Abramoff Regrets Paying Writers For “Placed” Columns, by Joe Strupp, Media Matters, Dec. 8, 2011 “…During a recent interview with Media Matters while promoting his new book, Capitol Punishment: The Hard Truth About Washington Corruption From America’s Most Notorious Lobbyist (WND Books 2011), Abramoff said in the past he would find
Continue readingTag: Journalism
Fiscal demonization of @OccupyTO continues on CTV | #classwarfare
Like clockwork, the corporate media are swinging into action. Or perhaps like robots. Either way, the narrative is being reinforced and amplified. Just now on CTV a “news” report is pegging the cost of Occupy at something over $714,000. Police, EMS, landscaping, etc. Cue the manufactured resentment and the divide-and-conquer
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Book Review: Suffled How it Gush: A North American Anarchist in the Balkans
“I think Hannah Arendt did say somewhere in The Origins of Totalitarianism that the thesis of the modern state is: ‘Everyone should die.’” –Suffled How it Gush (pg. 74) I have joked with my partner that I have a certain amount of angst regarding my future as any sort of
Continue readingHow The Globe channels the 1 per cent | #Occupy #classwarfare
Managing Occupy protest cost city $1-million, city says – The Globe and Mail: ‘via Blog this’ It’s masquerading as “objective” “news,” but in fact it’s anything but. Note how Canada’s National Fishwrap steers the discourse: the whole story is about how much money the city of Vancouver had to spend
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Help for the CBC on conflicts of interest
Regular readers will be aware that I filed a complaint with CBC Ombudsman Kirk Lapointe over the conflict involving Legislative Bureau Chief Stephen Smart, husband of Rebecca Scott who holds the position of Communications Officer and Deputy Press Secretary for Premier Clark, a relatively senior OIC political appointment. Lapointe referred
Continue reading@GeorgeMonbiot takes down the corporate media
George Monbiot – Unmasking the Press: ‘via Blog this’ Too bad about Hitchens, but the best thing I’ve found about the corporate media this week comes from Monbiot. Everything you need to know, including the essential 99 percent versus 1 per cent dynamic, is in here. The class-warfare element is
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Taking issue with journalism in the MSM
I left this comment at Ian Reid’s article about Vaughn Palmer but the audio link does not work within comments, so I repeat the comment intended to follow Ian’s item at The Real Story and the audio link: “You have of course identified the frustration with Palmer. He would be
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Can someone report news while making news?
It is appropriate to ask if political writers can report objectively after they become paid participants in the public forum, earning appearance fees and other remuneration from businesses with interests in their coverage. In 2009, Charlie Smith at The Georgia Straight wrote this: “There are members of the press gallery
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Public interest journalism in BC?
December 1, Glacier Media Inc. completed the acquisition of Postmedia Network Inc.’s community newspapers in British Columbia and the Times Colonist. . The Lower Mainland Publishing Group media assets include: North Shore News, Vancouver Courier, Burnaby Now, New Westminster Record/Royal City Record, Richmond News Delta Optimist Surrey Now Coquitlam Now
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Free market, Canadian style
From J-Source.ca “New Brunswick is about to become the first place in Canada where readers must pay for local news. “The Irving-owned Brunswick News Inc. has decided that the era of free content is done. As early as next week, the company will shut down free access to websites for
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Snoozing, slothful syndicate of political poodles…
At the Rafe Mair birthday celebration last week, we got to hear Rafe tell an anecdote about writing for Ryerson School of Journalism a piece that celebrated free speech, one Ryerson refused to publish. I suspect Rafe got more than a few requests to write the story for the website
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: On media, a reader’s contribution
Ms.Photo Op,Mentzelopoulos,Muir,Waldner Here’s an excerpt from the Vancouver Sun that ran Nov 22nd about the hiring of the husband of the minister of corporate priorities by the Vancouver Island Health Authority (VIHA), and the link to the full story: “VIHA president Howard Waldner, in an interview from Toronto, said he
Continue readingthe woodshed: Headline of the week, maybe of the year
Thank you Toronto Star , for making the headline suit the story Tweet The Rev. Paperboy Feed
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Old news, aged quickly
Today, media conglomerates are not only influenced by Big Money interests, but they are often themselves Big Money interests.
– Cameron Gaut
I wrote earlier that the Toope Report helps the Liberal Government change the subject from that which makes it …
Northern Insights / Perceptivity: Mainstream media no longer sole gatekeepers
In the government’s sale disposition of BC Rail, there are compelling indicators that massive fraud was perpetrated. Even worse, senior provincial officials interfered with investigation and prosecution of the duplicity involved. Premier Campbell’s of…
Continue readingcultural sn:afu: How the death of Steve Jobs could save Canadians
This originally appeared as a column in the November 3 print and online editions of the North Bay / Nippissing News, the weekly newspaper I’ve been writing for recently. I’ve been recovering from some fairly serious illnesses over the past …
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: So they arrested the reporter, not the bankers
Truthdig, November 3, 2011:
“Goldman Sachs, which received more subsidies and bailout-related funds than any other investment bank because the Federal Reserve permitted it to become a bank holding company under its “emergency situation,” has use…
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: The end of news as we know it
The following article was first published May 24, 2010. Since then, Sean Holman suspended the Public Eye website, Postmedia has focused on serving business not public interests, the destruction of CBC News has advanced and radio news, with few resource…
Continue readingNorthern Insights / Perceptivity: Does Postmedia need paywalls or headstones
In his NY Times blog, economist Paul Krugman focused attention on one of the frequently repugnant think-tanks that serves America’s one-percenters. In Denial In Depth, Krugman applauds Ryan Chittum at the Columbia Journalism Review for:
“… a takedown…
LeDaro: Has Huffington Post run out of stories?
This is one of the most disgusting stories I have read on the Huffington Post, and I am a regular reader of the Post. It is about a bridesmaid having sex with the groom. It is so disgusting that I will provide the link but I will not post the video on …
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