A License to Steal

An editorial voice:  How much can you trust NBC or Yahoo?  These looked to be the inheritors of the journalistic tradition in the new media. 

On the collapse of newspapers, there was an unruly public.  Blog entries often find readers saying that this is what the newspapers deserve.  There was a “new paradigm,” and the newspapers had failed to change in this new world order, according to media critics.  “The new paradigm” was mentioned in a hostile question to Mark Halperin the other night at a forum sponsored by the St. Paul Public Library. 

If the news media creed was based upon an institutional voice in the presentation of explanations of the world and world events, the standards of care were now facing a dramatic shift.  The shift was every bit as frightening as living through Hurricane Katrina. 

 

Today in the New York Times, Andrew Jacobs has a piece about what NBC and NBC News has yet to address.  Writing from Beijing, Jacobs points out that the announced protest zones set up by the Chinese government during the Olympics that their citizens might have a “channel to voice grievances otherwise ignored by party officials and the state media,” after applying for a protest license, had yet to see one protest.  Yet the government had a list of applicants to investigate of Chinese people who desired to “hold their demonstrations in designated places.”

 

Without a story from the network on this, NBC had displayed that NBC News was not the channel to watch in the pursuit of Truth.  NBC was following the recent example of Yahoo in China as collaborators to make money on sport, abandoning the concept of news.  “With four days left before the closing ceremony, the authorities acknowledge that they have yet to allow a single protest,” Jacobs reported.  Prior to the opening ceremony, the president of the International Olympic Committee had offered assurances that the Olympics would result in a more open China, advancing issues of human freedom.  The International Olympic Committee with NBC surely was in bed with the Chinese government, in order to make as much money as possible this August.  

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/sports/olympics/21protest.html

The issue of protest and security would be tested in the coming weeks in my hometown, as it got ready to host the Republican National Convention.  As someone who lived within walking distance of the Xcel Arena, it had seemed reasonable to request that protesters apply for licenses to demonstrate.  But the question to ponder, on issues of license to protest, was about how different this current government was from the government in China. 

                 

And the awarding of broadcasting rights to NBC by the International Olympic Committee seems little more than a license to steal, sacrifing journalistic integrity.  

POST SCRIPT:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i3OMvEA_ehIHkQwvUsKHCWZ5QzIAD92P1F4G0

 

“No rallies were held throughout the entire Olympics in three parks designated as protest zones after Chinese officials declined to issue permits to 77 applicants, and detained some of them. But mostly foreign activists staged a series of small illegal demonstrations near Olympic venues and at Beijing landmarks.”

“The foreigners, for the most part, unveiled “Free Tibet” banners before being seized by security officials, hustled into cars and taken away to be put on flights out of China.”

“A handful journalists trying to cover the protests were roughed up by authorities then released. There were also tensions with the media over China restricting access to the Internet.”

“Beijing had promised the media freedom to report the games and announced the protest parks as part of efforts to address criticism that China should not have been awarded the games because of its human rights record and tight controls on internal dissent.”

“The White House said in a statement that eight individuals — James Powderly, Brian Conley, Jeffrey Rae, Jeff Goldin, Michael Liss, Tom Grant, Jeremy Wells and John Watterberg — were deported by Chinese authorities at 9 p.m. Sunday Beijing time on a China Air flight to Los Angeles.”  Associated Press Story on the last day of the summer olympcis by By ROHAN SULLIVAN

 

 

The Russians Are Coming

What exactly did you believe in? 

Globalization and the news:  Thomas Friedman with the New York Times thought globalization was a good thing.  Of course he moved away from a Minneapolis suburb and has made a living around the globe ever since.  He got on the world stage in New York and lost his local connection. 

Yesterday I responded to a call from the St. Paul newspaper, agreeing to a subscription.  It was against everything I believed to respond to a telephone solicitation.  Yet it might save one local paper.  I thought my ideals were worth bending until the caller told me she was in Nevada.  It was a stock company.  I then told her no.  Maybe the day would return when local ownership returned.  I was beginning to disagree with Thoms Friedman.   

Foreign buyers.  The acquisition of steel maker by a Russian company so that they now own 10% of all United States steel manufacturers.  The sellers of this recent business did not care, especially in a falling U S market.  The Russians had the money now due to oil.  So what exactly did you believe in after the Cold War?  Was this a good thing?  Should I ask a Vietnam War vet or a Hmong refugee. 

What exactly did you believe in?  Last year there was the acquisition of the Wall Street Journal by an Australian, Robert Murdoch.    Free markets. Human rights.  The United States Constitution guarenteed a free press. 

The cost of education, health care, oil.  The survival of a local press.  Was it all to be determined just by a free market?    What exactly did you believe in?