I WANT MEDIA.COM: Murdoch: Old Media Can Survive

Old media will thrive in today’s new-media environment if they adapt, writes News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch in Forbes. “We must learn how younger generations prefer to receive their news and entertainment.” But, “far be it from me to suggest that I
have all the answers. No one does.”

SHOULD DEBATE FOOTAGE BE SHARED MORE WIDELY?

MSNBC restricts Internet redistribution of debate; Joe Biden ignores them

The Democratic presidential contenders gathered for their first debate last week, a debate that MSNBC broadcast, webcast, and blogged. All well and good. But then MSNBC’s rules for reusing debate footage surfaced, and journalism guru Jeff Jarvis nearly burst an artery in his anger over the restrictions. Most egregious was MSNBC’s claim that no footage could be distributed on the Internet, but not far behind was the network’s claim that no one was allowed to use excerpts after May 26, 2007, and could not archive them, either.

MSNBC seems to have come down with the sort of amnesia that removes all memory of “fair use” for news reporting, criticism, and commentary, but it’s not a total disaster for citizens: the debate is archived and available in its entirety on the network’s website.

That’s not enough for Jarvis, who wants to see all the candidate responses chopped up and made available on YouTube or other outlets. He’s not the only one. Lawrence Lessig and 75 other signatories have sent a letter to the RNC and DNC, asking both parties to require that all future debates be made freely available using Creative Commons licenses. When you can convince everyone from Michelle Malkin to Arianna Huffington to sign onto something, true bipartisanship has officially been achieved.

NEW YORK MAGAZINE ON JUDITH MILLER’S NYT WAR COVERAGE

From a profile of Judy Miller in New York Magazine:

Her Iraq coverage didn’t just depend on Chalabi. It also relied heavily on his patrons in the Pentagon. Some of these sources, like Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz, would occasionally talk to her on the record. She relied especially heavily on the Office of Special Plans, an intelligence unit established beneath Undersecretary of Defense Douglas Feith. The office was charged with uncovering evidence of Al Qaeda links to Saddam Hussein that the CIA might have missed. In particular, Miller is said to have depended on a controversial neocon in Feith’s office named Michael Maloof. At one point, in December 2001, Maloof’s security clearance was revoked.

In April, Risen reported in the Times, “Several intelligence professionals say he came under scrutiny because of suspicions that he had leaked classified information in the past to the news media, a charge that Mr. Maloof denies.” While Miller might not have intended to march in lockstep with these hawks, she was caught up in an almost irresistible cycle. Because she kept printing the neocon party line, the neocons kept coming to her with huge stories and great quotes, constantly expanding her access.

Time Warner Investors Seek Icahn’s Influence

Dissident investor Carl Icahn’s view that Time Warner should be broken up still has currency on Wall Street. CEO-in-waiting Jeff Bewkes may take aggressive action about the media giant’s structure, as the Internet clouds the future prospects of film, television and magazines