On Point’s Tense Debate About the Future of News

The fur was flying on Tom Ashbrook’s public radio show, On Point,  recently when the guests attempted to predict the future of the news industry. The issue on the table was Rupert Murdoch’s threat to challenge Google – and Google’s news-for-free philosophy - by charging people for access to stories produced by his News Corp empire. Michael Wolff, a Vanity Fair contributor and founder of Newser.com, lashed into Steven Brill, a media mogul and founder of Journalism Online, a company that helps publishing companies transition to charging for content. Jeff Jarvis, a CUNY journalism professor and author of “What Would Google Do?”, was also in the mix. Despite the friction, there were some fascinating perspectives on the thorny issue of charging for content.

S.I. Newhouse Multimedia Projects

Check out these multimedia projects done by the students at the S.I.Newhouse School of Public Communications LINK. According to their site, some 200 students and 20 instructors spent a weekend in Skaneateles, NY, doing stories with equipment loaned by Apple and Nikon. The results are great.

William Safire’s Death

News of William Safire’s death does make it feel like the end of an era. Here’s a great line from The New York Times’ story about his death:

There were columns on blogosphere blargon, tarnation-heck euphemisms, dastardly subjunctives and even Barack and Michelle Obama’s fist bumps. And there were Safire “rules for writers”: Remember to never split an infinitive. Take the bull by the hand and avoid mixing metaphors. Proofread carefully to see if you words out. Avoid clichés like the plague. And don’t overuse exclamation marks!!

Beautiful Blog

Check out this amazingly beautiful New York Times blog by Maira Kalman. If you scroll down to her bio at the bottom of the post, you’ll see that she did the illustrations for a revised version of Strunk and White’s Elements of Style. It’s exciting to see talented artists of all stripes take their work online and apply them to the different online forms, in this case a blog.

Browse News Online With Google Fast Flip

Google is trying to give newspaper readers that browsing experience online with their new Google Fast Flip feature. Here’s a Christian Science Monitor story about it. Can Google Fast Flip bring print readers online?

Posted using ShareThis

Caster Semenya Poses on Magazine Cover

Caster Semenya, the athlete at the center of the athletics gender debate, has posed on the front cover of a South African magazine called You. As if to answer her critics, who say she is too masculine to compete in women’s events, she has been glammed up in sequins and stilettos in shots that appear inside the magazine. Here’s a story about her makeover.

Humble Beginnings – What Some Popular Sites Looked Like At Launch

This is what Facebook looked like when it started out in 2004. Check out the Telegraph’s list of a few websites in their early days HERE There’s hope for us all!

Now, Really.

This cover makes me feel like I prude. I think I have a sense of humor. And I hate journalists who take themselves too seriously. But I have to say I hate this Denver Magazine cover showing anchors Libby Weaver and Natalie Tysdal of Denver’s Channel 31. So does Jennifer Frank who sent it and the link to this Denver Post article.

Show Me Your Basement: Emma and Sonia

Here it is. My latest vid. This is a really touching piece about a grandmother and granddaughter who started up an online business selling their art. Here’s the story as it ran in The New York Times’ blog, The Local.

Grandmother and granddaughter selling off art

Show Me Your Basement, Shortline

The internal mic on the camcorder I’m using did not do justice to this band when I recorded them at the pool concert. Still, it’s hard not to be impressed with them. Here’s the story as it ran in The New York Times’ blog, The Local.