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October 17, 2004

The limits of progress

: Doc Searls finds the limits of podcasting:

Listened to a couple podcasts while zooming down through the Salinas Valley, until the kid couldn't stand it anymore. Can't you play some SONGS on that thing? he kept saying.

I used to feel that way about Frank Sinatra. download step7 5.2

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The Sinclair Kerryfluffle

; Jay Rosen stays on top of the Sinclair flap. He believes that what we need is political engagement.download step7 5.2

: Please see also my take on media and government in re Sinclair, the FCC, the FEC, Judith Miller and more below. download step7 5.2

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Nothing fake about it

: Thanks to my friend Joe Territo, I finally got to see the Jon Stewart takedown of Crossfire on Crossfire. download step7 5.2

This is the single best piece of media criticism I have seen in years. And it's all the better because it's face-to-face. download step7 5.2

I know I'm late to this party because I didn't see the original. If you haven't seen it, watch the clip and read the transcript here. Great lines here (with annoying transcripty things excised):

STEWART: I felt that that wasn't fair and I should come here and tell you ... it's not so much that it's bad, as it's hurting America.... Here's just what I wanted to tell you guys.... Stop, stop, stop, stop hurting America....download step7 5.2

See, the thing is, we need your help. Right now, you're helping the politicians and the corporations. And we're left out there to mow our lawns. download step7 5.2

BEGALA: By beating up on them? You just said we're too rough on them when they make mistakes. download step7 5.2

STEWART: No, no, no, you're not too rough on them. You're part of their strategies. You are partisan, what do you call it, hacks....download step7 5.2

CARLSON: But you can ask him [Kerry] a real question, don't you think, instead of saying...download step7 5.2

STEWART: I don't think I have to. By the way, I also asked him, "Were you in Cambodia?" But I didn't really care.download step7 5.2

STEWART: Because I don't care, because I think it's stupid....download step7 5.2

STEWART: But the thing is that this -- you're doing theater, when you should be doing debate, which would be great.... It's not honest. What you do is not honest. What you do is partisan hackery....download step7 5.2

You have a responsibility to the public discourse, and you fail miserably. download step7 5.2

CARLSON: You need to get a job at a journalism school, I think. download step7 5.2

STEWART: You need to go to one. download step7 5.2

The thing that I want to say is, when you have people on for just knee-jerk, reactionary talk...download step7 5.2

This is such a great opportunity you have here to actually get politicians off of their marketing and strategy....download step7 5.2

You go to spin alley, the place called spin alley. Now, don't you think that, for people watching at home, that's kind of a drag, that you're literally walking to a place called deception lane?

The most pathetic thing about the segment is that the hosts would not talk. They couldn't. They could shout. They could joust. They could joke. They couldn't talk. They proved that they do not know how to have a conversation. News is supposed a conversation. But not on Crossfire. download step7 5.2

But what's so wonderful about this is that a viewer get to confront the viewed, media on media. It's every blogger's wet dream. download step7 5.2

Pity that the boys on TV don't know how to listen.
download step7 5.2

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It's a beautiful commercial

: At the start of Desperate Housewives (OK, I'm not a real man, I'm not watching baseball) I saw a wonderful commercial that turned out to be for Toyota: a wheel running through many lives with a song about a beautiful day (who sang it?). Keep your eye out. download step7 5.2

: G'bless comments: Aaron says the song (not the body) is by Fisher. download step7 5.2

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For vs. against

: The New York Times endoses Kerry. The Chicago Tribune endorses Bush. What's striking is how both editorials are really about Bush: The Times is against Bush far more than it is for Kerry. In fact, the Tribune has more good things to say about Kerry, whom ie does not endorse, than The Times does.
: Endorsement scoresheet here (if anybody's counting). download step7 5.2

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Old dogs, meet your new tricks

: Alan Nelson of Command Post gives a great speech to the AP Managing Editors' confab.

The Rather story illustrates all of these laws … the information flowed and CBS couldn’t control it … it happened very quickly, faster than CBS could keep up … and connected mavens drove the process as it developed, and ultimately into the mainstream.download step7 5.2

But most of all, it illustrates the Law of the Many … that when a marketplace of tens of thousands of people considers a piece of information, the truth inevitably will surface with greater speed and efficiency than when only a few people consider that information … just as surely as an internet-driven a global market for diamond rings or interest rates drives price down and quality up.download step7 5.2

And it works both ways … when a blogger posts something dubious, those same tens of thousands of readers and mavens quickly debunk and dismiss that information as not factual, and it goes nowhere.download step7 5.2

And that’s one of the things people value about Command Post … it allows them a forum to not just receive media, but to participate in it in a real and tangible way … not by way of a letter to the editor that likely won’t get published … but by way of transparent commentary that will be immediately seen by everyone else who traffics the site.download step7 5.2

And that’s the best editorial and quality process we could ever have.

Will they get it? Only time will tell. download step7 5.2

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Damn the dial, full speed ahead

: Dan Gillmor celebrates the explosion of radio. download step7 5.2

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Wie sagt Man, "Fact-check your ass"?

: In my blog piece in Netzeitung, I asked for examples of blogs having an impact on German media and one reader, Daniel, sent me a link to the Bildblog, devoted entirely to checking the ass of the gigantic German tab, Bild.download step7 5.2

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