Media Watch

Fresh Air Radio — on a Saturday

19th November 2016 in Economic growth, Global Development, Journalism, Media Watch, Opinions, Stupid!, Trump Watch, Watching the Donald

It´s the economy, stupid: Bill said it–did Hillary listen?Sometimes you wish Bill was back, but there´s another story I have in mind right here: Not the story of how Hillary Clinton failed to take Bill Clinton´s most important piece of insight with her into her own presidential bid. Not, the story of how her failing to address the fundamentals of economic inequality in a convincing manner, led to the election of a president and subsequently a cabinet with far more of a racist inclination than what is the case with

Trump Watch: Four years to come

11th November 2016 in Media Watch, Trump Watch, Watching the Donald

Peoples´choice. I read, and I try to follow the arguments. All I know is that no one — absolutely no one – has a clue. What happens next, when a man is elected president one day and the day before was generally declared either “saviour” by half of the general public or “unfit for the office of president” by the entire establishment — except for Bob Dole, News Gingrich, Rudolph Giuliani and 200 generals? No clue. And that includes The Donald himself. No clue. He says he is a genius, and

Rhetoric and propaganda in journalism

28th September 2016 in Global journalism, Journalism, Media and terrorism, Media Watch

Notes from a lecture: The main change since my first time doing this lecture, is the ways in which these concepts now have become commonplace in journalism critique. They did not use to be. But anyway — what is propaganda? And how does it relate to the study of rhetoric? A group of smart MA students meeting tomorrow to discuss the matter. By way of an illustration, here is one of those old-time Hollywood propaganda stunts — propaganda is not a new phenomenon, and neither is good propaganda. But again —

Freedom, justice, and the news; the question of Snowden

19th September 2016 in Global journalism, Internet, Media Freedom, Media Watch

A conference on democracy and religion, migration, power money A few days back, Edward Snowden joined the 2016 Athens conference on democracy, hosted by the New York Times, in the company of Ken Roth who is the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. The close to one hour long interview was conducted by Steven Erlanger – the New York Times Bureau Chief in London. And it is most definitely worth a watch. Mr. Erlanger starts by asking why Mr. Snowden does not come home to face the charges and risk the

Leaning on a class to make sense

3rd September 2016 in Global Development, Global journalism, Media and terrorism, Media Watch, Notes from the classroom

Every fall semester I teach one of my classes in English, with about 20-30 foreign students visiting our university for a semester. We had our first meeting yesterday. And as always I wonder before class starts whether there is enough in the chosen lecture theme to get them out there on the floor, debating. They need to. A class with 55-60 students total and where no one talks for an entire semester is a failure. Have I hit the right buttons in my preparations? I was thinking that question to

The future and the future of journalism

7th August 2016 in Global Development, Global journalism, Innovation, Internet, Journalism, Journalism's digital future, Media Watch

Understanding the globalization of journalism entails reflection on a wide range of factors – not just factors shaping journalism as such, like the coming of social media and the so-called “sharing economy”, with Google stealing alle the advertising with a smarter scheme. Discussions are found everywhere concerning these aspects of the future of journalism and how journalism is being affected by new technologies – disrupting established practices and financial models. Now, what about climate change as a phenomenon, escalating cultural and civilizational conflicts, the interlocking of the world into one

Terrorism, attention and the media

6th August 2016 in Current issues, Global Development, Global journalism, Journalism, Media and terrorism, Media Watch

What determines news coverage and how does it apply to terrorism? The idea that terrorism is PR and journalism has a dramaturgical quality is an idea with a long history, but also a history made extraordinarily relevant with the attacks in the US on September 11th 2001, resulting in the epic, metaphorical – and also – fall of the Twin Towers on Manhattan, New York. Dramaturgy implies drama, but also staging. This having been said, we are reminded every day that the relationship between the media and terrorist organizations is

Globalization – a challenge for journalism

2nd August 2016 in Global Development, Global journalism, Journalism, Journalism's digital future, Media Freedom, Media Watch, New media

What is the idea of global journalism and the critical discussion all about? Why spend time researching and critiquing something that seems both inevitable and general, vast complex and subject to a myriad of interpretations? Journalism has been going global for centuries – it has been in the DNA since invention: Yet, it seems like the invention of the internet and the world wide web om key respects completely changes the point with the discussion concerning global journalism. Below are some reflections and resources for studying and reflecting on the

Artificial Intelligence; a journalism issue

13th May 2016 in Current issues, Global Development, Global journalism, Journalism's digital future, Media Freedom, Media Watch, New media

•• MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. “In its quest to maintain a United States military advantage, the Pentagon is aggressively turning to Silicon Valley’s hottest technology — artificial intelligence.” This is how an article in the New York Times begins, on May 13th 2016. And there is a lesson here, for those of us with an interest in global journalism. But first – the story continues: “On Wednesday, Secretary of Defence Ashton B. Carter made his fourth trip to the tech industry’s heartland since being named to his post last year. Before that, it