Indigenous Peoples and Human Rights

October 29, 2014

Media Pimps: Hollywood isn't the only place where people sleep their way to the top

Hollywood isn't the only place where people sleep their way to the top


By Brenda Norrell
Censored News
Dutch translation by Alice at NAIS
http://www.denaisgazet.be/nieuws/media-pimps

With the creation of the Internet, new forms of fraud and crime were created by reporters who never leave their homes. These armchair journalists have joined the world of other corporate criminals. They steal with impunity.

They steal from the good hearts who spend their last dimes to be present and cover the news. Those good-hearted grassroots people and activists have become authentic voices for human rights and the rights of Indigenous Peoples. As the Zapatistas say, these citizen journalists are the authentic voices for justice and dignity. Because they are good hearts, the media thieves prey on their work.

The plagiarizers, aggregators and posters dominate the news websites, especially in national Indian country news. These stay-at-home reporters, editors and publishers know how to turn the hard work of others into cash in their pockets, a paycheck for staying home.

First there are the plagiarizes. They copy and paste and steal photos from their armchairs at home, snagging potato chips and whatever else they can get their hands on. 

If you review Indian Country Today's articles over recent years, you will see copy and paste plagiarism, and the theft of copyrighted photos. Just ask the reporters if they were present to cover the news they have been writing about. The owner of the publication is extremely wealthy and can afford to send reporters out to actually cover the news. The reporters have a choice. They can continue as plagiarizers and deceivers, or not.

Next, there are the aggregators. From their easy chairs, these parasite journalists collect all the hard work from real reporters on the Internet. Then, they rewrite it. They think that this makes them look really smart. The photos are usually stolen and violate copyrights. Just look for the photo credit and ask the photographer if they were paid. 

Now that you know how you are being deceived, just re-read those long articles. You'll see it is just a conglomeration of info from the web by a stay at home reporter.

Finally, there are the 'posters.' In Indian country you can recognize the posters because they use others work or links and post those on a webpage with a lot of advertising. They make money from advertisers, usually without the reporters permission.

'Posters' don't actually do any journalism, or spend any money to make money. These websites post other peoples work, with or without credit or permission. 

In a rare case of this new collapsed Internet journalism, the owners of the Indian news website indianz.com received a multi-million dollar spy contract this year. It is for domestic and international spying with an office at the US Pentagon.

So, that's the final category: The 'posers.' The posers position themselves to look like authentic journalists, and get a paycheck for doing so.

As for the subtitle here, about Hollywood, ask yourself why an editor or publisher would employ a reporter or editor who has been plagiarizing from their home for years, and in some cases, for decades.

The bottom line is this: If readers fail to recognize fraud and deception, there is no hope for authentic journalism. If that is the case, real reporters will continue to be unemployed and real news outlets will continue to go bankrupt.

Brenda Norrell is publisher of Censored News, now in its 9th year with no advertising or funding. Norrell has been a news reporter in Indian country for 32 years. She began at Navajo Times, and worked as a stringer for AP and USA Today, during the 18 years that she lived on the Navajo Nation. Then, after serving as a longtime staff news reporter for Indian Country Today in the Southwest, she was censored, then terminated. Her work has appeared across the US and the world, and in Outside magazine and other publications. Today she remains blacklisted by all the paying media.
Censored News
www.bsnorrell.blogspot.com
brendanorrell@gmail.com






1 comment:

Ned Hamson said...

Good on you! I share your work and promote it but do not profit from it and there is always a link to you. Carry on!