Internet help TRPs

Media Convergence helps everyone. The latest person to join this thought wagon is Leslie Moonves, chief executive of the CBS Corp, who got to broadcast both the Super Bowl and the Grammies this year. Many feel that the online media (blogs, twitter, etc) provide a water-cooler effect, and encourage people to split time between computer and the TV. And, this works not just for live programs but even when its not live.

Alan Wurtzel, the head of research for NBC Universal also feels as long as people want to share something, the effects of online conversations are “important for all big event programming, and also, honestly, for all of television going forward.”

Read more...

Whales that kill

So, Shamu killed his trainer. And they say, its rare. And Borrowitz asks - If, as reported, killer whales rarely kill, how did they get their name?

So now I learn(from here) that killer whales really don't kill humans. They just kill others. And, sometimes mistakenly kills humans thinking they are not humans. Hmm. Interesting. I wonder how do we communicate properly with these beasts of preys that we are humans and should be let alone?

Perhaps, by simply letting them be in the sea and not messing with them? But, if we have to have fun looking at them imitating cute tricks(inside our natural buildings), i guess we should not be surprised about this too.

Read more...

Some Press Conferences

I just read Brooker's latest press mock. He was contemptuous of the recent Tiger Apology Episode. And some where else someone jokingly said its easy for the press and public to forgive Tiger, after all they are not married to him! If you are just another golf man nobody would have cared for sure. But, when you are a celebrity and your career and life is sculpted out of a good guy image, yeah you are the public's darling. And, then its the press and the public thats your actual parents(...and spouse and kids and relatives) than your birth family, when it comes to forming opinions and taking decisions based on your actions.

Well, perhaps you and I don't really have opinions about how other people should be leading their lives, but it seems a lot of people really really care. Like this media person for instance.

Image- MicrosoftE3 pressconference,2007

Read more...

Politics Cymru

So this assignment blog started by three journalism students in Wales who call themselves Three Dewis first changed the structure of local news programming, then became an award winning and one of the top ten political blogs in 2009, and now is helping Production Company Tinapolis bid for the government's IndependentlyFunded News Media Tender.

Glin Tansley, one of the co-founders say that they reported on anything Welsh Politics. "We have tended to focus on the process and what's going on behind the scenes rather than policies. There's a bubble in Welsh politics and your either inside it or outside. We wanted to let people know what was going on on the inside. Part of this appeals to people who write and read online and are used to this style of blogging."

The big break came last year in June during European Elections. "We tweeted (and retweeted) the result live and then blogged the highlights (gaining a thousand followers in the process)."

Politics Cymru has surpassed its student beginnings and Tansley says any student with the chance to launch their own specialist or hyperlocal sites should take it up.

PS- Cymru(pronounced kemri) is welsh for Wales.

Read more...

Flamingo Journalism

Indian Journalist P. Sainath recently wrote a piece, highly critical of the Indian Media and titled ABC of Media : Advertising, Bollywood and Corporate Power He has written it after the recent and highly hyped Shivsena-SRK media coverage and I guess, like many, couldn't take the over-dramatization anymore.

I agree to a lot of things he felt, but I am not sure if I really want to agree to his ridicule. "They(the news) have to be justified not by their importance to the public but by their acceptability to the media, their owners and sponsors."

Is that so? In my opinion, the public seeks this kind of news. Hasn't our civilization reached a point that people actually expect some fun out of news? Isn't that why its named info-tainment? That made me google and I came across some very old articles like this , this etc.

When newsjournos first started flamingo journalism,they stopped being "true journos" and did it so that they don't lose audience. And yeah,they might have been "responsible" for "this". But, now, lets face it. Flamingo is what majority of the people actually care for.Should we(as "responsible journos") unnecessarily fret and worry about average human IQ going down?

Read more...

Classwork-2

Read more...

Classwork-1

Read more...