No News Is Bad News
I’m going to be a panelist on a conference in Boston a week from tomorrow (Saturday). The conference is:
A freeand independent press is essential for democracy. The press has aresponsibility to inform citizens about both the policies and theactions of the government and about credible challenges to thosepolicies and actions, to report on conditions that may require new ordifferent government initiatives, and to raise timely questions itselfabout debatable policies and the rationales presented for them.
Withthe recent controversies over the failure of the press to fully live upto its responsibilities in the runup to the U.S. invasion of Iraq, therole of the media in the outing of a covert CIA agent, the rise of theblogosphere and so-called citizen journalism, and the impact ofincreasing financial pressures on newspapers and magazines, publicconfidence in the mainstream media is at an all-time low. What are theimplications of this for our democracy? How might our faith in thepress be restored?
The rest of the panelists (aside from Andy Sullivan) are journalists–many of the good ones, people like John Carroll. My panel–Political Reporting–had a conference call today which got me really excited about the conference. It should be worth attending.
There is (free) registration, and I understand the room is filling up. So if you’re interested, register now!
Afterwards, phred and Scarecrow and I and hopefully some other folks from these parts will be heading out for drinks, probably to An Tua Nua. I’ll post another thread closer to the event, but if you might show, leave a comment.
I don’t know if you have already addressed this bad news:
â€Feinstein backs legal immunity for telecom firms in wiretap casesâ€
link:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/…..3T97BN.DTL
i’m not far and if i can make it, would love to meet up with you.
that feindstein is turning into one hell of a representative for the public while being a very good one for corrupt shady dealings.
opps.. that is fiendstein, not feindstein, lol.
selise
That would be really great!
Some other folks are probably going to show for the conference, too.
sounds great. i just registered… so, fingers crossed.
selise — I hope you can make it, it would be great to meet you!
And by the way Neil, I did my best to find Beamish, but to no avail… Turns out the Irish pubs of Boston do not carry it. Guess I’ll have to drown my sorrows in Guinness and Murphy’s
eyesonthestreet — thanks for the link, I can’t wait to hear her speech about how this is the best we can hope for from this President…
phred,
here is a BU student place. They said they have Beamish Stout. Try it as long
as there isn’t a Red Sox game.
Cornwall’s
[ Beer Bar ]
654 Beacon Street
Boston, Massachusetts, 02215
United States
phone: (617) 262-3749
eyesonthestreet — I wonder if DiFi just needed some more money or something, and that was why she began making noises about changing her mind?
I will be interesting to see if Dodd carries through with his threats to filibuster.
EW, I sure wish you would start having conferences like this in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. I would love to get to meet some of you.
One more comment about Feinstein… According to the San Francisco Chronicle, â€â€¦Feinstein said the companies should not be â€held hostage to costly litigation in what is essentially a complaint about administration activities.
She endorsed a recent statement by Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W. Va., chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, that companies assured by top administration officials that the surveillance program was legal â€should not be dragged through the courts for their help with national security.â€â€
If that is the case, why the hell aren’t we doing something about the administration? It obviously misrepresented its powers to the telecoms. That part about it being a â€complaint about administration activites†— as far as I know, no one has done anything official to complain. The Democrats and Republicans are just letting Bush and company do as they damned well please.
IMPEACH NOW! Then we can consider the immunity….
There’s a small but non-zero chance I’d show. I’ll be working all week to increase that chance!
DiFi does not need more money as a fact; but she and/or her husband may be greedy enough to think so.
phred- you would also think she might take into consideration that this occurred in her own home town to HER constiuency.
sojourner- as bmaz sez, DiFi (funny, rhymes with WiFi) is from money and married money more than once. She sees herself as â€practical,†taking steps to smooth things over. I think the compromising dames in both the house and senate better start getting the message- they are being duped.
eyesonthestreet — yep, you would think she would represent her constituents, but then you smack yourself on the head and say, â€oh right, we’re talking about DiFiâ€
Jodi — thanks for the suggestion, I’ll pop over and check the place out today. I hope you’re right, ’cause after calling 27 places and finally talking to a pub owner who explained the beer distribution system here, it sounded hopeless.
From the guy who bugs his own office.