The emotional photo on the cover of Japanese daily newspaper Asahi Shimbun by photographer Toshiyuki Tsunerari might end up being the iconic image from last week's earthquake and tsunami.

[HT: Blogging via Typewriter]

I've spent a decade or so complaining that there should be a high speed train running from Flagstaff to Tucson via Phoenix, so I'm already in the bag for the message fictional characters Pete Campbell and Harry Crane are selling here, but if some of Mad Men's aesthetic of cool makes rail travel seem more appealing, I'd be thrilled.

Earlier this week, undercover sting filmmaker James O'Keefe released a video incriminating a former NPR executive as a Tea Party hating, government funding slashing, Islam sympathizer. But, the question was whether O'Keefe used his sometimes questionable editing techniques to manipulate the story. You'd assume that some liberal news organization would be all over debunking O'Keefe's narrative, and now someone has come to NPR's defense: Glenn Beck's news website, The Blaze:

Anyone looking at the edited version of the Project Veritas video would be concerned about the conduct and views expressed by the NPR representatives. But should we also be concerned about the deceptive nature of some of the video’s representations? Some will say no — the end justifies any means, even if unethical. Others may be bothered by these tactics and view similar projects with a greater degree of skepticism.

In our posting yesterday on the ethics of undercover journalism, we found a range of views. One interesting view is held by Fred Barnes of The Weekly Standard. Barnes believes it is always wrong for a journalist to lie: “It‘s dishonest for anyone in journalism to pretend to be someone they’re not.”

But Barnes also believes this applies only to journalists. “This rule doesn’t apply to folks outside the profession,” he told The Blaze. Barnes views the O’Keefe production as a “political hit job and a quite clever and successful one at that.”

Barnes may not realize that O’Keefe describes his work as “investigative journalism,” and thus by Barnes definition — unethical.

And that is only on the issue of going undercover. But even if you are of the opinion, as I am, that undercover reporting is acceptable and ethical in very defined situations, it is another thing to approve of editing tactics that seem designed to intentionally lie or mislead about the material being presented.

The story on The Blaze is worth checking out, simply because they tear apart O'Keefe's techniques with a series of comparative videos by the site's video expert. Who knew?

[ShortFormBlog]

Lang proposes what most of us already know - Superman is an immigrant, although I suppose there's room for debate on his legal status.

Besides Lang's spin on the real identity of Clark Kent, Lang has a cool ongoing project that explores border politics, but instead of Sheriff Joe and Tea Bagger mentality, there are werewolves and the Devil's Highway in Feeding Ground, a comic series written by Lang and illustrated by Michael Lapinski.

In an interview on the blog MTV Geek that you can read here, Lang says his comic books on border crossing and werewolf horror came from the real life stories about people we know so well in Arizona who cross the border and sometimes go through their own hell.

What I thought was interesting was how author Luis Alberta Urea also figures into Lang's comic world:

According to writer Swifty Lang, the genesis of his border crossing turned werewolf horror comic, Feeding Ground were the real life harrowing tales of the men, women, and children who daily attempt to cross over into the United States from both the documentary of his friend Thomas Peyton, 3 Men From 3 Valleys as well as Luis Alberta Urea's book, The Devil's Highway, and certainly the frequent newspaper headlines about the issue. The concept was also born, obviously enough, from conversations about werewolves. Not only was Lang interested in moving the classic monster away from the old tropes and limitations of silver and full moons, but he was interested in the metaphorical aspects of the creatures.

The story involves a coyote and family man—Diego Busqueda—who encounters one of these monsters out along the Arizona-Mexico border and the treacherous crossing he attempts with his family to escape threats both supernatural and criminal. Lang says that he feels Diego's story—the non-supernatural elements, at least—represent an American story, in that he and his collaborators on the series are "are attempting to tap into what is universal about sacrificing one’s identity to make a better life for their family."

You probably remember James O'Keefe from his famous ACORN hidden camera videos, his attempt to bug the phones of Sen. Mary Landrieu, or possibly his odd involvement in an attempt to "seduce" CNN correspondent Abbie Boudreau on a boat, but he's back with a new sting operation, this time on NPR.

This time, two of O'Keefe's associates, Shaughn Adeleye and Simon Templar, posed as representatives of a wealthy Muslim foundation connected to the Muslim Brotherhood, offered NPR a check for $5 million, and then taped the lunch meeting they had with NPR's then-senior vice president for fundraising Ron Schiller and senior director of institutional giving Betsy Liley (who doesn't talk much).

Schiller is probably a little too frank with the faux-contributors, and he basically gives O'Keefe what he wanted, which is anti-right wing/Tea Party rhetoric, but a few things worth nothing:

1. O'Keefe's intro stating that NPR receives $90 million from the government is at best misleading, and likely just plain false. As Melissa Bell wrote for the Washington Post, "NPR receives only about $2.4 million directly, with the rest coming from member stations (who also receive federal funding grants), sponsorships and fundraising."

2. NPR never took the money from the fake organization, as mentioned in their statement on the video: "The fraudulent organization represented in this video repeatedly pressed us to accept a $5 million check, with no strings attached, which we repeatedly refused to accept."

3. Ron Schiller is a fundraiser. Fundraisers tend to agree with the people offering them money. He made an effort to distinguish his own opinion from that of the official position of NPR, his position didn't have influence on editorial content, and frankly, most of what he said in either context isn't all that different from what a lot of people believe about the Tea Party and the religious right. Also, he doesn't work at NPR anymore.

Seems like a non-scandal to me, but that's probably wishful thinking on my part.

What O'Keefe is saying is the unedited footage is available below the cut.

In case you were wondering what Jane Lynch did before Best in Show, Party Down and Glee, she was dominating the video cassette upsell promo video circuit.

From MSNBC:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

I often forget that CNN is still a part of my cable lineup, but this weekend, I tuned in to see if they were covering the protests in Wisconsin, but instead they were extensively discussing what they thought celebrities might wear to the Academy Awards. Good times.

Rarely would I feel compelled to watch a 12 minute celebrity interview video, but Charlie Sheen's just a comedy goldmine right now. My favorite part (other than the multiple times he points at himself and says "WINNING"): the extended quoting of Allen Iverson's "Practice" press conference monologue.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

The people of PBS are likely aware that the audience that's likely to stand up for their continued funding also loves infographics, and this one makes a solid argument for why the network matters:

[PBS]