Listen Now:

 An Interview with Jason Barnett of the UpTake on Media and the RNC : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Throughout the Republican National Convention, the offices of the UpTake were a central hub for bloggers and independent media. Located just outside the security barrier that protected the Xcel Center in downtown St. Paul, bloggers including Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com, Matt Stoller of Open Left, and many others used the office to file stories and report on both the official RNC events and the protests.

For the latest episode of the UtneCast, I spoke with Jason Barnett, executive director of the UpTake, about what his organization hopes to add to the coverage of the RNC and how technology is changing the media.

You can listen to the interview above, or to subscribe to the UtneCast for free through iTunes, click here.

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 Lucas Conley on Advertising: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

“We will always have brands,” Lucas Conley writes in his new book Obsessive Branding Disorder, but some brand marketing campaigns are just wrong. In this week’s episode of the UtneCast, Conley sits down with Utne Reader assistant web editor Bennett Gordon to listen to a few advertisements and to talk about how brands and marketing are creating a more jaded society.

To watch the ads from the podcast, click on the YouTube links below:

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 UtneCast: UIPA 2007: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

For the past 19 years, Utne Reader has honored best magazines of the year in the Utne Independent Press Awards. In the latest episode of the UtneCast, editor in chief David Schimke and librarian Danielle Maestretti sit down with Utne.com assistant editor Bennett Gordon to talk about the awards. Things were a bit different this year, with two new categories (In-Depth/Investigative and Health/Wellness) added. Schimke and Maestretti talk about the new categories and how the staff chooses the awards.

For more on the awards, visit www.utne.com/uipa2007, and stay tuned for Part 2 of our UtneCast on the winners.