Media

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"...[P]odcasting will become another well-honed, partisan political tool that will allow right-wing think tanks and Christian conservative advocacy groups to further denominate the political debate," according to a spokesperson for right-wing networking site Townhall.com, as quoted by Berkowitz. Learn about podcasting and its potential.

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This is an assembled series of key blog postings about the Triangle of netroots (grassroots activists operating in Internet space), the media, and the political establishment. "...[W]ithout the participation of the media and the political establishment, the netroots alone cannot generate the critical mass necessary to alter or create conventional wisdom....This, then, is the reality: progressive bloggers and online activists - positioned on the front lines of a cold civil war - face a thankless and daunting task: battle the Bush administration and its legions of online and offline apologists, battle the so-called “liberal” media and its tireless weaving of pro-GOP narratives, battle the ineffectual Democratic leadership, and battle the demoralization and frustration that comes with a long, steep uphill struggle...[T]he traditional media, the trusted media, the "neutral" media, have become the chief delivery mechanism of potent anti-Democratic and pro-Bush storylines.

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The Sunday morning talk shows are where policy makers state their case, the conventional wisdom takes shape, and the left and right in American politics are thought to debate the pressing issues of the day on equal ground. Media Matters for America analyzed ABC’s This Week, CBS’s Face the Nation, and NBC’s Meet the Press shows between 1997 and 2005, and found that conservative voices significantly outnumber progressive voices. From 2001 onward, the imbalance in ideologically-identifiable guests became more pronounced, with 58% Republican/conservative to 42% Democratic/progressive. Links

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Excerpt: "Put your expertise to good use. Scour the newspapers and television for people who habitually report on issues that you are interested in. Begin to feed them information, on a piecemeal basis, through calls and letters. Be selective. Carefully cull information that they can immediately recognize as allowing them to write better stories on these themes – more hard-hitting, insightful, controversial. Be very certain of your facts (remember, this is a confidence-building exercise) and document them with care. And (this is very important) don’t be concerned at this stage about getting credit.

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A companion piece to Andrew Blau's "The Future of Independent Media." "We interviewed an array of remarkable people in a wide variety of fields who could give insight into what may happen to the independent media landscape in the next 10 years....Over the course of the interviews, we saw a consistent preoccupation with five major areas that are ripe for big change. The first is technology, including both the digital tools for creating media and the infrastructure for delivering it. The second is the broader media world itself—what’s happening in the commercial sector and with the creation of new forms of media.

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A fascinating, in-depth analysis of the forces that are changing the patterns of media communication in the modern world, with implications for political and cultural debate. The author's "observations may run counter to some current assumptions; some suggest real disruptions to the world of independent media today. We believe, though, that whatever discomfort may come from considering them now will be minor compared to the discomfort of trying to navigate them unprepared."