balanced and fair: Geist on copyright reform
Grok Headline matches for balanced and fair: Geist on copyright reform
Fair and Balanced?
Fair and Balanced?
10/28/2003 11:07 PMBill Gates recently got together with Steve Mills from IBM and
demonstrated some web services interoperability between our two
companies' products. It has taken awhile to get to this point,
from the initial hype to the point where some of these key scenarios
work without smoke and mirrors; so it is nice to see a "status report"
like this.
The first response I saw came in the form of this shrill attack
piece run on CNET. The author seems stuck in the last
century, when people still bought the big lie about "write once run
anywhere". He fails to explain how "runs only on Java" is
significantly different from "runs only on Windows", and completely
misses the point that most enterprises have to support both
types of systems (and many more) and therefore place a high priority
on interop.
The attack piece brought back fond memories of the days when Bob
Metcalfe and Jai Singh (now managing editor at CNET) were together at
the helm of Infoworld. Then I saw another analysis in
CNET, covering the same interop event, but surprisingly balanced,
at least in comparison to the first piece. Finally, I found yet another
analysis on CNET, again covering the same event; and this one is
positively glowingly accurate!
What to make of it? A single presentation by Bill Gates
inspires three different pieces in CNET which cover the whole spectrum
of opinion. Can't complain about that.
~
Tragically, politics shuts down
John Poindexter's data mining program. It seems that only
Safeway is allowed to collect that sort of information about U.S.
citizens.
Fair and Balanced
Fair and Balanced
05/04/2004 09:16 PMRead this Editorial titled Leader: iTunes ain't what it used to be
from Silicon.com. If you're like me you'll see many glaring errors.
Let's start...
Fox New: Is "Fair and Balanced"
"ridiculous"?
Fox New: Is "Fair and Balanced"
"ridiculous"?
07/18/2004 06:39 PM"Is 'Fair and Balanced' ridiculous?" So opened the
FOX News
Watch segment examining
Robert Greenwald's
film,
OutFOXed. And
astonishingly, the uncontradicted view of FOX News Watch was "yes"! As
Neal Gabler put it,
"To say that this network promotes the Republican view ... is like
saying that the Pope is Catholic. It's self-evident ... pretty much
undeniable." But, he asks, as if he hadn't actually seen the film, "So
what?"
So what? Well first, start with the question that opened the segment:
Fox says it is "Fair and Balanced." If it is "self-evident" that it is
not, then I guess we agree then that it is "ridiculous" to say that it
is. And second, "obviously" media critics get this about Fox. Anyone
who critically watches Fox gets this about Fox. But as one questioner
at the San Francisco opening put it, for those who aren't media
critics, and for those who don't actually watch Fox, just how
"ridiculous" Fox's claim is is something significant. My bet is that a
cross-section of FOX viewers would be surprised just how false Fox's
claims actually are.
The discussion opened with
Jim
Pinkerton of Newsday calling the film "dull and didactic." He then
asserted that the film says that media networks are "either worse than
the Mafia that ran Cuba in the 1950s or worse than the Soviet Union."
When I heard him say that, I understood why he saw the film as "dull
and didactic": if this is his view, he didn't really watch the film.
The opening allusion to the Mafia comes from
Robert McChesney, where he
compares how the Mafia carved up Cuba with how the government carves
up media ownership -- nothing to do with the media being "worse than
the Mafia." The allusion to the Soviet Union, also McChesney's, again
had nothing to do with Pinkerton's claim. McChesney's claim was simply
that propaganda is most effective when the audience is unaware --
unlike in the Soviet Union.
The other simple fabrication of Pinkerton was that the film comprised
"two or three disgruntled employees." That's true if by "two or three"
you mean seven (
four
listed here; three requested anonymity). But the more fundamental
fabrication is the suggestion that the film's claims are based on
nothing more than the word of "two or three disgruntled employees."
The film has five independent sources for its "self-evident," as
Grabler puts it, conclusion: (1) former Foxies, (2) Fox memos
(unmentioned by anyone on the show), (3) independent studies of Fox
viewers, (4) media commentators, and (5) clips from Fox shows.
Cal
Thomas -- who was one of the people in the film -- found the film
flawed because it "ignored the many Democrats I've had on my show."
Again, not true. The movie never asserts that there are no Democrats,
or liberals on the show. It just asserts -- not denied by Thomas --
that the "balance" is "unbalanced." Indeed, in one of the best parts
of the film, Greenwald reports a media group that studied months of
Brit Hume's "Special Report" and found over 80% of the guests on that
premier show were Republican -- and that most of the Democrats were
centrists. Not balanced, and not a fair picture of the facts reported.
Thomas goes on (with his wonderful announcer voice -- I love listening
to him) to say something extraordinary however. Here's the quote:
"I think the reason that this network looks so Republican
... is by contrast on [sic] what the others do. If you went and did --
as the Media Research Center has done -- clips of what is said on the
broadcast networks ... you would find an enormous tilt to the left. So
by contrast it looks conservative."
I think we need more
Media Research Centers on
both the Left and Right and -- imagine this -- even without a
political agenda! But I've not seen that they've put together "clips"
as Greenwald has. And again, the film is comparing what Fox News
actually is to what Fox News says it is.
Jane
Hall (Who? She's an assistant professor in the School of
Communication at American University) complained the film was flawed
because it left "out any evidence to the contrary." There were plenty
of liberals on Fox she said -- for example, she said, she was a
liberal. She also mentioned Jeff Cohen, cofounder of
FAIR, was on Fox News Watch "for five
years."
Jeff Cohen? Actually, the movie not only doesn't ignore Jeff Cohen. He
is
one
of the most critical interviewees. And again, the film doesn't say
there are no liberals on Fox. The show instead reports
Clara
Frenk reporting that the "quality" of the liberals was far less
than the quality of the conservatives -- in the sense that the
liberals were either "unknown" or "weak."
Hall also repeated the total non-thought that has been framed around
this film -- that somehow the film is weak because it didn't get Roger
Ailes to respond. The film in fact has Roger Ailes stating Fox News
was to be a fair and balanced news program. It also has Roger Ailes
stating Fox News failed its viewers on election night by allowing
George Bush's cousin, on the basis of extremely weak data, to call the
election for Bush. But even if it didn't twice include Roger Ailes in
the film, the idea that before you release a film critical of someone
you must include their comment is inane. I've had many critical
reviews of my work published, some very intelligent, some others not.
Never has anyone asked me for my comment on their review before they
publish it. Indeed, to do so would be unethical.
But my favorite part of the whole show is the contrast between segment
one and segment two. The review of Outfoxed was in segment two.
Segment one was about -- I swear -- "Media bias." For a full segment,
Fox News Watch focused on a single statement by Newsweek's Evan
Thomas. As
Media
Research Center quotes him,
The media want Kerry to
win. They’re going to portray Kerry and Edwards as being young and
dynamic and optimistic, and this glow is going to be worth maybe 15
points."
This single quote by a single editor at a single
magazine apparently proves, according to the show, that liberal "media
bias" exists. Yet a film gathering (1) former Foxies, (2) Fox memos,
(3) independent studies of Fox viewers, (4) media commentators, and
(5) clips from Fox shows is, by contrast, "not that fairly put
together," said
Eric
Burns, the show's host.
I guess they would know. They're the trademark holder for the words
"Fair and Balanced" (at least until the
challenge to that
trademark gets resolved).
"Fair and balanced" polls
"Fair and balanced" polls
06/25/2004 01:34 PMA Fair and Balanced Review of the Mac
Mini
A Fair and Balanced Review of the Mac
Mini
02/05/2005 09:16 PMMac Mini: The
Emperor's New Computer: Attention: Before you rip the living hell
out of this guy, please remember that he went to DeVry. And
he has an MCSE.
The Mini boots up into a stripped-down operating system which Apple
calls OS X, similar to the stripped-down WindowsCE OS found on many
handhelds. The mini OS is going to be a significant hurdle for many
buyers who are used to Windows or have favorite Windows software
packages they need to use. Think of it more as a first computer for
your daughter or niece than as a machine to get any serious work done
and you’ll get the point of the Mini and its target market. It
might also be the perfect computer for grandmothers or autistic
children, for example.
Fair and balanced, at least 27 percent
of the time!
Fair and balanced, at least 27 percent
of the time!
03/14/2005 06:14 PMA new study crowns Fox News Channel the king of biased reporting.
Now your cell phone can be fair and
balanced, too
Now your cell phone can be fair and
balanced, too
07/23/2004 04:52 PMOutfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so
fair and balanced
Outfoxed: How Murdoch's network gets so
fair and balanced
07/12/2004 07:22 PMABC's 60 Minutes is absolutely not fair
and balanced
ABC's 60 Minutes is absolutely not fair
and balanced
11/03/2003 09:33 PMI spend a lot of Time watching Fox news and stay away from the heavily
liberal biased ABC, NBC, CBS...
Making American Forces Radio fair and
balanced
Making American Forces Radio fair and
balanced
06/24/2004 08:07 AMAs Rush Limbaugh cries foul, the Senate moves toward loosening the
right-wing propagandist's stranglehold on the military's airwaves.
Dingell Joins Republicans to Protest
CBS's Mini-Series "The Reagans": Demands
"Fair and Balanced" Portrayal of 40th
President
Dingell Joins Republicans to Protest
CBS's Mini-Series "The Reagans": Demands
"Fair and Balanced" Portrayal of 40th
President
11/02/2003 03:12 AMCongressman John Dingell .. and much more .. his letter ..
letter
house.gov/dingell/10-29-03.html
track this
site | 5 links
Will copyright reform chill use of Web?
Will copyright reform chill use of Web?
06/01/2004 06:07 AMCanadaIT.com Jun 1 2004 9:35AM GMT
Copyright Reform to Free Orphans?
Copyright Reform to Free Orphans?
04/12/2005 05:25 AMThe authors of many great films, photos and music are long dead, but
their works can't be seen or heard for fear of copyright violations.
Now at last, the Copyright Office is researching how to return 'orphan
works' to the public domain. By Katie Dean.
Copyright reform conference in Vienna
this June
Copyright reform conference in Vienna
this June
05/14/2004 07:41 PMFree Bitflows is another upcoming free software/copyright reform
conference (along the lines of the
Berlin conference
I blogged this morning) that's taking place in Vienna this June.
Link
(
Thanks, Janko!)
321 Studios Advocates Fair Uses in
Digital Copyright Law
321 Studios Advocates Fair Uses in
Digital Copyright Law
11/12/2003 01:08 PMElectronic Frontier Foundations Nov 12 2003 6:30AM ET
Therapy breakthrough makes the case for
Save the Orphans copyright reform
Therapy breakthrough makes the case for
Save the Orphans copyright reform
04/09/2004 04:10 PMUPDATE: Props to Network World for linking to my story. To NWW
readers: Read on for a sad postscript. My latest feature for NurseWeek
concerns an innovative program that immerses cancer patients into
"virtual worlds" while receiving chemotherapy, to lessen...
Ottawa moves to restrict music sharing
with proposed copyright reform
Ottawa moves to restrict music sharing
with proposed copyright reform
03/26/2005 01:01 PMCanadian Press Mar 26 2005 5:03PM GMT
Copyright Cartel Versus Fair Use, Part
MMMCCXVII
Copyright Cartel Versus Fair Use, Part
MMMCCXVII
05/11/2004 09:12 AMFox News: Recordable
DVDs New Target of Hollywood. One former lawmaker said he
didn't realize that the DMCA would restrict digital-content copying to
the extent that it has. "I, like most members of Congress, had no
idea that what would be deemed to be fair use for books, CDs, and TV
programs is not the case for DVDs — and nobody intended that the
people that would enable you to make a single copy of a DVD should be
held criminally liable and go to jail and that's insane," Bob
Livingston (search), former U.S. Republican representative from
Louisiana and House Appropriations Committee chairman, told
Foxnews.com.
Insane, but it's the law Livingston and
his colleagues passed. Now a few brave members of Congress, led by
Virginia's Rick Boucher, are trying to redress the wrong they did in
the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act.
They've introduced something called the
Digital
Media Consumers' Rights Act (description of bill), a bill that has
no chance of passing at the moment but is worthwhile nonetheless. The
fact of the
bill (PDF
of full text), and a
hearing on Wednesday, provides evidence that the
long-needed pushback against the cartel is beginning to get some
traction.
But they're up against an entertainment industry that has just about
bought and paid for the Draconian laws now in place. The cartel is
drumming up support for its inflexible position, and you need to make
your own views known. The EFF has
som
e good suggestions. (If you email or fax a letter, I strongly urge
you to write it in your own words, rather than just copying the EFF's
language, because Congress is now well attuned to discount rafts of
identical letters. Individual letters get much more attention than the
cut-and-paste stuff.)
It's good to see former lawmakers like Livingston talking about how
they were snookered by the cartel, meanwhile. It won't make enough of
a difference to modify the terrible DMCA in any big way, not yet. but
it helps.
Caught by the Act: Digital Copyright Law
Ensnaring Businesses, Individuals Over
Fair Use
Caught by the Act: Digital Copyright Law
Ensnaring Businesses, Individuals Over
Fair Use
11/12/2003 01:08 PMWashington Post Nov 12 2003 7:24AM ET
Canadian Copyright Board allows
downloads, copyright levies
Canadian Copyright Board allows
downloads, copyright levies
12/14/2003 12:27 PM
The
Copyright Board of Canada
issued a ruling on
" private
copying ", largely via peer-to-peer computing, with several
components. First, downloading is acceptable, but uploading is not
(presumably to target hyperpirates). Second, new mechanisms for
levies were described, freezing current ones, allowing new
charges.
the Copyright Board said uploading or distributing
copyrighted works online appeared to be prohibited under current
Canadian law.
However, the country's copyright law does allow making a copy for
personal use and does not address the source of that copy or whether
the original has to be an authorized or noninfringing version, the
board said.
Balanced Passion
Balanced Passion
01/16/2004 11:33 AMWhat is more important in business today: Spirit or sobriety?
The Balanced Scorecard
The Balanced Scorecard
06/17/2005 03:20 PMCIO Jun 11 2005 7:42AM GMT
Efficiency must be balanced with
security
Efficiency must be balanced with
security
05/27/2004 09:35 PMComputer Weekly May 28 2004 1:07AM GMT
Bush gets checked and balanced
Bush gets checked and balanced
06/29/2004 08:43 AMThe Supreme Court rules against indefinitely locking up detainees --
and deals a mortal blow to the president's vision of his own limitless
power.
Super Science Fair Projects: Complete
Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics
and Experiments
Super Science Fair Projects: Complete
Guide to Science Fair Projects, Topics
and Experiments
05/24/2004 06:24 AMSuper Science Fair Projects: Complete Guide to Science Fair
Projects, Topics and Experimentshttp://www.super-sc
ience-fair-projects.com/Today your teacher announced
that your school is going to have a science fair and students are
responsible for exhibiting their projects. What do you feel?
Enthusiastic? Despondent? Dreadful? Fearful? Excited?" This statement
opens the Super Science Fair Projects site. Actually, whether student
or parent, science fair projects, while great ways to get students
actively involved in learning the scientific method and problem
solving, can be tough assignments. This site may help you with one of
the hardest parts: coming up with an idea. The site does a great job
of walking the visitor through the steps needed to plan and implement
a project, from Choosing a Topic, the Scientific Method, and writing
the Project Report. There are even tips on displaying your project,
rehearsing, winning over judges, and what to expect the day of the
fair. This is definitely a great tool to tap into when planning a
science fair project.[From The NSDL Scout Report for Math,
Engineering, and Technology, Copyright Internet Scout Project
1994-2003.
http://scout.wisc.edu/]
Precariously balanced atop Öolong
Precariously balanced atop Öolong
03/14/2005 06:29 PM
Peop
le of the pancake: "I see within us all (myself included)
the replacement of complex inner density with a new kind of self—evolving under the
pressure of information overload and the technology of the
'instantly available'. A new self that needs to contain less and less
of an inner repertory of dense cultural inheritance—as we all become
'pancake people'—spread wide and
thin as we connect with that vast network of information accessed
by the mere touch of a button." Writing on the
Edge,
Richard Foreman and George Dyson speculate on a 'thin-client' view of
the self where most cultural processing occurs not only somewhere
else, but by something else!
[reality checks provided by Kevin
Kelly, Jaron Lanier, Steven Johnson, Marvin Minsky and Douglas
Rushkoff, among others :] Linus swiped Linux from SCO, says
balanced study
Linus swiped Linux from SCO, says
balanced study
05/17/2004 03:07 PMInternet can be a means to finding
balanced life
Internet can be a means to finding
balanced life
04/17/2004 03:39 AMSeattle Times Apr 17 2004 8:22AM GMT
Poll: Balanced Budget Beats Tax Cuts
(AP)
Poll: Balanced Budget Beats Tax Cuts
(AP)
04/13/2004 07:36 PMAP - About six in 10, 61 percent, chose balancing the budget while 36
percent chose tax cuts when they were asked which was more important,
according to a poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos Public Affairs.
How to Perform a Balanced Evaluation or
Comparison Using a Matrix
How to Perform a Balanced Evaluation or
Comparison Using a Matrix
01/09/2004 09:52 PMPoll: Most People Prefer Balanced Budget
(AP)
Poll: Most People Prefer Balanced Budget
(AP)
04/13/2004 02:27 PMAP - About six in ten, 61 percent, chose balancing the budget while 36
percent chose tax cuts when they were asked which was more important,
according to a poll conducted for the AP by Ipsos Public Affairs.
Apple: fair play or failure to play
fair?
Apple: fair play or failure to play
fair?
08/07/2004 01:18 AM Is Apple playing fair or not? On the one hand, it's their device,
their music store, and their software.
Alien puppet Linus swiped Linux from
SCO, says balanced study
Alien puppet Linus swiped Linux from
SCO, says balanced study
05/17/2004 07:24 AMWell, almost...
Are You A Balanced Individual? Can You
Handle Life's Topsy-Turvy Leanings?
Are You A Balanced Individual? Can You
Handle Life's Topsy-Turvy Leanings?
12/04/2003 07:13 AMMarble Mayhem .. Too hard
spikything.plus.com/games/marblemayhem
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this site | 4 links
IBM Unveils Business Intelligence
Strategy for Balanced Performance in an
Analytic Environment
IBM Unveils Business Intelligence
Strategy for Balanced Performance in an
Analytic Environment
04/06/2005 03:48 PMClaudia Imhoff recently spoke with IBM's Karen Parrish in an exclusive
interview. [PRWEB Apr 6, 2005]
"the petition to make the Federal Trade
Commission and Congress must act to
prevent Fox News from using the
deceptive and misleading trademark 'Fair
and Balanced.'"
"
"the petition to make the Federal Trade
Commission and Congress must act to
prevent Fox News from using the
deceptive and misleading trademark 'Fair
and Balanced.'"
"
07/21/2004 02:44 AMHow to reform the FCC
How to reform the FCC
06/21/2004 07:26 AMEconomist Randolph May says the time is ripe to move the FCC to the
executive branch, where there will be more political accountability
for its actions.
reform-0.1
reform-0.1
09/13/2004 04:55 PMThe Register wants reform
The Register wants reform
06/24/2005 07:26 PMAccording to
Cathy
Kirkman of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati, the Register of
Coyprights
has
decided to propose abolishing the compulsory right granted by
section 115 of the Copyright Act. This is
the provision that gives recording artists the right to record
"covers," so long as they pay a specified fee.
Remember
this quote from a 1967 House Judiciary Report, considering a
modification to the law as it existed then:
[T]he record
producers argued vigorously that the compulsory license system must be
retained. They asserted that the record industry is a
half-billion-dollar business of great economic importance in the
United States and throughout the world; records today are the
principal means of disseminating music, and this creates special
problems, since performers need unhampered access to musical material
on nondiscriminatory terms. Historically, the record producers pointed
out, there were no recording rights before 1909 and the 1909 statute
adopted the compulsory license as a deliberate anti-monopoly condition
on the grant of these rights. They argue that the result has been an
outpouring of recorded music, with the public being given lower
prices, improved quality, and a greater choice.
Copyright Law Revision, Committee on the Judiciary, 90th Cong. 1st,
Sess., Rep. No. 83 66 (March 8, 1967).
Apparently the Registrer believes performers no longer "need
unhampered access to musical material on nondiscriminatory terms."
What progress.
Grok Description matches for balanced and fair: Geist on copyright reform
GrokA matches for balanced and fair: Geist on copyright reform
balanced and fair: Geist on copyright reform
