These are some of the things that have caught my attention lately. It’s a more eclectic mix than just the news business, but then so’s life:
- Why Indian media isn’t influencing voter turnout | livemint.com — “A look at voter turnout trends in the last four Parliament elections and also data on voter turnout in some assembly elections, including Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and the most recent elections held in Karnataka, viewed in light of sharp increases in television audiences and newspaper readers during the same period leads to one startling conclusion: There appears to be very low correlation between Indian voter turnout and growing media—and presumably information—sources.”
- Signs you may be getting fired from your media job | 10,000 Words — “1. Your computer has been replaced by a Speak and Spell.
2. There is now a bouncer outside the newsroom door.
3. Your phone calls are forwarded to a call center in India.
4. Your boss just stole your stapler…I was saving this post to assuage journalists who have been caught in the wave of layoffs, but ironically I myself have just been laid off from my job as part of Time Inc.‘s massive restructuring.”
- Blogonomics: Is it the End of Micropublishing? | Seeking Alpha — The dream of internet publishers was that media buyers would flock to a more niche medium, where they could target people much more accurately. But the problem is that media buyers, and ad sales people, get paid a lot of money: it’s just not worth their while to collaborate on a campaign which only reaches a relative handful of readers. To be successful in publishing, you need economies of scale, and that means big websites with a mass audience rather than niche blogs which need to be sold separately by expensive sales teams.
- Hits just don’t keep on coming; Marketers of CDs expand repertory | ContentAgenda — “To offset this decline, the executives behind the albums are expanding the basic product line. They have introduced a series of supplemental CDs, like ”Now That’s What I Call Country,” and are moving into an array of media.
New CDs will allow access to a Web site featuring acts below the usual superstar radar, and a deal with Dada, a cellphone-services company, will offer extra promotion of songs and ring tones from ”Now” artists.
In addition, the ”Now” team is in talks to create a network television show to highlight its acts, according to people close to the negotiations who were not authorized to speak publicly.
”Now” executives declined to comment on plans for a television show, but acknowledged that the new projects were part of a broad effort to stem losses. ”We’re trying to make up for lost volume in the marketplace,” Mercer said.”
- Spin, Hype, and a Hoax Involving “Joe the Plumber” | Center for Media and Democracy — From a month ago: “In all likelihood, “Martin Eisenstadt” is some kind of leftist prankster who sees his hoax as a satire.”
- Theory (of all things) Can Shed Light on Jarvis/Rosenbaum Dustup | changingnewsroom — “Newspapers are still putting out a print product every day, and the routines that make it possible for them to manage chaos and produce the daily miracle on dead trees each morning are notoriously hard to change partly just because they do WORK to make that possible. People who have built up power and status in a particular specialty are scared of change that calls the knowledge and experience that got them there irrelevant. Underlying assumptions about the importance of hierarchy and the relative prestige in print are still operating. Publishers shortsightedly cut resources. Most mainstream media journalists are working long hours just trying to stay afloat with a massively increased workload.
These systemic issues are not insurmountable. The key, though, is to stop seeing this as a “I get it, you don’t” environment and start working at the organizational level to identify specific impediments to change and collective solutions.”
- A Life In Media | Forbes.com — I’m proud … of having fought a war in North Korea as one of Captain John Chafee’s rifle platoon leaders; of having done good work as a reporter; held some great jobs; being hired by Roger Ailes when I was 67 for CNBC (doing power lunch interviews at the Four Seasons restaurant); going on air at CBS during Paley’s time; getting to know Irwin Shaw, Mailer, Vonnegut, Joe Heller; working for extraordinary bosses–Murdoch, John Fairchild, Tom Murphy, Walter Anderson of Parade and his boss S.I. Newhouse, Felker, and now for Steve Forbes.”
- Dacre on privacy and more | Andrew Scott — “This is an important speech. It raises questions over (a) the allocation of cases in the High Court, and (b) the appropriateness of asking judges alone to determine how the framework within which journalists operate should be fashioned. The irony of course, is that after decades of warding off legislative interention, newspaper executives seem now to be making a plea for Parliamentary intervention.”
- Nigeria: Man, at 76, Enrolls for Journalism Course | allAfrica.com — “Mr Clement wishes to practice as a journalist after his education if only he would be given the opportunity to do so irrespective of his age.”
- The role of citizen journalism in modern democracy | Helen Boaden — “I am incredibly proud of the Editors’ Blog and of my team for being open and transparent with the public.
But as time has gone on, it’s clear that in one respect at least, this is a double edged sword. Call us paranoid, but we increasingly have a sneaking suspicion that some of our competitors in the newspaper industry pore over our Editors’ Blog to try to pick out phrases and opinions to turn into critical copy.
This doesn’t remotely put us off doing it — but it certainly makes us very realistic about the risks and benefits of transparency. Indeed, I long for the day when the editor of a major newspaper — especially a tabloid — writes the occasional blog honestly outlining the reasons behind his or her editorial decisions.”
- Newspapers see opportunities in Web video — “Neil Thurman, a senior lecturer at City University London’s Department of Journalism, has just released a new report with the conclusion that newspaper editors believe that adding video to their websites provides “huge opportunities” to increase revenues as TV ad spend moves online.”
- The Edited Palin: Can Journalism Be Too Objective? | DataMining — “[O]né thing I’ve noticed more and more is the use of verbatim transcripts including misspeaking and repairs. Traditionally, Bush has been an easy target for this, but Palin is another example. Take this recent CNN article “Palin says she doesn’t regret Couric interview” which includes:
“Certainly I should have done the interview. And to attribute I think that interview to any kind of negativity in the campaign or a downfall in the campaign, I think it’s ridiculous.”
Now, does Palin speak with perfect ineloquence? or does the media report too literally what is said? Couldn’t this have been reported:
“Certainly I should have done the interview. And to attribute that interview to any kind of negativity in the campaign or a downfall in the campaign [is] ridiculous.”