PhotoDude.com

In 1972, I turned 14, and for Christmas I got [a] one of those fold-up “record players” and [b] three albums of my choosing. The first two I picked were “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath and The Fifth Dimension “Live.”

... » Full Article, 457 words »

The astounding arrogance of the Associated Press has managed to wake me from my blogslumber. They are suggesting that bloggers must pay for any quote of their work more than four words long. In other words, you could quote them saying “We’re clueless idiots” for free, but quoting them saying “We are idiots without a clue” would cost you $12.50.

... » Full Article, 640 words »

There’s been much hub-bub in the wake of last week’s Republican debate. Even some “blue-on-blue” action as the LA Times called CNN the Corrupt News Network. And then there’s this pointed rebuke:

... » Full Article, 508 words »

I hate to stoop to the level of posting about “Poor Paris.” Because I think Al Gore had a valid point when he notes the media tells us everything about Paris’ jail sentence, and Brittney’s rehab, and Anna Nicole’s will, but educates us so poorly on the truly important issues of the day. And I hate to contribute to that effect.

... » Full Article, 615 words »

There’s been a bit of discussion lately about the plight of newspapers in general, brought about in part by troubles at the San Francisco Chronicle. Tim O’Reilly writes: “Phil Bronstein, the editor-in-chief, told staff in a recent ‘emergency meeting’ that the news business is broken, and no one knows how to fix it.’ (‘And if any other paper says they do, they’re lying.’) Reportedly, the paper plans to announce more layoffs before the year is out.”

... » Full Article, 1889 words »

A week or so ago, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution made a big to-do about sweeping changes in their operation that would show their realization of the power of the web as well as the decline of print. In a memo to Atlanta Journal-Constitution staffers Julia Wallace wrote: “Online, we will show that we know Atlanta best, providing superlative news and information and becoming the preferred medium for connecting local communities.“

... » Full Article, 165 words »

On Sunday, Fox News ramped up to Code Red when there was some confusion about a truck at the Port of Miami. From the sound of the talking heads on Fox, you’d think the city was about to explode. But ... it turns out it was a simple “miscommunication,” a language problem, and not anything sinister at all. However, it was good for a couple of hours of fair and balanced ScareTV.

... » Full Article, 263 words »

For the past couple of weeks, we’ve been hearing about how US newspapers (and other media) saw no need to publish or broadcast the cartoons that have caused such a ruckus around the world.

The basic explanation was that the images were inflammatory and would be offensive to Muslims. There was simply no need to republish them, because a written description of them should be more than adequate for people to judge their nature.

... » Full Article, 539 words »

The first reports on 9/11 said a twin engine prop plane had accidently hit one of the Trade Towers (soon thereafter, we also heard about the bombing of the State Department in DC). On Election Day 2004, the first reports of exit polls said Kerry was winning. The first reports after Katrina were that the levees in New Orleans had held. And back in October, there was a terrorist attack at Georgia Tech (or maybe it was just a blogger).

... » Full Article, 693 words »

“The New York Times announced today that it will start charging for some online content, beginning in September” [...] To me, this is a complete inversion of the pyramid, an application of meat world values to a digital environment. Bassackwards.

... » Full Article, 647 words »

It was just one paragraph in one magazine, one with a simple reference to one anonymous source. Within days, it brought riots and death.

... » Full Article, 1504 words »

There’s an article that “made the rounds” earlier in the week, and from what I can tell, a lot of people got all a-twitter over it. One might almost say, “pleasurably engorged.” But to me, the article sounds a bit like a rookie reporter showing up at Super Bowl XXVIII, and detailing the future of Super Bowls based on that one game, with no knowledge of the 27 that preceded it.

... » Full Article, 1539 words »

While scoping the news over the past week or so, I noticed an interesting contrast involving the military, photography, and two magazines.

... » Full Article, 960 words »

The death of Hunter S. Thompson has created a bigger stir than I thought it would, in odd ways. For a generation of writers (and many who love the written word), Thompson was a “writer’s writer.” Which is often a construct used to imply “you just wouldn’t understand.”

... » Full Article, 654 words »

As a followup to Jordan Cries Wolf, I imagine you’ve heard that Eason Jordan has resigned from CNN, afraid that this episode would “tarnish” its image. Which was sort of the point; if a chief news executive is publicly making unsupported statements about stories his company did not run, it does tend to reflect on the company.

... » Full Article, 591 words »

I’ve been one to suggest that portions of the blogosphere have gotten too big for their digital pants (and likely will continue to) ... not all of it, and not all of the time, but enough to be irksome. Call it Self-Hype-ola. However, there are times where the circumstances pretty well live up to the hype.

... » Full Article, 1209 words »

We all know that every year Time magazine names a “Man of the Year.” Well, this year, they also named a “Blog of the Year.” This apparently got completely under the skin of a few “traditional journalists,” apparently including Nick Coleman of the Star Tribune, who proceeded to write one of the nastiest pieces of work I’ve read in anything that didn’t claim to be a tabloid. Or a blog. It’s been linked all over. But the response the guys at Powerline got from Coleman’s editor is so stunning that I just had to write to the Star Tribune. Here’s that letter…

... » Full Article, 667 words »

I was willing to register, understood the loss of columnists, that I wouldn’t be getting the “extras” like blog content, and was willing to stick with it. But you’ve gone too far. You’re now removing news content, not “extras.”

... » Full Article, 294 words »

It’s either another example of how errors can be quickly corrected on the web, while a printed newspaper is locked the moment it slides off the press. Or, it means the production staff in charge of converting the print paper to the web has better visual sense than the production staff that put together the print version.

... » Full Article, 258 words »