Media Literacy

Reporters don't usually get graded on the stories they produce, but they do on Gary Schwitzer's Website HealthNewsReview.org. And overall, he said they're failing.

For the past two years, the University of Minnesota journalism professor and his team of reviewers have been rating the quality of health intervention stories based on 10 criteria.
"Too often medical reporters haven't been trained in the basics of understanding medical research and evidence-based medicine."
- Gavin Yamey, senior editor at PLoS Medicine

MINNEAPOLIS -- The National Conference for Media Reform -- the largest gathering of its kind in the country -- will bring thousands of activists, educators, policymakers and leaders from all 50 states to Minneapolis to discuss the future of media.

"The Twin Cities have been the epicenter of the debate over the future of media," said Josh Silver, executive director of Free Press, the national, nonpartisan media reform group that organizes the conference. "This community has experienced the damaging impact of consolidation -- but also the growth of a vibrant noncommercial, community and ethnic media sector. The National Conference for Media Reform is a chance for people from across the country to find out what's happening in the Twin Cities and for Minnesotans to see what's going on everywhere else."

The top Republican on the U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee asked Google chief executive Eric Schmidt on Wednesday to detail the search engine's privacy practices since it acquired rival DoubleClick.

"It is critical that Google's and DoubleClick's policies and procedures for handling this information be transparent, and that every effort is made to protect consumers' data," Texas Rep. Joe Barton wrote in a letter to the company dated May 21.

On Tuesday May 20 the Grand Rapids Press ran an editorial praising the introduction of AT&T's U-verse cable service citing the importance of competition in the cable television business.  The editorial sites Comcast and Charter Communications "continually rising cable bills and less than stellar customer service" and makes the claim that introducing a competing cable service will result in lower prices for consumers.  The editorial backs up this claim by noting that "national studies show prices are about 25 percent lower in markets...

According to data released today by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at the end of 2007 the United States ranked 15th out of the 30 member nations in broadband penetration -- down from 12th place in 2006, and continuing its slide from fourth place in 2001.