Friday, January 30, 2004
Yesterday SPJ had a guest speaker: Scott Sonner, the Associated Press correspondent for northern Nevada. He said his two favorite subjects were sports and politics, and that they were very much alike. It takes the same skills to cover coaches and to cover politicians. Casey's post fits right along with that theme...
And, in another attempt to see the connection, what do you think of CBS refusing to air Moveon.org's winning political ad during Sunday's Super Bowl? It is within their legal rights to refuse, but is it ethical? Does it serve the public interest? Why is it OK for them to treat the audience as consumers but not citizens? The Boston Globe wrote an editorial yesterday urging CBS to reconsider; Adweek ran an article with the CBS response.
Move.org had an editorial opinion piece in today's Los Angeles Times laying out their argument. Thousands of people have written to CBS protesting the decision, Congressmen are making speeches, and Moveon.org is suggesting one-minute half-time boycotts of CBS so interested viewers can see the ad on CNN. I showed the ad in dispute to my ethics class and they didn't feel it was very "controversial." Does the fact that people who disagree with CBS's policy can organize so many opponents online mean the network will lose its power to make these kinds of decisions?
And, in another attempt to see the connection, what do you think of CBS refusing to air Moveon.org's winning political ad during Sunday's Super Bowl? It is within their legal rights to refuse, but is it ethical? Does it serve the public interest? Why is it OK for them to treat the audience as consumers but not citizens? The Boston Globe wrote an editorial yesterday urging CBS to reconsider; Adweek ran an article with the CBS response.
Move.org had an editorial opinion piece in today's Los Angeles Times laying out their argument. Thousands of people have written to CBS protesting the decision, Congressmen are making speeches, and Moveon.org is suggesting one-minute half-time boycotts of CBS so interested viewers can see the ad on CNN. I showed the ad in dispute to my ethics class and they didn't feel it was very "controversial." Does the fact that people who disagree with CBS's policy can organize so many opponents online mean the network will lose its power to make these kinds of decisions?
Tuesday, January 27, 2004
The Online Journalism Review has had several excellent stories on political bloggers. In one story, (New Hampshire is this veteran political blogger's primary concern) blogger Joshua Micah Marshall solicited funds from readers of his blog (Talking Points Memo) to send him to New Hampshire to cover the last 10 days of the primary. Within 24 hours, 190 readers sent in $4,800 to send the freelance writer to visit New Hampshire and send reports that readers couldn't get in traditional media.
