My "Journo-less" Summer...So Far (Part 8 of 8)

This is the eight installment for my personal journalism-related observations of the current summer season...as promised, one of the best ever in his trade becomes the subject of an odd documentary film.

8. Herblock: The Black & The White

I must admit that this one came completely out of the blue back in July when I was scrolling through my HBO GO app for my Roku streaming player. Seeing this documentary about his one-panel cartoon takes on politics, domestic issues, international affairs and social injustice takes me back to my childhood when I would view his syndicated works during his 72-year career that spanned 13 US presidents. Unfortunately, what tarnished what would have been an outstanding film for me was the odd decision of casting of an actor to play the deceased subject.

My Personal JFK Reflections

Aaron Shilker's posthumously commissioned official White House portrait of John Fitzgerald Kennedy.

Up until the tragic events of 9/11, people of my age group (and younger) did not have their own "where were you?" moment like those born before 1957-1958 did when our nation's 35th president, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, was assassinated in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963.  While our nation had experienced similar terrible events in its past (Pearl Harbor, the similar political killings of Presidents Lincoln, Garfield and McKinley, natural disasters like the 1906 Great San Francisco Earthquake), what made the Kennedy murder much more profound was in the way we all learned about it.  News of the Japanese attack on our Hawaiian naval and aviation outposts (and FDR's subsequent declaration of war against Japan) was disseminated via the most modern technology of that time--radio; however, because of its remote location, it took nearly two weeks for some newspapers to get the initial images of the damage and several months later for people to see the devastation in newsreel coverage at their local movie theaters.

Recent Journalism-related Articles

I haven't done this in a while but I am mentioning two articles that I read in today's edition of the New York Times due to their ties to my current field of study.

The first reviews the current struggles at the Washington Post, the Times' true competitor for the the title of "America's paper of record," as they contend with the financial issues surrounding all traditional news outlets in the wake of the Internet's intrusion upon previously successful business models. 

R.I.P., "Fairness Doctrine"

The FCC officially ended "fairness" yesterday

According to the Washington Post's Post Tech blog, the Federal Communications Commission  officially ended the 60+ year old "Fairness Doctrine", a policy (not enforced since 1987) of ensuring equal time for the airing of opposing views/opinions on the public's airwaves.  I'll provide a personal perspective on this in future postings.

Posted at 03:23 PM ET, 08/22/2011

FCC removes Fairness Doctrine from the books

By Cecilia Kang

The Federal Communications Commission said Monday it has abolished a controversial speech rule known as the “Fairness Doctrine” requiring broadcasters to present opposing views of controversial issues.

The regulation, which hasn’t been enforced in two decades, has been criticized for years as an over-reach of media industry speech rights.

(more at the link provided above)