Saturday, May 29, 2004

Web users to gain Creative Commons access to the BBC, by Graeme Wearden, ZDNet UK. 10:40:42 PM    comment []

Inside the Courtroom at the preliminary hearing on the RIAA's accusations concerning individuals accused of illegal file-sharing, Capital Records v. Alaujan, in Boston. By Mary Bridges. 11:38:49 AM    comment []

>From Kevin T's Benton Headlines: HOW PUBLIC IS PUBLIC RADIO?: A STUDY OF NPR'S GUESTLIST National Public Radio, though founded as an alternative media outlet that would "speak with many voices," relies on largely the same range of sources that dominate mainstream commercial news, a new FAIR study has found. Characterized by conservative critics as "liberal" radio, NPR has more Republican than Democratic voices, and male sources outnumber female sources by nearly four to one. Nine of the top 10 most-frequently used sources on NPR were white male government officials. (Secretary of State Colin Powell was the one exception.) The top seven sources were all Republicans. FAIR's study looked at every on-air source quoted in June 2003 on NPR's four main news shows: All Things Considered, Morning Edition, Weekend Edition Saturday and Weekend Edition Sunday. Think tank sources and regular commentators were analyzed over a four-month period. Results were compared to those from a 1993 FAIR study of NPR sources. [SOURCE: Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, AUTHORS: Steve Rendall and Daniel Butterworth] The FAIR Study of NPR is online, of course. Other notable findings include that: elite sources accounted for 64 percent of all sources current and former government officials constituted 28 percent of sources (military only three percent) seven percent of sources were journalists non-elite sources were actually greater in the current study than in 1993 but many non-elite sources were "people in the street" quoted only briefly (with more than one third not even named) 10 think tanks that were cited twice or more Representatives of think tanks to the right of center outnumbered those to the left of center by more than four to one: 62 appearances to 15 the most-quoted think tank was centrist Brookings There's also some interesting discussion of ideology and individual commentary on NPR in the report. 9:38:31 AM    comment []