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Bob Woodward and Ben Bradlee do Promo for Washington Post iPad App
Posted in Chapter 6, Uncategorized
Tagged Bob Woodward, ipad, mobile media
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Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)
- What’s the most popular e-reader?
HINT: It’s the one more people own – the laptop. - How big is the e-book market?
Forrester reports that it has hit $1 billion and will grow rapidly over the next three years. It’s still a relatively small market, but the people who read e-books are the biggest readers out there. - What’s the difference between “old school” and “old fashioned” in advertising?
Not sure I completely understand the answer, but Kraft says that it’s relaunch of Mr. Peanut with Robert Downey Jr.’s voice is definitely old school, and that’s a good thing. - Why do people buy HDTVs to watch standard definition programming?
And why do they stretch out perfectly good 4:3 images into 16:9? - Will news media ever make money from online content?
Signs say, yes. Washington Post Co. online revenue up 21 percent. - What’s the difference between iPhone, Android & Blackberry users?
Reasonably accurate, and a really funny cartoon. In case you’re wondering, I use a Blackberry because I’m cheap.
Posted in Chapter 10, Chapter 3, Chapter 9, Uncategorized
Tagged advertising, books, mobile phones, questions
2 Comments
Articles You Need To Be Reading on the Future of Media Industry
- Mark Cuban – How Google TV could hand Netflix the entire streaming universe
Mark Cuban made him self incredibly wealthy founding Broadcast.com, and he’s now best known as owner of the Dallas Mavericks. He also has a lot of interesting things to say about the media industry. - Mark Cuban – What Google TV and Apple TV should do
More on the future of television alternatives from Mark Cuban. - TPM – Seven percent of all Talking Points Memo traffic coming from mobile devices
We’re used to talking about media as being print, audio, video etc. But what if the media issue wasn’t what the content looked like but what the delivery device looked like. I know we’ve long heard that “the medium is the message,” but we’ve still been talking about content in one form or another. But as I’ve been writing about for some time, the big new medium is the world of mobile devices. Talking Points Memo, one of the big online-only news and commentary sites, reports now that the proportion of the site’s traffic that comes from mobile devices is now up to seven percent. That’s not a big number, but it’s twice what it was a year ago. We’re going to be talking about mobile media a lot in the months to come.
Posted in Chapter 10, Chapter 9, Uncategorized
Tagged mobile media
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Rocky Horror Glee Reaction #2
Debbie Deese Linder is a former student of mine from my West Virginia days. She is in her 40s, is a lesbian in a committed relationship, and has been a hard core Rocky fan since the mid 1980s. Here’s her reaction to the Rocky Horror Glee Show:
From the early ’80s and into the mid 90’s, the Capri Theater in Charlotte (now demolished) midnight-screened Rocky Horror every weekend. While in high school, I was not only a regular attendee (250+ times between ’84-’86), but became a member of the group of amateur ‘actors’ who would dress up in home-made costumes and act out the action on the stage, as well as leading the crowd in doing the Time Warp, breaking in the ‘virgins’ [first time attendees] and other assorted duties of the ‘floor show.’ Many of the folks who were part of this group are still within the circle of my closest friends, and there is a Facebook group comprised of over 180 of our old gang. [Editor’s Note: Debbie reports dressing up as “Riff Raff mostly, though I did Eddie a time or two. Somewhere in my mom’s storage building is a sportcoat with a hump sewn in, as well as a ray gun that was made by a friend in shop class.”]
Anyhow.
Overall, I thought the handling of Rocky Horror was expectedly tamed for television — that stage/screen show is too sexually loaded (even now) to perform on network TV unedited. However, I’m disappointed as hell for the writers feeling comfortable using the term “tranny” in character Mike Chang’s refusal of the part of FrankNFurter, but not using the word ‘transsexual’ in the context of Frank’s opening number. Let’s just say that there had better be a good explanation. A very good one, lest they alienate a large segment of the show’s audience, who see ‘tranny’ as a soft-core slur against the transgendered.
The other thing I am disappointed with is the casting of a woman in the roll of Frank. It defeats the dynamic of the whole plot and would have called for more ‘rewrites’ than Sue Sylvester could have ever dreamed of. To her credit, Amber Riley gave an amazing performance of Frank’s introductory song, but that’s not the point. If one envisions the whole thing being played out, a female ‘Frank’ is vanilla, and cannot possibly push all of the boundaries that ‘Frank’ does in building himself a sexual plaything that Charles Atlas would be proud of.
Posted in Chapter 8, Chapter 9
Tagged Glee, Rocky Horror, Rocky Horror Glee, Secret 3, Truth 3
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Rocky Horror Glee Reaction #1
I posted my reaction to preview materials of the Rocky Horror Glee Show last week, and nothing I saw during the episode changed my opinion. But I’m an old guy who used to go to Rocky Horror Picture Show when it was new. I’m also not a fan of Glee. I have nothing against it; just not my type of show. So here is the first of two guest blog posts on the subject. Samantha Bates is a journalism student at University of Nebraska at Kearney. She’s a Gleek who has enjoyed Rocky Horror Picture Show:
Shortly after watching the Rocky Horror Glee Show I went to Twitter to see what the trending topics were saying. One tweet pretty much summed up a lot of what I’m feeling:
“#Glee was good but now every single tween on the planet is gonna claim to be a true rocky horror ‘fan’ #watchtheoriginalthentalk.”
I think a lot of people feel the same way.
Now, I’m not saying that I’m some holier-than-thou Rocky Horror fan because considering the age of the show I’m relatively new to the scene. I was introduced to the movie by a friend a few years ago and have since memorized the songs and seen the movie countless times, but I’ve never seen the play, though I know the play, going back to its inception in 1973, is an even larger event than the movie.
Last year I went to see the film at the local movie theater during Halloween weekend and was amazed at the spectacle. We brought our own toast, toilet paper and other various items to participate, but what I was most surprised about was the amount of people that showed up in full Rocky Horror garb, including a student that I’ve seen around campus, as a stunning replica of Frank N. Furter. I had no idea that Rocky Horror was the phenomenon that it is.
As a Rocky Horror fan first, I have to say that I really did enjoy the Glee episode. I thought the musical numbers were highly entertaining and the characters well-interpreted. I’ll probably even buy the album on iTunes. That’s not to say that I thought the show was flawless−far from it.
I felt like the episode spent half of its time concentrating on addressing the risqué material. In the very beginning, glee club director Will Schuester says, “I’ll have to make some edits here and there.” That did nothing to prepare me for some of the pointless changes that I was in for. The show tried to be too politically correct, and yet still be edgy. Obviously, the R-rating of the film called for some censorship but some of the changes just didn’t make sense.
The seemingly “subtle” lyric changes were fairly ludicrous. Opting for “Sensational, Transylvania” instead of “Transsexual, Transylvania” in “Sweet Transvestite” was a small change but made the fans who actually knew the lyrics scratch their heads and say, “Why’d they do that?” However, that was nothing compared to “Touch a Touch a Touch a Touch Me.” The line “I felt there’s no use getting into heavy petting” was changed to “heavy sweating.” What? Explain how that makes it less risqué.
Sue Sylvester made a comment during the show about how Will shouldn’t be exposing kids to this type of material, and it got me thinking. The show thought that maybe the material was too racy so they censored it, but they knew that thousands upon thousands of pre-teen or teenage “Gleeks” would be IMDB-ing Rocky Horror Picture Show and renting the movie to see what it’s all about, thus exposing kids to this material. Did Glee do this episode in hopes that thousands of kids would experience a new world that included “Transsexual Transylvania?” Maybe, maybe not. [Editor’s Note: They could also likely borrow it from their parent’s DVD collection….]
And now for the casting. Characters like Brad, Janet, and Mr. Scott were easy to agree with, but I don’t know why Kurt, the one gay male character, couldn’t have played Frank N. Furter. Maybe it was just too obvious of a choice, but I don’t go for that excuse. Kurt said that he didn’t want to dress up in a transgender corset with fish nets and high heels, but why not? That seems exactly like something he would do on a normal day, much less for a school play; not that Mercedes (Amber Riley) didn’t do an amazing job in the Frank N. Furter role, because her rendition was fantastic, but it lacked the flamboyancy that Kurt (Chris Colfer) could have brought to the role. On the other hand, I can’t think of another character that would have done a better job in the role of Riff Raff than Kurt. I guess I can’t have it both ways.
The last of my queries was about the ending. Throughout the entire episode we go back and forth with how far they can push the envelope but then they end up performing “for themselves” in front of no one. Glee isn’t the most realistic show but this made me put things in perspective. If this had been a real public high school, would they have been able to perform this show either? That makes me wonder about the intended audience. I believe that with the ending as it is, Glee put their Rocky Horror Glee Show out there for us to be the audience. They were telling us to decide. They gave us their version of the show and we can either take it or leave it. Personally, I’ll take it. With all its flaws, it’s still the Glee I love and the Rocky Horror I adore.
Posted in Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Uncategorized
Tagged Glee, Rocky Horror, Rocky Horror Glee, Secret 3, Truth 3
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NPR, Fox, & Juan Williams
UPDATE 2: Full segment from Fox for Juan Williams comments.
UPDATE: Jon Stewart weighs in on the Juan Williams dust-up.
Here’s a round up of stories covering the endless debate over NPR firing news commentator Juan Williams and the role Fox News has had in criticizing the network. (And in giving Williams a new $2 million contract….)
- Oct. 21, NYT Media Decoder – Fired from NPR, Juan Williams Keeps Talking for Fox
Breaking the initial story. - Oct. 21, The Daily Beast, Howard Kurtz – Was Juan Williams Fired Unfairly?
Includes video of Williams actual comments, along with text of his followup comments. - Oct. 21, NYT, Brian Stelter – Two Takes at NPR and Fox on Juan Williams
Update on blog post. Includes reference to Jay Rosen’s term “the view from nowhere.” - Oct. 21, Mediaite – Juan Williams Expands Fox News Role With New Contract; Will Host Factor Tomorrow
Getting fired could be worse… - Oct. 21, Frum Forum, Cheves Ligon – Williams’ Mistake: Starting a Real Dialogue
Attorney and commentator Cheves Ligon writes that Williams’ big sin was starting an actual dialog. - Oct. 21, Frum Forum, David Frum – The Williams Hypocrisy
Center right blogger David rum looks at who else has expressed fear of Islam, and isn’t on Fox News…. - Oct. 21, NPR Ombudsman, Alice Shepard – NPR’s Firing of Juan Williams Was Poorly Handled
Something almost everyone agrees on…. Also interesting that NPR is one of few major news organizations that has an ombudsman engaging in public analysis of the network’s own behavior. This is a must read. - Oct. 22, MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow – NPR Did The Right Thing With Firing Williams
Liberal MSNBC host Rachel Maddow was one of the few in the news media who praised the way NPR fired Williams. - Oct. 23, Huffington Post, Farai Chideya – What Everyone is Missing About NPR’s WilliamsGate
Looking at the history of Williams’ and NPR’s troubled relationship. - Oct. 24, Politico’s On Media – NPR CEO apologizes for handling of Williams firing
Vivian Schiller, CEO of NPR, apologizes for how the networks mishandled the firing of Williams. But not for the actual firing. - Oct. 24, Press Think, Jay Rosen – NPR News Analyst: How Juan Williams Got Fired
NYU media critic Jay Rosen asks “What the hell is a ‘news analyst?'” Looks at NPR as a part of the Church of the Savvy and the View From Nowhere. A must read link. - Oct. 24, The Atlantic, James Fallows – Why NPR Matters (Long)
Long-time journalist and press scholar James Fallows talks about what makes NPR different from other news organizations.
Posted in Chapter 14, Chapter 2
Tagged ethics, media bias?, Secret 6, Truth 6
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Rocky Horror Glee Show – Everything from the margin moves to the center
The ever-popular Fox show choir series Glee is doing a Rocky Horror themed Halloween episode next week. As a long time Rocky fan, I’m both pleased and dismayed. Pleased, because I think Rocky is good, campy fun and could fit in well with the Glee format. Dismayed because in order for this R-rated story to make it onto broadcast television is going to require some serious changes. I’ve listened to several clips of the episode and notice several things:
- The Riff Raff in the Glee Rocky seems to be based more on the movie “Rocky Horror Picture Show” rather than the vastly superior stylings of the Roxy Cast stage version “The Rocky Horror Show.” Yes, I know everyone knows the movie version better than the stage version, but this is supposed to be a play.
- The fact that that this is a story of of a gay male transvestite building a boyfriend for himself seems to have been eliminated. Consider: The part of Frank ‘n’ Furter (played by Tim Curry on both the stage and screen) is being sung by Amber Riley. She does a great job with “Sweet Transvestite” but… It’s supposed to be sung by the gay male transvestite Dr. Frank ‘n’ Furter. There is a lyric that is supposed to be “I’m just a sweet transvestite from Transexual, Transylvania.” The Glee version is from “Sensational, Transylvania.” Now obviously the story is going to need editing for broadcast, but this goes to the center of the plot. It has been changed from a gay story to a straight story. Sort of like taking “Brokeback Mountain” and making it about a cowboy and a cowgirl. (Or Disney giving Little Shop of Horrors a happy ending….)
- Finally, this is a perfect example of Truth 3 – Everything from the margin moves to the center. Rocky Horror started out as a camp musical in the 70s that found enormous success in the counter-cultural community. Today it has been sanitized from a celebration of cross-dressing gay culture into a mass market story of straights playing with gay themes.
Posted in Chapter 1, Chapter 8, Chapter 9
Tagged Glee, Rocky Horror, Secret 3, television, Truth 3
2 Comments
Questions Worth Asking (Maybe)
- Will Netflix offer a “streaming only” subscription?
Sounds like it’s coming. Netflix now has 16.9 million subscribers according to the company’s earnings report out today. - Are readers capable of being civil in the online comment sections of media sites?
Apparently not. The Portland (Maine) Press Herald (which we talked about a couple of weeks ago in relation to its end-of-Ramadan story that ran on 9/11) has shut down its comments section because of “vile, crude, insensitive, and vicious postings.”Update: Comments are now back with moderation, according to Romenesko.
- Will anyone win in battle between Cablevision and News Corp.?
Certainly not sports fans. The battle over how much Cablevision will pay to retransmit the Fox Network’s on-air programming has kept Fox off the cable company that serves the New York area. (They’ve been playing a little baseball there this week….) Fans of the Phillies did have the rather unsatisfying if somewhat surreal option of following the Phillies/Giants game on the FCC’s Twitter account. Don’t think that was much comfort, however. - When will legacy media realize they can’t pretend the 21st century isn’t happening?
The Washington Post, my personal favorite newspaper, has now told its staffers not to engage with the public via Twitter to discuss controversial stories. Hello…. Is anyone there paying attention to the whole concept of social media? Oh, apparently not. Back in October of 2009, reporters were told:“Nothing we do must call into question the impartiality of our news judgment. We never abandon the guidelines that govern the separation of news from opinion, the importance of fact and objectivity, the appropriate use of language and tone, and other hallmarks of our brand of journalism.”
Former WP media reporter Howard Kurtz, who is now working for the website The Daily Beast, gave at the time his personal rules for Twittering that make a lot of sense:
a) Don’t say something that makes you look like a blithering idiot.
b) Don’t appear to be in the pocket of Democrats or Republicans (or birthers or truthers).
c) Stick to subjects on which you actually have a clue.
d) Refrain from boring people with the minutiae of your daily life.
e) Don’t say anything you couldn’t defend as fair analysis in print or on the air.
John Hockenberry Interview from C-SPAN
This interview with journalist John Hockenberry is one of my favorites from C-SPAN’s old Booknotes series. It’s now available through the C-SPAN video archives. A great story about living with disability, and a great series of stories from an interesting journalist. It’s also worth watching to see how C-CPAN’s Brian Lamb conducts an interview.
Posted in Chapter 6
Tagged C-SPAN, disability
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Twitter for Reporting
As a followup to the Omaha 10/10/10 conference on the future of digital media, my depth reporting class talked a bit about using Twitter as a reporting tool. My first exposure to the idea came from a 2008 On The Media story that focused on how St. Paul Pioneer Press reporter Julio Ojeda-Zapata was using Twitter as a reporter. Ojeda-Zapata has done some great reporting using Twitter, and he’s also got a couple of fun technology/geek blogs as well.