Archive for the ‘Media’ Category
Over 50 crowd ignored
Wired magazine reports that the over 50 crowd is ignored.
Rise of the Silver Surfers: The Over-50 Social Media Opportunity
UK regulatory agency Ofcom released a report today that sheds more light on a market niche that is consistently ignored by Silicon Valley: The over-50 crowd. The report states, “‘Silver surfers’ also account for an increasing amount of internet use with nearly 30 percent of total time spent on the internet accounted for by over-50s …”
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.
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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.
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
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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.”
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.)
Game teaches Journalism
According to the AP News Wire, The University of Minnesota teaches their students fact finding skills through a computer game.Â
Game Teaches Journalism Students SkillsÂ
To teach fact-finding skills, professors at the University of Minnesota have turned the fantasy computer game “Neverwinter Nights” into a tool for journalism students. Instead of slaying monsters and gathering gold, the players tackle sources and gather information. It also teaches etiquette and interview skills. It sounds like a very good idea.
The team, which includes game designer Matt Taylor and journalism professor Kathleen Hansen, have now modified the game graphics to look like a modern town, the fictional Harperville. A train has derailed, spilling toxic ammonia, and the players are sent out to cover the story. They dig up information by going to the library, government offices or talking to a retired train engineer at the bar.
Are blogs peaking?
The Washington Post reports blogs might be peaking.Â
30 million blogs and counting…
By Frank Ahrens
It’s remarkable to think that technology adoption is moving so fast that Web logs — the earliest U.S. reference to “blog” that I can find was in a 2000 CNN technology report, showing its relative youth — could already be thought of as maturing. But that is a maxim of technology: As we get more accustomed to interfacing with tech, each new gizmo — be it a TiVo, an iPod or a blog — has a faster “uptake,” or acceptance into society, than what came before. For example, DVD players hit the 20 million mark in sales in one-third the time it took VCR players to reach the same penetration.
Part of the blog drag could be a function of age — bloggers and blog readers came of age with the Internet, and there are only so many young people out there. A recent Pew Internet & American Life Project study showed that 19 percent of teenagers and 20 percent of young adults are likely to start a blog — the highest numbers of any age group. Only 9 percent of Gen-Xers are likely to start blogs, the same percentage as 51-to-59-year-olds.
The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writer’s Conference of the Southwest
Register early for The Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Writer’s Conference of the Southwest. A weekend of lectures, workshops, panel discussions that will explore ”The Art of Narrative Storytelling”.
The conference will be Friday, July 14, 2006, to Sunday, July 16, 2006 in Grapevine at the Hilton DFW Lakes. Some of the authors that are attending:
- Gay Talese:Â A Writer’s Life
- Melissa Fay Greene:Â Praying for Sheetrock
- Ron Powers:Â Flags for our Fathers
- H.W. Brands:Â The First American
- Hampton Sides:Â Ghost Soldiers
- and many more
The Fastest Indian
Tonight I saw the movie The Fastest Indian. At first, I was skeptical after reading the mixed reviews. But, I loved this movie. Anthony Hopkins was great and I even forgot that he played Hannibal Lector.Â
Hopkins plays Burt Munroe, who set the fastest speed recorded in motorcycles under 1000cc’s. Munroe travels from Invercargill, New Zealand to the U.S.A by boat.  Munroe is befriended by many people throughout his journey to the Bonneville salt flats in Utah for Speed Week.
Hopkins made me feel Burt Munroe’s excitement, disappointments and befuddlements. I must warn you though, The Fastest Indian does not have gratuitious sex, gratuitous car chases nor gratuitious bloodshed. The Fastest Indian didn’t need any special effects.  I wish Hollywood would make more of these type of stories… and I reiterate the story part. The Fastest Indian will make you seek out your passion. My favorite line in the movie that Burt says(excuse me if it’s not word for word): “If you don’t have a dream, you might as well be a vegetable.”
