BuzzMachine... by Jeff Jarvis

April 12, 2004

Free press
: Justice Antonin Scalia has been brought to his knees by Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. You'll remember that ~~thugs~~ U.S. Marshalls forced two reporters to erase their tapes of a Scalia speech. Dalglish sent him a letter and sent out a press release that took no prisoners -- and Scalia relented and said he didn't want the tapes erased and even apologized to the reporters.
Dalglish's original press release:

"Even assuming it was reasonable for Justice Scalia to prohibit recordings of his speech -- which it was not -- the law does not allow law enforcement officials to seize work product from journalists under these circumstances," said Reporters Committee Executive Director Lucy Dalglish. "Perhaps one of these days, Justice Scalia will tell us why he has so little regard for electronic media. Certainly the only effect the tape recordings by two print reporters would have had on coverage of his speech would have been to make the reporting more accurate."
Justice Scalia has a track record of banning electronic coverage of speeches where he addresses the majesty of the U.S. Constitution. In March 2003, he prohibited televised coverage of his appearance at The City Club of Cleveland, where he received "The Citadel of Free-Speech Award" honoring his support of the First Amendment. During Wednesday's speech, Justice Scalia told students that the constitution's true meaning must always be protected. Calling the constitution "a brilliant piece of work," he told a full auditorium that "People just don't revere it like they used to."

Take that!
Scalia responded to Dalglish. The next press release:

In a letter addressed to Reporters Committee Executive Director Lucy Dalglish, Justice Scalia said he did not direct or approve of the marshal's actions April 7 at Presbyterian Christian School: "You were correct that the action was not taken at my direction; I was as upset as you were. I have written to the reporters involved, extending my apology."
In response to the Reporters Committee's request that he change his policy of forbidding recordings at his public speaking events, Justice Scalia noted that he is "undertaking to revise [his] policy so as to permit recording for use of the print media."

Scalia is still being a bozo about tapes appearing on broadcast.
Well, Judgey, just get used to a new world in which anyone and everyone is a reporter who can record you on any manner of device and broadcast that to the world on the Internet -- and why the hell should you fear or try to stop that?
I'm glad that Dalglish is on the case. I met her at some industry thing and she's impressive and dogged and when she fights for the rights of reporters she's fighting for the rights of all citizens. So go get 'im, Lucy!

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Star-blogger
: Wil Wheaton joins VH1's Best Week Ever blog, reports Daniel Radosh [via Media Drop].

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Outsourcing our headaches
: Om Malik is back home in India, filing all kinds of interesting observations, including this, on the "dark side" of outsourcing:

Here I got to talk to many who answer my phone calls whenever I have a question about my Amex Bill. Amid their sometimes drunken but polite arguments, you hear the cry for help. The constant pressure of trying to be someone else, faking accents and trying to deal with the abusive behavior of their customers, you find many are crumbling. The late nights, cooped up in cool but antiseptic halls, the call center workers are turning to drink, drugs and sex to find some meaning to their lives.

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Fatwa me, baby
: Wonkette has the roundup on Grand Ayatollah Sistani and anal sex. Marc Cooper started. this latest thread.
I hear the FCC is about to fine the Ayatollah.

: You have to go to this gallery of photos of the Ayatollah. He sure looks like a guy who needs to get laid or at least change his mind about masturbation.

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It's Iran, stupid
: Roger L. Simon is way worked up -- and that's a good thing -- about politicians and media paying insufficient attention to Iran.

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Dancing on graves
: SmartMobs says the Rev. Billy is out to descreate the World Trade Center with his stupid flashmob again.

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Ralph, don't run
: Howard Dean writes a valentine to Ralph Nader in the NY Times as a way of telling him to get the hell out of the way and telling his fans not to vote for him.

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God's victory
: Jesus beats Hellboy.

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The Daily Stern

: THE NEW PURITANISM SPREADS: In the aftermath of Janet Jackson's boob, Victoria's Secret has canceled its TV show, which received complaints from the cultish Parents Television Council and from the most frightening FCC Commissioner Michael Copps.
My sources say the FCC will next outlaw breasts in any form. America is undergoing a mass mastectomy.

: MORE SPREADING PURITANISM: Well goshdarnit, it's hard to say what might offend listeners in St. Louis radio:

Now, before Janet Jackson bared her breast, the word "ass" never raised an eyebrow on KIHT. But today it will earn Corcoran a warning from boss John Beck, who, as manager of Emmis Communications' five St. Louis properties, enforces the company's new decency guidelines. Beck already has chastised one jock for saying the word "ass" and another for using the word "fart." He also has instructed programmers to ax songs that mention bodily functions, though the Rolling Stones hit "Start Me Up" finds its way onto Corcoran's show.

Well, yes, if the FCC is going to fine farts, they might fine the word, too, being, after all, an F-word.
My sources say the FCC is going to outlaw F-words in any form. America is undergoing a f-ectomy.

: BACK: Stern is back from vacation today.
He says that more than 8 million unique people visited his website in the two days after the latest FCC fines.
You think people don't care? We do.

: AFTERNOON UPDATE: Even Stern arch-enemy Don Imus is speaking out against what's happening to Howard. Reports Media Drop:

On Don Imus' show this morning, he was responding to the latest fines related to Howard Stern's show and Clear Channel's subsequent "firing" of him from their stations. "It's a scary time in America, boys and girls," he said. "We don't need a bunch of Joe McCarthy's running around," referring to how people are deciding who to go on a witch-hunt after right now in the media world.

: PREVIOUS DAILY STERN POSTS: here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here.

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Vlogs' moment of fame
: Time Magazine writes about vlogs -- video weblogs -- featuring Steve Garfield and quoting me. To see my old stuff on vlogs, look at the right column and scroll down.

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