilford
To mark the 25th anniversary of the section, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/readersopinions/questions-wilford.html?th
Here are some expamples of questions and answers in an interview from the above:
QUESTIONS FOR . . .
John Noble Wilford
John Noble Wilford.
Submit a Question
Related Articles by John Noble Wilford
The Birth of Science Times (November 11, 2003)
U.S. And Soviet Astronauts Unite Ships And Then Join In Historic Handshakes (July 17, 1975)
Power Failure Imperils Astronauts (April 13, 1970)
Men Walk On Moon (July 20, 1969)
Astronauts Carry Out Early Maneuvers on 163-Orbit Journey (October 11, 1968)
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
ÊÊTopics
Alerts
Science and Technology
Archaeology and Anthropology
Space
News and News Media
This week, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
November 11
When you first covered the 1996 Mars meteorite story, were you more skeptical or more excited? Can you describe the arc of your own take on the likelihood that it provided evidence for real life on Mars, from Aug. 1996 until now? -- Dr. James Strick, Lancaster, Pa.
A. Dear Dr. Strick:
A very interesting question. For two or three days, as I tried to learn details about the rumored "life on Mars" rock, I was quite excited. Late one afternoon, when the embargo on the journal report was lifted, I read the paper and spoke with some of the authors and others familiar with the work. I was still excited. But I could see that the conclusion of a possible discovery of signs of past life on Mars was highly qualified at several turns. My story began by saying what the researchers thought they had discovered, but quickly raised questions and noted that the scientists would be defending their announced results at a news conference the following day. The story out of that conference was somewhat more skeptical, though one had to repeat what the researchers said they were claiming.
Two or three weeks later, I wrote a story that took a reverse tack. The skeptics and critics described their misgivings and reservations, and the original research team responded to their best defense. Four months later, I wrote a story that appeared on page one of The Times that cast strong doubt that the Mars meteoritic rock contained evidence of past life on Mars.
My view of Martian life (microbial or some such) has risen and fallen several times since the Viking landings in 1976. Martian life then looked extremely doubtful. Then in the 1980s, geologists studying the Viking orbital pictures saw so much evidence of erosion (water perhaps) that they developed scenarios in which Mars in its earlier history was warmer and wetter and life could have emerged, perhaps about the same time (3.6 billion years ago) that it apparently did on Earth and then it vanished as Martian conditions worsened. Or life emerged and still exists in some forms, presumably in subsurface watery layers or near the polar ice caps. To be honest, I hope that there is some simple form of life on Mars and that we detect it; it would make a great news story and stunning revelation in scientific and philosophical terms. We will have all the more reason to keep searching for the planets and moons of other stars, looking for cosmic companionship.
Best regards,
John Noble Wilford
Q. In your perception of the responses of readers to your journalistic work on science, have there been any significant changes regarding the attitudes and perceptions about science over the time?-- Rainer Kamber, Basel, Switzerland
A. Dear Rainer Kamber:
For the most part, readers of Science Times over the years tend to be eager to savor and learn about what is happening in science and medicine. A few occasionally object to the emphasis we give one line of research over another, or one scientific group over another. A few call our attention to omissions and mistakes on our part. But mostly they write in appreciation and with suggestions for other stories they would like to read.
But we do have some who write in with complaints that we misrepresent or overlook other theories and points of view. There are a few who reject the Big Bang, or the overall Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. Science has certainly not resolved all issues regarding these two pillars of research, but a strong case has been made and repeatedly tested that the theories are the most reasonable explanations for cosmology and biological evolution.
For more observations on public perceptions of science today, you should take a close look at the lead article by Bill Broad and Jim Glanz in today's 25th anniversary issue of Science Times. Several polls and observations by specialists indicate a growing unease over science. The prestige of scientists has apparently slipped, though it remains relatively high. Irrational beliefs like miracles, ghosts and astrology are strong. And there's a nagging feeling that science is failing to solve social ills. Give the article a read; it goes to the heart of your question.
Regards,
John Noble Wilford
Questions for . . . John Noble Wilford
To mark the 25th anniversary of the section, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/readersopinions/questions-wilford.html?th
Here are some expamples of questions and answers in an interview from the above:
QUESTIONS FOR . . .
John Noble Wilford
John Noble Wilford.
Submit a Question
Related Articles by John Noble Wilford
The Birth of Science Times (November 11, 2003)
U.S. And Soviet Astronauts Unite Ships And Then Join In Historic Handshakes (July 17, 1975)
Power Failure Imperils Astronauts (April 13, 1970)
Men Walk On Moon (July 20, 1969)
Astronauts Carry Out Early Maneuvers on 163-Orbit Journey (October 11, 1968)
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
ÊÊTopics
Alerts
Science and Technology
Archaeology and Anthropology
Space
News and News Media
This week, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
November 11
When you first covered the 1996 Mars meteorite story, were you more skeptical or more excited? Can you describe the arc of your own take on the likelihood that it provided evidence for real life on Mars, from Aug. 1996 until now? -- Dr. James Strick, Lancaster, Pa.
A. Dear Dr. Strick:
A very interesting question. For two or three days, as I tried to learn details about the rumored "life on Mars" rock, I was quite excited. Late one afternoon, when the embargo on the journal report was lifted, I read the paper and spoke with some of the authors and others familiar with the work. I was still excited. But I could see that the conclusion of a possible discovery of signs of past life on Mars was highly qualified at several turns. My story began by saying what the researchers thought they had discovered, but quickly raised questions and noted that the scientists would be defending their announced results at a news conference the following day. The story out of that conference was somewhat more skeptical, though one had to repeat what the researchers said they were claiming.
Two or three weeks later, I wrote a story that took a reverse tack. The skeptics and critics described their misgivings and reservations, and the original research team responded to their best defense. Four months later, I wrote a story that appeared on page one of The Times that cast strong doubt that the Mars meteoritic rock contained evidence of past life on Mars.
My view of Martian life (microbial or some such) has risen and fallen several times since the Viking landings in 1976. Martian life then looked extremely doubtful. Then in the 1980s, geologists studying the Viking orbital pictures saw so much evidence of erosion (water perhaps) that they developed scenarios in which Mars in its earlier history was warmer and wetter and life could have emerged, perhaps about the same time (3.6 billion years ago) that it apparently did on Earth and then it vanished as Martian conditions worsened. Or life emerged and still exists in some forms, presumably in subsurface watery layers or near the polar ice caps. To be honest, I hope that there is some simple form of life on Mars and that we detect it; it would make a great news story and stunning revelation in scientific and philosophical terms. We will have all the more reason to keep searching for the planets and moons of other stars, looking for cosmic companionship.
Best regards,
John Noble Wilford
Q. In your perception of the responses of readers to your journalistic work on science, have there been any significant changes regarding the attitudes and perceptions about science over the time?-- Rainer Kamber, Basel, Switzerland
A. Dear Rainer Kamber:
For the most part, readers of Science Times over the years tend to be eager to savor and learn about what is happening in science and medicine. A few occasionally object to the emphasis we give one line of research over another, or one scientific group over another. A few call our attention to omissions and mistakes on our part. But mostly they write in appreciation and with suggestions for other stories they would like to read.
But we do have some who write in with complaints that we misrepresent or overlook other theories and points of view. There are a few who reject the Big Bang, or the overall Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. Science has certainly not resolved all issues regarding these two pillars of research, but a strong case has been made and repeatedly tested that the theories are the most reasonable explanations for cosmology and biological evolution.
For more observations on public perceptions of science today, you should take a close look at the lead article by Bill Broad and Jim Glanz in today's 25th anniversary issue of Science Times. Several polls and observations by specialists indicate a growing unease over science. The prestige of scientists has apparently slipped, though it remains relatively high. Irrational beliefs like miracles, ghosts and astrology are strong. And there's a nagging feeling that science is failing to solve social ills. Give the article a read; it goes to the heart of your question.
Regards,
John Noble Wilford
- FORUMS -
Questions for . . . John Noble Wilford
To mark the 25th anniversary of the section, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/readersopinions/questions-wilford.html?th
Here are some expamples of questions and answers in an interview from the above:
QUESTIONS FOR . . .
John Noble Wilford
John Noble Wilford.
Submit a Question
Related Articles by John Noble Wilford
The Birth of Science Times (November 11, 2003)
U.S. And Soviet Astronauts Unite Ships And Then Join In Historic Handshakes (July 17, 1975)
Power Failure Imperils Astronauts (April 13, 1970)
Men Walk On Moon (July 20, 1969)
Astronauts Carry Out Early Maneuvers on 163-Orbit Journey (October 11, 1968)
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Topics
Alerts
Science and Technology
Archaeology and Anthropology
Space
News and News Media
This week, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
November 11
When you first covered the 1996 Mars meteorite story, were you more skeptical or more excited? Can you describe the arc of your own take on the likelihood that it provided evidence for real life on Mars, from Aug. 1996 until now? -- Dr. James Strick, Lancaster, Pa.
A. Dear Dr. Strick:
A very interesting question. For two or three days, as I tried to learn details about the rumored "life on Mars" rock, I was quite excited. Late one afternoon, when the embargo on the journal report was lifted, I read the paper and spoke with some of the authors and others familiar with the work. I was still excited. But I could see that the conclusion of a possible discovery of signs of past life on Mars was highly qualified at several turns. My story began by saying what the researchers thought they had discovered, but quickly raised questions and noted that the scientists would be defending their announced results at a news conference the following day. The story out of that conference was somewhat more skeptical, though one had to repeat what the researchers said they were claiming.
Two or three weeks later, I wrote a story that took a reverse tack. The skeptics and critics described their misgivings and reservations, and the original research team responded to their best defense. Four months later, I wrote a story that appeared on page one of The Times that cast strong doubt that the Mars meteoritic rock contained evidence of past life on Mars.
My view of Martian life (microbial or some such) has risen and fallen several times since the Viking landings in 1976. Martian life then looked extremely doubtful. Then in the 1980s, geologists studying the Viking orbital pictures saw so much evidence of erosion (water perhaps) that they developed scenarios in which Mars in its earlier history was warmer and wetter and life could have emerged, perhaps about the same time (3.6 billion years ago) that it apparently did on Earth and then it vanished as Martian conditions worsened. Or life emerged and still exists in some forms, presumably in subsurface watery layers or near the polar ice caps. To be honest, I hope that there is some simple form of life on Mars and that we detect it; it would make a great news story and stunning revelation in scientific and philosophical terms. We will have all the more reason to keep searching for the planets and moons of other stars, looking for cosmic companionship.
Best regards,
John Noble Wilford
Q. In your perception of the responses of readers to your journalistic work on science, have there been any significant changes regarding the attitudes and perceptions about science over the time?-- Rainer Kamber, Basel, Switzerland
A. Dear Rainer Kamber:
For the most part, readers of Science Times over the years tend to be eager to savor and learn about what is happening in science and medicine. A few occasionally object to the emphasis we give one line of research over another, or one scientific group over another. A few call our attention to omissions and mistakes on our part. But mostly they write in appreciation and with suggestions for other stories they would like to read.
But we do have some who write in with complaints that we misrepresent or overlook other theories and points of view. There are a few who reject the Big Bang, or the overall Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. Science has certainly not resolved all issues regarding these two pillars of research, but a strong case has been made and repeatedly tested that the theories are the most reasonable explanations for cosmology and biological evolution.
For more observations on public perceptions of science today, you should take a close look at the lead article by Bill Broad and Jim Glanz in today's 25th anniversary issue of Science Times. Several polls and observations by specialists indicate a growing unease over science. The prestige of scientists has apparently slipped, though it remains relatively high. Irrational beliefs like miracles, ghosts and astrology are strong. And there's a nagging feeling that science is failing to solve social ills. Give the article a read; it goes to the heart of your question.
Regards,
John Noble Wilford
Questions for . . . John Noble Wilford
To mark the 25th anniversary of the section, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/readersopinions/questions-wilford.html?th
Here are some expamples of questions and answers in an interview from the above:
QUESTIONS FOR . . .
John Noble Wilford
John Noble Wilford.
Submit a Question
Related Articles by John Noble Wilford
The Birth of Science Times (November 11, 2003)
U.S. And Soviet Astronauts Unite Ships And Then Join In Historic Handshakes (July 17, 1975)
Power Failure Imperils Astronauts (April 13, 1970)
Men Walk On Moon (July 20, 1969)
Astronauts Carry Out Early Maneuvers on 163-Orbit Journey (October 11, 1968)
TIMES NEWS TRACKER
Topics
Alerts
Science and Technology
Archaeology and Anthropology
Space
News and News Media
This week, the reporter and former Science Times editor will answer questions about covering science over the years.
November 11
When you first covered the 1996 Mars meteorite story, were you more skeptical or more excited? Can you describe the arc of your own take on the likelihood that it provided evidence for real life on Mars, from Aug. 1996 until now? -- Dr. James Strick, Lancaster, Pa.
A. Dear Dr. Strick:
A very interesting question. For two or three days, as I tried to learn details about the rumored "life on Mars" rock, I was quite excited. Late one afternoon, when the embargo on the journal report was lifted, I read the paper and spoke with some of the authors and others familiar with the work. I was still excited. But I could see that the conclusion of a possible discovery of signs of past life on Mars was highly qualified at several turns. My story began by saying what the researchers thought they had discovered, but quickly raised questions and noted that the scientists would be defending their announced results at a news conference the following day. The story out of that conference was somewhat more skeptical, though one had to repeat what the researchers said they were claiming.
Two or three weeks later, I wrote a story that took a reverse tack. The skeptics and critics described their misgivings and reservations, and the original research team responded to their best defense. Four months later, I wrote a story that appeared on page one of The Times that cast strong doubt that the Mars meteoritic rock contained evidence of past life on Mars.
My view of Martian life (microbial or some such) has risen and fallen several times since the Viking landings in 1976. Martian life then looked extremely doubtful. Then in the 1980s, geologists studying the Viking orbital pictures saw so much evidence of erosion (water perhaps) that they developed scenarios in which Mars in its earlier history was warmer and wetter and life could have emerged, perhaps about the same time (3.6 billion years ago) that it apparently did on Earth and then it vanished as Martian conditions worsened. Or life emerged and still exists in some forms, presumably in subsurface watery layers or near the polar ice caps. To be honest, I hope that there is some simple form of life on Mars and that we detect it; it would make a great news story and stunning revelation in scientific and philosophical terms. We will have all the more reason to keep searching for the planets and moons of other stars, looking for cosmic companionship.
Best regards,
John Noble Wilford
Q. In your perception of the responses of readers to your journalistic work on science, have there been any significant changes regarding the attitudes and perceptions about science over the time?-- Rainer Kamber, Basel, Switzerland
A. Dear Rainer Kamber:
For the most part, readers of Science Times over the years tend to be eager to savor and learn about what is happening in science and medicine. A few occasionally object to the emphasis we give one line of research over another, or one scientific group over another. A few call our attention to omissions and mistakes on our part. But mostly they write in appreciation and with suggestions for other stories they would like to read.
But we do have some who write in with complaints that we misrepresent or overlook other theories and points of view. There are a few who reject the Big Bang, or the overall Darwinian theory of evolution by natural selection. Science has certainly not resolved all issues regarding these two pillars of research, but a strong case has been made and repeatedly tested that the theories are the most reasonable explanations for cosmology and biological evolution.
For more observations on public perceptions of science today, you should take a close look at the lead article by Bill Broad and Jim Glanz in today's 25th anniversary issue of Science Times. Several polls and observations by specialists indicate a growing unease over science. The prestige of scientists has apparently slipped, though it remains relatively high. Irrational beliefs like miracles, ghosts and astrology are strong. And there's a nagging feeling that science is failing to solve social ills. Give the article a read; it goes to the heart of your question.
Regards,
John Noble Wilford
Sunday, November 09, 2003
Saturday, November 08, 2003
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: TERRA INCOGNITA
Travel writer Paul Theroux thinks there's too much "connectedness"
these days:
"'Connected' is the triumphant cry these days. Connection has made
people arrogant, impatient, hasty, and presumptuous. I am old enough to
have witnessed the rise of the telephone, the apotheosis of TV and the
videocassette, the cellular phone, the pager, the fax machine, and e-mail.
I don't doubt that instant communication has been good for business, even
for the publishing business, but it has done nothing for literature, and
might even have harmed it. In many ways connection has been disastrous. We
have confused information (of which there is too much) with ideas (of which
there are too few). I found out much more about the world and myself by
being unconnected.
"And what does connection really mean? What can the archivist --
relishing detail, boasting of the information age -- possibly do about all
those private phone calls, e-mails, and electronic messages. Lost! A
president is impeached, and in spite of all the phone calls and all the
investigations, almost the only evidence that exists of his assignations
are a few cheap gifts, a signed photograph, and obscure stains. So much for
the age of information. My detractors may say, 'You can print e-mails,' but
who commits that yackety-yak to paper?
"The most aberrant aspect of the delusional concept of globalization
is the smug belief that the world is connected and that everyone and every
place is instantly accessible. This is merely a harmful conceit. The
colorful advertisement for cellular phones or computers showing Chinese
speaking to Zulus, and Italians speaking to Tongans, is inaccurate, not to
say mendacious. There are still places on earth that are inaccessible,
because of their geography or their politics or their religion. Parts of
China are off the map, and for that matter parts of Italy are too -- there
are villages in the hinterland of Basilicata, in southern Italy, that are
as isolated as they have ever been.
"For the past ten years, since the disputed and disallowed election
of 1991, the entire Republic of Algeria has been a no-go area where between
eighty and one hundred thousand people have been massacred. Algeria -- a
sunny Mediterranean country, the most dangerous place in the world, with
the worst human rights record on earth -- is right next to jolly Morocco
and colorful Tunisia, the haunts of package tourists and rug collectors.
This bizarre proximity highlights the paradox, which is an old one, that
close by there are areas of the world that are still forbidden, or terra
incognita, where no outsider dares to venture. In spite of all our
connectedness we have little idea of what passes for daily life in Algeria."
***
See
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618126937/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Theroux's "Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings"
Travel writer Paul Theroux thinks there's too much "connectedness"
these days:
"'Connected' is the triumphant cry these days. Connection has made
people arrogant, impatient, hasty, and presumptuous. I am old enough to
have witnessed the rise of the telephone, the apotheosis of TV and the
videocassette, the cellular phone, the pager, the fax machine, and e-mail.
I don't doubt that instant communication has been good for business, even
for the publishing business, but it has done nothing for literature, and
might even have harmed it. In many ways connection has been disastrous. We
have confused information (of which there is too much) with ideas (of which
there are too few). I found out much more about the world and myself by
being unconnected.
"And what does connection really mean? What can the archivist --
relishing detail, boasting of the information age -- possibly do about all
those private phone calls, e-mails, and electronic messages. Lost! A
president is impeached, and in spite of all the phone calls and all the
investigations, almost the only evidence that exists of his assignations
are a few cheap gifts, a signed photograph, and obscure stains. So much for
the age of information. My detractors may say, 'You can print e-mails,' but
who commits that yackety-yak to paper?
"The most aberrant aspect of the delusional concept of globalization
is the smug belief that the world is connected and that everyone and every
place is instantly accessible. This is merely a harmful conceit. The
colorful advertisement for cellular phones or computers showing Chinese
speaking to Zulus, and Italians speaking to Tongans, is inaccurate, not to
say mendacious. There are still places on earth that are inaccessible,
because of their geography or their politics or their religion. Parts of
China are off the map, and for that matter parts of Italy are too -- there
are villages in the hinterland of Basilicata, in southern Italy, that are
as isolated as they have ever been.
"For the past ten years, since the disputed and disallowed election
of 1991, the entire Republic of Algeria has been a no-go area where between
eighty and one hundred thousand people have been massacred. Algeria -- a
sunny Mediterranean country, the most dangerous place in the world, with
the worst human rights record on earth -- is right next to jolly Morocco
and colorful Tunisia, the haunts of package tourists and rug collectors.
This bizarre proximity highlights the paradox, which is an old one, that
close by there are areas of the world that are still forbidden, or terra
incognita, where no outsider dares to venture. In spite of all our
connectedness we have little idea of what passes for daily life in Algeria."
***
See
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0618126937/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Theroux's "Fresh Air Fiend: Travel Writings"
Thursday, November 06, 2003
THE WEEKLY SPIN, Wednesday, November 5, 2003
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
1. CBS Caves to Pressure, Dumps Reagan Movie
2. Media Reform Conference Begins Friday in Madison
3. Private Sector Takes On Public Diplomacy
4. Copyright vs. Democracy
5. Sheep's Clothing
6. 'By-Passing the Media Filter' on the Iraq War
7. Media Blackout on Local Issues
8. Raped By the Globe
9. Gay-Bashing Provocateurs
10. Chemical Industry PR to Counter Health Activists
11. Puffery for Puff Daddy
12. Arson Attack on Peace Activists
13. Fox Gets the Memo
14. Bush Seeks Scapegoats for 'Mission Accomplished' Stunt
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. CBS CAVES TO PRESSURE, DUMPS REAGAN MOVIE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/business/media/05TUBE.html?ex=1069002888&ei=1&en=2163c6474be84cfb
TV docu-dramas, such as this Sunday's red, white and blue Iraqi war
mythology Saving Private Lynch, always play fast and loose with the
facts, twisting reality into fiction for entertainment's sake. But
a much hyped CBS miniseries on Ronald Reagan drew the wrath of the
Right, and CBS has dumped the show. The New York Times reports that
"CBS executives ... denied they were capitulating to pressure from
Republicans and conservative groups in moving the 'The Reagans' to
the pay cable channel Showtime, a sister network at Viacom. The
decision, they argued, was instead 'a moral call,' reached after
concluding that the four-hour television movie carried a liberal
political agenda and treated the Reagans unfairly. ... On Oct. 28,
the Media Research Center ... wrote a letter to a list of 100 top
television sponsors urging them to 'refuse to associate your
products with this movie.' At around the same time Michael
Paranzino, a former Republican Congressional staff member from
Betheseda Md., decided to start a Web site called BoycottCBS.com.
... Last Friday, the Republican National Committee entered the
fray."
SOURCE: New York Times, November 5, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1068008401
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1068008401
2. MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE BEGINS FRIDAY IN MADISON
http://www.mediareform.net/conference.php
Some 1,500 journalists, political reformers and citizens at large
are convening in our home town of Madison, Wisconsin, November 7th
- 9th for the National Conference on Media Reform. The conference
begins Friday with a 2pm panel featuring professor Nancy Snow,
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and our own John Stauber, co-author
of Weapons of Mass Deception. The dozens of speakers and performing
artists include Bill Moyers, Al Franken, members of the US House
and Senate, FCC Commissioners, John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO, Ralph
Nader, Janine Jackson of FAIR, Billy Bragg and many more.
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1068008400
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1068008400
3. PRIVATE SECTOR TAKES ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=194146&site=3
As the US slips in international opinion polls, some private sector
imagemakers think its time to bolster Washington's public diplomacy
efforts, PR Week's Douglas Quenqua reports. "Keith Reinhard,
chairman of Omnicom ad firm DDB Worldwide, announced the formation
of the Task Force to Mobilize American Business for Public
Diplomacy, a collection of marketing and PR experts who've come
together to help American corporations improve America's image in
foreign lands." Reinhard's initial research showed that "the world
overwhelmingly shares the same four negative perceptions about US
companies: they exploit workers; they're a corrupting influence,
promoting values that are in conflict with local customs; they're
grossly insensitive and arrogant; and the practice
hyper-consumerism, increasing profits it the only priority." "I
looked at the data and I said, 'They're talking about companies and
brands that mean business to me. ... All these big multinational
companies, these are our clients,'" Reinhard told PR Week. "Our own
company gets 61% of our revenue from outside the US. So I thought
we could organize and address some of these perceptions."
SOURCE: PR Week, November 3, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835603
4. COPYRIGHT VS. DEMOCRACY
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1103-04.htm
"Diebold Election Systems, which makes voting machines, is waging
legal war against grass-roots advocates, including dozens of
college students, who are posting on the Internet copies of the
company's internal communications about its electronic voting
machines," reports John Schwartz. The company's attorneys have sent
letters threatening legal action against the students, who are
circulating "thousands of e-mail messages and memorandums dating to
March 2003 from January 1999 that include discussions of bugs in
Diebold's software and warnings that its computer network are
poorly protected against hackers." Questions are also being raised
about whether Diebold's voting machines can be trusted to deliver
an honest result. "Diebold has become a favorite target of
advocates who accuse it of partisanship," Schwartz states. "Company
executives have made large contributions to the Republican Party
and the chief executive, Walden W. O'Dell, said in an invitation to
a fund-raiser that he was 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the president next year.'"
SOURCE: New York Times, November 3, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835602
5. SHEEP'S CLOTHING
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9286
A group calling itself Partnership for the West (PFTW) was formally
unveiled in late October and aims to influence environmental
legislation in Washington. "The group plans to work on 'restoring a
common sense balance to economic growth and conservation in the
West,'" notes Bill Berkowitz, adding that this "sounds nice, until
you see who's behind it. Claiming to be a grassroots lobby group,
PFTW actually represents a kinder, gentler and more politically
savvy brand of anti-environmentalism. ... The group's members
number over a hundred, and include large interests in fossil fuel,
logging and mining industries. ... Partnership for the West grew
out of summit in Denver, Colorado, attended by elected officials,
corporate representatives and long-standing anti-environmental
organizations like the American Land Rights Association, the Blue
Ribbon Coalition, the Mountain States Legal Foundation, and People
for the USA. Its president, Jim Sims, is the former communications
director for the National Energy Policy Task Force - also known as
Cheney's secret panel - and helped craft the administration's
energy policy." According to Scott Silver, who heads a real
environmental group called Wild Wilderness, "These people are paid
lobbyists and public relations consultants serving the needs of
every imaginable sort of polluter, developer, resource extractor or
despoiler of the environment."
SOURCE: TomPaine.com, November 3, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1067835601
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835601
6. 'BY-PASSING THE MEDIA FILTER' ON THE IRAQ WAR
http://www.truthuncovered.com/index.cfm?ms=alternet
As part of its PR strategy to 'by-pass the media filter' that it
claims is distorting public perception of the Iraq war with too
much negative reporting, the Bush administration has been granting
interviews to smaller, more friendly media. A 'media by-pass'
tactic of a different sort is being used by critics of the war who,
as we've documented in our book Weapons of Mass Deception, have
been locked out of mainstream media coverage. Alternet has
announced that "A provocative new DVD that documents how the Bush
Administration exaggerated the threat of Iraq, debuts today.
Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Greenwald,
"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War" takes you behind
the scenes, as CIA, Pentagon and foreign service experts speak out
and reveal the lies, misstatements and exaggerations that the Bush
administration used to deceive the public." Word of the DVD is
"going to millions of MoveOn members, Nation subscribers, Working
Assets customers, and others as part of an unprecedented,
simultaneous effort to bypass the film and media gatekeepers and
take the information directly to the people."
SOURCE: Alternet, November 3, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1067835600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835600
7. MEDIA BLACKOUT ON LOCAL ISSUES
http://www.bettercampaigns.org/press/release.php?ReleaseID=50
Local public affairs shows account for less than one half of one
percent of all programming on local television stations, according
to a study released by the Alliance for Better Campaigns.
"Broadcasters have relegated local public-affairs programming to
the very bottom of the heap - behind cartoons, kitchenware
specials, reruns, courtroom dramas, dating shows and late-night
talk shows," reports Jennifer Harper. "The analysis found, for
example, that there were three times as many 'Seinfeld' reruns as
local public-affairs shows on TV stations nationwide. There were
four times as many cartoon shows, seven times as many pro football
games, nine times as many dating shows, 19 times as many late-night
talk shows, 20 times as many courtroom dramas and 23 times as many
soap operas."
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067830733
8. RAPED BY THE GLOBE
http://salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/10/31/kobe/index.html
The Globe, a tabloid newspaper, is running a titillating photograph
of alleged rapist Kobe Bryant's accuser at her high school prom.
"In it, the woman is lifting up her prom dress to reveal a garter
belt," notes Rebecca Traister. "The headline reads: 'Kobe Bryant's
Accuser: Did she really say no?' Next to the photo, in half-inch
type, is the 19-year-old woman's name." Traister interviewed
journalism professors and magazine editors who are shocked by the
Globe's decision. "It is misogynistic and truly exploitative to try
to get big sales off of identifying an alleged rape victim," said
Us Weekly's editor in chief Janice Min. "Was a woman dressed
inappropriately? Did she ask for it? Is a sexy woman more likely to
get raped than a non-sexy woman? These are the anachronistic,
horrible ideas that come up because of a cover like that. Morally,
it's wrong."
SOURCE: Salon.com, October 31, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067576400
9. GAY-BASHING PROVOCATEURS
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=702
A gay-bashing, right wing student newspaper at Roger Williams
University in Rhode Island offers a fresh example of the
conservative media's strategy of "publicizing censorship of their
papers" so they can "cast themselves as the little guy up against
the leftist establishment." The Hawk's Right Eye provoked the
university administration into clamping down by running nasty
attacks on Judy Shepard, whose son was beaten to death in Texas for
being gay. After Shepard spoke on campus, HRE accused her of
"preying on students' emotions and naivety" [sic] so that she could
become "a mascot for the homosexual agenda." Now that the
university has established a "publications and broadcast review
committee" and is considering revoking HRE's funding, national
conservative groups have swarmed to its defense, complaining of
"harassment" and "a heavy-handed approach to silencing ideas that
oppose the leftist orthodoxy so prevalent on college campuses."
SOURCE: Student Press Law Center, October 30, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067490002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067490002
10. CHEMICAL INDUSTRY PR TO COUNTER HEALTH ACTIVISTS
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?St=1
Monique Harden and Nathalie Walker, two public interest lawyers,
report that they attended "the recent conference of the American
Chemistry Council (ACC), called 'Communicating in a Volatile
World.' ACC is the trade association for the 180 largest
manufacturers of chemicals in the U.S. Until recently, ACC was
known as the Chemical Manufacturers Association. The ACC conference
was a real eye-opener. It revealed the ACC's genuine fears about
the accomplishments of environmental health activists. In
particular, ACC communications staff and presenters at the
conference conceded that the work of coalitions like the
Collaborative on Health and the Environment and Health Care Without
Harm has effectively raised public awareness about the health
dangers of toxic chemicals in the environment and in consumer
products. They also concluded that the success of these coalitions
is due to their diversity of members and supporters who include
community groups, environmental justice organizations, health
professionals, and researchers who focus on body burden and
low-dose chemical exposures, shareholder/investment institutions,
and consumers. Here are the salient details of the various
presentations at the conference..."
SOURCE: Rachel's Environment & Health News, October 30, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067490001
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067490001
11. PUFFERY FOR PUFF DADDY
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/1030klores.htm
Dan Klores Communications, a PR firm that specializes in "crisis
communications" for clients embroiled in scandals, is representing
Sean ("P. Diddy") Combs, the artist formerly known as "Puff Daddy,"
as he faces criticism for the use of sweatshop labor to manufacture
his clothing line. "The National Labor Committee, the organization
which targeted Kathy Lee Gifford with similar charges eight years
ago, this week released a report detailing forced overtime without
pay, mandatory pregnancy tests and other 'systematic human and
worker rights violations' at a factory which producesarticles for
Combs' 'Sean John' line," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Combs has
been a long-time client of Klores, which encouraged him to carry a
Bible to court during his 2001 trial for illegal gun possession in
connection with a nightclub shooting. The PR firm has also
represented Combs at other embarrassing moments such as his 2002
legal battle with an ex-girlfriend over child support for their
infant son. Other Klores clients have included Britney Spears, Mike
Tyson and Lizzie Grubman.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, October 30, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067490000
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067490000
12. ARSON ATTACK ON PEACE ACTIVISTS
http://www.progressive.org/mcwatch03/mc102903.html
Cindy Hunter and her husband, Sam Nickels, opposed Bush's war
against Iraq and put a sign on their front porch showing the number
of Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers who have been wounded or
killed thus far in the war. An anonymous arson responded by setting
fire to the sign, endangering their lives and causing an estimated
$50,000 in damages to their home. This incident is only one of
dozens that the Progressive magazine lists on its "McCarthyism
Watch," which monitors "the New McCarthyism that is sweeping the
country."
SOURCE: Progressive, October 29, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067403602
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067403602
13. FOX GETS THE MEMO
http://poynter.org/forum/?id=letters#foxnews
Charlie Reina, a former producer for Fox News, has posted a letter
to the Poynter Institute's online journalism forum, explaining how
the network deliberately slants the news. "Editorially, the FNC
newsroom is under the constant control and vigilance of
management," he writes.†"The pressure ranges from subtle to
direct.† First of all, it's a news network run by one of the most
high-profile political operatives of recent times. ... The roots of
FNC's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in
the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each
morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often,
suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel
responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the
bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem
to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo
is behind it."
SOURCE: Poynter Online Forums, October 29, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067403601
14. BUSH SEEKS SCAPEGOATS FOR 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED' STUNT
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/politics/29BANN.html?ex=1068435851&ei=1&en=a3423473eff9af7f
As the propaganda that led America to attack Iraq continues to fall
apart, President Bush is looking for scapegoats for his own PR
stunts. "The triumphal 'Mission Accomplished' banner was the pride
of the White House advance team, the image makers who set the stage
for the president's close-ups. On May 1, on a golden Pacific
evening aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln, they made sure that the
banner was perfectly captured in the camera shots of President
Bush's speech declaring major combat in Iraq at an end. But on
Tuesday in the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush publicly disavowed the
banner... 'I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious
advance man from my staff. They weren't that ingenious, by the
way.' ... The banner 'was suggested by those on the ship,' [Bush
press secretary Scotty McClellan] said. 'They asked us to do the
production of the banner, and we did. They're the ones who put it
up.' The man responsible for the banner, Scott Sforza, a former ABC
producer now with the White House communications office, was
traveling overseas on Tuesday and declined to answer questions. He
is known for the production of the sophisticated backdrops that
appear behind Mr. Bush with the White House message of the day,
like 'Helping Small Business,' repeated over and over." On May 16th
the New York Times reported that "White House officials say that a
variety of people, including the president" came up with the
carrier landing stunt. We wonder, is that super-sexy flight suit
President Bush wore on its way to the Smithsonian, or the shredder?
SOURCE: New York Times, October 22, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067403600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067403600
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THIS WEEK'S NEWS
1. CBS Caves to Pressure, Dumps Reagan Movie
2. Media Reform Conference Begins Friday in Madison
3. Private Sector Takes On Public Diplomacy
4. Copyright vs. Democracy
5. Sheep's Clothing
6. 'By-Passing the Media Filter' on the Iraq War
7. Media Blackout on Local Issues
8. Raped By the Globe
9. Gay-Bashing Provocateurs
10. Chemical Industry PR to Counter Health Activists
11. Puffery for Puff Daddy
12. Arson Attack on Peace Activists
13. Fox Gets the Memo
14. Bush Seeks Scapegoats for 'Mission Accomplished' Stunt
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1. CBS CAVES TO PRESSURE, DUMPS REAGAN MOVIE
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/11/05/business/media/05TUBE.html?ex=1069002888&ei=1&en=2163c6474be84cfb
TV docu-dramas, such as this Sunday's red, white and blue Iraqi war
mythology Saving Private Lynch, always play fast and loose with the
facts, twisting reality into fiction for entertainment's sake. But
a much hyped CBS miniseries on Ronald Reagan drew the wrath of the
Right, and CBS has dumped the show. The New York Times reports that
"CBS executives ... denied they were capitulating to pressure from
Republicans and conservative groups in moving the 'The Reagans' to
the pay cable channel Showtime, a sister network at Viacom. The
decision, they argued, was instead 'a moral call,' reached after
concluding that the four-hour television movie carried a liberal
political agenda and treated the Reagans unfairly. ... On Oct. 28,
the Media Research Center ... wrote a letter to a list of 100 top
television sponsors urging them to 'refuse to associate your
products with this movie.' At around the same time Michael
Paranzino, a former Republican Congressional staff member from
Betheseda Md., decided to start a Web site called BoycottCBS.com.
... Last Friday, the Republican National Committee entered the
fray."
SOURCE: New York Times, November 5, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1068008401
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1068008401
2. MEDIA REFORM CONFERENCE BEGINS FRIDAY IN MADISON
http://www.mediareform.net/conference.php
Some 1,500 journalists, political reformers and citizens at large
are convening in our home town of Madison, Wisconsin, November 7th
- 9th for the National Conference on Media Reform. The conference
begins Friday with a 2pm panel featuring professor Nancy Snow,
Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and our own John Stauber, co-author
of Weapons of Mass Deception. The dozens of speakers and performing
artists include Bill Moyers, Al Franken, members of the US House
and Senate, FCC Commissioners, John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO, Ralph
Nader, Janine Jackson of FAIR, Billy Bragg and many more.
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1068008400
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1068008400
3. PRIVATE SECTOR TAKES ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY
http://www.prweek.com/news/news_story.cfm?ID=194146&site=3
As the US slips in international opinion polls, some private sector
imagemakers think its time to bolster Washington's public diplomacy
efforts, PR Week's Douglas Quenqua reports. "Keith Reinhard,
chairman of Omnicom ad firm DDB Worldwide, announced the formation
of the Task Force to Mobilize American Business for Public
Diplomacy, a collection of marketing and PR experts who've come
together to help American corporations improve America's image in
foreign lands." Reinhard's initial research showed that "the world
overwhelmingly shares the same four negative perceptions about US
companies: they exploit workers; they're a corrupting influence,
promoting values that are in conflict with local customs; they're
grossly insensitive and arrogant; and the practice
hyper-consumerism, increasing profits it the only priority." "I
looked at the data and I said, 'They're talking about companies and
brands that mean business to me. ... All these big multinational
companies, these are our clients,'" Reinhard told PR Week. "Our own
company gets 61% of our revenue from outside the US. So I thought
we could organize and address some of these perceptions."
SOURCE: PR Week, November 3, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835603
4. COPYRIGHT VS. DEMOCRACY
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/1103-04.htm
"Diebold Election Systems, which makes voting machines, is waging
legal war against grass-roots advocates, including dozens of
college students, who are posting on the Internet copies of the
company's internal communications about its electronic voting
machines," reports John Schwartz. The company's attorneys have sent
letters threatening legal action against the students, who are
circulating "thousands of e-mail messages and memorandums dating to
March 2003 from January 1999 that include discussions of bugs in
Diebold's software and warnings that its computer network are
poorly protected against hackers." Questions are also being raised
about whether Diebold's voting machines can be trusted to deliver
an honest result. "Diebold has become a favorite target of
advocates who accuse it of partisanship," Schwartz states. "Company
executives have made large contributions to the Republican Party
and the chief executive, Walden W. O'Dell, said in an invitation to
a fund-raiser that he was 'committed to helping Ohio deliver its
electoral votes to the president next year.'"
SOURCE: New York Times, November 3, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835602
5. SHEEP'S CLOTHING
http://www.tompaine.com/feature2.cfm/ID/9286
A group calling itself Partnership for the West (PFTW) was formally
unveiled in late October and aims to influence environmental
legislation in Washington. "The group plans to work on 'restoring a
common sense balance to economic growth and conservation in the
West,'" notes Bill Berkowitz, adding that this "sounds nice, until
you see who's behind it. Claiming to be a grassroots lobby group,
PFTW actually represents a kinder, gentler and more politically
savvy brand of anti-environmentalism. ... The group's members
number over a hundred, and include large interests in fossil fuel,
logging and mining industries. ... Partnership for the West grew
out of summit in Denver, Colorado, attended by elected officials,
corporate representatives and long-standing anti-environmental
organizations like the American Land Rights Association, the Blue
Ribbon Coalition, the Mountain States Legal Foundation, and People
for the USA. Its president, Jim Sims, is the former communications
director for the National Energy Policy Task Force - also known as
Cheney's secret panel - and helped craft the administration's
energy policy." According to Scott Silver, who heads a real
environmental group called Wild Wilderness, "These people are paid
lobbyists and public relations consultants serving the needs of
every imaginable sort of polluter, developer, resource extractor or
despoiler of the environment."
SOURCE: TomPaine.com, November 3, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1067835601
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835601
6. 'BY-PASSING THE MEDIA FILTER' ON THE IRAQ WAR
http://www.truthuncovered.com/index.cfm?ms=alternet
As part of its PR strategy to 'by-pass the media filter' that it
claims is distorting public perception of the Iraq war with too
much negative reporting, the Bush administration has been granting
interviews to smaller, more friendly media. A 'media by-pass'
tactic of a different sort is being used by critics of the war who,
as we've documented in our book Weapons of Mass Deception, have
been locked out of mainstream media coverage. Alternet has
announced that "A provocative new DVD that documents how the Bush
Administration exaggerated the threat of Iraq, debuts today.
Produced and directed by award-winning filmmaker Robert Greenwald,
"Uncovered: The Whole Truth About The Iraq War" takes you behind
the scenes, as CIA, Pentagon and foreign service experts speak out
and reveal the lies, misstatements and exaggerations that the Bush
administration used to deceive the public." Word of the DVD is
"going to millions of MoveOn members, Nation subscribers, Working
Assets customers, and others as part of an unprecedented,
simultaneous effort to bypass the film and media gatekeepers and
take the information directly to the people."
SOURCE: Alternet, November 3, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/November_2003.html#1067835600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067835600
7. MEDIA BLACKOUT ON LOCAL ISSUES
http://www.bettercampaigns.org/press/release.php?ReleaseID=50
Local public affairs shows account for less than one half of one
percent of all programming on local television stations, according
to a study released by the Alliance for Better Campaigns.
"Broadcasters have relegated local public-affairs programming to
the very bottom of the heap - behind cartoons, kitchenware
specials, reruns, courtroom dramas, dating shows and late-night
talk shows," reports Jennifer Harper. "The analysis found, for
example, that there were three times as many 'Seinfeld' reruns as
local public-affairs shows on TV stations nationwide. There were
four times as many cartoon shows, seven times as many pro football
games, nine times as many dating shows, 19 times as many late-night
talk shows, 20 times as many courtroom dramas and 23 times as many
soap operas."
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067830733
8. RAPED BY THE GLOBE
http://salon.com/mwt/feature/2003/10/31/kobe/index.html
The Globe, a tabloid newspaper, is running a titillating photograph
of alleged rapist Kobe Bryant's accuser at her high school prom.
"In it, the woman is lifting up her prom dress to reveal a garter
belt," notes Rebecca Traister. "The headline reads: 'Kobe Bryant's
Accuser: Did she really say no?' Next to the photo, in half-inch
type, is the 19-year-old woman's name." Traister interviewed
journalism professors and magazine editors who are shocked by the
Globe's decision. "It is misogynistic and truly exploitative to try
to get big sales off of identifying an alleged rape victim," said
Us Weekly's editor in chief Janice Min. "Was a woman dressed
inappropriately? Did she ask for it? Is a sexy woman more likely to
get raped than a non-sexy woman? These are the anachronistic,
horrible ideas that come up because of a cover like that. Morally,
it's wrong."
SOURCE: Salon.com, October 31, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067576400
9. GAY-BASHING PROVOCATEURS
http://www.splc.org/newsflash.asp?id=702
A gay-bashing, right wing student newspaper at Roger Williams
University in Rhode Island offers a fresh example of the
conservative media's strategy of "publicizing censorship of their
papers" so they can "cast themselves as the little guy up against
the leftist establishment." The Hawk's Right Eye provoked the
university administration into clamping down by running nasty
attacks on Judy Shepard, whose son was beaten to death in Texas for
being gay. After Shepard spoke on campus, HRE accused her of
"preying on students' emotions and naivety" [sic] so that she could
become "a mascot for the homosexual agenda." Now that the
university has established a "publications and broadcast review
committee" and is considering revoking HRE's funding, national
conservative groups have swarmed to its defense, complaining of
"harassment" and "a heavy-handed approach to silencing ideas that
oppose the leftist orthodoxy so prevalent on college campuses."
SOURCE: Student Press Law Center, October 30, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067490002
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067490002
10. CHEMICAL INDUSTRY PR TO COUNTER HEALTH ACTIVISTS
http://www.rachel.org/bulletin/index.cfm?St=1
Monique Harden and Nathalie Walker, two public interest lawyers,
report that they attended "the recent conference of the American
Chemistry Council (ACC), called 'Communicating in a Volatile
World.' ACC is the trade association for the 180 largest
manufacturers of chemicals in the U.S. Until recently, ACC was
known as the Chemical Manufacturers Association. The ACC conference
was a real eye-opener. It revealed the ACC's genuine fears about
the accomplishments of environmental health activists. In
particular, ACC communications staff and presenters at the
conference conceded that the work of coalitions like the
Collaborative on Health and the Environment and Health Care Without
Harm has effectively raised public awareness about the health
dangers of toxic chemicals in the environment and in consumer
products. They also concluded that the success of these coalitions
is due to their diversity of members and supporters who include
community groups, environmental justice organizations, health
professionals, and researchers who focus on body burden and
low-dose chemical exposures, shareholder/investment institutions,
and consumers. Here are the salient details of the various
presentations at the conference..."
SOURCE: Rachel's Environment & Health News, October 30, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067490001
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067490001
11. PUFFERY FOR PUFF DADDY
http://www.odwyerpr.com/members/1030klores.htm
Dan Klores Communications, a PR firm that specializes in "crisis
communications" for clients embroiled in scandals, is representing
Sean ("P. Diddy") Combs, the artist formerly known as "Puff Daddy,"
as he faces criticism for the use of sweatshop labor to manufacture
his clothing line. "The National Labor Committee, the organization
which targeted Kathy Lee Gifford with similar charges eight years
ago, this week released a report detailing forced overtime without
pay, mandatory pregnancy tests and other 'systematic human and
worker rights violations' at a factory which producesarticles for
Combs' 'Sean John' line," reports O'Dwyer's PR Daily. Combs has
been a long-time client of Klores, which encouraged him to carry a
Bible to court during his 2001 trial for illegal gun possession in
connection with a nightclub shooting. The PR firm has also
represented Combs at other embarrassing moments such as his 2002
legal battle with an ex-girlfriend over child support for their
infant son. Other Klores clients have included Britney Spears, Mike
Tyson and Lizzie Grubman.
SOURCE: O'Dwyer's PR Daily, October 30, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067490000
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067490000
12. ARSON ATTACK ON PEACE ACTIVISTS
http://www.progressive.org/mcwatch03/mc102903.html
Cindy Hunter and her husband, Sam Nickels, opposed Bush's war
against Iraq and put a sign on their front porch showing the number
of Iraqi civilians and U.S. soldiers who have been wounded or
killed thus far in the war. An anonymous arson responded by setting
fire to the sign, endangering their lives and causing an estimated
$50,000 in damages to their home. This incident is only one of
dozens that the Progressive magazine lists on its "McCarthyism
Watch," which monitors "the New McCarthyism that is sweeping the
country."
SOURCE: Progressive, October 29, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067403602
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067403602
13. FOX GETS THE MEMO
http://poynter.org/forum/?id=letters#foxnews
Charlie Reina, a former producer for Fox News, has posted a letter
to the Poynter Institute's online journalism forum, explaining how
the network deliberately slants the news. "Editorially, the FNC
newsroom is under the constant control and vigilance of
management," he writes.†"The pressure ranges from subtle to
direct.† First of all, it's a news network run by one of the most
high-profile political operatives of recent times. ... The roots of
FNC's day-to-day on-air bias are actual and direct. They come in
the form of an executive memo distributed electronically each
morning, addressing what stories will be covered and, often,
suggesting how they should be covered. To the newsroom personnel
responsible for the channel's daytime programming, The Memo is the
bible. If, on any given day, you notice that the Fox anchors seem
to be trying to drive a particular point home, you can bet The Memo
is behind it."
SOURCE: Poynter Online Forums, October 29, 2003
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067403601
14. BUSH SEEKS SCAPEGOATS FOR 'MISSION ACCOMPLISHED' STUNT
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/29/politics/29BANN.html?ex=1068435851&ei=1&en=a3423473eff9af7f
As the propaganda that led America to attack Iraq continues to fall
apart, President Bush is looking for scapegoats for his own PR
stunts. "The triumphal 'Mission Accomplished' banner was the pride
of the White House advance team, the image makers who set the stage
for the president's close-ups. On May 1, on a golden Pacific
evening aboard the carrier Abraham Lincoln, they made sure that the
banner was perfectly captured in the camera shots of President
Bush's speech declaring major combat in Iraq at an end. But on
Tuesday in the Rose Garden, Mr. Bush publicly disavowed the
banner... 'I know it was attributed somehow to some ingenious
advance man from my staff. They weren't that ingenious, by the
way.' ... The banner 'was suggested by those on the ship,' [Bush
press secretary Scotty McClellan] said. 'They asked us to do the
production of the banner, and we did. They're the ones who put it
up.' The man responsible for the banner, Scott Sforza, a former ABC
producer now with the White House communications office, was
traveling overseas on Tuesday and declined to answer questions. He
is known for the production of the sophisticated backdrops that
appear behind Mr. Bush with the White House message of the day,
like 'Helping Small Business,' repeated over and over." On May 16th
the New York Times reported that "White House officials say that a
variety of people, including the president" came up with the
carrier landing stunt. We wonder, is that super-sexy flight suit
President Bush wore on its way to the Smithsonian, or the shredder?
SOURCE: New York Times, October 22, 2003
More web links related to this story are available at:
http://www.prwatch.org/spin/October_2003.html#1067403600
To discuss this story in the PR Watch Forum, visit:
http://www.prwatch.org/forum/discuss.php?id=1067403600
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Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Sunday, November 02, 2003
FRANK RICH
So Much for 'The Front Page'
Published: November 2, 2003
PITY, though not too deeply, the American press. Once the wisecracking truth seekers of "The Front Page" and the brave gumshoes of "All the President's Men," the fourth estate has fallen into such cultural disfavor that it risks being renamed the fifth estate, if not the sixth. Hollywood no longer depicts reporters in ruthless pursuit of criminals, high and low. Now they are the criminals.
In the past month alone, television's reigning dramatic franchise, "Law and Order," has resourcefully squeezed two shows out of the Jayson Blair scandal. In one, an African-American reporter on "The New York Sentinel" (not to be confused with The New York Times because it's on East 43rd Street, not West) literally commits murder. In last Sunday's "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," it's another Sentinel reporter who gets caught up in murder, only this time it's his father who is the killer. The motive? To try to prevent the unmasking of his son as a plagiarist and fabricator who wrote a story about oyster fishermen in Louisiana without leaving Brooklyn. How did this reporter get hired by The Sentinel in the first place? He was the darling of a white, diversity-minded editor best known for his memoir about the black housekeeper of his childhood.
"You guys are rising to the top of America's most despised list," says Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) to a Sentinel hack. Hey, Lennie — we're already there! For further confirmation, there is "Shattered Glass," this weekend's new movie about The New Republic's own Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, who wrote dozens of fictionalized stories before being exposed. Anyone searching for an altruistic reporter on a movie screen had better run instead to "Veronica Guerin," a Hollywood project that had to go to Ireland to find a journalist to root for, and posthumously at that. But run fast. Though the movie's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, has a shrewd eye for mass taste, this one proved dead on arrival at the box office. These days a film about a truth-seeking newshound strikes audiences as more ridiculous than "Gigli."
"Shattered Glass," a study in smarminess in which even the honest journalists come across as pretentious brats, is unlikely to draw crowds either. It's handsomely made and decently acted, especially by Hayden Christensen, who plays the creepy title character as if he were the smarter kid brother of Anthony Perkins's obsequiously androgynous Norman Bates in "Psycho." But the movie as a whole seems an irrelevancy. While the press deserves some of the rancor coming its way, there's a gaping disconnect between a Hollywood critique like "Shattered Glass" and the news media's more distressing ailments.
In a production note for the movie, its writer-director, Billy Ray, observes: "When people can no longer believe what they read, their only choices will be to either turn to television for their daily news or to stop seeking out news entirely. Either path, I think, is a very dangerous one for this country." Where has Mr. Ray been since "Network"? Most people have long ago turned to TV for their daily news, and many no longer believe what they read. One of the most disturbing revelations of the Blair scandal was that few subjects of his bogus stories, Jessica Lynch's family included, called The Times to complain about his fictions. They just assumed that reporters make stuff up.
The likes of a Glass and a Blair are true embarrassments to their peers. But the larger culture in which they thrived has done more longterm damage to the press than these individual transgressors, however notorious. "The standard for journalism used to be, `What's the best obtainable version of the truth?' " Carl Bernstein said when I asked him how the profession has changed since the Watergate era. "Now we're living in a celebrity culture that no longer values truth more than hype. You have to go back to what was great about the movie of `All the President's Men.' It was not about the characters of Bob and me. There's not a woman in our lives in it; it's not about us at all. It's about the process of good journalism: methodical, empirical, not very glamorous, hard-slogging reporting. Now journalism is as infected by the celebrity culture as every other institution."
"Shattered Glass" does show that its ambitious villain was less turned on by being a reporter than by being a Somebody worthy of a Pulitzer (though apparently no one told him that Pulitzers are not awarded to magazine writers). But more often the movie doesn't puncture so much as perpetuate the star-worshipping celebrity culture that attracts a Glass. "Shattered Glass" is as pompous about The New Republic as its fictionalized New Republic staffers are, portraying the publication as the biggest thing to be handed down from on high since the Ten Commandments. As one oft-repeated line of dialogue has it, The New Republic is "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One," an inflated claim to glamour that the magazine has never made for itself. The movie even opportunistically wraps itself in the tragic celebrity of the former New Republic editor Michael Kelly, by invoking his death in the war in Iraq in the final credits. Mr. Kelly was covering the war for The Atlantic; in the movie proper, his actual role in the Glass saga, while still at The New Republic in the 1990's, is substantially fictionalized and downsized.
The atmosphere that pervades high-end journalism now can be better seen in an incident that occurred while the movie was being completed than in the movie itself. When the real Stephen Glass went on "60 Minutes" this year to push his own autobiographical novel about the scandal, Charles Lane, the New Republic editor who published a number of his fictions before finally nailing him, criticized him for cashing in. "I guess that's the way America works these days," he said. He knew whereof he spoke. Days later Variety reported that Mr. Lane was working as a paid consultant to "Shattered Glass."
Funnier than "Shattered Glass," though just as indicative of how embedded the news media have become in the celebrity whirl, is "K Street," the Steven Soderbergh fiction-meets-reality series that really must be seen before HBO puts it out of its misery. It should be seen not because it succeeds in its stated purpose, which is to dramatize the Washington "process," but because with Andy Warhol-like candor it shows you a bit more than you want to know in its snapshots of the capital's players.
Though the program's most substantive story line seems to be the charting of Mary Matalin's escalating display of fashion-victim couture, Washington reporters cannot resist going on camera to play "themselves." In one installment, a character dismisses Time as a magazine that "nobody reads beyond the cover" not long before an actual Time columnist, Joe Klein, shows up in a cameo. He embraces Ms. Matalin on the street and offers her private p.r. advice — a vignette that mainly lends credence to the show's insulting characterization of Time while simultaneously reinforcing the public's impression that reporters have been co-opted by rubbing too many shoulders at the Palm.
Almost as weird was the "K Street" appearance by Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post media critic, who then invited the show's executive producer, George Clooney, to be a guest last Sunday on his own CNN show, "Reliable Sources." (Both HBO and CNN are owned by Time Warner.) In their conversation, Mr. Clooney complimented Mr. Kurtz's acting; then both men expressed their bemusement that Matt Drudge had had the audacity to refuse to appear on "K Street." I never thought I'd say this, but could Drudge be the last guy covering Washington who has any sense of dignity?
The antics on "K Street" are innocuous, heaven knows, but the show's recruitment of reputable, even distinguished journalists as actors tells us more about the news media than the case studies of the rookie malefactors in "Law and Order" and "Shattered Glass." Young con men like Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass are not the primary cause of the public's disenchantment with the news media. Their fictionalized stories, largely features, did not cause any lasting damage to the world beyond that inflicted on the credibility of the publications for which they worked.
If anything, history may judge that a far bigger blot on The Times's reputation than Mr. Blair is Walter Duranty, who won a 1932 Pulitzer Prize as a foreign correspondent in the Soviet Union. His willful shilling for Stalin went uncorrected for years. (He is also a blot on the history of the Pulitzer Board itself, which, in keeping with journalism's new haste to rectify even its old sins, is now weighing a belated revocation of Duranty's prize.) By all accounts, Duranty, like Mr. Glass and Mr. Blair, was an ambitious self-promoter infatuated with the limelight. But his capital journalistic crime, hiding the truth about a Ukraine famine that killed millions, offers a much darker picture of where this corruption can lead than the relative misdemeanors of his successors.
The public, like Lennie Briscoe on "Law and Order," gets the drift. It sees too many reporters showboating Geraldo-style on camera, whether on "K Street" or in the middle of hurricanes, catastrophic fires and wars. They see a famous columnist reveal the name of a C.I.A. agent and never say he's sorry. They see news media less preoccupied with the news than with boosting their own status in the entertainment firmament that now literally owns most of them.
In this vein, CNN's Christiane Amanpour recently criticized the wartime press, her own network included, for muzzling itself during the war in Iraq and not asking "enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction." She attributes this lapse in part to the need to compete with the ostentatiously gung-ho Fox in a more important war — for ratings. In the book "Embedded," a new oral history of journalists in Iraq, the Times correspondent John Burns talks about the "corruption in our business" when describing how fellow reporters cozied up to Saddam Hussein, minimizing his regime's atrocities before the war much as Duranty did Stalin's. Next to these real-life scenarios, an exposé of journalistic sins like "Shattered Glass" seems like a valentine. No wonder The New Republic itself co-sponsored a celebrity screening last week to promote it in Washington.
So Much for 'The Front Page'
Published: November 2, 2003
PITY, though not too deeply, the American press. Once the wisecracking truth seekers of "The Front Page" and the brave gumshoes of "All the President's Men," the fourth estate has fallen into such cultural disfavor that it risks being renamed the fifth estate, if not the sixth. Hollywood no longer depicts reporters in ruthless pursuit of criminals, high and low. Now they are the criminals.
In the past month alone, television's reigning dramatic franchise, "Law and Order," has resourcefully squeezed two shows out of the Jayson Blair scandal. In one, an African-American reporter on "The New York Sentinel" (not to be confused with The New York Times because it's on East 43rd Street, not West) literally commits murder. In last Sunday's "Law and Order: Criminal Intent," it's another Sentinel reporter who gets caught up in murder, only this time it's his father who is the killer. The motive? To try to prevent the unmasking of his son as a plagiarist and fabricator who wrote a story about oyster fishermen in Louisiana without leaving Brooklyn. How did this reporter get hired by The Sentinel in the first place? He was the darling of a white, diversity-minded editor best known for his memoir about the black housekeeper of his childhood.
"You guys are rising to the top of America's most despised list," says Detective Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach) to a Sentinel hack. Hey, Lennie — we're already there! For further confirmation, there is "Shattered Glass," this weekend's new movie about The New Republic's own Jayson Blair, Stephen Glass, who wrote dozens of fictionalized stories before being exposed. Anyone searching for an altruistic reporter on a movie screen had better run instead to "Veronica Guerin," a Hollywood project that had to go to Ireland to find a journalist to root for, and posthumously at that. But run fast. Though the movie's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer, has a shrewd eye for mass taste, this one proved dead on arrival at the box office. These days a film about a truth-seeking newshound strikes audiences as more ridiculous than "Gigli."
"Shattered Glass," a study in smarminess in which even the honest journalists come across as pretentious brats, is unlikely to draw crowds either. It's handsomely made and decently acted, especially by Hayden Christensen, who plays the creepy title character as if he were the smarter kid brother of Anthony Perkins's obsequiously androgynous Norman Bates in "Psycho." But the movie as a whole seems an irrelevancy. While the press deserves some of the rancor coming its way, there's a gaping disconnect between a Hollywood critique like "Shattered Glass" and the news media's more distressing ailments.
In a production note for the movie, its writer-director, Billy Ray, observes: "When people can no longer believe what they read, their only choices will be to either turn to television for their daily news or to stop seeking out news entirely. Either path, I think, is a very dangerous one for this country." Where has Mr. Ray been since "Network"? Most people have long ago turned to TV for their daily news, and many no longer believe what they read. One of the most disturbing revelations of the Blair scandal was that few subjects of his bogus stories, Jessica Lynch's family included, called The Times to complain about his fictions. They just assumed that reporters make stuff up.
The likes of a Glass and a Blair are true embarrassments to their peers. But the larger culture in which they thrived has done more longterm damage to the press than these individual transgressors, however notorious. "The standard for journalism used to be, `What's the best obtainable version of the truth?' " Carl Bernstein said when I asked him how the profession has changed since the Watergate era. "Now we're living in a celebrity culture that no longer values truth more than hype. You have to go back to what was great about the movie of `All the President's Men.' It was not about the characters of Bob and me. There's not a woman in our lives in it; it's not about us at all. It's about the process of good journalism: methodical, empirical, not very glamorous, hard-slogging reporting. Now journalism is as infected by the celebrity culture as every other institution."
"Shattered Glass" does show that its ambitious villain was less turned on by being a reporter than by being a Somebody worthy of a Pulitzer (though apparently no one told him that Pulitzers are not awarded to magazine writers). But more often the movie doesn't puncture so much as perpetuate the star-worshipping celebrity culture that attracts a Glass. "Shattered Glass" is as pompous about The New Republic as its fictionalized New Republic staffers are, portraying the publication as the biggest thing to be handed down from on high since the Ten Commandments. As one oft-repeated line of dialogue has it, The New Republic is "the in-flight magazine of Air Force One," an inflated claim to glamour that the magazine has never made for itself. The movie even opportunistically wraps itself in the tragic celebrity of the former New Republic editor Michael Kelly, by invoking his death in the war in Iraq in the final credits. Mr. Kelly was covering the war for The Atlantic; in the movie proper, his actual role in the Glass saga, while still at The New Republic in the 1990's, is substantially fictionalized and downsized.
The atmosphere that pervades high-end journalism now can be better seen in an incident that occurred while the movie was being completed than in the movie itself. When the real Stephen Glass went on "60 Minutes" this year to push his own autobiographical novel about the scandal, Charles Lane, the New Republic editor who published a number of his fictions before finally nailing him, criticized him for cashing in. "I guess that's the way America works these days," he said. He knew whereof he spoke. Days later Variety reported that Mr. Lane was working as a paid consultant to "Shattered Glass."
Funnier than "Shattered Glass," though just as indicative of how embedded the news media have become in the celebrity whirl, is "K Street," the Steven Soderbergh fiction-meets-reality series that really must be seen before HBO puts it out of its misery. It should be seen not because it succeeds in its stated purpose, which is to dramatize the Washington "process," but because with Andy Warhol-like candor it shows you a bit more than you want to know in its snapshots of the capital's players.
Though the program's most substantive story line seems to be the charting of Mary Matalin's escalating display of fashion-victim couture, Washington reporters cannot resist going on camera to play "themselves." In one installment, a character dismisses Time as a magazine that "nobody reads beyond the cover" not long before an actual Time columnist, Joe Klein, shows up in a cameo. He embraces Ms. Matalin on the street and offers her private p.r. advice — a vignette that mainly lends credence to the show's insulting characterization of Time while simultaneously reinforcing the public's impression that reporters have been co-opted by rubbing too many shoulders at the Palm.
Almost as weird was the "K Street" appearance by Howard Kurtz, the Washington Post media critic, who then invited the show's executive producer, George Clooney, to be a guest last Sunday on his own CNN show, "Reliable Sources." (Both HBO and CNN are owned by Time Warner.) In their conversation, Mr. Clooney complimented Mr. Kurtz's acting; then both men expressed their bemusement that Matt Drudge had had the audacity to refuse to appear on "K Street." I never thought I'd say this, but could Drudge be the last guy covering Washington who has any sense of dignity?
The antics on "K Street" are innocuous, heaven knows, but the show's recruitment of reputable, even distinguished journalists as actors tells us more about the news media than the case studies of the rookie malefactors in "Law and Order" and "Shattered Glass." Young con men like Jayson Blair and Stephen Glass are not the primary cause of the public's disenchantment with the news media. Their fictionalized stories, largely features, did not cause any lasting damage to the world beyond that inflicted on the credibility of the publications for which they worked.
If anything, history may judge that a far bigger blot on The Times's reputation than Mr. Blair is Walter Duranty, who won a 1932 Pulitzer Prize as a foreign correspondent in the Soviet Union. His willful shilling for Stalin went uncorrected for years. (He is also a blot on the history of the Pulitzer Board itself, which, in keeping with journalism's new haste to rectify even its old sins, is now weighing a belated revocation of Duranty's prize.) By all accounts, Duranty, like Mr. Glass and Mr. Blair, was an ambitious self-promoter infatuated with the limelight. But his capital journalistic crime, hiding the truth about a Ukraine famine that killed millions, offers a much darker picture of where this corruption can lead than the relative misdemeanors of his successors.
The public, like Lennie Briscoe on "Law and Order," gets the drift. It sees too many reporters showboating Geraldo-style on camera, whether on "K Street" or in the middle of hurricanes, catastrophic fires and wars. They see a famous columnist reveal the name of a C.I.A. agent and never say he's sorry. They see news media less preoccupied with the news than with boosting their own status in the entertainment firmament that now literally owns most of them.
In this vein, CNN's Christiane Amanpour recently criticized the wartime press, her own network included, for muzzling itself during the war in Iraq and not asking "enough questions, for instance, about weapons of mass destruction." She attributes this lapse in part to the need to compete with the ostentatiously gung-ho Fox in a more important war — for ratings. In the book "Embedded," a new oral history of journalists in Iraq, the Times correspondent John Burns talks about the "corruption in our business" when describing how fellow reporters cozied up to Saddam Hussein, minimizing his regime's atrocities before the war much as Duranty did Stalin's. Next to these real-life scenarios, an exposé of journalistic sins like "Shattered Glass" seems like a valentine. No wonder The New Republic itself co-sponsored a celebrity screening last week to promote it in Washington.
Saturday, November 01, 2003
Did Bonnie Fuller really betray women?
Female editors condemn the Globe for running a tawdry photograph of Kobe Bryant's accuser.
- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Rebecca Traister
Oct. 31, 2003 | The ugliest celebrity spectacle of the year -- the sexual assault prosecution of NBA star Kobe Bryant -- took a notable turn Thursday, when the supermarket tabloid the Globe published a salacious high school photograph of the accuser on its cover. In it, the woman is lifting up her prom dress to reveal a garter belt. The headline reads: "Kobe Bryant's Accuser: Did She Really Say No?" Next to the photo, in half-inch type, is the 19-year-old woman's name.
The world -- particularly the journalism world -- does not usually pay close attention to the scandal sheets. But there is good reason to this time. For one: the Globe's behavior has been followed in the past by the mainstream media. Back in 1991, it was the Globe that broke with the journalistic tradition of protecting the identity of possible rape victims and revealed the name of the woman accusing Kennedy scion William Kennedy Smith of raping her. NBC and the New York Times eventually followed suit.
The other reason, though, is because the influence of the tabloid press has undeniably increased in recent years. And a main reason for that is the woman -- and lightning rod -- editorially in charge of the Globe: Bonnie Fuller.
Fuller, a veteran editor (Glamour, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire and YM), spent the past two years revamping the weekly celebrity gossip magazine Us Weekly with enormous success. At a time when circulation and advertising sales were on the skids for magazines, Fuller raised Us' newsstand sales a whopping 55 percent. This summer, she left Us to take on the editorial directorship of American Media, the company that publishes the Sun, the Globe and the National Enquirer, for a package reported to be worth more than $1 million. Though she has focused most directly on the rejuvenation of the company's flagship magazine, the Star, Fuller technically presides over the editorial decisions for each of American Media's titles, including the Globe.
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Fuller told the New York Post that she knew of the Globe's plans to publish the name and photo of the woman but said that she "would not have interjected" herself into the magazine's editorial structure by killing the story. "The Globe did what was within their mission," she told the Post.
"Bonnie did not make the decision to put that [image, name, and headline] on the cover. Candace Trunzo, the editor of the Globe, did," said Richard Valvo, vice president of corporate communications for American Media, adding, "Bonnie made the decision not to pull it." (Fuller was out of town and unavailable for comment; Trunzo did not return calls.)
One, however, could easily argue that deciding "not to pull" a story is the same thing as deciding to run with one.
"She's the editorial director of the company," said Barbara O'Dair, editor at large at Time Inc., and the former editor in chief of Teen People and Us Weekly. "She obviously gave her tacit approval."
And if the Globe's big reveal on the identity of Bryant's accuser gets picked up by other publications reporting stories like this one, the arm of the tabloid press will have extended even further into the legitimate press.
"The tabloidization of the American media is horrid and unstoppable," said Stephen Isaacs, a professor of journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University, who teaches a class on ethics. Mr. Isaacs, who is somewhat unorthodox in his view that journalists should publish the names of accusers in rape cases, went on, "I think naming her is cool, but running a picture of her with a garter belt -- that's mawkish and obviously meant to sell papers. That is the tabloidization of the American press."
For many people, the line between the tabloid press and the legitimate press is already indistinguishable, said Geneva Overholser, a professor of journalism at the Washington bureau of the University of Missouri School of Journalism and the former ombudsman of the Washington Post. Overholser had not seen the cover of the Globe, but after hearing a description of the layout, she called it "the worst kind of journalistic voyeurism." She, like Isaacs, believes that situations like the Kobe Bryant case serve as an argument for making the identification of alleged rape victims standard.
"If we named them in the mainstream media, it wouldn't be such a catch for the tabloids," she said. "There wouldn't be such a forbidden, look-at-me thing."
But to magazine editors in New York, particularly women editors, the ethics involved in naming a possible rape victim took a back seat to the look-at-me nature of the Globe's cover.
"I think every female editor who woke up this morning and saw that in the paper probably had their breath taken away," said Us Weekly's editor in chief Janice Min. "I just looked at it and thought, Oh my God, that's so wrong."
Min was not critical of Fuller, her predecessor, saying only, "I think it probably got additional attention because Bonnie is there and she came from the mainstream press and that is why it came across as an unusual decision."
But Min did not hold her fire when it came to the Globe's editorial decisions.
"It is misogynistic and truly exploitative to try to get big sales off of identifying an alleged rape victim," said Min. "Was a woman dressed inappropriately? Did she ask for it? Is a sexy woman more likely to get raped than a non-sexy woman? These are the anachronistic, horrible ideas that come up because of a cover like that. Morally, it's wrong."
Min's objections were strongest when it came to the cover-photo choice.
"I would imagine that they probably have plenty of photos to choose from," she said. "I don't think any of them would have been right to run. The fact that they chose to run one of her in lingerie is galling.
"It is clearly implied on the cover that maybe she deserved it," Min continued. "This is someone's worst nightmare. This is why a lot of sexual assault victims don't come forward."
"I think it's one thing to show a face, and we can all debate that for a really long time," said Lucky editor in chief Kim France, trailing off momentarily. "Personally I'm against it, but I think it's a valid debate. But taking a photograph of a girl at her prom, having fun with her femininity, at a moment when everybody's allowed to feel free and sexual, and using it with the headline 'Did she really say no?' in the context of a rape case? I think that's horrifying."
While the photos sent shock waves through some corner offices in Manhattan, some female editors, while troubled by the photos, were not at all surprised by them.
"As a journalist I just can't say, 'Man, am I surprised to see that in the Globe!' said Ellen Levine, the editor in chief of Good Housekeeping. "It's the Globe."
And Roberta Myers, editor in chief of Elle, said, "I am personally of the school that out of deference to the victim you do not publish an image of her face. You just don't do it, unless the victim is willing to identify herself."
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But, Myers continued, "The fact that it is damaging to that particular woman or that it is something that a lot of journalists wouldn't do doesn't mean that it's a total surprise on the cover of the Globe. It's not like the Times did it."
O'Dair agreed. "They're doing what they're trained to do. These are attack dogs, they go for the jugular. And they are just going to go for whatever will rake in as much money as possible."
"What's the hot market right now?" asked Lesley Jane Seymour, editor of Marie Claire. "Celebrity journalism, tabloid journalism. Tabloid journalism has really been absorbed into the mainstream media and ironically you have the bottom of the barrel -- the Globes and the Stars -- going upscale [by hiring editors from legitimate media organizations], which is completely crazy and hilarious. Because usually people find the biggest audiences by going downscale."
A big part of the tabloids' trip up-market has to do with Fuller, who is currently engaged in remaking the Star as a celebrity-gossip-must-read in the spirit of Us and In Touch.
She worked miracles at Us, transforming the snoozy movie rag into the guiltiest journalistic pleasure of the last decade. Her move to American Media surprised many of her former colleagues, and the controversy over the Globe cover on her watch may illustrate exactly why her decision to officially abandon "respectable" journalism was so risky.
As O'Dair pointed out, Fuller's statement to the Post that running a story like this was within the publication's mission was fair: "She's absolutely right. That's what she signed on for."
"Sure, she did come from the legitimate press," said France. "But she left the legitimate press, too. And I don't think that anything that happens at the Globe is going to impact the legitimate press. Or so I'd like to think."
But France may be dreaming. In a conversation with Marie Claire's Lesley Jane Seymour she casually used the alleged victim's first name -- which she had learned from the Globe -- three times on the record. When I pointed this out to her she laughed mirthlessly.
"Yes, I know I said her name," said Seymour. "Once it's in the Globe, it doesn't matter whether it's right or wrong, the taboo's broken and the name is now part of the lexicon. They have a huge circulation. It's not like it was revealed in Mother Jones."
As for the Fuller issue, Seymour said, "She says she didn't have anything to do with it, but there's a lot of pressure for everybody in journalism to make a buck today and that's the bottom line.
"I certainly don't know what she had in her mind, but unfortunately with media today you have two bosses: your bosses who care about ethics and readers, and your bosses in the marketplace of media conglomerates."
Ellen Levine, of Good Housekeeping, did not quite damn the publication. Though she said that she doubted a case like this would stir any legitimate debate of these issues, she expressed her own confusion about whether journalists should shy away from naming victims.
Declaring that she was not referring to the Bryant rape case specifically, Levine said that she thought a lot about what happens to men who are accused of rape, publicly identified, and then found innocent.
"Why does the man get drawn and quartered while the woman is garbed in a journalistic burka?" she asked. "I'm not saying that I know the answer. Just that I think it's a timely question. And of course the Globe's going to choose a picture that's racy. And if it sells very well they'll be doing a lot more of it."
O'Dair pointed out that the mainstream media's handling of the Bryant case hadn't been exactly heroic. She noted that Bryant was honored at the Teen Choice Awards , which were held in Los Angeles a month after he turned himself in to the police. Bryant and his wife, Vanessa, appeared at the ceremony, which was broadcast on the Fox network. He accepted the award for favorite male athlete, and was greeted with a standing ovation.
"I thought it was interesting that Fox saw fit to honor Kobe Bryant after charges were filed against him," said O'Dair, whose former title, Teen People, hosts the Teen Choice Awards. "It was certainly a bad move on their part. And it perpetuated a really complicated view of heroism for kids to try to understand."
This story has been corrected since it was originally published.
salon.com
- - - - - - - - - - - -
Wednesday, October 29, 2003
Journalism Help: Finding Data on the Internet: Here are some web sites that will help you find information and some on how to use that information in your research>http://www.journalismnet.com/;http://www.ire.org/;http://www.prwatch.org/improp/research_faq.html;http://www.robertniles.com/data/
CHECK THE ABOVE JOURNALISM HELP SITES CAREFULLY! See you in class. Clark
CHECK THE ABOVE JOURNALISM HELP SITES CAREFULLY! See you in class. Clark
Tuesday, October 28, 2003
"http://www.salon.com/ent/feature/2003/10/28/glass/">Salon.com Arts & Entertainment | "I've had a great deal of therapy": "I've had a great deal of therapy'
With a movie about his stunning journalistic misdeeds coming out, Stephen Glass talks about writing, forgiveness, why he's not a sociopath and having to look away from scenes in 'Shattered Glass.'"
With a movie about his stunning journalistic misdeeds coming out, Stephen Glass talks about writing, forgiveness, why he's not a sociopath and having to look away from scenes in 'Shattered Glass.'"
Wednesday, October 22, 2003
eigoTown International Halloween Party -- Saturay, October 25th
***********************************************************************
The latest in the hugely successful eigoTown International Parties will
be this Saturday's Halloween Party.
Once again the venue is right in the heart of Tokyo - enjoy the view of
the city skyline while you network, make new friends or just relax at
the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.
The admittance fee includes free beer, wine, and other beverages and
plenty of food and snacks. Over 250 people are expected, a good mix of
male and female, foreign and Japanese. Discount for those who dress up!
For more details see:
http://www.eltnews.com/party/
***********************************************************************
The latest in the hugely successful eigoTown International Parties will
be this Saturday's Halloween Party.
Once again the venue is right in the heart of Tokyo - enjoy the view of
the city skyline while you network, make new friends or just relax at
the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.
The admittance fee includes free beer, wine, and other beverages and
plenty of food and snacks. Over 250 people are expected, a good mix of
male and female, foreign and Japanese. Discount for those who dress up!
For more details see:
http://www.eltnews.com/party/
Friday, October 17, 2003
Thursday, October 16, 2003
Sunday, October 12, 2003
To text or not to text
You knew it had to come. When it was reported last week that a British rehabilitation clinic had begun treating patients for an uncontrollable addiction to text messaging, it certainly sounded like a sign of the times. Or something. It was hard to be sure of the precise significance of the announcement that The Priory, a clinic in London, had staked out this new territory in the relatively uncharted realm of techno-driven psychosis. But the fancy facility is known as one of the best acute psychiatric hospitals in Britain, so its doctors probably knew what they were doing when they identified unstoppable text messaging as a complaint comparable to eating disorders, alcoholism, drug abuse and stress-related illnesses.
[MORE] ->
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ed20031013a1.htm
You knew it had to come. When it was reported last week that a British rehabilitation clinic had begun treating patients for an uncontrollable addiction to text messaging, it certainly sounded like a sign of the times. Or something. It was hard to be sure of the precise significance of the announcement that The Priory, a clinic in London, had staked out this new territory in the relatively uncharted realm of techno-driven psychosis. But the fancy facility is known as one of the best acute psychiatric hospitals in Britain, so its doctors probably knew what they were doing when they identified unstoppable text messaging as a complaint comparable to eating disorders, alcoholism, drug abuse and stress-related illnesses.
[MORE] ->
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/getarticle.pl5?ed20031013a1.htm
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
MUSIC INDUSTRY CRACKDOWN SPAWNS 'CYBER-SPEAKEASIES'
Music download enthusiasts are flocking to 21st century versions of
"speakeasies" --high-tech clubs that offer encrypted software designed to
shield users from identification and prosecution by a zealous recording
industry. Coincidentally, the software now being served up may have broader
appeal in the business world as well. "The software that users are moving
toward, it has characteristics that businesses need -- which is a high
degree of privacy, a high degree of security and the ability to handle
large files," says New York University telecommunications professor Clay
Shirky. "Thanks to the RIAA, ease of use surrounding encryption
technologies, which was never a big deal before, is a big deal now." In
addition to old favorites such as Kazaa and Morpheus, file-swappers are now
turning to newer iterations, such as Blubster, which features both stronger
privacy protection as well as easy-to-use encryption and decryption.
Another program, called Waste, can be used to set up an encrypted
instant-messaging and content-sharing network of 50 users, without the
potential liability of a central server. And an offshoot of Freenet, dubbed
Locutus, is targeting corporate users with its ability to search corporate
networks for information distributed across a wide range of computers.
"It's kind of like Google for people's hard disks, but with added security.
You can define who has permission to find what kind of files," says Ian
Clarke, who heads up Freenet and Locutus parent Cematics. (AP/CNN.com 6 Oct
2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/10/06/underground.internet.ap/index.ht
ml
Music download enthusiasts are flocking to 21st century versions of
"speakeasies" --high-tech clubs that offer encrypted software designed to
shield users from identification and prosecution by a zealous recording
industry. Coincidentally, the software now being served up may have broader
appeal in the business world as well. "The software that users are moving
toward, it has characteristics that businesses need -- which is a high
degree of privacy, a high degree of security and the ability to handle
large files," says New York University telecommunications professor Clay
Shirky. "Thanks to the RIAA, ease of use surrounding encryption
technologies, which was never a big deal before, is a big deal now." In
addition to old favorites such as Kazaa and Morpheus, file-swappers are now
turning to newer iterations, such as Blubster, which features both stronger
privacy protection as well as easy-to-use encryption and decryption.
Another program, called Waste, can be used to set up an encrypted
instant-messaging and content-sharing network of 50 users, without the
potential liability of a central server. And an offshoot of Freenet, dubbed
Locutus, is targeting corporate users with its ability to search corporate
networks for information distributed across a wide range of computers.
"It's kind of like Google for people's hard disks, but with added security.
You can define who has permission to find what kind of files," says Ian
Clarke, who heads up Freenet and Locutus parent Cematics. (AP/CNN.com 6 Oct
2003)
http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/internet/10/06/underground.internet.ap/index.ht
ml
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Here's what the news is about in Japan:
Time to come clean on foreign crime wave
Rising crime a problem for Japan, but pinning blame on foreigners is not the solution
For those who read and watch the Japanese press, these are scary times. Foreign crime is allegedly on the rise, members of the new Koizumi Cabinet are making clear policy statements against it, and the National Police Agency is ready for a new push.
Cabinet ministers (left to right) Taro Aso, Kiyoko Ono and Daizo Nozawa have all made policy statements relating to foreign crime -- but the basis for a crackdown is at best statistically weak and only addresses less than 2% of all Japanese crime. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTOS
This is despite incontrovertible evidence that foreign crime rates are actually lower than those of Japanese.
Of course, Japan's overt stoking of public fear of foreigners is not in itself news -- it has been going on for years.
However, the problem this time around is that the fearmongering is not merely another fad. It may be about to gel into public policy.
With the most recent election within the Liberal Democratic Party for a new leader, all four candidates in a Sept. 18 TBS TV debate offered their policy visions for foreigners, including Japanese language tests for new entrants, crackdowns on crime, etc. In other words, dealing with the foreign element in society was as much a policymaking litmus test as, say, dealing with bloated public works or rekindling national growth.
Foreign crime policy
Koizumi was re-elected on Sept. 20 and two days later the new Cabinet was announced. No fewer than three Cabinet members (Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa, Public Management Minister Taro Aso and National Public Safety Chair Kiyoko Ono) appeared on NHK talking about foreign crime in their first policy statements.
Nozawa talked about how Koizumi has charged him with making Japan the "world's safest country" again. Ono was the most specific -- saying that foreign crime and youth crime were among her policy priorities.
Meanwhile, news stories on foreign criminals are commonplace. One two-hour show, aired nationally on NTV during prime time on Sept. 16, 2003, had cameras following police on the beat (a la the American Fox Network show "Cops"). More than a quarter of the airtime was devoted to foreign crime alone (with no interaction between police and foreigners except to arrest them). Rightwing Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, came on after every foreign-specific segment to remark on, inter alia, the cruelty of Chinese crooks and the need for more police.
The topic of foreign crime is seasonally recycled. The National Police Agency supplies the media with regular updates on any rise in the crime rate (about once every six months, going quiet when crime rates go down.) Result: The public get fresh scare showers about rising crime.
Unfortunately, very little has appeared in the Japanese media to temper things -- like comparisons between rising Japanese and foreign crime rates. Pity. This would reveal that the foreign crime rate is less -- far less -- as a proportion of the population than the Japanese rate.
But what of the data on foreign crime?
The National Police Agency had its most recent White Paper on foreign crime available for download from its Web site ( www.npa.go.jp) conveniently in time for the new Koizumi Cabinet. One look indicates that, yes, after a dip in 2000 and 2001, both the number of foreign crimes and foreign perpetrators have increased.
What is still left out:
The number of registered foreigners in Japan is also increasing year on year: From 1,778,462 in the beginning of 2002 to 1,851,758 souls by the end ( www.moj.go.jp). More people means more potential criminals. So statistics detailing only foreign crime rates both in raw numbers and in percentages only tells half the story.
Postwar crime high
The other half is this: The number of crimes regardless of nationality in Japan in 2002, according to this paper on Sept. 23, 2003, was 2.85 million, a postwar record high. However, since the Japanese population is not really increasing, the rise in the Japanese crime rate is more marked than that for foreigners.
Moreover, the number of crimes committed in 2002 by foreigners was 1.39 percent of the total. Given the fact that the number of registered foreigners (those on one-year visas and above) is 1.5 percent of the total Japanese population, this means that foreigners are less likely to commit crimes on average than Japanese.
Let's mitigate that even further: Note that crimes committed by foreigners also includes visa violations -- crimes that Japanese by definition cannot commit, which should be caveated out for a better comparison of crimes committed by everybody. Since visa violations constitute up to a third of the total of crimes committed by foreigners, the rate for crimes committed by foreigners that are similar to those committed by Japanese can drop to around 1 percent of the total.
While we're at it, how about those visa overstayers so often bandied about as on the rise? According to the most recent data from the Immigration Bureau (available at any Nyuuyoku Kanrikyoku office as a free orange pamphlet), the number of illegal aliens has fallen every single year without fail since 1993.
Serious flaws
Hence upon proper examination, the whole statistical basis behind the push to curb foreign crime is flawed and distorted to the point of being plain wrong.
The cause of this statistical manipulation on the part of the police and politicos is to a large extent, economic.
In May 1999, the "Policy Committee Against Internationalism" ("Kokusaika Taisaku Iinkai") was formed within the National Police Agency with the stated aim of drafting policy against foreign crime and their syndicates. This is the organization producing friendly neighborhood warnings about foreign miscreants, which are plastered beside ATMs nationwide.
What is one goal of any government organization? To justify its budget. What better way in this case than by stirring up fear of crime? This tactic worked very well during the World Cup in 2002, particularly when the promise of hooligan riots due to the Argentina-England game provided a budget to fly 3,000 mainland police to Hokkaido for a week, as well as to hire three ferries to cart thugs back down south. How much money was spent to arrest a total of 11 people (two foreigners) during that whole week of games in Hokkaido? Uncertain.
Most Japanese, though very few people overseas, know that clearance of crimes in Japan (meaning finding the perpetrators for every crime committed) is now down to around 20 percent -- a postwar low and a shock for those expecting Japan to be the same old clean, safe place. This is in part due to a long standing economic downturn in the provinces, and a slow but perceptible breakdown in respect for property by Japanese people.
But that is not what we hear about. It's much easier to say the foreigners are responsible.
Indeed, during a Q & A session following a speech given to the PGL Conference at Seisen University on Sept. 27, Diet member Mizuho Fukushima (Shamintou, Kanagawa) remarked that she is quite aware how the government is fudging statistics to create a culture of fear related to crimes committed by foreigners. Consider, then, a normal public reaction. If police were to tell us that Japanese crime is out of control -- people would criticize the police for not doing their job.
Easy target
However, if they say the same about foreign crime, public attitudes are less antipathetic. After all, foreigners shouldn't be here in the first place if they're going to make trouble (and what policeman can anticipate what heinous crimes foreigners will commit?).
The point is that foreigners are a much softer target, and it is far easier for the police to shift the focus on them instead of on the other 99 percent of criminals in Japan.
Given a general rise in crime,a reasonable case could be made for more cops on the beat. However, the clear and present policy push to target foreigners is not only unfounded statistically, but also has been up to now half-baked and arbitrary in its application.
Good public policy needs common sense, but it has been sorely lacking in Japan so far.
The Japan Times: Oct. 7, 2003
Time to come clean on foreign crime wave
Rising crime a problem for Japan, but pinning blame on foreigners is not the solution
For those who read and watch the Japanese press, these are scary times. Foreign crime is allegedly on the rise, members of the new Koizumi Cabinet are making clear policy statements against it, and the National Police Agency is ready for a new push.
Cabinet ministers (left to right) Taro Aso, Kiyoko Ono and Daizo Nozawa have all made policy statements relating to foreign crime -- but the basis for a crackdown is at best statistically weak and only addresses less than 2% of all Japanese crime. SATOKO KAWASAKI PHOTOS
This is despite incontrovertible evidence that foreign crime rates are actually lower than those of Japanese.
Of course, Japan's overt stoking of public fear of foreigners is not in itself news -- it has been going on for years.
However, the problem this time around is that the fearmongering is not merely another fad. It may be about to gel into public policy.
With the most recent election within the Liberal Democratic Party for a new leader, all four candidates in a Sept. 18 TBS TV debate offered their policy visions for foreigners, including Japanese language tests for new entrants, crackdowns on crime, etc. In other words, dealing with the foreign element in society was as much a policymaking litmus test as, say, dealing with bloated public works or rekindling national growth.
Foreign crime policy
Koizumi was re-elected on Sept. 20 and two days later the new Cabinet was announced. No fewer than three Cabinet members (Justice Minister Daizo Nozawa, Public Management Minister Taro Aso and National Public Safety Chair Kiyoko Ono) appeared on NHK talking about foreign crime in their first policy statements.
Nozawa talked about how Koizumi has charged him with making Japan the "world's safest country" again. Ono was the most specific -- saying that foreign crime and youth crime were among her policy priorities.
Meanwhile, news stories on foreign criminals are commonplace. One two-hour show, aired nationally on NTV during prime time on Sept. 16, 2003, had cameras following police on the beat (a la the American Fox Network show "Cops"). More than a quarter of the airtime was devoted to foreign crime alone (with no interaction between police and foreigners except to arrest them). Rightwing Tokyo Gov. Shintaro Ishihara, came on after every foreign-specific segment to remark on, inter alia, the cruelty of Chinese crooks and the need for more police.
The topic of foreign crime is seasonally recycled. The National Police Agency supplies the media with regular updates on any rise in the crime rate (about once every six months, going quiet when crime rates go down.) Result: The public get fresh scare showers about rising crime.
Unfortunately, very little has appeared in the Japanese media to temper things -- like comparisons between rising Japanese and foreign crime rates. Pity. This would reveal that the foreign crime rate is less -- far less -- as a proportion of the population than the Japanese rate.
But what of the data on foreign crime?
The National Police Agency had its most recent White Paper on foreign crime available for download from its Web site ( www.npa.go.jp) conveniently in time for the new Koizumi Cabinet. One look indicates that, yes, after a dip in 2000 and 2001, both the number of foreign crimes and foreign perpetrators have increased.
What is still left out:
The number of registered foreigners in Japan is also increasing year on year: From 1,778,462 in the beginning of 2002 to 1,851,758 souls by the end ( www.moj.go.jp). More people means more potential criminals. So statistics detailing only foreign crime rates both in raw numbers and in percentages only tells half the story.
Postwar crime high
The other half is this: The number of crimes regardless of nationality in Japan in 2002, according to this paper on Sept. 23, 2003, was 2.85 million, a postwar record high. However, since the Japanese population is not really increasing, the rise in the Japanese crime rate is more marked than that for foreigners.
Moreover, the number of crimes committed in 2002 by foreigners was 1.39 percent of the total. Given the fact that the number of registered foreigners (those on one-year visas and above) is 1.5 percent of the total Japanese population, this means that foreigners are less likely to commit crimes on average than Japanese.
Let's mitigate that even further: Note that crimes committed by foreigners also includes visa violations -- crimes that Japanese by definition cannot commit, which should be caveated out for a better comparison of crimes committed by everybody. Since visa violations constitute up to a third of the total of crimes committed by foreigners, the rate for crimes committed by foreigners that are similar to those committed by Japanese can drop to around 1 percent of the total.
While we're at it, how about those visa overstayers so often bandied about as on the rise? According to the most recent data from the Immigration Bureau (available at any Nyuuyoku Kanrikyoku office as a free orange pamphlet), the number of illegal aliens has fallen every single year without fail since 1993.
Serious flaws
Hence upon proper examination, the whole statistical basis behind the push to curb foreign crime is flawed and distorted to the point of being plain wrong.
The cause of this statistical manipulation on the part of the police and politicos is to a large extent, economic.
In May 1999, the "Policy Committee Against Internationalism" ("Kokusaika Taisaku Iinkai") was formed within the National Police Agency with the stated aim of drafting policy against foreign crime and their syndicates. This is the organization producing friendly neighborhood warnings about foreign miscreants, which are plastered beside ATMs nationwide.
What is one goal of any government organization? To justify its budget. What better way in this case than by stirring up fear of crime? This tactic worked very well during the World Cup in 2002, particularly when the promise of hooligan riots due to the Argentina-England game provided a budget to fly 3,000 mainland police to Hokkaido for a week, as well as to hire three ferries to cart thugs back down south. How much money was spent to arrest a total of 11 people (two foreigners) during that whole week of games in Hokkaido? Uncertain.
Most Japanese, though very few people overseas, know that clearance of crimes in Japan (meaning finding the perpetrators for every crime committed) is now down to around 20 percent -- a postwar low and a shock for those expecting Japan to be the same old clean, safe place. This is in part due to a long standing economic downturn in the provinces, and a slow but perceptible breakdown in respect for property by Japanese people.
But that is not what we hear about. It's much easier to say the foreigners are responsible.
Indeed, during a Q & A session following a speech given to the PGL Conference at Seisen University on Sept. 27, Diet member Mizuho Fukushima (Shamintou, Kanagawa) remarked that she is quite aware how the government is fudging statistics to create a culture of fear related to crimes committed by foreigners. Consider, then, a normal public reaction. If police were to tell us that Japanese crime is out of control -- people would criticize the police for not doing their job.
Easy target
However, if they say the same about foreign crime, public attitudes are less antipathetic. After all, foreigners shouldn't be here in the first place if they're going to make trouble (and what policeman can anticipate what heinous crimes foreigners will commit?).
The point is that foreigners are a much softer target, and it is far easier for the police to shift the focus on them instead of on the other 99 percent of criminals in Japan.
Given a general rise in crime,a reasonable case could be made for more cops on the beat. However, the clear and present policy push to target foreigners is not only unfounded statistically, but also has been up to now half-baked and arbitrary in its application.
Good public policy needs common sense, but it has been sorely lacking in Japan so far.
The Japan Times: Oct. 7, 2003
Sunday, October 05, 2003
A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens most famous work will be performed as a live drama at the Aoyama main campus and will be free for all students. The play will be presented at four in the afternoon of November 15. Hope you can all go and enjoy a really great play, one that may have been instrumental in helping to establish the way you now celabrate Christmas.
Saturday, October 04, 2003
Thursday, October 02, 2003
This weeks assignment is a story from page 76-77 in the text book. You should write a story about either Health or the Environment using two of the vocabulary words on page 77. You should also decided if your are going to write a broadsheet story or tabloid story as per example described on the previous pages in the chapter.
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: FANATICISM YESTERDAY, TODAY, & TOMORROW
Bill Emmott, editor in chief of The Economist, writes:
"There are many wonderful things about being a journalist. The
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
Bill Emmott, editor in chief of The Economist, writes:
"There are many wonderful things about being a journalist. The
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: FANATICISM YESTERDAY, TODAY, & TOMORROW
Bill Emmott, editor in chief of The Economist, writes:
"There are many wonderful things about being a journalist. The
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
Bill Emmott, editor in chief of The Economist, writes:
"There are many wonderful things about being a journalist. The
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: FANATICISM YESTERDAY, TODAY, & TOMORROW
Bill Emmott, editor in chief of The Economist, writes:
"There are many wonderful things about being a journalist. The
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
Bill Emmott, editor in chief of The Economist, writes:
"There are many wonderful things about being a journalist. The
excitement of responding to, and trying to make sense of, the flow of news.
The challenge of trying to sort out the wood from the trees, the important
from the unimportant, the honest from the dishonest, the reasonable from
the hyperbolic. The independence of mind and of spirit, the accompanying
sense of the ridiculous, that are available to an outsider, an observer of
rather than participant in events, processes and organizations. The fact
that so many people read or hear what you have to say, and that some of
them even pay heed to it. The privilege of being able to, and actually
being paid to, write or broadcast what can fairly be described as a sort of
first draft of history, albeit with all the foibles and frailties that
performing that task typically implies.
"Yet that is also where the limitations of journalism begin. Our
perspective is always a fairly short-term one. Our readers want to know how
something that happened today might be connected to something that happened
yesterday, or last month. Furthermore, our preoccupations are forever
vulnerable to the fads and fashions of instant hopes, fears and worries.
And, like all instant analysts, the journalist is constantly at risk of
overinterpreting the short-term and underrating or underinterpreting the
longer-term trends. Something that did not seem to matter at all yesterday
becomes, tomorrow, the only thing that does seem to matter.
"Thus it was that on 10 September 2001 international terrorism by
religious zealots was not thought to be an especially important topic. It
was just one fear among many on the standard lists of present and future
threats, but not a very immediate one. After 8:46 a.m., American Eastern
Daylight Time, on the following day, such terrorism was, for a time,
transformed into the only topic that mattered."
***
See http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374279659/newsscancom/ref=nosim
for Bill Emmott's "20:21 Vision: Twentieth-Century Lessons for the
Twenty-First Century" -- or look for it in your favorite library.
Saturday, September 27, 2003
Doors of perception opened by multimedia
By ERIC PRIDEAUX
Staff writer
The plaza at the United Nations University in Tokyo, typically so serene, will be awhirl with activity next week when a large international cast performs "Seeing the World Through Different Eyes," a multimedia extravaganza that seeks to stimulate the senses through music, dance and light -- and in so doing, achieve a higher social purpose.
A multimedia event to be held in Tokyo next week will encourage audiences to see the world in a new light.
During the 70-minute work, the audience will journey through sonic and visual landscapes, ranging from the contemplative chanting of Buddhist priests at the opening of the show to the jarring racket of an American percussionist banging on iron pipes, and from the dreamy undulating of dancers to the disturbing image of children putting on gas masks in anticipation of chemical attack.
The goal is not to titillate or shock, but to compel the audience to think deeply about perception itself, something the creators hope will foster cultural openness and help people address their own prejudices.
That is largely to be achieved through symbolic references to the act of looking, as in when a chorus of cherubs peer through binoculars (provided by lens maker and main sponsor Carl Zeiss) before lending them to the audience to, in effect, share their innocent world view.
What it all means, in the end, is purposely left open to interpretation.
"I want people to use their imagination. I don't want to force them in one direction," said the creative director of the production, Monique van Kerkhof of the Netherlands, 42, a former dance student at New York's Merce Cunningham Studio whose previous works include a contemporary opera held in an empty reservoir in Chiba.
"It's your choice whether to be blind by covering your eyes. That's what I want to show."
"Seeing the World Through Different Eyes": Show time is from 6:30 p.m.-7:40 p.m. on Oct. 3-4, or Oct. 17-18 in case of rain. The UNU campus is in Aoyama, Shibuya Ward, a 5-minute walk from Omotesando Station on the Chiyoda, Ginza and Hanzomon lines.
Admission is free, but donations gladly accepted. Some proceeds will go to charities.
See www.roboudendijk.com/unu for details or call (0471) 87-5666.
By ERIC PRIDEAUX
Staff writer
The plaza at the United Nations University in Tokyo, typically so serene, will be awhirl with activity next week when a large international cast performs "Seeing the World Through Different Eyes," a multimedia extravaganza that seeks to stimulate the senses through music, dance and light -- and in so doing, achieve a higher social purpose.
A multimedia event to be held in Tokyo next week will encourage audiences to see the world in a new light.
During the 70-minute work, the audience will journey through sonic and visual landscapes, ranging from the contemplative chanting of Buddhist priests at the opening of the show to the jarring racket of an American percussionist banging on iron pipes, and from the dreamy undulating of dancers to the disturbing image of children putting on gas masks in anticipation of chemical attack.
The goal is not to titillate or shock, but to compel the audience to think deeply about perception itself, something the creators hope will foster cultural openness and help people address their own prejudices.
That is largely to be achieved through symbolic references to the act of looking, as in when a chorus of cherubs peer through binoculars (provided by lens maker and main sponsor Carl Zeiss) before lending them to the audience to, in effect, share their innocent world view.
What it all means, in the end, is purposely left open to interpretation.
"I want people to use their imagination. I don't want to force them in one direction," said the creative director of the production, Monique van Kerkhof of the Netherlands, 42, a former dance student at New York's Merce Cunningham Studio whose previous works include a contemporary opera held in an empty reservoir in Chiba.
"It's your choice whether to be blind by covering your eyes. That's what I want to show."
"Seeing the World Through Different Eyes": Show time is from 6:30 p.m.-7:40 p.m. on Oct. 3-4, or Oct. 17-18 in case of rain. The UNU campus is in Aoyama, Shibuya Ward, a 5-minute walk from Omotesando Station on the Chiyoda, Ginza and Hanzomon lines.
Admission is free, but donations gladly accepted. Some proceeds will go to charities.
See www.roboudendijk.com/unu for details or call (0471) 87-5666.
Friday, September 19, 2003
Wednesday, September 17, 2003
- Why is the Mobile Internet a Hit in Asia, but Almost
Nowhere Else?
http://www.glocom.org/special_topics/activity_rep/200307_miyao_usc_jetro/videos/AB_Kim256k.ram
- Transistor radio was the medium of choice as blackout
affects communication
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2003/08/14/160962-cp.html
- Finns busiest newspaper readers within EU
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20030812IE10
- Love, hate and newspapers
- Newspapers Alive and Well
http://www.heraldsun.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5478,6862019%255E421,00.html
- Regional Newspaper Readership on the Up
http://www.sundayherald.com/35667
Nowhere Else?
- Transistor radio was the medium of choice as blackout
affects communication
- Finns busiest newspaper readers within EU
- Love, hate and newspapers
- Newspapers Alive and Well
- Regional Newspaper Readership on the Up
Sunday, September 14, 2003
CLIMATE RESEARCH SHIP HEADS TO BEAUFORT SEA
A large Canadian climate research expedition to the Arctic sets sail
from Quebec City on Saturday bound for the Beaufort Sea.
FULL STORY:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/09/12/amundsen030912
MUSIC WORLD MOURNS DEATH OF COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND JOHNNY CASH
Legendary country music singer Johnny Cash has died at a hospital in
Nashville, Tenn., his manager says. He was 71.
FULL STORY:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/09/12/cash030912
A large Canadian climate research expedition to the Arctic sets sail
from Quebec City on Saturday bound for the Beaufort Sea.
FULL STORY:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/09/12/amundsen030912
MUSIC WORLD MOURNS DEATH OF COUNTRY MUSIC LEGEND JOHNNY CASH
Legendary country music singer Johnny Cash has died at a hospital in
Nashville, Tenn., his manager says. He was 71.
FULL STORY:
http://cbc.ca/stories/2003/09/12/cash030912
Wednesday, September 10, 2003
WORTH THINKING ABOUT: TEACHERS
Well-known columnist Thomas L. Friedman pays this tribute to the
teacher who set him on the path to his successful career in journalism.
"Someone who made the most important difference in my life died last
year -- my high school journalism teacher, Hattie M. Steinberg. Hattie was
a woman who believed that the secret for success in life was getting the
fundamentals right. And boy, she pounded the fundamentals of journalism
into her students -- not simply how to write a lead or accurately
transcribe a quote, but, more important, how to comport yourself in a
professional way and to always do quality work. To this day, when I forget
to wear a tie on assignment, I think of Hattie scolding me. Hattie was the
toughest teacher I ever had.
"Those of us on the paper, and the yearbook that she also supervised,
lived in Hattie's classroom. We hung out there before and after school.
Now, you have to understand, Hattie was a single woman, nearing 60 at the
time, and this was the 1960s. She was the polar opposite of "cool," but we
hung around her classroom like it was a malt shop and she was Wolfman Jack.
None of us could have articulated it then, but it was because we enjoyed
being harangued by her, disciplined by her, and taught by her. She was a
woman of clarity in an age of uncertainty. That was my teacher! I sit up
straight just thinkin' about her.
"I have been thinking about Hattie a lot this year, not just because
she died on July 31, but because the lessons she imparted to us seem so
relevant now. We've just gone through this huge
dotcom-Internet-globalization bubble--during which a lot of smart people
got carried away and forgot the fundamentals of how you build a profitable
company, a lasting portfolio, a nation-state, or a thriving student. It
turns out that the real secret of success in the information age is what it
always was: fundamentals -- reading, writing, and arithmetic; church,
synagogue, and mosque; the rule of law and good governance. The Internet
can make you smarter, but it can't make you smart. It can extend your
reach, but it will never tell you what to say at a PTA meeting. These
fundamentals cannot be downloaded. You can only upload them, the
old-fashioned way, one by one, in places like Hattie's classroom. I only
regret that I didn't write this column when the woman who taught me all
that was still alive."
***
Well-known columnist Thomas L. Friedman pays this tribute to the
teacher who set him on the path to his successful career in journalism.
"Someone who made the most important difference in my life died last
year -- my high school journalism teacher, Hattie M. Steinberg. Hattie was
a woman who believed that the secret for success in life was getting the
fundamentals right. And boy, she pounded the fundamentals of journalism
into her students -- not simply how to write a lead or accurately
transcribe a quote, but, more important, how to comport yourself in a
professional way and to always do quality work. To this day, when I forget
to wear a tie on assignment, I think of Hattie scolding me. Hattie was the
toughest teacher I ever had.
"Those of us on the paper, and the yearbook that she also supervised,
lived in Hattie's classroom. We hung out there before and after school.
Now, you have to understand, Hattie was a single woman, nearing 60 at the
time, and this was the 1960s. She was the polar opposite of "cool," but we
hung around her classroom like it was a malt shop and she was Wolfman Jack.
None of us could have articulated it then, but it was because we enjoyed
being harangued by her, disciplined by her, and taught by her. She was a
woman of clarity in an age of uncertainty. That was my teacher! I sit up
straight just thinkin' about her.
"I have been thinking about Hattie a lot this year, not just because
she died on July 31, but because the lessons she imparted to us seem so
relevant now. We've just gone through this huge
dotcom-Internet-globalization bubble--during which a lot of smart people
got carried away and forgot the fundamentals of how you build a profitable
company, a lasting portfolio, a nation-state, or a thriving student. It
turns out that the real secret of success in the information age is what it
always was: fundamentals -- reading, writing, and arithmetic; church,
synagogue, and mosque; the rule of law and good governance. The Internet
can make you smarter, but it can't make you smart. It can extend your
reach, but it will never tell you what to say at a PTA meeting. These
fundamentals cannot be downloaded. You can only upload them, the
old-fashioned way, one by one, in places like Hattie's classroom. I only
regret that I didn't write this column when the woman who taught me all
that was still alive."
***
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