PBS Rules

With the corporate media conglomerates leading last nights evening "news" with the death of Farrah Faucet and Michael Jackson (and covering nothing else), I breathed a sigh of relief when the News Hour lead with the Supreme Court ruling on strip searches, the Cap & Trade bill, questions about Bank of America, health care reform and Iran.

While I too, have fond memories of "The King of Pop" (I had a huge crush on him when I was a little girl), I don't consider his death worthy of an entire "news" broadcast. Entertainment news sure, but not the news that creates informed citizens and a strong democracy.

Which brings me to the real point of this post — a post on Google's "Blogger." Do you really know what this company is doing with all the information you give them? Once again PBS helped remind me of the implications of putting my "life" in Googles data banks. WGVU re-ran the excellent 2006 BBC production "The World According to Google"on Wednesday night. A very eye-opening look at how the company stores all data (including emails) — not to mention the mapping technology and satellite images — and what the potential of having so much information in the hands of one company means. I highly recommend it — whether or not you're a blogger out here or have a gmail account.

Lazy Summer Days and the Arrival of Digital Television

It's amazing to me that it's June 16th already. I've been so crazy busy with stuff, that I can't remember it all! And, there's more to come with weekend's booked until the end of July.

The big switch to digital television has happened as well. One thing is clear, they're still working it all out. I did loose the stations I expected I would, but gained one. Then, last night, lost it. So, I "rescanned," and to my surprise, found I am picking up CBS (kind of). It's not a solid "signal" but not many of them are with the exception of PBS — which is really what matters anyway.

Even with all the graduation parties, festivals, out of town guests, etc., I have made sure I catch my favorite Friday night PBS programs — even if I have to watch on-line. NOW and Bill Moyers Journal are the BEST journalism on television and have added to my understanding many of the complex issues the United States is dealing with right now.

I'm a huge fan — this is what journalism looks like, and one of the reasons I'm such a huge media reform advocate. If you've never watched, NOW or Moyers, I recommend a visit to their websites where you can watch past shows on-line, or read the transcripts. An informed citizenry beings there.