Re: Use of the free website

On Sun, Oct 3, 2010 at 2:17 PM, Scott Mintz <scott.w.mintz@gmail.com> wrote:

I think Clark covered it pretty well.

Since the goal is to point out the inadequacies of current media my focus would be on the lack of investigative journalism.

In my mind this encompasses an inability to fact check, and to research and present both sides of a story (although I'm not against someone choosing a side).

Also, I find relationships between journalist and source to be interesting in the sense that a journalists may have to temper their opinions in order to maintain access to the source. In the extremist sense, if you were interviewing an extremely dangerous person in hiding would you not take the opportunity to assist in this person's arrest rather than keep your mouth shut so you can get a story? But, I digress.

Barrett and others may have more to add, but Clark hit on a lot of things.

On Sun, Oct 3, 2010 at 1:43 AM, Clark Robinson <robinsonchicago@gmail.com> wrote:

Hi, Tim, did you get any responses to this? This is really more Barrett's area than mine, but for what it's worth here's my thoughts.

First, there are problems that Project PM is intended to address:

With the huge quantity of media output now available, how does the citizen find his way to true, well-informed, intellectually honest reporting and analysis?

Since all of us (well, those of us in the internet-accessing world) can now be simultaneously reporters and publishers, nobody does the job formerly done by editors: testing the material for accuracy, factual support, completeness, bias, collusion with commercial interests, quality of expression and (never having been an editor) all the things that good editors used to do. (Project PM is designed to build a process into the circulation of information that performs these functions).

Second, here's a couple of my own:

Club membership: certain journalists are given a forum associated with a big audience, a presumption of wisdom, and armor-like respectability by virtue of things unrelated to the merits of the individual pieces of reporting and analysis they are now producing. (Working your way up at the NYT, buying a forum, networking with the wealthy, stroking government officials, etc.)

Flag waving and bible-thumping: this is nothing new in our country: Twain went after this, so did Mencken, unfortunately the internet empowers it; television, and not just Fox, gives a forum to Pat Robertson and worse; why must we hear both sides of the story when one side is religious or 'patriotically' driven nonsense?

Clark

On Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 6:39 PM, Dynamic <dynamicuno@gmail.com> wrote:

Hey all,

I'm setting to work on the media problems project and I'm interested in your opinions on the most pressing media problems facing us. If you've got a spare minute, please list as many as you can think of and have time to write down (I recognize one could spend days highlighting the problems in the media). As broad or as specific as you like, the more the better.

Thanks!

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Tim Ellis
Director - Promotions and Marketing
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http://www.NocturnalCommissions.com