Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman will be in New York for the next couple of days, where they will be guests on the Leonard Lopate Show on WNYC (October 29th, 1:00-2:00pm) and The Joey Reynolds Show on WOR (October 30th, 1:00-2:00am).

In other radio-related news, Rosenberg and Feldman were recently interviewed by German Public Radio about No Time To Think, as the German news media has only recently begun to travel down the path of ever-increasing media speed.  For more on this auf Deutsch you can find the article on Deutschlandradio Kultur’s website.

If it weren’t for the fact that we are watching peoples’ retirement funds being wiped out, it would almost be fun watching the rapid ups and downs of the market in recent weeks.

Today alone–another example of another volatile day on Wall Street and in markets around the world.

At first, the Dow went up by triple digits–as many as 220 points, only to collapse by triple digits, falling 203.18.

In fact, says the Associated Press, and listen to this one–”the Dow crossed between positive and negative territory 60 times during the session.”

60 times! In just one day! Talk about the increased speed of things, especially the reactions of the financial markets.

The thing about fear, about panic, is it spreads real fast. And, it is spreading faster now than anyone could have imagined only four short weeks ago.

Everyone is so tired and scared of the current economic meltdown, some are being far too quick in their declarations.

If the market shoots up dramatically one day, the so-called “experts” say it is a sign that things have stabilized following the world-wide government interventions in banking systems aimed at getting credit flowing again.

But when the market drops dramatically a day or two later, sometimes, the very same “experts” declare it is a sign that investors are still nervous and that the bailout may not be working as hoped for.

At a time such as this, it becomes that much more important for everyone, but especially the “experts,” to weigh their words and opinions more carefully. It serves no one any good to claim to be the first to spot a trend, especially when the trend may only last 24 hours!

Jeffrey Bercovici covers the media beat over at Portfolio.com’s Mixed Media blog.  He recently sat down with Rosenberg and Feldman over the phone for a series of questions about the news media and their new book No Time To Think.

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From the partisan shout-fests on cable news to the thinly-sourced celebrity take-downs on TMZ, a lot of what passes for news these days is garbage. Quite a lot of this garbage is produced by, and consumed by, perfectly intelligent people. What’s going on here?

Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman think it has to do with speed. In their new book No Time to Think: The Menace of Media Speed and the 24-Hour News Cycle, Rosenberg, a media columnist and former critic for the Los Angeles Times, and Feldman, an investigative reporter, make the case that each incremental increase in the rate of news-cycle turnover has yielded a corresponding rise in the level of inaccuracy, blather and humbug in the newsosphere. I recently spoke with them about the dangers of blog journalism, the need for “nutritional labeling” in news, and the problem with Keith Olbermann.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE INTERVIEW.

Charles S. Feldman was interviewed by Senior Editor John Ramey this morning on KNX 1070.  They touch on a number of speed-driven media blunders, from John Edwards’ supposed early withdrawal from the presidential race, to United Airlines bankruptcy reporting gaffe from September.

You can listen to the archive on their website (his interview is in the second half).  Or if you prefer, you can download an edited version from here.

And in other news…

• Barry Garron at The Hollywood Reporter’s Past Deadline blog has penned an excellent review of No Time To Think:

“Highway safety officials have warned for years that speed kills. Rosenberg and Feldman illustrate over and over again that the admonition is just as applicable to traffic on the information superhighway…Reading this book will make you more aware of what you are seeing on TV and on the Internet. It will make it easier to recognize when you are being served hot air instead of hard information, and it will make you more skeptical of the entire process. And that’s a good place to start.”

• And for those of you who still have debates on your mind, Howard Rosenberg’s October 12 column in the Los Angeles Times tackles the absurdity of televised debate coverage and all its graphs and graphics and bells and whistles.

“Look, the 24-hour news cycle has shrunk to about 24 seconds, and surveys show that most Americans, especially those under 30, have lost faith in traditional media and prefer the Internet as a primary news source. Extreme speed is what’s hot, transforming not only the news business but also newsmakers by forcing everyone to make decisions on the run. CNN’s election coverage is a metaphor for the perils of this speed surge. It doesn’t call what it does “in-depth instant news” for nothing.”

King of the world one day; down in the dumps the next.

That’s sort of how the stock market is making people feel.

There was widespread, though shortsighted, relief Monday when the market soared following the announced plan of the U.S. government to bailout the banks and try and grease the global credit machine along with financial leaders of other nations.

But all that –dare I utter that Obama word–”hope?”–took a nose dive today as the Dow took a suicide leap off a cliff, plunging 733 points, the second largest point loss in the market’s history.

Slowed retail sales being blamed. Probably true, but only part of this story.

The main problem is, the bailout will probably be good for big banks–but, thus far, we have seen very little addressed directly to the plight of the average American.

For Americans to even begin to regain their confidence in the financial system (is there still a “system?”) several things needs to be done, it seems to me.

The laws must be changed to allow bankruptcy judges to amend the terms of mortgages nearing foreclosure…

People need to be able to take money out of their 401k accounts–or other retirement accounts–without penalty, at least up to a point…

If the government–taxpayers–can support banks and bankers, why not car and student loans, just for starters. People are finding it increasingly difficult to get either. Bank bailouts will not restore consumer confidence no matter how much money is poured into the coffers of powerful banks.

Barack Obama and John McCain have talked about all or most of these items–and more—but Congress and the Bush administration must come to realize the time for talk is over.  They got it, a bit too late, but they got it eventually, when it came to banks…now the White House must “get it” when it comes to helping out ordinary Americans.

Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman appeared as guests on Larry Mantle’s Airtalk this afternoon for the second hour of the show, talking about today’s media landscape, the inherent dangers of a speed-obsessed media, and why teaching media literacy is more important today than ever before.

You can listen to the interview on this page (scroll down to October 14) if you have RealPlayer on your computer.  Just click on the icon.

If you prefer to download the show through itunes, you can do that from their podcast page.

And feel free to weigh in and join a discussion with other listeners in the comments field of the Airtalk blog.

Howard Rosenberg and Charles S. Feldman will be talking about and signing copies of NO TIME TO THINK at Skylight Books in LA on Wednesday, October 15th.

Time: Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 7:30 p.m.
Location: Skylight Books
1818 N. Vermont Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Be sure to tune into Airtalk on KPCC on Tuesday, October 14 to catch the authors in conversation with host Larry Mantle.

“Compelling and insightful...“No Time to Think” is a quick read, and its immediate appeal will be to those who aren’t fans of the 24-hour news channels. But any reader who wants to understand how news outlets such as CNN are run might appreciate a behind-the-scenes glimpse from a longtime insider.” –The Associated Press

Read the full review at the San Francisco Chronicle here.

It is all happening so quickly, this global economic meltdown.

So, it is not exactly comforting that after meeting with finance officials from the so-called G-7, President Bush’s only real words of encouragement were, ” we will do what it takes.”

Well, gee, isn’t that what he and the others have been doing thus far, or are they only now taking this all seriously?

According to an account by the Associated Press, Saturday’s comments marked the 21st time in 26 days that Bush has spoken out about the worst financial panic since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

Considering things keep getting worse, maybe the prez should take the hint at this point that his comments seem to do more harm than good—or , at least, they are not helping any.

What the week ahead has in store is literally anyone’s guess. The fact of the matter is, when it comes to this particular economic/credit crisis, there really are no “experts.”  Your butcher’s guess is as good as any other and he is likely to throw in a good piece of meat as well!

One thing you can take to the bank–if not your money–is that whatever happens this coming week, it will happen faster than you can say “Jesus–my 401K is gone!!!!!”  

Speed and fear are helping drive this panic and they are a rotten pair no matter what the situation might be.

After the market crashed in 1929, it took some three years before there was a full-blown banking and credit crisis. And, even then, it was mostly a U.S. problem at first.

What is truly breathtaking now is how fast the current credit crisis is spreading around the globe.

Even after the U.S. passes a $700 billion bailout for the banks, the stock market rapidly plunges, Asian stocks take a dive (as of this writing) and Great Britain is getting set to launch its own bank rescue.

Speed is, without doubt, at the very heart of this world-wide financial panic. Can it be slowed if not stopped before we all fall off a cliff???

Suppose the answer is…..no!

Vice presidential candidates Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin squared off for 90 minutes Thursday night. And the loser of Biden-Palin?

Moderator Gwen Ifill.

Ifill, whose regular gig is on PBS as reporter/fill-in anchor for “The Lehrer NewsHour” and host of “Washington Week, was Thursday night’s emptiest suit. Yes, and that includes even Palin, whose inability to speak coherently on important issues and refrain from child-like cheap shots was boggling…and frightening. And having little Trig in her arms at nearly 11 p.m., when he should have been packed off to bed hours earlier? I know a motherhood prop when I see one.

But were Ifill’s questions depressingly inarticulate and predictable? You betcha. Yet time after time after time after time, Palin ignored them and went off on a riff of her own choosing, as Ifill sat silently as if in a trance and Palin were encased in Plexiglas that immunized her. The rigid debate format made direct exchanges between the two candidates difficult. Yet Biden seemed especially immobilized, only once challenging Palin’s avoidance of Ifill’s questions, apparently constrained also by a strategy that called for him not to appear to bully Palin. 

Meanwhile, Ifill herself was predictable, performing well below the competence displayed by her boss, Jim Lehrer. when he moderated the first televised encounter between Barack Obama and John McCain. She’s a solid journalist by many accounts, but a woefully inept interviewer–too imprecise, too kind and passive when sharp body blows are called for. She offers a question, then listens contentedly and says nothing when the subject employs the tried-and-true tactic of ignoring that question and answering the one he or she wants to answer.

What a sad, exasperating performance, affirming that the success or failure of these “debates”–that’s what I’ll generously call them–is often determined less by the candidates than by the moderators. Thumbs down to this one.  

This may be one of the more novel approaches to running for national office: During the much anticipated debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin, the Alaska governor, asked what promises would have to be broken in light of the current fiscal mess destroying Wall Street, replied that she’s so new at this game, she hasn’t really promised anything ,so can’t go back on anything!!!

Now, there’s an interesting take on campaigning.

Despite this…or maybe because of this..instant blog results from across cyberspace seem to conclude that Palin, in a way, won the debate simply because the expectations for her were so low going into it. So long as she just showed up, by this analysis, she wins!

Any notion that the public would get to view an unscripted and uncontrolled Palin went up in an icy cloud of Alaskan perma-frost when it became obvious that she kept glancing down at were undoubtedly cue-cards with prepared comments and answers for the expected questions, which, sadly, didn’t fail to be just that—-expected!