Anita Dunn Steps Down Her White House Position

By Keri Waterhouse

Anita Dunn, the White House Communications Director is stepping down by the end of November. She will be replaced by her deputy Dan Pfeiffer.



Her departure was expected because she took the position on an interim basis early this year. The White House had thought Dunn may leave before the end of 2009.



She is leaving at a critical time for the White House, with the administration trying to get the Senate to follow the House of Representatives' lead to pass the health care reform.
She was a vocal critic of Fox News and last month accused the network of being a "wing of the Republican Party," will remain as an outside consultant to the White House and continue to be involved in strategy.



Pfeiffer has been most likely known to be the candidate to replace her. Pfeiffer worked on Barack Obama's presidential campaign and also for several Democratic senators, including Indiana's Evan Bayh.



Dunn assumed the communications post on an interim basis after Ellen Moran stepped down for a job at the Commerce Department.





Her stepping down at this time of the year will be hard for them. She has played a big role in the White House. They are in a tight spot right now with the health care reform. They could use someone like her to get this through. Hopefully he will be a good replacement for her position.

Read more...

NBC deal is under review

By Brianna Carlson

Comcast plans to take control of NBC Universal. Updates will be announced in the next couple of weeks, but this will be the Obama administration's media regulator's first test.

Comcast is the biggest cable system operator in the United States so adding NBC Universal to the picture will just expand Comcast.

The combined entity "would be calling the shots for one out of every five viewing hours in the United States" estimated Bernstein Research.

(Photo Credit: wikimedia)

Read more...

Keeping readers attention

By: Mallory Tandy

Journalists can no longer just have a story with text and expect a large number of people to read it. There now has to be videos and pictures that are strategically placed in an article. If there are videos to go along with a story more people will be interested in the story and want to read it and watch the video that goes along with it. Journalists are now having to do more with their articles to draw attention and keep a reader's attention.

I think it is a good idea to have videos and pictures to go with a story, i am more interested in a story if there are pictures or videos.

Read more...

The Media's Misleading Healthcare Prices

By Michelle Zimmerman

The media is always expediting the latest information on the health care reform our nation is undergoing but is the information they are providing accurate? Many people in the media industry have yet to establish the costs that the health care reform may require when it is completed and many people are worried this type of information is relevant to the public.

Until a few days ago there hadn't been an article defining the currency that would be involved with this new health care package. That is until Ezra Klein from the Washington Post gave detailed information of what exactly this health care package would include; including the prices.

It can easily be noted that the United States health care prices are out of the roof. Compared to other nation's we rank the highest and many of the blame has been put to insurance companies. That is once again until the information Klein wrote about. Klein states that a large amount of the money in health care is going to the doctors and pharmacist who over the years have increased the prices of medical services.

I feel what Klein wrote is very important to the public because I, as I am sure many others as well, believed that the price of health care was at the fault of the insurance companies. I now feel educated to the idea that maybe the prices of medical services are over exaggerated and that then effects the cost of insurance to increase.

Read more...

Social Isolation vs. Social Networking

By Meghan Vosberg

With all of the status updates we notice our Facebook and Twitter friends posting we should feel closer to them, right? Wrong. People who use social network sites like Facebook are 30 percent less likely to know their neighbors and 26 percent less likely to give them companionship.

Compared to 20 years ago, America's social circle is much smaller today. But unlike most assumptions the blame does not go to digital technologies.Actually people who use their cellphones and other digital technologies are more likely to volunteer their time at local organizations.

Mobile phone users tend to have a circle of close friends that include 12 or more people and those who send instant or picture messages have about 9 percent larger social circles than nonusers. Mobile users are also seen to be more diverse, meaning that they keep in touch with many people from different backgrounds. This is opposite of public belief.

Photo Credit: Ben Stein

Read more...

Google not in the 'Content' Business

By: Chris Mars

Recent rumors about Google's plans to buy the New York Times are dismissed by the Google CEO, Eric Schmidt. The interview explains Google's decision to stay away from the "content" business and instead "focus on being a supplier of platforms." Schmidt stressed the fact that they need the content but they are "better off powering it, not writing and owning it."

This is positive to see Google turn down this opportunity and realize their abilities. Although, it would make for a pretty interesting and powerful marriage. Even though Google had a solid reason to turn down the opportunity, could this be a nice way for Google to say the New York Times' future isn't worth the risk?

Photo Credit: Mediabistro.com

Read more...

Better-Than-Expected Profit Is Reported by News Corp.

By Laura Reid

Fox News Corporation has reportedly had a profit this recent quarter, mainly from their television networks and movie studio.

Fox News mogul Rupert Murdoch has said that the cable channels that he owns have grown in profit because cable channels are now taking over most of the ratings as compared to local networks. While the News Corporation was down in revenue a couple million dollars, the net income was up 11 percent from a year ago.

Most of this money I think is coming from the recent events dealing with the White House. No other major network has been able to boast such profits, and that's because they are not butting heads with the Obama Administration. Murdoch's newspapers, The Wall Street Journal and The Dow Jones, are not doing well. It's all about the entertainment for viewers which is why I think Fox was able to succeed this past quarter. I would wait until everything has died down between these two groups before they continue to boast good profits.

(photo credit: mroach)

Read more...

Pricey Redisign

By Tessa Leone

The Iowa Sex Offenders website, iowasexoffenders.com, went under a 250,000 construction process to add to the efficiency of the site. Grants funded the pricey redesign.

You can now not only view convicted sex offenders and where they live in regards to your home, but you can also join blogs, receive email notifications and view online prevention plans targeted at parents.

Website users can create a name and password and log into the registry. It's much more interactive and informative and aims at equipping parents with the necessary information to keep their children safe from sexual harassment or molestation.

Interaction seems to be the conman thread of evolving media and technology. In the past this media was strictly a one way spectrum of news, providing readers with warnings and potential dangers withing their communities. Now the readers can respond and share concerns of their own. The readers are becoming the reporters.

Photo Credit: Photobucket

Read more...

Magazine Offered Online-Only

By Zach Jevne

Starting in January, a new magazine launched earlier this year will no longer be a magazine.

Purpose Driven Connection, a magazine published in partnership with Rick Warren (left) and the Reader's Digest Association, announced that beginning in January 2010 they will stop publishing in print and move to online-only.

Warren founded the Saddleback Church in 1980 in southern California. It is a popular evangelical Christian church and is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.

"Our biggest discovery was learning that people prefer reading our content online rather than in print, becasue it's more convenient and accessible," Warren said.

The magazine's fourth and final print issue will be released later this month and will be a Christmas issue.

The original plans were for a quarterly magazine and various multimedia offerings aimed at Warren's Christian audience. The Saddleback church averaged nearly 20,000 people each week in 2008, which ranked eighth in the country according to Outreach Magazine.

RDA says they are offering to refund unused print subscriptions to the magazine. However, upon visiting the site, a link to subscribe to the magazine is still available.

Purpose Driven Connection serves as a good example to the differences between Web and print content and where the future of print is going.

"An online magazine allows us to minister to people internationally; provide more content and features than we could fit in a print magazine; create interaction and two-way dialogue; and offer it for free, " Warren said.

All of those examples were featured in discussions this week comparing Web news and print news.

(Photo Credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Read more...

Apple Pushing It To The New Level

By: Amy Johnson

Apple is taking it to the next level.

The company is trying to get television networks to sign up with iTunes for a service that will let those interested download an unlimited amount of television shows for around $30 a month.

Apple has been flirting with cable companies for months about the idea. Sources say that nothing is set in stone as Apple is still in the early phase of talks.

Movies and individual episodes of shows can already be bought by iTune users, but this new monthly subscription-fee would target cable companies. Fans would be able to watch their favorite shows without counting on the cable companies to show their favorite programs all the time.

Networks would be paid more for shows that are more popular by Apple and less for shows that viewers are less likely to tune in to.

This new strategy for Apple would boost their success even more. Apple would be going beyond the music business and into the world of television. Not only would they be boosting their name, they would also be helping fans.

Fans can pay a small fee to be able to watch their favorite shows on the go. If Apple can get this idea off the ground, they could be introducing their iTunes fan base to something elite.

(Photo Credit - Lance Club)

Read more...

Media Denied Access to School Flu Clinics

By Taylor Finch

The Rhode Island Department of Health and school district in South Kingston together are not allowing journalists to be present at school-based clinics giving the H1N1 shot, due to the HIPAA, also known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act.

The HIPAA was an act made in 1996 that provides federal protection for personal health information held by covered persons and corporations that gives these patients a variety of rights in respect to their health information.

A particular journalist that is known for covering the school district of Sough Kingston, was turned away by the school's superintendent and told to leave the clinic area, for he was not allowed to even take pictures of people who were even waiting in line for their shots or take statements from them.

The superintendent said the local journalist was not able to do so under the patients' protection under the HIPAA.

The journalist did not give up there. He obtained parental consent from a few mothers in line with their children in order to take pictures of their children getting their shot, but he was still denied access, even with the consent.

He found this odd, due to the fact that he has been able to cover stories dealing with the school district's past flu shot clinics.

The journalist later inquired to the Rhode Island Department of Health, only to find out that he was not allowed access into the clinic because department did not want to stir up fears about H1N1.

Though the journalist did the right thing in gaining consent, apparently the Department of Health did not see it ethical or legal to publish photos or quotes from inside the clinic.

(Photo Credit: www2.med.umich.edu)

Read more...

Are e-books the new thing?

By: Mallory Tandy

New York Publishers are hoping that electronic reading devices will increase their sales. Some say this will not happen until the technology improves.

There has been a lot of talk in the publishing world about Amazon.com Inc's Kindle and Barnes & Noble Inc's new Nook, their new electrical gadgets.

These new gadgets are unlike the technologically advanced smartphones, in that they lack a lot of the functions other devices have. Until the technology on these new devices improves, no one will want to carry around another gadget.

They do have their advantages, people can store thousands of downloaded books and have access to multiple websites, magazines, and newspapers. Students who do not have their books in before classes start can easily go online and get them through these resources. According to Forrester Research the 2009 sales will reach up to three million. Bill Stein, who was once with Institute for the Future of the Book, thinks digital publishing is going to face many obstacles.

I think having books online can be beneficial for students especially, but i personally hate reading off of a computer screen and would much rather have a an actual book. I don't really know if digital publishing will take off.

Read more...

Media's attempt to discover new plans to save the industry

By Michelle Zimmerman

The Federal Communications Commission has decided to form a wide range of studies that will hopefully lead to innovating ideas for the industry to succeed. The FCC is searching for successful ways the media can survive the turbulent times of the economy as well as searching for a more efficient way of expediting honest news.

The FCC has hired Steven Waldman to conduct this search. Waldman is said to be chosen because of his success as a journalist in the newspaper as well as accommodating the popularity of the Internet. As the media began to change Waldman followed successfully.

Currently the quality of information being exploited over the Internet is lacking something to filter false information. Therefore, the FCC intends to develop a way for the media industry to regain control, set guidelines, and be compensated for the news being posted over the Internet.

FCC's action to find a resolution for the media industry is justifiable but it also worries people. As always the media has been protected by the First Amendment, but many people feel the government is crossing over the boundaries of involvement.

Regardless of the amount of interaction of the FCC I think it is very important for the media industry to start looking for a resolution to the revolution of the Internet before it is unattainable to fix.

Read more...

The New Smartphone at Verizon Wireless

by Keri Waterhouse

The anticipated Google Android phone called the Droid is almost out for Verizon Wireless customers. The phone comes out November 6. This smartphone will cost $199 with a two-year contract.

This phone has a voice-activated search that lets users speak a query and the Google-powered search engine will deliver Web results or results from the device such as contacts, music, and photos. The voice search also works with the new turn-by-turn directions for Google Maps.

The new Droid is loaded with lots of cool Android apps and has access to the more than 10,000 applications available in the Android Market but it does not have many of Verizon's branded services. It has Android 2.0, a 5-megapixel camera, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS. It has a Webkit HTML 5 browser, and it's powered by a 550MHz processor and a 1,400mAh lithium ion battery offering 6.4 hours of continuous talk time and up to 11 days of standby time.

So many changes are happening in technology. What is going to be the point of a laptop now? I got a Blackberry this summer and I honestly have my life in that phone. I don’t know what I would do if I lost it. There are so many things that you can do with smartphones. Many people

don’t even know what all you can do with them. While they are more expensive, I think they’re worth it.

Read more...

CNN places last among other cable news networks

By Brianna Carlson

In October, the viewers of cable news networks placed CNN fourth among the other cable news networks. The networks rely on their viewers and audience for their advertising.

More than two decades ago, CNN was the first to start the cable news network.

For the month, Fox News (689,000 viewers), MSNBC (250,000 viewers), and HLN (221,000 viewers) all placed in front of CNN (202,000 viewers).

This shows that the viewers want more opinionated news channels. CNN has moved opinionated hosts like Nancy Grace to HLN which is CNN's sister network so that CNN can keep their news-orientated style.

(Photo Credit: blogmeister USA)

Read more...

Time Inc. cuts 6% of workforce

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

Read more...

Forbes Magazine Plans More Layoffs

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)

Read more...

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.

Read more...

Women in Sports Journalism

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)

Read more...

Reshaping the Business Model

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)

Read more...