Thursday, March 02, 2006

Progressive Media

Here's the back story to this post. I was at the doctor's office yesterday. I'm not really sick, but I had some testing done for anemia a while back. A few days ago I received the report about the test results, and there were so many grammar errors in it that it couldn't be read. Seriously. I showed it to a lot of people, and no one could make heads or tails of it. And we all have some experience construing probable meaning from tortured prose. So, I was at the doctor to talk to her about grammar. It didn't go well.

While I waited to see her, there was television playing in the waiting room. It was some wildly conservative talk show. Now I concede that I lead a sheltered life, but OH MY GOD! The misrepresentations, the stereotyping, the misogyny.... You all knew this already, didn't you? I'm just now catching up.

I've often waxed if not poetic then certainly enthusiastic about my iPod, but on this day I LOVED that thing. Among its other virtues (and any mp3 player would work just as well for this), it allows me to listen to podcasts, which in turn make it possible to hear progressive news and commentary. We're so into podcasts around here that we might even cancel our subscription to Sirius satellite radio -a big step for us.

In the spirit of Women's History Month, one of my favorite podcasts is Rubyfruit Radio -where "it's all girls, all the time." The show is about highlighting the works of female indie artists. Check it out.

The Rational Radical gets a little histrionic, but is nonetheless a good source for progressive commentary on the news. Besides, I get a little over-wrought on occasion. Perhaps you've noticed. It's nice to have company.

Sometimes though, you just need news from diverse points of view, rather than propaganda you agree with. When that happens, you might want to try CurrentTV. An interesting component of Current is that viewers can submit segments. Personally I like LinkTV a little better, but it's harder to find. Both stations stream their content on-line, so those of us without television can still have access. Bless their hearts for that.

What are YOUR favorite podcasts -because I need to spend more time plugged into this thing! (not really, but I'm very hooked....)

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