Cit Media

Molly Ivins, one of the great journalists of our era, has died, the Texas Observer reports “In Loving Memory of Molly Ivins, 1944-2007.” Key quote:

Molly’s enduring message is, “Raise more hell.”

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Mac News Network: Apple pays $700,000 for bloggers’ legal fees.

In total, Apple was ordered to pay nearly $700,000 — a small amount for a company that reported nearly $1 billion in profit in the December quarter, but a large moral victory for bloggers, journalists and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) which helped defend against Apple’s subpoenas.

“We are very pleased, as this will go a long way towards keeping EFF on the forefront of impact litigation defending the rights of online journalists and others,” EFF Staff Attorney Kurt Opsahl wrote in an email. “Bloggers break the news, just like journalists do. They must be able to promise confidentiality in order to maintain the free flow of information. Without legal protection, informants will refuse to talk to reporters, diminishing the power of the open press that is the cornerstone of a free society.”

If this is accurate as reported, it’s indeed a big victory for the rights of all journalists, including the new ones on the Web.

Keep in mind that this was not about bloggers. The Web journalists who were the targets of Apple’s actions didn’t call themselves bloggers, and in fact their sites were as much like online periodicals as anything else.

I played a small role in this case. At the request of the EFF, I filed a declaration (for which I was not paid) attesting to the journalistic value of what the sites were doing. I was happy to help, because in the end this was about journalism and little else.

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AP: Watada Agreement Means Journos Won’t Have to Testify in ‘Antiwar’ Case.

Watada’s attorney Eric Seitz agreed that two subpoenaed reporters will not have to testify. They are Honolulu Star-Bulletin’s Gregg Kakesako and freelance reporter Sarah Olson. “We will stipulate and agree to the testimony that the reporters would have otherwise provided and the accuracy to the statements that are attributed to my client,” said Seitz, of Honolulu.

Seitz said Watada’s action shields the journalists from the “heavy handedness of the government.”

Several journalism organizations have brought pressure to bear to keep the journalists out of court. It looks like they had some influence.

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This headine on the Macworld site — Former Apple marketer moves to the private sector — is unintentionally hilarious. You can move to the private sector from the public sector, but the latter is government, not another company.

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For proof, see The Top 100 Alternative Search Engines at the Read-Write Web.

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Tish Grier notes an intriguing call for citizen-journalism specialists:

Orato (which bears the tagline: “True Stories from Real People” put out a call earlier this month for “sex trade workers to help us cover the Pickton trial,” because, according to Orato’s editor-in-chief Paul Sullivan, they wanted “somebody who may have lived the story in some way” and could offer “a unique voice specific to this piece.”

And why not?

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NY Times: Feeding Frenzy for a Big Story, Even if It’s False. To most journalists, the notion of anonymous reporters relying on anonymous sources is a red flag. “If you want to talk about a business model that is designed to manufacture mischief in large volume, that would be it,” said Ralph Whitehead Jr., a professor of journalism at the University of Massachusetts.

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Editor & Publisher: Major Survey Finds ‘Need to Rethink’ Newpaper in Education Programs. Teachers are using more online sources to discuss news-related issues in the classroom, with less use of newspapers — particularly local daily publications — according to a new survey from the Carnegie Knight Task Force at Harvard University.

So, teachers are following their students instead of tradition. This should not be a big surprise.

Newspaper companies have been treating NIE programs like stepchildren for a long time now. Not once during my more than two decades in newspaper journalism did any employer ask me to visit as school as part of that initiative. I’d have gladly done it.

What papers can and should be teaching in the community — and especially in classrooms — is modern media literacy. That would do more to help their future than giving away the manufactured product.

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NY Times: On Web, Voters Question Clinton Directly. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton sat in a fake living-room set on Monday night and fielded questions on a live video Webcast.

Was this a joke? Clinton’s alleged conversations with America have been so entirely scripted as to be laughable.

If this is her idea of changing politics in a Webby way, we’re not making much progress.

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A new site, Defend the Press, is taking up the case of Sarah Olson:

a journalist who published an exclusive interview with Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada, the highest-ranking member of the military to refuse to deploy to Iraq. Now, the Army wants Olson to be their witness in the lieutenant’s upcoming court martial. The Army is trying to turn speaking to the press into a crime — and wants to have a reporter participate in the prosecution of political speech.

Government actions to limit press freedom — this encroachment is only one of many — are actions to limit free speech and public knowledge.

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