Will anyone be thanking you this year?

It's just a few days out from my personal favorite holiday of the year...Thanksgiving. Beyond the cooking, the eating, the re-eating of left overs, and all the holiday cheer that makes this day so much fun, Thanksgiving to me is a humbling annual reminder of how fortunate an individual I am and how privileged an existence I lead.

Too often we become blinded by the quest of something greater than we already possess, and in the process lose sight of what extraordinary things we have in the present. Stress over getting to that "next phase" in our lives where we will have a better job, a better car, a better house, or more money, takes precedent over any chance we have at finding peace with our current place in life and simply soaking in the moments we'll never get back.

The truly important things in life are almost always taken for granted. The relationships we have with family and friends are just as fragile as our bank accounts and our careers, but are almost never given as much attention and care. It's hard to fathom, but there are many places and instances in the world, some even right here in our own country, where the simple luxury of having family and friends around is not afforded.

Because I do not wait each day for a family member to return from a war zone with his or her life, because I do not wake up each morning knowing that a loved one is dying of a terminal illness but cannot afford treatment, because I do not start each day wondering how and if I am going to eat today, because I don't worry on my way to class if a car bomb is going to kill me or someone I care about, because I do not have to trek through miles of terrain without shoes to get water for myself, because I not only have the freedom to be an opinionated woman but also have the luxury of sharing my political and religious beliefs with the world on this blog without repercussions; I am thankful.

With such a limited world view, we as Americans, especially living in privileged neighborhoods, aren't reminded daily of the atrocities occurring all over the world, and even those occurring in our backyards. We could never begin to understand the plight that so many live through each day whether it be homelessness, hunger, abuse, illness, discrimination, or war. This is the reality for billions of people, and yet we will go on living our lives worried about which designer handbag or car we will buy with our next pay check.

Let me be clear that I am in no way exempting myself from any of these observations or accusations. In fact, I am often ashamed of how little I contribute to help the many injustices of the world. I am especially humbled and also motivated by those who not only have identified a way to make a difference, but have made it their life's work to do so.

The CNN annual Heroes award show is a wonderful look at how an individual's compassion and dedication can make such a positive difference on the world. It's also a grounding reminder of how little so many of us do on a daily and even yearly basis to positively affect another's life besides our own. The taping of CNN's award show airs on Thanksgiving night, it's a great show...I actually volunteered at the media table last year passing out will-call tickets and got to stay and see the live show. If you can't watch the show, or even DVR it, check out some of the Heroes' stories online...I promise you will be inspired. (side note: watching the clips online means you don't get to see the wonderful Anderson Cooper host the award show.)

And in addition to considering what you yourself have to be thankful for as you indulge in your Thanksgiving feast, also ask yourself: who will be thankful for you?

The News Stays PC, and for Good Reason

The media is once again under fire, this time for its coverage of the Ft. Hood tragedy. In an article about the media's coverage of the event, Pew Research wrote:

And in certain parts of the media landscape last week, most notably some talk shows, the failure to pre-empt the Hasan attack took on ideological or cultural overtones.

Conservative radio talk host Pat Gray, subbing for Glenn Beck last week, declared that “the only reason they didn’t [act against Hasan before the shooting] is political correctness. They’re worried about offending Muslims.”

Similar sentiments were heard on Bill O’Reilly’s November 12 Fox News show when analyst Bernard Goldberg attacked the media’s coverage of the case. “Every rational person in the entire country knows that Hasan shot up the place because he’s a Muslim terrorist,” Goldberg declared. But many journalists have tiptoed around the terror issue, he added, “because they don’t want to offend Muslims.”

This is obviously a sensitive and tricky issue for journalists. The media was more or less damned if they did and damned if they didn’t with this story. Because they were cautious and took time to speculate Hasan’s ties with radical Islamists, they are being slammed for not reporting aggressively enough and being too “politically correct”. But in my opinion, if they would have jumped to early conclusions that Hasan was a Muslim terrorist and it turned out that he was not, that would have been even worse. Reporting something that is factually incorrect is always damaging to a news organization, but because of the especially sensitive nature of the accusation, it had the potential to be even more disastrous if not carefully investigated.

What was known from the beginning, was that Hasan was by definition a terrorist simply from the act he committed, regardless of his political or religious motives. I don’t think there was anything wrong with being cautious about those motives before they were solidly confirmed. Whether he was an American terrorist or a Muslim terrorist or any kind of terrorist, he was still a terrorist who went on a murdering spree. The need to attach some kind of religious association with that terrible act of crime, doesn’t make the situation any more or less tragic.

Being politically correct can sometimes be annoying in the journalism world, but it is so crucial to maintaining credibility and respect from all viewers. Reporting controversial facts as they exist and are known is one thing, but making early accusations that have not been proven and include a supposition of crimes motivated by race, gender, religion, etc. could potentially ostracize an entire demographic from your newscast. Maintaining objectivity is key to responsible reporting.

War Is Not a Game

Teenagers and young adults all across the world couldn’t wait to get their hands on the sixth installment of the Call of Duty video game series last week. Modern Warfare 2 had an unprecedented debut, shattering records for both gaming and motion picture releases. Now hundreds of millions of gamers are playing the most realistic-looking warfare video game to date. While the game, like its predecessors, may look like the real thing, it couldn’t be any further from it. The most troublesomely misleading difference between the two is the game’s power switch: a button that may be able to bring your character back to life, but will never be able to reverse the fates of the millions of American soldiers and countless civilians whose lives have been ended or changed forever as the result of war.

First-person shooter games like Modern Warfare 2 imitate the experience of killing opponents, and in the process, reduce the reality of murder down to a gunfire sound effect and a virtual explosion of blood that drips down the screen. These effects, coupled with thematic story lines and cutting edge graphics, suck players into a game that portrays war as both thrilling and fun. The game belittles the cruelty, inhumanities, and injustices of warfare, creating a jaded perception of what war is really like.

The entertainment world as a whole has long been guilty of sensationalizing the glory of military combat and killing as a dignified and admirable national duty. The interactive nature of video games though, takes the excitement of the action to another level by putting the responsibility of the outcome in the hands of the media consumer. Killing then becomes a game that must be won, and the gamer becomes comfortable and confident with his or her part in it.

While the games have varying age requirements for purchase that range from 15 years to 17 years, it can be assumed that much younger children are also experiencing these warfare simulations. Many groups have spoken out against violent games like the Call of Duty series, with concerns that repeated exposure to this kind of content over an extended period of time could be even more difficult for impressionable children and teens to distinguish as a false-reality.

Modern Warfare 2 has sparked a renewed sense of alarm among these critics. It’s the first of its kind to take players through a realistic terrorist attack at an airport (including the killing of innocent civilians), an element that’s been dubbed the “most emotionally disturbing scene yet built into interactive entertainment” (Seth Schiesel, New York Times). Such a distinction makes me wonder at what point in time so called “entertainment” crosses the line from entertaining to unnecessary.

Not only do these games desensitize millions to the horror that is real war and terrorism, but they also build up an undue amount of hype about militaristic operations. One cannot help but notice the propagandistic similarities between popular war video games and the military recruiting ads themselves. They each glamorize a job that involves killing, living in unthinkable conditions, and risking one’s life on a regular basis.

The Call of Duty series also paints an incomplete picture that stops short of any kind of reality soldiers may face during or after they serve. For those who do make it out alive, many will experience some kind of physical or mental illnesses, joblessness, homelessness, and undoubtedly the painful daily reminders of what they witnessed and what they themselves took part in. These are the kinds of permanent, life-altering consequences of warfare that aren’t evoked by video games.

And for those who eventually choose to trade in their game controllers for real weapons, one can only hope that they can differentiate the fragility of their own life and the lives of others, from the dispensability of the video game characters on the screen.

California, Up a Creek, Without a Paddle...or a Rower

Almost 37,000,000 people in the state of California, and currently there are NO Democrats to speak of in the official running for the 2010 Gubernatorial race. Where is everyone? Why is no one stepping up to the plate?

In case you haven't heard, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom withdrew his candidacy because his poll numbers against the other (still unofficial) candidate, Jerry Brown, weren't looking great, and with a new baby he just didn't have the time...what a disappointment.

For those of us Democrats who were putting all our eggs in the Newsom basket, we are now left with but one candidate option for the primaries. Attorney General and former California Governor Jerry Brown will be our only choice... if he lives to see the day. At 71 years old, this guy is certainly qualified to be Governor, just like he was in 1974 and in 1978. But qualified isn't going to cut it this time around for California. The current sate of crisis California is in needs more than an arthritic old-timer, ready to come back for a Homecoming game and hit a few balls. We need a new MVP. Someone who can inspire the same kind of hope and sense of political efficacy that Obama did on the national level. Where is our promise of "change" California?

Certainly, there are other candidates. The GOP pool boasts a few of them...all more or less the same person. Extremely rich, privileged politicians hailing from Silicon Valley. They all promise to remove government at every turn and return the state to it's people. It sounds good, sure, but is this what California needs? Tell the unemployed, the starving, the homeless, the sick, and the poor (who no doubt collectively make up a significant portion of the state), "Don't worry, we'll get rid of the big bad government and then you can fend for yourself!" They seem to be campaigning with a 'if it's broken, don't fix it, get rid of it' attitude. Could these billionaires, willing to spend a small fortune of their own personal wealth on their campaigns, be any more out of touch with the people of California?

So here we are. A year from this week exactly, California, our great Blue state, will head to the polls to cast a vote. A vote that will be more like picking the least worst candidate than picking the best. A vote that will likely beg a series of questions in my mind that go a little something like, "Where are all the California politicians? Was there really no one else who would bite the bullet for the sake of our collective future? The future of one of the most progressive, nationally-influential states in America? A state with one of the largest economies in the world? Where is everyone? Can we not find anyone to replace the Governator? No movie stars even?"

Seriously? If I was old enough, I would run for Governor. Shoot.

Obama's Careful Balancing Act

Hope. Change. Yes We Can.

These are the phrases that inspired the majority of a nation to unite under one common dream of a brighter tomorrow, and fight for the one man who was promising it all. Now that tomorrow is today, many Obama supporters wait with baited breath for their President to fulfill his campaign promises to them. The trouble is, each promise comes along with its own set of political, moral, and religious implications. Suddenly it becomes evident that keeping a promise to one group of people could come at the price of breaking a promise to another.

One faction of Democratic campaign supporters that have been getting a lot of press recently for their disappointment in President Obama’s lack of follow through with campaign promises is the Gay and Lesbian community. I whole-heartedly believe that Obama has every intention of following through with his promises to repeal the “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” policy, as well as overturning the Defense of Marriage Act. However, I also believe that timing these major changes appropriately could be key to keeping the political ball rolling on accomplishing other pertinent policy goals.

Gay rights is a point of great contention for many members of the conservative party, who believe it directly conflicts with their moral and religious beliefs. As much as I’d like to see President Obama throw out a big ‘screw you’ to the right aisle, exploit the privilege of the filibuster-proof Democratic majority in Congress, and sign every liberal bill into effect that he can, I know, as well as he does, that politics is a game that must be played strategically to win. To follow through with all of his promises to the Gay and Lesbian community at this point in time would almost certainly ostracize both conservative Republicans as well as moderate liberals, both of whom we desperately need cooperation from in order to pass any kind of healthcare bill. At the same time though, neglecting supporters to placate the opposition could not only lose President Obama the support of his base, but also lose him a chance at re-election. So, this is where the balancing act comes into play.

Imagine a three-ring circus where the ringleader is President Obama walking a tight rope high above the action. He must be cognizant of the needs and wants of each ring, but also not pay too much attention to any one ring, or he will fall off the rope and plummet down into the lions.

Extended metaphors aside, President Obama showed us this week that he was fully aware that his neglect for fulfilling promises to the Gay and Lesbian community was nearing dangerously close to irreversible. Yesterday, he signed a bill that would extend the legal repercussions of hate crimes to include those committed with a specific malevolence against Gays or Lesbians. This bill also extends the law to crimes motivated by gender identity or disability. The bill has great significance for the Gay community. Officially titled the Matthew Shepperd & James Byrd Jr. Hate Prevention Act, the bill is named after 21-year-old Shepperd, a college student who was brutally murdered from a homophobic attack over a decade ago.

Signing the hate crime bill was the small pat on the back the Gay and Lesbian community needed to know that Obama hasn’t forgotten about them. Meanwhile, punishing people for hate crimes, no matter what kind of person they are committed against, is a topic very few people who generally oppose Gay rights would contest. The bill is a good place to start for what will hopefully be a full-fledged, but potentially long-fought civil rights movement towards gay-equality.

White House fuels Fox’s fire in an attempt to put it out

There’s tough reporting, and then there’s outright journalistic antagonism. After taking a verbal beating from the alleged “fair and balanced” news network for close to a year now, the White House has apparently decided enough is enough, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs calling FOX “a wing of the Republican party” and Communications Director Anita Dunn describing FOX as “opinion journalism masquerading as news”.

While not unmerited, this official denunciation of the cable news channel did little more than provoke the conservative media giant. In one swift move, the white house has simultaneously satisfied its school-yard quest for revenge and also driven three and a half million viewers further into the FOX-hole.

From promoting tea party rallies against big government, to outright opposing the White House’s agenda, and even calling the first black President of the United States a “racist”, there is no denying that FOX oversteps its boundaries as a news organization. But for the three million plus Americans that watch it religiously, Rupert Murdoch can do no wrong.

Most of these viewers would defend the content of FOX’s news shows as intently as they would their own political beliefs. For that reason, the White House is seriously misguided if it hopes that their formal criticism of the network will help these loyal viewers see the errs in FOX’s ways.

One FOX executive told the NY Times that the jabs by the White House could solidify the network’s audience base, a viewership that continues to expand in response to the party shift in office. Bill Shine, senior vice president for FOX programming, said that Obama’s first year is on track to be the news channel’s highest rated year. Appropriately put by the Chairman of FOX, Roger Ailes, “Don’t pick a fight with people who like to fight.”

But the White House is coming out swinging.

In an interview with CNN, Dunn announced that the White House would not be a “passive bystander” as opponents [FOX] try to “tear down the president and his presidency…we will push back.” As comments like this one continue to come from Obama’s press team, FOX characters rejoice that the democrats are practically handing over content for their shows. Sean Hannity recently took pleasure in labeling his show “Not White House Approved”, while FOX’s newest star, Glen Beck, proudly unveiled a red telephone on his set so that the White House can call and directly voice their complaints.

While I personally commend Gibbs, Dun, and others for finally saying what every responsible media consumer has been thinking, this sense of gratification comes at too high a cost. Conservative viewers and journalists alike now claim that the White House can’t handle the heat that comes with hard-hitting investigative reporting. The move to defend itself is then rapidly spun, at the very capable hands of FOX, into what appears as a press cop-out.

At this point, the most responsible war the White House could wage against FOX news is a silent one. Attacking an opponent with clear philosophical differences, a massive public platform to express those differences, and several million people eager to listen, is not a battle the White House has the time or ability to win.

It is becoming increasingly clear that Obama must reach out across the aisle if he is to accomplish anything on his mounting to-do list. This relationship is going to have to include even the loudest appendage of the conservative party: the media.

With very little hope of changing the minds of FOX viewers, the White House would be smart to avoid further engaging them in a manner that almost certainly guarantees negative backlash. And for those of us who do agree that FOX News is a “wing of the Republican party”, we do not require spoken validation of this opinion from the Obama administration. In fact, we would prefer it if the White House would just be the bigger party, and do whatever it takes to get the job done.

Celebriticians: How We Allow them to Weaken the American Political System

Her fashion-forward sweater set. His saucy love affair with a campaign staffer. These should be the top stories on an Entertainment news show, not a political news show. But flip through any of the major 24-hour news networks today and inevitably you will find the details of the governor’s sex scandal, the first lady’s fashion faux pas, or the ex-Vice Presidential Candidate’s daughter’s pregnancy. Which should leave most Americans wondering, what about the actual politics? Our cultural obsession with the lives of celebrities has grown to include political leaders, whose daily lives often wind up making the news more often than the work they’ve been elected to do. The media’s disproportionate emphasis on politicians and their often salacious lives overshadows coverage of the political issues, which in turn has begun to discredit the American political process as a whole.

America’s love affair with personality-driven politics dates back to the 1960s, when John F. Kennedy realized how powerful the television medium could be to the political process. “The Kennedy-Nixon debates allowed voters to see how Kennedy and the camera adored each other, and television permanently transformed American politics”(Caryn James, New York Times). The presidential first-family was broadcast into living rooms all across the country, and for the first time, the constituents were seeing their politicians up-close and personal. Glamorous and powerful, the Kennedy family became iconic to the American public, attracting the attention of paparazzi more like a member of The Beatles than a political leader. Now almost 50 years later, we are every bit as enticed by the celebrity of the new first-family, as we were when presidential politics made its television debut.

President Barack Obama has become one of the biggest celebrities of our generation, attracting the attention of many people who might otherwise have not been as interested in the political process. What makes this potentially disconcerting is that on any given day the President’s dog garners more press than the cap-and-trade bill he spent the morning re-drafting. While the media seems like the easiest scapegoat to pin responsibility on for the degeneration of fact-based political reporting, it is not the root of the problem. Media coverage of any issue is simply an answer to the public’s demand for information about a particular subject. We, the American people are the overly curious beasts that drive the non-stop coverage of celebrity-politics. This curiosity is then perpetuated by the increased availability of new media forms that make access to the lives of politicians no more difficult than a click of a button.

If the invention of television gave Americans the chance to pull back the curtain of mystery and have a peek at the lives of politicians, then today’s digital revolution has enabled the average citizen to tear down the curtain and gawk as long as they’d like. The digital revolution has created a plethora of new mediums through which information can be transmitted. The expansion of cable networks has allowed niche market channels to flourish, and news to branch out into a diverse array of around-the-clock coverage options. The limitlessness of the virtual world, whether television or online, has opened up the floodgates for anything and everything to be revealed. When there can be a whole blog, website, talk show, or even television network dedicated to nothing but following the lives of politicians, why wouldn’t it exist? The problem is not that it does, but rather that it is sufficiently more engaging and intriguing to the masses than any kind of 24-hour coverage of political issues. These new opportunities created by the digital world have given us a choice, or rather, a lot of choices. The trouble is, very few would choose C-SPAN coverage of a congressional hearing over Comedy Central’s the Colbert Report, and perhaps still fewer would choose sitting down to watch the Colbert Report in its entirety on television, when they could go to the website and pick and choose whichever stories interest them.

Now that the individual has been empowered with the ability to create his or her own media diet rather than being spoon-fed what someone perceives are the top stories, the media must cater to their audience’s preferences in order to remain relevant. If the majority of their audience would prefer to watch a story about a political sex-affair more than a story about a bill going through the senate appropriations committee, then the media will cover the sex-affair more aggressively to stay competitive with the millions of other choices anybody has for accessing political information. So then the real issue seems to be why it is that we as Americans have shaped our political interests around politicians and not the political work they do. The most obvious answer seems to be the one that is also the most disappointing: In a day and age where we require constant stimulation and excitement, government’s slow, tedious procedures just don’t make the cut. Where politics themselves may be very difficult to for the average person to follow, politicians on the other hand, are just people whose lives not only make sense, but are often more fascinating than public policy and debate.

It is without question that people are more fascinating than politics, but is there something more to our fixation with the lives of political leaders? American culture thrives on icons; faces, names, people whom we all think we know better than our own mother, and well we probably do. "There's a celebrity stalker in all of us," says James Houran, an academic clinical psychologist who has researched celebrity worship. "We need celebrities as much as we need food, water and shelter. We need them to feel connected" (Bruce Horovitz, USA Today). Perhaps it is this desire for connection to our political leaders, some of the most powerful men and women in the country, that drives us to seek out every detail of their personal lives. As the line between politician and celebrity blur, our interest in lawmakers extends beyond their work lives and into their personal lives. This cultural obsession with celebrities’ lives has been around for a long time, and still even some of the biggest celebrities don’t understand why. Playboy Entrepreneur, Hugh Hefner, was quoted in a USA Today article saying, “There's an intrinsic voyeurism within society that technology has helped to spiral out of control. People not only want to see celebrities without their clothes — but to learn the naked truth about them.” Whereas celebrities once seemed so inaccessible, technology has brought these larger-than-life personalities right to our living rooms and home offices, even to our cell phones. While learning “the naked truth” about musicians, actors, or athletes seems to have no real consequence on their professional work, the same cannot be said for celeb-politicians.

Theoretically, politicians should be of the highest caliber of class, dignity, and moral righteousness. In reality though, these elected lawmakers are really just regular human beings chosen to do an important job. They are no less likely to sin or misstep than the ordinary citizen, but inevitably a select few of them always do. When this happens, the media exploits the issue in every way possible, while the American public stands by waiting to absorb every minute detail. When something happens in a politician’s personal life, it is as if the political world comes to a screeching halt, or at least that’s what one would perceive by the way the media covers scandals and conflicts. For at least a week after a politician admits to having an affair, is accused of extortion, or even just makes a public scene, nothing else seems to make the news. More people can tell you about Congressman Joe Wilson’s outburst during the President’s address to Congress, than what the content of the actual address was. These kinds of episodes and the amount of attention they receive, exacerbate feelings of distrust in politicians.

The notion that politicians are “slimy” people is perpetuated by extensive coverage of political scandals, which in-turn repels a lot of people from participating in politics. Whether or not politicians as a whole are “slimy” is debatable, but the disproportionate amount of coverage of the select few who are in fact dishonorable or morally reprehensible, ruins the reputation for the thousands who are not. And even still for those politicians who do make mistakes in their personal lives, these discrepancies should not overshadow the real political issues. If a businessman cheats on his wife, it may ruin his personal life, but most likely would not affect his professional life. The standard is different for politicians. A political leader isn’t any less fit to carry out his or her elected responsibilities because of a personal transgression. That’s not to say that their actions shouldn’t be condemned, they just shouldn’t be publicly condemned for weeks to months on end. The more negative publicity politicians incur, the weaker their respective parties and the American political system as a whole will become.

Negative publicity is not exclusive in its weakening of the political system. Controversial publicity of topics that are not directly relevant to the political process are also disadvantageous to its reputation. A common phrase in the journalism world is, “if it bleeds, it leads”. In the case of political news it seems fair to say, “if it’s a juicy read, it leads”. Our fascination with the lives of extravagant political characters has made it easier for politicians to get press coverage for things unrelated to politics. This publicity allows them to make a name for themselves and helps them to break into the political arena, though they may be severely under-qualified. For example, Sarah Palin is still a media icon, though her recent participation in the political process after the 2008 election, has been of relatively no significance whatsoever to the country. The American news media continues to give her a political platform to be heard because the general public is still very fascinated by her personal life and intrigued by her celebrity. In fact, we hear more sound bites on the news from Palin as an ex-Vice Presidential candidate than we do from our actual Vice President, Joe Biden. As outrageous characters and scandalous behavior become increasingly synonymous with American politics, the public becomes ever more jaded in their perception of politicians and the credibility of the work they do.

Even seemingly harmless and occasionally positive publicity of politicians can prove to be a detriment to the American political image. This is especially pertinent when addressing the press coverage of females in the political realm. It is difficult enough for a woman to break into the political world, and when she does, the media seldom gives her any legitimate coverage for her policy work. The constant scrutiny or praise of female politicians’ appearances and fashion sense, belittles them to mere fashion icons, a challenge their male counterparts never face. In a field where authority comes from perceived power, women cannot afford to be denigrated to little more than a gender stereotype. News stories about Michelle Obama’s fashion sense or Hilary Clinton’s figure reduces our nation’s political system to a beauty pageant. Katie Heimer of the National Organization for Women said that female politicians are media magnets, often covered in a sexist way that undermines their credibility and trivializes their ability to provide strong, effective leadership (Katie Heimer, reclaimthemedia). If there were less focus on the gender and appearance of the person behind the politics, his or her efforts as a political leader would be taken more seriously on the national and international stage.

As we acknowledge the problem, its cause, and serious consequences, the current state of political reporting seems almost irreversible. Perhaps though, the long-term reality is not quite as bleak as it may seem. Could it be possible that the over-coverage of politicians and under-coverage of politics will prove to strengthen the American political system in the long run, not through a better understanding of the issues but through a closer sense of relation to the politicians? The continually evolving nature of the digital world will only continue to close the gap between people who otherwise would have no connection to one another. The advent of television, the internet, and now social networking sites have revolutionized the interaction between constituent and elected representative. One can only hope that as politicians become increasingly accessible to the public, the glamour and awe of their apparent celebrity status will diminish, allowing the political issues to take center stage.

Bibliography:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/02/arts/critic-s-notebook-when-tv-changed-american-politics.html

http://www.usatoday.com/money/advertising/2003-12-19-celeb_x.html

http://www.livescience.com/culture/090608-media-message.html

http://www.reclaimthemedia.org/media_literacy_bias/hillary_clinton_and_the_media_%3D5069

Prop 8: The Musical...Brilliant

"Prop 8 - The Musical" starring Jack Black, John C. Reilly, and many more... from Jack Black

Jumpstart your Career in Journalism: Become a Prostitute...Er... Hero?

FOX is having a field day... they've finally found their up and coming star investigative reporter. If I have to see one more interview on that station where one correspondent or another is telling Hannah Giles she is a hero and a true American, I think I might barf. Here my fellow classmates and I are at the Annenberg school for Communication, one of the best journalism schools in the country, working our butts off to complete a very academically rigorous program while also paying our dues through countless unpaid internships, when really all along there was a much easier way to go about this whole process...

Step One: Contact a "political activist" through facebook, tell him you want to legitimize your dreams of becoming a prostitute and put those old Halloween costumes to good use.

Step Two: Go jogging...get lost in an underprivileged neighborhood and while you're there think about a great way to make the life of that homeless woman you just ran past more miserable than it already is while simultaneously taking down one of those evil liberal grass-roots organizations...the good they've been doing lately must stop!

Step Three: Try out your sting. If they threaten to arrest you, just find another city whose branch has dumber employees...success!

Step Four: Give your investigative masterpiece to the most credible news organization you can think of, bonus points if they might also agree with your plan to single-handedly expose the liberals of America for who they really are...those grimy people-loving, kind-hearted, do gooders...

Step Five: Yayyy, mission accomplished, bask in your glory! Schedule regular appearances on the FOX network to receive praise and accolade from everyone. The world is a better place because of how easily you passed as a prostitute. You are a HERO and represent everything this country stands for.

If you got a good laugh out of this and are as frustrated as I am with the 24-hour news networks' affinity for sensationalizing stories without fact-checking them, then I encourage you to check out this Rachel Maddow clip as she attempts to straighten out some of the facts of the ACORN sting.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

OR if you were very upset by my post and are currently writing your own "thank you" letter to Hannah for righting the wrongs of the world, you might enjoy this fun interview of Hannah's partner in crime, or rather crime-fighting, the esteemed filmaker and pimp daddy extraordinaire, James O'Keefe...in one of several interviews FOX did with him in his pimp suit.

Am I the only one who thinks this interview seems like something straight from the Onion News Network?

Not a Good Week For FOX News

The 9/12 protest /Tea Party (whatever you want to call it) has been garnering as always a lot of media attention and public debate. The event itself fosters a whole slew of descriptive adjectives in my mind but that is not what this post it about...I wanted to bring your attention to the media feud that began as a result of several networks' coverage of this event...and wow it is not pretty.

So the play by play is this: FOX news takes out an ad in two newspapers Friday that falsely accuses its competitors of not covering the protests.

CNN then fires back with an ad that they are now currently running on their station with the tag line, "FOX news Distorting not Reporting" (See below)

And just to clear their name and point out the absurdity of the whole situation Rick Sanchez takes FOX to task for the ad in his show, pointing out that not only did CNN cover the event very thoroughly, but the image FOX used in the ad claiming CNN did not cover the event, was in fact stolen from CNN. Who at FOX approved that ad before it ran in the papers?!? (check out Rick Sanchez below).


Rick Sanchez sums up his point by saying that indeed CNN did cover the event but they did not promote the event like FOX did. And as if FOX was trying to back this claim up themselves, a video surfaced on the web that caught a FOX producer rallying the crowds behind their cameras. Look for the girl in the green on her phone make hand gestures to the crowd...

Many blogs and media analysts have been saying that this producer, Heidi Noonan, crossed a journalistic line by trying to alter the scene of the protest..well I'd have to agree.

In order to report unbiased news coverage, the journalist’s job is not to create the news but to simply document it. If the crowd was not that enthusiastic, then it should have been covered that way. Trying to alter the scene in a manner that portrays a different mood to the viewer than was actually the reality that day is not the job of the journalist. In fact, in my book that would be inaccurate reporting. This is the kind of thing that happens for tapings of live television reality shows and game shows when the producer tries to rile up the crowd right before they go back on air from a commercial break. If FOX wants to do this then they cannot call themselves a news organization…they might as well also hold up cue cards that say “applaud” and “louder”. Would it be any less appropriate for a producer to arrive at the scene of a shooting or murder and tell the onlookers that they needed to be crying more or appear more somber? It’s simply not appropriate for anyone involved in honest journalism to play the puppeteer of the news and try to create false emotions for the purpose of proving a point (especially a highly controversial political point), or to try and create more dramatic and compelling video

FOX you screwed up big time. CNN you're not great either so don't get too cocky.

Newsom Gets the Thumbs Up from Bill

I highly doubt anyone is currently following the early horse race of the 2010 California Gubernatorial race as closely as I am...

For those of you who are not, the only current democratic candidate for Governor is San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom who has been campaigning now for over a year. However, it's widely understood by everyone in the political and media world that current California Attorney General Jerry Brown will also be putting his name into the running sometime between now and the primaries. And although he has not yet declared his candidacy, Brown has been ahead of Newsom in every major poll and fundraising count to date.

Today's news is that Good ol' Bill Clinton decided to endorse Newsom...let the media speculation of his motives ensue.

This Wall Street Journal Blog does a pretty good job of laying out the most likely possibilities of why the ex-leader of the free country has decided to get involved in a state-level gubernatorial campaign in the early primary season. The San Francisco Chronicle is just one of many who seem to think that Clinton's early endorsement has little to do with Newsom and everything to do with Brown. After a heated 1992 presidential primary race in which Brown took some personal stabs at Clinton's wife, many media sources are thinking the endorsement is a result of some "residual bad blood"...or maybe Clinton really is just trying to "return a favor" after Newsom endorsed Hillary in the Presidential Primary.

In any case...I doubt Newsom's campaign cares. Bring on the Bill!

Al Gore and the future of Public Intellectuals like him...

When you hear the name Al Gore, you are more inclined to think of a man making power point presentations of polar bears on melting ice caps then of a politician sitting in legislative meetings. After two Vice Presidential terms and his own closely contested, historically controversial Presidential race, one could argue that Gore will be best remembered for bringing the issue of climate change to the people of America. His documentary film, An Inconvenient Truth, made the term “global warming” a household phrase. Though some still dispute the scientific legitimacy of climate change and the manner in which Gore presented the concept in his film, no one can argue that Gore ushered in an era of environmentalism by initiating the most serious environmental policy debate to date. As with any political issue, Gore’s social criticism of America’s lack of environmental concern roused strong support and strong opposition, but more importantly it initiated conversation...the kind of conversation most easily catalyzed by an effective public intellectual.

As Jean Bethke Elshtain and Stephen Mack both point out in their commentaries on the public intellectual, its purpose above all else is criticism. Gore’s environmental critique of society in An Inconvenient Truth painted a bleak picture in which figuratively no one’s hands were left unstained with the blood of careless actions.

Future generations may well have occasion to ask themselves, "What were our parents thinking? Why didn't they wake up when they had a chance?" We have to hear that question from them, now….And that is what is at stake, our ability to live on planet Earth, to have a future as a civilization. I believe this is a moral issue, it is your time to seize this issue, it is our time to rise again to secure our future.

This passionate call to arms may not have ignited a war or caused one to end, but it did start a movement that was arguably significant and powerful enough to have altered our course in history. Three years later, Gore has yet to give up. In his own blog, Al’s Journal, he posts almost daily with continued hopes of getting out his message of climate change to anyone who’s willing to hear it, and offering those who are listening advice on how to best affect the environmental political agenda. In a recent post, he even acknowledges the fact that “building a grass roots movement is difficult,” but also assures his readers that, “Our movement has been building towards this moment. Together we will not fail.”

Though it’s hard to gauge what Gore would consider a “failure” in the realm of climate change politics, one thing is certain…as long as he cares enough to make such promises, and as long as others care enough to either passionately agree or disagree with him, the future of the “public intellectual” will not fail.

To make the supposition that the “public intellectual” as a collective group is in its decline, in my mind also suggests that we as a society no longer value intelligent conversation. There are no doubt a billion negations to both of those assertions happening right now as you read this statement. The blogosphere as well as other new forms of digital media have opened up the floodgates for academics and minimum-wage earners alike to become a member of the public intellectual with just the click of a button. As one intellectual put it, “Our notions of the public intellectual need to focus less on who or what a public intellectual is—and by extension, the qualifications for getting and keeping the title. Instead, we need to be more concerned with the work public intellectuals must do, irrespective of who happens to be doing it.” (Stephen Mack, The “Decline” of Public Intellectuals?) In many ways the Internet is pushing this statement closer to a reality each day. If a popular blog begins to stir up political and social debate, does it matter if the author is Al Gore or a college student? In my book, if either of the two can start intelligent debate within the public, then either can be an effectual public intellectual.

Dear GOP: You are NOT holier than thou...

Today's news of Assemblyman Mike Duvall's (R-Yorba Linda) resignation after a tape of a sexually explicit conversation accidentally wound up in the hands of KCAL, is what we might call the last straw that broke the "socially conservative" camel's back.

Let us now think back to just this summer... Who remembers South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford and his mistress from Argentina? And don't forget Senator John Ensign's messy affair with a campaign staffer, and subsequent monetary compensation to her family.

Now I'm not saying that Democratic politicians don't sin. They do. The difference is they don't go campaign on a platform of moral righteousness and "conservative family values". The point I am trying to make is this: If you absolutely can not keep it in your pants then please...

A. Don't be a hypocrite! Don't tell your constituents that you're going to return them to "traditional" family values if you are planning on cheating on your wife multiple times/running away to another country to have a secret love affair/pay off your scorned lover's husband and son and try to bury the evidence.

B. Don't Incriminate Yourself! If you are cheating on your wife with two other women, for the love of God do not brag about it during a legislative hearing while there may or may not be a microphone on in front of you. Also if you are cheating on your wife, don't write your mistress's husband a letter telling him you are in love with his wife. Stop creating evidence for the news media to have a field day with when they find it (and they will find it).

A Big Week for Campaign Finance Reform

Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission...sounds like just another bureaucratic supreme court hearing right? Wrong. The outcome of this case, which opens up for discussion tomorrow (Wednesday), could drastically alter the American electoral system as we know it. And that's not all, many media sources like the LA Times are crying out that this ruling could change the American Republic as we know it, "turning us from a government of 'we the people' to 'we the corporations'." So why all the big fuss?

In its second supreme court hearing this year, Citizens United, a conservative non-profit advocacy group, is once again challenging the congress's ability to regulate corporate campaign expenditures. Meaning that large corporations with millions and billions of dollars to throw away, can toss that cash over to any electoral party, candidate, or cause they so choose and the FEC will NOT be able to regulate said donation. When you step back and think about what kind of impact a change to the electoral system like this could make, you start to think more LA Times big picture American democratic process change.

If you're wondering what the meat and potatoes of this exact hearing will be, well it all boils down to a movie. A very politically bias and potentially influential movie that is, produced by non-other than the Citizens United. It's called "Hillary: The Movie". The movie was a source of great debate, and was never actually allowed to be aired during the 2008 presidential primary. Citizens United is arguing that it was free speech, but the FEC ruled that during a campaign, it fell under their regulatory guidelines of spending caps. But Hillary lost right? So in essence that's all that they would have accomplished had the FEC not shot down their movie? It's not like it was called "Hillary AND Obama: The Movie". Retrospectively Citizens United can't complain that their movie could have altered the election results any differently than they turned out on their own.

So why all the Supreme Court fuss? Well like usual in the supreme court, it's a tiny issue being debated with much larger stakes at hand. As the Wall Street Journal article says, "the case has far broader implications". So basically the court will need to decide if they want to stand by previous rulings that permit the FEC to regulate corporate campaign spending or do they want to overturn those rulings and let all the big guys come put their grimy hands in the electoral pot with the rest of us individual citizens. Forget your newly found sense of political efficacy, that five dollar donation you made to your candidate online won't mean diddly-squat when Exxon Mobile is tossing in a million times that donation to the other candidate...Haven't we learned anything about big corporations in the last few months? They aren't too great at controlling their spending habits.

As a side note, this will be Judge Sonia Sotomayor's first big hearing. No pressure Sonia...

Guns in Colleges....Are You Kidding Me?

Every once in a while a broadcast news package will come along that reminds me how powerful journalism can be with the right topic, right journalist and a carefully crafted story. This story by 60 Minutes, Gun Sales: "Will the "Loophole" Close?, is definitely one of those stories. If you haven't watched it, I highly recommend taking the few minutes out of your life to do so, especially if you were intrigued by the topic of this post and inclined to disagree with my position.

It's no secret that the issue of gun control is definitively controversial...even in my household (my Dad and I argue often), and it's surely as equally clear which side of the line my beliefs lie on, based upon the name of this blog. In any case, I just wanted to address one aspect of the news story that especially caught my attention: concealed weapons on college campuses. For anyone who is in favor of this concept I have but one thing to say to you: Have you ever been to college? The idea of allowing college students to carry guns in my mind is akin to the sentiment of holding an AA meeting that serves alcohol. It's not because I believe college students are untrustworthy; I personally feel that my friends and I are a whole lot more trustworthy than the rest of the adult world. I simply believe that the nature of college life is not adequate for such a freedom. In other words it's not the people, it's the circumstances they're in.

I attend a very prestigious university, full of highly intellectual young adults who will in a few years time no doubt be the next business leaders, politicians, doctors, and lawyers of our society. But for now I'd like to think of us as one of those temporarily unstable atoms missing a proton or electron, just waiting to combust should the factors of its current surroundings alter whatsoever. Please forgive my very crude scientific analogy, it's been a few years since I've taken a science class but I think something like that exists. In any case, WE as college students ARE that highly combustible, slightly unstable molecule just waiting to explode...add in a hard week at school, a little bit of alcohol, and a gun? Yes, you get the point.

Everyone knows about the Virginia Tech massacre, University of Texas shootings, and the other historically devastating situations that have occurred on college campuses as a result of handguns and assault weapons falling into the wrong hands, but if college students were strolling around with guns all the time, surely their use wouldn't be limited to classrooms.

I could make argument after argument for nation-wide gun control and stricter gun laws, but I think if you watch the 60 minutes video, you will get the gist of my concerns. I just want everyone to step back and think about a series of children's books I used to love as a kid, called things like If you give a Mouse a Cookie and If you give a Moose a Muffin....Well I'm thinking of one called, If you give a College Student a Gun... I have a feeling there isn't such a happy ending to this one.