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It used to be journalism was the fourth estate holding up our fragile democracy while digging the rot out of the other three all while beating the stuffing out of the crooked side corporate America.

Newspapers and many TV station groups were held by families or family trusts with independent wealth and who, out of a sense of duty, ran their news operations as a pubic trust… until their bratty descendants decided to cash in after the original owners’ deaths in the 1990s and 2000s.

Once local cross-ownership started to fall, and national ownership caps became but token gestures, the new national corporate owners cared more about quarterly profits than actual local journalism. It gets worse every day.

Under Rupert Murdoch’s clarion call, the final and decisive blows are landing as more and more news outlets dump American-style public-trust journalism and dump it for Australio-British biased blunt advocacy and tabloitainment formats that are loathe to do investigative reporting that could piss off advertisers and lower short-term profits.

But “news” needs controversy for its sense of immediacy. So the solution is finding a way to mine an endless vein of controversy that is guaranteed *not* to piss off advertisers attracted to your audience. FNC is brilliant in how it solved this dilemma: the controversy is in demonizing the people who AREN’T and never will be your audience. That way – you only alienate he folks your advertises don’t care about anyway – the folks who will remain non-watchers. Added benefit: your core audience grows because you cater to it and make it feel special.

MSNBC followed suit in 2009, growing an anti-FNC audience and – crippling CNN in the process by stealing much of its younger, advertiser-sought audience.

Of course programming executives who have their noses up in everything, anyway, sniffed that shift in fortune and are marching in lock-step to Murdoch’s pied piper tune; in doing so, they are dismantling the Fourth Estate and building the Fifth Column from its debris.

I fear the only American-style journalism that will exist after the dust settles will be one or two publications still controlled by benefactors instead of public corporations – and public broadcasting.

The New York Times has been teetering on bankruptcy for the past few years and, quite frankly, I don’t think it will survive the decade. Online sources like HuffPo are just going keep taking market share and continue to eat away at that newspaper’s audience.

Case in point: Generation X was the last U.S. generation that grew up with newspaper as a primary source of  information. I’m a member of that group – but these days we’ve pretty much ditched newspaper for the Internet. I’m a news junkie, but I do not think I’ve bought a “paper” newspaper in more than 3 years.

Baby Boomers are the last generation that still reads newsprint in any significant number. But the youngest Baby Boomer is … 47? 50? It depends on where Boomers stop and X begins. Anyway, the fat lady is warming up for her song; the time is coming – probably before 2020 – when there just will not be a viable audience for newsprint news in most cities.

But face it, as illustrated above by your post – it’s much worse as far as TV is concerned. Gen X is SOOO yesterday. There hasnt’ been a 20-something Gen Xer in years – but we’re used to being ignored having lived in the trough between the Boomers and their kids.

The big awakening in my opinion will be, once again, caused by Boomers. The last of you guys are about to age out of the 25-54 age demographic within the next couple years. Unlike Gen X, which is accustomed to being ignored and adapting behind the scenes… Boomers are not known for being quiet or taking a back seat to anybody – I wonder what will happen when the last Boomer turns 55 and the last advertiser not selling adult diapers, age-disease medication or erection treatments turns its back on America’s trouble-making generation. A revolution, I hope.

But until that happens the bloodbath now is just going to get worse.

This is why I became disheartened and finally gave up on my 20-year career in news in 2006, went to law school and graduated in June with a J.D. at age 42.

If I’m gonna sell my soul, anyway – I’d rather be upfront about it and make money while doing it.

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Yet bear this in mind – good things come to those who wait. If that means 2012, lets go there. Stronger, feistier and more steadfast in our convictions. As supporters, we know we are right in backing the best candidate running for President. It is simply that the hype has taken over the fundamental facts, which we never foresaw and we did not comprehend.

I have loved her since the tender age of 15 when I first started to become interested in politics, and was mesmerized by her ability to be a forthright and active First Lady and then an astounding Senator for New York. In “Living History” she wrote “My faith has always been a crucial, though deeply personal, part of my life and part of my family’s life. When I was confirmed into the Methodist Church, I took to heart John Wesley’s words” “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can..as long as you ever can.” I sat on a beach, with my diet Coke in one hand and Living History, slightly sandy, in the other. I gazed at the sunset and dreamt of what the promise of a second Clinton Presidency could hold and bring to America and to the world at large. This wasn’t just a woman, this was a leader. In 2007, she spoke the words the world had been waiting to hear. “I am putting together a Presidential exploratory committee.” My heart skipped a beat that day, and all the joyous feelings I had experienced at 15, my beach day, came gushing back to me. It was time for a woman President. It was time.

So in West Virginia after a 41 point victory on Tuesday evening, she once more infused my heart, mind and soul with hope and spoke confidently, passionately and courageously. She brought to the table the kind of hope that isn’t empty, that isn’t cheap and that comes at a great price. Her supporters poised once more, rose to the challenge she posed to them – to stay with her until the lady in the pantsuit says that its over. We have all prayed, in the face of a biased media and a reluctant democratic party, that the nation would listen to our calls and push her further towards the nomination. West Virginia, amongst the other crucial primary states, did not let us down. We’ll stand, we’ll fight, we’ll defend and we’ll continue.

“As long as we remember that there is no challenge we cannot meet, no barrier we cannot break, no dream we cannot realize. So, let’s finish the job we started. America is worth fighting for.”

This next part cannot be written without alluding to Senator Obama -sorry I am breaking my promise but it is essential to place my feelings into some kind of context.

At the White House’s Two-Hundredth Anniversary Dinner, Gerald Ford stated “Once again, the world’s oldest Republic has demonstrated the youthful vitality of its institutions and the ability and necessity to come together..the clash of partisan political idea’s does remain just that – to be quickly followed by a transfer of authority.” In response to this she wrote that this was proof that America’s foundations were stronger than individuals and politics. So what baffles me about Senator Obama’s ‘change in Washington’ politics is that it really is empty rhetoric. For a system that has worked for hundreds of years, albeit abused by the Bush Administration and in great need of re-establishing accountability and governance of the American people, not simply alluding to the ideals and preferences of those in power, it seems an awful lot of individuals are blindly buying into the ‘change we can believe in’ mantra. This is without really thinking through the fundamentals of what this entails, it being quite simply, unworkable and unnecessary in a system that serves American citizens each day, and with accountable political leaders having their best interests at heart, well.

The overwhelming advantage she has, has been her ability to really tackle head on, without reservation, the special interests that seek to curb positive change for the American people. Whether they be the drug companies, the insurance companies or the lobbyists. That resounding ability to rise to the challenge is what will lay the foundations for a remarkable Clinton Administration. She is unafraid, she is capable, she is ready and she is more than willing to be the fearless agent of change. That is why my thoughts are entangled within a web of uncertainty and moreover, frustration, at why this woman is not already the nominee, and why the Democratic party are so forceful in their rejection of continuing the race and keeping her Presidential bid alive. It is baffling to me, when here for the first time in a long while, America has been presented with the opportunity to elect an extremely able candidate, who also has a personality that oozes compassion and concern for ‘real problem’s. A candidate who not merely works for the people, but listens to their needs and acts upon their fears, dreams and desires towards a better future for all involved.

What is not to like about Universal Health care? A renewable energy plan that will pave the way towards tackling global warming on a worldwide scale? An Economic plan that will seek to end the home foreclosure crisis and allow America to once again have a balanced budget and a surplus, with employment opportunities? A plan that will make college affordable and early learning more accessible and widespread, allowing children to reach their god given potential? What is not to like about that John Edward’s, Bill Richardson, Chris Dodd? Answer me that.

My conclusion is that they are not rejecting the policy ideas that have come with the prospect of a second Clinton Administration: they are perfectly visionary and exciting. They are rejecting the woman who would be the champion of such ideal’s.

But let me tell you about that woman: you know the one who said ‘Women’s rights are human rights”, the one who started the Cookie-Scandal holding a sign saying “put Broccoli back in the White House,” the first First Lady to ever have her own office in the White House, and testify in front of a Grand Jury. The Senator who stood with New Yorkers consistently, seven years after 9/11 fighting for health care, supporting their grief and holding their loved ones as they worked through their pain and anguish. Who stood by and not only fought politically as an elected official, but fought as a wife, as a mother, as a person. She is a beautifully warm woman by all accounts, but she is more than that. She found the strength within herself to forgive her husband, publicly and without shame of an extra-marital affair, managing to run a successful White House despite Michelle Obama’s contentions that she did not. She got re-elected into the United States Senate for a second term with a massive majority vote. Some despise her, some like her, some love her. New Yorkers fall into the latter category as do half of the United States it seems if one glances at the ‘popular vote’ statistics and the fall electoral college map. She is intelligent beyond comprehension. She is kind when kindness matters. She is tough when only toughness will do. She is inspirational.

It is not a case of loving her however. Its a case of recognizing she has the leadership credentials far beyond those of her opponent, and in love and in hate, acknowledging that she has what it takes to be the agent of change America so desperately needs after a destructive Bush Administration.

I just happen to love her. In case you were wondering, she is Hillary Rodham Clinton.

And she is still running for President. Madame President, that is.

- – - -

This is a special guest column written by Lauren Hammond. She may be reached via her Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1171064270.

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Let’s have a brief discussion about bigotry and unacceptable behavior in a civilized nation.

At almost every Hillary Clinton rally in recent weeks there have been at least one or two idiots chanting or holding up signs that say, “Iron My Shirt!”

As the New York Times reported Monday:

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was about to deliver a line that has become a centerpiece of her campaign since her loss in Iowa.

“Everybody in this race is talking about change. But what does that mean?”

“Iron my shirt!” yelled a man, who stood up in the middle of a jammed and stuffy auditorium at a high school in Salem, N.H., and held up a yellow sign with the same text. He repeated it over and over.

Mrs. Clinton asked for the lights to be turned on, and the shirt man was removed along with another man who had stood up too.

“Oh, the remnants of sexism are alive and well,” Mrs. Clinton said.

When everyone had settled down a bit, she said, “As I think has just been abundantly demonstrated, I am also running to break through the highest and hardest glass ceiling.”

Her words were drowned out by a cheering, now-standing crowd.

How degrading. I admire the composure that Mrs. Clinton showed at the time. But, then again, she has been fighting for real change in women’s lives for decades and, sadly, is probably used to this brand if idiocy.

What amazes me more: the Times treated the story as a funny aside – just a few paragraphs. A humor piece.

It’s more shameful than one idiot’s words that no media outlet is treating this as the scandal it should be.

As Steph Mineart showed rightful outrage in her excellent blog on this topic:

We have people in this country who are actually not afraid to go to a public event and act this way – tell me sexism isn’t alive and well in America. That should be shocking to anyone and everyone who sees it, but I see it getting almost no coverage at all.

Could you imagine the national uproar if just one person at a single Obama rally held up a sign that said “Shine My Shoes!”

No one would dare. This is America and that would be just plain un-American to do.

It’s about time we all stood up to this and said once and for all that bigotry is bigotry and it is unacceptable today no matter if its hateful message is tinted in the shade of black or pink.

As a nation, we need to say very loudly and clearly: There is no reason that it is ever OK to degrade women in public. None!

This is not the Stone Age and that form of mocking hatred is neither funny nor acceptable.

It also is un-American.

—–

Called the “Carrie Bradshaw” of bloggers by the New York Times, suburban New Yorker Stephanie Klein’s online musings in her personal blog, Greek Tragedy, has gained the attention of Hollywood and the book industry while it draws comparisons to former HBO television series, Sex and the City.

Since January 2004, Klein has written her blog which goes into the intimate details of her life as a 29-year-old professional single woman living in New York City’s northwestern suburb of Prospect Park, New Jersey. Since then her blog has become among the top 1 percent most-read blogs in the world, according to Technorati’s “net attention” ratings system.

That popularity grabbed the attention of two international media conglomerates, News Corporation and NBC Universal. News Corp.’s HarperCollins book division struck a book deal with Klein valued at more than $500,000. The book is scheduled to debut in April 2006.

Comparisons to Sex and the City may continue, as NBC Universal is developing the blog-based book into a fictionalized weekly sitcom version of Klein’s life for its NBC television network.

For: Wikinews

After years of declining subscription rates, the owners of U.S. magazine TV Guide ordered a complete overhaul of the 52-year-old publication. Gemstar-TV Guide International, the corporate parent of the magazine says the current format of the magazine has caused it to become unprofitable.

The changes will be effective with the October 15 issue. Lack of profitability has been a point of contention between Gemstar management and its largest shareholder, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation.

Included in the new design is a shift away from detailed listings to more of a People or Entertainment Weekly celebrity-focused format. Included in that change will be the elimination of the 140 localized editions of TV Guide in favor of one national publication with only “Eastern” and “Pacific” times listed for program listings.

The magazine’s owners noted that with the advent of digital cable and satellite TV, more viewers rely upon electronic program guides provided free by the television service provider than printed listings.

TV Guide officials say the current magazine is 72 percent listing, printed on newsprint and in black-and-white. The new version of the magazine will be four-color and on glossy paper.

A second change will be the magazine’s size as it moves from a digest-sized publication to a full-sized glossy. The company expects the larger edition will be more profitable against competition such as People and US Weekly. But that profitability may be at the expense of national reach.

Although the magazine is getting physically larger, according to reports, the readership is expected to shrink. Gemstar expects many of is subscribers not to renew with the new format. Currently the TV Guide guarantees 9 million subscribers to its national advertisers. According to reports, it is only guaranteeing 3.2 million subscribers to its revamped publication once it hits newsstands.

For: Wikinews

U.S., television network ABC says its 24-hour news network, ABC News Now will become a permanent 24-hour television news network starting in July. Currently, the operation is only available on the Internet as a streaming media web site.

The network started as a experiment by the Walt Disney Company-owned ABC in the summer of 2004 during the U.S, presidential campaign nomination conventions. It was mostly broadcast as an add-on “extra” channel ABC-owned DTV channels. For instance if the local ABC affiliate is on Channel 7 for with a digital channel of 23, then ABC News Now may have been available on digital channel 23.1.

Because few households in the U.S. are equipped to tune in digital over-the-air sub-channels and virtually none are carried on local cable companies, ratings were low for the fledgling digital channel. Adding to that technical difficulty cable carriage of the network was small, ABC News Now was only being delivered to 6 million of the 110 million U.S. households via cable. Most viewers of the network, 30 million at last count, watched the network via the Internet.

Citing money reasons, ABC shuttered the over-the-air ABC News Now broadcasts in January to focus on building the web-based service. But come July, ABC plans to return its news network and its 20 original programs to local TV stations. Without any commitment from national cable or satellite companies, ABC will return to digital sub-channels on local DTV transmissions.

For: Wikinews

San Francisco, California — A year after buying the struggling Newsworld International 24-hour U.S. and Canada cable news channel, former U.S. vice president Al Gore and his partner, millionaire Ohio attorney and politician Joel Hyatt, plan to re-launch the channel with a new name, a new concept and a new target audience.

Starting August 1, the channel will be known as Current and will aim its news programming at the 18-34 year old demographic that traditionally does not tune into cable news. “The Internet opened a floodgate for young people whose passions are finally being heard, but TV hasn’t followed suit. Young adults have a powerful voice, but you can’t hear that voice on television … yet,” Gore said in a press release issued from the network’s San Francisco studios.

Gore said the new channel will be partly created by citizen journalists, where viewer-created reports will find their way on air. “We want to transform the television medium itself, giving a national platform to those who are hungry to help create the TV they want to watch. We’re creating a powerful new brand of television that doesn’t treat audiences as merely viewers, but as collaborators,” Gore said in the release. The network posted submission guidelines on its new website which launched Monday.

Gore bought Newsworld International (NWI) from Vivendi Universal last year for $70 million. It was the only TV asset of Vivendi’s not snapped up by NBC in the creation of the NBC Universal media conglomerate. NBC already had two struggling cable news channels of its own. NWI’s current news content is mostly rebroadcasts of news produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Originally, the network was going to be remodled as a liberal counterpart to the popular Fox News Channel, which some critics claim is a conservative-slanted newscast despite the network’s denial that it is “fair and balanced” in its reporting. But after market research, the new owners of NWI decided that a liberal news network was not financially feasible.

Instead, they focused on a youth-skewed news channel under the code name “INdTV” (pronounced “Indy Tee Vee”). The new name, Current, and re-launch date announcement was timed to coincide with the annual National Cable & Telecommunications Association convention, which is being held this week in San Francisco, the same city as Channel’s new headquarters.

For: Wikinews

U.S. media giant Time Warner plans to increase the international reach of its HBO television empire with an expansion of television offerings in Asia. The channels will be available via both wired cable services and by satellite, which is more popular in Asia than it is in the United States.

“Cable operators throughout Asia are preparing to dramatically expand channel capacity on many of their systems through digital technology,” Jonathan Spink, CEO of HBO Asia said in a World Screen News report. He said HBO plans to be one of the first programmers to take advantage of increased channel capacity.

The first new channel HOB plans to launch in Asia is HBO Signature, which is targeted to women. It is planned to debut in Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Macau and Sri Lanka by the end of the year. According to reports, HBO already has struck deals for carriage in all of those countries except Macau.

In addition to programming HBO Signature to women, the company said it plans on two other genre-based channels, but did not disclose what niches they would market toward. A clue could be to look to the U.S. where HBO’s niche channels include HBO Family for children-friendly programming and the self-explanatory HBO Comedy channel. Like the parent HBO Asia channel, along with limited original programming, the new genre channels are expected to offer top Hollywood fare dubbed into local languages.

This is the largest expansion of HBO Asia, which has been operating in Asia since 1992 and serves 25 countries, since the launch of Cinemax Asia in 1996.

For: Wikinews

Entertainment industry rising star Gail Berman was named president of the Viacom-owned Paramount Pictures film and television studios Wednesday. She is scheduled to start in May. Currently Berman heads up the programming division of the U.S. Fox network.

Berman is credited for the major turn-around in the fortunes of the Fox network. Their ratings were at the bottom of the heap of the four major U.S. broadcast networks when she took over programming in 2000. According to the latest Nielsen ratings, Fox is the No. 1 U.S. network in primetime programming, thanks to such hits as American Idol, real-time suspense drama, 24, and hit teen soap opera, The O.C..

In moving from television to the movies, Berman acknowledged to reporters that she faces a challenging learning curve. She replaces outgoing Paramount president, Donald DeLine.

For: Wikinews