Cyclical Media

Today, for new information on the disappearance of Stacy Peterson, FoxNews host E.D. Hill interviewed FoxNews host Greta VanSusteren.
Why one reporter should interview another reporter from their own station... I couldn't say.

Why Media Goats?

"When the god was asked whether they should go to war, he answered that if they put their might into it, victory would be theirs, and that he would himself be with them. With this oracle events were supposed to tally. For the plague broke out as soon as the Peloponnesians invaded Attica, and never entering Peloponnese (not at least to an extent worth noticing), committed its worst ravages at Athens, and next to Athens, at the most populous of the other towns. Such was the history of the plague."

Thucydides, History of the Peloponnesian War

How was the god questioned? Via goat entrails!
And how was the plague spread? Via goats!
So what became a symbol for the significance of the seemingly insignificant? GOATS.

Enough said.

More Media Resources

This is fun: Today's Front Pages, provided by Newseum.

Primary Glut

Every story on the "cover" of the online Washington Post is covering the results of the Florida primary. I thought I would look around at other online news sources and pull out all the important headlines that the Post missed by gorging on primary commentary, when I realized that there are no other headlines. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Google, Yahoo, and CNN are all running the McCain win/Giuliani defeat.
Internationally? The BBC, Le Monde, Die Welt, El Pais, and PressTV Iran all succumb to election fever.

So where was McCain's face not gracing the cover? India. China. Egypt.
Tonight there were two worlds - one that is attuned to American domestic politics, and one that is not.

Oil, Tehran Times, and How News Spreads

Tehran Times 1/29, at approx. 00:30 EST "Iranian Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari Monday reiterated that there was no need to supply more oil as the market was supplied sufficiently and its conditions were stable. "
No Oil Shortage in World Market: Oil Minister

Press TV-Iran 1/29, at approx 03:00 EST "Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari has said that there is no reason for OPEC member states of pump more crude into the market"
No Reason for OPEC Output Rise

Reuters 1/29, at approx. 09:00 EST "Iran's Oil Minister Gholamhossein Nozari was quoted in an Iranian newspaper as saying that 'there was no need to supply more oil as the market was supplied sufficiently and its conditions were stable.'"
Oil Above $91 as Rate Cut Hopes Lift Market

Blogging Stocks 1/29, at approx 14:22 EST "Iran's Oil Minister Gholam-Hossein Nozari said Tuesday that there's no reason for OPEC states to increase oil production, PressTV Iran reported."
Iran: No Need for OPEC to Increase Production

CNNMoney 1/29, at approx 23:19 EST "Prices were... getting support from expectations that OPEC will leave current production quotas unchanged when the 13-member oil cartel meets in Vienna on Friday for a crucial meeting about its output levels."
Oil Prices Above $92 in Morning Asian Trade

Okay, so what?
So this is how news travels. Tehran Times reports on statements by their Oil Minister. Another Iranian station picks up on the story, which in turn is posted to a stock blog after the end of trades Tuesday. The result is the story posted by CNNMoney - futures in oil are up by a dollar, buoyed in part by statements originally reported in the Tehran Times.
In less than 24 hours, statements made by one oil minister from one of the OPEC countries were impacting the Asian stock market four thousand miles away. That's the speed of information today.
At no point on this story's journey did any article mention the dubious journalism practiced by the Tehran Times. Likely the remarks of the Iranian Oil Minister were not fabricated, but some context might have been appropriate, especially considering what Iran stands to gain from rising oil prices.

Note: The Reuters story, including the quote from Gholam-Hossein Nozari, made it into the Washington Post. Nice to see my two papers tied together.
Note (part two): The pictured gentleman is Gholam-Hossein Nozari. The Farsi behind him reads, simply "oil".

Tehran Times Daily Headline: Islamic Revolution was one of history’s greatest events: Ahmadinejad
WTI/NYMEX: $92.37

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.