Propaganda paid for by our tax moneyFrank Rich: Operation Iraqi Infoganda: "But she is a freelance reporter only in the sense that Mike Ditka would qualify as one when appearing in Levitra ads." Liar, liar, pants on fire" Mr. Bush's repeated claim that one of his 'first acts' of that morning was to put the military on alert is false. So are the president's claims that he watched the first airplane hit the World Trade Center on TV that morning. (No such video yet existed.) Nor was Air Force One under threat as Mr. Bush flew around the country, delaying his return to Washington." see the NY Times story.

The point by point on Conde's credibility gapCondoleezza Rice's Credibility Gap - - Center for American Progress

Web site awards for Journalism sites. National Press Photographer's Association

Campaigns & internetBW Online | March 29, 2004 | Online Extra: The Business of Online Campaigns

I guess folks aren't ready for navigation on the right yet. Here is an eyetrack study summary. Good reading.Eyetrack Study on User Behavior May Surprise You

Word crimes and reporting.Poynter Online - Making It By Making It Up: The Only Path to Glory?

The Media Center - The Media Center @ API

Media ownership. The Center for Public Integrity is a non-partisan group concerned with good journalism and the public interest. In this piece, the director of CPI, Charles Lewis, lays out the reasons why the proposed rule changes by the FCC will be harmful to news and the public. This is a threat the public and anyone who thinks news is vital in a democracy needs to be aware of.

The dirty little secret is that from 1996 through 1998, the NAB and five media outlets—ABC, CBS, A.H. Belo Corp., Meredith Corp., and Cox Enterprises—cumulatively spent nearly $11 million to defeat a dozen campaign finance bills mandating free air time for political candidates. One company lobbyist willing to talk to us was Jerry Hadenfeldt, who represents Meredith, owner of a dozen TV stations, 20 magazines, and publisher of more than 300 books. "Free political ads are basically picking the pockets of a select group, namely television broadcasters," he said. "They [candidates] already get the lowest available rates, and that's the way we believe it should stay."

The Center for Public Integrity

Like my idea for Documiniteris, news operations experiment.OJR article: Papers' Online Units Allow Editorial Boards to Lift Veil With Video, Blogs: "Although the video was far from broadcast quality, not one person complained about poor video or told the Times to boost the production value. Instead, people responded with positive feedback, according to Apcar, giving the Times kudos on the questions asked, and saying the video helped them choose a candidate more than anything they had seen on TV."

Gender, politics, & blogs.AxisofLogic/ Media Critiques: "Either way, it's clear that the avenues made available by new technology haven't led to any noticeable rush of newly-empowered women making like either Dan Rather or like Josh Marshall."

What is the "new News?" Question of news value driving papers

The future of newspapers is...News. However, not stopped down access as the print model presents, but many sources that can be customized by the reader. This is just the summary of the longer OJR article by Vin Crosbie. Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

More on RSS as a useful tool for online publishing. Poynter Online - E-Media Tidbits

Very concrete explanation of federal budget and why it is important to you. TrueMajority

By a ratio of 4:1, Americans get their political information from advertising, not the news. Television commercials present broad themes to us and influence by an appeal to emotions through imagery. Let's analyze some of these ads.

Even I did not think the public in general was this far along with convergence. If you are a journalist, are you typical of the public, a bit ahead, or lagging behind. It is an important question. I am including a couple of links to help those who might be motivated by the article to explore blogging and the like. Consumers Create Content online Download the Pew study Check out phonecams and photo weblogs. To start a blog, click the blogger logo at the bottom of the page.

Poynter Online - The Context Challenge

Social software. Clay Shirky examines the Dean "bubble" and provides some thoughtful commentary. Many-to-Many: Exiting Deanspace