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Turner, 157.166.167.129, just pick up the phone already.
I was wrong about CNN's ireports: there is value there. But they should keep it as an alternative news
source, not an electronic mirror, ego outlet, or social network. News is news, and the Turner folks
should apply standards of accountability when they can so their news brand is not diminished. Ultimately,
viewers decide. That said, kudos on the June 2009 election coverage.
Welcome Dharmesh Shah
USA Today (Gannett) is offering a digital NewsStand. Whether this model will save newspapers remains to be seen.
Ultimately, consumers decide ... cost/benefit and all that. Is the day coming when newspapers as we knew them will
be content providers and distribution will be spun off? Stay tuned.
From Dave Matthews: I think, you know, the fact that we're gonna die is a pretty good reason to stop complaining.
Some assembly required. Generally what that means is the consumer saves a few bucks in exchange for a little labor
input. These days it seems the money being saved is by CNN with their so-called I Report experiment. The consumers
of all that - you and I - pay the price, not reap the savings, because there is no reliable filter for accuracy.
"Grab your camera and put your thoughts on video. Your opinions could be used on CNN and CNN.com" we are told.
Anybody in a service business knows the triangle: good, cheap, fast. Pick any two, for you cannot have them all.
Apparently in the news biz, cheap and fast trumps good. We might be better off getting our news from IKEA.
It doesn't have to be that way. There's good reporting to be found on newspaper sites, but it's tough for those
folks to sustain it for free. Tim Rutten has it right that Rupert Murdoch has it right; but we already knew what
our mamas always told us: You get what you pay for. Rutten retains the hope that newspapers will be granted antitrust
exemption so they can talk about a new business model that may help keep them in business. C-SPAN could carry
the talking.
And what's the story with radio stations that have video on their websites? Image envy? Why didn't they just go
into television in the first place?
Finally a website with a name to which I can relate: You Decide dot com.
The good news for The New York Times is that hitters only need to bat in the three hundreds to have a good
season. With something I call an Icarus Complex, I return to their website in the hopes that what really
annoys me will no longer. Alas, it is not so. I get burned more often than not.
Roger Cohen seems so filled with self-loathing I generally find him unpalatable. And Frank Rich, who
apparently grew so accustomed to the critic's robe that he feels invincible, declares (decrees?) the demise of
others on a whim. Opinions, he reminds us, are cheap; it's news that costs to generate: there are those pesky
facts and details. Much better to opine from on high. Unlike Colbert, he actually thinks we care what he thinks.
And then there is David Brooks, the one with a soul and critical thinking skills intact. He's the one who makes
it worth sticking around, hoping for extra innings.
Breaking news: Roger Cohen's new religion seems to be evenhandedness, a cultish notion not seen since the
halcyon days of Carter's first term. DeGaulle, it seems, had it about right, that nations don't have friends;
only interests. Surely our interest can include supporting our friends. But evenhandedness? I don't get
it. Do you always invite the entire neighborhood for dinner, or mostly your friends?
Alas, now Roger tells us the most dangerous thing is hubris. My point exactly. With all the real problems
in the world - North Korea among them - RC is counting devils on pinheads. A professional courtesy, no doubt.
Maybe he's trolling for dinner invitations.
And his newfound faith in intelligence assessments - in particular as they affect the lives of those other
than himself - seems situational. I have no problem with self-flagellation if it remains a solo act. But his
approach continues to seem naive and mean-spirited.
In a perhaps inadvertent nod to Fox News, Obama and Biden were waited on by the spouse of a Fox News staffer.
Their lunch likely marks the first time a sitting President ate a cheeseburger shortly after meeting the
President of Israel.
CNN of their ireport experiment:
"Unedited. Unfiltered. News."
Sesame Street:
"One of these things is not like the others.
One of these things just doesn't belong."
Billy Joel:
"You may be right I may be crazy
"But it just may be a lunatic you're looking for."
Welcome Nutmeg Securities and Merrill Lynch (UK). Also, it sounds like Sean Hannity is considering a run for office.
According to the BBC website, BBC Worldwide has received this year's Webby Award for "excellence on the net.
It won both the official Webby and the People's Voice award in the category of best news site."
Does that mean it is the site with the best news or the best presentation of the news? Perhaps it is the
award category which is unclear.
Even normally reliable TMZ could do with a little fact checking: "Ma Nishtana Ha-laila Ha-Ze?
A Hebrew prayer. Translation -- Why is this night different from all the others?"
Sorry, Guys, but it's no prayer. It's just a question.
So tell me I'm crazy, but isn't "aha moment" an expression educators have used for decades? Is Oprah
kidding; or just getting really bad advice?
Maureen Dowd of TNYTimes tells us some L.A. Times reporters were "outraged" because the line was apparently
crossed between news and promotion in connection with an NBC ad for Southland. They should be comforted
to know that some voice-branded folks right here at KNX 1070 perform advertisements with less-than-clear
indication that it's not news they're mouthing. And one on-air business guy uses the same expressions for
mortgage ads that he uses during the business hour ... without saying it's an ad.
Not cool, Guys. It's the ethics, stupid.
Says Business Week, "...even at CNN it seems, the winning formula can boil down to offering up a
little news with the entertainment."
Former President G.W. Bush addressed picking up after his dogs:
"I was picking up what I had been dodging for eight years."
Don't hurry off to write a friend, but SPAM e-mails are apparently bad for the environment.
Kudos to Kutcher. He beat CNN to a million. Now he's talking about leaving Twitter. Stephanie Simon
had no comment.
Newspaper publishers couldn't sit down and work out a new business plan among them, but perhaps that's a role
that that Journalism Online sees itself playing. Steve Brill's a bright guy.
Now that Craig Newmark has cornered the online ad market, all he needs is a compelling brand identity to
go into the news business. Unless eBay regains the agility to beat him to it.
Today's evergreen thought: If you don't want to see it in your obituary, don't do it.
Ross Levinsohn seems genuinely happy for his apparently soon-to-be-former partner Jonathan Miller
on the news that he is taking Peter Chernin's former position with News Corp. So where does this
leave Jeff Zucker? Exchanging missives with Weinstein and looking for a brand to unite his news divisions.
[and now it seems there's another Tea Party in Boston]
Forbes is looking for the new billionaires. My guess is their names are right before your eyes.
The Rocky Mountain News is coming back, online, on May 4. In the meantime, watch the team on youtube
on as they gear up. Good spirit; way to go!
One of these storytellers is not like the others: Jack Cafferty, Howard Kurtz, Roger Cohen, Bill O'Reilly,
and Anderson Cooper. Only Roger's organization doesn't favor us with his own biography, and his Wikipedia
page alone lists his agent, apparently in case you're eager to throw money at him. My favorite Roger quote:
"I figured that if I could get someone to pay me to travel round the world and try to evoke it in words,
that would suit me. And so it turned out."
What a victim of circumstances, even as we are of his writings. Pity, such a mix of self-loathing and ego.
Pity, so much potential.
"There is no Greater Burden Than a Great Potential" ~ Linus, from Peanuts
Somebody needs to speak with the President about grammar: "None of us were born with a silver spoon
in our mouths -- but we got a great education."
Please, folks at the White House: tell him it's "none of us was"; zero is grammatically singular. Continuing
education is a good thing.
Howie Kurtz on Stewart vs. Cramer: "Stewart, as funny as he can be, is a very trenchant media critic
who cares passionately about this stuff, and we saw that Thursday night."
Thank goodness somebody cares about this stuff.
And then, suggesting that Kurtz' comment needed bolstering, CNN.com cited David Seaman of New York,
one of their iReporters. In a collateral attack on ignorance, CNN.com quotes Steve Krakauerof,
formerly of Fox News and NBC.
Ed Murrow, where art thou when we need thee?
Congratulations to Jeremy Anticouni co-founder of Make It Work for getting his own radio show. And to
fellow co-founder Eric David Greenspan as well.
It seems Unicorn Media, Inc. is taking the online video value proposition to a new level by teaming with
Incited Media.
Today's observation relates to Starbucks - the once-great company that may have lost its soul.
- Last week I bought a sandwich at their 2049 CPE LA 90067 location. Turkey pesto. It was SMALL,
on a crumbling, soggy roll with wilted lettuce and some sort of cranberry-like content. I called
to express my disappointment, had a tough time getting to somebody to take my call, was asked to
take a post-call survey, and never asked my name or contact information. Most companies interested
in service offer $2.00 off or a letter in the mail or something. NOTHING. I was not looking for
anything other than a SIGN that somebody cared.
- Today a client arrived for a deposition in Santa Monica and said he'd been on the road, stopped at
the Starbucks across the street, and wanted to use the restroom before buying a coffee. He was cited
the policy about no receipt, no potty. He pointed to the eight people in the line, assured the
attendant that he was going to buy coffee (presumably when he had room). Nope. This obvious [now former]
customer was told the rules are the rules, period.
If you have had a similar experience, I'm sure Starbucks would like to hear from you.
My next move? I'm sticking with The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.
Kudos to Eric Savitz ~ let's give him his due ~ who twice this day went out of his way to clarify
something in the interest of accuracy.
Some clearly clueless critics question the relevance of the Mac Mini. The Mini (known around here as
Mac in the Box) is a toe into the Mac world when there are legacy programs that need to be supported
in a WinTel environment. By permitting an easy, cost-efficient transition to Mac OS, it creates more
than a halo effect: it rolls out the red carpet and says try.
March 20, 2009 will be Won't you be my Neighbor? Day to honor Mister Rogers' birthday. It will
be a good day to wear a sweater.
Welcome Biltmore Communications.
In a free, online blog, The Wall Street Journal reports that Hearst Corporation intends to
"hold back at least some content from their free Web sites"; and Steven Swartz of Hearst says
"Exactly how much paid content to hold back from our free sites will be a judgment call made
daily by our management."
How much they will withhold has not been disclosed. Apparently there are known knowns and
unknown unknowns, so discerning readers will have to be en garde.
Subject to restrictions, of course, Amazon.com is offering limited-time free or discounted
merchant services.
Peter Chernin is reportedly on the way out at News Corp. Will he continue in the business and make
some movies or decide the "new entrepreneurial challenges" include his own brand of news reportage?
We'll let you know when there's something to report.
So you have a phone "number" in letters you want to convert to numbers. Just replace the number
that's in the box.
It's not for me to determine -- I'll let you decide here -- who won on this story, but
Fox is still reporting a helicopter carrying 18 down in the North Sea, quoting a spokesman who
could "provide no further details at the moment"; and CNN is reporting all 18 aboard survived.
If you want to be late updating a style report, fine, but this is breaking news, and
ya'll can do better. [Fox has updated the link to a new version]
There is no link for this yet, but if unit pricing is supposed to help consumers make intelligent
choices, then why does Ralphs Grocery in Los Angeles indicate the unit pricing on toilet paper
by the sheet, by the unit, and per square foot?
Remember Russ Leatherman and “Hello and Welcome to Moviefone”? Russ is back with
his Six Second Reviews.
Microsoft is going into the retail business and promised not to step on partners' toes ...
by keeping sales to a minimum. Finally a commitment worth honoring.
David Letterman for Commerce Secretary? Tell a friend. Or prefer Mickey Kantor?
Never one to make a spectacle of himself, Mahatma Gandhi's glasses will be available at auction.
RIM:Shot? So speculates a Forbes writer.
Debbie Phelps continues her Chico's endorsement deal notwithstanding son Michael's situation.
And now there is the suggestion by CNN anchor T.J. Holmes that rescuing a Labrador Retriever from
some ice because she chased a bird was a bad idea since this animal was going to kill
another animal. Sorry, Mr. Holmes, but Labrador Retrievers are nonaggressive, soft-mouthed dogs
with a gentle disposition. They are loud but harmless; unlike some anchors. She was probably
just going to rescue a bird stuck in the ice. I thought anchors were supposed to stick to
their copy and leave facts to reporters.
Here I go again. Am I the only one to think it is beneath the President explicitly to say more
than once that he "screwed up"? Once I get: emphasis, spur-of-the-moment utterance. Whatever.
But to say it twice -- to Katie Couric and at least one other time to Anderson Cooper, a
journalism autodidact -- seems like he's trying too hard.
Dude, you blew it. Get over it. Some folks screw up daily. Time to move on. Once would have
been enough. Am I repeating myself?
Am I the only one shaking my head at this stuff? Concerning Michael Phelps, Is John Roberts
of CNN's American Morning on a mission to collect opinions "about how the incident could
affect Phelps' career"? Lets all go form our own opinions of what could, may, or might happen.
How much would our cable bills go down if CNN, Fox, and the others stopped producing shows based on
speculation? "Sports attorney: Phelps could ... " Any attorney knows "anything is possible."
How does that really inform the discussion? Just present the facts and let us decide.
Are these guys reporters or informational hedge fund managers and speculators?
A Madison, Wisconsin organic farmer, Claire Strader, "has won the most votes" in nationwide
voting for the position of White House Farmer. In other news, the Pittsburgh Steelers
won the Super Bowl.
I am concerned that the President is getting poor advice. Or timid advice. Could it be that he
is surrounded by folks who are either reluctant to tell him -- or are ignorant of the fact --
that his grammar is sometimes found wanting? I sometimes find it wanting, at least.
First in what I hope will be a short series:
On the evening of Saturday, January 31, 2009, he is reported to have said,
"I finally agreed to limit the number of people who could email me. It’s a very exclusive list.
How exclusive? Everyone look at the person sitting on your left. Now look at the person sitting
on your right. None of you have my email address.”
He should have stated "none of you has my email address..." See the Alfalfa article.
[hint to WH and Administration staff: he often says "a" followed by a vowel.]
If Brandeis University is really considering closing the Rose Art Museum, perhaps
Yehudah Reinharz should consider taking a cut in salary first.
Incited Media joined with Highwinds for live streaming of People's Choice Awards.
The Papermaster litigation has been resolved.
What part of 'Don't rip us off' do you not understand?
"We like competition, as long as they don’t rip off our IP, and if they do,
we’re going to go after anybody that does...We will not stand for having our
IP ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal...I don’t
know that I can be more clear than that.”
~ Apple COO Tim Cook’s on the company’s iPhone intellectual property.
Just when you thought it was safe to go on the Web
1/26/2009: Hacking at Monster UK compromises records of 25 million. (article of 1/27/2009)
Apple's Mac turns 25 on Saturday, January 24, 2009. Kinda makes ya proud.
FollowSite has a typo on their site. How do we let them know?
[ 74.86.223.42 - - [23/Jan/2009:19:13:49 -0800] "GET / HTTP/1.1" 206 4636 "http://www.followsite.com/bot.html" "FollowSite Bot ( http://www.followsite.com/bot.html )" ]
Without adopting the suggestion of BS in DC, here's how to put it to good use. In a down economy,
feel free to try this at home. It ain't horsefeathers.
Two CNN ireports = a wereport? Jedd and Lance "both doing ireport, so it could be termed
a wereport" so assert on YouTube.
Why do these guys keep showing up: 157.166.167.129 ? 17.201.23.71 17.206.47.230 218.209.162.120
Today's quote:
Susan Donaldson James, ABC News, ABCNEWS.go.com on Jan. 20, 2009
"Problematic preachers like Warren have woven through the political life of Barack Obama,
like a coat of many colors, all the way up to his inauguration as the 44th U.S. president."
CNN anchor on President 'Bushisms' ~ approximately
2:35 p.m., Sunday, January 11, 2009:
"It's a good thing he has a sense of humor. He's self-deprecating about himself."
related quote:
"He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone . . ."
John 8:7-11
Deal Of the Day: CNN Pays $750,000 For Web Addresses. Or so I'm told.
Shameless pitch: buy something artsy.
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