Category Archives: Media & Culture

Steve Outing: The future of news

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Steve Outing posts an insightful look into the future of news that contains this gem from his interview with Robin Sloan, manager of new media strategy for Al Gore’s Current TV.

“I think ‘news’ just becomes a less distinct category. You don’t sit down with a newspaper, or even a news website, or even a super wireless e-paper device, for 10 minutes in the morning to very formally ‘get your news.’ Rather, you get all sorts of news and information — from the personal to the professional to the political — throughout the day, in little bits and bursts, via many different media. With any luck, in 5-10 years the word ‘news’ will be sort of confusing: Don’t you just mean ‘life’?”

Anyone that reads the news, produces the news, or is in anyway involved with the news should read Outing’s article. [via Terry Heaton]

“NPR is not radio”

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Jeff Jarvis, David Weinberger, Doc Searls, Jay Rosen and some other New Media thought leaders have been invited to Washington to talk/think about the future of National Public Radio. Mr. Jarvis shares some of his notes going in and I found myself substituting the names of our radio networks for NPR.

“NPR is not radio. If I tell newspapers they have to stop thinking on paper, so I’ll argue that NPR must throw off the limits of its medium. And I don’t just mean that the can go multimedia, adding photos or videos to their sound. I mean changing the culture, not thinking like a radio network anymore so they can see the options the internet opens up to work in every appropriate medium with entirely new kinds of content, from TV to data bases. So change the name: It’s National Public Media, except that Doc will scold me that this is more than media. It’s National Public Whatsis.”

Some of his other ideas: NPR should be a network of networks and a training ground for great media. They should add to their mission finding and nurturing new talent and help local affiliates become hyperlocal.

I surely would love to sit in a corner and listen to these guys. But it appears they will be blogging all or parts of the conversations so I’ll follow it there.

Broadband up; Blackberry chains; ESPN welcomes comments

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Report: Broadband Users Now the Majority in U.S. – Yahoo! News
“According to a new report released Thursday, U.S. home broadband penetration will top 50 percent this year, the first time it has ever done so.”

Survey: Blackberry owners chained to work
Survey results showed that those who owned a Blackberry were, in fact, more likely to work long hours than those who didn’t.”

ESPN.com allows comments on every article
ESPN.com has enabled comments on every single story they post, even ones from the wires. The feature is called ESPN Conversation. You can dig into this yourself on this controversial story about some remarks made by former NBA player Tim Hardaway. This particular story has attracted nearly 1000 comments in just 24 hours. ESPN is one of several big media properties that allows readers to comment on stories. The Washington Post has also embraced reader feedback.

Majority of Americans feel bloggers play a valuable role
According to a new poll by iFOCOS and Zogby, a majority of Americans (55%) feel bloggers are important to the future of American journalism. Further, 74% said citizen journalism will play a vital role. I am not quite sure of how they distinguished the two in the poll, but the results are certainly positive. The survey of 5,384 adults nationwide was conducted Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2007, and carries a margin of error of +/- 1.4 percentage points.

— Steve Rubel’s Micro Persuasion

“Is radio still radio if there’s video?”

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“The nation’s commercial radio stations have seen the future, and it is in, of all things, video. Across the country, radio stations are putting up video fare on their Web sites, ranging from a simple camera in the broadcast booth to exclusive coverage of events like the Super Bowl to music videos, news clips and Web-only musical performances.” – NYTimes.com

Okay, how about some bonus spots?

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Betsy Lazar –Executive Director of Advertising and Media Operations at GM– gave a keynote at the rcent Radio Advertising Bureau conference in Dallas. According to INSIDE RADIO, she was pretty specific in her advice to broadcasters;

“…doing business the old way won’t cut it. Pitching schedules of :30s won’t do it. What GM wants is ideas that show involvement by the station. Things that come from mining the listener database and exploiting the station website in fresh ways.”

Ad Age reports that GM “slashed ad spending by more than $600 million last year, a drop so stunning it should convince even the staunchest doubters that the age of mass-media marketing is going the way of the horse and buggy.”

In that same issue of INSIDE RADIO: Bank of America analyst Jonathan Jacoby admits his survey of 34 industry pros last week in Dallas is not statistically significant. But he says 43% of them (14-15 people) said they’ve “used or plan to use Google/dMarcto sell airtime.”

Time, Inc. developing video for web

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Time Inc. is announcing today that it’s launching an in-house studio to help its 130 magazines develop videos for the Web. Along with that plan, it will unveil a deal to work with Brightcove, a leading provider of Internet video production, distribution and ad sales services.

We have some damned fine radio reporters working for our company. And most of them are just getting the hang of moving photos from their digital cameras to their computers.

Sounds like Time is making a significant investment. And a smart one. Not just handing out Canon Sure-Shots to their reporters as they head out the door.

Isn’t this called “Public Access Television?”

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A small television station in Santa Rosa, CA (KFTY-TV) has canceled its nightly newscasts…fired most of its editorial staff… and is soliciting programming from locals — from independent filmmakers to teachers and politicians. According to station managers, the newscast wasn’t a hit with advertisers. Media execs nationwide are watching to see if the the Clear Channel property can make money from citizen-generated stories that will begin airing within a few months.

Gutsy or stupid…time will tell. Hard to imagine how bad things would have to be (ratings, sales, etc) before this would seem like a viable option.

PBS: “News War”

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PBS’s FRONTLINE airs the first in a series entitled “News War.” What will be the future business model for the news industry? How will we get news? Where is the line between legitimate national security concerns and the public’s right to know? Should reporters have the right to protect anonymous sources?

Looks like a must-see for anyone in the news business. You can watch it on-air and online beginning February 13th. Set those Tivos.

Why no new Al Green songs?

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Scott Adams wonders why great musicians can’t keep cranking out the hits every years?

“Consider Neal Diamond, for example. He wrote and recorded some of the greatest songs ever. But then the hits stopped coming, despite the fact that his talent probably improved with experience.”

I wondered the same thing a year ago, but Mr. Adams offers a reasonable explanation:

“They can do more of the same sound, and consumers will think it sounds too much like the last album. Or they can try something different, and be unfavorably compared to their own hits. The public won’t be patient while the musician develops the new sound. It’s an almost impossible challenge.”