The London riots are continuing to make news in the United Kingdom. The Scotland Yard recently served British media outlets like the BBC with orders to hand over hundreds of hours of unbroadcast footage from the riots this summer. [The Guardian UK]
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Huffington Post is known for featuring unpaid writers and bloggers, but now the website is taking it to the next level: hiring middle school and high school students as contributors. [Time Techland] The Poynter Institute presents the 25 most moving 9/11 newspaper spreads of the weekend. [Poynter] Now there’s scientific proof to back it up. SpongeBob Squarepants makes your kids dumber and fatter. [NY Times] Talk about the perils of technology. Hackers accessed the Twitter account for NBC News on Friday and posted false messages about a fresh attack on New York’s ground zero. [CNN] To commemorate the tenth anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks, New York magazine has created the 9/11 Encyclopedia. This site memorializes September 11 in a creative and respectful way. [NY Magazine] Reporters in their young twenties are cheap labor, and they’re taking over presidential election coverage. [NY Times] Here’s what reporters should be asking politicians about religion… and what’s just taking up space in the news cycle. [Time] Sunday was the fourth anniversary of the death of Steve Irwin, also known as The Crocodile Hunter. [The Examiner] The Church of Scientology fights back against the New Yorker for a supposedly damaging feature the magazine ran on the group… by handing out a fake New Yorker? [NY Magazine] One organization that isn’t doubting the power of print media: The Onion. Keep on investing, folks! [The Onion] Two tabloid newspapers covering Hurricane Irene, one photo. Who wore it better? [NY Magazine] Eliot Spitzer is in the news again. He’s being sued for libel for a column he wrote last year for Slate. [Reuters] In honor of Steve Jobs’ retirement, here’s a story about his impact on the world of journalism. [Poynter Institute] After spending five months imprisoned in Libya, freelance journalist Matthew VanDyke returns to visit his cell and confront his past. [CNN] One presidential candidate who isn’t getting as much media attention as the rest: Ron Paul. [Politico] Jann Wenner, the founder of Rolling Stone and the owner of US Weekly and Men’s Journal, is getting a divorce. Could a divorce settlement be the end of the Wenner media empire? [NY Magazine] Here’s a list of the top magazines you’re likely to find in doctors’ offices and hair salons. The results might surprise you. [Ad Age] Writer David Foster Wallace’s colloquial writing could be said to be the first voice of the Internet age. [NY Times] Try some amateur reporting with Storyful, a website that allows you link tweets, videos and images to tell a story. [Storyful]
Strangely, that summer launched the reality TV genre. More than a decade later—where it seems the majority of TV is reality—I have found my own personal obsession…the bad reality TV game show. Who needs American Idol, Dancing with the Stars, or the Amazing Race? (I can hear some RP readers already saying—aren’t those bad reality TV shows? Not compared to the rest of this list!) Bad imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. Or, Rule 1 of Bad Reality TV Game Shows: If it is cheap, and it might draw any summer ratings, rip off the idea! To that end, I offer my pop culture tribute to 5 worst reality game shows of all time. (A side note for the analytic amongst the RP Nation: “Reality” TV probably has a more precise meaning, but in my world, it is a broad genre encompassing any show where contestants compete as themselves in some less than realistic setting…)
What’s worse than that? How about a reality game show where you can find “true love” with a millionaire? But after you think you’ve found the one, you find out he’s not a millionaire. I hate when that happens. Rule 2 of Bad Reality TV Game Shows: Deception is ok as long as you get money in the end.
I think someone should have filed a lawsuit for false advertising…because there were no celebrities here. Unless you think Bruce Jenner, Melissa Rivers, and Robin Leach are celebrities… The premise is simple. Dump a bunch of C-level stars in the jungle. Make them do stupid stuff. Someone leaves every night. Broadcast live every night. Someone wins. Poor mans survivor meets Ed Mcmahons star search. Bad! (Another side note: In checking the web today, I found NBC is actually remaking this show again. Wow. See Rule 1 of Bad Reality TV Shows Above). Read the rest of… Leave it to the New York Post to take something as unsexy as the stock market and turn it into a scandal. [NY Magazine] Jon Stewart defending Michele Bachmann? The comedian calls out Newsweek and its editor, Tina Brown, for its “crazy eyes” photo of Bachmann on the magazine’s cover. [Gawker] What’s more surprising: the fact that a Des Moines TV station questioned a commercial Stephen Colbert was paying the station to run hours before the Iowa straw poll an hour before it was supposed to air, or that two other stations didn’t question the commercial at all? [Time] Check out sone creative advertisements that make you look twice. [Hong Kiat] If newspapers are the new vinyl, does that mean that newspaper readers are hipsters? Didn’t think so. [Poynter Institute] The first website ever created celebrated its 20th birthday this weekend. Remember the days when a web page was just a bunch of links on a white background? [Time] A man from California is suing the Hilton hotel chain… over a 75 cent newspaper. [San Francisco Chronicle] Hey Wall Street Journal readers… fill out this survey about what you’ve heard about Rupert Murdoch in the news, win an iPod Touch! [NY Magazine] Confused about why so many print newspapers are suddenly charging readers for Web access? The Poynter Institute explains why the new business model makes sense. [Poynter Institute] How much power does the News Corporation, the media empire behind the recent tabloid scandal, have on media in the United States? [NY Times] The RP is currently holding forth on Wall Street Journal Radio — the Daily Wrap with Michael Castner — about today’s economic crisis and his nationally-discussed piece, Credit Downgrade for Dummies. To listen to the program live, click here, or on the logo below:
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