The I-Time Media Observer

Is TMZ Now Part Of Mainstream Media?

In a December 26, 2009, article on TMZ.com [Thirty-Mile Zone], The Sydney Morning Herald of Australia opined:

The website's daily news agenda is filled with reality television stars and the latest tribulations of Britney Spears. But its steady rise to international prominence has been based on a series of genuine scoops.

I agree. I go to TMZ before I go to traditional media sites when it comes to serious news about celebrities. For example, when Michael Jackson died in June  2009, I went to TMZ before I went to The New York Times. A few years ago, I wouldn’t have been caught going to a celebrity site for news even about celebrities. Now, it’s a daily habit.

To read more of the The Herald’s article on TMZ, see “Big break: celebrity scoops propel website into mainstream media.”

Technorati Tags: TMZ. TMZ.Com,Thirty-Mile Zone,The Sydney Morning Herald

Ushahidi Goes ‘Far Beyond…Blogging’

Before today, December 7, 2009, I had never heard of Ushahidi, “an African nonprofit group,” which “operates an online platform that allows individuals and organizations to post real-time information about unfolding crises.” See “Ushahidi Empowers Global Citizen Journalists,” which was published in a BusinessWeek special report.

According to former BusinessWeek correspondent Jennifer L. Schenker, “founder and editor of Informilo, a European  technology Web site, Ushahidi goes “far beyond simple blogging” and “allows users to aggregate information and present it on maps, charts, and timelines.”

Ushahidi  was born when its co-founder, Ory Okolloh, “a Kenyan who had recently graduated from Harvard Law School”, became “alarmed at the lack of information available from the traditional media outlets that were subject to government censorship” during the political upheaval in Kenya in 2008. According to Schenker, “She mobilized her network of contacts and began posting online updates every two hours about the spreading political violence.”

I hope this effort inspires others. A continent of African citizen journalists can perhaps make a big difference in dispelling lies and rumors that often lead to political violence and tribal conflict.

Note: This item is cross-posted at The Blogging Journalist.

Technorati Tags: Ushahidi,Ory Okolloh,Jeffifer L. Schenker

Is U.S. News Media Subsidized ?

“A mythology about the relationship between American government and the news business is again making the rounds, and it needs a corrective jolt,” suggests Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal in a November 30, 2009, article at the Online Journalism Review (OJR). See “American government: It's always subsidized commercial media.” The scholars say:

The myth is that the commercial press in this country stands wholly independent of governmental sustenance. Here's the jolt: There's never been a time in U.S. history when government dollars weren't propping up the news business.

“This year," according to Cowan and Westphal,"federal, state and local governments will spend well over $1 billion to support commercial news publishers through tax breaks, postal subsidies and the printing of public notices. And the amount used to be much higher,” they contend.

Technorati Tags: Geoffrey Cowan and David Westphal,Government Media Subsidy,Online Journalism Review

24-Hour Media and Obama’s Asia Trip

David Dayen at FireDogLake, one of the most professional and opinionated blogs in online media, makes a point about U.S. news coverage of President Barack Obama’s recent trip to Asia  that I thought about for a brief moment, as I watched coverage of the trip. He writes:

During last week’s trip by the President to China, the 24-hour media seemed all to ready to pronounce it a failure based on their own evidence that Obama had not changed the entire US-China relationship in a matter of minutes.

Dayen calls this “maybe the worst example of split-second journalism and ridiculous expectations in the Obama era, and James Fallows, the Atlantic writer who lives in China, did an excellent job of excoriating the media for its shallow, shoddy reporting. A week later, there is actually verifiable evidence that the China trip produced something of value.”

There is a list in the post of what was accomplished. I recommend Can The Media Call Obama’s China Trip A Success Now?

as yet another example of how online media can correct and/or expand on mainstream media coverage of current events.

Technorati Tags: Obama's Asia Trip,24-hour Media,China,FireDogLake,David Dayen

Can Jay Penske Beat the Odds in Internet Media?

Jay Penske, “[t]he 30-year-old son of Roger Penske has been quietly building an online business since 2004,” the Los Angeles Times reports in a November 26, 2009, post headlined “Jay Penske betting he can beat the odds in Internet media.” writes The Times’ Ben Fritz:

To many Penske seemingly came out of nowhere this summer when he acquired Nikki Finke's showbiz blog Deadline.com for several million dollars, aligning himself with the enfant terrible of Hollywood journalists.

But Penske had been quietly building an online business since 2004, when -- at age 25 and only three years out of the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School -- he raised debt to buy Mail.com, an e-mail provider that barely survived the dot-com bust.

I find what Penske is trying to do very inspirational. He seems to be making his own way rather than relying solely on Daddy Roger. And he’s doing it online and hiring and working with veteran celebrity journalist and bloggers. 

Technorati Tags: Jay Penske,Nikki Finke,Deadline.Com,Mail.Com Media