media

Filmmaker Seeks Support for "Wisconsin Rising" Film

Submitted by Sara Jerving on January 13, 2012 - 9:29am

Hundreds of thousands surrounded the Wisconsin State Capitol building a year ago in response and protest of Governor Scott Walker's radical agenda, including his proposed "budget repair bill" to balance the budget on the back of state workers. There to document history in the making, was independent filmmaker Sam Mayfield from Burlington, Vermont. Sam was seen everywhere with her high definition camcorder, at Walker press conferences and climbing though Capitol windows with protesters. In the many months she was in Wisconsin, she obtained hundreds of hours of footage -- often at moments when hers was the only camera present. Among her hundreds of interviews with newsmakers and protesters, the Center for Media and Democracy's Mary Bottari was interviewed for the project on the role that ALEC played in shaping the Walker agenda. "People really need to pay attention to this and start bird-dogging these institutions, these legislators and these corporations and taking back their democracy," Bottari said of ALEC.

ALEC Politician Claims ALEC Meetings Are "Open to the Public." Really?

Submitted by Lisa Graves on January 12, 2012 - 3:04pm

ALEC's Rep. Bill Howell (R-VA)Confronted with a report by ProgressVA stating that through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) corporate lobbyists get access to legislators "behind closed doors," ALEC politician Bill Howell dismissed the claim and told the Richmond Times-Dispatch that all ALEC meetings were open to the public.

Really?

That would be breaking news to both traditional press and the online media that have been blocked from ALEC meetings and are increasingly being threatened with arrest.

The Real "Winner" in Iowa: New "Super" Front Groups That Are Super Corrupting Our Democracy Thanks to "Citizens United"

Submitted by Lisa Graves on January 4, 2012 - 8:01am

Contrary to most press accounts, there was a decisive winner in the Iowa caucuses last night, and it was neither Rick Santorum nor Mitt Romney. The "winner" was the so-called "Super" PACs (political action committees), the mutant front groups for political candidates that were "created" in the aftermath of the U.S. Supreme Court's 5-4 decision that unleashed corporations and billionaires to spend unlimited money influencing elections.

The House of Saud and the Big Banks Move in on Twitter

Submitted by Emily Osborne on December 21, 2011 - 8:00am

Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin TalalAs Time Magazine names 'The Protester' as person of the year, news broke that Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal joins JPMorgan Chase as a major stakeholder in Twitter, the social media network that catapulted both the Arab Spring and Occupy Wall Street movement onto the global stage.

New Book Discusses the Media's Role in Perpetuating Racism

Submitted by Anne Landman on November 21, 2011 - 2:23pm

An epic new book examines the crucial role press and media have played over time in perpetuating racist views in American culture. "News for All the People: The Epic Story of Race and the U.S. Media," by Juan Gonzalez and Joe Torres, examines Americans' chronic discontent with the media. The book reveals how racial segregation in the media has historically distorted the news and gives numerous examples of how publishers and broadcasters have actually encouraged violence towards minorities and ethnic groups through their coverage.

The authors, both seasoned journalists and researchers, note that over the decades Americans have expressed constant frustration with inaccurate news coverage, and the discontent is greatest among people of color, who feel denigrated and deeply misrepresented by the American media system.

Abramoff, Released from Prison, Rebrands Himself as Against Corruption

Submitted by Anne Landman on November 17, 2011 - 1:15pm

Jack Abramoff

Former Republican lobbyist and convicted felon Jack Abramoff, free after serving 43 months in federal prison on corruption charges, will now try and make a living off of his past. Abramoff was a highly  influential Washington, D.C. lobbyist who was found guilty in 2006 of bribing public officials and bilking his clients, the Choctaw Indian tribe of Mississippi, out of millions of dollars. He also overbilled his lobbying clients and pocketed the extra money. Abramoff, now 53 years old, broke and unemployed, has established a promotional website and plans to charge for giving talks about corruption in Washington with titles like "How Lobbysits Shape Your Industry" and "Can Congress be Fixed?" Abramoff is also making the rounds on talk shows like "Hannity," "60 Minutes," "The Early Show" and "Piers Morgan Tonight" in an attempt to rebrand himself as a whistleblower against corruption. He has a Facebook page and game app called "Congressional Jack," and a feature film in the works about his lobbying exploits. Abramoff needs to make money fast, since he must pay back over $40 million to the Indian tribe he was convicted of bilking. To assist his media endeavors, Abramoff hired PR specialist Janet Fallon of the Washington, D.C.-based PR firm PR Options to help organize his "redemption tour" and promote his new book, Capitol Punishment, about Washington politics. Prior to establishing PR Options, Fallon worked as media consultant at Weber Shandwick and for Pat Buchanan's 1992 presidential campaign.

Main Source: 
O'Dwyer's Blog, November 14, 2011

Koch's Americans for Prosperity Fails in Effort to Smear Critic

Submitted by Brendan Fischer on November 11, 2011 - 8:42am

An effort by the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) to brand a frequent critic as a "liar" has been contradicted by a recording of the alleged deceit. AFP has not issued a retraction.

On November 8, Americans for Prosperity published a blog post on their website titled "Lee Fang Lies: The Real Face of 'Think Progress.'" Fang is a researcher and blogger for Think Progress and has written many articles about the Koch brothers, including about their business practices and lobbying efforts, and about their role in manipulating the Tea Party.

Right Wing Front Groups Flood Ohio With Anti-Union Spin

Submitted by Emily Osborne on October 28, 2011 - 9:11am

With Ohio voters looking to overturn Governor John Kasich's union-busting Senate Bill 5 through a statewide referendum, national Republican donors, strategists and corporations are pumping money into the state to defend the Governor and his bill.

On November 8th, Ohio voters will go to the polls to vote whether to repeal Senate Bill (SB) 5, which limits collective bargaining rights for public employees. The bill was passed in the House and Senate and signed by Governor John Kasich, but cannot be implemented until after the referendum comes to a vote.

At OWS, Cenk Uygur Announces Effort to Amend Constitution, Get Money Out of Politics

Submitted by Brendan Fischer on October 28, 2011 - 7:04am

The "Occupy" movement has been inspired in part by the increasingly outsized political power of the top 1%, which has made elected officials more responsive to deep-pocket donors than those they were elected to represent. In response to the other 99% being left politically and economically disempowered, former MSNBC host Cenk Uygur has announced plans to work toward amending the U.S. Constitution to get big money out of politics and restore representative democracy.

Group Pushes Major League Baseball to Drop Glenn Beck

Submitted by Anne Landman on October 14, 2011 - 12:59pm

A group called Americans United for Change has started a campaign to pressure Major League Baseball (MLB) to end its relationship with demagogue Glenn Beck. Beck left the Fox News Channel earlier this year amid a citizen campaign that succeeded in pressuring nearly 400 advertisers to boycott his show. After leaving Fox, he started his own online television network, GBTV, which charges subscribers $9.95 a month. the interactive branch of the Major League Baseball empire, MLB Advanced Media, agreed to provide Beck's new TV platform with streaming video of sports shows, including baseball games. In response, Americans United for Change launched a website called StrikeOutBeck.com, where viewers can sign a petition asking the corporation that manages America's "favorite pasttime" to cut its ties to Beck. The site features a "Glenn Beck Hall of Hate," with clips of some of Beck's many inflammatory or absurd assertions, like when he said God "punished Japan" with a massive earthquake. Americans United is also running a Facebook ad campaign in major league baseball cities like St. Louis, Detroit, Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston, Oakland, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and Milwaukee to make people aware of the website and invite them to visit it and sign the petition. A second phase of the campaign is also in the works, which will include more paid ads, probably on sports radio, and urge people to write letters to baseball team owners asking them to end MLB's relationship with Beck. [Updated Oct. 15, 2011]

Main Source: 
Huffington Post - Politics, October 13, 2011
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