Re:disinfo.com is nice, but...
on
Disinformation.com
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· Score: 2, Informative
If you want non-partisan scrutiny of the media and politics, check out Spinsanity, a watchdog of manipulative political rhetoric from both sides. [Disclosure: I co-edit the site.]
Katz is right that the Internet is making it possible for people outside the mediasphere to scrutinize the media and culture, but he should look more in the direction of the political weblogs. Beyond the celebrity journalist bloggers, there's a new breed of critics coming up and having an impact. Will Vehrs' Punditwatch just got picked up on FoxNews.com, and we just signed a distribution agreement with Salon.com. Both are unimaginable without the Internet.
This has it exactly backwards. In terms of human rights, wiring Africa could help a lot. The non-profit I work for, Benetech, is working on a tool called Martus that helps grassroots human rights groups easily back up their data online and publish information on human rights abuses on the Web (at no cost). Without this kind of tool - and the connectivity needed to use it - a police officer or other minion of an oppressive state can come in, take your computer, and boom - years of meticulously collected data is gone.
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If you want non-partisan scrutiny of the media and politics, check out Spinsanity, a watchdog of manipulative political rhetoric from both sides. [Disclosure: I co-edit the site.]
Katz is right that the Internet is making it possible for people outside the mediasphere to scrutinize the media and culture, but he should look more in the direction of the political weblogs. Beyond the celebrity journalist bloggers, there's a new breed of critics coming up and having an impact. Will Vehrs' Punditwatch just got picked up on FoxNews.com, and we just signed a distribution agreement with Salon.com. Both are unimaginable without the Internet.
This has it exactly backwards. In terms of human rights, wiring Africa could help a lot. The non-profit I work for, Benetech, is working on a tool called Martus that helps grassroots human rights groups easily back up their data online and publish information on human rights abuses on the Web (at no cost). Without this kind of tool - and the connectivity needed to use it - a police officer or other minion of an oppressive state can come in, take your computer, and boom - years of meticulously collected data is gone.