swimming freestyle

Wear your seatbelt

This is a new public service advertisement from the "Embrace Life" group in the UK.  The advertisement's premise is from one of the organization's volunteers.

Cats re-enacting 'Lost'

I've written I didn't watch "Lost".  Well, more correctly, I watched the first episode and became hopelessly confused by half way through the second and ended up giving up after that.  But, I have to say, after reading some really interesting articles early this week on the final episode, I wondered if I shouldn't have dug a little deeper to hang in.

On the other hand, watching videos of cats re-enacting the series makes me think I probably made the right choice.

'Brown. It's the new green.'

A funny spoof of those "green" BP advertisements:

Print media's fact checking is popular

Fact checking the Sunday morning political news/interview shows has been a topic here for the last month - since ABC News and PolitiFact began fact checking "This Week".  So far, "Face the Nation" and "Meet the Press" have elected not to formally include fact checking on their programs.

But, via Greg Sargent, comes encouraging news that fact checking is not only alive and well in the  media, but a popular feature among readers.

Has anyone else noticed that the Associated Press has been doing some strong fact-checking work lately, aggressively debunking all kinds of nonsense, in an authoritative way, without any of the usual he-said-she-said crap that often mars political reporting?

I asked AP Washington Bureau Chief Ron Fournier about this, and he told me something fascinating, if not all together unexpected: Their fact-checking efforts are almost uniformly the most clicked and most linked pieces they produce.

"What we tend to forget in journalism is that we got in the business to check facts," Fournier says. "Not just to tell people what Obama said and what Gingrich said. It is groundless to say that Kagan is anti-military. So why not call it groundless? This is badly needed when people are being flooded with information."

At the end of the day, news sources need to be credible.  Those that actively strive for accuracy ought to be rewarded.

The 'better marriage blanket'

Wow, this is subtle.  The commercial is over a minute long and doesn't use the word "fart" once.

'George'

Do some fancy editing.  Add some melodramatic music.  You've got a whole new show.

'Great ideas just click'

A brilliant Lego promotional film from the Pereira O'Dell agency.

Lego "CL!CK" from a52 on Vimeo.

CBS's Schieffer passes on fact checking 'Face the Nation'

All four major television networks (ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox) have Sunday morning political interview shows.  PolitiFact has now been fact checking ABC's "This Week" show for a couple weeks.  David Gregory of NBC's "Meet the Press" has been resisting implementing fact checking and offered some bizarre reasons why he believes it's unnecessary.  (Note: there is now an online group, unaffiliated with NBC, that intends to fact check "Meet the Press")

The host of CBS's "Face the Nation", Bob Schieffer, was asked recently about fact checking and landed somewhere in between ABC and NBC:

Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' "Face the Nation," similarly described his role as "the front line on fact-checking," when a guest makes a dubious claim, he's there to ask follow-up questions. 

And if an inaccurate statement slips by, Schieffer said he expects that viewers and media-monitoring groups on the left and right will call attention to it quickly, noting that "everybody's welcome to fact-check us all they want." 

"I kind of think that by the time we get around to fact-checking," he added, "we'd already be fact-checked." (Link)

Well, Schieffer is probably right - the Sunday shows are often written about and errors and lies are, more often than not, exposed.  That, however, is very different from a news organization itself taking responsibility to insure their guests are truthful.  

Anyone want to wager whether Fox will begin fact checking "Fox News Sunday"?  Anyone want to wager they'll even be asked about it?

Who's the big 'left wing extremist'?

Salon's Joan Walsh was recently on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" show discussing incendiary talk in the media.  Watch the video:

I had two initial reactions.  The first was disgust at co-host Mika Brzezinski's childish mocking of Walsh.  I can be dense, but my second reaction was confusion: Who on the left is the equivalent of Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, et al?

The only one I could imagine they were hinting at was Keith Olbermann.  Given that Olbermann is also on MSNBC, that could explain their hesitancy to call him out. 

I watch "Countdown" occasionally, and I admit I sometimes have a problem with Olbermann.  There are times I find him way too vitriolic and over the top dramatic. I sometimes find I really appreciate the point he's making but cringe at the way he's doing it.  But Keith Olbermann is not even in the same league as Glenn Beck. 

Is he? 

The Daily Show/Fox News skirmish

If you haven't been following, Jon Stewart blasted Fox News last week for, on the one hand, complaining the media was unfairly generalizing about Tea Party members and, on the other hand, their nearly constant generalization of liberals as weak and elitist.

Monday evening, Bill O'Reilly had Bernie Goldberg on his program to reply to Stewart's accusation.  Goldberg started graciously, admitting he was wrong to generalize, then shifted into another attack on liberals and, finally, a pretty vicious and personal attack of Stewart.    

Last night, Jon Stewart decided to go another round with Fox:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Bernie Goldberg Fires Back
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

This will get tedious real fast if Fox decides to respond again.  And as much as I dislike Bill O'Reilly I can't help but have the feeling he's somewhat embarrassed by all this.  My sense is that O'Reilly knows Stewart landed a solid punch. 

For all the Fox News might - and they are indeed mighty - they are incredibly thin skinned.