May 07, 2003
Prospects for new media
Pointers from IWantMedia:
Journalism.co.uk: Rosy Future for Online Journalism. The future for Web journalism is brightening up, with several studies revealing an upswing in Internet usage and revenues for several media companies' online outlets.
USA Today: Can TiVo survive cable's attack?
The future of online advertising
Jimmy Gutermanís take on the (annoying) future of online advertising, in Business 2.0.
Here's a suggestion for advertisers: Be useful. Offer value. Don't get in my face.
Boston Globe columnist suspended
Ryan Pitts in his Dead Parrot Society blog has the lowdown on suspended Boston Globe sports columnist Bob Ryan for making a remark on TV that he never would have made in the paper. Hey Bob, what you say on TV isn't the same as what you can say in a bar with your drinking buddies. Y'know?
Meantime, I wish news organizations would apply the same standards of decency to smack-down talking head shout-fests like The O'Reilly Factor.
Converging newspaper and TV news operations
LA Times story on media consolidation and convergence: Journalism's Future May Start in Tampa. A couple of excepts:
... Said newspaper analyst John Morton: "The idea of TV and newspapers collaborating is still a recent phenomenon. We don't know how it will work." ..."Convergence may be good for media companies, but it's bad for journalism," said Robert Haiman, president emeritus of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, who has been a Tampa Tribune consultant and was once executive editor of the rival St. Petersburg Times.
Without the cross-ownership ban, experts worry that newspapers would fall under the influence of large TV station groups or media conglomerates, such as AOL Time Warner Inc., Viacom Inc. or News Corp., which might emphasize entertainment and profit over journalism and community service.
Dear Raed is back
Salam Pax, aka Dear Raed, is back on the blog beat. He's emailing his entries to fellow blogger Diana Moon, who's publishing his postings from Baghdad. Thanks to Samara of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer for the tip. Excerpt:
Let me tell you one thing first. War sucks big time. Donít let yourself ever be talked into having one waged in the name of your freedom. Somehow when the bombs start dropping or you hear the sound of machine guns at the end of your street you donít think about your ěimminent liberationî anymore.But I am sounding now like the Taxi drivers I have fights with whenever I get into one. ...
When we were watching the Saddam statue being pulled down, one of my aunts was saying that she never thought she would see this day during her lifetime. ...
War. No matter what the outcome is. These things leave a trail of destruction behind them. There were days when the Red Crescent was begging for volunteers to help in taking the bodies of dead people off the city street and bury them properly. The hospital grounds have been turned to burial grounds when the electricity went out and there was no way the bodies can be kept until someone comes and identifies. ...
Things are looking kind of OK, these days. Life has a way of moving on. Your senses are numbed, things stop shocking you. If there is one thing you should believe in, it is that life will find a way to push on, humans are adaptable, that is the only way to explain how such a foolish species has kept itself on this planet without wiping itself out. Humans are very adaptable, physically and emotionally.
Fascinating glimpse at the effects of war's aftermath on everyday life in Iraq.
How to think about spam
Declan's latest in News.com: "Spam is not primarily a technological or legal problem: It's an economic one." The solution? Begin charging 'em.
Gates takes a page from Steve Jobs
Wired News: Bill Gates gives the opening keynote at the 12th annual Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, talking about the importance of designing visually appealing, easy-to-use PCs and software. Best line:
"Whoa, did I get on the wrong plane and end up at MacWorld?" wondered hardware developer Frank Copper. "Since when does Microsoft care about how computers or software looks? Someone has obviously hacked and reprogrammed Bill."
