Archive for the Press/Media Category

Graduation Advice:  Wear Hearing Protection; Listen Attentively (May 16, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Graduation Advice, Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media, Pulitzer, Pushitzer on May 16, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “Wear hearing protection.”

. . .

K          “Ladies and gentlemen of the class of ’16 . . . wear hearing protection . . . if I could offer you only one tip for the future, hearing protection would be it. . . .  Wear hearing protection . . . and listen attentively.”

. . .

K          “You are surrounded every day by noise.  Nail guns, guns, chop saws, generators, ice augers, pressure washers, snow mobiles, atvs, planes, boats, vacuum cleaners, power drills and ads by the underwriters on public radio and then when you return from your cabin are assaulted and assailed by the din and cacophony of daily life.  Protect your hearing; hear what needs to be heard.” 

. . .

K          “But trust me on the hearing protection.”

. . .

J          “I hear you.”

. . .

[See the “Sunscreen Column”, the Wikipedia article “Wear Sunscreen” and listen to “Everbody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Wear hearing protection; listen very attentively.”

“Do one thing every day that scares you.”  Mary Theresa Schmich, the author of “Everbody’s Free (To Wear Sunscreen)” and a most deserving recipient of the Pulitzer Prize for Commentary in 2012 and a recipient of the Pushitzer Prize for Commentary nunc pro tunc to 2012.

Be kind to your knees, you will miss them when they are gone.  Be very, very kind to your knees.  Be even more kind.

Floss.

First Annual “Cameo In Courage” Award For 2016 (May 9, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Cameo In Courage Award, Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media, Profile In Courage Award on May 9, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “This year, the Awards Committee for the Cameo In Courage Award is bestowing a special lifetime achievement award to . . . Mr. Edward Joseph Snowden of the United States.”

J          “Great choice.  Long overdue.”

. . .

K          “This year, the annual Cameo In Courage Award for 2016 is given to Ms. Carmen Segarra . . . of the United States.”

J          “Great choice.  Due.”

. . .

K          “And a special lifetime achievement award to Daniel Berrigan.”

J          “Do.”

. . .

J          “As I recall, the Cameo in Courage Award is given to the person on the planet who showed real courage at great sacrifice to himself or herself.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at “Hero or Traitor? (June 10, 2013),” “Profile In Cowardice Award (May 12, 2014),” “Profile In Courage Award, 2015 (May 11, 2015) and “Chelsea And Ed:  Time For “Con” “dign” Treatment (November 30, 2015).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

The World’s Most Prestigious Award For Individuals Courageously Serving The Public Good.

Larry Wilmore is an Honorable Mention recipient for the Cameo In Courage Award for 2016 for his performance and presentation at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.  The Cameo in Courage Award is not limited to the powerful and the beautiful in government.  The Cameo In Courage Award is often given to those who confront the powerful when they are not so beautiful.

 

Dear John:

Thank you very much for submitting a nomination for the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award.  We are grateful for your participation and we appreciate your dedication to the ideal of principled public service.

Nominations for the Profile in Courage Award are accepted year-round.  Every nomination we receive remains active for two years.  If your nomination is submitted on or before February 15, it will be considered for the Profile in Courage Award presented in May of the same calendar year, and again the following year.  If your nomination is made after February 15, it will be considered during the following two calendar years.

A confirmation of your submission appears below.  On behalf of everyone at the Kennedy Library Foundation, thank you for your nomination for the Profile in Courage Award.

With best wishes,

The Profile in Courage Award Committee

John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award Nomination

Your Information

First Name:  John Q.
Last Name:  Public
Street Address:  [Street Address]
Apartment or Suite:  [Apartment or Suite]
City, State and ZipCode:  [State] [ZIP Code]
Country:  [Country]
Email Address:  JohnQPublic@johnqpublic.net

Nominee Information

Nominee First Name:  Edward Joseph
Nominee Last Name:  Snowden
Positions currently or formerly held by your nominee:  Government Bureaucrat
Public accomplishments and contributions:  Exposing government surveillance and corruption at considerable risk and cost to himself
Links to publicly available information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Snowden
How you heard about the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award:  Newspaper, television, radio, Internet, general public discourse

First Annual Pushitzer Prize In Commentary For 2016 (April 18, 2016)

Posted in Awards / Incentives, Global Climate Change, Global Warming, Journalism, Movie Reference, O'Bama, Politics, Press/Media, Pulitzer, Pushitzer, Race on April 18, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

          “The envelope please.  . . .  This year’s Pushitzer Prize in Commentary is awarded to . . . all the unnamed, unknown and unheralded commentators not working for the Herald who are pushing the envelope and pushing against the absurdity, insanity, dishonesty and hypocrisy that envelops us from every direction every day.  For distinguished commentary in a print or digital or any format.  For good and honest stuff.”

. . .

[Please send nominations for the Pushitzer Prize in Commentary for 2017 and a supporting letter by January 27, 2017 to e-ssay@gci.net and send the entry fee to your favorite charity.]

[See the e-commentary at “Pulitzers Are Pro-War?  Pressing The Pushitzers (April 22, 2013)” and last week’s e-commentary.]

Bumper stickers of the week:

For good and honest stuff

Will the public respond to Ken Burns, Jr.’s production of “Barack Obama” in 2046 the way the public responded to Ken Burns’ production of “Jackie Robinson” in 2016?  Mitch McConnell is today’s Ben Chapman.  (Senate Majority leader) Chapman wielded a baseball bat; (Coach) McConnell a gavel.  See the e-commentary at “‘I Hate Obama.’  The Trip Hammer Of Hate Tolls Without Toll And With Toll (March 10, 2014).”]

April 22:  “Happy Birthday Earth Day (April 23, 2012).”

Pulitzer Prize In Commentary For 2016 (April 11, 2016)

Posted in Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media, Sports, Wall Street, War, War and Wall Street Party on April 11, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

x          “They have strayed off the reservation for two years and rewarded commentators in the hinterland.  From Detroit to Houston.  Now they must return to the ranch.  This is the year for either the Post or the Times.  This is the year that the two divisions of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ pick their puppets.  This is the year that someone who champions the interests of the ‘R’ division of the ‘War and Wall Street Party’ gets the nod.”

y          “Brooks or Douthat.”

x          “Or their ilk.  Someone who challenges fundamental assumptions is lost.”    

. . .

Bumper sticker of the week:

April 15:  In 1947, Jackie Robinson took the field at Ebbet’s Field as the first Black major league baseball player; in 1997 Major League Baseball retired his number 42.  A fine and felicitous recognition.

How To Run A Newspaper (February 8, 2016)

Posted in Craigslist, eBay, Economics, Internet, Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media on February 8, 2016 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “The business plan is simple.  50 percent of the commentators afflict the afflicted and comfort the comfortable.  49 percent question whether afflicting the afflicted and comforting the comfortable is appropriate.  1 percent afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted.”

J          “So are they running a newspaper or running a newspaper into the ground.”

K          “They are running.  Scared at this time.  Perhaps they need 99 percent of the commentators to afflict the afflicted and to comfort the comfortable and fire the 1 percent.  Going cautious is the typical reaction.”

. . .

J          “Subscriptions for a product and service that is free elsewhere evaporated.  Without subscribers, the advertisers left.  When the newspaper was no longer the portal to products and the segway to services, it was doomed.”

K          “Craigslist, eBay and other digital outlets undermined the newspapers’ financial base.”

. . .

J          “The digital world provides one commentator per person.  Now we can all find someone to confirm our world view.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Speaking Truth to a cinder brick wall.

All The News That’s

“You Can’t Be Smarter” (August 10, 2015)

Posted in Bureaucracy, Courts, Entertainment, Journalism, Judges, Judicial Arrogance, Law, Law School, Newspapers, Personal Stories Series, Personal Story, Press/Media, Television on August 10, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

P          “You might as well leave law school with some useful insight.  When you begin practice, ferret out the longest serving person at the firm.  That person likely will be female and the secretary for a senior partner.  Take her to lunch.  Ask for advice.  Listen carefully.”

. . .

SS          “Your biggest challenge?  You must accept that you can’t be smarter than the judge.  That will vex a person like you.  And don’t expect much civility or any humility from the bench.  Good luck.  You will need it.”

. . .

YL          “So it is like law school but with consequence.  It is like high school writ large.”

SS          “And I am downstream from the bullying and arrogance of the judges and the senior partner.”

. . .

YL          “Looking back, I realize that professors were and judges now are the greatest impediments to advancing sound ideas.”

SS          “They don’t teach you much in law school.”

. . .

[Jon Stewart left The Daily Show recently.  See the e-commentary at Brian, Jon And Journalism Today (February 16, 2015).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Better to know the judge than the law

The Choice:  Pro War And Pro-Wall Street Candidate v. Pro War And Pro-Wall Street Candidate (April 13, 2015)

Posted in Bush, Clinton, Elections, Journalism, Newspapers, Presidency, Press/Media, Wall Street, War on April 13, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

C1        “The election is already over.  One party nominates a candidate who is pro war and pro-Wall Street and the other party nominates a candidate who is pro war and pro-Wall Street.”

C2       “And if you demur in a public forum, the popular press will dismiss you as an isolationist for questioning war and as a populist for supporting an equitable and sustainable economy.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at The First Look At The “Second Political Party” (January 3, 2011).]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Bush III

Clinton II

Jeb Clinton

Hillary Bush

Brian, Jon And Journalism Today (February 16, 2015)

Posted in Entertainment, First Amendment, Journalism, Newspapers, Press/Media on February 16, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

J1          “If you want to educate, you must entertain first.”

J2          “One of my most inspired, inspiring and insightful professors was a stand-up comedian who transitioned to entertaining and educating students.  Everyone wanted to come to class.”

. . .

J1          “If a person who styles himself an entertainer provides 27.4 seconds of insight and another person who lists ‘evening broadcast anchor’ on his (or perhaps her) tax return provides 8.3 seconds of insight, who provides more seconds of insight?”

J2          “The grand irony is that the ‘serious broadcasters’ are the comedians and the comedians are the serious commentators.”

. . .

J2          “So he later embellished his earlier exploits while embedded/‘inbedded’ with the troops who were embroiled in the actual belli. A misdemeanor.  He acted without the proper demeanor.  Not good form.”

J1          “Superficiality is the essence of integrity today.  The corporate broadcasters punish him for boasting but not for failing to provide 27.4 seconds of insight.  Image and perception are reality.”

J2          “That is the crime, the felony, grand theft ideas.”

. . .

J2          “Poetry, in addition to humor, must be injected into the discourse.  People love the unconscious symmetry, insight and joy of poetry, yet they will recoil and run if they see it coming.”

J1          “Humorous haiku.  That would allow a commentator to transmit 27.4 seconds of insight quickly.  But poets are only in it for the money.  Journalists are in it for the pursuit of truth.”

J2          “And the discernment of beauty.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

“Believe nothing you hear, and only one half that you see.”  Edgar A. Poe.  “and listen for what you don’t hear and look for what you don’t see.”

“The illusion of freedom [in America] will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion.  At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater.”  Frank Zappa

“Peak Advertising” (November 3, 2014)

Posted in Consumerism, Economics, Elections, Facebook, Football, Google, Minimum Wage, Occupy Movement, Peak Advertising, Politics, Press/Media, Social Media, Sports, Television, Voting, Wages, Writing on November 3, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “‘Mt. / Everest / Sherpas / Prefer / Burma / Shave.’”

2          “Turns out that some of the first ‘six-word memoirs’ were crafted by English majors laboring for BBDO.”

. . .

1          “‘Peak Advertising’ occurs when all of a person’s senses are assaulted all of the time with non-stop commercial advertising.”

2          “That is the collective business plan of all the social media platforms.  They are premised on their presumed ability to bombard the right demographic with saturation advertising all the time.”

1          “At some time, the marginal utility of each additional fusillade will not provide any return because the consumer has nothing to spend and no source of additional debt.  What if they don’t have any more money?”

2          “They have huge advertising budgets.”

. . .

2          “Well, right, those people may be out of money.”

. . .

1          “If the television is viewed as a mirror rather than a monitor, what should one make of a string of ads for fortified barley soda interspersed with those huckstering elixirs for erectile dysfunction.”

2          “Potents for potency.  The medium is also a microscope into the ‘Land of Skinny People’ where the people have BMIs below 22 and definitely do not reflect their viewers.  They hawk products that make a person fat ninety percent of the time and concoctions that purport to make a person skinny ten percent of the time.”

1          “When others talk about ‘thinking inside the box’ are they referring to the big flashing box in the home and the little flashing box in hand?”

2          “A wide body watches a wide out on a wide screen doing battle for his team and town.  The viewer should go out and do.”

. . .

1          “Seventy percent of the economy is attributed to consumer spending.  The total amount and the percentage of consumer spending in the next few years will be revealing.”

2          “Hard to spend if you have no money and no one will provide any more credit.”

. . .

1          “One thought might be to have parents lease a newborn’s forehead to tattoo an advertisement.  You can’t let an unbleached beachhead canvas go untrammeled.”

2          “Start young.  The kid surely would develop an affinity for the product or service.”

. . .

1          “Anyone in a political battleground state has been subject to ceaseless fusillades of hate and fear from all quarters for months.  In interviews, voters criticize the negative campaigning and yet in the voting booth vote in favor of those behind the vicious attacks.  The candidates provide what the public really wants.  Each political battle is part of the ceaseless war in American politics to own the government with its ability to plunder from the populace.”

2          “I vote to be a non-combatant.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Mt. / Everest / Sherpas / Prefer / Living / Wage

Occupy Namche Bazaar

Namaste

Peak Oil, Peak Water, Peak Land, Peak Advertising, Peak Peaks

“Don’t mind your make-up, you’d better make your mind up.”  Frank Zappa

“If voting made any difference, they wouldn’t let us do it.”  Mark Twain

A ‘tax and spend’ Democrat versus a ‘no tax and spend’ Republican.

Vote

“Legs Network” Is Big Brother (October 27, 2014)

Posted in Amazon, Consumerism, Elections, Facebook, Google, Internet, Journalism, Markets, Press/Media, Technology, Television on October 27, 2014 by e-commentary.org

. . .

1          “While watching late last night, it dawned on me.  Big Brother is now privatized and outsourced.  The ‘Legs Network’ is Big Brother.”

2          “I like it.  The name, that is.  The Network provides ideological programming punctuated by ideological advertising.  Spin reality and repeat it over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and . . . .”

1          “A vile message grounded in fear and repeated and repeated and repeated to advance the interests of the corporate sponsors.”

2          “Over and over and over and over.”

. . .

1          “Female applicants are required to submit photographs of their legs.  They know what they are foisting.”

2          “Shoes?  Restorative varicose vein surgery?  And all of the propagandists are graduates of the Edward L. Bernays School of Disinformation.”

1          “One was a Joe Goebbels Fellow.”

2          “Josephina Goebbels Fellow?”

. . .

1          “A higher percentage of the indoctrinees of the ‘Legs Network’ are living on government assistance than the viewers of public television.”

2          “The governments – federal, state and local – are also even bigger Big Brothers than in the past.”

1          “Every new social media spawns its own monopoly and gestates another Big Brother.  Amazon, Google, Facebook, you name it, are all Big Brothers.  We need a protective and independent ‘Big Brother’ to protect or at least to inform us.  Instead we get a bevy of Orwellian ‘Big Brothers’ that monitor and manipulate us.”

2          “Everyone is in our corner and no one is in our corner.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Big Brothers abound

“Legs Network” is Big Brother

Facebook is Big Brother

Google is Big Brother

Twitter is Big Brother

Amazon is Big Brother

ebay is Big Brother

Zillow is Big Brother

_____ is Big Brother

Are Big Sisters more benign?

[A Pawel Kuczynski sketch of a video camera on a wall focused (and fixated) on a second video camera on the same wall also focused (and fixated) on the first camera.]