Commentary

Media Giants Want Special Treatment In Google’s Search Results

Mar 23rd, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, General

Ad Age has an interesting article today that looks at how big media companies are putting more and more pressure on Google to give them priority treatment -  above bloggers, microbloggers, podcasters and other indie media creators – in search results: Many publishers resent the criteria Google uses to pick top results, starting with the […]



Marketers Moving Their Advertising Dollars To Social Media

Mar 16th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, Featured Story

New Research shows that marketers are moving their advertising dollars from traditional media to social media.

Acording to Forrester, more than half of the marketers interviewed are planning to increase their social media budget during the recession.

And 95% of marketers are “bullish” on social media marketing.



Print Media Deathwatch: Seattle Post-Intelligencer Trades Newsprint For The Web

Mar 16th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, General

Print Media Deathwatch: Looks like Hearst is coming to grips with the idea that the traditional local newspaper is dead. They’ve laid off hundreds and shut down the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, pinning their hopes for the news organization on a “new type of digital business,” creating a business focusing on community news and local business advertising. […]



Clay Shirky On What Will Save Newspapers: “Nothing. Nothing Will Work”

Mar 14th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary

Clay Shirky has published an interesting essay looking at the “unthinkable future” of news, where the Internet removes barriers to publishing and increases competition, making the traditional model of newspaper publishing beyond saving: If the old model is broken, what will work in its place?” To which the answer is: Nothing. Nothing will work. There […]



Readers To Local Newspapers: “We’re Just Not That Into You”

Mar 13th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, Podcasting, Video

Local news as we know it is dead. But that’s not the biggest problem facing newspapers today.  A bigger problem is that most readers are telling their local newspapers “I’m just not that into you”. According to the latest stats from Pew Research, fewer than half of Americans (43%) say that losing their local newspaper […]



Technology Decimates Media In The Order Of Bandwidth

Mar 12th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, Digital Video Recorder, Podcasting, Video

Matthew Davidson, a blogging graphic artist and musician, made this great statement at his Stretta blog: Technology decimates media in the order of bandwidth. First, newspapers, periodicals, books. Text and pictures compress tightly, and are low bandwidth. Next comes audio. After that comes video. It’s a interesting statement, especially when you see the carnage going […]



Guardian Launches API For News

Mar 10th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, General

The Guardian  – a UK news organization – today announced a new initiative to make its content and data for free and weave it “into the fabric of the internet”. The Guardian’s Open Platform launched with two separate content-sharing services, which will allow users to build their own applications in return for carrying Guardian advertising: […]



Local Media Is Dead. Get Over It.

Mar 7th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary, Featured Story, Podcasting, Video

The problem with newspapers is that they’re stuck on the old model, where every newspaper covers everything. And the more important the story, the less efficiently it gets covered.

But, it’s not just newspapers, it’s local radio & TV, too.

Local media is dead. Radio, TV, newspapers – all of it.

Here’s why.



The Commons Video

Feb 27th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary

The Commons Video is a 3 minute 46 second animation (licensed under CC BY), making the case for an expansive conception of “The Commons” as a means to achieve a society of justice and equality. From the video’s description: In a just world, the idea of wealth–be it money derived from the work of human […]



Laid Off From A Newspaper? Blame Perez Hilton!

Feb 25th, 2009 | By | Category: Commentary

I’m not a fan of gossip sites, but Perez Hilton is a force of nature to be reckoned with. Yesterday, Perez Hilton (Mario Armando Lavandeira) announced that his site had its busiest day ever – getting an astounding 13.9 million page views in one day. Meanwhile, the Hearst corporation announced huge layoffs at the San […]