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HAVE YOU BEEN 'DIGGING' THE NEWS LATELY?
[SOURCE: The Christian Science Monitor, AUTHOR: Dante Chinni, Project for Excellence in Journalism]
[Commentary] Have you used Digg.com yet? It is part of a relatively new phenomenon on the Web: social-networking news sites (others include reddit.com and newsvine.com). And Digg is a strangely engaging place. Digg.com is part news source, part blog, and part "American Idol." Users find pages they think are interesting while surfing the Web. They then submit them to Digg. There, other users comment on the pages and vote for or against them, pushing some up to Digg's front page and others into Web oblivion. Those who dislike mainstream media (MSM) see hope in Digg's model. Social networking news sites such as Digg are fun to visit, but it is easy to imagine how they could quickly lead to a view of the world just as insular as that of the MSM, and maybe more so ­ either stuck within the preferences of the Digg crowd or the preferences of a select few Digg members whose list of "diggs" one regularly checks. It's not that there's anything wrong with that, but if your concern is being trapped by the worldview of the MSM editors, how is the worldview of the crowd on one website really better?
http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0213/p09s01-codc.html

BILL WOULD MAKE ISPs KEEP DATA ON USERS
[SOURCE: Washington Post, AUTHOR: Ellen Nakashima]
Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) is pushing a measure that echoes a long-sought Bush administration goal: to require all Internet service providers to keep records on their subscribers. The measure would give the attorney general broad discretion to write the rules on what information companies have to retain and for how long. The provision would require Internet service companies to provide at a minimum the Internet subscriber's name and address, which can be linked to an Internet protocol address -- an identification number associated with a particular computer at a given time. Law enforcement officials would have to obtain a subpoena to have access to the records and could not use the tool to track law-abiding citizens on the Internet. It is aimed at protecting children from predators, but privacy advocates say its privacy and civil-liberties implications are huge, and industry is concerned about the costs of compliance. News of the measure has spread around the blogosphere, as critics seek to mobilize opposition to the SAFETY Act.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/12/AR200702...
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MEDIA, GOVERNMENT IN 'PERFECT STORM'
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Peter Johnson]
In 1971, when The New York Times won a major victory for press freedom in the Pentagon Papers case, mainstream media such as newspapers and the Big Three broadcast networks were "fantastically profitable, strong institutions," reporter Lowell Bergman says. But today, Bergman says, "network news is in decline, and newspapers are seriously threatened" at a time when both are locked in a battle with the Bush administration about controlling the national agenda and what government secrets should -- or should not be -- reported. "We seem to be at this critical juncture, a perfect storm," says Bergman, whose four-part PBS Frontline special, News War, kicks off tonight. Bergman traces American journalism from the Nixon administration's attacks to the post-Watergate popularity of the media to recent obstacles presented by the war on terror, and to the changing economics of the media business and challenges posed by the Web.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/life/20070213/d_mediamix13.art.htm

* New PBS Doc Misses the Media/War Story
http://www.alternet.org/mediaculture/47951/

INTO THE POLITICAL WEB
[SOURCE: San Francisco Chronicle, AUTHOR: Editorial Staff]
[Commentary] Bloggers, hired or not, are creeping ever closer to the center of the political ring. They bring huge followings, unfiltered views and plenty of swagger. Watch out, candidates. Bloggers don't submit their work to campaign central. They do their own homework and write it up their way. They're fun, fascinating and completely untamable. The blogosphere confers a definite hip factor, but needs a buyer-beware label, too. It may be the first cyber-dust-up of the 2008 campaign. But given the growing role of the Internet in fundraising, direct messages and hired blog commentators, candidates and voters may be in for different campaign season.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2007/0...