Preface to Censored 2012: Sourcebook for the Media Revolution

[Work in progress -- ENG 102 students: background/context for people/groups/concepts/issues discussed on pages 11-25]



Plato's Cave (12)

Book VII of The Republic: The Allegory of the Cave

Wikipedia: Allegory of the Cave

Mark Cohen (University of Washington): Allegory of the Cave

Contemporary interpretations


Crisis in Journalism (12)

Steve Coll: Crisis in Journalism and Potential Policy Responses (New America Foundation)

History for the Future: Victor Pickard on the Crisis in Journalism (Audio)

Todd Gitlin: Journalism in Criss -- Circulation, Revenue, Attention, Authority, and Deference (University of Westminster, London)

Astroturfing (12: Political and Corporate Front Groups posing as Grassroots Organizations)

Wikipedia: Astroturfing

Sourcewatch: Astroturf

Sourcewatch: Archive of Reports on Astroturf Groups

Sourcewatch: Astroturf Blogging

Center for Responsible Lending: What's An Astroturf Group?"

The New PR Wiki: AntiAstroturfing

PR Watch

Michael Dean Benton: Astroturf Organizations Spreading Propaganda - "Don't Make Us Pay"

Coal Cares (Satire)

The Fourth Estate (12)

Wikipedia: The Fourth Estate

The Dylan Ratigan: Glenn Greenwald -- The Media Failed on WikiLeaks (audio)

Judith Vidal-Hall: A press fit for the purpose? Finding a new model for press and public service broadcasting

Orwell Rolls in His Grave (USA: Robert Kane Pappas, 2003)


Radio Berkman: Yochai Benkler -- Fear of a Networked Fourth Estate

George Carlin (13)

Remembering George Carlin (May 12, 1937 - June 22, 2008)

Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television (1972)


Baseball vs Football (1990)


The American Dream (2005)


A compilation of clips from George Carlin's memorable comedy performances


Michael Dean Benton: Nougat Declares What Words Shall Not Be Used

Literate Citizenry (13)

Michael Dean Benton: Questions I Have About My World

Marilyn Brown: Fewer Students Reading Between the Lines

Chris Hedges: America the Illiterate

Susan Jacoby: The Age of American Unreason

Michael Wesch: A Portal to Media Literacy/Michael Benton: Thinking About 21st Century Multiliteracies

Robert McChesney: Rich Media, Poor Democracy

Benjamin Barber: “The Educated Student: Global Citizen or Global Consumer?”