Archive for April, 2006
Reality Television: The Vast Wasteland Revisited
Broadcast news magazines are on the decline. Maybe they are as plentiful as reality television. Maybe we are in information overload? Despite information overload, we are also in idiot overload!  Is anyone tired of reality television that showcases people vying for their 15 minutes of fame? I am. I would rather see Diane Sawyer on three news magazine shows than watch Wife Swap or even worse Beauty and the Geek 2.  Don’t forget Reality television thinks Americans can not parent! Supernanny should give you tried and true solutions to keeping a peaceful existence with one’s children. Â
Do you know what is really on the decline–my television viewing habits. I view less and less television each year… and that to me is a good thing. The only night I HAVE to watch television is Sunday nights on ABC–Desperate Housewives and Grey’s Anatomy! Why? Because each show has professional actors and smart writing.Â
In 1961 Newton Minnow said television is a vast wasteland. His words ring true to this day and age of reality television….
But when television is bad, nothing is worse. I invite you to sit down in front of your television set when your station goes on the air and stay there without a book, magazine, newspaper, profit and-loss sheet or rating book to distract you–and keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that you will observe a vast wasteland.
You will see a procession of game shows, violence, audience-participation shows, formula comedies about totally unbelievable families, blood and thunder, mayhem, violence, sadism, murder, western badmen, western good men, private eyes, gangsters, more violence and cartoons. And, endlessly, commercials–many screaming, cajoling and offending. And most of all, boredom. True, you will see a few things you will enjoy. But they will be very, very few. And if you think I exaggerate, try it.Â
Read the entire speech made by Newton Minnow.Now Diane Sawyer has to tell viewers that news IS the original reality television. Sad, but true…
Network Newsmagazines Struggle to SurviveÂ
NEW YORK - The point was so important that Diane Sawyer was compelled to make it twice during a “Primetime” episode on battling stepfamilies.
“You want reality TV?” she asked. “Tonight, you get it. Starting now.”
The appeal couldn’t be any more plain, or plaintive. Broadcast network newsmagazines are at a low ebb — with likely even fewer hours on the air next season — and the popularity of reality television is chiefly to blame.
Â
Â
Who says blogs are not here to stay?
The Seattle Times has an interesting report about blogging.A blog smorgasbordÂ
What is doubling in size every 5 ½ months and is more than 60 times bigger than it was three years ago?
(Hint: It’s not the national debt.) It’s the blogosphere.
A blog is essentially an online journal that everyone in the world is invited to read.
A new Web log is created every second of every day, according to David L. Sifrey, the founder of Technorati, a Web site that tracks the blogosphere, keeping tabs on 36.5 million blogs.
Â
My favorite quote from this article is this:
“Blogs are a news source,” Cooperman says. “They are timely, conversational and personal. They have a huge reach. The lack of economic restraints is a strength; it frees people.”
Global Voices: Bridging the blogger gap
This article is interesting. It talks about a new web site for citizen journalists.
Global Voices Online is now a project of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School in Massachusetts and receives additional funding from the MacArthur Foundation, the Dutch nongovernmental organization Hivos and Reuters.
Co-founders Zuckerman and MacKinnon spent so much time finding and reading blogs that they felt there was a great need to curate the hundreds of sites, creating a hub for an international community of “bridge bloggers” who want to communicate, often anonymously, with the broader world.
Global Voices is a select guide to conversations, information and ideas appearing on various forms of participatory citizen media such as blogs, podcasts, photo-sharing sites and videoblogs, according to Zuckerman.
Paid regional editors who work 20 hours or 30 hours per week receive $800 a month to assure that Global Voices covers the world accurately, Zuckerman said.
Southwest Airlines Blogs
A new way to connect with customers, start a blog!
Southwest Airlines blog takes off
DALLAS Southwest Airlines has joined the world of bloggers, launching its own online diary in which employees will write about their jobs and the travel industry.
One of the first entries on the blog this week was a marketing executive musing that many people think Southwest only carries vacationers and not business travelers.
Southwest officials say the blog will be a good way to connect with customers.
Eighth Graders learn Social Studies through blogging
An eight grade teacher has her students blog. I like her attitude that her students need to learn computers. This is a great way to teach students to how to communicate effectively online as well as learn important issues affecting today’s society.Students use blogs to study the world
“I’m not the greatest computer person in the world,” said Chamberlin, who teaches at St. Roch School on Indianapolis’ Southside. “But they have to be.”The students spent class Thursday in front of computers researching world issues online and writing short entries in a journallike format on a Web site. Each blog focuses on a single issue.
Rather: Couric Will Need to Be a Leader - Yahoo! News
Can Katie cut it as a nightly news anchor? I agree with Dan, she will have to become a leader not only in the newsroom, but also WHILE in the anchor chair. Only thing I have to say to Katie is Good Luck because I’m sure it’s exciting and scary all at the same time. But, I have a feeling she can pull it off.
Rather: Couric Will Need to Be a Leader - Yahoo! News
Â
LAS VEGAS - Former CBS News anchor Dan Rather wished his successor luck Monday, but said Katie Couric will need to be a leader and demonstrate a passion for news to succeed in the anchor chair.
“No doubt the CBS Evening News will be different,” Rather said, referring to changes planned for the broadcast beyond the new anchor.“Katie is a superb person and she’s a great pro. I’ll be rooting for her and I wish her well.”
Nightline: Attracting younger audiences
The new Nightline may have packed too much into their 30 minute nightly show.
‘Nightline’ Tries to Slow Down the Pace
NEW YORK - The biggest adjustment ABC has made since last November’s debut of the post-Ted Koppel “Nightline” may simply be recognizing that there’s another show tomorrow.
Not everything has to fit in tonight. While “Nightline” has rarely retreated to the single-topic format that Koppel made distinctive, it no longer makes you feel as if its correspondents were double-parked.“We were criticized in the early days for trying to pack too much into the show, and I think we quickly realized that the show was at its best when we let it breathe a little bit,” said James Goldston, “Nightline” executive producer.
Laptop advice
Here’s the place to ask questions about laptops!Â
CEA 2006 Conference
I just wanted to note that Friday April 7, 2006, I presented a paper at the College English Association for the first time about using weblogs in the journalism classroom. I have never been to a conference where 20 people showed up to a panel. The room was energized and ready to embrace technology. I found CEA to be a friendly conference that I will definitely submit to again. I found that there is an audience for my research, which makes it even more exciting.
Desperate Housewives FREE
Ok… if you missed a Desperate Housewives episode, don’t worry! ABC announced that they will allow Desperate Housewives and other shows to be shown online the day after they air for free. Of course, you MUST sit through commericials… or it would not be free! Your other alternative to commercial free television is to download the episodes from iTunes for $1.99.
ABC Frees “Desperate” and “Lost” Online
New episodes of Desperate Housewives, Lost, Commander in Chief and Alias will appear on ABC.com the day after they air.
ABC is no stranger to the portable entertainment pool, having been the first network to offer shows for downloading via Apple’s iTunes Music Store. Lost, Alias and the other series heading to ABC.com are already available for downloading and commercial-free viewing for $1.99 a pop. Lost has been ABC’s most popular offering to date, and both the not so deserted island adventure and Desperate Housewives have seen their iTunes numbers increase this year. Unlike the iTunes episodes, ABC.com’s streamed shows cannot be ported to an iPod or downloaded to a file for later viewing on a laptop. (The shows will be available in Flash for PCs and Macs.)
