Telecom bill would leave U.S. lagging behind rest of world

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/opinion/2003092244_telecom29.html

ROBERT SCHEER: Bush vs. New York Times

“Attacks on the New York Times aren’t about national security, they’re about muting criticism.”

http://www.Truthdig.com

MEDIA CONCENTRATION QUESTIONED—IN CANADA

Canada Urged to Scrutinize Media Mergers

OTTAWA, June 21 — Mergers of Canadian news organizations should be given closer scrutiny under competition laws, a report by a committee of Canada’s Senate urged on Wednesday.

The report, which came after three years of hearings, also recommended that the government-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation end commercials on its TV networks and stop sports programming.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/22/business/worldbusiness/22canada.html?ex=1308628800&en=0fff9e7f8c45a651&ei=5089&partner=rssyahoo&emc=rss

RESPONSE TO COCKBURN’S “HOT AIR FACTORY”

Chris Lowe or Portland Oregon responds:

http://lists.portside.org/cgi-bin/listserv/wa?A2=ind0606d&L=portside&T=0&P=3653

REUTERS: NBC PLANS MORE INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING

NEW YORK (Hollywood Reporter) - NBC News will dramatically expand its investigative unit in the latest of a wave of changes since Steve Capus ascended to the presidency of the news division.

NBC News said Wednesday that the news division will double the number of producers working in the Investigative Reporting Unit. The unit’s senior investigative correspondent is Lisa Myers, but other NBC News correspondents will work with the unit, too. The number of producers in the unit will go from the four working with Myers to about 10 in the initial ramp-up. The unit’s new producers will come from elsewhere at the network, though it isn’t been ruled out that more will be hired late

WEATHER COVERAGE
http://www.margieburns.com/blog/_archives/2006/6/29/2065855.html

TAKING IT OFF GETS YOU IN THE NEWS

DXM does some comparative counting:

” While some of dig Bill Evans, Bush and Koizumi (and Kim Jong-il) dig Elvis. Some dig Britney, and on the kind of slow news day as we experienced today, she still was able to capture the imagination of more than 4,910 news editors and bloggers that considered her nudie pics for Harper’s as worthy of posting; both the little story and the pics - along the lines of Demi Moore’s naked and pregnant or pregnant and naked 1991 Vanity Fair cover. One cynic who posted the Brit pics on (Dlisted) Sex, Drugs & Gossip blog titled the spread The Photoshop Awards: Britney Spears in Bazaar.

http://dlisted.blogspot.com/2006/06/photoshop-awards-britney-spears-in.html

As search criteria on Google (News), “bush koizumi elvis” got 1,180 web slots, and 121 for “kim jong-il elvis”

GUARDIAN: “Serge July, the former Maoist and founder of French daily Liberation, has announced his resignation as editor.”

KAZAKHSTAN IN SETBACK TO PRESS FREEDOM

Kazakhstan’s upper house passed new media legislation on Thursday despite criticism from the United States and others that the changes represented a setback to press freedom in the Central Asian state… If approved, the amendments would put reporters under tighter state control and make registration harder for news outlets.

http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-06-29T075543Z_01_L29881540_RTRUKOC_0_UK-MEDIA-KAZAKHSTAN.xml&archived=False - Reuters