Message from Michael - February 10, 2009

Message From Michael                                 

                                                                                                                        February 10, 2009                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

      TELEVISION – ALIVE AND WELL

      MEDIA’S SHOTGUN WEDDING

      YOUTUBE JOURNALISM CONTEST

      COMPARE AND CONTRAST CELEBRITIES

      COCKTAIL CHATTER:  

 

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      TELEVISION – ALIVE AND WELL:  Two separate articles in two widely diverse publications, but with the same message.   In Broadcasting and Cable, it’s the speech of Lions Gate CEO Jon Feltheimer.  In The New York Times, it’s an analysis by San Jose State University business professor Randall Stross (which, BTW, thank you to the many MfM readers who sent this to me.)  Feltheimer gets the “word-smithy” award, arguing that it is not television that is dead but bad programming that is dead because “a bad economy is the best critic on the planet.”  Unlike oil and gas, he says, “entertainment is a rare renewable resource… (and) a ten year old TV show is not the same as a ten year old TV set… (because) the very best shows don’t age… their value is re-energized every time they are touched by the spark of a new market, technology or platform.”  As an example, he cites his company’s Dirty Dancing franchise which has been seen by 50 Million moviegoers in 150 countries, sold 30 Million DVD’s, 32 Million soundtrack CD’s and sold out theatres in seven cities in six counties over four continents after being released as a stage play – 20 years after its initial release.  The trick, he says, is “simply to engage the voice of the artist with the mind of the consumer”  to produce content that is “recognizable… identifiable… relatable… and, above all, renewable.”  Stross says a “tipping point” has been reached between print and screen with the ‘video experience’ taking charge and the most resilient video experience remains the television.  To illustrate his point, he notes that while 100 Million viewers in the U.S. watched 5.9 Billion YouTube videos, it was not a cannibalization of TV viewership but an addition.  The 2.7 persons in the average American household sat in front of their average 2.9 television sets for a record-setting 142 hours a month last year, an increase of five hours while Internet use averaged 27 hours a month, an increase of an hour and a half.  The great arbiter – money – also reinforces the television dominance because the “overabundance of supply” with some 4.5 Trillion display ads shown U.S. Internet users in 2008 means very inexpensive rates.  Both men note the growth of the digital economy, but argue that in the end, it is not a replacement alternative so much as a complementary alternative… at least for now.

      MEDIA’S SHOTGUN WEDDING:  It’s between the Web and TV.  Continuing the theme from the first article, the big debate is can the two get married.  Columnist Tom Regan of the Christian Science Monitor reviewed articles going back to 1996 predicting the marriage of the two, but he argues it will never happen because television is a passive experience while going on the Web is interactive.  On the flip side of that, the Wall Street Journal carried an article that predicted that the percentage of Web-enabled TV’s being sold will jump from the one percent sold last year to 14% by 2012.  And, of course, the fall-out continues from the discussion of Net-enabled TV’s at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year with Yahoo announcing deals with several TV manufacturers to build its online service into their sets.  Meanwhile, it may not be a marriage – more like heavy petting – but the Gray Television group and Backchannel Media have announced a “Clickable TV’ deal bringing a level of interactivity to the TV watching experience with viewers able to “bookmark” television content to their computer by hitting a button on their remote.  Backchannel says the deal brings its roster of Clickable TV stations to 68 nationwide.  Meanwhile, apropos of nothing in particular but I think it’s some how related, DVR maker Tivo reported a “significant spike” in time shifting of prime time programming last year with more than half the programs being watched on a time shifted basis.  Time shifting was lowest in the summer months (39%) but highest in sweeps months (54%).

      YOUTUBE JOURNALISM CONTEST:  Kind of sounds like an oxymoron, doesn’t it?  Sort of like the phrase “citizen journalism” that some people object to.  But then you go the site (http://www.youtube.com/projectreport) and, well, it’s time to eat your words.  YouTube’s news manager (yes, there really is such a position and such a person) Olivia Ma told website journalism.co.uk that the project proves that “everyday citizens from around the world can contribute meaningfully to the newsgathering process.”   The Overall winner of the contest (which was supported by the Pulitzer Center) made his final film on the residents of Camphill, a community for disabled adults in California.  News manager Ma also says the contest proves that there are alternatives to the traditional way to enter the news business and proof of that is that semi-finalist Torrey Meeks has been signed up by the Washington Times.  Not that it’s necessarily a measure of quality but the YouTube site has drawn nearly a Million views.  For those journalism teachers amongst the MfM readers, it’s worth visiting the site just to watch the “Tips from the Frontlines” three part series showing how to produce a “news pod” report.  Similar to the point about television and digital media, Ma argues that citizen reporters and professional journalists can not only co-exist but actually collaborate in a “media eco-system.” 

Again, apropos of nothing in particular but, again, I think it’s some how related, the Poynter Institute’s Al Tompkins has been extolling the virtues of one-man-band/ video journalist/ whatever-term-you-want Joe Little whose stand-ups, shot solo, may be some of the most imaginative, creative stand-ups you will ever see.  You can find them by searching Joe Little on YouTube.  (Okay, I’ll help you out --   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TO356cp9tKE. ) I don’t know what it says about Al or YouTube, but the video has only had about 5,400 views.  As a side note, the Knight Citizens News Network (http://www.kcnn.org)  offers a ten step citizens’ guide to Open Government.  The website ranks all 50 states in terms of open-ness of government as well as providing a very good primer on how to use open records and what government meetings are open.

      COMPARE AND CONTRAST CELEBRITIES:  It’s an interesting exercise (yeah, yeah, maybe only to me) to look at the list of “people to watch” in 2009, compiled by TVWeek as compared to Forbes Web Celeb list.  The TVWeek rounds up the usual suspects: Oprah Winfrey, David Gregory, Dr.Mehmet Oz, Jay Leno and Leslie Moonves, as well as  MTV’s Stephen Friedman, Tribune’s Ed Wilson, Hulu’s Jason Kilar, Fox producer Chris Coelen, ABC’s Barry Jossen, media buyer Alan Cohen and just to prove they’re hip – Barack Obama. 

The Forbes list is a who who of I-don’t-know-who’s-who.  Forbes starts its list with celebrity blogger Mario Lavandeira (and if you just went, who?, don’t worry, so did I.)  But that’s the point.  These are the people who are leading the online revolution.  For example, Techcrunch blogger Michael Arrington and Digg founder Kevin Rose, you might know.  But have you ever visited blog site Postsecret created by Frank Warren or do you know Cory Doctorow of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, or Mashable’s 23-year-old Pete Cashmore.  And Italian comedian Beppe Grillo?  Nope, don’t know him, but now I will.  Add to the list -- Mommy blogger Heather “Dooce” Armstrong, venture capitalist Guy Kawasaki; self described entrepreneur and blogger Jason Calacanis who runs Mahalo.com, tech blogger Robert Scoble, who is also a managing director for FastCompany.TV;   sports blogger Will Leitch, who also writes for New York magazine; media critic Jeff Jarvis who runs buzzmachine.com, actor and blogger WilWheaton who is one of the most-read users on microblogging site Twitter.  Know any of them?  No?  Let’s keep going --  statistician and blogger Nate Silver who has the distinction of being maybe the only person to correctly call the winner in 49 states in the election; tech journalist Om Malik who writes for Business 2.0 and the Wall Street Journalist; humorist and blogger Owen Thomas; Dave Winer, blogger and programmer who helped develop RSS; marketing guru Seth Godin; Brian Lam, the man behind one of the biggest blogs in the world – gadget size gizmodo.com; Mark Frauenfelder who founded culture zine Boing Boing; Steve Rubel, the PR expert behind micropersuasion.com; videocaster John C. Dvorak; and finally, Leo Laporte, internet broadcaster behind This Week in Tech.  And last but not least, one name you probably do know, on the list – Matt Drudge.         

      COCKTAIL CHATTER:  A company named Celestis that specializes in ‘memorial spaceflights’ has announced that it will launch the final remains of Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry who died in 1991 and his wife, Majel Barrett, who died in December of last year into deep space in a specially created capsule.  The CEO of the Taj Mahal Hotel and Towers that was attacked in Mumbai says the families of the 15 hotel employees killed in that attack will receive the deceased’s’ salary and medical benefits for the rest of their lives.  And as a cocktail chatter side note, what kind of font are you?  Helvetica.  Times New Roman.  The folks at PBS.org have created an online quiz that answers that question.  Find out for yourself at http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/helvetica/quiz.html.    

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