Saturday Video Roundup: edufication in the America

Howdy, folks, and welcome to Saturday Video Roundup, where today our guests tackle the tricky issue of education and politics. Up first, one of our heroes offers some thoughts on education in our ownership society.

The future of news: rational business decisions

Begin writing the long-term obituary of the American newspaper — at least for the newspaper envisioned by the Founders as a public service and a significant component of the checks and balances that once allowed American democracy to function properly and purposefully.
You think know the now-familiar story: Advertising revenues are down. Circulation’s declining. Corporate ownership [...]

Democracy Death Match results: Limbaugh & Clear Channel defeat Fairness & Public Interest

Once upon a time in America there was a thing called the “public interest.” The airwaves were a publicly owned resource, and broadcasters profiting from their use were obliged to serve “the public interest, convenience and necessity.” These principles were codified in 1927 and 1934 legislation and were accepted (if not universally loved) for decades. [...]

Mickey Mouse will have his revenge on Tehran

So the Senate caved into Boltin‘ Joe Lieberman’s request to attack Iran at will with a bipartisan vote of 76-22. Oh, I know, it’s non-binding and not an actual declaration of war, and they amended some of the language. But you should know how these things go by now. This has given [...]

Bush guarantees Obama fundraising increase with sloppy hit pieces

Just as the condemnation of MoveOn.org’s “General Betrayus” ad ensured a spike in the organization’s funding and donations, George Bush seems set to do the same for Barack Obama’s campaign, thanks to some hysterically funny slamming of Obama’s intellect and ability in today’s Examiner :
As for Obama, a senior White House official said the freshman [...]

Finally, a welcome extinction - TimesSelect

As of September 19, the New York Times’ subscription service for so-called premium content has been shut down, opening up free access to the NYTimes’ opinion and news commentators, online-only exclusives, and access to the archives back to 1987, content that had been subscription only since 2005. And the reason that the NYTimes is [...]

Jena get ready…there’s a media train coming…

A rally in Chicago Saturday, September 15, set the stage for a major media event in Jena, LA,on Thursday, September 20. Both Rev. Jesse Jackson and Rev. Al Sharpton have pledged that a demonstration against the treatment of the group now known as “The Jena 6″ will go forward in spite [...]

9/11’s non-legacy: Americans are as inattentive as ever

“A plane just hit the World Trade Center,” announced an alarmed account executive when she arrived at our mutual place of employment. Probably no big deal, I thought. Didn’t a plane once also strike the Empire State Building?
I later learned that when an unarmed B-25 bomber crashed into it in 1945, 14 were killed. (Funny [...]

American papers skewing conservative; Trib writer says yup, it’s good business

There’s an interesting new report out from Media Matters showing that American newspapers run far more conservative syndicated columnists than they do progressives. Some findings:

Sixty percent of the nation’s daily newspapers print more conservative syndicated columnists every week than progressive syndicated columnists. Only 20 percent run more progressives than conservatives, while the remaining 20 [...]

On keeping one’s head in time of crisis

On the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, I became one of only a handful of the 150-plus professors at my university who did not cancel their morning classes. I did not for two reasons.
First, students needed the familiarity of routine in which to find some measure of comfort and counsel. They needed to be seen [...]

Ad revenues at newspapers: More bad news

Conditions at American newspapers are going to worsen, and there’s a billion reasons why.
Because of incompetent or inept or unimaginative top management scared silly by Wall Street profit expectations, you can hardly recognize newspapers any more.
Newspapers have physically shrunk. They’re narrower and not as deep. That means less space for news despite protestations to the [...]

Who will provide answers to the most basic of questions?

As an inquisitive person trying to survive life relatively unscathed and to leave the world at least a little better off for my presence, I need answers to two fundamental questions:
How does the world work?
Why does it work that way?
We all struggle, I suppose, with the really big question: What is the meaning of life? [...]

Scroguely Works: Five Moral Pieces

Five Moral Pieces by Umberto Eco, first published 2001, 128 pages, ISBN 978-0156013253
“The modern world looks at war through eyes different from those with which it looked at the problem early in the twentieth century, and if someone were to talk today of the beauty of war as the only form of world hygiene, he [...]

News that matters, and other stuff

x-post: JAZZ from HELL

The inaugural Scholars and Rogues Interview (and our newest Scrogue): Graham Parker

The mid-1970s were a wonderful time for music lovers. For starters, exciting and innovative new music was popping up all over the place. And when it did, it actually got played on the radio.
The UK was especially fertile ground during this period, as scores of punk and New Wave acts emerged (many from the “pub [...]