New York Times

Former Reporter Amber Lyon Exposed Massive Censorship at CNN

From this video, you can link to the full interview with Amber Lyon, who was a reporter from CNN who realized that “nice girls rarely go down in history.”

This is just one person who was involved with the MSM that came forward saying that the government and her company were hellbent on keeping the truth from the American citizens. Still feel that CNN is a credible news source?

FOX : Media ignoring issues that matter most to Americans?

FOX : Media ignoring issues that matter most to Americans?

Perhaps, an unintentional piece on irony.  FOX news decides that the mainstream media is biased… From April 9, 2013. 

Student Debt

Yes, MSM did report on the “milestone” of US student debt increasing to over one trillion dollars.  They get a cookie for that, but only an oatmeal raisin (you know, the ones where the raisins totally look like chocolate chips).  But, they ignored a “promising solution.”  

Here, CNN and NBC’s pieces on the topic of student loan debt. 

However, as stated by Project Censored, student loan debt is the only form of consumer loan debt that has increased substantially since 2008.  The threat of massive student loan defaults requiring another taxpayer bailout is a systemic risk as serious as the bank failures that brought the US economy to the brink of collapse in 2008.  The Federal Reserve could introduce a new quantitative easing program to remove student loan debt, giving the economy a boost similar to that created by the G.I. Bill.  (Source)

That’s just a basic summary of Project Censored’s findings.  From there, they give readers links to sources with great reporting on the truth (and mess) of debts created by these loans.  

As stated on AlterNet, “even if by some miracle our unemployed and underemployed debt-laden graduates–” oh yeah, did I mention that nearly a third of college graduates are working jobs that don’t even require a degree? Well, that’s true, too (you don’t hear that that much, right?) –“all win decent jobs tomorrow, they money they make will go into paying off these now-delinquent loans instead of anything productive for the economy as a whole.  Banks will continue to see massive profits, in other words.”

The one “deep pocket” that could ease most of the pain for these students that comes up in these articles from non-MSM sites:  the Federal Reserve.  I mean, they did remove $1.3 trillion in toxic assets from the books of Wall Street…so….

So basically, what we have here is a mess.  A big one.  A vicious cycle that includes intelligent young men and women having no other options but to move back in with their parents, delay buying a house or a car, put off marriage and children, etc…all because they are already buried beneath such debt from loans that were supposed to be helpful and worth it.  (Hello, recipe for depression.)

Anyway, the bottom line here (since I can go on and on) is that this aspect of the crisis is highly under reported.  We’re told there’s no logical way out besides putting our lives on hold.  

Source

 

 

 

 

American MSM

American MSM

A Prezi that just scrapes the surface of issues in MSM as brought up by Project Censored, an academic organization that puts together comprehensive lists each year of notable news stories that are deliberately ignored or severly under-reported by the American media.  

 

Beginning of Next Project

Beginning of Next Project

Just a few TIME Magazine covers showing the differences between the U.S. and around the world. What do you think?

Barely Scraping the Surface of the Steubenville Rape Case

As a self-declared feminist, a media scrutinizer  and someone who knows how traumatizing rape can be (side note: I was never raped, but I can (unfortunately) say I know several women who have been and have listened to their horrific stories), I was particularly engulfed with the rape case out of Steubenville, Ohio.

There are countless images and posts around the internet (especially today, just hours after the guilty verdict for the two young “promising” football players) from people spewing their opinions on the case.

 

Notice how MSM are focusing on what the rapists are going through?  First off, reporters and networks should be unbiased, but if you’re going to say anything, anything at all about what the people involved are feeling–why, oh why, do you choose to sympathize with the men accused of rape and not even utter one mention of what the victim must be going through?   Why are you going to say it’s difficult to watch these young men sit in court–they are the ones that put themselves there.  Why are you saying that their lives are destroyed?  What about the young woman–no, the countless women each year–who have to suffer with reliving their rape each and every day?

I can probably go on and on.  For everyone’s current sanity, I will refrain.

Instead, read these:

• This is a blog post by Michael Crook, whose background I admit I don’t know much about, in which he sympathizes with the young men and tries to blame the victim.  While reading it, I was waiting and waiting for him to stop and say “I’M JUST KIDDING!!” but was never given the satisfaction.  And even if he were “joking” and just writing to stir up commotion–it doesn’t make it right.  In other words, his words pissed me off. 
• This is about Alexandria Goddard, who screen-shotted much of the Twitter conversations that “complicated” the case.  I kind of want to give her a high five.  

 

Feel free to form your own opinions, but let me leave you with this:

Rape is rape,

Regardless of what the victim is wearing.

Rape is rape,

Regardless of where the victim is.

Rape is rape,

Regardless of what the victim is drinking.

Rape is rape,

Regardless of what the victim is doing.

Rape is rape,

Regardless of how much of a show the rapists put on in court.

 

 

 

Blackout Poem

“use profanity. wear a leather jacket, and Shades. put out. disrespect liars. keep hope. release the balloons.”

I posted a video of Austin Kleon, who’s the author of “Steal Like an Artist”, in which he brings up newspaper blackout poems. As someone who identifies with creative, I have been intrigued by this art since I first heard about it a couple years ago. I must admit, I stole a few extra copies of Shoofly (KU’s literary magazine…sorry) and made some from my peers’ words.

But, I’m just posting this one, which I believe is one by Austin Kleon, although I’m not 100% sure on that, because I just adore its simplicity and its message.

Austin Kleon, author “Steal Like An Artist” Interview

More on Culture Jamming

It was brought up on page 84 of Alternative & Activist New Media that culture jamming has become a standard feature in pop culture.  Its ironic, parodic, “in on the joke” quality and pastiche have been appropriated by a number of mainstream entertainment programs, such as: The Simpsons (whose “Lisa the Iconoclast” episode I have actually been tested on in my Culture & Media class a few years ago… you can watch the episode here), Family Guy, American Dad, The Daily Show, and the Colbert Report.  And as we all know (or at least should have figured out by now…) I kinda sorta love the idea of culture jamming, so I figured I’d explore a little more.

Shows like The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and the Colbert Report smartly utilize your typical 5 o’clock news style (down to the dramatic music and overly-enthused attitudes) to get their points across.  And, from a previous post here, we know that the most successful jams use the same medium as the target.  As stated in this article I found, The Colbert Report writers and comedians disseminate dissident interpretations of current political events, potentially jamming the transmission of the dominant political brand message.  Like other culture jammers, The Colbert Report subversively employs emotional and aesthetic modalities similar to those employed by political branding itself, thus interrupting it from within.  Unlike many culture jammers, however, The Colbert Report’s reliance on a humorous version of parody means that they can add their voices to the conversation in a seemingly innocuous way (after all, it’s just a joke).

That same article goes on to explain how, according to Lasn, the primary goal of many culture jammers is détournement, which is a French term that literally translates to “a turning around.”  Makes sense.  Jammers want to “turn around” the image or idea or conversation.

But animated shows do things a little differently.  They can’t rely on real people wearing nice suits and a smile to mock current events or popular culture.  So they primarily use satire to ridicule and criticize, but, as any good jam hopes to accomplish, much of the audience is unaware of the “prank.”  See above link to The Simpsons for an example episode.  Another episode that comes to mind?  Family Guy‘s FCC Censorship episode.  You know, the one where Peter is upset with the FCC enforcing strict censorship laws on television so he creates his own network which eventually gets shut down by none other than the FCC.  It proves, to me at least, that the show is a little more than toilet humor and poorly timed jokes.