PressEthic

It came as a shock when Walid Hassan, an actor on the popular Iraqi comedy television show “Caricature”, was shot to death. “Caricature” was described in the Washington Post as (“Iraq's version of "Saturday Night Live.") Hassan’s death may have a very negative impact on the local media, as more reporters fear the consequences of honest reporting and shy away from the job – or produce tainted copy. Without a free press, Iraq has only as slim chance of setting up a free democracy.

Media watchers are all aflutter with the news that Google and Yahoo have agreed to revenue-sharing deals with newspapers. It is interpreted as a sign that, although newspapers have been slow to meld with the internet, they are not completely irrelevant.

Religion is imbued in society. Faith is a factor in presidential elections. School prayer divides communities, religious leaders fight for their symbols to adorn public buildings during holidays, and it influences Biology courses in high schools.

We've all spent time browsing sites such as Wikipedia for information. However, how reliable and accurate are user-based systems of information on the Internet? How trusting or skeptical should we be?

Following the refusal of many FOX affiliates to air the television interview with O.J. Simpson, publishers have canceled the publication of the book that sparked the controversy.

Jamey Singleton was fired for breaking his station's moral clause in his contract after a friend posted the meteorologist's nude photo on the site.

New Media Ownership Laws in Australia

Katie Couric mentioned in her blog that she was "nursing a cup of French vanilla Dunkin' Donuts coffee. And munchkins." As a result, the donut-chain sent over about 10 boxes of Munchkins and five large boxes of coffee for the "Evening News" staff, which were happily consumed. For those strict journalism ethics people, is this crossing the line? If not, how many Munchkins would it take?

In era when newspapers are rapidly losing their readers and advertisers to online news sites, a new deal with Yahoo may be the answer to their prayers.

O.J. Simpson may have killed two people, but at least he is bringing us all together, joked VH 1’s faux news commentary show, ‘Best Week Ever’ on Friday.

Once again, so-called “fake news” are telling us exactly how it is. The obviously appalling decision by Fox TV to broadcast an interview with O.J. Simpson about his latest publicity stunt, a book titled “If I did it,” has finally helped big players of competing networks to agree on something.

“The people behind this project ARE guilty of being shameless...and just plain disgusting,” said Katie Couric on Wednesday.

Couric’s opposition should not come as a shock. The fact that Bill O’Reilly is speaking against the Fox Corporation is, however, something to note. O’Reilly announced that he would boycott the book and called Fox’s program “a low point in American culture,” Maria Aspan of the New York Times reported today.

At the same time Senior Brian Stelter juggles papers and projects for his Mass Communication classes, he takes phone calls from media executives at NBC, CNN and the like, while blogging about it at TVNewser. Barely able to drink, the Towson University student created a maelstrom from a blog packed with insider information on the television news industry.

Despite a slew of negative reactions to the controversial hit comedy "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan," a Kazakh paper has gone so far as to call the movie the film of the year.

On The Daily Show, Ted Koppel hints at an understanding of Iran that belies the state-spun narrative of good and evil.

Martha McCallum's post-election coverage was right on message -- that is, the message dictated in an 8 November memo outlining how to spin the election results, which was issued by Fox's VP of News.

The legacy of damage done by Agent Orange in Vietnam, both to American veterans and today's population of Vietnamese, gets scant attention in the media. However, in the weeks leading up to President Bush's visit, a handful of stories have been aired.