Yesterday, Mediachannel’s “Diamond” Dave Olson and I trekked over the Carnegie Corporation in a building over on Madison advertising over 40 surveillance cameras. Did we feel secure!

We were there to meet media exec and consultant Merill Brown who is helping to shape an innovative media Fellows program at four major universities to produce innovative content, new forms of youth appealing “story telling” for major outlets. Columbia, Northwestern, Berkeley and USC are splitting $6 million from Carnegie and Knight to improve journalism education, consider ways to improve the media and fund new journalism initiatives through a project called News 21.

http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/initiative-news21.html

Here is the website with the stores that are now available:

Http://www.newsinitiative.org

Deans of these schools have published a “manifesto” for change. It sounds in part like this:

”In today’s changing world of news consumption, journalism schools should be exploring the technological, intellectual, artistic, and literary possibilities of journalism to the fullest extent, and should be leading a constant expansion and improvement in the ability of the press to inform the public as fully, deeply, and interestingly as it can about matters of the highest importance and complexity.

http://www.carnegie.org/sub/program/initiative-manifesto.html

Dean Orville Schell at Berkeley’s Journalism program is someone I have always admired. He speaks about a responsible press on PBS’s NOW program:
http://www.pbs.org/now/transcript/231.html

Some media companies are working with them—partly because they know they have to adapt or die and besides, the stories are being subsidized. There will be project stories on CNN, AP and Good Morning America. One of the professors told me she fears that the network will “cut the story to shit.” But the fellows were very bullish on their work and this type of “”incubator” project is certainly a positive response to the crisis in Journalism which you can read about in the report by Carnegie posted on the Mediachannel’s home page.

Dorian Benkoil of Mediabistro asked some smart questions at our session, and writes about the discussions:
http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/scholarly_pursuits/idealistic_journalism_for_real_42965.asp#more

BANNED IN BRITAIN

The New York Times’ efforts to block internet users in Britain from reading a page on its website are unlikely to succeed - and for some UK users do not work at all, allowing them normal access to the article.

On Monday, the newspaper attempted to block UK access to the story, headlined “Details emerge in British terror case”, on the investigation into alleged attempts to bomb transatlantic flights.

It gave English legal restrictions on reporting of investigations prior to a trial as its reason for the blocking.”

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1860583,00.html

Most UK users attempting to access the article see an error page explaining this, but staff at some organizations with international computer networks will reach it without hindrance.

http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/story/0,,1861318,00.html

Toronto Star Online: CNN, SO SORRY

http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?e626340207&e=6421 r

DUDE!

This illustrates what happens when you attempt to fly too close to the sun. Ken Starr, former prosecutor of a fashion mishap, now lowers the bar even further:

“Former Whitewater special counsel Kenneth Starr petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to take up Alaska’s “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” case, a dispute involving a high school student, a banner and a tough school policy.

“Starr, who gained national prominence while investigating former President Clinton’s Whitewater land deal and relationship with Monica Lewinsky, filed the petition Monday on behalf of the Juneau School District in response to a March ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The appeals court sided with a high school student who displayed a banner reading “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” during an Olympic torch relay in 2002. It ruled former Juneau-Douglas High School principal Deborah Morse violated former student Joseph Frederick’s free speech rights.

“The U.S. Supreme Court petition must receive a minimum of four of the nine justices’ votes to be heard.”

http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/29/bonghits.4jesus.ap/index.html

Billy Bragg: Who owns the music - MTV or me?
http://media.guardian.co.uk/newmedia/comment/0,,1861349,00.html

RIP NAGUIB MAHFOUZ

Egyptian novelist Naguib Mahfouz, the only writer in Arabic to win the Nobel Prize for literature, died on Wednesday in Cairo aged 94, doctors said.

Mahfouz, whose writing on taboo topics often rankled conservatives in Egypt, survived an assassination attempt 12 years ago. He was hospitalized last month after he fell in the street, and died after suffering from a bleeding ulcer.

“He came to this world only to write,” Egyptian writer Youssef al-Quaid told Egyptian television. “He was the most famous writer in Egypt … He had an incredible ability to create and create all his life.”

Mahfouz, a prolific writer best known for his Cairo Trilogy, became a literary force when he moved beyond traditional novels to realistic descriptions of Egypt’s 20th century experience of colonialism and autocracy.

http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=2006-08-30T114609Z_01_L30861000_RTRUKOC_0_US-EGYPT-MAHFOUZ.xml&WTmodLoc=Home-C5-worldNews-8

POOR MEDIA COVERAGE OF POVERTY

http://www.cjrdaily.org/politics/roger_weisberg_on_waging_a_liv.php

KEITH OLBERMANN TAKES ON RUMSFELD
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12131617/#060830b”

TRYING TIMES FOR CHINESE JOURNOS

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HH29Ad01.html

ANOTHER T-SHIRT AIRLINE CASE
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060829/us_nm/security_tshirt_dc