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I have meetings in New York the first part of the week, including lunch with the inimitable Jeff Jarvis on Tuesday. Does he really talk as fast in person as he does on TV? Stay tuned.
Light blogging this week. Please visit those on my blogroll for info and entertainment.
The advertising (read: manufacture of consent) industry has raised self-centeredness to an art form, and nowhere is it more obvious than at Christmas time. Let’s review for a minute. Christians celebrate the holiday, because it signifies the moment when God gave his son to humankind. Most of the customs, lore, symbols, and rituals associated with “Christmas” actually are linked to Winter Solstice celebrations of ancient Pagan cultures. At the heart of these celebrations was the custom of family and friends feasting together and exchanging (giving) presents.
Nowadays, we have a hybrid, and whether it’s Christmas, Hanukah or Kwanza, the term “season of giving” is apropos to this time of the year. And what is it about giving that makes us feel good? Is there an immediate payoff, or does it come over time as we grow into beings more content with giving than receiving. Good question.
A Toys-R-Us commercial caught my attention last night, because it had a peculiar slogan:
The only thing better than seeing joy on a child’s face is knowing you put it there.
This isn’t just sad; it’s pathetic.
I’ve grown to accept spam as a necessary part of doing business on the Web. Once you understand that the Internet is a global marketplace, it’s a little easier to find amusement within the bombardment. In that spirit, here’s part of a spam message I received yesterday. It comes from a tent manufacturer in China.
To Whom It May Concern,We have learned from the Internet that you are interested in tents. (Huh?) We have been in the tent manufacturing business for many years and are currently in the process of expanding and our customer base. (…and?) We are quite excited about contacting you and the potential for establishing friendly business relations with you as well as sharing the mutual benefits. (Me too. I’m always quite excited to share mutual benefits.)
We specialize in high quality, high performance tents offered to our cutomers at competitive prices. (Don’t you just love the marketing terms? I mean, we’re talking tents, not Corvettes.) We are able to supply a wide variety of tents manufactured to the specifications and requirements of the customer. We would be interested in receiving more information from you so we could submit a suitable offer to you. (So I can negotiate offers from China, huh?)
Feel free to view our website:
www.qycamping.comIf you do not wish to receive any more information, please let us know and we will take you off our mailing list. We are awaiting your favorable response. (You’ll be waiting a VERY long time.)
Sincerely,
Richard Zheng
Marketing Director
Qyield (Xiamen) Camping Products Co., Ltd 4/F., No. 20, Huaguang Rd. Huli, Xiamen, China.
Tel: +86 592 5658478
Dan Rather’s accelerated retirement ought to send a chill down the spine of everyone in the television news industry — from the people who shoot and tell the stories, to the producers and support staff who put programs together on-the-fly, to the anchors who act as a conduit for the news department’s work, and especially to management. There needs to be an awakening to the reality that this is no game we play. Real lives involving real people are at stake day-in-and-day-out, and we really do answer to someone beyond our own conscience. Those people are following what we do closely, and they’re armed with their own communications infrastructure.
Dan Rather — a man with a brilliant career — one of the top television journalists of modern times — has learned the lesson and is doing the right thing by stepping down in the wake of the pre-election fiasco with the forged documents.
With Tom Brokaw’s departure and now Mr. Rather’s “retirement,” we are witnessing the end of broadcast network news as we know it. These two guys were among the final links in the chain that held everything together for the networks, who are confronted with extreme competitive pressure from cable networks — people who do the job 24/7. The nightly network news has three legs in the tar pit, and it ain’t coming back out.
The biggest lesson for those of us left behind is that journalism is rapidly evolving into something much bigger and more potent that it ever was in the Walter Lippmann “professional” model. Citizen journalism — today in the form of bloggers but tomorrow in many other forms — has put the power of the free press back in the people’s hands, where it all began centuries ago. There are going to be lawsuits galore in the years ahead, I predict, as we sort all of this out, because lawyers will get their hands into the movement sooner or later. And the status quo — including the rest of the Dan Rathers of the world — won’t go down without a fight. The First Amendment will be tested as never before, but in the end, it will win.
It’s a scary time for people in television news, because the blue smoke and mirrors has been revealed for what it is. People figured it out long before Sharon Reed took her clothes off in Cleveland.
A hunter in Wisconsin kills six people, because they shot at him first.
Ron Artest goes berzerk in the stands in Detroit, because a fan “shot” at him first.
Without an internal governor, Liberty is impossible.
“License they mean when they cry Liberty!” — Milton
By naming Jonathan Klein, who used to be the No. 2 executive at CBS News, as president of the company’s domestic network, CNN is announcing to the world that the future of news is multimedia. Klein’s most recent post was with a little Internet business he founded called the FeedRoom, a company that identified itself as the largest broadband news network, using the emerging high-speed online technology to provide streaming video and other services. His Internet expertise includes more than just technology, for he also brings outside-the-box insight into what is and isn’t news.
But more than that, I think this is the kind of experience that broadcast or cable news organizations need, because the world is a very, very different place today than it was just 5 years ago.
Kudos to CNN.
Have you noticed the new ads for NetZero? They’re a carbon copy of the recent AOL “customers” campaign that AOL used to tell its users that they’re listening to what the customers are telling them (right). Netzero hired the same actors, used the same sets, and shot-for-shot re-did the campaign, only this time telling AOL customers that NetZero is the same for less money. It’s quite a hilarious spoof. Adrants’ Steve Hall adds…
It’s both a smart and questionable strategy. Leveraging AOL’s much larger media budget, NetZero hopes to broaden awareness of its own campaign by association. But, many viewers may simply confuse the two spots not realizing who the advertiser is or simply remember AOL because it is more ubiquitous. It’s very funny though, but the proof will be in the number of $9.95 sign ups NetZero gets.
Just ask Peggy Phillip, news director of WMC-TV in Memphis. When her competitor promoted a sweeps’ series about crime statistics by zipcode, she decided to copy it. Each day, the competitor announced what zipcode they’d be studying the next day. Peggy dispatched a crew at that point to do identical stories.
“It’s called muddying the waters,” she told the local paper. “If you think somebody’s got something good, or something that might resonate, you try to take it away, or muddy the waters so people don’t remember where they saw it.”
There are those who are critical of Peggy, and there are those who’ll cry “foul” about NetZero’s hilarious spoofs. “It’s unethical.” “It’s against the rules.”
What ethics? What rules? Those of the AOLs of the world?
We’re at a time in human history where such things are being challenged as never before, and those who are crying the loudest are those who sense their fatted calves being whacked. The energy of Postmodernism flows from the failures of Modernism and its institutions. One of its greatest failures is the promulgation of a vast laziness born of the illusion that there is a time and place when we have it made.
We don’t and we never will. And one of the beauties of Postmodernism is its recognition that that’s okay.
Here we have Mr. and Mrs. Squirrel coming to visit our birdfeeder. Our dog, Piffers, works herself into a frenzy looking out the door leading to the balcony whenever these critters arrive.
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| I mean, I know they’re rodents (and quite hungry), but look at this guy…
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| Eventually, we open the door for Piffers who races to catch the little buggers. She came very close this morning.
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| It’s bad enough that they get away, but they always sit in the tree pretending nothing has happened. Poor Piffers.
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TO: ABC Television
FM: Terry Heaton
CC: NFL Football
SUBJ: Nicolette Sheridan and Terrell Owens
I know you’re suffering from a lot of good press about the Monday Night Football thing, and I think you have a great opportunity to continue the buzz and make a point at the same time.
Bring back Nicolette and T.O. this Monday night! They’re both nicely-dressed. The mood is somber. They’re on a couch facing us. Both address us with an apology scripted by John Cleese. End on a 2-shot. Camera pulls out as Hank Jr. rushes in with two buxom babes — lights flashing — glitter — music — “Come on everybody. Let’s get it on!!”
Or not.
A scary thought is hidden in NBC News president Neil Shapiro’s thoughtful op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal on the need for a federal shield law for journalists. Shapiro compares journalists with psychologists, lawyers and doctors, each of whom have federal protections for confidentiality.
Unfortunately, there is no federal statute that supports the rights of journalists to protect confidential sources. The law provides confidentiality for psychotherapists, lawyers and doctors. It is high time journalists were added to the list. If sources can’t be assured of confidentiality, they will be reluctant to come forward to the press. And if they don’t confide in the press, wrongdoing could remain undisclosed.
Add to that the current war of words between the MSM and the blogosphere over who qualifies as a journalist, and you see the problem.
Journalism isn’t a profession; it’s a trade (or, as Glenn Reynolds says, it’s an activity). Shapiro’s statement, however well intentioned, is evidence of media elitism and doesn’t reflect the reality that we have the First Amendment, and professional licensees don’t.
The Los Angeles Times is reporting that the folks at TiVo will begin running banneresque ads as people are fast-forwarding through commercials beginning in March of next year. Woo, boy, is THIS one gonna get some attention! The Times calls it a “groundbreaking new business strategy, developed with more than 30 of the nation’s largest advertisers, that in key ways circumvents the very technology that made TiVo famous.”
TiVo viewers will see “billboards,” or small logos, popping up over TV commercials as they fast-forward through them, offering contest entries, giveaways or links to other ads. If a viewer “opts in” to the ad, their contact information will be downloaded to that advertiser — exclusively and by permission only — so even more direct marketing can take place.By late 2005, TiVo expects to roll out “couch commerce,” a system that enables viewers to purchase products and participate in surveys using their remote controls.
Perhaps even more significant is TiVo’s new role in market research. As viewers watch, TiVo records their collective habits — second by second — and sells that information to advertisers and networks. (It was TiVo that quantified the effect of Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl “wardrobe malfunction,” reporting a 180% increase in the number of replays reported by viewers.)
For advertisers it’s an extraordinary boon, a quicker and more effective way than they’ve ever had of measuring the effects of their TV commercials.
For viewers, TiVo’s new strategy means the technology famously christened “God’s machine” by Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael K. Powell is rapidly becoming a marketer’s best friend, proving that try as they might, consumers cannot hide from marketing.
What nobody seems to realize is that the collapse of television isn’t just about advertising. It goes way beyond that. I’m all for people making money from their work, but let’s be real here. When network prime time is fully one-third commercial and promotional announcements, something’s out of whack. TiVo is under incredible pressure from the status quo to let them get involved in the action, and that’s what’s happening here. The company’s ability to track usage is downright scary, and what will happen when that’s turned over to the laws of profit?
Here’s the real bottom line. When I wrote to Senator Frist about the INDUCE Act, encouraging him not to vote for it, I got a nice letter back. Here’s the pertinent paragraph:
Theft of our nation’s intellectual property over the Internet is becoming an increasing problem, and it affects far more that our music community. It threatens almost every creative field including the movie and software industries. In total, our nation’s copyright industries contribute well over half a trillion dollars to the U.S. economy, support over 4.7 million workers, and are our largest export.
Like John Cleese…who’s happy to entertain you for a year on his Website for just $50. This is just the beginning of a wave of entertainers who are bypassing the status quo to reach their audience. Who needs middle men these days?
While everybody’s bitching (self included) about the morality police at the FCC, there are events that demand we take a step back from time-to-time, so that we can take in the whole forest.
I’m talking about the antics of WOIO-TV in Cleveland under the leadership of Bill Applegate and Steve Doerr. Unless you’ve been asleep for several days, you’re aware of their latest stunt to boost ratings — anchor Sharon Reed getting naked on camera to participate in one of those mass nude “art” photography shoots in Cleveland last summer. The event took place in June, but the station held the “story” until the November sweeps. The station garnered the highest news ratings in its history Monday night, when the “story” ran.
So the event is the talk of media circles everywhere, with the most common theme being what this stunt has done and is doing for journalism’s credibility. That, however, is at least a secondary issue, for it seems to me that we ought to be talking about what this says about our culture in general.
I don’t know Bill or Steve, but I know Rob, the promotion director at WOIO-TV who has likely had a ball with the “story.” I don’t believe we should be trashing them for being so up front about what has been a behind-the-curtain secret all these years. Sex sells. Everybody in local TV knows that, and we’ve been using it for years. That WOIO-TV has raised its visibility isn’t so much a journalistic issue as it is one of cultural transparency. WOIO is at least honest about what they’re doing, and I applaud them for that.
But while I understand what they’ve done and why, I must object.
The slogan of my company is “Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.” Self-restraint is an important part of the New Media revolution, but it’s an absolutely essential element in a free culture. That WOIO-TV would make this stunt the centerpiece of their November sweeps says volumes about the lack of self-restraint in our society as a whole. Look at the mirror they’ve held up for all of us to see. We’ve lost our internal governor, and there is no such thing as an acceptable list of “standards” anymore. As I’ve written in the past, a free society is impossible unless the people being governed have an internal governor. A culture based on promises and oaths, must be backed up by something, and unless that internal governor exists, people will be governed from without. License is a doorway to totalitarianism, and to quote Milton, “License they mean when they cry, Liberty!”
Which brings me back to my point. As we complain about those we pay to maintain the envelope that we agree — as a people — defines us, we must accept that, from time-to-time, they’re going to say “no.” If not, who and what are we as a people? If we view this entirely as a political matter, we miss the bigger picture.
Throughout human history, art has always pushed the envelope that defines the culture. Intuitively sensing what’s happening around them, artists reflect that in their work. The prophets of old were always the sensitive ones, and what our culture needs now is to look around and ask why this is happening? Why does Janet Jackson show her boob? Why do Howard Stern and a host of clones “shock” us with their language (does anybody remember Lenny Bruce?) and suggestive program themes? Why does Desperate Housewives succeed and why is a naked actress from the show jumping into the arms of Terrell Owens in the intro to Monday Night Football? We shouldn’t be asking why an art gallery in the South yanks a few paintings they deem objectionable; we need to ask why they were painted that way in the first place.
We don’t ask these questions, because we really don’t want to know the answers.
Personal note: I struggle with these types of issues in examining Pomos and the way they’re evolving the culture, and it’s why I don’t believe that pure Postmodernism can possibly be the dominant force in any society. Since Postmodernism rejects grand narratives, then it cannot claim that status for itself. Besides, it’s intellectual foolishness to reject all absolutes. So what will we have downstream? Much in the way Modernism didn’t totally reject all that Premodernism offered (faith), a Postmodern era won’t entirely reject either of its predecessors.
I say that, because the matter of self restraint seems to fly in the face of Postmodernism. It doesn’t, however, when the experiences of those on either side of the question are considered. Nothing is black and white in the Age of Participation until experience says it’s so, and even then, it’s an individual choice. A mind made up through one experience (or a friend’s experience) can only be changed by another. This is why it’s so important that we all understand that this age is one of sharing experiences, not lecturing from institutional pedestals. The Internet is the ideal forum for this to take place.
We’re at a very dangerous time in our history, I believe. The enemy is within us, not without. Unless and until we resolve that, we’re sitting ducks for totalitarianism and its thought police.
Here is the latest in the series of essays, TV News in a Postmodern World. This piece examines the addiction that businesses and institutions have — broadcasting included — to the various formulas that have sustained them throughout Modern times but now threaten to destroy them in the wake of disruptive innovations.
Solutions to problems we now face lie outside our formulas, and I’m offering a Twelve Step program for those who want to overcome their addiction.
If you require individualized help or need a sponsor, all you have to do is ask.
As if poking a finger in the eye of the MSM (who complain that bloggers aren’t journalists), Jeff Jarvis filed a Freedom of Information Act request to get to the bottom of the complaints that led the FCC to issue a $1.2 million fine against Fox for its Married By America program. Guess what? It was a horde of 3 people that made it happen.
What a crock! This should anger everyone, including Congress and the White House. This nonsense about the appointed five determining what broadcasters (including Howard Stern) can and can’t do has gone far enough.
Thanks, Jeff.
Every once in awhile life opens a door and lets you glimpse into the future. Rocketboom is such an experience. The site officially launches on Monday, but there’s plenty to see there even now. It is a video blog (vlog) and probably the best I’ve seen so far. Sites like this are the pioneers of an age that will take advertising dollars from broadcasters. I’ve seen some pretty awful vlogs, but this one is different. Very clever. Very creative.
But the real gem here is that it’s delivered via RSS enclosures. You can choose to have it delivered in the player you wish. I selected Windows Media Player. This simple delivery system is a way to send your news videos to potential users, along with a short ad or promo. You can even make raw footage available this way, or use RSS to alert people to live, breaking news.
Video blogs are in the birthing stage, and unless broadcasters get onboard this train, they will abdicate their niche as providers of video news to an assortment of citizen journalists armed with a camera, editor and RSS delivery. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.
Broadcasting and Cable provides an in-depth look at the gear being used by reporters in Iraq (ASIDE: The writer calls it the “U.S. occupation of Iraq.” Gee, I wonder what HIS politics are.). Videophones and small-aperture satellite “flyaway” systems are allowing journalists to cover more ground with less equipment, something about which I’ve written considerably in the past (essay). Newsgathering in other countries — especially European — is moving to the Video Journalist concept, and it’s only a matter of time before it happens here. Why? Look at this line: “allowing journalists to cover more ground with less equipment.”
The videophones complete a compact field acquisition system comprising Sony PD-150 or PD-170 DV cameras and Apple G4 laptops running Final Cut Pro software.“It’s a small kit to begin with, and it’s worked,” says Sharri Berg, vice president of news operations for Fox News Channel. “It’s small enough for redundancy, so you can take an extra camera or an extra videophone.”
Deploying the G4 laptop has had a big impact on CNN’s digital satellite-newsgathering operations, according to Gordon Castle, senior vice president, CNN Technology.
As he explains, at the beginning of the Iraq war, CNN was relying on hardware-based videophones, specially built boxes that allowed reporters to plug the camera in and transmit a serial video stream. One videophone box was dedicated to store-and-forward applications; another was designed for live feeds.
“Now we can transmit through the G4 itself,” says Castle.
Images are videostreamed to air. He says, “It’s eliminated a number of pieces of equipment and made us much more flexible.”
CNN also uses Sony PD-170 cameras and runs Final Cut Pro on its G4 laptops. It finds that a lot more material is being edited by journalists in the field.
Here’s my prophecy. What will begin as a cost-cutting measure on the part of station owners will eventually lead to a transformation in video newsgathering in the U.S. The ability to edit in the field (or at one’s home) will also lead to employment changes and open the door for citizen involvement in the process.
Members of the comp.periphs.printers Usenet newsgroup are writing that Lexmark installs spyware on users’ PCs in the form of undocumented software that monitors scanning and printing and sends the data back to Lexmark. A report in Silicon.com outlines the allegations.
One user said that after initially denying the allegations, Lexmark acknowledged installing tracking software that reported printer and cartridge use back to the company for survey purposes. He claimed that Lexmark said no personal data was taken by the program, and that it was impossible to identify anyone by it.However, users installing the software are prompted to fill in a registration form including their name and the serial number of the product.
One of the cornerstones of Postmodernist thinking is the idea that experience or participation trumps learned expertise in most matters. Pomos trust friends with experience (or friends of friends with experience) over those whose knowledge comes from a book or a pedestal. This is played out many ways in our culture today, usually accompanied by some form of grand anti-hierarchical energy.
And, as I’ve often written, the Internet is playing a huge role in all this by offering a place where these experiences can be shared. Citizens are empowering each other through shared knowledge, and this sharing is often done in most clever and entertaining ways.
For the television lover, one example is a neat — and not so little — Web address called Television Without Pity. Thanks to this site, you don’t necessarily have to WATCH every show to keep up with your friends.
It’s kind of a Cliffs Notes for television programming, a place that’ll get you caught up with what you’ve missed or prepare you for the next episode. I love the hip attitude, which is summed up in their slogan, “At Television Without Pity, we watch so you don’t have to.”
Maybe you’ve missed an episode of your favorite show, and you want to get the plot lowdown. Maybe you want to discuss a character’s unfortunate new hairstyle, or dish behind-the-scenes dirt, with other viewers. Maybe you just want to sit back and laugh as the train-wreck writing and flagrant inconsistencies of mediocre shows are torn to ribbons.
Let’s say your friends are all talking about Desperate Housewives, and you feel like an outcast because, well, you just haven’t had the time to watch. A quick trip to TWoP will fix that. And what happens on those awful nights when the TiVo doesn’t work, and you’ve missed The Apprentice? Or you’re getting ready for work and you need something to make you appear “with it” at the office. Drop by the discussion boards at TWoP and get caught up on the latest buzz about Veronica Mars.
Fun stuff — AND — the front page content is wisely RSS-enabled.
David T. Cole, one of the principals and also known as “Glark,” tells me it’s been a lot of work and a bit of a struggle for the past few years, but they expect to turn the site into the black after the first of the year. That’s great, because this is a place that needs to prosper.
It is definitively a labour of love but it’s also a very expensive site to run because it’s very popular (we’re probably going to hit 1 million unique visitors per month before May sweeps) and we pay all our writers for their hard work. The site is run with money from merchandise sales and support from Yahoo TV. We have — in the past — come very close to having to shut down but have been able to pull out of danger thanks to our users who responded to various fund drives (all this before we hooked up with Yahoo of course) and our ability to live on ramen noodles.
One of the new games at my house is called “Find the Product Placement Ad.” Some are obvious, like those on Survivor, but others are very, very subtle. Take, for example, this weekend’s PGA Tour Championship on ABC. One of the sponsors was Coke, and during Sunday’s coverage, there was a cute cutaway shot of a little boy who resembled Tiger Woods. Instead of watching the golf, however, he was enthralled with his bottle of Sprite. He took a big gulp, then looked at the bottle and turned it around so that the label was showing. The director then cut back to the action. The announcers made no mention of the 10-12 second shot. The whole thing was seamless and appeared as just another crowd shot in the afternoon coverage.
I’m not offended by this in the least, and if this is what it takes to make sponsors happy, then so be it. It didn’t disrupt the telecast and the branding message was effectively transmitted. Nice.
Last night, we had one of those network conflicts about what to watch — the conclusion of the Crossing Jordan/Vegas episode or the early start of CSI Miami. And it got me to thinking…
I’ve written many times about the dangers that DVRs bring to network television, because people skip commercials with their TiVos. But here was an event — caused by a network (CBS) — that actually encouraged the use of a recorder.
It begs the question why a network would shoot itself in the foot in such a manner? The answer is simple. Programmers still follow broadcasting’s old manual — that such stunts as expanding an hour program to 90-minutes during ratings will draw viewers away from other programs — and that passive viewers can’t do anything about it.
In so doing, however, they’re actually accelerating their own irrelevance, because we live in an age of empowered consumers who are fighting back. They’re killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
Besides, an hour script in 90 minutes makes for a lousy episode.
When the Times of London suddenly converted to a tabloid, it shocked the old guard press. Here was a venerable institution going over to the enemy camp. But the decision, it turns out, has been a boon to business, and it should be a lesson to any media entity as it looks at the future. In an insightful article in The Guardian, Times editor Robert Thomson says the Internet played a big role in the decision.
“These are exhilarating times,” he said, without intending the pun. “It was a leap of faith, but now that it’s obvious that it’s working, it is a genuine time for celebration, though not for complacency. It was very clear to me after I became editor, and also taking into account my experiences in the US, that the newspapers of now can’t be the papers of five years ago, let alone 10 years ago.“The newspaper environment has changed dramatically. Obviously, we’ve got the incremental institutionalisation of the internet. We often think of ourselves competing with the net and, in part, that’s true. But, given that the net is part of the daily life of virtually every Times reader, we also have to complement it.” I was expecting him to make a point about the relationship between print-based and web-based journalism, but he offered an altogether different perspective to support his paper’s change of size.
“The traditional broadsheet involves what you might call scanning skills, but for an increasing number of people, especially young people who are used to internet presentation, they have developed scrolling skills. Interestingly enough, those scrolling skills work a lot better in the compact format than they do in a broadsheet.
“One of the contradictions of modern journalism begins with the question, ‘How do you make the internet like newspapers?’ rather than ‘What influence will newspapers have on the internet?’ We’ve reached the point where we in newspapers are learning from the internet experience.”
