PressEthic

The number of Americans who publish a book will outnumber those who read one (per year) in 2052, an American print-on-demand books supplier forecasted. Anyone surprised? I guess not.

In my last blog, I expressed some grievances about the contentious Clinton interview on Fox News. After thinking about this for a few days, and weighing the opinions of a multitude of sage pundits, I realize that my grievances were pretty damn green. Of course, in an ideal world, it would have been great to get the straight news on the Clinton Global Initiative. But perhaps that just isn't the nature of the beast. It's election season, he's the ex-president, Fox News is very political - what else could we reasonably expect to happen? Of course they were going to try to shake things up a bit.

News channels are known to take the broken record-approach to intriguing footage. If a shot works, it is shown until it is permanently ingrained in the memories of the TV-watching public and another story takes over with its own, respectively broken record. The most graphic example of the relentless repetition of footage perhaps occurred shortly after September 11. Not surprisingly, many began to eventually complain about having to watch the towers crumple every time they turned on the evening news.

I most recently grew annoyed at the exhaustive use of a single ten-second clip after watching coverage of Bill Clinton’s Fox News interview. Because I did not happen to catch the original airing of the interview, my only clear recollection of the taping is a brief segment I have seen on various news channels and could recite from memory by now:

America was able to see what was going on through the eyes of "embedded journalists" who traveled with the troops and reported from the battlefields. My question is where are they now? If what they did was so captivating and necessary why don't we hear more about them now. Is it because Iraq is now free or is it because America has already achieved its purpose in having them there?

According to the Boston Globe, bloggers' book sales have been dropping, but publishers continue to pay six figures for works that are often no more than recaps of the blog.

By definition, a licensing fee is a fee paid to the government for the privilege of being licensed to do something (such as sell liquor or practice medicine). But a fee to be mentioned in the news?

A column in the Washington Post today entitled "Captains of Industry, Masters of Cheating" discusses survey results published in the Academy of Management Learning & Education. The results indicate that graduate students in MBA programs cheat more than graduate students in all other disciplines. Is this because the cheaters are drawn to the business world, or that the business culture creates cheaters?

Corynne Steinler, one of the New York Post’s Page Six newest contributors and former Jossip.com blogger, has turned herself in to a bit of juicy gossip. Radar magazine reported today that Steinler’s plans for a going away party thrown by the Thompson Hotel bar to mark the end of her time at Jossip were thwarted by editors who have grown increasingly sensitive to the codes of journalism ethics in the wake of its own scandal.

ABC News reports on global warming accurately but without the inclusion of opposing views that would deter much criticism of bias on an issue that intrinsically spawns conservative refutation.

Who do you believe?

In an effort to demarcate between news and opinion, The New York Times has adopted new labels for pieces that are opinion. In last Sunday’s Op-Ed Page, Public Editor Byron Calame explains the change and expounds on the fine line.

For reporters on the Silicon Valley tech beat, fair and balanced reporting on Hewlett Packard may be next to impossible.

Readers comment on articles in the online editions of papers, send letters to the editors, read blogs and respond to them. But if there is a general trend toward the “average joe” not reading or watching news, will the really take the time to report on it?

Religion is not a new context for the struggle to differentiate hate speech from artistic expression, but have the boundaries changed?

If you type marijuana into YouTube, 2732 results come up. Wading through home videos such as “Cooking with marijuana”, “Marijuana Truths”, and “Start to smoke marijuana”, you will also come across films from the U.S. government’s National Youth Anti-Drug Media Campaign.