murdoch
GRITtv: The F Word: Demonizing Taxes, Heightening Inequality
Today is Tax Day in the US, and that's almost universally greeted with groans and complaints. That tax word's been so effectively demonized that it may be there's no coming back. Is it time for a new word? Some research by Duke University's Dan Ariely suggests it might be. Distributed by Tubemogul.
Email this pageGRITtv: The F Word: Real News Pales Next to Palin
Palin Palin all the time, and never a peep of complaint. That's the long and short of the news cycle these past few days, but there are just a few stories on which I'd like to see some follow up. Take the one about Peter W. Galbraith, a former UN ambassador who advocated tirelessly for Kurdish independence through scores of op-ed pieces for the New York Times and other outlets, while never disclosing to readers -- or apparently, to editors -- that he stood to benefit, financially, from Kurdish independence. Now it turns out he had ties to a Norwegian oil company that scored an enormous stake in at least one of Kurdistan's oil fields -- a stake made possible by independence -- and worth something like $100 million to Galbraith. Or how about the story about Afghanistan, heroin and the CIA. Ahmed Wali Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president, apparently gets regular payments from the CIA and has for much of the past eight years. The story that hung around for a day or two, then poof. It's disappeared. We participated ourselves, so no one's innocent, but think you can leave reporting to fend for itself? You can't.
GRITtv: The F Word: Olbermann Says There's No Deal
Keith Olbermann wrote to me apropos my F Word on Monday. Following news of a corporation-brokered truce between MSNBC and FOX, I'd written that while the two networks pose as divided - and play up social divides for ratings - they actually stand united when it comes to corporate profits. According to a New York Times report, General Electric, which owns MSNBC, reined in their host Keith Olbermann as part of a deal to call off Bill O'Reilly's questioning of GE's business. A notable example of corporate interests trumping ratings - several commentators thought - myself included. But Olbermann, while he doesn't deny there was a peacemaking summit of CEOs -- wrote to me Tuesday that there never was/is/nor shall be any deal. And on his first appearance after the Times story ran, he went after the Times and Bill O And Rupert Murdoch - CEO of Fox's corporate parent, News Corp.
GRITtv: F Word: Corporate Unity at MSNBC and Fox?
There are days when one's reminded why one works in independent media. August 1st was one of those days, when the New York Times ran a front page media story that might as well have been headlined: GE and Fox Hush Hosts For Profits. The on-air feud was good for ratings. It wasn't even bad journalism, for these kind of programs. The feud wasn't bad for ratings, but it was perceived as a potential threat to other corporate interests. It's hard to fund and it's tempting to think there must be a better way. Wouldn't it be easier if some corporation paid the bills? Not exactly.
