Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Real Solutions
With the political season coming to a head and the election is just around the corner few people are still undecided on who they will vote for. When talking to people about their personal lives thing become more confusing, specifically with dating. Everyone has suggestions on what does or doesn't work, and the different types of dating like warm and cold. But no one can come to any real conclusion that aren't just veg assumption, with specific answers. After being in the dating arena for sometime, I have reached the conclusion that people don't really know what it is that drives this process.
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
The New Republic under-fire for confusion over "Being Powered," by BP
Earlier this week The New Republic (TNR)blog was wrongfully accused of "Being Power," by BP when readers saw the BP logo followed by its slogan. The issue was over the mistake that the BP aid on TNR's blog page was in support of the oil giant. Large oil companies have been trying to clean up their images by launching PR campaigns that promote the ideas that they are pro-environment. So, many readers jumped to the conclusion that this was the case.
TNR is political magazine its editorial bias is based towards center to center-left, on fiscal and social issues. With this factored in it made for a strong case against the magazine, and eventually the addressed the public that in fact BP was only advertising on their website and nothing more. Soon after, the BP aid was removed from the page and replaced by a different company's aid.
This in my mind was the right response by readers, and because too many companies are becoming forums for corporations to broadcast their(if you want to call it) propaganda. Even thought there was not connection between TNR and BP, it should stop people from asking questions...enjoy.
-Article
TNR is political magazine its editorial bias is based towards center to center-left, on fiscal and social issues. With this factored in it made for a strong case against the magazine, and eventually the addressed the public that in fact BP was only advertising on their website and nothing more. Soon after, the BP aid was removed from the page and replaced by a different company's aid.
This in my mind was the right response by readers, and because too many companies are becoming forums for corporations to broadcast their(if you want to call it) propaganda. Even thought there was not connection between TNR and BP, it should stop people from asking questions...enjoy.
-Article
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The music industry longs for a new lover other then iTunes
Article
The music industry has been on along honeymoon with iTunes and copyright protection on online music sales. Now that its over record labels are beginning to have second thoughts because iTunes has become a powerhouse with no other alternatives.
Copyright protection has allowed iTunes to keep its music on the iPod and off of other MP3 players. This has allowed Steve Jobs to sink his vampire teeth into music sales, but record labels haven't completely given up yet. Their white knight comes in the form of Amazon's MP3 store which has become the No. 2 in online music sales.
Amazon offers only music thats not copyright protected allowing a user to uses their music on a iPod or Zune or any other MP3 player. Record labels originally wanted the security of having copyright protection, but now in hind sight it has cost them dearly.
There are still fears that piracy might begin to creep back into the lime-light again and become and issue. But the only other option they have is to wear a latex gimp suit while being handcuffed by Steve Jobs...I'd go with the pirates.
The music industry has been on along honeymoon with iTunes and copyright protection on online music sales. Now that its over record labels are beginning to have second thoughts because iTunes has become a powerhouse with no other alternatives.
Copyright protection has allowed iTunes to keep its music on the iPod and off of other MP3 players. This has allowed Steve Jobs to sink his vampire teeth into music sales, but record labels haven't completely given up yet. Their white knight comes in the form of Amazon's MP3 store which has become the No. 2 in online music sales.
Amazon offers only music thats not copyright protected allowing a user to uses their music on a iPod or Zune or any other MP3 player. Record labels originally wanted the security of having copyright protection, but now in hind sight it has cost them dearly.
There are still fears that piracy might begin to creep back into the lime-light again and become and issue. But the only other option they have is to wear a latex gimp suit while being handcuffed by Steve Jobs...I'd go with the pirates.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Makeovers and Makeunders with the Politico and the Post
Politico.com has recently gone under the knife in order to become more appealing to its browsers. The new design is more elegant and easier to navigate according to an article written by Megan Garber of the Kicker.
The piece is titled Nip/Tuck: The Political Journalism Edition which compared both the new Politico and the Post to Micheal and LaToya Jackson in their quest to achieve likeness via major cosmetic change.
Politico's change was need in a world where looks are everything and making a moving to change or redesign a website can be risky because many online users are fickle. It would be nice though to see more variation between different websites.
It would be nice to see more of a variety in a sea of tuna on the internet, so, that definitely leaves the market open for someone to exploit.
The piece is titled Nip/Tuck: The Political Journalism Edition which compared both the new Politico and the Post to Micheal and LaToya Jackson in their quest to achieve likeness via major cosmetic change.
Politico's change was need in a world where looks are everything and making a moving to change or redesign a website can be risky because many online users are fickle. It would be nice though to see more variation between different websites.
It would be nice to see more of a variety in a sea of tuna on the internet, so, that definitely leaves the market open for someone to exploit.
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Blogging and Group Therapy
Blogging is usually never involved in the same sentence as group therapy, but recent evidence in two recent studies has found a link between both of them.
The studies was carried out by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne Australia and research was conducted by James Baker and Professor Susan Moore.
Their finding for the studies showed that bloggers compared to non-bloggers feel more connected to others within their social networks, and they also share more connections with like minded people.
This sounded to me that it had many of the same undertones of group therapy in sharing personal problems with like minded people that help support each other through positive reinforcement.
The study was conducted by personally messaging MySpace users and directing them to an online questionnaire.
Later, after they tallied all the results and consalidated their findings they published them in the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour. ABC broke the news to the rest of the world with this article.
The studies was carried out by Swinburne University of Technology in Melbourne Australia and research was conducted by James Baker and Professor Susan Moore.
Their finding for the studies showed that bloggers compared to non-bloggers feel more connected to others within their social networks, and they also share more connections with like minded people.
This sounded to me that it had many of the same undertones of group therapy in sharing personal problems with like minded people that help support each other through positive reinforcement.
The study was conducted by personally messaging MySpace users and directing them to an online questionnaire.
Later, after they tallied all the results and consalidated their findings they published them in the journal CyberPsychology and Behaviour. ABC broke the news to the rest of the world with this article.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
BBC learns Arabic...
The BBC has just announced plans to produce a new television station geared specifically for the Arab world; form a piece done by the NY Times. The BBC thinks that it can deliver a better product then both government and independently fund news organizations that already exist in the Middle East.
Their belief is that the current regional stations that exist now are slanted in one or the other direction. The examples in the article were Al Hurra, France 24 Arabic which are both government funded by the United States and France, Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya are both independent stations that originated form the Middle East.
The BBC believes it has a leg up on both sides because they haven an "international prospective" that is suppose to be less bias. Who knows whether that statement has any truth to it, but the BBC is the producer of the Discovery Channel which has received high marks for its programing.
How will the residents of Middle Eastern countries respond is the million dollar question. The UK has been involved with fighting the war on terrorism in both Iraq and Afghanistan making them not the most popular in that part of the world.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
60 minutes, minus the 12 minute blackout.
Last Sunday, a local television station in Huntsville Alabama suffered a 12 minute blackout, which isn't unheard of in broadcasting. The CBS affiliate WHNT-TV was broadcasting "60 minutes", the episode was reporting about the Bush administration's and Karl Rove's involvement in the conviction of the states former Democratic governor.
Don Siegelman, the former governor and many other residents in Huntsville began asking questions of the possible partisan involvement. No, one has been singled-out yet, but the suspicion of "Republican Operatives " still lingers. The station is re-airing the episode of "60 minutes" later in the week in an attempt to ease tensions.
It's worrisome to think that there is even a possibility that political group would as go far as limiting access to information in such away as this one. When thinking about it, the blackout sounds like something that would happen with a state ran television in Iran not Alabama(maybe). Now, even though no one has been singled out as a suspect, questions are still being raised. Events like these show that we should still be vigilant about whats going one even if we live in the domain of freedom of speech.
Don Siegelman, the former governor and many other residents in Huntsville began asking questions of the possible partisan involvement. No, one has been singled-out yet, but the suspicion of "Republican Operatives " still lingers. The station is re-airing the episode of "60 minutes" later in the week in an attempt to ease tensions.
It's worrisome to think that there is even a possibility that political group would as go far as limiting access to information in such away as this one. When thinking about it, the blackout sounds like something that would happen with a state ran television in Iran not Alabama(maybe). Now, even though no one has been singled out as a suspect, questions are still being raised. Events like these show that we should still be vigilant about whats going one even if we live in the domain of freedom of speech.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
College Newspaper Break Story Sooner
After last weeks shootings at Northern Illinois University(NIU) that left five dead, CNN wasn't the first to report on the event. But instead it was the Northern Star, the NIU college news paper.
The Northern Star was hit-hard by the lose of Daniel Parmenter, a student who worked as a sale representative for the newspaper. Besides suffering great loses, they were the first to report on the facts about the gunman taking his own life, long before major news outlets.
The staff has also work on other tragedies like Virgina Tech shootings last year. Both of the events are horrible and demoralize students and faculty, and some how they were able to pull together deliver the story.
Delivery of the news was quicker then even the largest based media outlets, but it hits-home-harder.
The Northern Star was hit-hard by the lose of Daniel Parmenter, a student who worked as a sale representative for the newspaper. Besides suffering great loses, they were the first to report on the facts about the gunman taking his own life, long before major news outlets.
The staff has also work on other tragedies like Virgina Tech shootings last year. Both of the events are horrible and demoralize students and faculty, and some how they were able to pull together deliver the story.
Delivery of the news was quicker then even the largest based media outlets, but it hits-home-harder.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Contrasts between film and broadcast in the 50's
In the 1950's the United States was turning the heat up on so called communist sympathizers from Hollywood by blacklisting them. Its commonly best referred to it as "McCarthyism" and in my mind, I had mostly only heard about the events of the fifties as being the only time of censorship of communism.
This is article is amazing in the sense that talks about what happened not with Hollywood and the filmmakers, but also what happened with broadcasting. Even though its happened over almost six decades ago, this era of American culture shapes a lot of how we look at the 50's and the cold war today.
It really shows the differences in the roles that the media played back then and how much influence the government had in compare to today. I can say that if I had never heard about the broadcasting side of the story made me always think that the west coast just must of alway been more progressive. But armed with what I know now, it completes a more complete and clearer picture.
It shows how involved the government was in trying to sway the public opinion in one direction away from communism. You can also draw comparisons with the fear mongering done by the current white house admistrastion about terrorism and other mundane issues.
This is article is amazing in the sense that talks about what happened not with Hollywood and the filmmakers, but also what happened with broadcasting. Even though its happened over almost six decades ago, this era of American culture shapes a lot of how we look at the 50's and the cold war today.
It really shows the differences in the roles that the media played back then and how much influence the government had in compare to today. I can say that if I had never heard about the broadcasting side of the story made me always think that the west coast just must of alway been more progressive. But armed with what I know now, it completes a more complete and clearer picture.
It shows how involved the government was in trying to sway the public opinion in one direction away from communism. You can also draw comparisons with the fear mongering done by the current white house admistrastion about terrorism and other mundane issues.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Super Tuesday's Super Stupid Ads
Today 22 states are holding their primaries for both the Democratic and Republican parties, making it one of the most important nights until November 7 when the general elections are held.
News stations see tonight as chance to capitalize on viewer ratings by providing nonstop coverage of the result. One station in particular, MSNBC took full advantage of the mayhem by introducing "Vote-Zilla!" a big green monster, featured in the network's commercials to help capture views' attention.
MSNBC might want to have revised their idea of the "Vote-Zilla" advertising campaign, but its a little to late for that. No doubt though that tonight is going important to help bust ratings for news organizations, but aren't there better ways to approach views? The idea would have been more fitting for last Sunday, but not this Tuesday.
Who exactly are they trying to target with these ads? Fans of Clover field. The primary and caucus turn outs for young adult voters is at an all-time high, making 08' elections a great step forward into the future. The change has been brought by the campaigns ran by Barrack Obama and Ron Paul calling for younger American to become politically involved, not by a big green monsters.
News stations see tonight as chance to capitalize on viewer ratings by providing nonstop coverage of the result. One station in particular, MSNBC took full advantage of the mayhem by introducing "Vote-Zilla!" a big green monster, featured in the network's commercials to help capture views' attention.
MSNBC might want to have revised their idea of the "Vote-Zilla" advertising campaign, but its a little to late for that. No doubt though that tonight is going important to help bust ratings for news organizations, but aren't there better ways to approach views? The idea would have been more fitting for last Sunday, but not this Tuesday.
Who exactly are they trying to target with these ads? Fans of Clover field. The primary and caucus turn outs for young adult voters is at an all-time high, making 08' elections a great step forward into the future. The change has been brought by the campaigns ran by Barrack Obama and Ron Paul calling for younger American to become politically involved, not by a big green monsters.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Hidden Out In the Open
STORY link is hiding in HERE!
Last January, the Washington Post hatched a plan to take advantage of unsuspecting commuters at the L’Enfant Plaza metro station. They decided to place world famous violinist Joshua Bell in plain street cloths to play violin, and catch the commuters' reactions.
Washington Post staff writer, Gene Weingarten came up with the idea for the experiment. After, he heard a highly talented keyboardist playing at a metro station without not even getting recognized by commuters.
Weingarten had Bell play inside L'Enfant Plaza for 45 minutes, so, he played leaving his violin case open hoping for donations. When all was said and done 1,097 people walked past and only twenty-seven left tokens of appreciation, totaling to $30.
Three months later, Weingarten's article was published by the Post about the brain dead commuters.
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) decided to do a recap about this piece in order to probe deeper into the idea of social experiments and journalism. CJR explained the relationship best by saying, "Indeed, Weingarten’s experiment was a recent entry in a journalistic genre with deep, quirky roots."
The idea of social experiments goes back as far as 1887 with yellow journalists like Nellie Bly. Who faked hearing voices to get admitted into a loony-bin in order to do her story. Critics believe these types of experiments to be unethical and lacking of actual scientific content.
Journalism is always pushing the known bonders of what is "social acceptable" making it pioneering field and proving grounds for reestablishing the status quo.
Last January, the Washington Post hatched a plan to take advantage of unsuspecting commuters at the L’Enfant Plaza metro station. They decided to place world famous violinist Joshua Bell in plain street cloths to play violin, and catch the commuters' reactions.
Washington Post staff writer, Gene Weingarten came up with the idea for the experiment. After, he heard a highly talented keyboardist playing at a metro station without not even getting recognized by commuters.
Weingarten had Bell play inside L'Enfant Plaza for 45 minutes, so, he played leaving his violin case open hoping for donations. When all was said and done 1,097 people walked past and only twenty-seven left tokens of appreciation, totaling to $30.
Three months later, Weingarten's article was published by the Post about the brain dead commuters.
The Columbia Journalism Review (CJR) decided to do a recap about this piece in order to probe deeper into the idea of social experiments and journalism. CJR explained the relationship best by saying, "Indeed, Weingarten’s experiment was a recent entry in a journalistic genre with deep, quirky roots."
The idea of social experiments goes back as far as 1887 with yellow journalists like Nellie Bly. Who faked hearing voices to get admitted into a loony-bin in order to do her story. Critics believe these types of experiments to be unethical and lacking of actual scientific content.
Journalism is always pushing the known bonders of what is "social acceptable" making it pioneering field and proving grounds for reestablishing the status quo.
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Budget cuts only lead to more termoil for LA Times
Earlier this week the Los Angeles Times had to say goodbye to editor, James E. O’Shea. O'Shea left the LA Times after refusing to follow through with budget cuts. The budgets of American newspaper companies have hit rock-bottom since sales of newspapers have fallen. In response publisher David Hiller demanded to cut cost, this didn't sit well with O'Shea obviously. Have budget cuts cost newspapers their souls? I think so, if editors and journalists lose control over their content to accountants and publishers. The Tribune newspaper executive Samuel Zill doesn't feel that cost cuts are the correct route either, but still sides with Hiller's decision on the matter of financial costs. If sales continue to drop what is to become of the newspaper? It would be a shame if this is a sign for the future.
link to article (Click Here)
link to article (Click Here)
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Oprah likes discover new success.
Discovery is going to be working with Oprah to help her in a 50/50 venture to launch a new channel called Oprah Whinfery Network(OWN). Discovery decided to dismantle the Discovery Health channel to aid in the effort. Personally I'm stoked to hear this because there is not enough television that is pro socially positive channels out there.
I'm not endorsing Oprah in any way, but its good to see a "celebrity" doing something good. Oprah has done very well for herself in the world of mass media with "O" magazine and Harpo and also the resent opening of her school in South Africa.
Oprah has an awesome grasp on how to turn heads and catch the attention viewers and this is what I think drew Discovery to her in the first place. Her influence can be felt in everything for book sells for NY times best sellers to endorsing Barack Obama in South Carolina. Only time will tell whether it will work out...
Heres the link to the article (click here)
I'm not endorsing Oprah in any way, but its good to see a "celebrity" doing something good. Oprah has done very well for herself in the world of mass media with "O" magazine and Harpo and also the resent opening of her school in South Africa.
Oprah has an awesome grasp on how to turn heads and catch the attention viewers and this is what I think drew Discovery to her in the first place. Her influence can be felt in everything for book sells for NY times best sellers to endorsing Barack Obama in South Carolina. Only time will tell whether it will work out...
Heres the link to the article (click here)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
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