Raw, but c*nsored blabbing and blogging of a young journalista
and local news producer in Southern New England.
email topstorylive % at # gmail + dot = com

Saturday, August 28, 2004

Huge Backlog Part B

Well, at least maybe these will actually catch people's attention?!:

Breaking the 30-Second Barrier

Despite the "impending demise" of the 30-second commercial, some marketers are starting to run 90-second ad spots. So far, deviating from the 30-second template remains unusual.

---

Wouldn't you like to see what it's like to run the National Enquirer?:

UPDATED on IWantMedia.com –

"Media Books"

+ "We the Media" by Dan Gillmor

+ "The Untold Story: My 20 Years
Running the National Enquirer"
by Iain Calder

+ and many more.

---

Of course not:

GETTING IT WRITE
Can a freelance career survive a misdirected email that burns a bridge with an editor--and an entire magazine?

---

Need to read more about Tanner:

TANNER MOCKUMENTARY COMEBACK
Robert Altman's Three-part Tanner on Tanner series filmed at the DNC stars Cynthia Nixon, is written by Garry Trudeau, and will air on the Sundance Channel in October. NYO: Spielberg protégé working to save private Kerry.

---

Shove It, Uncorked:

HEINZ KERRY EXPLAINS 'SHOVE IT' COMMENT
The wife of White House contender John Kerry also talks about advice she's given her husband and the death of her first husband. E&P: More about Pittsburgh editor in dustup with Heinz Kerry.

---

Okay, the gay character is coming out:

SIMPSONS TO WEIGH IN ON GAY MARRIAGE
The show's producers have revealed that the cartoon classic will feature an episode in which gay marriage is legalized in Springfield.

---

So what's your point?:

SMILEY FACE AT TIMES
Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Jane Smiley has seen twelve of her letters to the paper appear in print since November 14, 2000.

---

Oh, my:

FIRE-BLOGGING IN NEVADA
After a wildfire ripped through Carson City, Nevada, for six straight days, the Nevada Appeal supplemented its daily print edition with its first weblog.

---

What is a "Fast Company" anyway?

SO WHAT DO YOU DO, JOHN BYRNE?
The Fast Company editor-in-chief on running his still-living New Economy title--and why an occasional autopsy can help.

---

So Ann Coulter is hard to read for the USA Today reader? How so?:

USA TODAY DROPS COULTER COLUMN
The paper spiked plans to publish the conservative columnist after an editing dispute over her first piece could not be resolved. Jonah Goldberg has agreed to take her place. Human Events Online: Read the column in question with editor's comments. NYO: USAT op-ed editor John Siniff says Coulter column was his "first big idea." [Very low in column.] USAT: Column had "unacceptable" weaknesses in clarity and readability, says Siniff.

---

Bias, bias, and more bias, we got bias coming out our ears:

BIASED STUDY ON NEWSROOM BIAS?
Greg Mitchell: A May Pew study allegedly shows there are many more liberals than conservatives working in America's newsrooms. But a check of the survey's methodology suggests the findings should be taken with a chunk of salt.

---

Yeah, but Michael Moore has his own bully pulpit, and nobody really editing him, as opposed to all the fact checkers at NYT et al. Right?????:

MOORE LIKE MURROW, OR MCCARTHY?
Scott Simon: Michael Moore has won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, and may win an Oscar for the kind of work that got Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, and Jack Kelly fired.

---

Bias, we got bias, we got stacks and stacks of bias:

BBC NOT A CHEERLEADER FOR WAR?
Roger Mosey: Be skeptical about claims of political bias in television news. It offers an account of the world as it is, not as we want it to be.

---

I dunno, is it?:

"One Question"

Is the news media becoming too partisan?

Adam L. Penenberg, the new media columnist at Wired News, responds.

---

You go, Ted:

"Media Offline"

+ Ted Turner on Rupert Murdoch: "He's a very frightening person. He literally has control of Britain."

---

But not every news outlet is run by Rupert Murdoch!!!!!!:

Fox & Foes

"Outfoxed" sets "a dangerous precedent," says an editorial in the New York Post, a News Corp. sibling of Fox News Channel. "It sets up every news outlet for the same low blow."

---

Who gives a flying eff? Only Justin Timberlake's fans, who make him millions (and by the way I don't think Justin Timberlake goes well with Cameron Diaz, it's like one is too old for the other, or something):

Timberlake Sues Over Cheat Story

Pop singer Justin Timberlake is suing Rupert Murdoch's British tabloid News of the World for libel, saying its report that he cheated on his girlfriend, Cameron Diaz, is untrue.

---

Celebrity, celebrity, celebrity:

Jerry Springer Mulling Political Path in Ohio

"Raunchy" TV talk-show host Jerry Springer is considering a run for governor of Ohio. I'm "living proof" of the American dream, he says. A political consultant observes: "We're a celebrity-sick culture."

---

So what you're saying is this would be a bad time for me to try to break into live local radio?:

It's Radio Daze: Ads Evaporate as Listeners Tune Out

Radio has become one of the worst sectors in media, with ad sales up just 4% in the first five months this year. The iPod and the Internet are aggressively stealing away radio fans.

---

I know I would. Then again, I don't have a video game console. But TV is still better than a video game because I don't have to do anything for it to do something:

Survey: Young Men Would Do Without Video Games Before TV

Eight of 10 men ages 18 to 34 say they would rather give up their game console for a month than their TV set, according to the study by media company Carat and men's magazine Maxim.

---

Ah, here we are with more details on Logo:

Viacom's Logo Comes Out at TCA

Logo, Viacom's new gay-themed digital cable channel, is working with Cher, Chastity Bono and Alan Cumming on new shows and is scheduled to launch in 15 million homes in February.

---

Get out of the frigging house, urchins:

Nickelodeon to Urge Kids to Play Outside

Nickelodeon will go off the air for three hours on Saturday, Oct. 2, and urge its young viewers to play outside instead. The Viacom network typically has about 1.5 million viewers on Saturdays.

---

Well, surely they didn't use PAINT did they? If they did they're stupid. They should have used chalk. If chalk which can be washed away was used than what harm did it do?:

Graffiti Ads Tag NBC for Possible City Fines

Stencil teasers on San Francisco sidewalks to promote a USA Network miniseries angered residents. City officials may want network parent NBC Universal to pay thousands of dollars in fines.

---

But is Craigslist a blog per se?:

Blog Rolling

Blogging isn't a business yet, but it's on the verge, says one speaker at the BlogOn conference -- who adds that Craigslist has taken away 13% of the San Francisco Chronicle's classified business.

---

Wow, big news – of dumping local cable news. And yet why would you do this?:

Time Warner Cable, Belo Dissolve Venture

Time Warner Cable and Belo Corp. are ending their joint venture that operates 24-hour cable news channels in Houston, San Antonio and Charlotte, which will result in 190 job cuts.

---

FRANKEN FRANK
An edited version of an interview the liberal radio host gave Media Nation's Seth Effron.

---

Bring on the PBS-mudslinging:

UNDERSERVING THE UNDERSERVED
Michael Miner: A critical report about Chicago Tonight, says the public TV program "falls far short" of the goals Congress set for the Public Broadcasting System.

---

Great name, Vaughn:

SLOW DAYS OF SUMMER
Vaughn Ververs: Luckily for us news junkies, there are still some good juicy subplots to keep us fed and points to ponder to keep us awake.

---

Unlikely duo is putting this mildly, but I'm loving the idea:

Tom Green Ready to Mouth Off with Jerry Springer

Tom Green and Jerry Springer are developing a "week in review"-style TV program, which would feature the unlikely duo discussing headlines and making political and pop-culture observations.

---

I can see Joan and Melissa sitting in a studio watching E's red carpet coverage, or a fixed camera trained on the red carpet, and just expounding from there on what people are wearing:

Joan Rivers Missing From the Emmy Red Carpet?

Joan and Melissa Rivers were hired away from E! by the TV Guide Channel. However, E! has exclusive cable TV rights to telecast live from the red carpet before the Emmy Awards.

---

Oh, that's right, I suppose I shouldn't donate to any loveral or convervative (sic) PACs because of what I do – not that I really do donate to anybody besides things like the war on AIDS:

S.F. Chronicle Editor Suspended for Kerry Donation

William Pates, the letters editor of Hearst's San Francisco Chronicle, has been placed on leave for possibly violating the newspaper's rules, by making a $400 donation to the John Kerry campaign.

---

Nobody likes to apologize:

OUR SORRY OBSESSION
Tina Brown: Whether it's Trent Lott or Justin Timberlake, Donald Rumsfeld or Whoopi Goldberg, extracting the S-word has become the new national blood sport.

---

Yeah, we know:

DAMSELS IN DISTRESS
If you're missing, you're more likely to get media coverage if you're young, white, and female.

---

If it updates only once a day, how much content is getting there? 100 percent of the paper? Or is just 10 percent of every half hour of news getting put on every couple of hours?:

PAPERS CLING TO ONCE-A-DAY PUB CYCLE
Research found that of 30 news sites monitored, only 12 updated their home pages frequently, and the rest made few or no changes during the day.

---

Working tech support sucks, don't it?:

MISSING TRIB BRINGS 40K CALLS
When a publishing glitch prevented about 40 percent of Chicago Tribune subscribers from receiving their papers Monday, the newspaper fielded a single-day record for complaint calls.

---

Hmm, this is starting to sound like people are seeing "This Hour Has 22 Minutes"'s interviews in Ottawa:

THE ART OF THE AMBUSH INTERVIEW
Ann Oldenburg: The ambush interview of an unsuspecting newsmaker is the latest twist in prank TV. USAT: And other kinds of prank TV.

---

BLOGGING AGAINST CONVENTION
Adam Penenberg: At this year's Democratic convention, the 35 bloggers covering the festivities could liven things up. Hell, a couple of them could even become media stars.

---

Shutting out upstarts is what life and society usually does... it's the ones who get embraced who change the world:

TURNER'S BEEF WITH BIG MEDIA
Ted Turner: How government protects big media—and shuts out upstarts like me.

---

Way to go, Willie Week:

THE STORY BEHIND THE STORY
How an alt-weekly revealed a 30-year secret involving one of Oregon's most powerful figures. And how the state's dominant newspaper stumbled along the way.

---

Yes, everything is going to be offshored or outsourced:

SURVEY SAYS: CAN YOUR JOB BE OFFSHORED?
The new issue of Business 2.0 was partially produced in India. Should we all fear for our jobs?

http://www.mediabistro.com/#survey
LAST WEEK'S RESULTS, Robert Greenwald's Oufoxed: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a2041.asp

BUSINESS 2.0 OUTSOURCES REPORTING
The tech and business magazine outsourced reporting for part of its latest issue to India, cutting that section's costs in half.

---

FUROR OVER JACKO QUADS SCOOP
The National Enquirer's editor-in-chief is livid that his scoop about Michael Jackson's expected four new offspring was labeled an "exclusive" in Us Weekly.

---

Contributing? How?:

OBESITY AND NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
Just as National Geographic magazine is tackling obesity in a cover story, its younger sibling, National Geographic Kids, is being accused of contributing to the obesity problem.

---

When all else fails, call him a sissy:

VEEP AS VAMP
Richard Goldstein: Bush surrogates try to sissify John Edwards. But will it backfire? N.Y. Press: If men who touch in public are sissies to the press, then Bush and Bandar have some explaining to do, writes Michelangelo Signorile.

---

CBS is doing okay these days hah?:

RERUN FAVES BEAT NEW FARE ON NETS
CBS, with its lineup of repeats, is performing better this summer than last, while every other network with a lineup of new series is doing worse.

---

Remind me to use a Bloglines temporary email address:

Online Newspapers: We Don't Need No Stinkin' Login

Increasingly, online newspapers are demanding that users register to read their articles. Readers are getting annoyed and turning to sites like BugMeNot, which offers pre-made login profiles.

---

A bit much don't you think? Did you learn nothing from the Al Franken book debacle?:

Advocacy Groups Challenge Fox News Slogan

MoveOn.org and Common Cause want the FTC to halt Fox News Channel's use of the "Fair and Balanced" slogan. Group reps handed out "Outfoxed" DVDs at Fox offices in New York.

---

Yeah, Mike Wallace's arrest is getting wayyyyyy over:

Wallace Laughs at 'Lunge' Claim
NY Daily News - 8/12/04

---

Let's see, CNBC is taken, what would MSNBC become? NNBC for News NBC? NBC24?:

Rethinking MSNBC Duo

NBC and Microsoft are in talks about "evolving" their partnership in No. 3-ranked cable news network MSNBC. NBC is said to want to drop the letters MS from the network's name.

---

Sign of Desperation?:

Time Warner Will Sell $300 Personal Computers With AOL Service

America Online will start selling discounted personal computers to consumers who agree to buy AOL dial-up Internet service for a year, its latest move to stem customer defections.

---

Ho-ly shnikies, why didn't we have this in my newscast?:

Judge Orders Ex-AOL Chief to Answer Civil Charges

Former America Online chief Steve Case must defend himself against allegations that he knowingly misrepresented the firm's advertising revenue prior to its merger with Time Warner.

---

Here goes Slate:

Slate Magazine May Be Sold for Steep Price

Slate magazine -- which was put up for sale two weeks ago by Microsoft -- could fetch $10 million to $12 million, or twice its $6 million annual revenue, due to its "prestige value," say analysts.

---

I know what that addiction is like:

Wired for Sound and Vision: Just Look How Far We've Come

Consumers are increasing their use of 24-hour news, text messages and the Internet, and are becoming "addicted" to sharing information, says a study by U.K. media regulator Ofcom.

---

Okay, what's my agenda? Self-stroking through logorrhea!:

Transparency Begets Trust in the Ever-Expanding Blogosphere

Why do many readers find blogs more credible than traditional media? "News organizations are often monolithic and reluctant to admit agendas," observes Jeff Jarvis of CondeNet.

---

This advocate should remember such shows as the Texaco Star Theatre, The Alcoa Hour, and the Camel News Caravan, and realize that since everyone is sick of the 30 commercial as we know it, sticking the sponsor side by side with the talent and content is probably unfortunately the wave of the future:

Also Starring (Your Product Name Here)

Advertisers paid $300 million+ to "integrate" brands and products into TV shows this past season. "TV is becoming one big infomercial," complains one consumer advocate.

---

Boy, Mike, you sure get a bang out of this one:

Mike Wallace's Beef

A day after getting busted by Taxi and Limousine Commission officers, "60 Minutes" newsman Mike Wallace says he hasn't decided yet whether he will pursue legal action.

---

Remind me to be more vigilant about taking those pills:

Brokaw's 'E-Stalker' in Kid-Porn Rap

A Staten Island man who bombarded NBC with e-mails threatening Tom Brokaw has been arraigned on charges including child porn. Steven Koplan, 45, had been "off his medication."

I don't know. How much would you believe a guy who put in print that he was being irresponsible with his medicating?

---

I can hardly wait for September, and summer to be over...

Larry King, eat your heart out...

---

Don't newsrooms break labor laws right and left anyway?:

S.F. CHRONICLE FLOUTS LABOR LAW
Michael Stoll: When it's free speech for journalists vs. free press for owners, newsrooms cautiously defy state law with policies that ban political activities after work.

---

Especially when people put in fake information just so they aren't bugged by spam?:

WHY TRUST REGISTRATION DATA?
Adam L. Penenberg: Online news sites claim information in their user-registration databases is accurate. But given the circulation scandals among their print brethren, why should we believe them?

---

We knew this one. Then what else are we to do?:

TV AS WALLPAPER
Researchers say television is becoming a wallpaper medium—on in the background—and viewers are not giving their full concentration to it as they did in the 1970s, '80s, and early '90s.

---

Robert Byrd interview worried about GWB on salon.com:

July 24, 2004 | When Sen. Robert Byrd entered Congress, Harry Truman was ending his presidency and America was grappling with the Cold War. Over the next 52 years, the West Virginia Democrat would participate in the great national security debates of the 20th century, from the Vietnam War to the Cuban missile crisis to the Persian Gulf War. And yet Byrd, a former Senate majority leader, says no president has troubled him as much as President Bush has in his march to invade Iraq.

A prominent critic (http://archive.salon.com/opinion/feature/2003/02/13/byrd_speech/) of the Iraq war, Byrd was one of 21 Democratic senators who voted against the October 2002 resolution that authorized the use force to topple Saddam Hussein. But his critique of the White House goes beyond national security to what he considers Bush's contempt for the constitutional balance of powers and his administration's excessive devotion to secrecy. Of the 11 presidents he has served with, Byrd gives Bush the lowest grade -- lower, even, than for President Nixon, who resigned under the threat of impeachment. His dismay with Bush, whom he disdains as a "child of wealth and privilege" who "did not pay his dues" and is thus ill-prepared to lead the world's most powerful country, prompted Byrd to write a new book: "Losing America: Confronting a Reckless and Arrogant Presidency."

---

I dunno. Which way do we go on this one?:

The California Supreme Court has agreed to hear a case involving the hit TV series "Friends" that may determine how far TV comedy writers can push the envelope of taste in their private joke writing sessions.

---

Oh, Mika, you shouldn't have!:

Briefly Noted: Underwear Trends

---

Sounds like a good idea to me:

USA Today: No kids in reality please

---

Janet playing the publicity to the hilt:

Since February, when Justin Timberlake ripped off part of her costume revealing her breast, Jackson has been dogged by the incident. The moment also helped make "wardrobe malfunction" part of the American lexicon.

Jackson has since turned up on several talk shows - and morning programs - to set the issue to rest. However, because of renewed FCC interest in content issues, Jackson's Super Bowl stunt has impacted virtually all programming on broadcast TV.

---

The latest diatribe to come down the pipe on the Simpsons starts with this: After ten bloody years of being one of the best sitcoms on television that has never been considered such along with its live action counterparts... it is WAY past time for the Simpsons to do a movie. Friends has practically done movies with some of its story arcs, and South Park beat the Simpsons to the big screen by light years.

Truth be told, the first time I ever saw the Simpsons (since I never saw Tracey Ullman when she was on for the first time) was on the big screen, as a rare situation of a short before some movie. It was the scene where the family is all at Dr. Marvin Monroe's clinic where they can shock each other and begin shocking each other nonstop. (Which of course is what you would do once you had that power. C'mon. Admit it.)

As for the question of whether the Simpsons is past its prime, I can't give an opinion because I never see it anymore. I think it's still funny from what I'm seeing in ... um.... Well... promos....

Jeez, how useless am I?

---

I dunno. I'm not into the idea of Andy Richter as a dad. It seems too much of a stretch. Especially for quintuplets.

---

Wahoo! Broadcasting and Cable reports Ryan Seacrest's "On Air With Ryan Seacrest" is going off the air. Thank God! Now all we have to do is get rid of "Last Call with Carson Daly" and we'll be on the road to dumping all the riff-raff of the empty-headed talent...
Seacrest Off the Air
Twentieth Television has canceled its day-and-date strip, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, after only nine months on the air.

---

ABC News Now: Some Value, Lots of Filler
NY Daily News - 7/28/04

---

Need a host in a hurry:
Sedaris Front-Runner to Replace Kilborn
NY Post - 8/16/04

---

Wal-Mart Hopes Public Broadcasting Is Good PR
NY Times - 8/16/04

---

Bloggers Suffer Burnout? You're telling me.

---

Reasons I might call you a jackass, from an egotist's blog.

---

http://countrystore.blogspot.com/archives/2004_07_04_countrystore_archive.html#108928743729339901

---

http://instapundit.com/archives/016498.php

---

what does IMAO stand for anyway: http://www.imao.us/archives/001626.html

---

republican voices, 11yearold in liberal area held hostage by school system who thinks he can't speak up because he'll be shouted down which is true: http://oxblog.blogspot.com/2004_07_04_oxblog_archive.html#108918010235497121

---

How sexual harrassment has stifled free speech: http://instapundit.com/archives/016410.php

---

Sloppy bbc writers/producers/reporters: http://instapundit.com/archives/016383.php

---

There's no need to fear, underblog is here: http://livingroom.org.au/blog/archives/celebrating_the_underblog_2004.php

---

Will type for food: http://willtypeforfood.blogspot.com/2004/07/will-type-for-food.html

---

Tao of the Cube http://idleprocess.blogspot.com/2004/06/tao-of-cube-parts-12.html

---

http://www.terran.net/top/archives/000035.html

---

Ooooo, Battling Doctor Phil: http://www.mediabistro.com/articles/cache/a1938.asp

---

The one man news operation, now with added opinion: http://www.rgj.com/emailexpress/efrd.php?id=82869

---

The Satellite Sister Act: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/09/sunday/main628564.shtml

---

Old-Fashioned, But Classic, CBS Sunday Morning: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/01/21/sunday/main594876.shtml

---

The Daily Buzz: http://www.rgj.com/emailexpress/efrd.php?id=82870

Labels: Originally published

... Scribbled by Bill T ... 8/28/2004 06:14:00 PM ... Email this entry ...
...
..........