Centrerion Canadian Politics

Mediocre Media 3

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Welcome to Mediocre Media, the blog carnival about criticism of the media.

Before we begin, an apology for the delay in bringing you this media bash (in all meanings of the word). I was in exams, and few submissions were received in the initial allotted time period.

Another thing before we begin: you can participate too. Just head over to Conservative Cat's carnival page, or Blogcarnival.com, and use either form to submit a post to this carnival. You can also submit posts to the other carnivals we host, including Moderate Circus, and soon, a guest-hosting of the Tangled Bank science carnival.

This carnival, we're very fortunate to have an author with multiple submissions. To acknowledge her effort, here's a link to: Shiloh Muse, who gets our outstanding contribution to media criticism awards!

1. Muse's contributions to this edition of the media critics' carnival include: Who's the latest blogger in town?, in the category of ethics and morality; and Collective Insanity, still in ethics and morality.

Editor's pick:
2. Believe it or not, we have someone standing up for the mainstream media (msm) in this latest edition of Mediocre Media. That is, they're being defended against censorship by our lovely, open, tolerant friends in Iran: Mensa Barbie at Mensa Barbie Welcomes You presents Banned by Iran: Except Favorable News. Then again, is that really a defense of the Maybe Super Media?

Editor's pick on Israel:
3. From Soccer Dad we have a Mediocre Media submission for someone else! The sports pop says: "Elder of Ziyon had an excellent takedown of the BBC's mideast coverage."

4. ShaolinTiger at ShaolinTiger - Kung-Fu Geekery presents The State of Traditional Media and Newspapers in Malaysia. Apparently, they could all do with some journalism 101 there, so you've got to feel for this poor Brit.

Editor's pick on Iraq:
5. Chuck Ziegenfuss at From My Position... On the way! presents We're losing in Iraq, Just like we lost in Vietnam. That is, the loss is in the media and the public eye; not in the facts on the ground. From a soldier, about the soldiers.

6. Josh Cohen at Multiple Mentality takes a moment to criticize TV network ABC's choice of a new host in Out with the old, in with the old. Why does everyone hate old white guys?

7. Tam Hanna at TamsPalm-the Palm OS Blog presents A new palm is coming...and the STFU pill is served. Tam's problem concerns the censorship of tech journalists. Who knew?

8. From Yisrael Medad, of the Begin Center in Israel, another submission for someone else.
---
Newsmagazine Der Spiegel admits staff spied
---
Der Spiegel, famed throughout decades for rooting out corruption and the
vagaries of errant politicians, admitted Saturday some staff had been
working for the government intelligence service. In an article in
Monday's edition, released in advance, the weekly - considered a
watchdog of press and democratic freedoms in postwar Germany - said one
staff member in a regional bureau had been working for the Federal
Intelligence Service (BND) as recently as last autumn.

Source: http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,2018713,00.html - AFP, Deutsche Welle

9. CountryGoalie at To the Hilt presents the dumbest attack on homeschooling? While it isn't entirely clear what the goalie's issue with the media is (or maybe I just don't get it), and most of the post appears to concern some debate on Christianity, there are some interesting points about rhetoric that the argumentative amongst us might care for.

10. Michael McCullough at Stingray: a blog for salty Christians presents Journalists still playing fast and loose with the truth. Michael's putting up a passionate defense of President Bush. I have some questions for him though.

• Are Iraq's terrorists only using suicide attacks?
• Is that the only parameter for saying whether there's a war going on there or not?
• Also, just because the tax system taxes the rich more than it did 20 years ago, does that mean that Bush's tax cuts don't favour the rich? It does not.

Mike's passionate, but his arguments are of questionable validity since the conclusions don't rationally follow from the premises. Can you say 'non-sequitur'?

Note: The fact is I agree with Stingray that the journalist he's criticizing is being biased in his reporting, and that the terrorists can be defeated in Iraq, but the arguments Michael provides are dubious.

--On a more positive note, I encourage you all to check out the Society of Professional Journalists who have a good ethics section, and daily press notes covering the news about the media, including censorship, the blogosphere, and everyone's favourites: the MSM!--

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Mediocre Media 2
Mediocre Media 1
Why the New Left Hates Western Civilization
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posted by lecentre @ 2:52 p.m.