nenf

"The Big Gamble:" March 11 symposium to examine effects, coverage of gambling in New England

HAMDEN, Conn. – Public officials, journalists, researchers and a top industry executive will assess the impact and reporting of casino gambling on New England -- the experience in Connecticut and the promise in Massachusetts -- during a free, public symposium next month (March 11) hosted by Quinnipiac University. "The Big Gamble: The Costs, Benefits and Coverage of Casinos," is being co-presented by the New England News Forum at the University of Massachusetts and the School of Comunications at Quinnipiac, with support from the Connecticut Council on Problem Gambling. The event will run from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Tuesday, March 11 in the Mancheski Executive Seminar Room at the Lender School of Business Center, and will be preceded by a reception and movie screening on the campus. The decision by Massachusetts Gov. Duval Patrick to push for his state to issue as many as three casino gambling licenses to private operators raises key questions for New England media and citizens.  Among participants will be Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal, Dan O'Connell, the secretary of economic affairs for the state of Massachusetts, the president of the Foxwoods Resort Casino, journalists and researchers. READ MORE.  / Download news-gambling-symposium.pdf   / REGISTER FOR PRE-EVENT RECEPTION

Lockhart things political-media distrust destructive to First Amendment role

An unprecedented level of distrust between reporters and politicians is hampering the ability of the press to carry out its First Amendment function to watch government, according to a former White House press secretary and journalist, Joe Lockhart. 

"The level of distrust is unprecedented and it is very destructive," Lockhart told an audience of about 400 people on Saturday during a panel organized by the Massachusetts Foundation on the Humanities for a free, afternoon symposium, "No News is Bad News."  Lockhart said that in his pre-White House days, as an editor with network TV, he found that while he might disagree personally and privately with them on issues, he generally liked most politicians as people. He said he no longer feels that way about all politicians, and he suspects politicans feel the same way about some media people.  This lack of mutual admiration and trust is making it difficult for the media and politicians to connect.

Lockhart was part of a panel on political reporting moderated by Columbia University history professor and provost Alan Brinkley, and including panelists Todd Purdum, national editor and poltical correspondent for Vanity Fair magazine, and Marcy Wheeler, a citizen journalist and blogger from Ann Arbor, Mich., who blogs at TheNextHurrah under the pseudonym "emptywheel" and is author of the book, "Anatomy of Deceit: How the bush Administration Used the Media to Sell the Iraq War and Out a Spy."

Purdum said the era of three major network newscasts views by most Americans and presided over by "three, white males" has given way to a stew of news with many more inputs,  equal access to tools, more community and social networking.  To listen to the full panel discussion, which took place Nov. 17 at Boston College, click on the carat on the left of the bar below.  A downloadable MP3 podcast is also available. 

VIDEO?AUDIO/: Markos Moulitas speaks at Boston Univ.

Daily Kos founder Markos Moulitsas returned to his law-school alma mater on Oct. 17, 2007, to give a keynote address at a day-long seminar on new-media law and blogging. Introduced by the school's dean, Maureen O'Rourke.  In the 36-minute talk and Q&A, Moulitsas recounted his surprise rise to Internet prominence, and described his view of why Daily Kos is an example of new media, which he said was made possible by a "dramatic failure" of the mainstream media, citing comments by CBS Evening News host Katie Couric during a September appearance at the National Press Club on The Kalb Report.

OTHER COMMENT: Dan Kennedy, at The Guardian, on Markos' talk.

AUDIO:  Listen to a stream of his talk below, introduced by BU Law School Dean Maureen O'Rourke.  Or download an MP3 podcast. For a story on the event, go to http://www.newenglandnews.org/?q=copyright

VIDEO:  Watch the video stream by clicking on the carat below the frame: