Entries Tagged 'praise' ↓

Well, Rupert Murdoch has now made FOX “News” appear tame in his dealings in the UK. Employees of his tabloid paper, News of The World, hacked the mobile phones of celebrities, politicians and pretty much anyone else they wanted. A few of them got in trouble with the law back in 2007 when this was revealed, but thanks to The Guardian’s reporting, Murdoch “settled in court” with some of the victims: In other words, paid them a total of about 1 Million Pounds and told them to shut up. Well, so much for that… Absolutely Rupert Murdoch is a son-of-a-bitch and should be banned from holding a license to practice business. It is going to be hard for his evil stepson Papa Bear O’Reilly to deny this one, using such trumped up sludge as free speech. As if he’d know…

Here is a summary of the reporting, but The Guardian has extensive coverage of this issue, so explore its site further if you’re interested.

How much corn do we eat in a day? The answer is elusive, at best. For the past 2+ decades, the corn industry has been taking over our food supply. At first it was seen as a cheap and viable way to produce the things we eat. Recently, corn has entered almost everything we eat and changed from an additive to a main ingredient. In addition, the corn industry is unlikely to be holding the reins of government and food production as much as it did 20 years ago. Today, that job sits squarely on the large food production companies. Sure, the corn industry still receives massive (I mean MASSIVE) subsidies to grow its crop. In fact it would probably be a money-leaking crop without the help of our tax dollars. But the fact that corn is in absolutely everything we eat and involved in every step of the process to “create” food, tells you of its continued importance. The companies that produce the vast majority of our food now hold more power than perhaps the defense industry… Think about the effect this might have on you and your family…

This past weekend, NOW on PBS aired an interview with the director of a new food documentary entitled, “Food, Inc.“. Robert Kenner made for a good interview subject and I’m looking forward to watching his film (you can watch the interview below). However, seeing this interview reminded me yet again of how little has changed. In 2003, Peter Jennings reported in an hour-long investigative piece on the food industry. “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying” was an incredible look into the food industry and how, without public knowledge or consent, the industry has hijacked our food supply, as well as the lawmakers and regulators who are supposed to watch our backs. Towards the end of Jennings’ piece, he asks if something can be done to change the legislative atmosphere that allows for so much of this insidious behavior to go on…

If you care about what you are putting into your body and about the future for your children, then I would suggest watching three films:

1) “Food, Inc.” – Although I have yet to see it, I’m sure from this interview with Robert Kenner, that it will be worthwhile and factually correct.

2) The ABC/Peter Jennings’ report, “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying” is probably the most in-depth and insightful look at food I’ve seen yet. It superbly explores the politics, money, marketing and public health aspects of what we eat. I have included the report below.

3) “Food Matters” – Another in-depth documentary on food, as well as the pharmaceutical industry, to scare the crap out of you (and there is plenty of it in this film), the points made and the facts discussed are very worthy of discussion.

After reviewing these latest reports on the food industry (Food, Inc. and Food Matters), let’s revisit Peter Jennings’ question about change. Has anything changed since 2003 when he first reported on this subject? Perhaps, but I doubt it has changed for the betterment of our health.

Here is the NOW interview with Robert Kenner, of Food, Inc.

Here is Peter Jennings’ report entitled, “How to Get Fat Without Really Trying,” broken up into five parts.

The Soviets would be proud. Central American dictators of decades past would be proud. Dictators the world around have nothing on what our government is capable of in corrupting the basic principles and foundations on which this country was founded. Many times before I have written about Don Siegelman’s case. You remember, the former Democratic governor of Alabama who was indicted, convicted and jailed in a case so full of holes, you could fill the Albert Hall. (Siegelman is currently free on bail pending yet another appeal, meanwhile Sen. Ted Stevens’ case has been dropped by the Department of Justice; for prosecutorial misconduct.) From the look of things, Attorney General Holder could spend the entirety of Obama’s first term just reviewing prosecutorial (and judicial) misconduct in political prosecutions over the last 8 years.

A group called “Project Save Justice” has created an hour-long film entitled, “The Political Prosecutions of Karl Rove” detailing the prosecutions of hundreds of people around the country based almost completely on political affiliation and involving dozens of corrupted prosecutors and judges. The film shows how widespread this problem became throughout the Bush years and how the actions of the parties involved have created a calling card of sorts for Karl Rove. The politicization of the Justice Department is a scary, scary prospect and it is not fiction. This stuff happened and real peoples’ lives were destroyed because of how they voted. You can watch the film below, which includes commentary by Scott Horton, a professor, civil rights attorney and editor for Harpers Magazine.

Horton describes how the mainstream media was used in many of these cases to convict the target of an investigation in the court of public opinion often before prosecuting the case in court. This PR game is nothing new, but when case after case shows the systematic use of the media by the prosecution to try and convict, something is seriously wrong (actually, this is a crime). Innocent people are in jail or even worse, dead because of these prosecutions and save for a story here and there about the most vocal victims of this campaign (i.e. Gov. Siegelman), the mainstream media has remained silent. I knew political prosecutions had become more widespread over the last 8 years, but I had no idea how widespread. But this is precisely why often low-level political activists in the Democratic party were targeted… Sensationalism in the media is what sells and only on a hyper-local level will the prosecution of a state legislative fundraiser be reported. Actually, you are more likely to find 10 minutes of your evening “news” broadcast dedicated to the latest health scare (remember Anthrax?) or the price of gas, then a report on innocent member of your government being sent to jail because of how they vote.

Just a quick note to point readers to the great work FAIR does every day in its fight for “Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting.” I have been a fan of FAIR for quite some time and enjoy its podcasts in particular. I have added, for the time being at least, an RSS feed to the group’s latest reports, podcasts and blog posts which can be found along the right side of this page. Please let me know what you think and thanks for reading.

The bumper sticker I read on every Volvo I saw during my childhood in Vermont read, “Act Globally, Shop Locally.” A worthy message indeed and more relevant than ever with the growing concern about over-processed food (i.e. peanut butter, spinach, etc.), as well as the various chemicals that can be found in our food containers these days, but unfortunately this message cannot apply to the news we receive. The growing trend seems to be that local is better when it comes to news coverage. Independent sites, as well as those backed by mainstream media, are popping up all over the country. Mark Glaser, of PBS’ MediaShift, just posted the following on Twitter: “Putting together guide to local watchdog news sites for MediaShift, including VoiceOfSanDiego, MinnPost, StL Beacon, others.” I couldn’t help but think of David Simon’s comment on how newspapers must be the counterweight to bullshit and without them, local corruption will run rampant. Simon has often stated how it would be nice to be in local politics over the next decade, as the unchecked opportunities will be numerous while a new model for local news coverage is discovered. Watch a great interview that Bill Moyers conducted with Simon here.

I’m looking forward to the collection Glaser comes up with to see if there are any sources that I’m missing, but I couldn’t help but think about what we’re all missing with this increasing “local centric” mentality of news coverage. I have written before about the growing trend of hyper-local sites, but the void in our collective knowledge of the world is of far greater concern as news organizations continue to whittle away at their foreign news bureaus. This leaves us with a collection of independent journalists filing the void, often valiantly doing great work, but I worry how effective they are all the time and how safe? Start-ups such as Global Post have put together some great, experienced foreign correspondents, but while still in its infancy, there are bound to be gaps in coverage.

On Tuesday, Andrew Stroehlein, journalist and Communications Director for the International Crisis Group, expressed his worries about “a world without foreign correspondents.” He isn’t the first person to express concern about this growing trend to cut costs by bringing the bureaus home, but his post is worth a read for its unique perspective. Stroehlein gives two examples, in Somalia and Sri Lanka, of how news coverage is lacking. His logic is a bit flawed (which he seems to recognize and acknowledge), in that he discusses the cost-cutting measures being taken and that this has had an effect on the diminished coverage. However, in both scenarios the almost complete press blackout is due to security on the ground or government interference with the press.

“The first is Somalia, where the utter inanity of foreign news coverage in the West, particularly in the US, knows no bounds. Amid deafening hero-worship and chest-thumping, the US media machine was so proud that a new president with the world’s largest military at his disposal can kill a couple lightly armed thugs that few seemed even able to grasp the most basic fact of the situation: piracy is symptom, not the disease (NOTE: I wrote about this yesterday in urging people to focus on the solution, rather than just trumpeting the problem), and lawlessness off the coast of Somalia will continue as long as anarchy is allowed to continue on land. If only a tiny fraction of the Western media ruckus of recent weeks could be dedicated to Somalia itself, then international political attention might start focusing on the roots of the problem.”

Stroehlein continues,

“The other example of a crisis unfolding mostly not before our eyes is Sri Lanka, where over the past few months the situation in the north east has become incredibly desperate for some 150,000 civilians trapped in an ever-shrinking “safe zone” between their government that is shelling them and the cult-like LTTE rebels who shoot them if they try to escape. Today, as my colleague writes, “A mass slaughter of civilians will take place Tuesday at noon. And everyone knows it.” Once again, foreign correspondents are unable to cover the story, this time because the government is not allowing them in to the region.”

I would have included the genocide in Darfur along with these two examples as well, but Stroehlein has done a valiant job of describing the press’ failure to properly report as he has written it. The comments are also well worth reading.

Alisa Miller, the head of Public Radio International (PRI), explained in a TED Talk in 2008 why, although we (Americans) want to know more about the world now than ever before, the US media is actually showing us less. She walks us through the graphs and stats in great detail below and I have also included the map she references in her talk about news coverage in February of 2007.