April 2011
1 post
Draft of my Shorenstein Paper: It's long but....
DISENGAGED: How journalists repel the American audience, and how reporters can win them back
CLUELESS: How journalists missed the story of their own demise
VILLAGE OF THE DEAF: Elite media in a vernacular nation
Draft—Bob Calo
Journalists, by and large, regard the ‘crisis’ as something that happened to them, and not anything they did. It was the internet that jumbled the informational...
January 2011
1 post
HOD ?
a trade became a craft and then was declared a profession
December 2010
4 posts
Bon mot #24
Bad journalists are as repelled by their readers as their readers are repelled by them
Books
Walter Lippman and the American Century Ronald Steel
WatchCanon 7D + Donut shop
HOD #7
Note: Im cheating and using this as a convenient place to take notes. so to my 3 or 4 occasional readers, this is unlikely to make any sense.
Jackson wrote about the self appointed guardians of the American landscape and their disdain for the vulgarity of American life…. because they did not ‘love’ it they could solve problems of the built environment. “In order to...
August 2010
1 post
Critique of "Multi-Media"
To me, the real promise is pictures, sound, text together. NOT pictures, sound, text IN A BOX. Examples of good, better, best to come
July 2010
1 post
BBC News - 'Hidden US Afghan war details' revealed... →
Has investigative journalism become an algorithm? Maybe it always was….
January 2010
1 post
Time For A Slow-Word Movement - Forbes.com →
smart take for a contrarian strategy
December 2009
1 post
The future of non-profit journalism
15 year old boys can earn a Boy Scout ‘Citizen Journalism’ badge by blogging about the local school board.
September 2009
1 post
Press Accuracy Rating Hits Two Decade Low:... →
This has NOTHING to do with the web, the collapsed business model. NOTHING. When do we talk about the ‘pre-existing’ condition that is killing great reporting?
July 2009
5 posts
“I can’t help but think that this idea that ‘patrons’ will allow reporters to...”
– Clay Shirky’s “second great age of patronage,” foundations, and journalism. « Maimonides’ Ladder
HOD Chapter IV
How much is it worth?
In this recent Anderson - Gladwell debate (which is hardly serious debate at all. This is no Dewey/Lippman conversation) they both, in their attempts to be the ”smartest guy in the room,” overshoot the mark. The question is not whether it’s free or not, it’s how much is it really worth? And worth is measured in two ways: money (our favorite) and...
HOD chapter lll
THE CHALLENGE TO A JOURNALISM SCHOOL IS DAUNTING: In the past the method was simple: create a wind up toy that could perform a certain function in a particular way. An industry awaited. This has to have been the easiest enterprise in higher education. Wow! Pretend you’re a reporter. Listen to what they did, what they wrote. This is how you tell this story, or that story. This is how they do...
Heroes of Democracy Chapter 2
Why don’t journalists consider other socially relevant professions that actually deliver a clear service? For example, why don’t investigative reporters consider careers as Federal prosecutors? One can argue quite easily that a much ‘greater good’ could be achieved. It wasn’t reporting that put Bernie Madoff in jail. One reason may be that these other professions:...
Heroes of Democracy Chapter 1
Why do filmmakers insist on telling you that they’ve ‘just returned from Bangladesh,’ or ‘prepping for a trip to Eqypt to scout locations for my doc.’??
April 2009
2 posts
MichelGondry.com →
This is how it’s gonna get done.
Non-profit journalism
I think this is, at the very least a boring road, and potentially a dangerous one. Non-profit journalism means that instead of working for customers, you are working for patrons. I’m not talking about NPR or PBS, but the idea that elite forms of journalism—the type usually least interesting to regular people—would be supported and consumed by elites, squaring the circle and...
March 2009
1 post
The Talbot Players →
Promo for PBS pilot I’m working on with Steve Talbot and a talented group of colleagues. Stay tuned
July 2008
1 post
Today's. Idle thought
Arianna Huffington: a candidate masquerading as a journalist.
June 2008
4 posts
Simpsons Wisdom, courtesy of "Flat Earth News"
“Journalists used to question the reasons for war and expose abuse of power. Now, like toothless babies, they suckle on the sugary teat of misinformation and poop it into the diaper we call the six o’clock news.” —Kent Brockman, TV newsreader, The Simpsons
“in the age of spin doctors and rolling news, fact has become a kind of fiction, constantly shaped and tweaked and distorted.”
Theo Tait: London Review of Books June 5 2008
“The polls aren’t there to tell the real story; they are there to support the various different stories that the commentators want to tell. The market is not for the hard truth, because the hard truth this time round is that most people are voting with the predictability of prodded animals.” David Runciman, London Review of Book, June 5 2008
March 2008
5 posts
The Maverick and the Media - New York Times →
Here’s another utterly relevant piece of analysis by a the only post-modernist I can understand. Check out the comments as well!
How to Lose a National Election
Yesterday two highly placed consultants to the Obama and Clinton campaigns, at an appearance at Berkeley’s J-school demonstrated a unexpected lack of understanding of what the press is and does. They complained how they only could deal with the ‘top-level’ media, i.e. The Times and the Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post. Under duress they would ‘deal’ with...
How to appear on a Fox News Show →
This is worth your time! If you ever get a called to go on Fox. I found this on “Brave New Films” Robert Greenwald’s nervy agit prop media site.
I’m with guys from Denmark.
XML Map
This map is alive at the county level. Stunning XML. And it’s FREE!
February 2008
14 posts
Geldof and Bush: Diary From the Road - TIME →
This is good political reporting.
Barack Obama Is Your New Bicycle →
Courtesy of my colleague Susan Rasky. What is this site saying?
ABC News: Did Obama 'Play It Safe' in State... →
Big Media: Big Hat; No Cattle. TV News divisions are so insecure that a little push back—from a candidate, a newspaper editorial, a comedy writer from SNL—throws them into attack mode. They were goaded into the non-stop Gore attack by the RNC in 2004. This year, the Clinton campaign sneezes and TV catches cold.
I wonder if a movie called “Kittens” about some kittens drowning, would sweep the Oscars?
For example →
Tech President →
This is the site of the moment!
YouTube - News21's Channel →
News21 You Tube Channel is up and running!
An Industry Imperiled by Falling Profits and... →
Another nail in the coffin; fiddling while Rome burns; rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic
Online Today - WSJ.com →
The New Wall Street Journal push to video and multi-media. Check out that Brightcove video player!
Innovative reporting from a new generation of... →
First postings from News21 2008
There's been no contest like it | Special reports... →
Michael Tomasky’s take on ‘What’s At Stake.’
January 2008
15 posts
Strictly No Photography - home →
From News21 web developer Milan Andric, a wonderful example of a site that is not thinking ‘newspaper on line.’
World Screen - Home →
Jeff Zucker, president and CEO of NBC Universal, throws in the towel (or makes an essential adjustment.)
For photos of Year Two News 21 folks: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tonideaztlan/566133954
The Murdoch Vision →
Intriguing article by David Carr: Fox understands and puts into practise the confluence of Sports and Politics
