Perhaps I shouldn't blog about this.
For the past few weeks I've been trying to come up with at least three instances of how not having newspapers would hinder some of our favorite movies.
I havent' been doing too too well, but here are .... well, at least three cinematic/sitcom-based reasons why newspapers can not die.
1. The crazies - How in the world would movies such as the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind even be cool without crazies clipping out secret codes, conspiracy theories and such in the headlines and text of newspapers? In A Beautiful Mind, and many other great movies, the main character's wife is horrified to find the walls of her husband's office covered in circled newspaper clippings of conspiracies and meaningless codes.
2. The spin (literally) - EXTRA! EXTRA! WITHOUT NEWSPAPERS MANY MOVIES WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO LET THE AUDIENCE KNOW THAT SOMETHING IMPORTANT HAPPENED!...SOMETHING SO IMPORTANT THAT THE THING THAT HAPPENED HAS TO BE SHOWN IN A HUGE ALL-CAPS HEADLINE ON THE FRONT PAGE OF A NEWSPAPER THAT SPINS AT THE VIEWER!!!!
3. The trip down memory lane - Don't ask me why (of maybe you can blame the Nyquil...I was very ill), but last week I watched the movie Above the Rim. It's a terrible movie, but it reminded me of yet another reason why we (or at least films) shouldn't let all newspapers die: How are the main characters who are looking for redemption in movies supposed to take the viewer down memory lane if they don't have any collected newspaper clippings to refer to?....ESPECIALLY! sports figures?
.....my point exactly.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Tweet? More like "Snark"
This is my blog, so I can say what I want.
It recently came to my attention that many Congressmen were Twittering/Tweeting during President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night.
A blog from the Guardian asks if it was inappropriate. My answer: Hell yes.
These new technologies, in the wrong hands and at the wrong time, can be more than a detriment to getting things accomplished. And in this case it was absolutely juvenile.
Case in point: I take a 400-level course in the Annenberg School where I am surrounded by underclassmen. Recently, at the end of an in-class speech by a visiting, well-established entertainment quasi-icon, we were allowed to ask questions. As one of the underclassmen stood up to ask a semi-significant question, a gaggle of her fellow students preceded to say, loudly might I add, "Gag me with a spoon."
According to me, that, is the equivalent of these politicians Tweeting during Presient Obama's speech.
Dana Milbank of The Washington Post (in the link above) put it best: "It's bad enough that Americans are paralyzed by economic jitters. Now the president has to deal with lawmakers paralyzed by Twitter."
If you ask me, this is just another case of when technology usage goes wrong.
It recently came to my attention that many Congressmen were Twittering/Tweeting during President Barack Obama's speech on Tuesday night.
A blog from the Guardian asks if it was inappropriate. My answer: Hell yes.
These new technologies, in the wrong hands and at the wrong time, can be more than a detriment to getting things accomplished. And in this case it was absolutely juvenile.
Case in point: I take a 400-level course in the Annenberg School where I am surrounded by underclassmen. Recently, at the end of an in-class speech by a visiting, well-established entertainment quasi-icon, we were allowed to ask questions. As one of the underclassmen stood up to ask a semi-significant question, a gaggle of her fellow students preceded to say, loudly might I add, "Gag me with a spoon."
According to me, that, is the equivalent of these politicians Tweeting during Presient Obama's speech.
Dana Milbank of The Washington Post (in the link above) put it best: "It's bad enough that Americans are paralyzed by economic jitters. Now the president has to deal with lawmakers paralyzed by Twitter."
If you ask me, this is just another case of when technology usage goes wrong.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Speaking of reports....
In conjunction with UNITY, a collaboration of journalists of color, theloop21.com released their report on race and the media today.
Find the report, Journalism in Color: A special report on medi and race, here....but be patient. I think high volumes of traffic are slowing the site.
I havent' been able to get on it yet to see what the overall findings were.
But I wanted you all to know about it.
Find the report, Journalism in Color: A special report on medi and race, here....but be patient. I think high volumes of traffic are slowing the site.
I havent' been able to get on it yet to see what the overall findings were.
But I wanted you all to know about it.
Wahington Press Corps Metamorphosis
Change.
President Barack Obama promised it in his new administration.
News outlets are going through a lot of it themselves in this digital age and crumbling economy.
And according to a recently-released Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism report, the Washington Press Corps is changing a lot too.
Simply, the mainstream media is shrinking in representation as niche and foreign press grow.
One only had to watch President Obama's recent press conference to see that. (And yes, the Huffington Post was there.)
But one thing that the Pew Research Center report doesn't say outright is that there may now be more people of color in that Press Corps.....perhaps that's what it meant by the term "niche".
I abhor that word. When a majority of this country's population is non-white, people of color should no longer be called a "niche"....but I digress.
Oakland Tribune's Tammerlin Drummond takes on this new administration and new, more colorful White House Press Corps in a recent column. (....but kudos to some mainstream press for having representatives of color.) While she doesn't offer up any numbers, one only had to watch the press conference to see that there were more colored folks up in the mix.
Like Drummond, I too know what it's like to be the "fly in the buttermilk" ---at school, in my newsroom and even in the White House Press Corps.
As an intern for The Boston Globe's Washington Bureau, I once got the opportunity to go to the White House and be in the Press Corps for the day. For the most part, it was a lot of waiting around, but as I waited, I observed and I was a triple minority: young, black and a woman.
Hopefully this trend of more inclusion will continue.
President Barack Obama promised it in his new administration.
News outlets are going through a lot of it themselves in this digital age and crumbling economy.
And according to a recently-released Pew Research Center for Excellence in Journalism report, the Washington Press Corps is changing a lot too.
Simply, the mainstream media is shrinking in representation as niche and foreign press grow.
One only had to watch President Obama's recent press conference to see that. (And yes, the Huffington Post was there.)
But one thing that the Pew Research Center report doesn't say outright is that there may now be more people of color in that Press Corps.....perhaps that's what it meant by the term "niche".
I abhor that word. When a majority of this country's population is non-white, people of color should no longer be called a "niche"....but I digress.
Oakland Tribune's Tammerlin Drummond takes on this new administration and new, more colorful White House Press Corps in a recent column. (....but kudos to some mainstream press for having representatives of color.) While she doesn't offer up any numbers, one only had to watch the press conference to see that there were more colored folks up in the mix.
Like Drummond, I too know what it's like to be the "fly in the buttermilk" ---at school, in my newsroom and even in the White House Press Corps.
As an intern for The Boston Globe's Washington Bureau, I once got the opportunity to go to the White House and be in the Press Corps for the day. For the most part, it was a lot of waiting around, but as I waited, I observed and I was a triple minority: young, black and a woman.
Hopefully this trend of more inclusion will continue.
Nossip Gossip that's Verifiable...but anonymous
The idea for Nossip was that the name "Nossip" would stand for "newsroom gossip"...well, in the vein of Perez Hilton the self-proclaimed Queen of all Media, I have some actual newsroom gossip for my Nossip readers.
First let me say that I have friends working in newspapers from coast to coast and all points in between. They all know I'm in school now and so to keep me in the loop in the hopes that I will eventually find my way back to a newsroom, they update me on how their papers are handling the economy and the digital age.
Here are a few horror stories I've gotten in the last week:
- One paper has issued a mandate that all employess turn off their computers and other electric devices if they are going to be gone from their work station for more than 2 hours. Also, to save on their electric bill, lights in the bathrooms and in the newsrooms as a whole must be turned off when not in use.
- One paper has stopped offering free single copies of the newspaper throughout the building and has stopped all access to single copies in its library. So, if staffers want to read their articles, they'd better go out and buy a paper.
- One paper's online editor refuses to do podcasts and will offer no explanation as to why the organization will not move into this new popular media. Perhaps it's Web space? Does he/she not know how podcasts work? Who's to say.
First let me say that I have friends working in newspapers from coast to coast and all points in between. They all know I'm in school now and so to keep me in the loop in the hopes that I will eventually find my way back to a newsroom, they update me on how their papers are handling the economy and the digital age.
Here are a few horror stories I've gotten in the last week:
- One paper has issued a mandate that all employess turn off their computers and other electric devices if they are going to be gone from their work station for more than 2 hours. Also, to save on their electric bill, lights in the bathrooms and in the newsrooms as a whole must be turned off when not in use.
- One paper has stopped offering free single copies of the newspaper throughout the building and has stopped all access to single copies in its library. So, if staffers want to read their articles, they'd better go out and buy a paper.
- One paper's online editor refuses to do podcasts and will offer no explanation as to why the organization will not move into this new popular media. Perhaps it's Web space? Does he/she not know how podcasts work? Who's to say.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Stop being anti-social in your media
All the cool kids art Tweeting and Myspacing and Facebooking and Blogging.
This PBS piece is pointing out that social media doesn't have to be a time suck.
A blog can be better than a business card.
Tweeting can get your coverage covered ... with, ummm, eyeballs, tweets and comments....yeah!
Facebook can be the new networking mixer.
So, open up on-line....but watch out that you don't get, eh, "too open."
This PBS piece is pointing out that social media doesn't have to be a time suck.
A blog can be better than a business card.
Tweeting can get your coverage covered ... with, ummm, eyeballs, tweets and comments....yeah!
Facebook can be the new networking mixer.
So, open up on-line....but watch out that you don't get, eh, "too open."
Journalistic Slavery
Catchy title, eh?
Yeah, I hoped it would grab your attention.
Journalistic slavery is a new term I just came up with but it's based off of a very interesting article on the cover of Time Magazine written by Walter Isaacson who thinks newspapers made a mistake by putting everything on the Internet for free. (Watch hilarity ensue as Jon Stewart of The Daily Show interviews him.)
Isaacson states a little-known fact: newspapers and magazines are more popular than ever. Everyone is reading them. They just happen to be reading them on line for free.
The masses are getting mentally rich off of our labor, labor we're practically not being paid for.
Yep! I think that's close enough to a definition of slavery.
And just as we've been stating in class, Isaacson reminds us that this journalistic slavery is meaning the death of international, national, state and local coverage.
And just as I suggested in class (sans an actual plan to put this proposal into action), Isaacson agrees, our work should not be on-line for free.
....I really love it when people agree with me....but he has a plan: Micro-fees like iTune charges.
But Stewart makes a great point, "Can we really take away something that we used to give for free and start charging for it?"
Damn. I wish someone would've thought about that years ago.
Yeah, I hoped it would grab your attention.
Journalistic slavery is a new term I just came up with but it's based off of a very interesting article on the cover of Time Magazine written by Walter Isaacson who thinks newspapers made a mistake by putting everything on the Internet for free. (Watch hilarity ensue as Jon Stewart of The Daily Show interviews him.)
Isaacson states a little-known fact: newspapers and magazines are more popular than ever. Everyone is reading them. They just happen to be reading them on line for free.
The masses are getting mentally rich off of our labor, labor we're practically not being paid for.
Yep! I think that's close enough to a definition of slavery.
And just as we've been stating in class, Isaacson reminds us that this journalistic slavery is meaning the death of international, national, state and local coverage.
And just as I suggested in class (sans an actual plan to put this proposal into action), Isaacson agrees, our work should not be on-line for free.
....I really love it when people agree with me....but he has a plan: Micro-fees like iTune charges.
But Stewart makes a great point, "Can we really take away something that we used to give for free and start charging for it?"
Damn. I wish someone would've thought about that years ago.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
No News is Bad News: A quick roundup
This blog post is basically just what the title says it is: a round-up.
In order to add a little bit of editorial content to the info, I'd like to present to you, for your entertainment, a news rating system.
Bad news gets a "Damn!", kind of like my own profane version of a "thumbs down" which I believe is now copyrighted by movie critic Roger Ebert.
Good news however, gets a "Yay!"....yeah, we're classy around here on the Nossip blog.
Well, here goes.
The first "Damn!" goes to my old employer, The St. Petersburg Times for suspending its employees' 401-K contributions and for initiating pay freezes. You've got to love Editor & Publisher's headline for this news item: "Even St. Pete Times announces Pay Freeze, Suspends 401-K Contributions." That word "Even" is there for a reason. The St. Petersburg Times doesn't have your "regular" business model when it comes to ownership so they were thought to be immune from the economic trends.
The first "Yay!" goes to new Website theloop21.com for partnering with a newly launched search-engine for the black community called RushmoreDrive.
RushmoreDrive bills itself as a "first-of-its-kind" search engine for the black community that delivers a blend of mainstream search results influenced by the black community. While the search is the Website's core offering, users also get news, black opinions and an opportunity to search for jobs with companies that value diversity, all at the same Web destination."
Nossip's second "Yay!" goes to the blog "Reflections of a Newsosaur" by self-proclaimed old dude extraordinaire, Alan D. Mutter.
In his latest entry, Mr. Mutter calls the idea of a paperless newspaper "suicide"....I think I like him.
In order to add a little bit of editorial content to the info, I'd like to present to you, for your entertainment, a news rating system.
Bad news gets a "Damn!", kind of like my own profane version of a "thumbs down" which I believe is now copyrighted by movie critic Roger Ebert.
Good news however, gets a "Yay!"....yeah, we're classy around here on the Nossip blog.
Well, here goes.
The first "Damn!" goes to my old employer, The St. Petersburg Times for suspending its employees' 401-K contributions and for initiating pay freezes. You've got to love Editor & Publisher's headline for this news item: "Even St. Pete Times announces Pay Freeze, Suspends 401-K Contributions." That word "Even" is there for a reason. The St. Petersburg Times doesn't have your "regular" business model when it comes to ownership so they were thought to be immune from the economic trends.
The first "Yay!" goes to new Website theloop21.com for partnering with a newly launched search-engine for the black community called RushmoreDrive.
RushmoreDrive bills itself as a "first-of-its-kind" search engine for the black community that delivers a blend of mainstream search results influenced by the black community. While the search is the Website's core offering, users also get news, black opinions and an opportunity to search for jobs with companies that value diversity, all at the same Web destination."
Nossip's second "Yay!" goes to the blog "Reflections of a Newsosaur" by self-proclaimed old dude extraordinaire, Alan D. Mutter.
In his latest entry, Mr. Mutter calls the idea of a paperless newspaper "suicide"....I think I like him.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Practicing What We Preach
With all of this talk about journalists "thinking outside the box" (Don't you just love that cliche? It's definitely on my most hated/top 10 favorites list), I thought it would be good to share an upcoming Knight Digital Media Center seminar.
The Knight Digital Media Center's News Entrepreneur Boot Camp will be held May 16 through the 21, but the deadline for applying is Feb. 16th.
In a nutshell, the boot camp is designed for digital journalists who lack the grounding in business and startup skills.
Check it out.
The Knight Digital Media Center's News Entrepreneur Boot Camp will be held May 16 through the 21, but the deadline for applying is Feb. 16th.
In a nutshell, the boot camp is designed for digital journalists who lack the grounding in business and startup skills.
Check it out.
Facebook cares too...62,456 Facebookers and counting
Facebook, the newly popular but far from new social networking site has a ton of applications and events and groups and fan clubs in which to take part. Seriously, there have got to be at least a million if not more. Some of the invitations I've received include throwing Mardi Gras beads at people (sans the flashing), giving my favorite pieces of virtual sushi to people and even joining a Mob War. I've been invited to a plethora of 25-cent hot wing nights, jazz performances and comedy clubs. And, I am currently a fan of Thelonious Monk, Jesus and water to name a few of my fan club memberships.
Still, I was slightly surprised when I saw that three of my friends (all journalists), are attending National Buy A Newspaper Day on Monday. They are three of 62, 456 people who will be "attending" this event. Another 5,055 say they "might" be coming.
Who's behind the movement? Well, apparently, an Alaskan journalist named Chris Freiberg.
He speaks of his inpiration on Facebook saying in a message dated Jan. 15:
About 72 hours ago I was sitting here in my apartment in Alaska (and before you ask, no, I can’t see Russia from here), reading about the plight of the American newspaper industry. But what can one lowly reporter do to at least slow the death of print journalism, I thought?
The answer I came to, is this event, Buy a Newspaper Day, Feb. 2, 2009.
I understand that in the near future newspapers will be mostly or completely online, but as I wrote in the event description, my fear is that given the current condition of the economy and the state of the newspaper industry, many papers may just have to close their doors completely before they’re able to make that transition.
Consider this one last great statement to try and boost readership and get people back in the habit of picking up their local newspaper on a daily basis. Since many local papers already have low circulations, just a small boost could keep a paper alive for several months, or save the job of one hard working journalist. If we can accomplish that, I’ll consider this event a huge success.
If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to invite every last one of your Facebook friends to this event.
But don’t just think of this as a Facebook movement, but rather a movement that began on Facebook. A good friend of mine is putting together a modest Web site, www.buyanewspaperday.com to further spread the word.
It also looks like many of you have media connections. Don’t hesitate to link to this new site or the Facebook event on your blogs or newspaper sites. Produce pieces for your publications and spread the word. Talk to your editors, and tell them to start putting together some great features for the Feb. 2 paper.
Feel free to message me directly with any questions, comments or concerns.
Good night and good luck,
Chris Freiberg
...well, if I may be opinionated, way to go Chris! I'll be there.
Still, I was slightly surprised when I saw that three of my friends (all journalists), are attending National Buy A Newspaper Day on Monday. They are three of 62, 456 people who will be "attending" this event. Another 5,055 say they "might" be coming.
Who's behind the movement? Well, apparently, an Alaskan journalist named Chris Freiberg.
He speaks of his inpiration on Facebook saying in a message dated Jan. 15:
About 72 hours ago I was sitting here in my apartment in Alaska (and before you ask, no, I can’t see Russia from here), reading about the plight of the American newspaper industry. But what can one lowly reporter do to at least slow the death of print journalism, I thought?
The answer I came to, is this event, Buy a Newspaper Day, Feb. 2, 2009.
I understand that in the near future newspapers will be mostly or completely online, but as I wrote in the event description, my fear is that given the current condition of the economy and the state of the newspaper industry, many papers may just have to close their doors completely before they’re able to make that transition.
Consider this one last great statement to try and boost readership and get people back in the habit of picking up their local newspaper on a daily basis. Since many local papers already have low circulations, just a small boost could keep a paper alive for several months, or save the job of one hard working journalist. If we can accomplish that, I’ll consider this event a huge success.
If you haven’t already, I strongly encourage you to invite every last one of your Facebook friends to this event.
But don’t just think of this as a Facebook movement, but rather a movement that began on Facebook. A good friend of mine is putting together a modest Web site, www.buyanewspaperday.com to further spread the word.
It also looks like many of you have media connections. Don’t hesitate to link to this new site or the Facebook event on your blogs or newspaper sites. Produce pieces for your publications and spread the word. Talk to your editors, and tell them to start putting together some great features for the Feb. 2 paper.
Feel free to message me directly with any questions, comments or concerns.
Good night and good luck,
Chris Freiberg
...well, if I may be opinionated, way to go Chris! I'll be there.
Dead Air: Radio not immune
I got this great email from one of my fellow Trojans. She's a radio gal and one of her other radio friends sent her a message, a message which she then sent to us via our Google group email.
In a roundabout way she encouraged us to "converge" on a certain online video that her friend had a hand in producing in the hopes of bumping up page hits (Oh, those page hits: In a digital world they're basically quantitative validation that your work counts and that people are listening, reading, watching....but as "valuable" as they are these days, it never ceases to amaze me that no one really knows their qualitative value. But, I digress.)
My fellow Trojan ended the email with these words: "Those of you who were thinking of continuing radio careers in L.A... get in line...or get a brilliant plan!"
In a roundabout way she encouraged us to "converge" on a certain online video that her friend had a hand in producing in the hopes of bumping up page hits (Oh, those page hits: In a digital world they're basically quantitative validation that your work counts and that people are listening, reading, watching....but as "valuable" as they are these days, it never ceases to amaze me that no one really knows their qualitative value. But, I digress.)
My fellow Trojan ended the email with these words: "Those of you who were thinking of continuing radio careers in L.A... get in line...or get a brilliant plan!"
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