Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
The New York Times has published a detailed account of the deceptions perpetrated by African-American reporter Jayson Blair, who plagiarized other journalists' work and fabricated details of stories about topics including the DC sniper and the war in Iraq. The Blair scandal has prompted speculation that affirmative action got him special newsroom treatment on account of his race.
Submitted by John Stauber on
In response to an article by Melody Petersen in the New York Times, "CNN said yesterday that Aaron Brown, its nighttime news anchor, would not go forward with plans to become host of a series of corporate-sponsored videos that look like news and are broadcast on public television stations. ... A Boca Raton, Fla., production company, WJMK, recently hired Mr. Brown and Walter Cronkite, the former CBS News anchor, to serve as the hosts of a program called the American Medical Review.
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Stephen Glass, the writer who was fired five years ago for fabricating facts in his stories, has declined to speak publicly about the incident - until now. This Sunday, "60 Minutes" will feature an interview with Glass, who is promoting a novel about his frauds, titled The Fabulist. "Glass uses only one real name - his own - in a fictionalized treatment of how he bamboozled the world as a 25-year-old New Republic writer who always seemed to have the most colorful scenes and the most perfect quotes," writes Howard Kurtz.
Submitted by John Stauber on
"Aaron Brown of CNN, Walter Cronkite and other broadcast
journalists have been hired to appear in videos resembling
newscasts that are actually paid for by drug makers and
other health care companies, blurring the line between
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
Country radio station KKCS, part of the Clear Channel network, has suspended two disk jockeys for defying the station's ban on playing music by the Dixie Chicks. The Chicks were banned from many Clear Channel stations after lead singer Natalie Maines criticized President Bush.
Submitted by John Stauber on
In the last of its investigative series the Washington Post reports on how a multi-billion dollar environmental charity takes care of its own. For example, "on New York's Shelter Island, the Nature Conservancy three years ago bought an undeveloped, 10-acre tract overlooking its Mashomack Preserve ... just a stone's skip from the exclusive Hamptons. Cost to the charity: $2.1 million.
Submitted by John Stauber on
The second part of the Post's examination of a multi-billion dollar tax exempt corporation: "Eight years ago, Mobil Oil gave the Nature Conservancy what was one of the group's largest corporate donations, a patch of prairie that encompassed the last native breeding ground of a highly endangered bird. ... The Conservancy ... started acting like an oil company. The Conservancy sank a well under the bird's nesting ground. Drilling in sensitive areas is opposed as destructive by most environmentalists.
Submitted by John Stauber on
In the first of three articles the Washington Post takes a long look at the Nature Conservancy, "the world's richest environmental group, amassing $3 billion in assets by pledging to save precious places. ... Yet the Conservancy has logged forests, engineered a $64 million deal paving the way for opulent houses on fragile grasslands and drilled for natural gas under the last breeding ground of an endangered bird species. ...
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
"Other presidents have had problems with truth-telling," write Drake Bennett and Heidi Pauken. "But George W. Bush is in a class by himself when it comes to prevarication. It is no exaggeration to say that lying has become Bush's signature as president." They detail the gap between words and deeds in Bush's policies on education, health and the environment. (Unfortunately, the article is inaccurately titled. Bennett and Pauken caught a few of the president's lies, but certainly not "all" of them.)
Submitted by Sheldon Rampton on
MSNBC correspondent Ashleigh Banfield was reprimanded by her network following a speech she gave at Kansas State University about U.S. news coverage of the war in Iraq. Too bad, because it was a pretty good speech. Banfield criticized the "glorious, wonderful picture" that the media painted of the war, saying it "wasn't journalism." But she also provided valuable insights into the "two different languages" with which the combatants on opposing sides of conflicts see the world.
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