Media Resources

Relevant websites I like:
Energy Information Administration (Dept of Energy) - Petroleum data, projections, analysis, and explanations.
Europe Media Monitor News Explorer - I'm still fiddling with how the data is aggregated, but basically this tracks stories published around the world and "clusters" them for comparison across languages and sources.
Small Wars Journal - Rounds up news about modern wars, publishes opinion pieces.
Kottke.org - a blog about the liberal arts. Not all terribly relevant, but the editor has a real interest in journalism and the impact of design on message and usually links to some interesting research.
The Danger Room at Wired - looks at technology, security, and national defense.

Tehran Times and the Washington Post on U.S. Involvement in Pakistan

Wednesday's breaking story over at the Tehran Times:

Trilaterals triangulating in Pakistan
The United States is basically run by a small clique of wealthy families who own and control the Federal Reserve System, and the Trilateral Commission is their policy think tank.

The article goes on to describe how the Trilateral Commission, a perennial conspiracy favorite, is not only in charge of the Federal Reserve, but also the Pentagon and all Intelligence Communities, and wielded their power to assassinate Benazir Bhutto. Oh and they are also in league with the ever-present Zionists. Okay.

Meanwhile, the Washington Post is running the following headlines:

U.S. Urged to Push for Reforms in Pakistan
U.S. Willing to Send Troops to Pakistan
U.S. to Step Up Training of Pakistanis

So what? So every article is based off quotes - the first story is based on the pleadings of a famous cricketeer, the other two describe statements given by U.S. officials. The articles represent U.S.-Pakistan relations about as accurately as the Tehran Times. Granted, the Washington Post's articles are based in fact, but they not about facts. They are about announcements. And essentially, the Tehran Times insistence that the Trilateral Commission is responsible for Bhutto's assassination is equally reporting on announcements (announcements made by the paper, rather than by others).

I am not trying to absolve the Tehran Times, or imply that the Washington Post is at the same level, rather point out that neither is actually reporting on the changing U.S.-Pakistan relationship - only what is being said about it by sources of varying bias.

Oil is to Blame for... Rising Global Unemployment

AllAfrica.com, a Washington-based news-aggregate site with a focus on the African continent, links to this story originally published by the Vanguard in Lagos. The article takes its information from a press release made by the International Labour Office(ILO)'s annual report on Global Employment Trends.
The headline of the article: Nigeria: Rising Oil Prices to Render 5m Unemployed, ILO Warns
The lede for the press release:

Economic turbulence largely due to credit market turmoil and rising oil prices could spur an increase in global unemployment by an estimated 5 million persons in 2008, the International Labour Office said today in its annual Global Employment Trends (GET) report.

Despite making the lede, surprisingly oil is not mentioned again in the article or press release. Turning to the actual report, we find:

For the first time, probably, turbulences in one economically strong region (namely, the Developed Economies & the EU region and upfront the United States as a result of higher oil prices and the US housing market turmoil) have, so far, not impacted on other regions. (emphasis mine)

Put simply, the press release and all subsequent articles written on the GET report fingered rising oil prices as a culprit for rising unemployment across the globe, when what the report actually claims is the rising oil prices have not had the anticipated effect on unemployment, and indeed that more people are employed than ever before.

It is rather incredible that the press release for the report would be so misleading, but a headline blaming unemployment on rising oil prices probably makes intuitive sense to a public that has been fed Big Bad Oil stories for years. As discussed in Robert Entman's Projections of Power, news that fits into an accepted schema is highly unlikely to be contested. A brief search online concludes that the press release was noted but not analyzed.

WTI/NYMEX: $90.13