The News About The News: 10/01/2009 - 11/01/2009

Time Inc. cuts 6% of workforce

Friday, October 30, 2009

By:Chris Mars

http://tinyurl.com/yjokugm

The magazine industry seems to continue to fall as Time Inc. announced it will cut 6% of its workforce in a recent New York Times article. Cutting 6% of its workforce calculates to about 600 people. As recent as 2007 the company which produces magazines like Time Sports Illustrated and People was doing as much as $5 million. This year they're down to about $3.7 million and have cut $800 million in costs.

This is obviously bad news for a major company in the business and the future doesn't look much brighter. Recently, they have shut down magazines like Cottage Living and Southern Accents and Life, two very repectable magazines.

Will the magazine undustry bounce back or are we seeing the decline of a major medium?

Photo Credit: AllThingsBeautiful.com

Forbes Magazine Plans More Layoffs

Thursday, October 29, 2009

By Laura Reid

Forbes Magazine is laying off employees, mainly editorial and business staff members, from the company due to decreased advertising revenue.

Steve Forbes, the chief executive and editor-in-chief of the magazine, announced that because of the recession, more jobs had to be cut from his company. 100 employees lost their jobs last year, and many others had to take five days of unpaid leave and their 401(k) program would not be matched by their company. It is not the magazine readership that is suffering, however, those numbers have stayed the same, but its the number of ad pages that are down 32.5 percent in the third quarter.

This is just another news source that is taking a major hit in its company because of the economy and slowed advertising sales. But I don't think these lack of newspaper and magazine sales should constantly be targeted. While they are big newspaper companies that are losing business, I don't think we hear a lot about advertising agencies, who are the main culprit. Where are ads making their money? They can't make it through newspapers because not many people read them. Magazines are more promising because people do still read them for entertainment, but TiVo-like TV systems are allowing for more people to skip through the commercials. Should we stop worrying about the news and magazines for a minute and start focusing our attentions on ad agencies?

(Photo Credit: Corporateinfoonline.com)

First Readers, Now Advertisers

By Tessa Leone

Today at 11:25 the Wall Street Journal closed it's Boston Bureau. After an advertising slump that has newspapers reeling, Wall Streets editor Robert Thomson announced to employees that "The economic background for the closure is painfully obvious to us all".

Low numbers regarding advertising are the main contributor for the closure. With less readers, many advertisers are seeking other forms of communication. Although the paper was the only one of the top 25 U.S. newspapers to increase its weekly circulation, those numbers werent enough to counter balance the lack of advertisements.

The Boston coverage will now switch to the papers Money and Investing division in New York. Although there are no plans to close any other Wall Street bureaus at this time the forecast for print media in general does not look good, but this is not new news.

Women in Sports Journalism

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

By Zach Jevne

The world of organized athletics and sports journalism is still dominated by men, but there are a number of women that have reached the top of the profession.

In the early 1970s, The Associated Press estimated that only 25 women worked in the sports department of U.S. newspapers and only five worked in sports broadcasting. Today, around 10 percent of the sports media industry is women.

Christine Brennen graduated from Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism in 1980. She has been a pioneer for women in the industry, paving a way for women to be accepted in the press box.

After earning her master's, she became the first female sports writer at The Miami Herald, covering the Miami Hurricanes football team during its championship season in 1984.

Brennen has twice been named one of the nation's top 10 sports columnists by the Associated Press. She currently has a weekly column in USA Today, an accomplishment that many would consider the pinnacle of the profession.

Brennen said her career in journalism has been the "world's greatest adventure." She stresses that sports journalism is a people business and women have to work twice as hard to get on the good side of those around them.

It's noted that although equal treatment of women in sports is not evolving as rapidly as the rest of the journalism world, change is happening. One thing needed in the future is to remove the label of "female" from sports reporter.

People will still have stereotypes and assumptions about women in sports journalism, but hard work and professional behavior can overcome others misperceptions.

(Photo Credit: Northwestern University)

Reshaping the Business Model

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

By Ryan Franker

The San Fransisco Chronicle has figured out a way in making a profit with the newspaper. The Chronicle believes that changing their business model is what helped their change. They had such a horrible decline in daily subscription last year, but with the changes that were made they were able to make up for it.

The changes the Chronicle did, were offering fewer discounts on subscriptions, and stopped delivering the newspapers to homes that made no economic sense in delivering it to that house. Their subscription rate jumped from $4.75 to $7.75 within 18 months. The Chronicle has the largest circulation in the Bay Area.

With the Chronicle's subscription rate up, the newspaper was able to make changes that would benefit them in the long run. The Chronicle is planning on switching the normal newspaper paper to the glossy magazine type paper, it will be the first newspaper to switch to that kind of paper in the country. The paper is also making a new section in the paper called Ovations, it will be for arts and culture.

It is hard to tell which path to take, because each city is different and will take a different approach to it. The Chronicle was lucky that the approach they took, the people liked and were able to give them money back to enhance the readers papers.

(Photo Credited: flickr)

Free News for Younger Readers

By Taylor Finch

Newspapers today have been on the decline for a while, and are desperate to find an answer to put them back on the map as soon as possible.

France is trying out a new plan by giving away free papers to young readers in attempts to turn them into customers. The government named the project "My Free Newspaper," in which 18-to-24-year-olds would be given a free year's subscription to a newspaper of their choice.

This project is just one of many other projects that the government is doing, including financial subsidies to newspapers, to help cure the problems of the newspaper industry.

These problems, such as advertising slumps and the Internet being the primary hub for news today, are especially bad in France. According to the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers in Paris, only half as many papers are sold in comparison to Britain or Germany.

France is particularly lacking young readers, so this project is offering about 60 publications that they can choose from, including the Paris-based International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times.

Costs of the project are being split by the participating newspapers and the state, with the government giving $22.5 million over the course of three years.

Some believe that this is a bad time for newspapers to not be receiving revenue from readers, but maybe this could influence the younger readers who already read and buy newspapers to influence others to do the same.

(Picture by: metajungle.net)

Protests arise after special on Latinos

Monday, October 26, 2009

By Brianna Carlson

This week CNN showed a four-hour documentary about Latinos. Activist groups are now trying to get Lou Dobbs fired because they think Dobbs has been lying for years about this issue.

Dobbs is a veteran anchor on the 7 p.m. show for the news channel. He has strong views against immigration.

"Latino in America" had it's first show Wednesday night. Protestors were saying Dobbs has been lying about immigration.

Isabel Garcia, a civil rights lawyer, and a randomly picked activist were interviewed for the documentary, but both of their comments about Dobbs were edited out of the show.

Garcia commented that by showing Dobbs show CNN was “promoting lies and hate about our community." This comment did not make the documentary.

A CNN spokeswoman said "Latino in America" was just trying to show both the successes and challanges Latinos are going through. One of the issues did include illegal immigration.

Photo Credit: Nasa Images

New Strategy for NBC

By: Amy Johnson

NBC's Universal Television Entertainment chairman Jeff Gaspin recently announced that the network would not be producing programs to profit margins.

The network is trying something different than most networks have done. Their new idea is that a network does not have to spend a hefty profit on a show; by producing a show that is really cheap and easy to make, a big profit can still be made in their time slots.

While NBC is producing cheap shows, competing networks are soaking up the ratings but is paying for expensive sitcoms. Those sitcoms may be getting stellar numbers, but they are also affecting the network's profit margin negatively.

An example of NBC's new idea was when they moved “Jay Leno” to nine o' clock. NBC has yet to see if this plan has worked as Leno hasn't discovered its ratings resting point quite yet; baseball playoff programming on Fox and TBS have taken away some of his viewers.

This move may prove to be very smart on NBC's part; by lowering the costs of producing shows, NBC's budget will not see as big of a blow. The question is how will viewers take to these changes? Most well-liked sitcoms are ones that have been around for a few years and cost more to produce. If more networks go to this idea, many viewer's favorite shows could be canceled.

(Photo Credit: Wikipedia)

Teens continue to fein for Facebook and misinterpret Twitter

Sunday, October 25, 2009

By Michelle Zimmerman

Web 2.0 Summit questioned 5 teens last week on their views of the Internet. The teens' ages ranged from 15 to 18. The teens were questioned on what they found important on the Internet and things that would change the efficiency as they used it.

The majority of the teens felt that Facebook was the most exciting thing they did on the Internet. It is an easy way to connect with friends and reduces the use of Skype and iChat because they can now use the messenger feature Facebook offers.

When asked about Twitter they replied they did not see the point in posting what seemed to them as irrelevant information. It is thought that teens do not understand the use of Twitter because instead of using it as a social networking device, people are using it as another way to expedite news as fast as they can.

Though Facebook was a favorite of the teens when asked if there was a small cost to use the website all of the teens replied that they would not use the it anymore because there would be other options on the Internet that would allow them to do it for free.

Another questioned asked was what search engine the teens used. As usual the teens replied with Google aside from one teen who said Yahoo gave them the answers they were always looking for. When using Google multiple websites that match your search appear where as the Yahoo search engine is more technical and allows for users to post websites and answers that may best fit someone's question.

It is not surprising that these 5 teens answered the way they did. As the Internets' popularity continues to grow across the world, we will continue to see a rise in the media shown on websites. Teens are the most current with this trend because it has been occurring throughout their entire generation. Teens will continue to use Facebook as long as it remains free because it is the easiest and cheapest way to stay socially connected with their friends.

NBC wants change

By: Mallory Tandy

Jeff Gaspin the NBC Universal Television Entertainment chairman shocked hollywood on Thursday when he announced that the network wouldn't be showing programs to profit margins. This means shows such as Jay Leno.

NBC wants to become number one again and not be at number four. They plan on doing this by bringing back scripted programs that will top the charts. Some have doubts that NBC will be able to do this when the famous Jay Leno is at number ten on the charts right now. Some say it will take the network years to work their way back up.

I think the network is trying to figure out what will work for them in the end to help them succeed. Is what they are doing a good idea?

Private Pages, Not So Private?

By Keri Waterhouse

The Net neutrality supporters may celebrate the Federal Communications Commission’s vote on Thursday to start open internet regulations. The regulations aren’t written yet, but already having Congressional opposition and they’re probably going to be challenged in court.

The voters at the FCC for proposing getting the new rules protected to an open internet wasn’t anything when John McCain introduced legislation last Thursday morning. He wanted to block the agency from regulation the internet. He thought it would hurt the job market.

McCain said, "Today I'm pleased to introduce the Internet Freedom Act of 2009 that will keep the Internet free from government control and regulation.” He thought that it would allow for continued innovation that might in turn create more high-paying jobs for Americans who are out of work or looking for new employment. Maybe even keeping businesses free from oppressive regulations, and that it’s the best stimulus for the current economy.

The FCC voted on proposing the start for creating regulations that will keep the internet open. It will forbid any operators from restricting access to lawful internet contents, services, and applications. Networks also wouldn’t be able to discriminate other internet content or applications.

I think that by having open internet would make some people feel like their private lives would be open to the public. Being able to block people, share certain information with people, or even just selecting who can and can’t see things on Facebook makes the network more appealing and safe.

News media challenging sealed filings in Utah case

Thursday, October 22, 2009

By Laura Reid

The News media is fighting to open files sealed by the courts so that the press could not access them. These files deal with the mental competency of Brian David Mitchell, the abductor in the Elizabeth Smart case.

The courts sealed these documents, some of them without telling the press that they would be sealed, so that it would prevent the press from gathering more information on the case.

Michael O'Brien, the attorney in this case, believes that these files are in the public interest, and should not be sealed to the press. The press, he says, is the middle man for court proceedings for the public because not everyone is able to make it inside the court rooms.

This is definitely a violation of the press's right, and the public's right, to access what would be considered public information. If it is on file, it is fair game. The News media has a right to these files, and the public has a right to know more about the case.

(Photo Credit: Penright)

Fox Ignores the Left Wing Side of the News

By Tessa Leone

The National Equality March, which was held on October 10-11 (last weekend), was a highly televised event. Tens of thousands of protesters stormed the capital waving flags and yielding signs demanding equality and equal rights concerning bisexual couples.

All of the major networks covered the story, all of the networks except Fox News . Fox, a widely speculated 'Right Wing' broadcast spent little time on the story and used ABC's footage of the event.

The main focus of the rally was to appeal for gay marriage and abolish the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy. The turnout alone was newsworthy by the very definition of the word.

Comedic newscaster, John Stewart was also offeneded by Fox. He covered the fact that Fox News didn't cover the rally on his program, The Daily Show.

"You didn't even send your own camera crew?" exclaimed Stewart. "You have a Washington bureau! Tell them to go to the window and point the camera down!"

A good reporter must remain biast and tell the news like it is. Omitting a story on the grounds of personal opinion is very unprofessional for a reporter and defienitely a major faux pa for a network news station.

Photo Credit: Michael T. Luongo

Malcolm Gladwell Talks With TIME

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

By Zach Jevne

Best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell has written some of the most thought-provoking books in recent years and shared his interesting takes in an interview with TIME.

The author of the best-sellers Blink, The Tipping Point and Outliers, said he likes the notion that two mildly good stories put together can equal one really good story.

"I'm interested in placing things in a larger context and in making lateral connections," Gladwell said.

When it comes to the educational system, Gladwell believes that experimentation with schools could possibly improve things.

"There's precious little experimentation in education," Gladwell said. "I think we need to try 100 different things. I don't know if it will work, but it's certainly worth a shot, and we could learn something really useful.

As someone who enjoys and studies statistics, Gladwell had an interesting take on making predictions for people and their careers based on test scores and other measuring tools.

"If you want to find out if someone can do the job, you have to let them do the job," Gladwell said. "If you want to find the best teachers, you let everybody into the profession, monitor them for two years, and then pick the 10 percent that are the best. That's how you do it, and that's completely the opposite of the way we do it now."

The former staff writer for the New Yorker also shared some advice to young journalists.

"The issue is not writing," Gladwell said. "It's what you write about. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master's in statistics....and then write from that perspective. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter."

(Photo Credit: Brooke Williams)

Magazines Doing Better in 2009

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

By Ryan Franker

Out of the 249 magazines the Magazine Publishers of America keep tabs on, only 22 magazines actually saw their ad revenue increase. The other 227 lost ad revenue compared to the figures in 2008.

Meredith Corporation is one of the companies that has a magazine will an increase in the ad revenue, Meredith actually has five different magazines that saw an increase in their ad revenue.

It is a small miracle that Meredith was able to get the revenue of five magazines up, since the company had to lay off 7 percent of their workers in 2008.

An employee for Meredith believes the company's success was with Meredith building a brand for the magazines and the internet, said Patrick Taylor. Making the website really user friendly helped give the magazine more exposure, which also helped the ad revenue go up too.

(Photo Credited: flickr)

With All of the Other Popular News Headlines, Iraq Seems to Be the "Forgotten War"

By Taylor Finch

Now that news is starting to pay attention to the war in Iraq again, many wonder, now that it is fresh in our minds, why there has been barely any coverage on the war for the past couple years.

In early 2007, the Iraq War dominated headlines. Mark Jurkowitz, PEJ's associate director, believes this was merely due to the battle going on between former President George Bush and the Democratic Congress about persecution of the war.

Although the war was perceived to be covered fairly well in 2007, the coverage of the war still only added up to be about one percent of the total news hole.

2008 was about the same, with the Beijing Olympics overshadowing any hope for a headline featuring Afghanistan or the war.

A small turn around from the preceding years happened in 2009 though, with a spike in coverage of the war, ironically beginning the week of the Aug. 20th elections. Coverage reached 10 percent for that week, which was much higher than the last two years.

This spike can mostly be contributed to President Obama's U.S. Domestic Policy Debate, which is the exact reason 2007 was also a better year for coverage on the war.

The Iraq War is obviously seen as being neglected in the news, but many factors, such as the distance from Iraq and the fact that the president must deal with other pressing issues at this time, can be the answers to the lack of coverage.

(Photo Credit: christinaaddie.wordpress.com)

Cracking Down On Social Networks

by: Amy Johnson

Sometimes, the world of Twitter and Facebook aren't all they're supposed to be. It is a great way to keep in touch with family and friends, but what happens when updating status' puts you at risk with your job?

Professional sports leagues such as the NFL to media outlets like the Washington Post are all struggling with how to make sure their employees don't expose the inner workings of their transactions. The goal is to plug the leaks of confidential information about potential productions such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

Contracts with clauses about the use of Facebook and Twitter are not out of the ordinary for many newspapers. Some journalists have gone as far to create two different accounts, one for family and friends and one for co-workers.

Seeing a crackdown by many different companies is not out of the ordinary, especially when the employee is in the public eye. It can cause backlash to a story the company is working on and get the word our before all the facts are there.

The problem with social networking sites is that it is hard to tell when people are being serious or when they are being sarcastic when updating a status. In the world of big business and Hollywood, anything someone says is under scrutiny. The idea of two Facebook accounts for business and family isn't a bad idea; nor is it a bad idea for companies to put clauses in their contracts for confidentiality.

(Photo Credit: flickr.com)

New York Times Cut Jobs

Monday, October 19, 2009

By Brianna Carlson

The New York Times will be cutting 100 jobs within the end of this year. The Times is trying to recover from the loss in advertisement money.

Earlier this year, the Times reduced it's salaries by 5%. This is also the second time in a little over a year that the Times has had to cut it's staff. In 2008, 100 jobs were also cut.

Many other publishers are also in this situation so The New York Times does not stand alone. The Times is cutting the jobs either by buyouts or layoffs. They are trying to do the best they can for their employees.

(Photo Credit: flickr)

Always Read the Fine Print

Sunday, October 18, 2009

By Michelle Zimmerman

If something seems to good to be true, read the fine print. Over the past few years as the popularity of Internet, cell phones, and cable broadcast has grown so have the prices. While companies associated with these products many pretend through advertising that they are the cheapest option, more then likely this is false.

Through advertising in television and radio commercials as well as magazines, companies are able to disguise they're products to be cheap. Using asterisks on prices to refer to the actual prices listed in size 9 point font at the bottom on the television screen isn't being exactly honest. It isn't fair that these companies are allowed to falsely advertise their products for prices when they are actually going to receive more from the consumers.

By using this false advertisement, consumers are signing under false pretenses. Consumers are expecting they will pay what was advertised when in truth they're are many charges not listed on the advertisements. Charges such as a one-time activation fee, price increase after so many months, as well as the price to break a contract.

Not only are companies misleading their consumers with prices but as well as their products. Internet companies are known for advertising their highest speed when in contrast that is only a possibility rather than an average.

As a reaction from the consumers of these acts, cases have been filed in attempt to put an end to the entrapment of these companies. The plaintiffs are in pursuit of a law for advertising that protects consumers from being mislead.

Is social media harmful for journalists?

By: Mallory Tandy

Are Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook causing stress on journalists? Social Networks such as these, used to be used as a way of getting information, but as time has went on it has become more personal information and not news worthy.

It seems to be causing trouble in some newspapers. At the New York Times, staff members tweeted about information about an internal meeting going on at the paper. They did not mean any harm by doing so but what if critical information could have been leaked out for their competitors to see, it would have been bad for the Times.

Some have solved the issues of mixing business with pleasure by having two Facebook pages, one for personal use and one for busniess and co-workers. But does this solve the issue at hand? Is social media harmful to journalists or helpful?

I can see it from both sides, I can see how it can be harmful but I can also see how it can be helpful. They can find good stories on social media sites, but also can be destructive in how they use their own sites.

Earn Your Degree By Watching iTunes

By Keri Waterhouse

The knowledge of business professors, was only available to MBAs and business students, it is now available to anybody with an Internet connection.

Many universities and business schools are making recordings of their lectures, seminars and conferences available to everyone through Web sites such as iTunes and YouTube.

Professors making their lectures available through iTunes will make lectures so much easier and more convenient to students with full schedules. It will also help the technology industry grow by students purchasing iTunes, computers, or even phones with internet accessibility.

Hacking Into Twitter

By Meghan Vosberg

Identity theft,Password trafficking,Counterfeiting of currency,Child Pornography or Exploitation, and computer intrusion (hacking) are all types of cyber crime. We have all heard how to prevent these, and what sites they usually happen on, but now a new site has fallen victim of cyber crime. Are you safe on your Twitter account?

Twitter, the popular social networking site, has recently been hacked. This is troublesome for users, because the majority of people use the same password on different accounts. Some of these accounts hold financial or person information, such as shopping sites like ebay or amazon.com.

High profile celebrities have also had their Twitter accounts hacked. Britney Spears, Bill O'Reilly, and President Barack Obama.

Hacking has been around since the dawn of the internet therefore making it a common and easily found skill. If you are sent a link asking for your log in credential, be aware that it may not be secure.

Photo Credit: Yahoo! Inc.

Better Economic Days Ahead

Thursday, October 15, 2009

By Tessa Leone

If Google's profits are any representation of our economy then we truly may be out of the recession. Google's quarterly revenue displays a strong increase in profit. It is 7% higher than last years, a number that exceeded expectations.

The revenue from the adds placed on Google also increased in the last Fiscal year.

"While there's obviously a lot of uncertainty about the pace of the economic recovery, we believe the worst of the recession is behind us", said Eric Shmidt, a Google CEO.

The growth in profit may have been related to the decrease in employee headcount but Google advertisers also reported a signifigant increase in overall numbers from last year.

If Google is improving I wonder what businesses will follow suit.

Photo Credited to Google

New Age Musicians

By Tessa Leone

The latest musical instrument to hit the market...your i Phone? A new application called ZOOZbeat allows you to make music from your phone and upload it to the web. Quick flicks of the wrist create higher notes and gentler slower movements produce low tones. You can select multiple instruments and rhythms from the program to create a totally unique sound thats all your own.

" You don't have to know anything. You go in there and click on it and you're playing guitar chords", said John Sheridan, a ZOOZbeat musisian from Florida.

A recent update to the program also allows users to 'toss' beats from phone to phone and share songs.

The application can be downloaded from Apple and costs a $3. It is revolutionary design also allows actual musicians to download keyboards and scales right to their phone. What will Apple think of next?

Photo Credit to CNN

Times Co. Will Hold On to Boston Globe

By Laura Reid

After months of trying to find a buyer for the Boston Globe, The New York Times has decided to not sell the newspaper.

The decision to sell The Globe came because of poor profits being produced. But The Globe saw better results recently which prompted The New York Times, which has owned the New England newspaper since 1992, to decide to keep it, although talks about selling The Telegram & Gazette.

While I think this is a good, short-term decision, the newspaper in the long-run is not going to last, not even The New York Times newspaper will survive the world of technology. But I think this will at least keep jobs for a little while, which is one of the reasons The Times decided not to sell as well; they didn't want more jobs lost.

(Photo Credit: Joe Schlabotnik)

60 Minutes Story Very Similar to Rather's

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

By Zach Jevne

Over the weekend, 60 Minutes ran a story about the effects of concussions in football players that was very similar to a story featured on Dan Rather Reports six months ago.

The Rather story, which aired on HDNet, featured interviews with ex-New England Patriot Ted Johnson, who suffered concussions and the side-effects from them. He was also seen on 60 Minutes retelling the same stories.

The three other people Rather interviewed, a neurosurgeon, a doctor, and a father of a player, were also used in the 60 Minutes piece.

This is not only interesting in the fact that 60 Minutes is using a piece that features nearly all of the same sources, but that they are following Rather's footsteps. CBS and Rather have had a very public falling out, including a $70 million lawsuit filed by Rather.

In the lawsuit, Rather said that after stepping down as news anchor on March 9, 2005, CBS News essentially buried him at 60 Minutes. His court complaint said, "CBS provided very few assignments...and did not permit him to cover important stories."

Feature stories are sometimes recycled in the news business, but its interesting that this concussion story was covered by Rather at HDNet, a cable network, and then six months later it appears on the network show he used to work for.

(Photo Credit: Jim Wallace)

Twitter and Facebook soar; Myspace loses ground

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

by: Amy Johnson

Countless college students use Facebook as their means of procrastination. It appears that not only are college students doing this, but people of every age.

Twitter has also exploded onto the social networking scene, joining Facebook as one of the top five social networking sites on the Internet. Both Facebook and Twitter have been on a roll this year with Facebook adding its 300 millionth user in September.

Myspace Inc.'s business took a major fall, but still found itself in second place among the social networks. Tagged is in third place.

In computer lab's all around Simpson, one can easily notice that most students may be working on a project or paper, but Facebook is also up in a different tab.

“There are so many more advertisements on the sides of my Facebook, and I find them very distracting,” junior Amy Brandt said. “The topics seem to be ridiculous too.”

Perhaps if the top advertisers on television would start putting ads on Facebook that might benefit people, they would sell more of their product. Judging by the statistics in this article, advertisers would see an increase in sales.

(Photo Credit: Jay Cameron)

NBC Hurts After Changes

Monday, October 12, 2009

By Brianna Carlson

The "Jay Leno Show" is now two weeks into its new season. NBC is questioning if it was a correct choice to present the show five nights a week at 10 p.m.

"Law & Order SUV" has suffered since it was moved from Tuesdays at 10 p.m. to Wednesdays at 9 p.m. It was the leading drama when played on Tuesdays, but now it turned up last due to the change.

"The Tonight Show" has been a major hit and strength for NBC, but now they no longer are ahead of the competition, CBS.

Jay Leno has been doing everything NBC asks for his show. About five million viewers ages 18 to 49 watch Leno's show each night which allows advertisers to reach the group they want.

NBC only has two main shows now, "The Biggest Loser" and "The Office."

(Photo Credit:wikimedia)

Obama's Team Threatens to Cut-ties with Fox News

By Taylor Finch

This weekend, the White House communications director, Anita Dunn, announced that they would no longer be doing news exchanges with Fox News.

Dunn explained to the New York Times that "Fox News often operates almost as either the research arm or the communications arm of the Republican Party" and that it is "pointless" to try to convince Fox News to portray the Democratic Party fairly.

Isolating Fox News is a good way to make a stab at them for good short-term affects, but there are a few negatives that could have lasting affects on President Obama's reputation.

By giving up on Fox News, it will give the network's speakers, such as Glenn Beck, even more power to sway moderates into joining the Republican view. If Obama himself does not follow up on these certain comments and attempt to correct them, Fox News watchers will forget to acknowledge his side completely.

Fox will simply use this war with the White House to boost their ratings by picking on Obama and make him look weak.

Obama does not have to necessarily put up with the unfair treatment of Fox News, but adding fuel to the fire by running away probably would not help either. This is clearly a lose all situation for the White House.

(Photo by: chattahbox.com)

Does Obama Deserve Nobel Peace Prize

Sunday, October 11, 2009

By Keri Waterhouse

U.S. President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize because of his healthcare reform plans.

Shortly after word of it got out, social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook users were updating their status' and tweeting.
Half of the topics on Twitter were about the Nobel Peace Prize and Obama.

On Twitter, the opinions were seperated between those who think Obama is a worthy recipient, and those who wonder how he even won the prize having only been in office not even a year yet. Many tweeters think he should refuse the prize.

If he is going to be awarded this known prize, hopefully it is for all the right reasons. I hope that in the end it won't be a mistake.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/

Educating the Public with Television

By Michelle Zimmerman

It has always been important to our country that everyone receives an education, so important that it is required by law. The only way to maintain a strong government is to continue teaching the citizens so they are able to continue the success of the country with generations soon pass.

Although Internet is considered the largest source for the media it is not available to all citizens whereas television broadcast can be obtained from a simple television free of charge. The idea is programs would be developed to educate people in the departments of science and civics.

Top scholars in the country would take their knowledge and broadcast it on an educational channel. The information would be important and anyone that wants to further their education could as simple as a click of the button.

There would be no physical attribute of watching these broadcasts. The reward would be the privilege of receiving the knowledge free of charge. The broadcasts will only be beneficial to those citizens that are willing to take advantage of the oppotunity.

PBS is an example of a television broadcast that is already pursuing something similar to this idea. Not only would these programs be delivered to the public but as well as institutions. It can change the way education is received.

NASA Satellite Slams Into the Moon on Purpose

By Meghan Vosberg

On Friday, Oct. 9, a satellite the size of a school

bus intentionally smashed into the moon. NASA hopes that with this mission they can find out if the moon has water. This could be used in the future as a resource for astronauts.

The Impactor bore a 13-foot hole into the moon's surface. The reaction kicked up a wave of dust that reached 6 miles high. After the satellite hit a robot the size of a Volkswagen

Beetle, went through the debris. It recorded and sent the information back to Earth before also smashing into the lunar surface.

Experts believe that the most water on the Moon will be in dark craters in the form of ice.
"We don't anticipate anyting about presence or absence of water immediately. It's going to take ups some time," cautioned Anthony Colaprete, the principal investigator for the mission. The mission was officially launched June 18, 2009 and now the project will have to wait longer for the information to be processed. One surprising find is that sodium is present. This is something that scientists were not looking for.

Photo Credit: 21st Century New Media Ltd.

Economic crisis effects USA Today

Saturday, October 10, 2009

By: Mallory Tandy

USA Today's sales drops 390,000 copies, 17 percent less than the usual. This decrease in sales will possibly threaten USA Today's No. 1 spot as the most favored newspaper in the country. The newspaper was expecting to decrease in sales because of the price increase last December.

The president and publisher of USA Today,David Hunke, says that there has been a decrease of around 100,000 in airports and newspaper racks. People are also not getting the newspaper delivered to their home which serves as a large impact of sale for USA Today.

Staff at USA Today are not getting too worried, they are staying positive and claim to have a good plan to jump back from this low point for the newspaper.

I don't think any newspaper that has been doing poorly in sales as of late will get any better if the economy stays the way it is right now. I think newspaper sales will keep decreasing in time.

In NBC Universal Bid, Comcast Seeks an Empire

Thursday, October 8, 2009

By Laura Reid

Comcast is currently in negotiations with G.E. to merge with NBC Universal. G.E. is currently the main owner of NBC, but if all goes accordingly with Comcast and its owner Brian L. Roberts, 51 percent of NBC will be owned by him.

Comcast is already one of the biggest owners of cable systems in the country, but with this merger, it could also own USA, BRAVO, CNBC and MSNBC, four major cable networks, not to mention the huge network broadcaster NBC.

If all goes to plan, Comcast will also inherit NBC's Web's premiere TV streaming site, Hulu, which will put Comcast into the digital media realm.

There is a trend that I am seeing among huge networks and the Web. The latest among these digital media broadcasts is CBS merging with GlobalPost, an online foreign news correspondant that boasts a great number of viewers. This is a great time for smaller media conglomerates to enter the market for broadcast network ownership because of this revamping of how people are beginning to view the news.

(Photo Credit: Abigail Hamilton)

Limbaugh Out of Control

By: Chris Mars

President Obama has been accused of another outrageous claim by Rush Limbaugh. This does not come as a surprise, since Limbaugh's success depends on the number of listeners and followers he gains.

His latest antics stem from a St. Louis school yard fight between two students, one black and one white. According to Limbaugh the blame should be put on president Obama for causing black-on-white racism in America.

Limbaugh said "You put your kid on a school bus you expect safety but in Obama's America the white kids now get beat up."

This isn't Iraq bombing American territories or another terrorist attack, it's a school yard fight. I feel this goes to show how much some of the press, you could call it entertainment press, attempts to generate interest.

The sad part about it is there are many American's who probably get their news from these sources. It's a shame people base their political education on these sources when voting or protesting.

(Photo Credit: Time Magazine)

Journalism Students Cover Local News

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

By Zach Jevne

The University of California at Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism announced it would be teaming up with public broadcaster KQED to create the Bay Area News Project. It also features a full-time staff and the project will be funded by a $5 million donation from F. Warren Hellman. The project begins next year and promises to offer "high-quality, original coverage" of the San Francisco and Oakland region.

The dean of the journalism school, Neil Henry, says the school signed up to figure out a way to give local communities when the industry is losing its ability to do that kind of work. Many courses include assignments require students to become "immersed in the local region providing journalism...but haven't been able to because of cuts in the industry."

The project will rely on 120 Berkeley students to cover 7,000 square miles and several million residents. They will serve as "foot soldiers for local news", Hellman said. Students won't be required to participate but the project is hoping that the grad students will be eager for the experience and be willing to work for free to get it.

Some don't see it as all positive. While the project may create a new model for the industry, it may do so at the expense of suppressing full-time, paid positions.

"They're giving themselves an unfair advantage by relying on unpaid labor," Robert Gammon, a longtime Bay Area reporter, said. He referred to the project as "slave labor".

While the project may help students now, the practice may undermine them in the future.

"The new venture promises to be bad for the public over the long term," Gammon said. "The public will be forced to depend on inexperienced, unpaid students to inform them about what's happening in the region."

Henry believes that nonprofit newsrooms like the Bay Area News Project is the best prospect to create jobs for laid off professionals and recent graduates. He feels that giving students job training while still in school will help news organizations across the country.

Stephen Shepard, dean of the Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York, likes the idea and it doesn't bother him that the work is being done for free.

"If they weren't doing the work for free, I don't think some other paid journalists would be doing it," he said.

Photo Credit: (UC Berkeley)

Search Engine battle will help media

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

By Ryan Franker

Microsoft and Google are battling it out to see which one is the best search engines out there and to see which one has the best online news. The president and CEO of Associated Press, Tom Curley, said he believes that the battling between who has the best search engine sites will bring a more profit to the media industry.

Just this past July, Microsoft decided to team up with Yahoo! and go against Google. Microsoft wanted to give Google a run for their money, on which company could dominant the online news search engine.

Curley would like to see a way of getting the money back that is being lost due to these online news search engines. He believes that Microsoft has an edge over Google, but he refused to criticize Google on the improvements that are being made to its site.

Microsoft plans on improving how reliable the news sources are, which Curley thinks it would benefit the media. The company is coming up with a new way to search. The link would be an image galleria rather than the normal text links.

He hopes this improvement is going to enhance the readers' experience of reading news online. He thinks this improvement will happen within the next three to fifteen months.

(Photo Credited: flickr)

The Associated Press Decides to Try Selling Early, Exclusive News

By Taylor Finch

The Associated Press has pondered on the fact that having the powe r to give a head-start on news stories, to paying publishers, could possibly be quite lucrative.

The AP licenses out stories owned by newspapers and broadcasters to many of the Web's main portals, such as Google and Microsoft's MSN. At this time, all of these portals receive breaking-news at the same time.

In attempts to capitalize on the ongoing competition between Microsoft and Google, customers, such as Google and Microsoft, will now be able to pay for exclusive information on "certain topics" up to a half an hour earlier than the news story would break publicly.

Tom Curley, AP's chief executive, believes this would also help to give due credit to those newspapers and broadcasters that the stories and information originally belong to.

This does not sound like a bad idea, because these days, with all the Web availabilities, there is a lot of fame in being the first to flood the Internet with a top news story. Problems would arise, though, if the process of selling and publishing the news story was not completed before the same story leaked elsewhere.

Everyone will just have to see if this idea will be able to hold its own in today's fast-paced media journalism.

(Photo By: Mediabistro.com)

Lawsuit Against CBS is Over

Monday, October 5, 2009

By Brianna Carlson

Dan Rather, a previous employee of CBS, filed a $70 million lawsuit against CBS in 2007. Just recently, the case was rejected by the appellate division of the New York State Supreme Court.

Rather was seeking damages in a claim that his contract was broken, and he also said his reputation was ruined after his report on 60 Minutes II.

Rather stepped down from his anchor position before the report was even released. He later said his contract was violated which persued him to bring a lawsuit against the network.

The CBS lawyer estimated that Rather spent $5 million on the case. The case is now over, and the money was waisted.

(Photo Credit:Picasa Web Albums)

Google

Sunday, October 4, 2009

By: Mallory Tandy

Eric Schmidt, the CEO of Google denies claims that Google is the cause for the decline in newspaper sales. In fact, Schmidt thinks it is Google's moral responsibility is to help the newspaper industry. He would like Google to start experimenting with ways of reading the news that has not been tried yet. Schmidt thinks this might help the news industry.

I think it is ridiculous that people are trying to blame Google for newspaper sales declining. Google is a search engine made to help find things.

David Letterman Tells All

By Michelle Zimmerman

David Letterman's "The Late Show" had a different atmosphere Thursday evening when Letterman made a public announcement of a serious circumstance he had recently become involved with. Letterman made public of the attempt of blackmail by a suspect unknown at the time.

Letterman told the audience and its viewers in a very serious matter that he had been approached by a producer that was going to take bad information they had gathered throughout the past years about Letterman that could ruin his family, career and all together his life.

Complying with this unknown suspect, Letterman sent his attorney to meet with them and get a better understanding of what the obloigation was. The attorney discovers the suspect is going to write a book as well as a screenplay that would reveal unwanted information of Letterman unless Letterman was to pay him $2 million.

In defense Letterman contacted Manhattan's district attorney's office where he learned that the situation he was involved in was considered blackmail. The office advised him to give a fraudulent check for the amount being demanded and follow through with trial to testify Letterman's involvement.

Letterman then testified to the grand jury telling all of his sexual relationships with multiple women on his staff. Letterman admitted to being embarassed by the encounters but made it clear that if anyone wished to speak to the public of the relationship it would be their personal decision.

Making this announcement on television was an easy way for Letterman to say everything he needed to and clear any accusations that may formulate in the press once the charges are made public. Although Letterman was serious about the situation it still did not stop him from threading comedy throughout the revealing "tell all" speech.

CNN Keeping Rio's Crime a Secret for 2016 Olympics

By Keri Waterhouse

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, won the vote to have the the right of the 2016 Olympics. Brazil beat Madrid, Tokyo, and Chicago. Chicago pulled out after the first round because of crime that was happening there, they had a good bid and the President of the United States and First Lady were there to support.

CNN reported on the two teen murders in Chigago that happened a week before the vote was to take place. They mentioned that the Olympics were considering being held there during the Chicago crim problem. However, CNN did not mention the issues of crim that was happening in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Rio has a big crime and drug problem, it is said to be as bad as, if not worse than Chicago's. Rio's issues with crime were not mentioned. The voting may have turned out differently if CNN would have reported on the issues with Rio as they did Chicago.

CNN is a trusted and respected news source. It is thought that maybe they were trying to hurt President Obama, I am sure that it will be talked about and people may want to revote on this now knowing about the problems in Brazil.

News team assemble

Thursday, October 1, 2009

By: Chris Mars

Yesterday, Fox Interactive took on a new name and new look. It's now known as News Corp. Digital Media, or NDM. This change took place to "empower leadership at our digital properties to operate in a more streamlined enviornment," said Jon Miller, chief digital officer. My Space, IGN Entertainment and others are all part of NDM and will all play a part of NDM. This new development has established a long-term plan across the entire company, something that seems hard to accomplish in today's ever changing technology driven world.

This comes after talk of layoff's and efforts to "resurrect Rupert Murdoch's News Corp," reported in the June 7th article by Barbara House. According to House's article Fox Interactive's revenue was reportedly down 11 percent from a year ago and costs were up 7 percent.

After seeing both articles, it seems the new approach is another attempt to keep the companies head above water. Are sites like Hulu.com too similar to keep the Fox Interactive site afloat? When looking at the two websites it seems they are identical and share the same shows and information. Why should Fox Interactive stay in a place where the market share is spoken for?

(Photo Credit: Barbara House)

To Cover World, CBS Joins With a News Site

By Laura Reid

The CBS network has found a great way to cover world news. They have joined forces with GlobalPost, a foreign news Web site whose correspondents consist of freelance journalists.

Many news networks have been trying to find a way to cover foreign news, and CBS seems to have found a way to have better and faster news delivered to their readers.

In the early stages of this partnership, GlobalPost will only be involved in getting the information from their freelance journalists to CBS, where its journalists and reporters will broadcast the news to viewers.

GlobalPost has no problems attracting viewers to its site, which makes a good partnership for CBS, one of the four top networks on television.

I think this partnership is definitely a good start for expansion of news media in getting better global news to the nation. CBS has really taken action in the transition into the web, and with GlobalPost being such a huge foreign News site with freelance journalists, they have more of an inside scoop of what is going on in the world. Their freelance journalists will probably find stories that normal news journalists wouldn't even think are newsworthy. That is definitely a plus.

(Photo Credit: Arvind Jain)

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