March 21, 2003
How Net news pubs can serve their readers during the war
Jimmy Guterman in Biz2 on on how Net-based news services can best serve their audience at this time.
'A rectal thermometer in the blogosphere'
Check out Doc's posting extolling David Sifry's latest doings with Technorati: Current Events in the blogosphere, new in the last 2 hours.
Says Doc: "With this for the first time I see a blogging counterpart to what Google News does for the mainstream press." Fascinating development, and I'm excited to see where it goes.
Smart mobs in action
Associated Press: Protesters use technology to organize, socialize and evade police.
Comments kpaul: "Interesting piece about a non-journalist streaming live video of anti-war protests to his website. Also talks about protesters using text messages to communicate with each other. Howard Rheingold is mentioned."
CNN squashes Iraq war weblog
Oh, for gosh sake. The corporate-media hammer has come down again, this time upon the only weblogger doing outstanding work from on the scene in the Persian Gulf.
CNN, owned by AOL Time Warner, has ordered its staffer Kevin Sites to discontinue his terrific warblog.
Despite Kevin's post suggesting that the blog may be resumed, that will almost certainly not happen.
I had heard yesterday that the honchos at CNN were unhappy with Kevin's independent reporting, but had hoped they wouldn't impose their Old Media mindset on this fledgling example of personal journalism. I was wrong. How sad, and how terrifically shortsighted and small-minded.
I'm on a panel at the University of California, Berkeley, this Monday night to meet with a dozen newspaper and broadcast journalists about incorporating weblogs into their publications, and you can be sure that the subject of CNN's cowardice will come up.
Thanks to K. Paul's J-Log for the heads up.
PaulG said:
Tacking onto what Jason said, do we know how he was uploading to his blog? If he was using their satelite phone to do it (a reasonable assumption, given where he is), he would be commiting theft unless CNN specifically permitted personal use. I too enjoyed the blog but under the circumstances I can see CNN's point of view also.
JD Lasica said:
Good points, and reasonable minds can disagree on the point. In my book, this is still lawyer speak.
Millions of times a day, office workers use their companies' email systems to communicate with friends and colleagues. That doesn't makes it wrong or actionable. I agree that Kevin would have been wise to consult with his supervisors before launching a war blog.
But CNN needs to come off its corporate high horse and recognize that it is impairing the free flow of information from the war zone. Legalisms such as who owns the satellite uplink rights are a convenient distraction (weigh the 2 or 3 bucks per transmission against AOL Time Warner's recent $100 billion write-down).
Sorry, legalisms in a killing zone just seem a little out of place.
Game Over for Muslims said:
It's game over for Muslims. Checkmate. You lose. We win.
We've got a 50-year plan we've been executing that involves solving the Russian Problem, the Arab/Muslim Problem, the Jewish Problem, and then the Chinese Problem.
Nobody can stop us.
Iraq is just the first step in our effort to take control of the middle East and Pakistan. It's only a matter of time before we are successful. Let's face it. Muslims are weak fighters. Our superior technology makes it futile for them to fight.
Feel free to burn American flags. It only helps us to get support for the war. Terrorist actions also help us to get support for the war. As long as Iraq folds quickly, we will not lose the support of our people. Our plan can only be successful if the Iraqi war proceeds quickly and we experience no casualties. We Republicans must be reelected for the plan to continue. The Democrats in our country are weak, peace-loving people. I despise them.
You hate the Jews. Guess what? The Christian fundamentalists who have taken over the US don't like them either. Once we have control of the Middle East, we don't need Israel. We will let you do what you want to them.
You will have freedom and democracy - you can elect anybody you want as long as we like them. Any elected government must support the Republican Party of the United States. Otherwise, you will get to know our superior military power.
Remember that the Geneva Convention prevents you from using any military techniques that might allow a small country to have any chance of winning a war against a large power. We will bomb the hell out of you with our weapons of mass destruction - I mean our superior military technology - and you will be tried as war criminals if you resist in clever ways.
Once we have complete control of the Middle East and India and Pakistan, we will take Africa. Our trickiest problem is what to do with China as they pose both a military challenge to us and they may be able to outperform us in a capitalistic battle over time. We do not want that economy to thrive. Those people must purchase American products. They cannot become capable of making their own products. We will likely foster a war betweeen North Korea and China that will allow us to overthrow the Chinese government and we will install a new government - I mean they will elect a new government - that helps advance our American interests.
So you see. Your days are numbered. You think about today. You think about reacting to what is happening now. We have a long-range 50-year plan that we are executing with the backing of our naive US taxpayers. Our plan is flawless. It cannot be defeated.
Welcome to our American family. You will like it. If you don't, you won't last long.
We look forward to the quick and easy downfall of Iraq. Thanks to the entire Arab world for sitting back and letting us do this quickly and easily.
Suckers.
Hijacking the flag
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Yesterday I emailed a letter to the editor to the San Jose Mercury News, my first such letter since the New York Times published a couple of mine more than 20 years ago. Here's what it said:
Linda Peterson (Letters, March 20) suggests flying the flag to show support for the military campaign against Iraq and disapproval of anti-war protests.At our house, weíre flying the flag, too ñ to remind passersby of what it stands for: respect for individual life, liberty and ideals. Sadly, those elements are missing from this reckless, needless war and the inevitable killing of innocent civilians.
We wonít let our flag again become hijacked by those with narrow political agendas.
I mean that.
The flag above is located along V Street south of Ocean Ave. in Lompoc, Southern California. Between the field where the flag is planted there are more than 9 miles of flower fields that stretch to the ocean. The current Floral Flag is 740 feet long and 390 feet wide and maintains the proper flag dimensions as described in Executive Order #10834. The flag comprises 6.65 acres and is the first Floral Flag to be planted with 5 pointed stars comprised of White Larkspur. Each star is 24 feet in diameter; each stripe is 30 feet wide. The flag is estimated to contain more than 400,000 Larkspur plants with 4-5 flower stems each for a total of more than 2 million flowers.
Later: Sheila sends along this nifty link to an editorial cartoon by Steve Breen of the San Diego Union Tribune (and late of the Asbury Park, NJ, Press).
War News: Go Beyond the Usual Suspects
Dan has posted his Sunday column in the Mercury News two days early. Here's an excerpt:
In the 1991 Gulf War, the American public was fed an a homogenized version of reality. The news consisted of the same sound bites, presidential declarations, Pentagon briefings, etc. -- essentially identical information no matter what the media source.In the first 24 hours of the latest Gulf War, the same situation prevailed for the vast majority of Americans. This time around, however, a minority -- but a growing one -- had learned a lesson from the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks. They had a robust online alternative. The World Wide Web, e-mail lists and other online sources offered content with context and nuance. ...
The rise of the passionate amateur, meanwhile, has given us valuable new insights. Nowhere is that more true than in weblogs and other kinds of personal media that transcend the soapbox genre. Collectively, they expand the marketplace of ideas.
Some webloggers serve a clearinghouse function, becoming a collaborative filter and conversation. They sort through the journalism, professional and amateur, and point the rest of us to the most interesting coverage.
I also subscribe to a number of mailing lists where other subscribers do much the same thing. They spot interesting new coverage, and tell everyone else on the list. I'm a big fan of Dave Farber and his ìInteresting Peopleî list; Farber's readers tell him about useful material and he tells everyone else.
The soapboxes have their own unique value. These are political weblogs that deal mostly with policy issues, with the war and international politics at the top of the current agenda. Sometimes they're the classic ''sound and fury, signifying nothing,'' but the best force us to reconsider our own biases. I frequently disagree with Glenn Reynolds, but his postings are always relevant, often enlightening.
The source and quality of information are as important online as in traditional media, but more difficult to verify in some cases. As I write this, meanwhile, there's a serious discussion online about the bona fides of a weblogger who says he's in Baghdad, telling us how things look to an Iraqi citizen. We're developing new hierarchies of trust for this new medium, just as we have for the traditional publications and broadcasts.
Great piece, and required reading.
Sonicblue calls it quits
Wired News: Sonicblue plans to file for bankruptcy and is selling its Rio and ReplayTV units.
Sad news for everyone who enjoys innovative, cutting-edge entertainment technology.
