Coming February 6, 2024 . . .
MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE
by Michael Wolraich
Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop
Coming February 6, 2024 . . . MURDER, POLITICS, AND THE END OF THE JAZZ AGE by Michael Wolraich Pre-order at Barnes & Noble / Amazon / Books-A-Million / Bookshop |
The recent crisis in Egypt makes clear what many have known for a few years now. Al Jazeera is the best major media source. The reporting is a little more fearless, the exposés are a little more in-depth, the feature stories and interviews are a little more thoughtful than all the other guys. If you’ve got to pick just one media outlet, you’d be a stubborn mule indeed not to pick Al Jazeera. It is more serious than CNN, more genuinely global than the New York Times, and more complicated than the BBC. This is not a matter for serious debate anymore. It is a basic fact. While watching Al Jazeera’s coverage of the revolution in Egypt on live web stream, I managed also to catch an extremely good interview with the important and eloquent President of Rwanda, Paul Kagame, in which he was asked tough questions about freedom of the press that American media outlets usually tiptoe around or ignore.
Comments
I listened to a panel discussion on new technology yesterday on NPR. It was big picture, i.e., the stuff about neurological and mental and sociological effects of internet, google, twitter, facebook, the human future, the sci-fi predictions--the participants were those who have written on such or at least their ideas, you know the drill. All the stuff you've heard already if you've read on it.
But when they got into the Tunisia/Egypt topic, I thought a really good point was made. That the whole twitter/facebook thing was not empowering by itself, it still needed Al Jazeera's big power network to happen. That Al Jazeera can not have correspondents in every little town like Sidi Bouzid, Tunisia waiting for something newsworthy to happen, nor can they be checking every Facebook page in the Arab world. But when they pick out something going viral on the internet and put reporting resources on it, that is when the shit really hits the fan. The point was that the real power to affect change is still in the hands of big professional media organizations, that in that things hadn't really been changed as much by twitter/facebook type tools as some people like to claim, that it's basically just faster than having a "news tips" line or a lot of stringers.
by artappraiser on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 4:20pm
a panel discussion
And I bet it was "...edited...............by Brook."
by jollyroger on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 4:33pm
I don't understand your comment it was this:
"On the Media" from NPR
Like I said, it wasn't on the topic of Al Jazeera. And like I implied, I don't recommend it if you've read on the topic, it was quite general and basic, that's why I didn't bother to look it up.
But if you are implying it was edited for a political point or was pushing some agenda, actually, far from it, it was quite messy, they bouced all over the place, it was, you know, a discussion.
by artappraiser on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 4:49pm
No no no.
I thought you were better versed in the arcana of on the media. It's an ongoing joke between Bob Garfield and BrookGladstone...Hence, the portentous pause he always inserts at the end of the show when he says it. He once explained that they have some history around it from when he first came aboard the program, and she made it plain that editing was her prerogative, and no one elses, and he's been ribbing her about it on a weekly basis ever since.
All I meant by my comment was to signal that it was the on the media first ever live broadcast that you were referencing. Sorry for lack of precision.
by jollyroger on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 4:58pm
Ok, I am sorry I am not capable of playing kewl kid on the NPR speak.
BTW the point on Al Jazeera's power is amplified in a quite ironic and black humor fashion, in the following which I just ran across on their Libya Live Blog:
by artappraiser on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:35pm
called in to tell you about your dismal coverage
Ya gotta love a guy who's quick on his feet with a comeback.
by jollyroger on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:37pm
It gets even better, I missed the part from 2 minutes before. He's quite the slick one:
by artappraiser on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:40pm
The guy is right on message..the clumsy riposte would be "more viewers?" (which, after all, is a good thing...)
by jollyroger on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:46pm
not capable of playing kewl kid
Well la-di-fuckin'-da...you'll always be a kewl kid to me, artie.
by jollyroger on Mon, 02/21/2011 - 5:40pm