ABC Digital Futures » Blog Archive » The identity crisis for media workers
The ABC should be congratulated for examining these issues, and examining them, and examining...it's like you're in some krudd process... but not much in the way of blurring of consumer and producer around the ABC where the empire remains in firm control
BB's TV audience slips to the net | The Australian.
During the past two weeks the reality series has struggled to break through the magic million-viewer mark in the five capital cities. But the network's internal analysis suggests the replacement of host Gretel Killeen with Kyle Sandilands and Jackie O may not be at the heart of audience slide.
Instead, Ten's net-savvy audience appears to be shifting its allegiance from the glowing box in the lounge room to the laptop, getting its daily fix online.
Ten's head of digital media Damien Smith said the network had not increased the amount of video footage available on the Big Brother website compared with last year, but online audience levels had doubled even as free-to-air audiences slipped.
While Mr Smith was unwilling to reveal viewer numbers online, he said the shift had caught the network by surprise.
"What we can say about video viewing on the Big Brother website is that is up substantially year on year and that is not because there is more video available," he said.
"We have the same amount in terms of hours per week, perhaps even less than last year, so it is clearly because they want to watch more video."
Interesting dilemma.
Media Watch: Portugal in Spain (09/06/2008).
Michael: Simone, Portugal's not a city of Spain neither, by the way.
Simone Thurtell: Oh well Jenny was giving me the clues.
— ABC Radio Newcastle, Drive with Simone Thurtell, 28th May, 2008
And they say the Internet is full of stupid people and misinformation?
Despite a shortage of buses in Sydney, the beseiged New South Wales Government has laid on a special 448 bus service to chauffeur the staff of Fairfax Media to and from Sydney's CBD and their harbourside offices in the inner city suburb of Pyrmont.
The Business of Video: Will free media kill journalism?.
Moffett argues online video consumers will only tolerate about two minutes of advertising per half hour and when a like for like comparison is done between TV and online video, web producers will need to produce content at 1/8th the cost of traditional TV to make the same returns. The question he asks: "Are content producers prepared to reduce production costs…by 88%? Moffett is pessimistic about the ability of Hollywood to make this transition and it is a question equally relevant to magazines and newspapers, as news organizations around the world seek to re-size and re-make their newsrooms and sales forces to fit with the new order.
I think the larger point here is that the web won't be able to do what mass media can do well and that is aggregate the large audiences that are needed to fund expensive content. Every medium finds its niche.
Michael Specht - discussions on HR and technology:
"traffic drivers to these (newspaper) sites. Firstly Google’s Australian property drove a massive 13.34% of a traffic! Second was ninemsn with lowly 3.11%. The surprise for me was that Facebook is 5th with 2.76%. The surprises didn’t stop there! Digg is also mentioned as a driver of traffic, now remember these are Australian print news and media properties. Over the last year Digg’s traffic to these sites has grown 120.8% and is now 18th driver of traffic. What this tells me is use of social media/network services is growing within Australian and it is grown outside of the geeksNewspapers are going to work on building those online communities around their content.
Laurel Papworth -Social Networks: Self obsessed journalists?: Unfortunately, most Australian journalists have no idea about the online, social media, web 2.0 and so forth. They are clueless. Laurel Papworth is a friend of mine and a very good person who knows her stuff inside out but that's of no account to old media journos who just want to turn bloggers etc into freaks in a circus show all the time. Some of these people make an artform out of being clueless. Why bother learning what's it all about when you can just dash off some smartass piece with all the tired old snipey jibes? Read Laurel's piece she seems quite genuinely shocked that journalists could be so cavalier with the truth. But I'm a 20 year veteran of PR and media relations, I'm just a little sadder each time I hear a story like this one. But I'm not shocked. And, hey, I get paid because the world is populated with so many dopey, bigoted journos.
Here's a tip or two for you from a master:
Here's what happens. The reporter—call him Joe—hops aboard McCain's old campaign bus, the Straight Talk Express. He knows the Arizona senator's well-known charms. He will not be seduced.
Chatting amiably, Joe asks about a Republican colleague. With ironic solemnity, McCain responds by describing his fellow senator with an anatomical epithet. Against his better judgment, Joe chuckles. (Never heard that from a presidential candidate before!)
He asks a probing question about McCain's personal life—and the senator answers without hesitation, never asking to go off the record. (Is there nothing this guy won't be candid about?)
Joe's detachment is already crumbling when McCain offhandedly mentions a self-deprecating anecdote from his time "in prison." The reporter knows the reference is to McCain's years as a POW in Vietnam, back when Joe was sucking bong hits at Princeton. (Guilt, guilt, guilt...)
McCain asks Joe about his kids, by name, then recommends a new book he's been reading—something unexpectedly literary (I.B. Singer's short stories?). Seamlessly, he mentions an article Joe wrote—not last week, but in 1993!
The reporter has never voted for a Republican in his life. But he's a goner.
Get it? Flattery works.
Bomb Iran? A report on Israel's Army Radio Tuesday quoted an unnamed "top official" in Israel who said that "Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney were of the opinion that military action against Iran was called for" but that opposition from Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates has halted any action. The story was quickly picked up by the Jerusalem Post, which adds that the Bush administration denies the claim. Bloggers are skeptical, given the secondhand nature of an unsubstantiated observation from a mystery man.
"Top official" is a very busy person. He, or she, appears in just about every second story on politics in the US, UK, Australia and elsewhere.
ReadWriteWeb:
" On Sunday, a YouTube blog post introduced us to Olivia, YouTube's recently hired News Manager. She's going to be in charge of a new Channel on YouTube called Citizen News. This channel will highlight the best of the citizen journalism that's taking place on YouTube, but its ultimate goal is to become a go-to news destination on the web."
Pew Research Center: The Daily Show: Journalism, Satire or Just Laughs?.
When Americans last year were asked to name the journalist they most admired, showing up at No. 4 on the list was a comedian. Jon Stewart, host of "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central and former master of ceremonies at Academy Award shows, tied in the rankings with anchormen Brian Williams, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather and cable host Anderson Cooper.
Unleashed: Unanswered 9/11 questions.
More from 911oz.com:
Hi guys & thanks for the support. I spent quite a bit of time on that article, and was unsure about whether it would ultimately be knocked back by the ABC.
It looks to me now that they have made a policy decision to allow this topic within the confines of "opinion". The next step is to move it into the "news" category.
I think there is a good chance that a TV show like Lateline would pick it up. This should happen as a natural progression, but I won't hold my breath.
-------------------------------------------Comments now at 262 - the challenge is, can we beat the article on gay marriage which has 607 comments?
--------------------------------------------Moderator: In view of allegations that comments on this subject have become part of a campaign, no more postings on this article will be accepted. With over 500 comments, the issues have been well canvassed - Ed.
No kidding. Lie down with dogs you get fleas. Surprising thing is that the Unleashed editors didn't realise they were being used from the start.
Unleashed: Unanswered 9/11 questions. This is the sort of thing that gives the Internet a bad name. We all applaud the way that the web can bring more voices into the conversation and I guess the reality that many of those voices belong to lunatics is a reality that we will have to live with.
It's disappointing, though, to see the publicly-funded ABC actively encouraging these nuts. Or am I just being frightfully old-world in hoping that an outfit like the ABC will exercise some responsibility and not just lead a charge to the bottom in its efforts to build traffic for its social media experiments?
Perhaps, because these moonbeams pay taxes too, it's also their ABC as well as yours and mine?
Phil Burgess Telstra to the Media Alliance PR and Social Media Conference: "The Australian media is very
subservient to government. It was
subservient to the last government and after five months it is
subservient to this government." An idea worth exploring further I think.
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