More stuff you should be reading instead of this lousy blog…

• Dr. Andrew Cline writes the Press-Politics Journal, which I find to be an wealthy source of stimulating thought on the nature of the press. Today’s article, Disturbing news… notes the structural biases that prevent journalists from calling bull when a newsmaker slings it. The impotency of news anchors and reporters is something I’ve fumed about privately and publicly for years. Why isn’t there a more critical (in the sense of critiquing, not denigrating) tone taken by the press? Cline’s writings illuminate the systemic impediments to good journalism. Understanding his point of view has helped me, among other things, better filter the mainstream press, better understand the rise of bloggers, and better organize my thoughts about the current state of the press.
• More stuff about Iraqi prison abuses at Hullabaloo. Lord knows I don’t want to hear any more about this stuff; it makes me sick to my stomach. But I wonder why it’s dropped off the radar screens of the major press? I feel like echoing Jon Stewart’s oft-repeated question, “Isn’t this imporant? Shouldn’t this be a major scandal?”
• Sid the Fish has a nice post about the L-Word smear.
• Slashdot reminded us of an amusing piece of futurism from a couple of years ago. Paul Ford’s August 2009: How Google beat Amazon and Ebay to the Semantic Web is an attempt to describe the features and benefits of a new type of Web, one that helps computers to make sense of English. It’d be cool if it happened.
• Goodbye, Jack Valenti, and good riddance. As Valenti steps down from his post as head of the MPAA, let’s recall that if he’d had his way, your VCR would only be able to play $80 studio-released tapes, the MPAA would get final cut on all movie releases, and fair use would be a thing of the past. Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Jack.
• Bizarre. The online video of the Induce hearings has been edited. Don’t know why, but we’ll watch the blogosphere to find out. (via Boing Boing)
• Team America, World Police is coming in October. The new offering from South Park creators looks to be a hoot . Offensive, irreverent, adolescent – just my kind of movie!

More stuff you should be reading instead of watching the Sunday talking heads.

• Via Boing Boing, artist Hugh MacLeod writes some pretty potent stuff on the topic of How to Be Creative. A lot of this is stuff I’ve thought about and talked about for years, but Hugh collects it and puts it in simple, direct, and powerful terms. A good read for any creative (or non-creative) person. (I’m especially thinking of a particular jazz-inspired original music artist I know.)
• News Hounds has an interesting take on the media’s self-flagellation over their convention coverage. Eleanor speculates that they’ll use that to justify more, and therefore uneven coverage of the Republican Convention. It’ll be interesting to see whether that prediction comes true.
• A related bit of speculation I’m turning over in my mind: if networks refuse to broadcast the convention because they claim ratings are low or the public isn’t interested, how else do they tailor the news to fit what they think we’ll be interested in? Shouldn’t news outlets at least claim to be free of public influence in deciding what to broadcast or print? Aren’t they supposed to be searching for the truth, telling us what’s important, what to pay attention to? Rather, Koppel, Jennings, Woodruff, Lehrer, et al… they’re supposed to be our leaders when it comes to watching and understanding politics. The Times has an article that turns over some of these questions and others. Though I think Alessandra Stanley’s lament for a network news anchor to be our pilot is a bit much, she does a nice job of surveying What We Missed In Boston.
• And more media analysis from perpetual media head-banger Brad DeLong.
• Why does anyone trust Microsoft? The company has brought out a new search engine intended to compete with Google, but amazingly, it gives preferential treatment to stories appearing on MSNBC, a Microsoft affiliate. So, you’re not getting more-or-less neutral search results, you’re getting pretty blatantly rigged search results. (via Slashdot)