The war against Fox ?!

Media matters, a liberal group which was originally meant to be a media critic has virtually removed its attention from every news source it covered in the past and is now focusing its efforts exclusively on fox news. The group's founder David Brock described it as an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage.” The first question that came to my mind was WHY?! According to politico, the shift reflects the centrality of the cable channel to the contemporary conservative movement, as well as the loathing it inspires among liberals- especially those running this group. Media matters is investing a whopping 10 million dollars a year for the sole purpose of challenging the factual claims of the channel and attempting to prevent them from reaching the mainstream media." This organization has put its resources into lassembling a legal team to help people who have clashed with Fox to file lawsuits for defamation, invasion of privacy or other causes. And it has hired two experienced reporters, Joe Strupp and Alexander Zaitchik, to dig into Fox’s operation to help assemble a book on the network, just to name a few.  Fox has retaliated by poking fun of the group in its various shows.

In some views, the war between Media Matters and Fox is not, necessarily, bad for either side. Media Matters has transformed itself into a pillar of the progressive movement with its aggressive new brand of media campaigning. And the attacks cement Fox’s status on the right. “Fox is happy about it — and it makes their position more vivid among their supporters,” said Paul Levinson, a media studies professor at Fordham University. “One way of keeping your core supporters happy is to be attacked by people your core supporters don’t like.”

When we spoke about media bias in class the idea of having a group actually try to make a news station unbiased didn’t seem realistic in the slightest. Surprisingly enough Media matters has exactly that mission and it looks like it will not relent.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51949_Page2.html#ixzz1Hwxt8H3O

Is the media training our politicians?

Everyone knows the media wield an exceptionally important power; its rendition of candidates can virtually make or break the candidate's chances. Sharon Angle clearly understands the importance of maintaining a good relationship with the media and assuring that she is on their good side.

In her first press conference as a candidate for Congress, Sharron Angle called for "mutual respect" with members of the media.

The Reno Gazette-Journal said the former Senate candidate took questions for more than 30 minutes:
"Let's show mutual respect for one another," she said. "I am here respecting you, and I want you to offer me that same respect."

She even made sure to do away with an hard feelings by apologetically justifying calling the media the "lame stream media" in her previous election.

Sharron Angle gave her first press conference in the race for Congress Monday, telling a gaggle of local reporters that "we were just playing with them" when she referred to the mainstream media as the 'lame stream media' during her failed  2010 campaign against Harry Reid.

The extent of the media's control over political figures is impressive to say the least. Is it just me or is this relationship reminiscent of a dog and a trainer?

Social Networks continue to take control

What Blogging the Political  attempted to study throughout the course of an entire book Joe Trippi stated in a few clear words

Speaking at the South by Southwest Interactive conference about how social media continues to transform politics and campaigns, the consultant behind Howard Dean’s Web-centric 2004 bid had some choice words for Team Obama heading into next year’s election. He said some underdog candidate is going to seize on social media tools in ways that no one has even thought of.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/51234.html#ixzz1Gb3wEZMC

Trippi like Pole realizes the power of technology and how much of an influence it can have on politics. One of the questions that Pole raises in the beginning of her book is just how much of an influence blogging had on the recent presidential elections. Clearly he believes that blogging did in fact have an influence and will have even more of an effect in the future.

“There's going to be a moment, and it could be in 2012 – you know for my party’s sake, I hope it's in 2016 – but some independent candidate is gonna just come out of nowhere and raise a billion dollars on the Internet, saying ‘screw both these parties, it's you and me baby, let's go change this thing.’”
Trippi predicted this would have a radical impact on politics, as we know it. “It will be the end of the two parties,” Trippi said.

Turkey arresting reporters

 Nedim Sener and Ahmet Sik are well-respected investigative reporters, who have worked for the country's leading publications and received international acclaim for their work documenting human rights abuses. They were originally charged with "belonging to a terrorist organization and inciting the public to hatred," according to their lawyers, though the incitement charge was later dropped. Both men deny the allegations against them.

They were arrested as part of a long-running investigation into a shadowy network of military and ex-security men who allegedly planned to topple the Islamic-rooted government in the early 2000s. The investigation began in 2007 and was widely hailed at the time as a bold step forward for Turkish democracy, which has long wrestled with the specter of military involvement in politics.

The government's 'you're either with us or against us' attitude has created a palpable sense of repression in the press, particularly since media and business interests are closely linked. The main government-critical news group Dogan was slapped with 4.8 billion lira ($3.05 billion) in tax fines in 2009 after a row with the government over corruption allegations involving members of Erdogan's party. "Young reporters are now intimidated to ask certain questions of the Prime Minister and some ministers," wrote Murat Yetkin, veteran Ankara commentator for the Radikal newspaper.

Sounds a little like the Espionage and Sedition acts to me. We have the privilege of using the first amendment in court, they don't. Do you think that will ever change? 

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2057424,00.html#ixzz1Fw35fsLl

Texting from the front

On Wednesday, TIME's Abigail Hauslohner joined several other print journalists at around midday to travel first to Ajdabiyah, about 100 miles south of the rebel capital Benghazi, and then to Brega, the oil refinery town that is the latest front in the civil war between the revolutionaries and the regime of Muammar Gaddafi. Hauslohner has been sending her updates to TIME via SMS, texting being the most efficient, if not the only way, to get reports from the area. This story will be updated throughout the day.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2056470,00.html#ixzz1FSoGG8eO

First Ladies Support Military

This article reminded my of this week's readings on war and the media.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0311/50457.html