Tag Archives: media

anti-amer-i-can


Chad hath brought the chest plague home from his dealings with John Q Public – meaning we’re all on Z-packs to ward off illness…

which… makes me feel icky…Sooooo…. I just went up and nabbed a breakfast sandwich to put something in my stomach besides high-power antibiotics and coffee.

While waiting for my food I flipped through the current issue of The University News, the student mouthpiece for neighboring Saint Louis University. In it I stumbled upon a review of some recent Green Day dvd…

I paused for a read since GD-mash-ups have been on heavy rotation lately in my iTunes.

The kid writing the story really had an axe to grind… Which is alright – not all reviews can be good right? – And the review itself “is” the opinion of the reviewer right?

But since when have partisan political pokes been a necessary component to a friggin music review?

*Punk, even PUNKâ„¢ – by it’s very nature and roots is activist and politically oriented.

soooo.. if you were going to write an objective review, (or at least create the illusion that you were),… Wouldn’t you use descriptions like; “Politically Charged”… or “Controversially Critical of American Policy”…

…. not “Anti-American”.

Can the already endangered critter called “objectivity” be suspended in the case of music / film / arts reviews?

I realize my questions boil down to simple syntax.. Buuuhaaw! There lies the power, beauty and divisive potential of (our) language.

Sure… this is a review written by some kid who’s probably not even a journalism major at a Catholic University… Conservatism I’d say should be expected – but at the expense of objectivity?

I’m just amazed that this made it past the noses of the editors…. and more importantly the supervising faculty.

Yes… I’m being the old crotchety bastard bitching about some poor kid’s word choice.

But… here I go again sounding like my dad… it’s the “principle”

If this kid goes into media when he grows up – what will his standards be?

Will it matter? I suspect we will see, (are seeing), a complete de-rez of the “media” industry in the decades to come anyway.

Speaking of which – my mom sent me this interesting link… It’s good convo-topic fodder about the nature of where media “could” go.

Meanwhile – this isn’t a blog… it’s some tree-hugging, freedom-hating anti-family bastard pecking his thoughts out in his journal instead of firing off angry letters to newspaper editors.

tell it like it is…. grandpa


bill moyers

Earlier this month, St. Louis was the site of the National Conference on Media Reform.

mykinmissouri clued me in about the conference and sent me a link to download and listen to the keynote address from venerable veteran journalist Bill Moyers.

Moyers speech sheds light on and provides commentary to what has happened, (is happening) to The Center for Public Broadcasting as well as our country / culture and media since 9/11. (This is all framed by the tone of one media professional addressing his peers.)

Providing our history isn’t co-op’d and edited in the future – this was every bit of what folks are calling a “Historic Speech”.

Think Gettysburg Address for the Media.

If you have an hour to burn – FIND an hour to burn and listen to this speech. You can download it HERE… or read it HERE

…and afterward, if you’re so inclined, sign a petition.

This isn’t a crazed, bitch-a-lot-and-do-nothing lefty MichaelMoreish rant…. it’s stone-cold middle of the road… with a sensibility and clarity that rocked me down to the atomic level.

So… aside from feeling like I’m doing my little part about sharing this… I want to remember that this speech happened here in good ole 314 – it’d be completely blog worthy if I had one….

I only wish I had been there to hear it live…. but MP3 is just as good…. Thanks Mike.

I blew – so blow me.


So – I was driving back from taking Chad downtown… Fresh Air was kinda boring today – so… as I’m apt to do, I’ll turn the dial to the right, (literally and metaphorically) to the new conservative talk radio station in town.

It’s an exercise which usually gets my blood pumping. I think it would be irresponsible to cling entirely to NPR for input as far as being able to form my own opinions about ANY of the MANY hot topics flying around out there…. I mean… If you’re going to fall on one side of a fence or the other – you best know what BOTH sides look like.

I’ve always found the knee-deep, slick commercial approach of these shows to be to their own discredit.

Take any 15 minute segment on a given topic: (try this exercise yourself – no really… DO IT!)

On the “neuvo – conservative” talk show you’ll hear 5 minutes of ads, 3 minutes of out of context sound bytes deftly edited to rock music, another 5 of the host talent stroking their ego or plugging their latest book or website and the remainder of the time actually building content regarding the subject with an interview.

On NPR, in that 15 minutes – you will get.. guess what… 15 minutes of multiple interviews… In-depth questions… Contrasting viewpoints brought to bare… etc.

But this isn’t about the content superiority of public broadcasting – an issue that I really think is rhetorical to ANYONE who has even a shred of analytical ability…. A SHRED… Like.. “Would you like paper or plastic?” level of discerning ability.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RARE AND INFREQUENT RANT

dear media diary

hmmm… I seem to be taking nothing but photos of paper this week.

We’ve been selected as a Nielsen home… I don’t have to outline why this is funny.

When I called the help number to tell them that our television has not been hooked to any outside signal for socio-cultural / political reasons for the past four years… they said we should fill the diary out anyway – indicating when the TV is on and what we’re doing with it.

So… There’s a lot of blank pages with “OFF” marked and a lot of “NetFlix” and XBox entries.

How this provides useful information to help the networks figure out which reality show formula is working is beyond me. I was tempted to scribble “we prefer the reality show outside our front door” in the comments section, but figured there’s nothing worse than preachy armchair culture-jammers…

We get $10 for our effort though. That’s a pound of coffee and a gallon of milk.

That’s more profitable than maintaining a blog… (like I’d know).