Recent Comments
Re: “Lawsuit planned over hog farm in Buffalo River watershed”
"Mike Masterson has returned to his former reasonable self since his divorce from the Koch agent, Laurie."
Your optimism is admirable. There's a good writeup about the couple from eLwood at http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archi….
http://arkansasmediawatch.wordpress.com/20…
Re: “Lawsuit planned over hog farm in Buffalo River watershed”
It seems that Masterson has been extensively and critically covering the CAFO in his columns. The NWA Times also ran an editorial opposing the CAFO. It's good to know that these folks aren't always reflexively pro-corporate. Can this also be said about their Mayflower oil spill coverage (http://arkansasmediawatch.wordpress.com/20… I wish I could follow everything but I can't.
Re: “Friday night lines”
Editors passionately defend the Freedom of Incendiary Speech of a right-wing extremist – but not a peep about a student arrested for a tweet.
http://arkansasmediawatch.wordpress.com/20…
Re: “State Police: No criminal probe in social media comments”
This kid glove's treatment for right-wing extremists contrasts with authorities' response to a - probably harmless - UA student who sent a cryptic message on twitter. He was charged with felony terroristic threatening.
http://arkansasmediawatch.wordpress.com/20…
Re: “Thursday night line”
"Your free speech is not being infringed. Unless the gov't is stifling yours."
So when a corporation is capable, by using its economic influence, of suppressing viewpoints that it doesn't like, that is not an infringement on free speech. It's just an economic transaction, like any other form of prostitution I guess. If the "Free Press" defines press freedom as the freedom to prostitute itself for the benefit of corporate paymasters, that is not an issue, unless "the government" interferes.
This is a strange and very American idea. You don't hear that anywhere else. Speech is not a privately owned commodity. It is a Common Good, just as the atmosphere and the ocean and groundwater are, and its poisoning by corporate money is no more innocent than is the pollution of of watersheds by corporations - a forteriori if they happen to be the same.
Re: “Thursday night line”
Citizen1, I'm sorry if I have to explain the meaning of parody to you.
"The claim that Exxon hates children seems an "un-provable" statement." Well maybe. So are many of the statements that you can find in Exxon (and other corporations') ads. Statements such as, "we care about the environment", "we care about the community", "we care about the future" (*), etc. Those are statements that are unprovable at best and demonstrably false at worse yet nobody suggests that Exxon should be prevented from running these ads. To put it simply, our "free press" is running corporate propaganda day in day out and nobody far and wide questions that. There are no standards for truth in advertising. But as soon as somebody suggests a piece of anti-corporate propaganda (you are welcome to call it that), *that* is against the media's (and, strangely, your) oh-so-high "standards".
It's a straightforward Free Speech issue and there is no question that Freedom of Speech and of the Press have been left behind the corporate bandwagon.
(*) These slogans may not be actual quotes from Exxon ads but we have all seen similar.
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Re: Pissaladiere, the acceptable early morning pizza
We made an agreement, I'm stealing one of Roberts' favorites next week.
- on May 18, 2013
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Re: UPDATE: FBI confirms State Treasurer Martha Shoffner's arrest, apparently for official misconduct
Corruption, venality are bipartisan. Until recently, it went with the D party in Ark. Maybe…
- on May 18, 2013
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Re: UPDATE: FBI confirms State Treasurer Martha Shoffner's arrest, apparently for official misconduct
Another embarrassment for the Dem
Party. Sure wish they made a better effort to recruit…-
on May 18, 2013
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Re: “Thursday roundup: Football, junkets, schools, prayer”
"A Conway dentist has been arrested for terroristic threatening for allegedly threatening to kill a state employee attempting to collect delinquent taxes."
That was very poor judgment on his part. He should have known better and made his threat through a Republican web site instead.
http://arkansasmediawatch.wordpress.com/20…