Media

From newspapers to neighborhood blogs, all the media we are consuming and considering.

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October 19, 2010 | 1:55 PM | By

“Do not pledge to Public Radio”

I will admit, he's my favorite character on "30 Rock".

If you’ve been listening to WAMU 88.5 FM, you know that today is the fourth day of the Fall Membership campaign– in fact, as I type this, The Kojo Nnamdi show is taking a break to ask for your support.

While NPR stars like Scott Simon remind you that your support powers stations like WAMU, you may have also heard Alec Baldwin, star of “3o Rock“, exhort you NOT to pledge to public radio. We’ve been airing Baldwin’s hilarious segments periodically, but if you missed them, you can find them all here. There are a total of five recordings, including a tribute to Glenngarry Glenn Ross (“Coffee is for PLEDGERS”).

You can support WAMU online here, or by calling (202) 885-8850.

FILED UNDER: Media, WAMU
October 12, 2010 | 4:49 PM | By

About that TBD correction…

Pink Sherbet Photography

In today’s morning roundup, I included an item about TBD’s Amanda Hess issuing an unintentionally humorous correction to one of her columns:

This blog post originally stated that one in three black men who have sex with me is HIV positive. In fact, the statistic applies to black men who have sex with men.

My Twitter stream contained dozens of references to it, so I’m not surprised that today, TBD called it “The correction heard ’round the world“:

Now that you’ve had your laugh, I hope you’ll also note the commitment to accuracy that this demonstrates.

We explained in a blog post before TBD.com ever launched that “we will be as aggressive in correcting our mistakes as we were in making them. Each article or blog item that includes a mistake will carry highly visible correction… The corrections policy will apply to all errors of fact as well as misspellings of proper nouns and the like. Errors than can be classified as typos will get a pass.”

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FILED UNDER: Media, Roundups
October 7, 2010 | 3:33 PM | By

Is “Illegal” a dirty word?

aprilzosia

From the "Do I look illegal?" campaign.

I’ve seen several tweets today regarding the term “illegal immigrant”. Apparently, so did Nicole at PostBourgie:

In my little (and decidedly liberal) corner of the blogosphere, it has now become inappropriate to use the word “illegal” when referring to immigrants…

“Undocumented”, “unauthorized”, “without papers” — aren’t those all just other ways of saying illegal? Is it just the use of the word “illegals”? Or is it “illegal immigrant” as well?

For the record, I don’t like the term “illegals.” If you’re going to call people “illegals”, let’s be fair and apply it to everyone who has ever done anything illegal. That would include me, you, Lou Dobbs, jaywalkers, underage drinkers, and almost everyone I know over the age of 10.

But “illegal immigrant”? The simple fact is that if one immigrates without a visa, or stays after the visa expires, that is illegal. I’m not saying there aren’t justifiable reasons for doing so, but that doesn’t make it any less against the law.

FILED UNDER: Media, Immigrants, Race and Class
October 6, 2010 | 11:56 AM | By

Problematic Presidential Playlists

Nestorsam_

Obama on an iPod

Much has been made of the music on President Obama’s iPod. I saw one news story that made him seem like an old fogey who nostalgically partook in much classic rock; within an hour, I saw another which sounded (heh) the alarm about the Commander-in-Chief liking gangsta rap.

Now, there is this opinion piece, from the Wall Street Journal, calling out the President for listening to hip-hop because “that’s the wrong message for the president to be sending black America”.

For so many black Americans, Barack Obama is appealing and promising precisely because he represents a powerful, necessary alternative to Jay-Z’s version of blackness.

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FILED UNDER: Media, Race and Class
September 24, 2010 | 10:27 AM | By

On Monday: Diane Rehm on Dog Fighting

BBC World Service

Pit bull puppy

DCentric is based at WAMU 88.5 FM, the NPR affiliate for D.C. We’ve mentioned Kojo Nnamdi on this blog before, but the other WAMU “star” I get asked about when people find out where I work is Diane Rehm. I’m never surprised by such inquiries; her show has over 2 million listeners and this year, she won a Peabody award. The Diane Rehm show always covers interesting topics, but I wanted to draw your attention to the second hour (11 am) of her show on Monday, when she’s going to discuss dog fighting.

I am an animal lover with a Humane Society pup of my own, so two weeks ago, when a rescued pit bull-mix named “Parrot” briefly fought with a bichon-poodle and was shot and killed by a D.C. police officer at the Adams Morgan day festival, I was especially concerned and saddened. On local blogs and news sites, the unfortunate story attracted hundreds of comments about how such dogs were dangerous, menacing beasts who had been bred to kill in dog fights. I’m looking forward to Monday’s Diane Rehm Show, because she’ll be discussing the “culture” of dog fighting, canine forensic science and how to rehabilitate these dogs. If you don’t think the “culture of dog fighting” isn’t loaded with racial or class issues, you should definitely tune in.

FILED UNDER: Media, WAMU
September 21, 2010 | 2:31 PM | By

Enjoy The Kojo Nnamdi Show LIVE, tonight!

WAMU is doing something neat tonight in Silver Spring, and since so many of you love Kojo Nnamdi, I thought I’d let you know:

Join us for a lively and open dialogue about the issues of the day at one of our six Kojo In Your Community events this year…The live broadcasts are taped on location in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia and aired on WAMU 88.5′s The Kojo Nnamdi Show.

Here’s where to go:

Silver Spring Civic Building and Veterans Plaza
One Veterans Place, Silver Spring, MD 20910
(On Ellsworth Drive between Fenton and Cedar Streets)

Doors swing open at 5:45 p.m. The event starts at 6:30 and should go for about two hours. They’re going to live blog it, too, if you’d like to follow along, otherwise, tune in to 88.5 FM tomorrow to hear the complete program.

FILED UNDER: Media, Kojo, WAMU
September 20, 2010 | 10:34 AM | By

WaPo distorts our Kojo – updated

vincentgallegos

WAMU 88.5's Kojo Nnamdi, last Fall, Busboys and Poets

So yesterday, the Twitterz were burning up with a link to an opinion piece that WAMU’s Kojo Nnamdi had written for The Washington Post. It’s a great read– except for one problem. The title. WaPo called it, “For D.C., Vince Gray’s election is a bold step backward”…but that’s not what Kojo wrote:

The District today is becoming more racially, ethnically and culturally diverse than it has been in my 41 years here. The tax base is expanding, something every mayor in every city finds desirable. But this also means more affluent residents are displacing poorer residents. And with our city’s troubled racial history,gentrification can be socially and politically volatile.

That volatility has resulted in Mayor Adrian Fenty’s ouster. Vincent Gray, a decent and thoughtful man, benefited from black voters’ anger at Fenty, a result of four years of real and perceived slights by the mayor toward his black constituents. But that anger has propelled us into a future that concerns me. While the past should inform the future, it shouldn’t handcuff it…

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FILED UNDER: Media, Kojo, Politics, Vince Gray, Washington Post
September 16, 2010 | 11:39 AM | By

Tommy Wells calls Milloy’s column “a window on DC”

twitter.com/TommyWells

Wells' reaction to Milloy.

I stumbled on to Tommy Wells’ (Council member for Ward 6) Twitter account because he is live-tweeting the “Unity Breakfast” which is going on right now, featuring local politicians, including Vince Gray and Adrian Fenty. Wells is sharing sentiments like this one, from Gray to Fenty, “I know you will help make me the best Mayor possible” while he simultaneously uploads pictures he is taking of everyone from soon-to-be Council Chair Kwame Brown to current Mayor Adrian Fenty.

That’s swell enough on its own, but I was more intrigued by the tweet I captured, which you see to the right. Continue reading →

FILED UNDER: Media, Gentrification, Politics, Race and Class
September 10, 2010 | 9:56 AM | By

Strolling Through Georgetown Patch

super-structure

Hasn’t the “Oh, no! I’m having a baby! I need a stroller!”-blog post/article been done ad nauseum? Apparently the newly-launched Georgetown Patch doesn’t think so, offering these privilege-laden nuggets in their latest Opinion column, “Urban Parenting: Tackling D.C. Streets With a Babe in Tow“:

How would I navigate the narrow sidewalks and cobblestone streets of Georgetown ? How would my gear and I tread into tiny Trader Joes? Would Dupont Circle’s Farmer’s Market followers freak if my infant had a colossal meltdown while I was buying organic eggs? AHHH!!

I took a deep breath and made a decision. This beautiful girl was coming into MY world and she was going to love it as much as I do…

By the way, I ended up getting the Snap n Go by Baby Trend. Its compact size makes it Farmer’s Market/Trader Joe’s friendly and the basket makes for a great wine carrier.

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FILED UNDER: Media, Georgetown
September 1, 2010 | 6:30 PM | By

Vincent Gray Calls out WaPo (sort of)

biblicone

Did you know the Post has its own zip code?

Look what I missed, while I was running around looking for my “Reporting for Dummies” book; after today’s debate at the Newseum, the City Paper’s Loose Lips got mischievous.

When Post Executive Editor Marcus Brauchli went over to Gray after the debate to introduce himself, LL couldn’t help but try and stir the pot, asking Gray what he thought of the Post’s editorial page. Which, in case you didn’t know, is very pro-Fenty. (And, also in case you didn’t know, a part of the paper Brauchli has nothing to do with.)

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FILED UNDER: Elections, Media, 2010 Elections, City Paper, Vince Gray