TV News LIES

Does your government have an Internet kill-switch? Read our guide to Guerrilla Networking and be prepared for when the lines get cut.

These days, no popular movement goes without an Internet presence of some kind, whether it's organizing on Facebook or spreading the word through Twitter. And as we've seen in Egypt, that means that your Internet connection can be the first to go. Whether you're trying to check in with your family, contact your friends, or simply spread the word, here are a few ways to build some basic network connectivity when you can't rely on your cellular or landline Internet connections.

The nation's largest cable TV company, Comcast took control of NBC Universal after the government shackled its behavior in the coming years to protect online video services such as Netflix and Hulu. The deal closed shortly before midnight ET on Friday.

The takeover gave the cable-hookup company 51% control of NBC Universal, which owns the nation's fourth-ranked broadcaster, NBC; the Universal Pictures movie studio and related theme parks; and a bevy of cable channels including Bravo, E! and USA.

Comcast isn't simply becoming the nation's most powerful media and entertainment giant, with assets in broadcast and cable TV, movies, the Internet and theme parks.
The company is becoming television's dominant newscaster, with enormous influence on civic life.

Comcast will control the No. 1 evening newscast (The NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams), morning newscast (The Today Show), and Sunday talk show (Meet the Press). On cable, CNBC is the leading source of business news, while MSNBC focuses on politics.

Among the many promises made in its just-approved takeover of NBC Universal, Comcast Corp. pledged to sustain and even add hundreds of hours to the news and public affairs programming at the 10 TV stations NBC owns around the country.

As a baby step in the right direction, NBC should start by putting in the garbage-disposal all those no-calorie "news" segments about, for example, "The Biggest Loser," "Law & Order," "America's Got Talent" and movies from Universal Pictures. Convert those time slots, instead, to some meat and potatoes coverage about what's happening in our neighborhoods, our schools, our city halls.

MSNBC and Keith Olbermann have ended their contract, the network said Friday night. “This is the last edition of Countdown,” Mr. Olbermann said at the end of his program. “Let me thank my gifted staff here, and just a few of the many people who fought with me and for me.”

In a statement, MSNBC said it “thanks Keith for his integral role in MSNBC’s success and we wish him well in his future endeavors.”

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TVNL Comment: This is step one.  Comcast now owns most of NBC, and will replace every progressive voice on the network.  Wait and see who is next.

On the afternoon of January 6, Frances Fox Piven, a distinguished professor, legendary activist, writer and longtime contributor to this magazine, received an e-mail from an unknown correspondent. There was no text, just a subject line that read: DIE YOU CUNT.

It was not the first piece of hateful e-mail Piven had gotten, nor would it be the last. One writer told her to "go back to Canada you dumb bitch"; another ended with this wish: "may cancer find you soon."