Media
clock | April 7, 2008ConvergeSouth 2008 is ready to roll:
The Web site is online and registration is open: http://2008.convergesouth.com/
We're calling for presentations - see the schedule and apply to present.
There's a brand-new Video Walking Tour on Thursday, October 16, with Robert Scoble and Tom Lassiter leading two groups around Greensboro.
Lots more new stuff is happening. Keep up with ConvergeSouth on the blog: http://2008.convergesouth.com/blog/
See you in October!
clock | April 6, 2008All humans, at some point in their lives, go ahead and die. Ages and causes of death vary widely.
Bloggers are humans.
All bloggers, at some point in their lives, go ahead and die. Ages and causes of death vary widely.
But, if you are a journalist with a dry spell in your inspiration, and if you feel threatened by bloggers, and if you already used all the cliches about bloggers being unruly, unwashed, untrustworthy Martians who lie (and point at Powerline, Instapundit or Little Green Footballs as if they were examples of the best of blogging, instead of the cesspools of racist, mysogynist…
clock | March 24, 2008My favourite newspaper has been publishing for a year now. . Robert Dickson and Kirk Ross mark the anniversary. Newspaper is not dead.
revere | March 22, 2008If you live in the US you know that the Fox News Network prides itself on being the Voice of the Fatherland, connotation intended. Fox and its sleazy news anchors are not only doggedly pro-Bush but doggedly Far Right and poorly concealed racists and nativists. I don't watch it (I take my daily shower before watching TV, so it would be inefficient), but I see clips and often think to myself, "How can these people live with themselves?" Have they no self-respect, no shame? Fox news anchor Chris Wallace, at least, has answered that for us. He, at least, does have his limits and a sense of shame…
revere | March 20, 2008I rarely report about suspected bird flu cases here, preferring to wait a couple of days to let things sort out. In the early years of this blog I did report about them in the course of time, experience and some reflection we have come to our present position. Besides, it's not necessary. There are plenty of reputable, reliable and thorough places in flublogia to get up to the minute news. Given all that, it isn't surprising we didn't say anything here about a couple of suspect imported cases in Toronto. In fact, like crof, I hadn't heard about them. Now, thanks the the denials streaming out…
clock | March 19, 2008Should we have a third culture?:
The present problems with science communication are not only a result of mediocre writing skills or the diminished view of popularization the some scientists take. The public, aptly described as "consumers," have not developed much of a taste for science. As important as science has become, for many people it concerns itself with questions that won't pay their bills or put food on the table, and therefore requires little attention. If it's not interesting, why take an interest in it? Such a view is absolutely dismal, but many people have a somewhat narrowed…
clock | March 16, 2008Will one man's tryst mean a $200-billion heist will go unreported?
Reading Habits of the Liberal Media (via Melissa).
Getting the Politics of the Press Right: Walter Pincus Rips into Newsroom Neutrality
High-level right-wing discourse
Immigration irrationality
What's Wrong With This Broadcast: NPR Edition
America will not rest until Obama says Jesus had blue eyes
Feds shift strategy in bid to snare Spitzer: Campaign finance
Your Funny for Today
The Press Has Always Been Sycophantic...
The Fake Science News: Eisen Resigns in Disgrace Over Scandal
clock | March 13, 2008He was here last Tuesday for filming of a scientific documentary for PBS:
He was doing important work on an upcoming PBS special "The Human Spark", a three-part documentary about what makes us human, due to air next year.
Alda, who also met with researchers at Duke University on Monday, started filming last week and said he will tape additional segments in France, England and South Africa, as well as in the Pacific Northwest. Duke primatologist Brian Hare suggested the NC Zoo as a shooting location, zoo spokesman Rod Hackney said.
clock | March 13, 2008David Neiwert:
But I also noticed this line:
"Unlike traditional, mainstream media, blogs often adopt a specific point of view. Critics complain they can contain unchecked facts, are poorly edited and use unreliable sources."
And this distinguishes them from the mainstream press exactly ... how?
Athenae:
What critics? We do not know. The reporter doesn't tell us. Apparently it's one of those things, like "the sky is blue" and "Democrats are weak on national security" that is so obvious we don't need to cite a source of any kind to just blurt it out there and attribute it to "critics." And…
pharyngula | March 12, 2008In early February, a number of bloggers brought to your attention a peculiar paper on mitochondrial proteomics, a paper which was obviously odd on even casual inspection, containing grandiose claims of a theoretical revolution that were entirely unsupported and ludicrous assertions of evidence for God in the genome. Deeper examination revealed that much of the paper had also been plagiarized from various sources. To the credit of the journal, the paper was quickly retracted one month ago today; however, the retraction was entirely based on the plagiarism, and none of the other failings of the…
clock | March 9, 2008Glenn Greenwald: Tucker Carlson unintentionally reveals the role of the American press (the 424 comments are also worth at least skimming through).
Jay Rosen: An Attractively Against-the-Grain Enterprise...
Rachel Sklar: WaPo Writer Proves Own Thesis With Inane Op-Ed (follow ALL the links in the article as well).
pharyngula | March 9, 2008A reader brought to my attention this outrageously dishonest mangling of a quote by that creationist, Casey Luskin. He writes:
In January, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences weighed in on this debate, declaring that "[t]here is no scientific controversy about the basic facts of evolution,"1 because neo-Darwinism is "so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter"2 it. As an undergraduate and graduate student taking multiple courses covering evolutionary biology at the University of California San Diego, that is what I was told as well. My science courses rarely, if ever,…
clock | March 6, 2008Regular readers must be familiar by now with the ZooSchool in Asheboro, NC. Today's news from the school - their students have put up the first issue of their online newspaper, the ZSX-Press. Go check it out!
In related news, and also at the Asheboro Zoo and related to education, The NC Zoo and NC Zoo Society will be hosting the No Child Left Inside Conference Thursday (today), March 6th, which will be held in the MPR [multi-purpose room] of the Stedman Education Building. I wish I could go. Perhaps someone there will write about it and post something online.
pharyngula | March 4, 2008Good morning, anti-censorship intellectuals! Remember that story from January about Abunga Books, the online bookstore whose sole unique feature is that it claims to "empower decency" by enabling prudes to vote to censor their offerings? Now it has made ABC News. It's amazing how much press this thing has received — I'm beginning to suspect there is some marketing genius behind the store who knows how to whip up a media frenzy.
They've got a couple of quotes from me and from the founder of Abunga, Lee Martin.
"Anything that irritates the right, they want off," Myers told ABCNEWS.com "They…
clock | March 2, 2008The proposal for link journalism is not a new concept, though the phrase is good. This is something that bloggers have been doing for years and have been imploring the corporate media to adopt for years. On paper, you can provide references in the footnotes or endnotes, or you can mention "unnamed sources", but in the age of the Web, it is sheer blindness not to use links - nobody will trust you if they cannot click and instantly verify your statements. Remember - no links, no reputation.
clock | March 2, 2008Sue announces that the website will be up in two weeks, and the blog is already up and running. You can help with organization. In any case, mark you calendars:
ConvergeSouth 2008 will be held on October 16-17, 2008 in Greensboro, North Carolina. BlogHer will be held on October 18.
signout | February 26, 2008Hey, look! A new book about residency. Man, my thing is so five minutes ago.
Would anyone like to venture a guess at the reason so many doctors-cum-journalists are men of Indian origin? I'll bet the Jews had something to do with this.
I've read the first chapter (which you can link to from the above article) and several of the authors' other pieces. They read well, and ring true. Go see.
clock | February 22, 2008Chez describes how and why CNN fired him for blogging and then piles on!
Spread the word. The old media needs to learn to respect the people formerly known as audience.
clock | February 19, 2008Sue and Ed are starting to plan the fourth ConvergeSouth and are asking the community to help with the planning.
clock | February 19, 2008Congratulations to Josh Marshall for winning the George Polk Award!
(Hat-tip)