Is Social Media the Future of Journalism?

Parody or Prophecy?

from the "no news" dept.

In my new gig, I certainly never want to see a day with no news. How would you promote that? Tuuuhnnnniiighhhhhttt: Squat.

But if it were to happen, this is what it would look like:

from the "scrum-dilly-icious" dept.

Scene from: "So You Think You Can Fight"

From TV SPY:

The Heenes aren't the only ones cracking under the media pressure set off by the Balloon Boy hoax. Now it appears that the crush of media coverage has started to get to members of the Heene's neighborhood in Fort Collins, Colorado.

On Monday afternoon, a fight broke out when a neighborhood man, who was trying to navigate a road cluttered with news vans, got into a confrontation with a crew from Denver's Fox affiliate KDVR. As is to be expected, the confrontation and eventual wrestling match was all caught on tape.

The footage shows a bald, tattooed man, who has not yet been identified, arguing with Jon Bowman, a reporter for KDVR, and saying, "I don't like you guys. You're endangering my safety." The man then chases Byron Stewart, a KDVR photojournalist, around the Fox van. At this point, another unidentified man, wearing a yellow t-shirt, runs up and jumps on the angry neighbor's back.

Reports indicate that the second man is also a member of the neighborhood and not affiliated with any news outlet. Several photographers surrounded the skirmish between the two neighbors and at one point a man is heard saying, "Stop the cameras. We're winning."

After punches were thrown, members of the crowd moved in and broke up the fight.



Oh media, how I love you!

from the "media madness" dept.

Valleywag today posted a sad and painfully true video that captures the slow, painful death of traditional media.

As they say:

"This nine-minute heartbreaker titled "Mad Ave Blues," sung to the tune of "American Pie," is sure to bring tears to the eyes of every agency creative type, media buyer, and trade reporter who love-hates advertising. Brilliant, and painfully nerdy."

from the "lost in translation" dept.

A CBC Newsworld translator got a little flustered the other day. Not surprising, it's no doubt a tough job. It's just too bad her mic was still on. Whoops!

from the "another one bites the dust" dept.

Sad news this morning that the Boston Globe could stop publishing in 60 days.

From the Wall Street Journal:

Unions representing Boston Globe employees continued to negotiate with the newspaper's management well past midnight Sunday, the deadline to agree to concessions to cut the paper's losses and avoid its closure.

Less than three hours before the deadline, the Boston Globe's largest union said it had presented a proposal to management that cuts costs by more than what is necessary to avoid closing the newspaper. The Globe, which is owned by New York Times Co., said it had told its unions it is prepared to file notice on Monday under the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, which requires 60 days' advance notice before closure of a business. Management's statement, issued shortly after the union's, suggests the two sides might not be as close to an agreement as union leaders had indicated. [ MORE ]

Sigh.

from the "blow out prices" dept.

Bust the TV

It's not a good sign for the Canuckian media landscape when TV stations, once thought to be cash cows, are selling for $1. A DOLLAR! And a Canuckian dollar at that. That's what Shaw just paid CTV for stations in Windsor, Wingham and Brandon.

CTV head Ivan Fecan said the company has accepted the offer of $1 per station by Shaw (TSX:SJR.B), Canada's second-biggest cable TV operator.

"Cable is rolling in money and can obviously afford to underwrite the losses. Good for them," Ivan Fecan, president and CEO of CTVglobemedia and CEO of CTV, said in a statement. [MORE]

Good times. Come visit me in Guatemala!

Cheers!

from the "hair today, gone tomorrow" dept.

Frump no more.

Susan Boyle, the Britain's Got Talent phenom is undergoing a radical transformation. Here's the stunning video clip of her as she burst onto the scene a week ago:

Susan Boyle Utube


And here's what she looks like now:

"A Britain’s Got Talent spokeswoman said: 'Susan’s a grown woman and can do what she likes with her hair.'"

If you want to read more about her makeover, the Britain's Daily Mail has the story HERE.

If you could care less, click on the video again. It's still pretty amazing stuff even if the marketing machine (of which I am a cog) is taking over.

Cheers!

from the "it's the sub-primes, stupid" dept.

There's some scary stuff going on south of the border... is this another long-lasting gift from W to the people of the U.S.A.? Maybe not directly, but a stupid war and a corrupt administration don't do much for the economy. Four More Years! Four More Years!

Take note the last sentence below. What does that say about the state of today's media?

The details and link from BoingBoing:

In this chilling BBC clip, a newsteam ventures to one of LA's new shantytowns made up of people who've lost their homes in the subprime meltdown and now live in tents, improvised shacks or RVs on abandoned land. It's the contemporary Hooverville, and, as the Subliterate Cinephile notes, I wonder why I found out about this from the BBC and not US media. Link

Cheers.

from the "faux news redux" dept.

Now this is something... a story about Fox News and how it tried to kill a report about chemical giant Monsanto. Truly amazing.

The fact that a hardcore Republican friend of mine send it to me speaks volumes...