KGO TV practicing irresponsible journalism

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Commentary

I just posted variations of this to the GoPro camera Facebook Group and have written GoPro and KGO about the following:

I am a road bicyclist and I am livid.

Tonight (11:00 pm Oct. 31) I saw the clip on Channel 7 featuring KGO TVs Richard Hart and GoPro founder Nick Woodman. Woodman was taking Hart on a high speed drive. They drove a Lotus Exige at very high speed around Half Moon Bay on some of the back roads we ride our bikes on. They were showing how the GoPro camera can be used to record such activities. They were driving like idiots and talking about the camera. Every time they raced around a curve I was cringing and thinking what if one of us had been around that curve!

That is not okay!

I told my wife and she said, if they had hit a bicyclist, at least they would have had good pictures of it!

We are GoPro's potential customers and KGO's audience and we deserve better.

In my opinion it is really bad for Woodman and Hart to have been smiling and driving like that and putting our lives, and the lives of others, at risk. Hart is a professional journalist and this was on a news program. In my opinion it was irresponsible for KGO to have handled this story this way.

Page view journalism forcing out obscure stories

According to a Silicon Valley Watcher post by Tom Foremski, "I was at a recent panel moderated by Sam Whitmore that discussed pageviews and the effect on journalism." According to Foremski, Sam Whitmore reports:

Two reporters from two different publications this month both told us the same thing: if you want to write a story on an interesting but obscure topic, you had better feed the beast by writing a second story about the iPad or Facebook or something else that delivers page views and good SEO (Search Engine Optimization). [Read More]

According to Foremski, "Page view journalism also means that smaller companies will be crowded out by their larger competitors."

Thinking of Brian Baer

Thinking of Brian Baer
Brian Baer, the best photographer I know, was just laid off from the Sacramento Bee today. This photo has been sticking in my head for awhile. When I heard of this amazingly talented photojournalist loosing his job as the Bee's political photographer, I thought of this image.

Brian is not a good photojournalist, he is a great one. He has got an eye for an image that literally changed my life and how I saw my own work. Even when he was a student at SJSU, he was that good. He still is, that good.

I remember when Sue and I walked through the Green Apple bookstore on New Year's Eve late last year, I loved perusing their collection of new and used photojournalism books. Then I came to this sign on the shelf and thought, "man ain't that the truth."

I had my old Nikon FE2 with me with a fast lens and fast film but it was low light so I steadied myself and made this photo. This image has stuck with me until now. Perhaps it is trite, after all it is merely sign art. But, when I heard of the Bee letting Brian go I thought of this photo and I thought, "man ain't that the truth."

When the industry gets so bad it spits out its best, where else is there to go? What else is there to think?

Rocky Mountain News to close

According to a post on their Web site the Rocky Mountain News is going to close. It will publish its final edition Friday:

The Rocky Mountain News, less than two months away from its 150th anniversary, will be closed after a search for a buyer proved unsuccessful, the E.W. Scripps Co. announced today.

As Steve Raabe of The Denver Post said, "The News becomes the latest casualty in an industry stricken by a spiraling decline in newspaper economics." This closure follows concessions by unions representing more than 1,100 workers at The Denver Post and the Denver Newspaper Agency, the advertising and circulation arm of The Post and the Rocky Mountain News.

Will Chronicle Close or Be Sold?

According to a story by Pete Carey of the Mercury News, Hearst says it will close or sell the San Francisco Chronicle if it can't make significant staff reductions:

The San Francisco Chronicle's owner, Hearst Corp., said Tuesday that it needed to significantly reduce the number of union and non-union employees at the newspaper or it would be forced to "sell or close the newspaper."

According to SFGate, The Chronicle's on-line edition, Frank J. Vega, chairman and publisher of the Chronicle, said, "It's just a fact of life that we need to live within our means as a newspaper - and we have not for years."

The California Media Workers Guild is among the unions representing employees at the San Francisco Chronicle.

How can newspapers survive?

According to Nicholas Carlson of Business Insider, "Printing The NYT (New York Times) Costs Twice As Much As Sending Every Subscriber A Free Kindle:

It costs the Times about twice as much money to print and deliver the newspaper over a year as it would cost to send each of its subscribers a brand new Amazon Kindle instead.

How can newspapers survive? Here is a suggestion from Walter Isaacson of the Huffington Post who said, "last month: more people in America got their news online for free than paid for it by buying newspapers and magazines.":

The key for attracting online revenue, I think, is coming up with an iTunes-easy, quick micropayment method. We need something like digital coins or an E-Z Pass digital wallet -- a one-click system that will permit impulse purchases of a newspaper, magazine, article, blog, application, or video for a penny, nickel, dime, or whatever the creator chooses to charge.

It seems clear to me that the market is acting. Will newspapers be able to react before they just die? I think we are going to find out sooner rather than later.

Technorati Tags: J-school, Journalism, Newspapers, ssloansjca

The present of Journalism

Here is a great post on what is happening in journalism today. It is by SJSU Journalism faculty member Cynthia McCune and is not good news for mainstream media:

The bad news for the newspaper industry just keeps coming...

Changing from one paradigm to another is almost always seen as “bad news” by those invested in the old paradigm. It is the classic case of disruptive technologies that present new lower cost and/or more convenient solutions to problems.

The problem is, old solution businesses are often unable to compete because of their heavy investment in resources and values directed to the old solution. Their business model was shaped to answer a question, a question now starting to be answered differently.

Economic adversity just accelerates, by introducing resource scarcity, a process already underway.

Technorati Tags: J-school, Journalism, Newspapers, ssloansjca

NYT and McClatchy on the ropes

Bad news for newspapers

According to The Silicon Alley Insider, The New York Times is running on fumes:

...the New York Times (NYT) is approaching the point where it will have to manage its business primarily to conserve cash and avoid defaulting on its debt. This situation will only get worse as advertising revenue continues to fall...

This follows similar concerns at McClatchy as told in the Sacramento Bee:

Fitch, the least known of the credit rating firms, downgraded The Bee's parent two notches, to "B-minus." That leaves McClatchy deeper in non-investment-grade, or junk-bond, territory.

The bad economy is not going to be kind to newspapers that were already on the ropes.

Technorati Tags: J-school, Journalism, Newspapers, ssloansjca

The banking crisis and newspapers

The Inksniffer, How the newspaper industry is about to be disembowelled by the banking crisis:

SUMMARY: The debt crisis is going to create a domino-like collapse of our industry in the next six months. Who will be the first to go? And who might emerge controlling the American newspaper business?

Terry McElhatton has died

[Updated Thu Jul 3 12:57:22 PDT 2008] -- It is with great sadness that I report that Terry McElhatton, the much-anticipated new professor of new media at the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at SJSU, died Saturday evening after a massive heart attack. Reportedly McElhatton had been wind surfing with his son Chris during the day and peacefully passed away on the ride home with his son. Paramedics and doctors tried for hours to revive him. Terry was only 52 years old and had no history of heart problems.

McElhatton was going to start at SJSU this fall. Previously McElhatton had been working at Valley Christian High School's Television and Communications Department. McElhatton was a television News Director and he ran the newsroom at KNTV-TV in San Jose (now NBC11) from 1989 to 1998.

According to an obituary in the San Jose Mercury News, services are scheduled for Sunday July 13th at 3pm, at Calvary Church, 16330 Los Gatos Blvd, Los Gatos. He is survived by wife, Robin; son, Chris; and daughter, Lauren, according to Valley Christian.

McElhatton was the son of longtime KPIX television news anchor Dave McElhatton.

[More information is available here]

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, J-school, Terry McElhatton, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Fair Use and Bloggers: Cadenhead

Rogers Cadenhead on AP vs. Bloggers Dispute

Rogers Cadenhead, of the Drudge Retort, has blogged at length about the now settled conflict between him and the Associated Press. According to Cadenhead, "I got offers of help from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Public Citizen and the Stanford Fair Use Project." In his blogpost Cadenhead said:

I think AP and other media organizations should focus on how to encourage bloggers to link their stories in the manner they like, rather than hoping their lawyers can rebottle the genie of social news. Given the publicity of this dispute, the first blogger sued for excerpting a news story will have the best pro bono legal representation that massive press attention can buy.

According to Fox News, Cadenhead's lawyer, Wade Duchene said, "I hope that any guidelines that are issued (by AP) are not interpreted as an agreed definition of fair use."

Technorati Tags: Journalism, Media Law, blogging, Newspapers, J-school, ssloansjca

AP vs Bloggers issue unresolved but gone, or not?

Apparently the "fair use" conflict between the Associated Press and the Drudge Retort has gone away without resolution. According to Robert Cox, writing for the Media Bloggers Association, the planned meeting between AP and bloggers did not happen, or did not happen in a way that bloggers might have expected:

In what may close one chapter and signal the beginning of another, the AP and Rogers Cadenhead of Drudge Retort have come to resolution on their dispute while leaving unresolved the central source of conflict in the case - whether the verbatim publishing of an AP headline and AP lede are or are not covered under "fair use" doctrine.

Cox said, "in this area of law it is often better to leave things fuzzy because it gives bloggers a lot more wiggle room."

Scott Rosenburg wrote an excellent analysis of the related issues. Rosenburg said, "The sticking point for AP seems to be their belief that a headline-and-first-paragraph excerpt is not covered by fair use."

Technorati Tags: Journalism, Media Law, blogging, Newspapers, J-school, ssloansjca

More bad news for newspapers

Major newspaper companies reported in danger of default

According to Bloomberg, who cited the Newspaper Association of America as a source, in the first quarter of 2008 newspaper industry print advertising sales suffered the biggest drop in at least 37 years. They are reporting the eighth straight decline of advertising sales.

Bloomberg said newspaper companies in danger of default include MediaNews Group Inc., publisher of the San Jose Mercury News; Journal Register Co., the New Haven Register owner and Florida Times-Union parent Morris Publishing Group. Reportedly, US newspaper publishers may be moving closer to defaulting on billions of dollars in debt.

Technorati Tags: Journalism, Newspapers, J-school, ssloansjca

Eastbay Journalists Form Union

Newspaper Journalists at MediaNews Unionize

A majority of newsroom workers at the largest newspaper company in the Bay Area have voted to create a new unit of The Newspaper Guild-CWA. The election capped a nine-month organizing drive by news workers at properties including the Oakland Tribune and Contra Costa Times owned by Denver-based MediaNews Group.

Last August MediaNews withdrew recognition from the previous union, the 20-year-old Guild unit at ANG Newspapers, which included the Oakland Tribune and four other East Bay dailies. In response, journalists across the East Bay came together to create the new union, dubbing the campaign "One Big BANG: One Guild Universe." (See http://onebigbang.org) Their new Guild unit will be represented by the Northern California Media Workers Guild for collective bargaining on pay, benefits and work conditions.

Especially considering layoff trends in the industry, due to Internet competition and increased energy costs, it should come as no surprise that journalists are voting in unions.

Associated Press vs. Bloggers?

AP vs. Bloggers and Fair Use

According to the LA Times, "The 162-year-old news service will sit down with representatives of a bloggers group Thursday to devise guidelines allowing Internet commentators to use excerpts from AP stories and broadcasts." According to The New York Times, "The Associated Press, one of the nation’s largest news organizations, said that it will, for the first time, attempt to define clear standards as to how much of its articles and broadcasts bloggers and Web sites can excerpt without infringing on The A.P.’s copyright."

Reportedly the Associated Press was reacting to pressure from member traditional media outlets to stem what they saw as copyright infringement and unfair competition. Bloggers reacted negatively to what they saw as the news service trying to curb legally protected fair use of content. Techmeme's Gabe Rivera said, "it's actually pretty simple: AP wants 50 word quotes taken down. That demand is poisonous, and wrong."

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, J-school, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

McClatchy Layoffs and New Media Journalism

McClatchy cuts begs question of new media monetization

The McClatchy Co., which owns The Sacramento Bee, announced a 10 percent companywide cut in its work force today. McClatchy is not alone in being battered by declining profits and revenue. This is the Sacramento publisher's first-ever across-the-board layoffs.

When I meet with my students next semester what do I tell them?

I can tell them about McClatchy eliminating 1,400 jobs through a combination of layoffs, voluntary departures and attrition. I can tell them the Bee, McClatchy's largest paper, announced it will eliminate 86 jobs. I can tell them the reduction will trim the paper's workforce by 8.1 percent. I can tell them that the driving force behind this is the flight of advertising to the Web plus rising costs of energy and newsprint.

I can tell them the future is the Internet, but can I tell them how to make real money there? No, I cannot. If we tell students they've got to be on the Internet, but cannot tell journalism students how money can be made on the Internet, what is the point?

Tell me, when I meet with my students next semester what do I tell them?

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, J-school, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Biggest things in NYC today

We are in vacation in New York right now.

• The trip in pictures on Flickr
• My Twitter Feed
• My Family Blog

Giant photos from film camera

Pictures from last month's JMC Giants game
Nicole and I went to the Giant's game with faculty and staff from the School of Journalism and Mass Communications last month. As well as my cameraphone Treo, I carried one of my film cameras, as I often do, and the pictures came out pretty well. I like shooting with film. You can carry a once high end film camera that takes great shots, has no battery weight and would cost only $200 to replace if someone poured beer on it. The downside is it took awhile to get the pictures developed, but that is life with film. I hope you like these photos!

[Click here to see photos on Flickr]

Perceptions: The Internet and News Quality

Online journalist more positive about Internet, others negative?
According to a report from the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, Internet journalists have a more positive outlook on the impact of the Internet on the quality of news reporting than do older journalists from more traditional backgrounds:

Overall, internet journalists have more positive impressions of internet-driven innovations than do journalists who work for national and local print, TV and radio news organizations. For instance, only about a third of national (35%) and local journalists (36%) have a positive view of citizens posting news content on news organizations' websites; by contrast, 54% of internet journalists say this is a good thing for journalism.

Blogger and Journalism Educator Mindy McAdams comments on the report, "Here’s where an instructor can lead a good discussion about how journalism is changing — and talk about technological determinism in the bargain. Are traditional values under assault because of the medium? Or because of the media corporations’ reaction to the medium?"

Technorati Tags: San Jose State University, SJSU, J-school, CSU, California State University, San Jose, ssloansjca

Steve Gillmor Is Back

I missed the Gillmor Gang, Steve is back!
It is great to see that Steve Gillmor has this new gig and you should check it out. His podcast is a great experiment with citizen journalism. He has an open podcast (RSS Feed) that, like talk radio, builds its cast as it goes. Now it is called the NewsGang. Steve and his brother Dan Gillmor are both very talented pioneering new media talents. Steve, who has been described as being "prickly and prescient," has a related blog. Check it out:

On The Gang this Friday, Dan Farber asked me what I was doing in this new gig - a column or a blog? No difference, I replied. Just like there's no difference between mainstream and bloggospherian journalism and commentary. This is my opinion, and in the self-contained universe that is this space, it's the guiding principle, the law, the prime directive, the universal theory. I am the writer, editor, judge, and jury...

Technorati Tags: ssloansjca, podcasting, j-school, Steve Gillmor