Jonathan Pie, TV Reporter! The Queen’s Speech

The Tory Manifesto But With All The Gristle Trimmed Off

First the journalism, then the news.

Posted on June 26, 2017

‘Maybe The Worst FCC I’ve Ever Seen’

By Michael Winship/BillMoyers.com

In just a few short months, the Trump wrecking ball has pounded away at rules and regulations in virtually every government agency. The men and women the president has appointed to the Cabinet and to head those agencies are so far in sycophantic lockstep, engaged in dismantling years of protections in order to make real what White House strategist Steve Bannon infamously described as “the deconstruction of the administrative state.”
The Federal Communications Commission is not immune. Its new chair, Republican Ajit Pai, embraces the Trump doctrine of regulatory devastation. “It’s basic economics,” he declared in an April 26 speech at Washington’s Newseum. “The more heavily you regulate something, the less of it you’re likely to get.”

His goal is to stem the tide of media reform that in recent years has made significant progress for American citizens. Even as we rely more than ever on digital media for information, education and entertainment, Pai and his GOP colleagues at the FCC seek to turn back the clock and increase even more the corporate control of cyberspace.

Posted on June 20, 2017

Papering Over Poverty

By Jonathan Pie

“I assume the $370 million you’re about to spend on Buckingham Palace includes a sprinkler system.”

Posted on June 19, 2017

Take Your Photo With Adam West!

By Steve Rhodes

At Beachwood Fest.
We’re making it happen.
You’re all invited.

Posted on June 13, 2017

Jonathan Pie, TV Reporter! Election Carnage

A Lesson From The UK

Populism works both ways, it’s not all right-wing. It can go to the left as well.

Posted on June 12, 2017

How TV Cultivates Authoritarianism – And Helped Elect Trump

By James Shanahan and Michael Morgan/The Conversation

Many gallons of ink (and megabytes of electronic text) have been devoted to explaining the surprise victory of Donald Trump.
Reasons range from white working-class resentment to FBI Director James Comey’s decision to reopen the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigation to low turnout. All likely played some role. It would be a mistake to think the election turned on one single factor.
However, a study we conducted during the campaign – just published in the Journal of Communication – suggests an additional factor that should be added into the mix: television.

Posted on June 9, 2017

Broadcast Impartiality Rule Has Helped Labor To Achieve Biggest Poll Shift Since 1945

By Justin Lewis/The Conversation

At the beginning of the UK general election campaign it looked as if it might be the most lop-sided contest since 1945. Polls showed the Labor party lagging behind the Conservatives by between 16 and 22 points, a level of Tory supremacy that – even according to those pollsters that showed the narrowest margin – surpassed their landslide victory in 1983, when the Conservatives won by 15 points (42.4% of the popular vote to Labor’s 27.6%).
After the second week of the campaign all the polling companies – ComRes, ICM, Kantar, Opinium, ORB, Survation and Yougov – reported numbers that added up to what the renowned psephologist David Butler has called the biggest poll shift in any election campaign since 1945. The Conservative lead was cut dramatically to between 5 and 14 points. This has since narrowed further to a lead of between one and 12 points.
While this range could still give the Conservatives a comfortable majority, it opened up a possibility that was unthinkable at the beginning of the campaign – the idea that the government could lose its overall majority.
We have also seen a dramatic shift in the perception of the party leaders. Before the campaign, polls showed strong approval ratings for Theresa May’s party leadership and very negative ratings for Jeremy Corbyn. By May 25-26, YouGov reported a narrowing of the gap between them, but May still had a positive rating of +9 while Corbyn’s was -28 (a 37 point gap in favor of May). But by June 1-2, Corbyn’s rating had actually moved slightly ahead of May’s (Corbyn -2 to May’s -5).
Anyone familiar with research about the complex relationship between media coverage and public opinion will know that significant changes in public perceptions generally take place over a much longer period. So whatever the result on Friday morning, how do we explain this remarkably rapid shift?

Posted on June 7, 2017