Fundamentals of Interactive Journalism

In these economically harrowing times, I think we need to all be a little more positive, which is why we shouldn’t give Blagojevich such a hard time. Sure, the guy was caught on tape trying to sell Obama’s vacated Senate seat to the highest bidder. But what about all the conversations where he wasn’t trying to elicit bribes? I bet if you looked at all his phone calls, he’s only belligerent and threatening people in, like, 25 percent of them.

To illustrate the point, I was able to get my hands on a few Blago conversations I bet you haven’t heard. Here is one of him speaking with his daughter, Amy:

Blago: Hey pumpkin.

Amy: Hey daddy.

Blago: What did you do today at school?

Amy: I drew a picture of a unicorn.

Blago: I love unicorns!

Amy: Me too!

What a sweetheart. Or how about this one with his wife, Patricia:

Patricia: Hey dear, would you mind picking up some ice cream on the way home?

Blago: What kind?

Patricia: Hmm, Rocky Road.

Blago: Shoot, I’m at the store now, and they only have Chunky Monkey. You know what, I’ll just go to the place across the street. I know they have it.

How considerate!

Before we throw the book at the guy, just remember, his glass may be 25 percent full of pure evil, but it’s also 75 percent full of love. Lord knows we need more of that bleeping stuff.

Several things went through my mind after I heard the news about the Iraqi journalist throwing both his shoes at George Bush. How do most Iraqis feel about the situation? What does this say about the stability of the country? Will the Iraqi government’s response to the incident threaten their burgeoning journalistic freedoms? And, most importantly, how long until someone creates a flash game where you throw shoes at W!?

Question answered, my friends:

http://blogslut.com/gwbshoethrow.html

I have become increasingly aware of complaints about liberal media bias since starting journalism school. The statistics most often cited show the number of journalists who are registered Democrats or identify as liberal.

Now, I am willing to admit many reporters are liberal. But this is not proof of bias, and, most importantly, downplays the role of big business in shaping our media world.

Perhaps the largest factor influencing our press is corporate ownership. In the early ‘80s about 50 companies owned the majority of our news. Thanks to the easing of ownership rules, the number is down to 5. The biggest event in our lifetimes of media deregulation is the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The act gave away the publicly owned digital spectrum to corporations for little to nothing. It also allowed for radio consolidation, paving the way for conservative Clear Channel to buy up over 1200 stations across the country. Media monopolization means there are fewer and fewer people deciding what news is disseminated to the public.

The Internet has increased the number of alternate viewpoints, to be sure, but there has already been action to create a two-tiered Web, where the cost to run on the high-speed spectrum would push most smaller blogs and websites to the digital wilderness.

Another pernicious influence on journalism is adverting. Companies often use the pressure of pulling ads to influence stories they see as hurting their business. We have also seen increasingly “news stories” turned into little more that propaganda pieces. For example, ABCNews.com aired a package about Pearl Harbor before its parent company Disney released the movie. The half-hour Webcast mixed historical footage and interviews with the movie’s director and leading actors.

Building and keeping relationships with power brokers is something all successful journalists have been able to do. But in order to keep these relationships reporters often feel pressure to not write unflattering articles about them. During the lead up to the Iraq war, Judith Miller penned a number of stories reinforcing the White House’s story about Saddam Hussein developing weapons of mass destruction. Miller’s only sources were people within the Executive Branch, like Karl Rove. There is no doubt in my mind she did this to maintain her close ties to those in power. What she gained in access the American people lost in accountability and truthful reporting.

And perhaps the biggest issue facing the American media is not bias but a lack of transparency. Every news source has its own agenda. Being honest about how that agenda influences its stories is paramount. No matter how “objective” a journalist tries to be, their stories will always be shaped — whether consciously or not — by their value system. Through fostering a diversity of voices who are more honest about their perspective, we can at least help the American people get their information from a number of sources from across the political spectrum. For a country that prides itself on an unfettered marketplace, this seems like something every American should agree upon.

In a few short months I will turn the big 3-0 — I can’t wait. I’m probably way too old to be cool anymore anyway, but turning 30 will finally put a nail in that coffin. And thank god. It’s just way too expensive and time consuming to keep up with the latest bands and fashion trends. In just a short while, I’ll have these types of conversations to look forward to:

“Have you heard the new Tobacco album?”

“No, I’m 30.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”

Well, I’m not sorry. Focusing on yourself for ten years is long enough. After a while, it is nice to have other people to feel responsibility towards as well. Not that I am in a big hurry to have kids or anything, but I am becoming increasingly aware of an entire world outside of my own little universe.

And now when someone tries to get me to adopt some ridiculous fashion trend, I have a ready-made excuse: “I’m sorry, I’m way too old for that.” Just try to get me into skinny jeans and boat shoes! I know I already invalidated my being able to opine on such things, but boat shoes, really? Really!?

Here is something else I just thought of, people in their 30s can be great writers. David Foster Wallace published Infinite Jest when he was 34. Dave Eggers (don’t hate) has written most of his oeuvre while in his thirties. They were both still youthful, but had enough life experience to actually have some interesting things to say.

So, 3-0 here I come! When you see me after March 22nd next year just try and ask what I think about Deerhoof. You’ll probably get an answer like, “I love deer. Taking walks in nature can be a transcendent experience.” While you recoil in horror, I will have a smile on my face, because I won’t care what you think anymore. Unless, of course, you are cool and in your twenties, in which case I’ll probably start to feel really damn old.

“Latte-drinking Northeastern liberal elites” is a cliché you hear endlessly from people like Sarah Palin. It is used to show how out of touch us East Coasters are with “the real America”. The heartland, where everyone is a straight talker and free from the evils of moral relativism. The Norman Rockwell painting to our Sodom and Gomorrah, if you will.

I’m not sure which stereotype is more obnoxious and simplistic. But what really bothers me is the notion of the East Coast as un-American. It’s been a couple years since my high school civics class, but wasn’t this country founded by a certain 13 colonies, most of which were located in the Northeast!? Wasn’t it the Northeastern beliefs in religious tolerance, just taxation and federalism that helped form the bedrock of our American values? I know Palin is probably skeptical of that Charles Darwin character, but even she should be able to see how her own belief system evolved from our American Garden of Eden.

So, Sarah Palin, hate on us all you want, but just don’t forget where you come from. I know this must be hard for you, and a little like when Luke Skywalker discovered Darth Vader was really his father, but I promise we are all not that bad. In fact, you might find we actually have a lot in common. Many of us are quite religious and hate big government bureaucracy.

I would even be willing to drive you around our beautiful environs for a weekend. I think once you see the fall foliage and rustic quaintness of our New England towns you might even begin to like us a little. Heck, I bet I could get you to start drinking cappuccinos.

Just make sure you get in touch with me at least a week before you come. I wouldn’t want our trip to conflict with my monthly key party, vegan potluck or Noam Chomsky book club meeting.

Advertising has a knack of co-opting all that stands in opposition to it. This is no different with ironic skewering of Madison Avenue. Urban Outfitters sells ersatz retro t-shirts with slogans like “getting lucky in Kentucky”. What was once satire of slogans is now ironic slogan for consumerism.

Where does this leave our counter culture –- if such a thing even exists anymore? Do we battle the co-option of irony with yet another level of irony? Think Stuff White People Like. Or do we try and engender more earnestness?

I tend to go for the latter. Oftentimes the first level of irony is hard enough to grasp without adding another layer. There is only so meta you can get and still reach a broad swath of people. When I say young people should be more civically engaged I do so without cynicism. I really do think we can make a difference in the world! It is easy to be smug and snide. It is much harder to posit your own beliefs.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love biting sarcasm and satirizing American politics and culture as much as the next Brooklyn 20-something, but when the snark becomes affected attitude rather than a tool for pointing out hypocrisy and absurdity it becomes tiresome.

Can I subvert corporate capitalism through my clothing choices and sardonic detachment? Probably not. Can I register people to vote by sincerely telling them why I think it is important? Most definitely.

Because of the anxiety and alienation caused by modern society, people yearn for authentic interaction and a sense of belonging –- whether they consciously realize it or not. This is part of the reason millions of us join social networking sites. The co-opted cynical detachment about playing the role of consumer can make us realize the human desire for meaningful connection and action. In other words, the very forces that separate us provide an opportunity to bring us together, which, if you think about it, is kind of ironic.

I used to worry that religious zealots had taken over the Republican party. Now I see that it is really economic ones who have done the hijacking. It is a brand of fundamentalism just as dangerous.

With the holes in our economic ship so clearly visible that even our denier-in-chief can see them, congressional Republicans are gumming up the works of a bailout plan. They so desperately want to keep their faith in unfettered markets that they are willing to let our entire economy tank.

“This massive bailout is not the solution. It is financial socialism, and it is un-American,” Sen. Jim Bunning (R., Ky.) was quoted as saying in a Philadelphia Enquirer story.

Socialism, eh? Like the kind of socialism that was employed after the savings and loan crisis of the ‘80s and early ‘90s? That one cost taxpayers over 124 billion.

Yet again, we are shown the disastrous effects of deregulation. Our once vaunted investment banks now seem like little more than loan sharks who were pushing sketchy mortgage deals.

We have become a nation of debt and risky investment. The federal government is in the red by over 9 trillion dollars. According to CNN, American families with at least one credit card are more than $9,000 dollars in debt. Every time I get my mail there is another envelope promising me low interest rates. When I shop at a retail store, I am offered a “savings card”.

With no control over the interest rates for most credit cards, many Americans have seen their monthly payments skyrocket to 20 or 30 percent of their balance. With declining wages, inflation and a grim job market it is almost impossible for many to get out of debt.

Our most lauded financial institutions are setting no fine example. We need a national spending plan. There should be mandatory classes for financial responsibility that starts in high school. The next generation has to learn how credit cards work and the value in not blowing half their paycheck on material goods that no one needs.

Our founding fathers were inspired by a philosophy based in logic, temperance and universal rights. They knew firsthand the dangers of strict dogma, whether religious or economic.

“Banking establishments are more dangerous than standing armies.” That’s not a quote from Karl Marx, but rather Thomas Jefferson. He understood the risks in letting private firms invest any way they saw fit with no oversight.

It is time we do the same.

Apparently, vampires are the new vampires. According to Rolling Stone, these seductive creatures of the night are – yet again – all the rage. Their evidence is the nascent HBO series True Blood, vamp novel Twilight and Tim Burton making a film adaptation of Dark Shadows. I’ve seen True Blood and love that it shows how Americans can stereotype an entire group of people by, you know, stereotyping an entire group of people: namely those dumb drunkard Southern rubes. Oh the sweet, sweet irony.

Here are five other vampire ideas for someone with more entrepreneurial spirit than myself to cash in on:

1. The afro-indie-boat-shoe-wearing band Vampire Weekend star in a realty show about their experiences in the music business. And here is the twist: they actually are vampires. Also, there should be a none-to-subtle message about how it is the music corporations that are sucking the life force out of the American zeitgeist.

2. Remember Muppet Babies? Vampire babies! They’re cute and unintentionally funny, and they will drain your blood.

3. Vampires are metaphors for our repressed sexual desires. And, as those ribald puppets from Avenue Q so eloquently put it, the Internet is for porn. So…iamgoingtosuckyourbloodporn.com. It’s available, I checked.

4. Take a stroll down St. Marks Place in the East Village on any given Saturday and you will see lots of 14-year-old goth kids (think eye shadow, baggy black pants and spiky hair). I haven’t see any of them rocking fake vampire K9’s. Set up a little booth on St. Marks and Third Avenue and you’re all set.

5. Tom Cruise starred in Interview With The Vampire and he is rarely seen in public and he turned Katie Holmes into a soulless ghost of her former self. Ergo Mr. Cruise is living off the warm red sauce. I’m sure the National Enquirer would pay good money for that juicy little scoop.

In preparation for the inexorable vampire backlash, I am already getting into werewolves. Look for me sporting a silver bullet necklace and playing Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London on the old jukebox.

Here’s a little ditty to get the juices flowing:

There are conflicting stories about what stage the demolition of Green Church in Bay Ridge is at. During the Brooklyn Community Board 10 meeting last night several people stated the church could be torn down any day. Searching through the Department of Buildings website I was able to find the demolition filing. The status is listed as “E AP-NPE”, which according to a glossary on DOB’s website means the request has been filed but the plans have not been approved yet by the city.

There is no mention of how long the process may take, but it appears the church will be around for at least the immediate future.