Tue - May 17, 2005

Bill Moyers on the failure of journalism in the US



Bill Moyers, formerly of PBS and often criticised by the right wing echo chamber, has spoken out about the failures of US journalism, and it's an interesting read.

"One reason I'm in hot water is because my colleagues and I at "Now" didn't play by the conventional rules of Beltway journalism. Those rules divide the world into Democrats and Republicans, liberals and conservatives, and allow journalists to pretend they have done their job if, instead of reporting the truth behind the news, they merely give each side an opportunity to spin the news...

...Instead of acting as filters for readers and viewers sifting the truth from the propaganda, reporters and anchors attentively transcribe both sides of the spin -- invariably failing to provide context, background or any sense of which claims hold up and which are misleading."

It's interesting to note that Americans are often stunned when they see something like Newsnight or Question Time, shocked that in the UK our reporters (sometimes, but not always) actually try to get a proper answer rather than just repeating spin.


Posted at 11:39 am    

Mon - December 20, 2004

Eek!





That was yesterday morning.

Posted at 01:40 pm    

Tue - December 14, 2004

Its.... snowing?



OK, I think it's time for a refund. I thought the South was supposed to be hot?

It's snowing outside. Come back San Marcos, all is forgiven.

Posted at 08:44 am    

Fri - October 1, 2004

Blink. Blink blink.



That was the defining moment for me. Bush looked straight into the camera, blinked a few times and grimaced.

In other news, Tony Blair is having heart surgery. Perhaps his mauling on the Today Programme was more serious than I thought?

Posted at 12:09 pm    

Wed - September 1, 2004

A little political today



I do try, dear reader, to keep politics to a minimum on this page, but I fear the RNC has been getting me all riled. So, here's an interesting piece over at Slate about the difference between a photo opportunity and courage. In other news, Dennis Hastert has accused George Soros of being in league with drug cartels. I hope he sues the life out of the man for slander.

Also, there's a new iMac . Nice, but I still don't really need a desktop, although the 20" screen does look very tempting...

Posted at 09:35 am    

Thu - June 24, 2004

After all this doom and gloom...



Something to cheer you up. A Canadian man was all set to drive around Toronto with a car full of ammo, shooting as many people as he could, until he stopped in a park and happened upon a friendly dog. After playing with the dog for a while, he reasoned that such a nice pet must mean that the people in the area were nice too, and perhaps they didn't need shooting.

Posted at 01:53 pm    

How the other half votes



I originally thought I wouldn't feature politics much here, but I guess in these polarised times we find ourselves in, that's not really possible. For your perusal, I present this article at The Nation. I found it interesting, perhaps you will too.

Posted at 02:32 am    

Sun - June 20, 2004

Interesting article on the $



Here's an interesting piece on the dollar and the way the US economy is bankrolled by Asia. I suppose I don't know enough about economics to know if it's all accurate, but it's certainly something to think about. I would have thought that higher US interest rates would keep foreign investment up, but maybe I'm missing something.

Also good to know that €7 million will fit in a suitcase...

Posted at 10:24 pm    

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