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GRITtv: The F Word: Pledge to Save Journalism
It's pledge time at many noncommercial, listener and viewer-supported television and radio stations and you may already be feeling irritated by the persistent pleading from your favorite public radio or TV host. But before you switch the dial, before you touch that remote, remember. All that guff you're hearing about the importance of public service reporting that's insulated from the influence of corporate advertisers? It's not guff -- as ABC TV affiliates in five southeast states have just found out. Advertisers punish and Toyota apparently did just that, by pulling advertising off scores of affiliates of ABC TV "as punishment" for ABC News reporting on Toyota's sticky pedals. Now Toyota is expected to add the 2010 Prius to its list of recalled vehicles. Will ABC News continue reporting? Probably. But will cash strapped local affiliates continue to run those stories? I wonder. While we find out, have you paid your pledge? -- Laura Flanders
Email this pageGRITtv: Feb. 9, 2010
The blame has been flying -- it's Obama's fault, Rahm Emanuel's, Harry Reid's -- but what if the problem simply is the Senate? We ask the New Yorker's Hendrik Hertzberg, Lawrence Lessig and Nancy Scola of the Personal Democracy Forum. Lisa Graves is the publisher of SourceWatch.org, which writes the history of the people, companies and front groups trying to shape public policy. She weighs in on the recent Citizens United decision. Joe Sacco discusses his work and why he chooses the medium he does to tell these riveting stories. We talk a lot about the future of news and newspapers around here, but what about the paper that the news is printed on? A video from Inform Inc, directed by Virginia Ramsey, Brian Ohl, and Eleanor Saunders, looks at paper, recycling, and its impact on the environment. And another from our friends at Street Films looks at the changes to Times Square. Finally, Laura points out the need for public, non-ad-supported media.
