Friday, August 05, 2005

A.O. Scott calls The Dukes of Hazzard movie "a white-face minstrel show, which happily traffics in stereotypes, hoping that the people being made fun of -- white, rural Southerners -- will laugh along instead of picketing or writing angry letters." Not picketing or angry, TV PhotogBlog. 11:46:42 AM   permalink   comment []

Truth in media: despite what you may read, Bob Novak did not storm off the set on CNN yesterday after uttering a barnyard epithet -- he left calmly and quietly, which was much weirder to watch. 11:39:51 AM   permalink   comment []

Professor warns against blog hype. Blogs are indeed a democratic wonder -- the first instance in human history where an ordinary individual can communicate her or his thoughts to the entire planet, instantly, and without editing by the elites of journalism or government. They provide a real service, as a complement and a watchdog to the mainstream sources of information and analysis. But the cause of blogging is not helped by unwarranted and blind enthusiasm about their success that ignores the threats to their authenticity and independence. Not exactly news, but worth repeating from time to time, I suppose. 11:32:28 AM   permalink   comment []

Lorraine Ahearn gave a shout-out in this morning's column (scroll down) to the Y-Bler Buonya Scholarship Fund. I plan on supporting this thing with a donation, I hope you will, too. If you like the idea, suggest it on your own blog and ask people to write "blog" on the memo line of their checks (I couldn't find an online donation option at the Community Foundation site, unfortunately). Here's more info on the scholarship and Y-Bler. Checks go to: The Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro Attn: Y-Bler Buonya Scholarship Fund P.O. Box 20444 Greensboro, NC 27420 10:22:23 AM   permalink   comment []

Brad & Britt debate: the lawyer for NCBCPS, Mike Johnson, says they can't release the names of school districts using the program because they would be hounded by the ACLU. The professor, Chancey, has some facts but is not a great debater. The hardest punch comes with a call-in from Temple Emanuel's Rabbi Fred Guttman, who says Johnson's Jewish reference, Daniel Lapin, is not representative of Jewish thought but a pet of the "religious right." 9:04:08 AM   permalink   comment []

Lenslinger points to this interesting piece by Eric Deggans about the atomizing media market and its impact on the way we perceive news. 8:52:18 AM   permalink   comment []

Reading Friedman for Greensboro: He really doesn't like the new energy bill. It's porky ("The sum of all lobbies") and makes no serious attempt to push energy independence. "It seems as though only a big crisis will force our country to override all the cynical lobbies and change our energy usage. I thought 9/11 was that crisis. It sure was for me, but not, it seems, for this White House, Congress or many Americans. Do we really have to wait for something bigger in order to get smarter?" 8:42:32 AM   permalink   comment []