Cracking The Chicagoland Code Episode 2: Fixing The Facts

By Tuffy And The Angry Aussie

Starring Billy Dreck as himself and Barbara Byrd-Bennett pleading for facts that CNN and its local fixer, Mark Konkol, apparently don’t know exist – and prove her wrong.

Posted on March 17, 2014

Tweeting Chicagoland | Episode 2: Brought To You By Allstate, Billy Dec & The Central Office

By Steve Rhodes

On one hand, the second installment of Chicagoland wasn’t quite as cringe-inducing as the debut because expectations had been lowered even further since the start of the “docu-series.” On the other hand . . . wow. This show needs an antidote, and we’re on it!

#Chicagoland should have left the schools reprting 2 Linda Lutton http://t.co/A6XIqCchUu & Sarah Karp http://t.co/qPRkV1fvse instead of CPS.

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 14, 2014

Posted on March 14, 2014

Dear Congress: End Illegal TV Station Ownership

By Free Press

In testimony before Congress on Wednesday, Free Press Policy Director Matt Wood spoke out against a House bill that would strip the Federal Communications Commission of its ability to crack down against serious and ongoing violations of its local television-station multiple ownership rule.
These violations take the form of illegal outsourcing agreements in dozens of U.S. broadcast markets, where one conglomerate creates shell companies to dodge station-ownership rules. For viewers this often results in a single team producing news and information for multiple stations.
“These violations harm competing businesses and diminish the number of competing viewpoints on our nation’s airwaves,” Wood wrote in his submitted testimony.
“They cause job losses, as broadcasters outsource the news and consolidate newsrooms. And they diminish the number of competing local newscasts, because stations subject to outsourcing agreements and de facto control by another broadcaster simply do not gather or air their own news.”

Posted on March 13, 2014

Cracking The Chicagoland Code 1: Docu-Series Or Docu-Wank?

Plus: RT vs. Fox and MSNBC

We discuss, you decide.

Posted on March 10, 2014

Tweeting Chicagoland | Episode 1: Oh My Lord, I Hate It Already

By Steve Rhodes

I don’t think I can go through a whole season of this.

Oh my lord, I hate it already. #Chicagoland

— Beachwood Reporter (@BeachwoodReport) March 7, 2014

Posted on March 7, 2014

Eighth-Grader Schools The NSA

By C-SPAN

C-SPAN on Wednesday announced the winners of the national 2014 StudentCam documentary competition.
Each year since 2006, C-SPAN has invited middle and high school students to produce short documentaries on an issue of national importance.
This year, students used video cameras to answer the questions, “What’s the most important issue the U.S. Congress should consider in 2014?”
In response, more than 4,800 students in 46 states and Washington, DC sent a total of 2,355 entries to C-SPAN this year – nearly 25 percent more than the number of entries received last year.
Students worked in teams or as individuals to address a wide range of public policy issues, from immigration to gun legislation to the environment.
The most popular topic in 2014 was the economy. Sixteen percent of entries were about economic issues such as poverty, unemployment, and the national debt, followed by gun legislation (14 percent) and education (13 percent).
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Here’s second-prize middle-school winner Ben Blum’s Data Obsession. Blum goes to Saint Mark’s School in San Rafael, California.

Posted on March 6, 2014