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Feb 16, 2007

Radio Station Cries 'Enough' -- Won't Quote From Certain News Stories Relying on Unnamed Officials

The news director at KSFR-FM in Santa Fe, N.M., has told his staff not to use nationally published news stories that rely on unnamed U.S. officials as sources. "What we have suspected and talked about at length before is now becoming clear," wrote Bill Dupuy. "'High administration officials speaking on the condition of anonymity,' 'Usually reliable Washington sources,' and others of the like were behind the publicity that added credibility to the need to go to war against Afghanistan and Iraq." Numerous blogs have picked up on the story and praised Dupuy's decision.

Report: FCC can legally regulate broadcast violence

A draft of a long-awaited FCC report suggests that the Congress could ask the commission to regulate broadcast violence without violating the Constitution, according to the Los Angeles Times. A bipartisan group of lawmakers asked the FCC in 2004 to look into whether it could constitutionally regulate such content; unlike with indecency, the Supreme Court has never ruled that the FCC could regulate on-screen violence.

Scripting News: WNYC spam

Blogger Dave Winer complains about the spam he's received since donating to New York's WNYC. "Of course I have asked to be removed from the spam list, and how tacky is it to ask for a pledge less than a month after getting a gift of $100."

NPR's social media summit

NPR has convened a meeting of high-profile bloggers and Web 2.0 thinkers in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss the network's future in social media. Not surprisingly, there's plenty of online, on-the-scene coverage from this crowd. NPR's Andy Carvin has notes and videos on his blog. Robert Paterson: "The theme is becoming the new reality of the shift from Consuming to Creating." Doc Searls: "Seems to me that public broadcasting is way too long on policy and bureaucracy and way too short on engagement." (Searls is taking pictures, too.) Jeff Jarvis: "NPR should be a network of networks." Zadi Diaz: "The more I sat there and listened, the more I became convinced that NPR's future seems to be in opening themselves up to their listeners ... and in turn listening to them."