MSNBC wants to be like Fox

MSNBC President Phil Griffin told Chicago Tribune that he wants MSNBC to be more like Fox News in their content and shows. Basically, Griffin wants to be more partisan and opinionated in their shows. When asked about Roger Ailes, Fox News chief, and his work at Fox, Griffin says ,"he's changed media. Everybody does news differently because Roger's changed the world. Roger early on figured it out and was brillant." With Fox's increasing popularity, news networks are looking at Fox's news structure and content to see how they can emulate their success. I'm worried about news networks changing their format to fit a more "Fox model" in their news coverage. Should their be standards for balanced news and opinion within cable news networks like Fox and MSNBC?

More on filters and search engines

Like Google, Microsoft has vowed to protect freedom of expression around the world, however as a study from Open Net Initiative revealed Bing, Microsoft’s search engine, has a strict filter on information available in the Middle East. As the study suggests, Bing “filtered Arabic and English words for sexually explicit content along with queries related to gay, lesbian, bi-sexual or transgender material.” Unlike other censorship cases around the world, Bing’s filters are self-imposed and it has been argued that the search engine is more ‘prudish’ than many governments in the region. While committed to freedom and democracy, Bing might not be ready yet to ‘scandalize’ the Middle Eastern markets.

Google vs China

Governments around the world can control what their citizens have access to, through regional filters that block web sites with ‘sensitive’ information on search engines. As an article in the Asia Times details, in January, Google one of the biggest online companies stood up against the big guy, China, and decided that it was no longer going to censor its result on the Chinese Google.cn site. Last March Google made the threat effective and pulled out of China, rerouting Google.cn to the Hong Kong site, Google.com.hk. However as the New York Times suggests while admirable, Google’s decision of pulling out of the Chinese market might be a huge risk on business terms. The New York Times argues that the only winner in this dispute between the two giants will be Baidu the biggest Chinese search engine and Googles most fervent competitor in the region. The real question now is whether Google, that in the end is a corporation and by consequence is profit driven, will be able to uphold its commitment with freedom of expression in face of threats to the company’s business model?

Party Polarization in New Media

Rush Limbaugh wrote an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal expressing his anger towards the liberals opposition to conservative radio talk shows and expression in general. Limbaugh writes, "the Obama.Clinton/ media left are comfortable with the unrest in our society today. It allows them to blame and demonize their opponents (...talk radio, Fox News) in order to portray their regime as the great healer of all our ills, thus expanding their power and control over our society. A clear majority of the American people want no part of this...They love their country and want to save it from those who do not."

Talk radio, cable news shows, blogs, basically New Media in general have greatly polarized our country in bias news and partisan opinions. While New Media functions as a watchdog to government and the press, I think a very dangerous aspect of New Media is the intensity of opinions and hatred that is spewed from many prominent New Media figures from both parties.

Newspaper circulation down

The Huffington Post wrote an article about the decline in newspaper circulation in the United States. The top 25 US newspapers all saw a decrease in sales and readers, except for the Wall Street Journal. The Wall Street Journal, getting a lot of news today, because of their new additional section focusing on New York news. They are trying to rival the NYTimes in sales and circulation through their new section's advertisements and interests.

Reasons for decrease in newspaper circulation can be any number of issues. Internet for one, could lead newspaper readers to just look to online newspapers instead. Also, other online sources, such as blogs, twitter, and facebook may provide newspaper readers with direct specialized information about what interests them.

Think Again: The Internet

Foreign Policy published a comprehensive analysis of the role the Internet had had in promoting democracy around the world. From the disappointing results of democratic movements propelled by participatory media to the double standards of Google as a promoter of democracy around the world, Think Again: The Internet gives us a bleak picture of what the internet has actually done compared to its objectives of bringing the world closer together and ultimately guaranteeing freedom and peace around the world. As the article concludes “the Internet looks like a hypercharged version of the real world, with all of its promise and perils, while the cyber utopia that the early Web enthusiasts predicted seems ever more illusory.”

Fox news...crosses the line. what's new?

Media Matters posted some of the reactions from the various anchors and news sources of the proposed Arizona Immigration law. First, the Arizona immigration law will "require law enforcement to demand immigration papers of those they suspect to be in the country illegally, which many argue will lead to racial profiling." Of course, while newspapers like the NY Times or the Arizona Republic bash the proposed bill for it's embedded racism and discrimination towards Latinos, many Fox news anchors praised it for that very same quality. Fox has crossed the line. While reading the reactions of Fox anchors and newscasters, I cannot believe the ignorance they are spewing out to the public. It is NOT okay to racially profile people that could "fit" the description of an illegal immigrant aka Latinos. Fox news' motto, "Fair and Balanced", has time and again proven how bias and opinionated its programs can be.