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BuzzMachine
by Jeff Jarvis
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February 28, 2005
To the barricades, bloggers -- yet again
: The Global Voices blog reports that Jeff Ooi, the pioneering (and charming) Maylasian blogger, was taken in for questioning regarding a blog post. This is the dark side of blogs getting attention in the wrong countries. free password sex hack
Blogcast
: I'm scheduled to do two blogcasts from Buzzmachine World Headquarters on MSNBC's Connected between 5 and 6p ET -- one on winds of change in the Middle East as soon through blogs there, the other a blog round-up, including the Oscars. free password sex hack
Here are the links I talked about (since some didn't show up on the screen and I blew a few). My notes for the segments:free password sex hack
Egypt: Links here. free password sex hack
Lebanon:free password sex hack
This is moving fast and we're seeing comment and coverage from Lebanon. This is being called the "Cedar Revolution" (after the velvet and orange revolutions).free password sex hack
Across the Bay says:
"The popular pressure has managed to topple a cabinet without a single act of violence or bloodshed. It's a proud moment for the Lebanese people."
beirut2bayside.blogspot.com/free password sex hack
Cave Man in Beirut says:
"The government has fallen. And now the fun begins."
blissstreetjournal.blogspot.com/free password sex hack
 Bahrain: Links here.free password sex hack
(Note the new pictures up at Chan'ad Bahraini; these are brave souls.)free password sex hack
Hillary Clinton:free password sex hack
Daniel Owen at Oval Office 2008 says:
Joe Biden... says of Hillary, "she is ... the elephant in the living room. She's the big deal." "I don't know how you beat her for the Democratic nomination," added former Nebraska Senator Bob Kerrey, "she's a rock star."
www.ovaloffice2008.comfree password sex hack
Oscars left and right:free password sex hack
Even the reviews of the show are turning into a red-state-v.-blue-state shtick.free password sex hack
Jeralyn Meritt at TalkLeft.com complaints that Robin Williams efforts to sing a song making fun of censorship was censored so much that he had to kill it.free password sex hack
But over at the conservative blogs....free password sex hack
LaShawn Barber at complains:
"What happened to class and civility? Chris Rock said, “Sit your a**** down!” And people laughed?"free password sex hack
At least they had something to laugh about!free password sex hack
Who's afraid of the big, bad blogger
: Marketwatch's Jon Friedman writes today that he's afraid of bloggers. Not shivering in his boots but fearful nonetheless about all the usual qualms: are we journalists, are we trustworthy, etc., etc. free password sex hack
Let me try to put your mind at ease, Jon. Stop thinking of us as bloggers. Think of us as plain people -- readers, men-on-the-street, sources -- who happen to blog. That's all we really are: the people. And the people know stuff. So it's good you now have a way to find out what we know. If you use it wisely, it will improve your reporting because you'll know more and then your readers will know more and then we'll all hug and light our Bics and sing. free password sex hack
By the way, for anyone coming here from Jon's column, there's an error in it: It says that Bill Keller of The Times has asked his editors to get together with bloggers to talk about all this. I'm the one who asked that, not Bill. But you can read our email exchange here. free password sex hack
To the barricades, bloggers (again)
: Middle-Eastern regimes are discovering blogs... and jailing bloggers. Two are in jail in Iran (and one is in exile). Now a Bahraini blogger has been arrested for what he wrote on his blog. His "crimes:" 1. Defaming the royalty
2. Inciting hatred towards the regime
3. Publishing news to destabilize security ("تزعزع الأمن")
4. Violating the Press Laws
5. Violating the Communication Laws Much more on the case here. The arrested blogger's site is here. free password sex hack
The Oscars we didn't see
: Chris Rock acted like he was visiting his grandmother. He couldn't be him. He had to worry about obnoxious prigs like Sean Penn giving him crap for a Jude Law joke. Jeesh. free password sex hack
: On Howard this morning, Artie Lang said a pal of his wrote a joke for Rock that Rock was too nervous to use. The introduction of Halle Berry he should have made: "Our next presenter has lost more men than the Iraqi army."free password sex hack
: And getaloada of the fracas over the producers' efforts to edit a ditty that Robin Williams was going to sing [via TalkLeft]: Overnight, Mr. Shaiman and his partner, Scott Wittman, dashed off a mock exposé of the dark underbelly of cartoonland for Mr. Williams to deliver, over a gospel-music groove, as if he were a full-throated preacher inveighing against other newly-discovered sinners in the nation's midst:free password sex hack
"Pinocchio's had his nose done! Sleeping Beauty is popping pills!/ The Three Little Pigs ain't kosher! Betty Boop works Beverly Hills!"free password sex hack
The producer of the Oscars telecast, Gil Cates, urged Mr. Shaiman to make the bit "less political," Mr. Shaiman said, so he quickly removed any reference to Mr. Dobson's protests - and turned Mr. Williams into a fabulous, lisping character dishing up the latest juicy gossip:free password sex hack
"Fred Flintstone is dyslexic, Jessica Rabbit is really a man, Olive Oyl is really anorexic, and Casper is in the Ku Klux Klan!"free password sex hack
Officials from ABC's broadcast standards and practices office were not pleased. On Thursday, they detailed their objections.free password sex hack
Some lines were opposed for "sexual tone," as the ABC officials, Susan Futterman and Olivia Cohen Cutler, put it to Mr. Williams, Mr. Shaiman and Mr. Cates. These lines included "Chip 'n Dale are both strippers," "Bugs Bunny's a sexaholic," and "Josie and the Pussycats dance on laps."free password sex hack
In the end, however, the sexual references would have been allowed, a network spokesman said. But they held the line on material that they believed might be seen as glorifying drug use or offending Native Americans or disabled people.free password sex hack
Among other lines, they included "The Road Runner's hooked on speed" and "Pocahontas is addicted to craps."free password sex hack
On Friday, faced with rewriting or killing as many as 11 lines out of a 36-line piece, Mr. Shaiman said, he and Mr. Wittman refused, and Mr. Williams had to look for new material. Don't you feel safer now? free password sex hack
I know people say this every year but these really were the dullest Oscars I've ever seen. free password sex hack
Welcome to broadcast in the '00s: Tapioca. free password sex hack
Yes, she's excited about journalism
: More than a year ago, the teen Iranian-American blogger at Blue Bird Escape returned to her homeland and wrote about it in her blog in a series of truly remarkable posts that showed without varnish her reaction to the life of women -- the life that would have been hers -- in Iran. I linked to her frequently then for I was wowed by her talent, insight, and honesty. When her brother, an Iranian journalist, came to the U.S. on vacation from Europe, he arranged for us to meet: him, his blogging sister, and their parents, for a delightful lunch. I said then that I hoped she would chose to write; there's no doubt she has the voice. free password sex hack
Today, I wandered back to her blog and found this: USA Today is an amazing place. It's where everything happens, the news you see on television happens right in front of you. Our journalism staff got to visit it today, including me. I can't explain the rush of excitement I felt as I walked around. Looking at reporters' desks that were piled up with paper and their computers ready for their stories made me want to sit and start working right away. I've had the dream of being a journalist for a long time. It just sounds like such an exciting and thrilling job. I feel like I've accomplished something just by knowing what I want to be. It makes me happy that she's considering writing. It also makes me happy that such a smart and talented young person is considering journalism, is excited about journalism. At a time when we ink-pixel-stained wretches are getting considerable grief on both content and business sides, it's a relief to see that the future of the trade will be in good hands. And her advantage: By the time she gets into the business, she'll already have been writing for a public for years. free password sex hack
What's really changing the news biz
: Citizens' media isn't changing the news business nearly as much as business is changing the news business.free password sex hack
Craig Newmark of Craigslist has been touting the potential of local citizens' media -- as do I -- and he has been taunting us with hints of content plans -- I can't wait to hear what's on his mind. But it seems he has felt a twinge of caution about this as he said: Hey, there's a lot of furor now around the emerging area of citizens' journalism, where ordinary citizens complement the work of professionals and maybe go beyond.free password sex hack
That's a big topic, best discussed elsewhere.free password sex hack
I just want to remind everyone that people's jobs are involved, writers, editors, delivery people, PR people, and more. free password sex hack
When an industry goes through a major shift, sometimes people lose jobs.free password sex hack
I don't have anything smart to suggest, except that news professionals starting looking hard at the blogging phenomenon, and try to get ready. But Craig himself is having more impact on jobs in the news business than any blog phenom. I've said this to him over dinner. free password sex hack
In one oft-quoted study, CraigsList eliminated $65 million in newspaper classified revenue in one market alone: San Francisco. He didn't shift it from the papers to his pocket. He destroyed it, burned it up -- gone -- as consumers got a new deal. I say that with no judgment: Let the market decide. And, in fact, I've also said -- and said to Craig -- that I believe he and Monster and company are only waystations to a different future, a distributed future when these buyers and sellers won't need to come to a centralized marketplace but, instead, will sit out there, anywhere, on the internet waiting to be found by some specialized successors to Google that put them together (with, perhaps, no revenue at all). See this chart on Craigslist showing pageviews of the major job sites and know that there's another colored line -- called distributed -- that hasn't even shown up yet.
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Now add to this the factors we know: declining print circulation... increasing competition from the internet and from new, free print products... declining viewership of network news... free password sex hack
I gave my blogboy presentation to a bunch of strategic guys at a certain major mass media company (not my employer's) the other day and said that the mass market was dead, to be replaced by the mass of niches, and the young MBAs in the room screeched as if I'd goosed them. Fine, I said, imagine that things won't change and others will come along and eat you up bit by bit. You'll still be there, but you'll have new competitors and your growth will be gone. free password sex hack
The business of news is changing and anyone with an ounce of sense knows that. And many in the business fret about how we are going to be able to support quality journalism; it's a real worry. free password sex hack
But -- now, at long last, here's my point -- citizens' media and other innovations may not be the threat but one of the solutions:free password sex hack
1. You've heard me say before that citizens' media may be a new source of news, information, and viewpoints that established media cannot afford to gather on their own. That's the idea behind hyperlocal citizens' media. And the hope behind it is that it opens up a new opportunities to attrack new audiences and advertisers. This doesn't replace existing jobs; it expands existing coverage and, if it works, helps support existing operations -- though that's all still quite unproven. free password sex hack
2. Online provides a means of diversification for big media. That's what the Marketwatch deal meant for Dow Jones: a way to get more ad-supported traffic and less-expensive content and audience. That's what the About.com deal means for The New York Times: a way to get search and cost-per-click advertising that is going, instead, to Google now and a way to expand into distributed networks of niche content. If these deals work, they, too, help support existing operations. free password sex hack
3. Citizens' media and online tools show the way to much, much cheaper content creation. Note my silly blogcasts for MSNBC last week: a $100 camera and a $40/month internet connection and I was broadcasting to the world. Video, audio, and text tools show how to create content at a far lower cost. This does, indeed, affect jobs -- but restructuring has come to every other industry, why not content? If we put less money into commodity content and into production hoo-has that don't really matter, then we can maintain budgets to build unique and valuable content. free password sex hack
At the same time, all the new competitors of online do what new competion always does: wake up the old, established players and enliven the good ones and kill the bad ones. That, too is good. free password sex hack
The news business is unquestionably changing. But it's not necessarily for the worse. There are more news outlets; I believe that in aggregate, people will consume news more; and there are new efficiencies and new opportunities. It may not be an easy road to get there, that's all. free password sex hack
February 27, 2005
White House, editor
: Now this is funny. From Newsweek via Lost Remote: When President Bush confronted President Putin about freedom of the press in Russian, Putin responded, "We didn't criticize you when you fired those reporters at CBS." Oh, I'm sure Bush was thinking, if only he could fire a few. free password sex hack
An editor-in-chief
: Former Time Inc. Editor-in-Chief Henry Grunwald died this weekend. I respected Henry, because one had to. But I came up against him more than once. free password sex hack
He rejected my proposal for Entertainment Weekly because, in his view, one magazine could not possibly serve people who read and people who watch TV because people who watch TV do not read. Considering that everyone watches TV, he apparently did not see much of a future for reading. free password sex hack
Just as soon as I become TV critic of People, I gave a rave review to Concealed Enemies, a PBS miniseries about Whitaker Chambers vs. Alger Hiss. I've told this story before: I said that I liked the mini and also mentioned that it portrayed Chambers as a fat wimp. One of the old-timers at People said there'd be trouble to pay, for Chambers was Grunwald's mentor. "Henry lived under Whittaker's desk," the old pro said. I shrugged. But sure enough, my review came back from the 34th floor with the scribblings of Jason McManus -- then No. 2 to Henry -- utterly rewriting my review. They turned it into a negative review, making incredible changes. I went to my boss, Pat Ryan, managing editor of People, and said I could not allow this to appear under my byline. Bless her, she stood by me. She sent an edit back up with all the worst of the distortions taken out. We waited by the phone. It rang and Pat said she was going to lose either her critic or her job; she was prepared for the latter. But Henry was out at some social event, so the deadline passeed and the review went in. Jason the next day said there'd be hell to pay. But Henry, to his credit, knew he had gone overboard and allowed his personal history to influence his editing. "He came as close as he ever will to apologizing," Pat reported to me. That was the end of it. I kept my job and so did Pat.free password sex hack
When Henry retired, Jason took his place and he green-lighted EW. He still had no spine, wimping out when my magazine dared to give entertainment negative reviews just as his journalistic company was merging with an entertainment company. free password sex hack
Henry was a formidable, albeit short, presence. He used to hold occasional cocktail parties (those were the days, my friend) to get to know editorial staffers and I remember when one colleague at People was invited and had to borrow another colleagues shoes and socks. free password sex hack
Henry Grunwald was one of the last of the scary editors. The New York Times had its share, but they're gone, too (a cup of coffee with the current editor sounds like fun). Ditto the Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune and The New Yorker. Now big-time editors are as often scared as scary. free password sex hack
Egyptian bloggers
: I was curious what Egyptian bloggers were saying about Mubarek's decision, under pressure, to allow multiple-candidate election. On an Egyptian blogring, I found Big Pharaoh, who says: Now, I am not stupid nor am I living in la la land. Mubarak's decision today came after immense pressure from the US and the current earthquakes (the purple revolution in Iraq and the Hariri revolution in Lebanon) that shook the region days ago. However, I credit US pressure as the number one reason. Condoleezza Rice cancelled a trip to Egypt scheduled for next week because of the arrest of Ayman Nour and Mubarak's failure to "change". Well, it seems that Bush turned out to be bloody serious about this democracy in the Middle East thing. It also seems that Bushie will in fact make it to the history books that my grandchildren will be reading at school 50 years from today. If Syria or Iran fell, Bush can rest assured that he will add his name to the Lincoln-Wilson-Roosevelt-Reagan quartet.free password sex hack
Well, what do I think about all this? I mentioned before that I didn't want Egypt to rush to the ballot box. I wanted Mubarak to be pressured to open up the civil society of Egypt so that alternatives to his rule start to pop up. We simply do not know better and we needed time in order to see the alternatives and decide who is better.free password sex hack
Unless I am 100% sure that one of the candidates who will compete with Mubarak will be better than him, I'll probably vote for Mubarak next October whom I believe will win because of the resources he has as the country's sole authority. The Egyptian paradox. free password sex hack
One Pissed Arab says: Now Mubarak is simply under too much external pressure (the wet cat in his lap) from the United Bush of America to get his act together and fast, and there was no avoiding it. After all if Mubarak is really giving in to the demands of "his people" then he must have just replaced the batteries in his hearing aid. The public have been screaming for reform, and the opposition only grew recent ballz when they felt the external pressure.free password sex hack
So I am not digesting any of it because it looks like another scene in the same redicioulous play that we have all watched 4 times before, Mubarak gets to win this election too, and whoever succeeds George Bush, will be left to deal with it. The Arabist Network says: Now for the politics of it. People are interpreting this very differently on the ground here in Cairo. The official opposition seems to have embraced it unequivocally, often praising Mubarak in the process. The reaction from activists from movement such as Kefaya seem to be saying that a) it’s not enough and b) reject that it comes from American pressure. Political scientists such Al Ahram Center for Strategic and Political Studies Director Abdel Moneim Said, who is close to Gamal Mubarak and the ruling National Democratic Party, say it was planned all along as part of the NDP’s new platform (if so, they never mentioned anything about it.) Independent political analysts are being cautious, welcoming the step but saying that it will take more than constitutional reform to make Egypt democratic. They are also suspicious of the restrictions on independent candidates. I haven’t heard of any reaction from the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood, Muhammad Akef. Pro-American liberals say it’s all thanks to Bush and the cancellation of Condoleeza Rice’s trip. The Egypt Blog says: "Don't get fooled." He says it's playacting. free password sex hack
The politics of immaturity
: Oliver Willis goes beyond his one-line posts and tries to explain why he resorts to calling me and others "stupid" if we dare to disagree with him. free password sex hack
But what he really does is reveal the thinking of his camp -- the Koses, Altermans, Olivers, and Deaniacs who think they have taken over the Democratic Party. free password sex hack
They operate on schoolyard rules:
: 'If I don't like your game, I'll take my ball and go home.' (See 'one-man circle jerk.' Clever product placement here.)
Or to promote them a few years, they operate on junior-high clique rules:
: 'If you talk to them then you can't be my friend.'
It's all about trying to create an exclusive club. It's all about exclusion. free password sex hack
They measure people on whether they (a) agree totally with them and (b) attack the other side with the same vitriol as they do and (c) dare to ever think of criticizing our side. free password sex hack
This is the politics of immaturity. free password sex hack
This is when Oliver most reveals himself: free password sex hack
"Jeff believes that there's room for the two parties to work together. On what planet?"free password sex hack
On this planet, Oliver. If you don't try to work with the other party, you won't ever get any legislation passed: simple rule of civics class, simple lesson of life, basic lesson of the Clinton years (he co-opted their issues to become the master of his domain: no, not that domain, I mean the center). free password sex hack
And if you demonize the other party and, more important, anybody who ever agrees with any stance they have, then you will never -- never -- win an election. Oh, you'll have a tight little clique -- until it's so tight it's just one person in a room in a... well, I won't say what that one person is doing.free password sex hack
Finally, if you keep thinking that the other party is the enemy, you lose sight of the real enemy, an enemy I have seen first-hand. We have met the enemy, Oliver, and it's not us. free password sex hack
You see, Oliver, when I grew up in politics, we did fight our own party to make it better. Hell, we rioted in the streets of Chicago against our own party. I didn't do that (couldn't skip high school, you know), but I did demonstrate at a precocious age against the party's president, Lyndon Johnson, and we knocked him out. The Democratic party has a proud history of struggle within to improve itself. If you give that up, then you act not like a politician but a propagandist, selling only the party line that comes from above. What did your precious Howard Dean do in the election but criticize the party and try to make it over and take it over (and, indeed, he took it over)? He can criticize the party and I can't? Where's the logic there, Oliver? Where's the fairness? Where's the democracy in the Democratic Party, then?free password sex hack
Here are some other Oliver moments: "This would be an ideal situation, if the goal of the Republican party wasn't the elimination of the Democratic party." free password sex hack
What, and it's not your goal to eliminate the Republican Party? Besides, the way the Democrats are going right now, they're doing a fine job of destroying themselves by losing elections -- and I don't just mean the White House -- and alienating fellow Democrats like me and fence-sitting Republicans with your kind of venemous orthodoxy and insult. free password sex hack
And: "The reason Jeff raises such ire on the left is that he's a reliable source for the right in getting a Democrat to bash Democrats. A similar dynamic exists with Mickey Kaus, The New Republic, and Joe Lieberman." free password sex hack
Thanks, Oliver. I'd say that's good company. I disagree with them on many issues, but I do respect them because they have a mature and sensible view of politics and responsibility and the nation. free password sex hack
And: "I will always believe that the legacy of the George W. Bush years is one in which he and his party decided to simply defecate on half of the populace." free password sex hack
And what are you doing, Oliver? You're not only pissing on Republicans, you're pissing on Democrats you don't like. You're pissing on more than half of the country. In your game, you win. (But in the game that matters, you lose.)free password sex hack
And: "It is actually in large part the folks within the Democratic Party who think like Jeff who lost the last election for us." free password sex hack
Uh, well, Dean couldn't even win Iowa; he certainly couldn't have won the presidency.free password sex hack
And: "Jarvis says he likes and would vote for Hillary Clinton. Does he know how much his new buddies hate her?" free password sex hack
Your point? These Republicans aren't my "buddies," Oliver. But they're not my enemies just because we disagree. Neither are you, Oliver. You're the one drawing that line. free password sex hack
Go ahead and read the whole thing yourself, for obviously, I'm just picking out the bits that amuse me. But there you see the thinking of the people who call anyone who disagrees with them "right-wing." It's quite revealing. free password sex hack
: MORE: Dan Weinberger says in reply: "And the bottom line is, your post would have resonated with many more Dems had you given similar advice to the Republicans." And I reply: I'm not a Republican, so I'm not trying to give them advice and help them win. I already know I disagree with the Republicans. That's why I'm a Democrat. That's why I want to see the Democrats do better and actually win an election....free password sex hack
Disappearing America
: Terry Teachout says that 11 years ago he read Going, Going, Gone: Vanishing Americana about the obsolete of postwar America. He's calling for an updated version, for among the thing he no longer uses are: • Ketchup in glass bottles.
• Newspapers and magazines on paper. I can’t remember the last time I read one (except for a couple of the magazines for which I write). If I can’t read it on line, I don’t read it.
• Fax machines. I have one, but I rarely use it more than twice a month, both ways.
• Going to the post office to mail packages. I use FedEx and UPS almost exclusively.
• Black discs and cassettes. I got rid of the remnants of my collection when I moved to this apartment two years ago. I no longer own a turntable or a cassette deck.
• TV commercials. I now watch all TV programs after the fact (having previously recorded them on my DVR), meaning that I only see commercials as they whiz by silently and at very high speed.
• Typewriters. I disposed of my last one ten years ago. The only thing I miss about it is not having to address envelopes by hand....
• Floppy disks. I back up my computer on line every night.
• “Water-cooler” TV shows. The last TV series to be viewed on a regular basis by more than a handful of my friends was The Sopranos.... And I'll add: : Stick shifts.
: Corded phones.
: Videotape.
: Christmas cards.
: Ice-cube trays.
: Car cassette players.
: Knobs on public washroom sinks.
: Bar soap.
: Aerosol cans.
: Downtowns.
: Local hardware stores.
: Polyester.
: Modems. What else? free password sex hack
: Mark Tosczak adds: :Water from the tap that hasn't been filtered.
:Phone books
:Bank tellers (well, almost never)
:411
:Cameras that use film
:Video cameras that use VHS tapes
:Pay phones, phone cards, hotel phones (my cel phone does it all, nationwide)
:Traveler's checks And how could I forget
: Print TV guides.
: (Soon) printed airline tickets.
: Human beings answering the customer-service line.
What else?
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Free Muslims Against Terrorism
: I hadn't heard of Free Muslims Against Terrorism until I read a link on Relapsed Catholic to this from one of the group's leaders, Kamal Nawash: Only moderate Muslims can challenge and defeat extremist Muslims. We can no longer afford to be silent. If we remain silent to the extremism within our community, then we should not expect anyone to listen to us when we complain of stereotyping and discrimination by non-Muslims. We should not be surprised when the world treats all of us as terrorists. And we should not be surprised when we are profiled at airports.free password sex hack
Simply put, not only do Muslims need to join the war against extremism and terror, we need to take the lead in this war. I've been waiting a long time to hear that. free password sex hack
Maher time
: Watched Maher last night. Tim Robbins looked chronically confused. Tucker Carlson said that spreading democracy is not cause for sending our soldiers into war. Robbins said Iraq now has a president who won't shake hands with women. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones said she respects that Muslim choice. Maher and Carlson both said, "You've got to be kidding." free password sex hack
It's a damned Cirque du Soleil of politics. It's the Blue Man Group of the blue states. free password sex hack
Maher said he doesn't agree with Ward Churchill but then turned around and said, "Is the United States guilty of a passive aggressive violence against the world? Yes."free password sex hack
At the end, Maher said they've been trying hard to get more conservatives in the audience so they don't all hoot at the same lines from the panel. But he said it's hard because conservatives don't like him. free password sex hack
February 26, 2005
Jealous
: David Galbraith gets a preview of Ev's Odeo Podcast service. Loves it. free password sex hack
Democracy spreads... to Egypt now
: Big news from Egypt: Hosni Mubarek is opening the first multicandidate (read: real) elections: President Hosni Mubarak opened the door on Saturday to multi-candidate presidential polls in Egypt, a dramatic move welcomed by Washington and opposition groups as a step toward more open government.free password sex hack
Analysts described his televised announcement, heralding the first contested polls since the 1952 fall of the monarchy, as a response to both U.S. reform calls and an increasingly vocal domestic opposition, emboldened by Washington. Cairo is uneasy about U.S. campaigning for democratic change in the region....free password sex hack
State Department spokesman Steven Pike welcomed the development, which came a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice postponed a visit to Egypt. Even Armando at Daily Kos graciously annoints this good news: "The Bush Administration will feel, and with some justification, a measure of satisfaction." He continues to ask Eeyore cautious questions about how good the election will be. Of course, there is much work ahead. American officials are officially cautious, as well they should be. (UPDATE: Poliblogger adds more cautions.) Hell, the most likely opponent was jailed (more here). Egypt is hardly enlightened overnight. But the pressure of the people and what's happening in the neighborhood and from America -- witness Condi's cancelled trip -- is being felt. It's a step. free password sex hack
Afghanistan.free password sex hack
Iraq.free password sex hack
Palestine.free password sex hack
Egypt.free password sex hack
Democracy is spreading. Democracy must spread. free password sex hack
: Haaretz, too, sees good news here: Something "dangerous" is happening to public opinion in several Arab countries: It is beginning to chalk up more and more victories. Last week, the Lebanese public pushed Syria to announce its intention to withdraw from Lebanon. Last year, Saudi public opinion and American pressure generated a public discussion of human rights in the monarchy. And yesterday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak laid the foundation for Egypt's democratic revolution, no less. : LATER: I at first called Aramando's questions Eeyore questions. That wasn't fair and I quickly changed it (but left the evidence). Give Armando full credit for giving even this administration credit for having something to do with this. And, yes, there's no reason to think that Mubarek is going to be holding election coffees. But it is good news. free password sex hack
: SUNDAY UPDATE: The punchline according to Global Octopus: Of course, it has nothing to do with US policy. All the credit goes to Jacques Chirac and Kofi Annan. free password sex hack
Blogging, blogging, everywhere...
: The ancient Observer of London is blogging.free password sex hack
Wingers, Fringers, and the rest of us
: There's a lot of interesting followup discussion to my post yesterday about close-, clubby liberals trying to lock out fellow liberals they don't like... like me. free password sex hack
They are trying to create a club that gets ever smaller as they reject more people who disagree with them about one of their fervently held beliefs or who don't hate the other side fervently enough to meet their standards. The club soon makes them and no one else happy.free password sex hack
They think the club is the Democratic Party. They think they took it over in the last election. In fact, they lost the last election for us. free password sex hack
It is time for more mature politicians -- see Bill Keller's definition of politiican here -- to take charge. free password sex hack
In the meantime, while the Wingers on one edge and the Fringers on the other edge spit and piss on each other, the rest of us -- most of us -- are left in the middle wondering where to turn. free password sex hack
See lots of discussion in the comments below. And see these posts from my PubSub egofeed, too. First from Fred Wilson a card-carrying (and checkbook-carrying and megaphone-carrying) liberal. He says that he and I disagreed only about the Iraq war; he affirms my liberal credentials and then says: The war in Iraq needs to be buried in the past. It's over as a politcal issue. The left lost that one. There are bigger battles to fight like fiscal responsibility, a sound social security system, a woman's right to choose, etc. That's where my left leaning politics are strongest and its where the majority of the country agrees with the Democrats.free password sex hack
I wrote several weeks ago that the left needs to focus on Social Pragmatism and Fiscal Conservatism. That's a winning proposition. Opposition to the war in Iraq is not. : Scared Monkeys says: This is the death nell for the Democrats. The Kos wing has taken over the party and they will turn the Jarvis’s, the thinking Democrats into Republican voters. There is only room in the inn for the fire breathing, hate anything Bush, democrats in the party. It is a shame. free password sex hack
I am a Republican. I was overjoyed that GWB won, but I am very scared. The nature of politics is that sometime the party in power will screw up. Then the other party, no matter how wacky, gets it turn (see Jimmy Carter). free password sex hack
Do we want the modern incarnation of the Democratic Party of Hatred to have the power? Please, Please Moderate Democrats fight for your party. Otherwise, when power does shift, we are going to have one heck of a mess on our hands. free password sex hack
And Jeff, I am a huge fan of yours , and appreciate all that you do. A year ago, I offered a place in the republican party to you. I recind that offer. Please get your party back in order. Help them to see that they are needed to be logical. Not oppressive. Linkdump says: Personally I like to sit in the political middle and veer wildly back and forth because I think it’s the only sensible thing to do. I also think we need to round up the folks on both fringes and put em in a to-the-death pay-per-view cage match with survivors being exiled to a 20 ft diameter desert island with one palm tree. : Pennywit says: A whole passel of us sit near the center of the electoral continuum. free password sex hack
We don't show up for party meetings. We don't salute the political messiah of the moment. Some of us arent' very loud, either. We may consider ourselves political spectators. But we vote. We talk to our friends about politics. Our loved ones learn of our disenchantment with one party or another.free password sex hack
And in a nation split as evenly as it is, our votes can decide the next election. So if we agree with you in general but disagree on particulars, you would be well-advised not to excommunicate us ... as I'm sure many of us could make peace with ourselves and reach an accommodation with the other party. : Jason Van Steenwyk says: The bottom line: The left's turning on and betrayal of Jarvis demonstrates how out of touch with the country they have become. Dean will be an electoral disaster for the Democratic party. Their election of Dean to the DNC chair position demonstrates at once a failure to learn from any of the mistakes of the McAuliffe era -- mistakes that have caused the Democratic party to lose ground and credibility over a full decade -- and a touching devotion to maintaining their status as a minority party. : And saving the best for last, Sean Bonner says: There's a lyric by an old hardline band that says "There's only two sides and a line that divides, if you stand in the middle you're not on my side." And that's pretty much the way the fringe on both sides of this political rock fight sees things. If you don't agree with them 100% then you are the enemy. Agreeing with them 90% is the same as disagreeing with them 100%. It's completely retarded, especially since most people, the ones who probably have the numbers and pull to make a change fall somewhere in the middle. Yet all we ever heard from is the fringe. It's almost as if taking about the things you agree with isn't interesting and not worth the coverage - the only thing work talking about is who you don't agree with. As if your enemies define you more than your friends. I think that's completely stupid. : When people say that weblogs are all about the edges, I'll show them this. free password sex hack
Milk carton TV
: Watching the hours of TV devoted to the tragedy of the latest missing child in Florida is, well, uncomfortable. It is a good thing that TV is using its power to spread the word and, perhaps, help find the child; it has worked before. But once the word is spread, is it really necessary to eek out the angsts of the family -- and the suspicions of police and anchors -- at length, again and again? It's a sick sort of voyeurism, witnessing pain. free password sex hack
When I was a reporter on the midnight shift in Chicago -- where I sat and waited until somebody killed somebody or died a miserable death to write stories under our standing slugs: slash, crash, slay, burn -- I frequently had the unfortunate duty of calling the family of a victim of some sort of terrible crime or accident to get grist for our mill: human-interest quotes and pictures. I quickly learned the best line to use, the same one you hear on TV: Please tell us about your loved one, tell us more than just the name and the cold details that will appear in the paper. We're acting as if we and the audience are concerned. And maybe we are. But it's still an intrusion. free password sex hack
How much do we need to know about these horrible missing-children cases? What is the best way to serve? I think we could exchanges long, painful, salt-in-wound interviews with distraught relatives in front of their humble homes for more-frequent alerts. free password sex hack
February 25, 2005
Derail the spammers
: My son and webmaster tells me that the new Wordpress has one of those deals that require you to enter five digits in an image so you can post a comment -- thus derailing the comment spammers. Wish I could have that. free password sex hack
He's baaaack
: Jeff Gannon/Guckert has a blog that announces: I'm baaaaaaack! If you thought I was going to slink away - then you don't know much about me. Someone still has to battle the Left and now that I've emerged from the crucible, I'm stronger than before. Surely all sides can agree on one thing: The guy is a twit. free password sex hack
: LATER: ChiCon, a conservative Rutgers blogger, says: "Jeff Jarvis may say he's a twit, but he's our twit. So good luck, Jeff Gannon."free password sex hack
How (not) to win friends and influence voters
: The obnoxious self-inflicted orthodoxy of some on the left is hurting the cause and the party and any chance of getting elected again. free password sex hack
Today over at Kos, Armando calls me a "right-wing media gadfly." Commenters then pile on, as is their sport, and say that because New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller has been hanging around me, he must be right-wing, too. What liberal media, indeed. And then my bete taupe, Eric Alterman, uses his column in The Nation to call me "a self-styled evangelist for right-wing bloggers." And when I say that we're all journalists now thanks to the internet, he says: "That, of course, is nonsense. Journalists aspire to standards of fairness, accuracy and research that are not generally observed by Jarvis's pajama-clad army." These are standards not generally observed by Alterman in his spreading of innuendo not backed by the slightest reporting or fact. But I digress. free password sex hack
What does my right-wing look like?
: I voted for John Kerry, though reluctantly.
: I voted for Bill Clinton, eagerly.
: I am dying to vote for Hillary Clinton.
: I vote Democratic in local races in my corner of New Jersey, when they have the guts to run.
: I am pro-choice.
: I opposed the Bush tax cuts.
: I am against school vouchers.
: I am for gay marriage and quit the Presbyterian Church over its bigotry against gays.
: I am for universal health care.
: I fight for free speech in America and elsewhere.
: I wrote a cover story for The Nation.free password sex hack
So why do these guys want to drum me out of their corps (or what they think is their corps)? What are my crimes of political incorrectness?
: I didn't support Howard Dean.
: I supported the war in Iraq on the humanitarian grounds that we had a duty to finish the job of removing a tyrant who had murdered millions and bring democracy to an oppressed people. I call that a liberal, humanitarian, nation-building cause. These guys don't.
: I didn't support Howard Dean.
: I dared to criticize Koz for attacking Americans who were murdered in Iraq and dared to repeat Zephyr Teachout's recollections about the Dean campaign trying to curry favor with Kos via a job.
: I didn't support Howard Dean.
: I choose to be civil to bloggers who would call themselves conservative and though we disagree they are usually civil to me.
: I didn't support Howard Dean.
: I do support the notion that we need to bring democracy to the world and that without it, terrorism will continue.
: I didn't support Howard Dean.free password sex hack
And for these sins, Kos calls me right-wing, Alterman calls me all kinds of things, and Oliver Willis rises to the rhetorical heights of calling me, as he calls anyone with whom he disagrees, "stupid."free password sex hack
Is this the left, the caring, human, open, inclusive, warm, huggy, humanisitic left? Or is this just its wackier, ruder wing of the party? I vote for the latter. free password sex hack
But this is how liberals treat our own if we don't agree with ever syllable certain folks proclaim or if we don't seethe and spit at the other side. free password sex hack
This is no way to win elections and no way to enact change and no way to influence policy. If this wing continues to be the loudest voice of the party and, in fact, takes over the party, then you can bet that the Democrats will forever be in opposition -- a role these folks love like cultists who feed on attack -- or, worse, even sink into extinction. I'm not a third-party guy; never have been, never want to be. But being attacked for daring to disagree on one issue or with one self-proclaimed leader is no way to win friends and influence elections. I hope the Clinton wing retakes the party from the spitting fringe. free password sex hack
I'm no right-winger. But I'm not their kind of left-winger. I'm proud to sit in the center with most of America, in a country that isn't at war, red v. blue, but is getting sick of the fringers who are. free password sex hack
Real webcasting history
: Forget about all my MSNBC games. The big wecasting event today is the start of the King of All Blacks show. Howard Stern has been threatening to start a show with him on Sirius. That'll guarantee a million new subs, huh?free password sex hack
AP RSS
: Rafat Ali does good reporting on the AP's plans on RSS.free password sex hack
Next: A plague of flacks
: The Swiftreport wonders whether the reason LA is getting socked with 40 days and 40 nights of rain could be that God is pissed that The Passion didn't get an Oscar nomination...free password sex hack
Into orbit
: MediaWeek reports on a survey of Stern fans to find out how many are planning to make the switch. 22 percent said they are definitely getting Sirius; 41 percent were still deciding. If those numbers play out, the deal works well for Sirius and Stern. It was reported that Stern had to bring in 1 million subs to make the deal work. He has an audience reported at anywhere from 8 to 18 million; that's 1.7 to 4 million subs just for the 22 percent who are decided; add in some proportion of those who still thinking; add in Nascar fans, now that Sirius got that deal... and I'm glad I bought Sirius stock (with absolutely no insider knowledge!). I'll write a post soon on my reaction to having Sirius and my wish list for it. (Hat tip: Peter Weinberger)free password sex hack
: OOPS: I read an email on this and linked from there. Jimmy Robinson in the comments is my editor and catches me in a bad omission: The story goes further to say that a sizable hunk were not aware of the size of the fee (which is too much, I'd say) and that reduced the number considerably so, given the audience/fan numbers above, the net ends up either below or above 1 million. So they'll still have a lot of selling to do. Thanks, Jimmy. But I'm still not selling the stock. free password sex hack
Podcast, Inc.
: Now I can take the gag out of my mouth: Blogger cocreator Ev Williams, one of the handful of people who made blogging happen, is now moving his attention to Podcasting with a new company to enable people to create and find and play audio. He showed it at TED and The Times wrote it up today. When Ev showed me the plan a bit ago, I was jumping up and down on the couch: We need this kind of work to make the inventions of the pioneers -- Adam Curry, Dave Winer, et al -- ready for mere mortals and prime time. I'm also glad they're thinking advertising support from the start. And the possibilities are endless (think vlogs). Ev hitched up with Noah Glass, who started Audblogger, an idea whose time has now come. Here is Ev's post on how it happened. Here is Odeo. free password sex hack
Blogcam
: I'm scheduled to do the blogcam thing from Buzzmachine World Headquarters again today on MSNBC: 9:45a ET on the Pope (again) and in the 5p hour for Connected on blogs stuff (whew).
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February 24, 2005
Live! From upstairs! It's blog TV live!
 : So the webcast from my den to MSNBC came off tonight. Trey Jackson put it up online (though, of course, MSNBC should do that). free password sex hack
Who needs a multimillion-dollar studio? What you see above is the blogcast studio: A Logitech laptop camera atop my screen; the screen atop a box to get it to eye-level; notes for the spiels taped to the screen; MSM Messenger to show the video; a phone to get the audio back; a very long ethernet cable to get to the router so we didn't rely on wireless; lots of lamps ... et voila: TV. free password sex hack
I was upstairs in the den broadcasting; the family was down in the family room, ridiculing. "It looked like you were lipsyncing," said my daughter. I tried to explain frame rates and backhaul but gave up and confessed that, indeed, Daddy is Milli Vanilli (which is better than being Ashlee Simpson).free password sex hack
This was supposed to be used for segments about blogging but, at the last minute, they canceled the entire show -- just as Bob Cox caught a train to New York -- and switched to Popevision. I had no time to find links but managed to survive three segments. And the topic didn't exactly fit with bloggy geeky fun. But as soon as I got off, the morning bookers called to do the same thing then. That's the wonder of TV: It is the medium made of memes. free password sex hack
What's neat about this is that anybody can broadcast from anywhere. Sure, the quality of the image is still iffy (but it's better than an Ollie North satphone call). But the possibilities are endless. free password sex hack
Gawked
: It took no time for the email exchange between Bill Keller of The Times and me to become the butt of a Gawker post. I can't speak for Keller, but I somehow feel as if I have arrived. If only I could get them to stalk me. free password sex hack
: We got Wolcotted, too, though gently (or else Wolcott fears I'll pull the plug on his server). Not since Humphrey Bogart and Claude Rains strolled together into the backlot mist at the close of Casablanca has a more beautiful friendship been forged than that between Jeff Jarvis and NYT editor Bill Keller.... He should courteously ignore Jeff's advice that he contact more bloggers to address their concerns and snarky complaints--he starts that up, and he'll never get anything done. True, it would immunize him from blogworld accusations of being arrogant and aloof, like Howell Raines, but he's got plenty enough writers and whiners under his own roof to worry about without undertaking missionary work in the boiler rooms of comments sections.... free password sex hack
Help! Papal blog posts needed!
: MSNBC just changed the show to do a full hour on the pope and I need any blog posts or sites about this. Please, please give me comments here. free password sex hack
: Watching MSNBC now I saw Dr. Joyce Brothers actually break down about it. Strange moment of TV. free password sex hack
Whither Wikinews
: Simon Waldman of The Guardian says WikiNews isn't very good. free password sex hack
Stern, Clear Channel settle
: Howard Stern and Clear Channel have settled; no word on details of the deal. free password sex hack
Broadcasting LIVE from Buzzmachine World Headquarters today!
: This is pretty damned cool if it works:free password sex hack
I'll be broadcasting on MSNBC's Connected via a webcam from my home today at 5p ET. free password sex hack
This is a neat moment in the merging of big media and citizens' media: Anybody can broadcast anywhere not only over the internet but also via big, old cables. free password sex hack
I'll be giving a blog report and then will be on a segment with Robert Cox of Media Bloggers and the National Debate and John Aravosis of AmericaBlog to talk about how bloggers are organizing themselves into a press. free password sex hack
Keller of The Times writes III
: The epistolary posting continues between Bill Keller of The Times and me and I'm glad it is, for I think we're honing in on the differences we may -- or may not -- have regarding this new media world of ours. I've created a category so you can read the previous exchanges; start from the bottom and work up. First, Bill Keller's email: Jeff,free password sex hack
Before I get to your message, a brief but, I think, illustrative digression. In a talk Saturday to staff and alums of the Columbia daily paper, The Spectator, I mused a bit about some of the subjects you and I have been discussing. I made clear that I regard blogs as a valuable resource for journalists and an instructive source of criticism of our work. I also said that the blog world, as you would expect of a world with free admission, includes some real junk. My exact line was, "At its worst, a blog is a one-man circle jerk." Now, I could have said (and have said, in less public venues) pretty much the same thing and worse about certain writers and pundits in the mainstream media, but the subject of the moment was blogs. And it is probably a defensible view that self-indulgent writing and posturing are somewhat more prevalent in a medium that is diaristic in form and largely unfiltered. It could also be said that my phrase was a tasteless choice of metaphors for a person in my job speaking in the august (if acoustically challenged) venue of the Low Library. So be it. But that's what I said, and that's all it meant.free password sex hack
The interesting thing is that various versions of what I said have circulated in the blogosphere, mostly taking the remark as a wholesale slur of bloggers. I spent a little time this morning sampling the ardent points of view that have coalesced around what people imagine to be my view of bloggers based on their reading of a phrase pulled from a speech, or based on what they assume the editor of the NYT must think of them. Some of the comments make a point that I have frequently made myself -- that, heh heh, ain't it sweet for an editor at the NYT to be on the receiving end of coverage that distorts his views. (My only advice to Nick Lemann when he took over as dean of the Columbia Journalism School was that he should set up A-team and B-team senior seminars in which students write profiles of one another. No student should graduate without the experience of being written about.) But the thing about "the citizen's media," is that a distortion or a half-baked interpretation metastasizes in real time, and can quickly acquire the status of conventional wisdom. Even if you have lots of time on your hands, there is little hope of pursuing and correcting the misunderstanding as it scatters across the digital landscape. Maybe eventually something like an accurate version of events emerges organically from this process, but I rather doubt it, and in any case the process itself is a little like watching someone chew with his mouth open.free password sex hack
Watching this entirely minor episode unfold also confirms my concern that in this disaggregated media environment, people tend to gravitate toward information and opinion that confirms their own prejudices, toward zones of comfort and affinity. There are, of course, blogs where you encounter intelligent, provocative debate and reflection, and I value them, but it seems to be a world in which people quickly harvest the stuff that conforms to what they already believe, where there's a lot more pronouncing and cheerleading than listening and reflecting, and where the market has little tolerance for ambiguity and complexity. (If you have another sister who is a cheerleader, I apologize for any offense given.)free password sex hack
That's what I meant before about driving traffic toward the extremes. Just so I'm clear, this is a fear, not a conviction. I could be entirely wrong. Maybe the best blogs, the ones that cherish empirical evidence and struggle with nuance and prize intellectual honesty, will prevail in the great marketplace. Or maybe there will at least be robust (and sustainable) islands of serious discourse in the blogosphere -- like HBO in the television world or, forgive me, The New York Times in the shrinking pool of serious print media.free password sex hack
I don't, by the way, believe this polarizing tendency began with blogs. The cockfight school of discourse has a long pedigree, and it began to crowd out serious journalism on TV, for instance, before blogs arose. CNN probably did more damage to our national civic conversation with "Crossfire" -- establishing the principle that a balanced discussion meant two ill-informed gasbags shouting epithets at one another -- than anything the blog world has yet accomplished. Jeff, you ignorant slut!free password sex hack
I share your distaste for one-size-fits-all journalism, and I don't think that's what the NYT provides. We may not carry every size and fashion, but in both the news pages and the opinion pages (those two pages per day with which, I keep reminding people, I have absolutely nothing to do) we carry a lot more than your average department store. And the proliferation of voices beyond what a newspaper manages to include is a good thing, a genuine virtue of blogs. It's not the variety of the blogosphere that worries me, it's the dynamic. In the blogosphere, people tend to choose sides and dig in their heels well before evidence can be tested or actual reflection can take place. At least, that's my impression.free password sex hack
Obviously if I thought blogs should be disdained or dismissed, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But I gotta go.free password sex hack
Best, Bill And my response: Bill,free password sex hack
I'll make some specific suggestions on how to deal with the particular blog situation you raise.free password sex hack
But first, I can't help but draw parallels between your citizens'-media moment and my major-media moments lately. I didn't intend to bring the specific complaints I've had about Times coverage of blogs into our enjoyable and edifying exchange. But since you raised a case of it's-news-because-it-happens-to-the-editor, I will do the same and hope you take it in that spirit. Besides, the parallels are too perfect to pass up.free password sex hack
First, there is the story that led to this exchange (bless its heart): In it, The Times quoted me as saying in relation to Eason Jordan, "I wish our goal were not taking off heads but digging up truth." That was accurate and certainly didn't make me look bad. But in my original post, I was talking about my fear that established media would portray us as a beheading mob; as snipped and quoted in The Times, that turned out to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Was the quote taken out of context? Perhaps as much as yours was. Was the quote used to fit the writers' agenda? As much as yours was, I'd say.free password sex hack
And then there is the Sarah Boxer story about Iraqi bloggers that got me so apoplectic. I won't repeat my complaints now (they're all here) but I will note that The New York Times' idle speculation that pro-American Iraqi citizens might be CIA plants spread through big media like your quote spread through small media: The BBC spread it immediately; the Times syndicate spread it as well; and I soon found myself batting it down in a game of pundit wack-a-mole with Eric Alterman on MSNBC. Just as you saw the meme -- as we call it -- of your circle-jerk quote spread through blogs, so did Boxer's speculation -- and its danger -- spread through established media. As you said of blogs: "...a distortion or a half-baked interpretation metastasizes in real time, and can quickly acquire the status of conventional wisdom." Ditto big media. Or worse, it quickly acquires the status of the official record. And which is heard louder, big media or citizens' media? Which is more authoritative and, when wrong, more harmful? Which is harder to stop and correct? I did bring the Boxer story to the attention of my friend and former colleague, Dan Okrent, and he did look into it. But his reply came online and not in print; it did not reach the official record, and so Boxer's speculation stands. (I would like to hear what you think about that story and my issues with it. Maybe that is the excuse for a drink.)free password sex hack
The obvious point: Much of what can be said against blogs can be said against the establishment press, and vice versa.free password sex hack
Now let me suggest how you could have dealt with your blog moment:free password sex hack
The first suggestion is about transparency: When I read The Spectator account of your talk at Columbia, I went online looking for a full transcript or recording so I could judge the remarks in their full context. I didn't find it but wish I had. This is why I suggest that news organizations should put full interviews and source material online -- not because the public is dying for more (they aren't!) but so those who want to find the context can. If your speech were online and if The Times story about Eason Jordan had linked to my fuller quote, readers could have judged the context (and thus, our reporting and editing)..free password sex hack
The second suggestion is about conversation: Just as you've won over folks with this email exchange (and you have), so could you have gone to some of the blogs that snarked at you and responded directly via comments or email. Believe me, you would have impressed and disarmed many of them. These are mostly reasonable people you're dealing with -- they are your readers, after all. If you would have responded to the out-of-context interpretations of your quote, I am confident that your response would have gotten more links and greater Googlejuice than the original blog posts about you. And that would have happened quickly (far faster than any newspaper correction). The distributed nature of this medium would make the correction travel faster than it ever does in print. Go ahead: Try it.free password sex hack
The third suggestion is, again, that you should not judge all blogs by the ones you dislike or who dislike you (just as readers should not judge a paper or journalism by one off-key story or reporter). Out of our email exchange, I've seen many positive comments in my blog and in others'; you are winning friends and influencing bloggers and I think you need to include that in your calculation of the value and danger of blog interaction. And though I make blogs sound like the workers' (or writers') paradise, very Marxian, the truth is that it's not at all egalitarian: Go to Technorati.com and look at who has the most incoming links -- our proxy for influence, a more deliberate and in many ways better measure than circulation -- and then see who's dissing you and who matters. (See, we can be elitist, too.) I can point you to many discussions that are not of the playground variety: Look, for example, at the strong disagreement playing out right now between Powerline of the right and Matthew Yglesias of the left (a scary smart and talented young guy you should hire, by the way): They are disagreeing strongly and pointedly but intelligently and, all-in-all, civilly. It can happen. It does happen.free password sex hack
Finally, various commenters have pointed out that you would make a great blogger. They're right. In fact, because you are writing these emails with full expectation that I'm going to post them, I could argue that you are blogging. Welcome to the club, Bill.free password sex hack
best, jeff : Also note Dan Drezner's take on the quoting of Keller. For illustration, he took some Keller lines wildly out of context and then said: What's interesting about these different Keller episodes is that the Columbia Spectator reporter probably took just the juiciest bit from Keller's comments regardless of whether they were consistent with the overall tenor of his remarks -- whereas Jarvis ("mediaman by day, blogboy by night") reprinted all of Keller's comments, allowing one to judge Keller's argument in toto.free password sex hack
Oddly enough, this is undoubtedly one trait that good bloggers share with the New York Times. The Times, as the "paper of record," was very good about printing the full text of important documents and speeches before there was a world wide web. The best bloggers, through hyperlinks, can engage in a similar practice when parsing out someone's comments. free password sex hack
MT help
: Sorry the comments weren't working earlier; the host had a spam attack and shut down comments; they're back. The host is also pushing me to upgrade from MT 2.6. free password sex hack
Question: Does that ruin all my permalinks? Is there any way to prevent that?free password sex hack
Alphabet news: AP get RSS
: Susan Mernit reports that the AP has put up more than a dozen RSS feeds. This is good news for RSS. But it's also damned interesting news for the news business. This means that readers can now go directly to news stories on the AP's site and not on members' (clients') sites (realize that the AP is a collective owned by many of the news organizations it serves; that's why they also let the AP use their news). I'm wondering whether that's going to cause a burp. When the AP started its online news service, it went to incredible pains to make sure you could get to it only through members' sites. I wonder whether Reuters' plans to build an online brand of its own is causing a little competitive indigestion. free password sex hack
Unidentified Flying Objection
: I thought the low-point in NBC News' history was a Geraldo Rivera special on -- no, not the vault -- but satanism. The low-point in CBS news is probably Rathergate. Now I'm wondering whether tonight is the low-point in ABC's: a special on UFOs. I'm hoping they prove that Barbara Walters is an alien. free password sex hack
Keebler's Gates
: Steven I. Weiss sends along a wonderful picture by his friend Shaya Potter that really captures the flavor of the Gates. free password sex hack
February 23, 2005
The ratings are in
: I know some of you don't like Maureen Dowd or Frank Rich but there's a reason they're employed: I just got the latest Times email listing the 10 most popular stories over the last two weeks and two Rich columns and two Dowd columns are on the list. free password sex hack
Blog hater blogs
: How did I miss the news that blog-hater John Dvorak is blogging? Oh, that's right, I know how: I've ignored Dvorak for years. But I'm honored to see that he doesn't ignore us. free password sex hack
Keller of The Times writes, again
: Here is the next installment in the email exchange between New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller and me. The saga starts here and continues here. Bill's latest: Dear Jeff,free password sex hack
Thanks, first of all, for taking my letter in the spirit intended, for taking the sarcasm in stride -- and for encouraging any humor-impaired readers to do likewise. I try to keep my smart-aleck tendencies in check these days, but I can't seem to get anywhere near that 12th step.free password sex hack
Frankly, I don't find much of anything in your reply to disagree with. I regard the blogosphere as both a treasury from which we draw ideas and information, and a stimulating bull session where our work lives on. It's only natural that in the blogosphere, a medium with a very low threshold, you find a lot of self-indulgent nonsense, misinformation, propaganda and paranoia. But I have an equally long and more unforgiving list of complaints about the more traditional media. My quarrel with the blog world, to the extent I have one, is really with the zealots -- the people whose pose is revolutionary, whose articles of faith are that All Information Must Be Free (as if we should stop paying Dexter Filkins to risk his life in Iraq) and that Editing Is Evil (abolish those fact-checking departments and copy desks and let the Truth emerge organically from the collision of blogs) and so on. My anxiety about the blog world is not that it will put us out of business but that it contributes to an erosion of middle ground, that it accelerates a general polarization of the nation into people, right and left, who are ardently convinced and not very interested in exposing themselves to facts or ideas that contradict their prejudices.free password sex hack
You describe yourself as a Pollyanna, but I think the word you are looking for is one that has been sadly degraded: politician. I'm convinced that the most important division in human affairs is probably not the one between left and right, liberal and conservative. It's the one between zealotry and understanding, between absolute conviction and compromise, between preachers and politicians. True believers, whatever their persuasion, tend to start with the answer and therefore they don't have to THINK about the question. They have moral clarity, often achieved without the benefit of information or reflection. (Full disclosure: my own Claremont connection is Pomona College, and I'm paraphrasing a commencement address I gave there a few years ago. And I tweak bloggers for being self-referential??)free password sex hack
As for your meeting proposal, I'm as sociable as the next guy. I'll give you a call.free password sex hack
Please feel free, btw, to deal with this after your vacation. I keep imploring people at The Times to have a life; there's no reason you shouldn't have one, too.free password sex hack
Cheers, Bill And here is my response. (The references to pinholes and circle jerks are, in case you've been on vacation too, from Keller's speech at Columbia.) Dear Bill,free password sex hack
Thanks for the reply (and for the vacation dispensation).free password sex hack
We do, of course, agree about most of this. But we do disagree about whether the blog world will erode the middle ground or can help rediscover it. Certainly, I understand misapprehension about the zealots of online who collect at the edges. They're unpleasant bunches, yet they do not represent their fellow bloggers any more than squeegee men represent their fellow New Yorkers or local radio-news hacks their fellow journalists.free password sex hack
I'll argue instead that it is big media who have, to use your words, accelerated "a general polarization of the nation into people, right and left...." Who is trading on the notion that we are suddenly a land of red v. blue but big media? Except for the oddities of the electoral college, as you know, our political maps would more accurately show us to be a nation of urban vs. exurban. Or I could be really difficult and contend that the close votes in the last two presidential elections actually indicate that we are getting closer. Big media have made division the key narrative of the age.free password sex hack
So next I'll argue that by allowing a wide variety of opinions and perspectives to find voice online, blogs can improve the discourse and will help us reclaim that middle ground. The national debate is not served by homogenizing discussion and disagreement into the one-size-fits-all package that big media has had to become or into the one-from-column-A/one-from-column-B teetering balance of cable news. Don't we often say, nostalgically, that towns were better served when they had many newspapers of differing views serving varied audiences? Isn't that what blogs resurrect: the cacophony of the town square?free password sex hack
Are blogs an echo chamber? On the edges, they are. But there is a vast middle ground of people who are neither red nor blue and defy such simplistic media categorization. We are who we are and our blogs represent us. Also note that we link to those with whom we disagree so we can disagree. That cacophony of voices and viewpoints seems so unruly to those of us who've made our living ordering the world for print. But the noise is good. It's democratic. If we're going to look for closed societies and echo chambers, shouldn't we look at the gang covering the prepackaged press conference that's now a cable commodity? Shouldn't we, as NYU's Jay Rosen has urged, raze spin alley?free password sex hack
From my own experience, blogs have made me more open to different political viewpoints (to the occasional consternation of those on either edge). From a journalistic perspective, blogs have taught me that news should be a conversation and that when big media acts as if the story is done once it's printed, that is just about as closed-off as the closed-minded refusing to hear another side. Closing discussion is aggravating to those who have more to say. So the problem is not that we have too many voices but that too few are heard. That's the real pinhole.free password sex hack
The trick, then, is how big media can take advantage of the new town square and let it be heard to find the middle ground, the common ground. Bloggers already know well how to take advantage of the reporting and editing of big media; the work of reporters is our link blood. Both camps need to acknowledge the value of the other and recognize that, indeed, their common enemy is zealotry and ignorance. That's my hope.free password sex hack
One more word about roles: I know that almost every blogger, once tied down, will agree that most reporters are invaluable. If you tie me down, I'll say the same about many editors (though when I once asked Nick Denton in an instant message why we liked blogging so much, he replied with characteristic eloquence, "No editors," and I agreed). I admire your attempt to reclaim the role of the politician as one who finds wise compromise; good luck. But last night, when I read your email from my Treo to my sister, the Rev. Jarvis -- a most moderate and mainstream Presbyterian pastor -- she did object to your lumping preachers with zealots. And that's the problem with all these roles: There are bad reporters and ham-handed editors and deaf politicians and blind preachers and venomous bloggers but we should not judge any of these roles by their worst. So in trying to tell bloggers not to judge journalists by their worst or journalists bloggers by their worst I am still a damned optimist.free password sex hack
Oh, and who says bloggers don't have editors? You should see all the circle-jerk jokes I edited out of this email.free password sex hack
All the best,free password sex hack
-jeff free password sex hack
We have met the enemy and he ain't us
: Matthew Yglesias is staying on Powerline's case for saying that Jimmy Carter and then that all Democrats are on the other side and betraying America. I'm rooting for Matthew. free password sex hack
Blogsman's holiday
: I'm doing the blog segment on MSNBC's Connected this afternoon at 5p ET, talking about the buzz in blogs. So, bloggers, what's the buzz? What conversations do you see taking off today?free password sex hack
Before that, I'm giving the blogboy performance for a media company's strategists. I'm the horror show. free password sex hack
This is one helluva way to spend a vacation. free password sex hack
To the barricades, bloggers
: The Committee to Protect Bloggers is getting attention and that's good. We need to keep this going: One of our own is in jail for no greater crime. than speaking his mind. free password sex hack
February 22, 2005
Freedom to Connect
: At the Freedom to Connect conference about the FCC and telecom legislation and spectrum and free speech organized by David Isenberg, I'm going to have the privilege of interviewing, Oprah-like Charlie-Rose-like, Bob Corn-Revere, a First Amendment attorney with the most amazing credentials: Served as counsel in litigation involving the Communications Decency Act, the Child Online Protection Act, Telephone Consumer Protection Act, Internet content filtering in public libraries, public broadcasting regulations and export controls on encryption softwarefree password sex hack
Lead counsel in United States v. Playboy Entertainment Group, Inc., in which the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated Section 505 of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 as a violation of the First Amendmentfree password sex hack
Successfully petitioned Governor George E. Pataki to grant the first posthumous pardon in New York history to the late comedian Lenny Brucefree password sex hack
Lead counsel in Huminski v. Corsones, in which the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit established the First Amendment right of individuals to observe court proceedings.... : There's only a short time left to get the early-bird pricing to register. If you care about the future of media and telecommunications and free speech, this is going to be a major event. free password sex hack
At long effin' last
: The LA Times says broadcasters are, at long last, going to challenge the FCC's indecency cops. "I think the government is more vulnerable to an indecency challenge than they've ever been before," said Kurt A. Wimmer, a Washington communications lawyer....free password sex hack
Broadcasters haven't brought a major indecency or obscenity case since 1978, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the FCC's authority to issue indecency fines. That case involved a Pacifica radio station's airing in 1973 of comedian George Carlin's "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" routine. If the broadcasters had fought long ago, we might not be in this unconstitutional mess. CBS, which wimped out with a recent consent decree, is going to fight the Janet Jackson case. And Fox is, as I've reported before, fighting the Married by America fine (the one brought about by only three letter writers). free password sex hack
If the broadcasters had had the balls to fight this before, they might have given constitutional cover to Congress not to vote against the First Amendment. But they were wimpy and late. free password sex hack
Democracy blogging
: Robert Mayer sends news of a new blog that covers elections and movements for democracy in nations that need both. Publius Pundit looks very good. free password sex hack
We get rhythm
: The Wall Street Journal reports on a new procedure for atrial fibrilation, days after Instawife tried two procedures and I mentioned a new drug. This is the same condition Tony Blair had and various commenters here have told their stories. free password sex hack
To the barricades, bloggers
: The Committee to Protect Bloggers is urging support from all bloggers on Feb. 22 -- today -- to bring international attention to the plight of two bloggers, Arash Sigarchi and Mojtaba Saminejad, jailed in Iran. Here's a BBC story.free password sex hack
I first discovered the Iranian blog culture when its Johnny Appleseed, Hossein Derakhshan, reported on the arrest of blogger Sina Motallebi. We blogged about that and brought international attention to the story and Sina credits that with helping to get him out of jail and out of the country. free password sex hack
These people are in jail for doing exactly what we have the privilege of doing: Speaking. We must stand with them. free password sex hack
So please link to the Committee to Protect Bloggers and please bring attention to what his happening to our colleagues in Iran. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Reuters has a story about the conviction and sentencing of an Iranian blogger: An Iranian journalist was jailed for 14 years on charges ranging from espionage to insulting the country's leaders in an unusually heavy sentence in Iran, where tens of journalists have been tried in recent years.
Rights activists said on Tuesday that Arash Sigarchi, 28, was convicted by the Revolutionary Court in the Caspian province of Gilan in northern Iran. free password sex hack
Sigarchi, a newspaper editor in Gilan who also wrote an Internet journal or "weblog," was arrested last month after responding to a summons from the Intelligence Ministry. free password sex hack
TiVo: The anti-cable
: Om Malik started the ball rolling, suggesting what he would do to save TiVo: He'd give away 2 million boxes to get to 5 million customers paying the annuity for what he thinks can become a premium club sold without marketing. Next, George Hotelling at PVRBlog reacts. Then Fred Wilson decides not answer the TiVo call but then imagines what he'd do, which is pretty much what I'd do with a few variatons on his and Om's themes:free password sex hack
1. Turn TiVo into the anti-cable: Let us download, store, organize, and serve media from both cable and -- this is the important part -- the internet. Let us use it for BitTorrents, podcasts, recorded satellite radio shows, recorded broadcast radio shows, MovieLink et al movies, Audible stuff, MP3s, my pictures: anything. Make it a place for my stuff.free password sex hack
2. Release TiVo from the box; store my stuff in the Internet so I can get to it from anywhere, including the den and the bedroom and soon including my mobile phone. Yeah, sure, you'll have fun times with the MPAA and RIAA but by the time they get you into court, the people will be addicted to the freedom and you'll have won. Make it the everywhere gadget, the tomorrow device without the gadget or the device.free password sex hack
3. Forget about getting people to pay for another TV guide. Ask TV Guide: People don't pay for that anymore. That has been my problem with TiVo; that is why I have resisted: I didn't want to pay for a grid, no matter how good it is. But I also understand that selling hardware is not a great business. So follow the Apple example and sell software: The best way to store and serve my stuff and let me do that on the box you sell or on a box I buy (OK, that's more Microsoft, but you get the point: sell the functionality, not the chip). More important, follow the Apple example and sell community (by making it, as Om suggests, an exclusive club): Aggregate the opinions and recommendations, the links and behavior, the Flickrish tags of the TiVo audience so they help me find what I want to watch even better than today's TiVo (or TV Guide) do; when I organize my own media, capture that and share the logic in aggregate with everyone else in the club. Charge a one-time admission for the box or software and the entry into the club (and then charge me for upgrades later, a la Apple).free password sex hack
4. Market yourself as the alternative to cable that does cable and the internet and more, as tomorrow's everything, anywhere, anytime, any way ticket to media freedom. free password sex hack
That's what I'd do. free password sex hack
February 21, 2005
Keller of The Times speaks
: NY Times Executive Editor Bill Keller spoke at Columbia on topics including blogs: Keller’s speech focused on the struggle of print journalism to maintain its relevance in the face of constant cable news updates, increased blogging, and failures in credibility.free password sex hack
He noted that, according to a recent opinion poll, the public’s trust in journalists is at its lowest point in decades. He attributed this in part to the increasingly polarized nature of the American public, who look to the press for support of their viewpoints.free password sex hack
“At the moment,” he said, “the major press is under attack from ideologues on the right and left.”free password sex hack
Keller also sees “blogging,” or online writing that blurs news and commentary, as a mixed blessing. While he celebrated the blogger’s ability to uncover breaking news, he noted that a blog’s inherent bias might be detrimental to the reader. “A blog is still a view of the world through a pinhole,” he said, noting that it can sometimes fall as low as being a “one man circle jerk.” Mickey Kaus is disturbed by the picture he painted. free password sex hack
: I got an email response to my response to his reponse to my post from Keller and I wanted to let you know that but I'm not responding or posting yet because I'm on vacation (kind of) and even Bill said I could deal with it after I get back (though at least one commenter here is less understanding). free password sex hack
The rich get richer. Corollary: The famous get more famous.
: Jeopardy all-time champ Ken Jennings has a Cingular commercial.free password sex hack
New
: Jonathan Weber, former editor of The Industry Standard, has a new site of local blog posts for the Western states. free password sex hack
Dialogue
: Patterico -- who has been biting the butt of the LA Times for sometime -- interviews Times opinion editor Bob Sipchen and blogs it. I don't know whether Patterico will agree -- I'll bet he won't -- but I consider his history with the LA Times to be a success story in teaching big media to listen and not just lecture. When he pushed them on a big story against one Supreme Court justice of one stripe, they listened and published a story against another of the other stripe. A few weeks ago, they invited him to publish a piece in the Times about correcting the Times. And now he's interviewing an editor. He's still critical of the paper and that's fine. But they're talking. And that's good. free password sex hack
What's second prize?
: We're in the hotel from hell in Philly: took hours to get in after check-in time; there's a strange noise that sounds like every flush in the building comes through our rooms that went on all night (but, oddly, disappears in the); parking costs $31; at at 10p they tell us they ran out of blankets for our son's unmade bed. Next time: The Four Seasons. free password sex hack
Anyway, blogging will be limted by tourism and sleep deprivation. free password sex hack
More about About
: Two damned good posts about The Times' About deal: one from John Battelle and one from Jay Rosen. free password sex hack
: LATER: Simon Waldman of the Guardian also weighs in. free password sex hack
Trees rejoice
: The Washington Post sums up the woes of the newspaper industry. "Print is dead," Sports Illustrated President John Squires told a room full of newspaper and magazine circulation executives at a conference in Toronto in November. His advice? "Get over it," meaning publishers should stop trying to save their ink-on-paper product and focus on electronic delivery of their journalism. It's not dead. But it's not growing. And in an economy that demands growth, that smells like death. free password sex hack
The story has nothing radically news but it is a good sum of the state of the business. More later...free password sex hack
 Gone-zo
: Hunter Thompson commits suicide. free password sex hack
Thompson was really the first reaction to one-size-fits-all journalism. He was the argument that the grand shared experience of media in a three-network, one-newspaper-town world was actually bad because it was boring and institutional and inhuman. Thompson tried to inject humanity back into journalism. He injected it like drugs into his veins and, yes, sometimes it was a bad trip. free password sex hack
: LATER: At the Borders near here, they wasted no time putting up a sales shrine. free password sex hack
February 20, 2005
Keller of The Times writes
: The other day, I wrote an open letter here to Bill Keller, executive editor of The New York Times, suggesting that we should get professional and citizen journalists, Timesmen and bloggers, together to find common ground. Mr. Keller responded. free password sex hack
Let me first confess that I'm late telling you about that response because, well, I'm lazy or busy (pick your excuse). I didn't even respond to Mr. Keller for two days because I didn't want to just dash off an email to the editor of the damned NY Times. He emailed me here and there wondering what had become of his response and my manners. So I apologize to him and you for not making it clear earlier that he responded promptly. free password sex hack
We had an enjoyable if sandy exchange of email. I said I would blog that we'd had that and wouldn't say more yet because the exchange wasn't over. He said I could blog as much of the emails as I wanted. He outdid me in the transparency derby and boy, am I embarrassed. free password sex hack
So here is Bill Keller's email to me and mine back. Please turn on your [wit] and [satire] tags, folks, and don't take Mr. Keller literally on everything he says; this is how newspaper folks talk to each other; it's our way to be cool. In other words: Be nice. First, his response to me: Dear Mr. Jarvis,free password sex hack
Thank you for your open letter. I admire the initiative you have shown in appointing yourself the representative of tens of thousands of bloggers in what you call "the citizens' media." (btw, why "citizens"? Isn't that a little insensitive to stateless bloggers, or bloggers bearing only green cards? "People's media" strikes me as more inclusive, and it has a pedigree. Just a thought.) I applaud your entrepreneurial spirit. When I was in high school, several classmates and I were assigned to represent Peru at a Model United Nations conference in Berkeley. One member of our delegation, who shared your gift for bold opportunism, proposed that when the gathering broke into committees to draft resolutions on the issues of the day each of us should walk to the head of our meeting room. Then we should casually take charge of organizing the selection of a committee chairman. Naturally, chutzpah was rewarded. We were all selected chairmen of our respective committees. Peru took over the United Nations. Well, it was only the MODEL United Nations, not a mighty engine of discourse like the blogosphere, but you take my point.free password sex hack
Sorry for the digression. A little case of blogorrhea.free password sex hack
Okay, enough Mr. Wise Guy. Mr. Jarvis, you and I have some things in common. We're guys of the same generation who have spent most of our lives laboring in the MSM. We are both devoted to the cause of a well-informed citizenry. I suspect we both feel proud and humbled to play a part in that cause. We both understand that the media world is changing in profound and exciting ways -- although you seem pretty convinced that you know where it ends up, while I'm not so certain of the trajectory. We should probably be on a first-name basis.free password sex hack
In your open letter you propose to lead a delegation from the citizen's media to a kind of summit meeting with editors and reporters of The Times, where we would all "vent," eat bagels, and then negotiate some kind of cooperation. I'm enthusiastically in favor of healthy dialogue among people engaged in a common pursuit. Jill Abramson's presence at the recent blog conference in Cambridge demonstrates, I think, that I'm not the only one here who feels that way. At the same time, I'm not sure what you see as the possible fruit of a blog-Times meeting. Why would anyone who has the infinite audience of the Internet at his disposal want to vent for a select audience of MSM dinosaurs? And, in any case, what's the point of negotiating a compact with an institution you -- or at least your more theological brethren in the blogosphere -- regard as irrelevant? And, finally, what, aside from a little creative friction, is wrong with the relationship we have? We can and do use blogs as a source of tips, course corrections, leads and insights without requiring a more formal collaboration along the lines you seem to be suggesting. In turn, our website is one of the, if not the, most linked news source for bloggers; we are a major supplier of news and conversation for the blog world, without anyone having to organize a meeting or negotiate a protocol. In other words, for all the talk of rendering us obsolete, and all your concern about MSM condescension (more perceived than real, I believe, but that's easy for me to say), The Times and the blog world have an extremely robust relationship. Seriously, what does a meeting get either of us?free password sex hack
I'll tell you what. Let's dispense with the bagels and conference room (so Old Media) and organize a live chat on-line. I'll take an hour off from my evil left-wing (or is it right-wing?) conspiracy to bamboozle the world, and we'll swap thoughts. I'm bound to learn something.free password sex hack
Can I just state something for the record? While we probably have our differences on the role of the MSM (btw, I personally favor "elite media," at least as it pertains to the NYT) I would like to make clear that I consider blogs relevant and important. I do not hold them in disdain, as you imply. I won't risk embarrassing my favorite bloggers by identifying them (except to say that buzzmachine is bookmarked in my office and at home) but I find the best of them to be a source of provocative insights, first-hand witness, original analysis, rollicking argument and occasional revelation. As I'm sure you will agree, you can also find bloggers who are paranoid, propagandistic, unreliable, hate-filled, self-indulgent, self-important and humorless. (Just like people! See above, "people's media.")free password sex hack
I hope you will accept this in the same constructive spirit as your open letter. And if not, I hope you will have countless hours of fun fly-specking it for evidence of bad attitude and hidden agendas. free password sex hack
Best regards, Bill Keller And here is my response, in turn: Mr. Keller,free password sex hack
I apologize for the syncopated converation. I'll blame the delay on the needless insanity that precedes vacations: Yes, even bloggers and online guys get busy; hell, every minute of every day is a deadline for us. I'll also blame not wanting to dash off a reply to the editor of the NY Times.free password sex hack
I'll digress...free password sex hack
My college Model UN team from Claremont (Len's alma mater) was Romania. Exhibiting, as you put it, bold opportunism, I practically led a world takeover. Good thing (a) it was only the model UN and (b) I didn't stay at Claremont with all the conservative poli sci majors and plot a real world takeover or at least an invasion of Iraq. I went into journalism instead.free password sex hack
I like the name "people's media." I briefly called it "populist media" but was quickly convinced, by Jay Rosen, that that brought along as much baggage as a Delta flight. Anything is better than "blog," don't you agree? And, by the way, it's not just tens of thousands of bloggers; it's 8 million bloggers (about half active) with 32 million readers, rapidly growing (says Pew). And that doesn't count About.com.free password sex hack
As for "MSM," I object to the view that established media is mainstream. You're right -- it's elitist. It's the blogs that are the mainstream. I prefer to call what we do in suits big media.free password sex hack
But I'll stop digressing.free password sex hack
So let me begin by making this clear: I love The Times. I have funny stories about applying for a job there when I was a news nipper (one involving Sidney Schanberg, the other involving a family friend who spotted me in the newsroom and told me to get out before it was too late). I respect, admire, cherish, and yes, love The Times. It's tough love, though. It's creative friction, as you say. It's about the conceit of thinking that the best can be even better.free password sex hack
So, yes, I go to The Times before any other news source and I'm sure I link to The Times more than any other source (including my employer's). But in some recent stories (the story in question, Sarah Boxer's on the Iraqi bloggers, and a few others), I have sniffed an air of disdain for bloggers. I am not saying that you yourself hold bloggers in disdain or that The Times does or that most reporters do; I'm saying that I have found it in certain quarters, exhibited in certain stories.free password sex hack
And my greatest hubris in this is not to represent bloggers but instead to think that I can defend bloggers to journalists and journalists to bloggers. You see, I'm not a world dominator. I'm something even harder to bear: a polyanna. I do earnestly believe -- as someone who straddles both worlds: mediaman by day, blogboy by night -- that we must work together to improve news, inform the public, and even save journalism. It's about changing the relationship of news to the public -- getting past the idea that news is done and fishwrap when we're done with it and realizing that publishing is the start of the conversation, for that is when the public corrects us and adds information and perspective we did not have. It's about extending the newsroom in ways we cannot afford to do, as our revenue shrinks. It's about recapturing credibility, respect, and humanity for journalism. It's about changing news together (and, no, I don't know where this trajectory takes us, but we both certainly know it's not going to stay the same). When bloggers hold journalists in disdain, I scold them and remind them that they would be nothing without reporters; they are not Danny Pearl, sacrificing his life to find the truth, and they are not the Wall Street Journal, supporting him in that quest. And when reporters disdain bloggers, I remind them that they are dismissing the public they seek to serve.free password sex hack
I wrote up a proposal for a (pardon me) Citizens' Media Center and damned near got funding for it.... The goal is to teach journalism students how to recast their relationship with the public via this medium, to teach bloggers the skills and standards of professional journalism, and to teach big media how to interact with the public in new ways via this medium. One of the deliverables (as I'm told one says in grant proposals) is to bring together bloggers and reporters -- that is, citizen journalists and professional journalists -- to build understanding, to show that we're not enemies, to demonstrate that we share a common goal to inform the public, and to demonstrate that we can better do that together.free password sex hack
(I warned you that I'm harder to take than a world dominator. I'd far rather have a drink with Donald Rumsfeld than Dr. Phil, wouldn't you? But I fear that right now I sound like Dr. Phil and that frightens and horrifies me.)free password sex hack
That is the basis of the open letter to you. I knew that bloggers would object to that story in The Times, as I did. But I decided to try a positive spin, to argue that we have to get past these misunderstandings and find common ground and agenda. I also knew how powerful it was for Len [Apcar, editor of NYTImes.com] to come to Bloggercon and for Jill [Abramson, Times managing editor] to come to the Harvard confab. These events were exercises in bridge-building (even if over the River Kwai). And so, I believed that the best response to the latest Times blog story was not to load the snark gun but, instead, to play the Coke commercial.free password sex hack
Why get together? Why not? We're journalists. We're curious. And the editorial "we" in this case refers both to professionals and bloggers. The more contact there is right now, the more conversation, the more understanding, the better. It's not about writing a compact; it's about talking eye-to-eye. But that's me: a representative of the MODEL UN.free password sex hack
I'll accept any invitation you offer. I'd be honored to.free password sex hack
But I think this isn't about me. I'm already MSM (hell, I worked for People and EW and TV Guide... I'm all too MS). I already fancy myself a citizen journalist, too. I'd suggest that this isn't about you, either. It's about the rank and file of both worlds understanding that they're colleagues, not enemies (as I fear each is too often portraying the other). If that quest is full of crap, then fine: nothing ventured, nothing lost. But if there's benefit in some smart folks who care about the same things from different vantage points having a bagel or coffee or cabernet or chat together, then I figured it couldn't hurt to try.free password sex hack
So I'll obnoxiously throw the potato back in your lap: Want to do a chat? Great; count me in. Want me to propose a more representative blogger or bloggers to do it? Eager to help. Want to break bagel together? Wonderful. You name it.free password sex hack
My goal is to get bloggers off their disdain for The Times as the poster parent for mainstream media and to get Times reporters, as the role models for all others, to get past their isolated though still sometimes evident disdain for bloggers.Or maybe I should just butt out and let nature take its course.free password sex hack
And, yes, Bill, I'd be honored to be on first-name basis.free password sex hack
best,free password sex hack
- jeff Speaking of letters to and from The Times...
: Dan Okrent today wrestles with questions about letters to the editor at a paper. And I'll once again have the hubris to suggest a few solutions. free password sex hack
I rarely read letters to the editor because I find them so leached of opinion, humanity, blood, and context that they're boring. I do read them in British papers, which often celebrate the scuffle, and local papers, where I can sense the humanity behind them. free password sex hack
Okrent says The Times damned near has a policy against publishing letters that attack the paper. When you think about that, it's amazing. The column should be called Letters The Editor Picked. The letters department receives 1,000 messages every day, and publishes 15. Beyond that, many of the paper's readers find certain practices and policies regarding letters either dumbfounding or objectionable. Chief among these is the paper's general hesitance to publish letters that make accusations against The Times, criticize writers or editors, or otherwise call into question the newspaper's fairness, news judgment or professional practices. Dan has some suggestions. He suggests putting letters about stories with those stories (though that becomes useless once those stories shift to a paid archive, eh?). He suggests moving letters in the paper up into the sections to which they pertain; agreed. He also wants to see the letters reporters write to readers so they are not squandered on an audience of one. free password sex hack
Of course, I'll suggest that weblogs are a better solution and I've made these suggestions to other media execs who've asked:free password sex hack
: Next to every story, list the links to that story (via Technorati, PubSub, and trackbacks). Of course, that's frightening to an editor; it so uncontrollable. But it's happening anyway: When Okrent wrote his first column, I sent him its Technorati Cosmos with a note that said, "Your reviews are in" (and he loved it). People are looking up the links anyway. I'm sure there'll soon be plug-ins for browsers and RSS readers letting you see all the links to the thing you're reading. It's obvious that these are external; the paper didn't write the blog posts. So why shouldn't the paper enable the conversation? Of course, this works best when every story -- in newspapers and from TV and radio -- has a permalink. free password sex hack
: If reporters and editors wrote blogs themselves and engaged in the conversation there, editors seem to fear that the talk will be about them, not about the stories. I've argued with editors that the opposite will happen, for the audience will no longer be speculating what the person thinks; they'll know and then they can go on to discuss substance. This serves to advance stories. This also serves to solve Okrent's problem: A letter written to an audience of one is not an efficient means of publishing. free password sex hack
: Why not start a forum for corrections to stories? Well, I can answer that question: Because it might well devolve into the Viotriol Corner. Papers will want to control that to the extent that they weed out attacks for attacks sake rather than arguments for substance's sake. OK, then edit it still, but don't be constrained by the space on an editorial page: Put up all the letters and emails and posts that pass the simplest test of civility. We believe that more information is better than less, right? free password sex hack
: They could even encourage the conversation by adding a "Blog This" button to stories. free password sex hack
: And I just saw that Rebecca MacKinnon has similar ideas.free password sex hack
: LATER:free password sex hack
: On the email exchange above, Hoots says: Jarvis posts both billet-douxs this morning so we can see how high-profile people compete to out-casual one another, without giving an inch when engaging in a polite power struggle. (Takes a bit of reading between the lines and drawing unsupported inferences to work that out, but the emails can be read at several levels. And Tom Watson says: New York Times editor Bill Keller fisks Jeff Jarvis big-time (and with some style and humor) and Jeff - to his infinite credit - reports the entire thing. Oh, I wouldn't call that a fisking. I'd call that amiable tweaking and I liked it. You should see the emails that go back and forth between me and one of my mentors in the business, Star-Ledger editor Jim Willse; we all think we're writing emails at the Round Table. free password sex hack
Satellite stock
: The NY Post reports that there's an investigation into the rise Sirius stock before Howard Stern announced he was moving there. The SEC even subpoened show regular Chaunce Hayden -- who never gets anything right; he even tried to "report" that the wrong Desperate Housewife was reputed to be gay after he heard part of a TV tease. Stern has said frequently that he could not tell anyone about his plans until the announcement was made precisely because it would have been insider information. free password sex hack
But this was hardly insider speculation. As soon as Janet Jackson bared her inch of flesh, I bought Sirius and announced it here. It was obvious to me: The FCC witchhunt would get worse; Congress would go nuts; Stern would leave terrestrial radio; he'd go to the player ready to pay him more and because Sirius is the underdog, it would be Sirius. It's the only stock pick I've ever done well because it was so damned obvious. free password sex hack
February 19, 2005
Blogfests
: Here's a transcript of Friday's Inside Politics on CNN with lots of bloglove: First, blog reporters talk about what's happening online (I was surprised to hear them tell my CREEP story); now we have MSNBC and CNN competing to quote blogs and that's good. Then there's a good produced piece on bloggers. And then there's a discussion about blogs between Howard Kurtz and political analyst Stu Rothenberg; rather than right-vs-left, it's a discussion of clued-in-vs.clueless. KURTZ: But it's not like people standing on the street corner. I mean, they now have an effective message delivery system that rivals having a camera here.free password sex hack
ROTHENBERG: It isn't -- yes, but, Howie, look, if CNN -- if INSIDE POLITICS is going to do segments on bloggers, they ought to do segments on C-SPAN callers. They have opinions, too. And they may be digging research, and they may have news.free password sex hack
And you ought do segments on poster -- people who put up posters on building sites. They have opinions.free password sex hack
KURTZ: There are a lot of bloggers, and they don't have equal influence. But Trent Lott might still be the Senate majority leader if it were not for bloggers, Dan Rather might possibly still be the CBS anchor and that story might not have gone through the scrutiny. They have a way of inserting into a story and forcing people like us to pay attention, whether we like it or not.free password sex hack
ROTHENBERG: If people at CNN and CBS News are making these decisions on the basis of the bloggers, it seems to me they ought to be -- they ought to be embarrassed about it. You know, we don't know who these people are.free password sex hack
Everybody needs an editor. I've always felt so much better when I have an editor, somebody who looks at my copy and tells me, "Have you considered this? Are you sure about this?" I think that's a big problem with bloggers. free password sex hack
Thank God for our revolution
: Brit churchgoers are under orders to pray for consort Camilla. free password sex hack
Do blogs help the left?
: Iain Ducan Smith, a conservative MP in Great Britain, predicts that blogs will play a big role in the next British election and he has an interesting view of their role with the left in America: You would also expect this electronic revolution to be good for the Democrats, but the American left's relationship with the internet has been disastrous. The internet has sunk a knife into Bill Clinton's moderate Democratic party. Mainstream business people were Clinton's principal funders, simultaneously approving and driving his centrism. But the Democrats' new paymasters are the 600,000 computer users who, in 2004, supported Howard Dean's bid for his party's presidential nomination. Dean energised an unrepresentative group of voters with a stridently anti-war message. Electronic money powered Dean's campaign, and all of the other contenders for the Democratic crown soon pandered to his base.free password sex hack
The Democrats' problem has only worsened since. The dailykos.com site of a Democratic consultant gets 500,000 hits a day. That site's memorial to four American contractors murdered in Iraq was "screw them". Hatefulness also pours out of the popular websites of Michael Moore and MoveOn.org. The conservative blogosphere has dubbed the Democrats' IT base its MooreOn tendency....free password sex hack
But the blogosphere will become a force in Britain, and it could ignite many new forces of conservatism. The internet's automatic level playing field gives conservatives opportunities that mainstream media have often denied them. Conventional wisdom has been that blogs started leaning right (the war, dontchaknow) but that the left used them most effectively in the campaign. But this conservative argues that blogs brought out the left's fringe or their anger. Now the right fringe certainly used the internet (see: Swifties) but now the conservative bloggers are taking on an above-it air. By all that, I don't mean to come to a conclusion but to ask the question: Which side is using blogs better now (post-campaign) to establish a reputation and agenda? free password sex hack
Nothing better to do
: New Jersey's Attorney General Peter Harvey -- apparently suffering a bad case of Spitzer envy -- filed suit against Blockbuster over its new no-late-fee policy. free password sex hack
On Today this morning, it came out that the state had received only one complaint prior to filing the suit. And the state never went to Blockbuster for clarification. free password sex hack
I'll grant that the policy is confusing. I'll also stipulate that I've never liked Blockbuster. But when I went to the store to get a DVD recently, they made the policy clear to me: If you keep the DVD longer than about a month, they charge you for buying it (minus the rental fee) but you can return it later for a $1-plus restocking fee. That means that you can rent the DVD for an extra month for about a buck. It's not a bad policy. It's a little confusing. But it sure beats the old policy of nya-nya late fees. free password sex hack
I think our attorney general is merely grandstanding. free password sex hack
Fake Times
: Below, I bragged about not being a fake reporter. Now Roger L. Simon confesses he was one. free password sex hack
Now that's customer service
: Gotham Gal posts a complaint about eBay and PayPal and who replies in her comments: none other than the head of eBay, Meg Whitman. [via Mr. Gal]free password sex hack
Yet more about About
: PaidContent, characteristically, stays on the story. Staci Kramer interviews NYT digiczar Martin Nisenholtz. Analysts reaction here. Online reaction here. free password sex hack
Big time
: The Times does podcasting. free password sex hack
February 18, 2005
Take that
: If you haven't seen the Jon Stewart segment on blogs, here it is and it's great. [Thanks, Henry]free password sex hack
Nannymania
: The atmosphere of nannyism in this country has gotten out of hand. First farts (below), now Eve's breasts. He painted Eve as God created her: nude.free password sex hack
And when he finished including the bare-bosomed Biblical first woman, he inscribed the word "love" on the mural that covers the outside wall of his Roseville art studio.free password sex hack
In Ed (Gonzo) Stross' eyes, his variation on Michelangelo's "Creation of Man" mural is art.free password sex hack
In 39A District Judge Marco Santia's eyes, it's a crime....free password sex hack
Santia ordered Stross, 43, to serve 30 days in jail, do two years' probation and pay a $500 fine for violating a city sign ordinance. Roseville officials said letters were prohibited on the mural and Eve's exposed chest is indecent.free password sex hack
Besides jail time and the fee, Stross is to tastefully cover Eve's breasts before reporting to the Macomb County Jail on Monday morning, and to paint over "love" by May 1....free password sex hack
ACLU Legal Director Michael J. Steinberg said someone from his office planned to meet with Stross later Thursday to discuss representing him.free password sex hack
"It's a sad day in America when an artist goes to jail for reproducing a Michelangelo painting on the side of his art studio," Steinberg said....free password sex hack
He said he plans to raise money for the fine and probation costs. Stross, who has multiple sclerosis and receives disability payments, said money is tight. [Thanks, Movieboy] free password sex hack
Media on media
: Was on MSNBC's Connected about 12:30 to quote blogs on Hillary Clinton's proposal to allow convicts to vote. Blogs quoted... free password sex hack
: Uncorrelated.com said that this is really about getting Scott Peterson the right to vote: "It seems to be a fairly simple proposition--people who have demonstrated that they do not respect the rule of law, should not have a hand in making law. This strikes me as desperation."
: LonestarTimes said: "Alas, having felons vote serves no purpose but to improve the representation for criminals in our national government. I'm sure it wasn't lost on either Hillary or Kerry that most felons vote Democratic, either."
: OutsideNormal said: "-I think this is actually a good idea to allow ex-felons to vote. I know felons lose their freedom while they serve time for wrongdoing, but I think that we should be doing more to allow people to earn those rights and privileges back."free password sex hack
Fake reporters
: In her column yesterday, Maureen Dowd said that even Nixon didn't do what Bush is doing with fake news: They flipped TV's in the West Wing and Air Force One to Fox News. They paid conservative columnists handsomely to promote administration programs. Federal agencies distributed packaged "news" video releases with faux anchors so local news outlets would run them. As CNN reported, the Pentagon produces Web sites with "news" articles intended to influence opinion abroad and at home, but you have to look hard for the disclaimer: "Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Defense." The agencies spent a whopping $88 million spinning reality in 2004, splurging on P.R. contracts.free password sex hack
Even the Nixon White House didn't do anything this creepy. It's worse than hating the press. It's an attempt to reinvent it. Ah, well, actually, Nixon did it, too... I have a story to tell I don't think I've told here before... free password sex hack
When I finished my freshman year at Claremont in California and before transferring to Northwestern to go into journalism, I was told that someone was hiring young reporters to cover the presidential campaign. Spending the summer in California covering an election -- who could pass that up? So I went on the interview. free password sex hack
It turned out that it was the Committee to ReElect the President, aka CREEP, that was trying to hire young "reporters" carrying credentials for a made-up news agency to get press access to all of the other side's campaign appearances; they were to record the speeches and events and report back to the Nixon campaign. free password sex hack
Of course, I said no. free password sex hack
Web spam
: Dave Sifry is bringing together a summit to fight web spam.free password sex hack
: By the way: What, if anything, should and can I do about ping spam on Movasble Type? I turned off pings as a default and rebuilt but I'm assuming I still get them on old posts. What is this doing to me? What do I do? free password sex hack
The unkindest cut of all
: Howard Stern got a new ruling from the lawyers this morning: No long farts. Short farts are OK. Fart sounds made with the mouth (or, I assume, armpit) are apparently OK. But long farts from the fart factory are now feared to be illegal. free password sex hack
Yes, this is why mankind invented the law and broadcast technology: to argue about the the legal length of a fart. free password sex hack
There've been many final straws on Stern's back and he's lobbying to leave now whenever he can. He has also made clear that the minute the indecent indecency bill is signed into law, he'll do nothing but play records, for it's certainly not worth fines that could add into millions -- long after the alleged crimes -- for a medium he's leaving. free password sex hack
But this was the unkindest cut of all. Howard said he found farts funny at 5 and still finds them funny at 51. He makes no pretense of having a sophisticated sense of humor about this. They're just farts. Farts are funny. But now farts are illegal -- or lawyers think they could be, though no one will ever make it clear. free password sex hack
This is beyond silly, it's below stupid. Do we really need legislation about farts? free password sex hack
More about About
: VC smartman Fred Wilson likes the Times purchase of About.com. free password sex hack
: Look at the deal first from an ad perspective rather than a content perspective: Google ads and cost-per-click bidding ad networks are grabbing huge revenue and media properties aren't getting it. About does. free password sex hack
She gets rhythm
: Everybody think nice thoughts today for Instawife as she gets heart catheritization to try to fix an irregular heart beat, a condition I share (and so did Tony Blair until he had the same procedure). I'm on a new ($5 per pill) medication called Rhythmol that (knock on wood) is helping. Glenn is in the hospital at 5-something-a.m. blogging; it's one way to stay sane while waiting and waiting and waiting. Good luck, Reynolds. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Here's the latest from Glenn on Helen; it's not over yet; damn. free password sex hack
February 17, 2005
About About
: PaidContent is all over The New York Times' $410 million acquisition of About.com.free password sex hack
: FRIDAY UPDATE: Rex Hammock does the math: $820k per blog. free password sex hack
Media on media
: Supposed to be on Kudlow & Co. with Matthew Yglesias Friday between 5 and 6p ET. Kudlow loves blogs!free password sex hack
Also supposed to be in a Howard Kurtz piece on bloggers on CNN Friday between 3:30 and 4:30p ET. free password sex hack
They're bleeping our soldiers again
: PBS' Frontline spent months filming a report on soldiers in Iraq, A Company of Soldiers, set to air on Feb. 22. Guess what: Soldiers under fire tend to use no-no words. And this caused PBS to wimp out and bleep the words. Under pressure, they agreed to also send an uncensored version. Frontline Executive Producer David Fanning wrote a stirring memo to PBS stations: ...This is a film about young men at war, often in combat, and always in danger. As you might expect, the language of these soldiers is sprinkled with expletives, especially at their moments of greatest fear and stress. As we edited the program, we were judicious, but came to believe that some of that language was an integral part of our journalistic mission: to give viewers a realistic portrait of our soldiers at war. We feel strongly that the language of war should not be sanitized and that there is nothing indecent about its use in this context....free password sex hack
Our attorneys, including outside counsel, have advised us that the expletives in “A Company of Soldiers” do not violate the FCC’s indecency rule. They have concluded that the uses of the f-word and others in this film do not cross the FCC’s guidance against “gratuitous” use....free password sex hack
For these journalistic and legal reasons, FRONTLINE believes this is the moment for public television to stand firm and broadcast “A Company of Soldiers” intact, as it was intended. We believe what is at issue is not the particulars of this case, but the principle of editorial independence. Because overreaching by the FCC is at its heart a First Amendment issue, all programs are at risk, whether art, science, history, culture, or public affairs.free password sex hack
We believe the risks of an adverse outcome are small and the principles we stand on are large. Editorial decisions should be free from influence by the government and should be made in accordance with the standards, practices, and mission of public broadcasting. WGBH in Boston decided to air the uncensored version. free password sex hack
: So first PBS wimps out showing Buster the bunny visiting lesbians because the new secretary of education thinks lesbians are offensive. Now PBS censors our soldiers because Bono said the F-word once. Here is a blogger's interview with the senior editor of the Buster episode. free password sex hack
Limp legislation
: I'm going on MSNBC's Abrams Report at about 6:30 with a Congressman who tried to amend the indecent indecency legislation with a ban of erectile dysfunction ads between 6 and 10 p.m. What a lubcricated slope that is. free password sex hack
: I just got bumped because of the Cosby story (the story: authorities will not prosecute on the allegations a woman made against him). One form of erectile dysfunction or another....free password sex hack
I was so looking forward to telling the Congressman that the real solution to his problem is not legislation; he should just stop buying Viagra.free password sex hack
They don't all hate us
: After the hand-wringers and nervous nellies and snots of big media finished trying to dismiss blogs, the MSM friends of bloggers are coming out of the woodwork. Peggy Noonan has a wonderful column today telling her colleagues why blogs are good: When you hear name-calling like what we've been hearing from the elite media this week, you know someone must be doing something right. The hysterical edge makes you wonder if writers for newspapers and magazines and professors in J-schools don't have a serious case of freedom envy.free password sex hack
The bloggers have that freedom. They have the still pent-up energy of a liberated citizenry, too. The MSM doesn't. It has lost its old monopoly on information. It is angry.free password sex hack
But MSM criticism of the blogosphere misses the point, or rather points.free password sex hack
Blogging changes how business is done in American journalism. The MSM isn't over. It just can no longer pose as if it is The Guardian of Established Truth. The MSM is just another player now. A big one, but a player. And here's Stephen Baker at Business Week singing harmony: In truth, blogging represents an explosion of free speech. While blogs certainly empower lynch mobs, they can also lead to long and open conversations, virtual town meetings. These are the greatest antidote to censorship and secrecy. The Jordan case gave birth to loads of such discussions. free password sex hack
What should PBS be
:
: What should PBS be now that it has all this competition from cable (and pressure from Washington)?free password sex hack
A rose by any other...
: I'm not in the habit of cool links anymore -- so uncool, you know -- but this is irresistable: the baby name voyager, which displays names over time. So depressing to find that you are merely a cliche of your age. [via BlogPulse]free password sex hack
Cable modems and email blocks
: Cablevision sometime ago blocked Port 25 for outgoing email, forcing me to use their email server to send (with no apologies from them, of course, when their server is down). Every damned day, I curse them when I take my laptop back and forth from home to office and have to switch outgoing addresses. That's a great customer relations positioning: The company you curse every day. I know nothing about the tech issues behind this. David Isenberg knows everything. So go read his story about this here. free password sex hack
Gross
: Last night, driving home and listening to cable news (thank you, Sirius), I heard the breaking news that Michael Jackson had thrown up. free password sex hack
Do we need to know that? Do we want to know that? No? Then why do we know that? free password sex hack
I repeat that the news judgment of the people and of big media splits here. They think we want lots of Jackson and cheap trials. I don't think we do. free password sex hack
'We can fact-check your ass'
: Elizabeth Spiers gets to the essence of what we're witnessing with this MSM-blogstorm: It's about fact-checking. It's about getting to the facts. free password sex hack
The fools
: Howard Stern this morning is playing the self-congratulatory babble of the congressmen who kneecapped the First Amendment yesterday. They are obnoxious in their foolish pride. "We're one step away from burning books," Howard says. free password sex hack
On (not off) the wall
: Tom Tyler etched it in brass. free password sex hack
February 16, 2005
Moonblog
: Jerry Brown -- the politician I had more fun covering than any other -- writes his first blog post. [via Doc]free password sex hack
Open the gates
: Mark Cuban and I give big media the same advice: open the gates, keepers. free password sex hack
: Commenters are pissed at his tone; I was at first, too. He compares us to tabloid lense-snappers. From Cuban, that's like Bozo the Clown critiquing opera. But the rest of the post is actually OK: It's about the people watching the powerful anywhere, everywhere. free password sex hack
The enemies of First Amendment
: The House just passed the indecent indecency bill 389-38. As soo as I can, I will put up the names of the brave 38 lawmakers who voted for the First Amendment. free password sex hack
: The Center For Creative Voices in Media -- an anti-media-concentration group -- says: Today’s vote was a tragedy for creative artists. More importantly, it was a tragedy for the American public.free password sex hack
As a result of today’s House vote, the American public will be denied even more opportunities to view quality programming, repeating the tragedy of last Veteran’s Day when broadcasters fearful of an FCC fine abruptly canceled “Saving Private Ryan” – a multiple Oscar-winning tribute to veterans. Today’s House action revokes the public’s right to choose what to watch – and what not to watch – and turns that choice over to Big Brother: the FCC, the Parents Television Council, and the giant media conglomerates who will self-censor programming to avoid these exponentially increased penalties. : Here are the good people who voted for the First Amendment:
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Baird
Berman
Clay
Conyers
Delahunt
Farr
Fattah
Frank (MA)
Grijalva
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Hinchey
Honda
Kucinich
Lee
Lewis (GA)
Lofgren, Zoe
McDermott
Nadler
Owens
Paul
Payne
Sabo
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanders
Schakowsky
Scott (VA)
Serrano
Sherman
Stark
Velázquez
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Waxman
Woolsey
That's one Republican, one independent, and 36 Democrats. free password sex hack
Exploding TV: Fat Actress meets fat pipe
: Yahoo will air the first episode of Fat Actress before it airs on Showtime. Damned smart. Showtime will reach a larger audience. Time will tell what the best distribution mechanism is for such programming -- or whether that choice is left us us instead of to the industry moguls. free password sex hack
Fighting for the First Amendment
: Even the conservative Heritage Foundation believes the indecency legislation rushing through Congress is indecent. James L. Gattuso just published a paper on the Heritage site trying -- late in the day, unfortunately -- to get Congress to stop this rush toward regulation and censorship. The good bits: ...However, the proposed solution, increased government restrictions on speech, is fundamentally misguided. Conservatives – who have long been the targets of politically correct speech codes on college campuses and elsewhere – should be particularly wary of this approach....free password sex hack
Considered more carefully, however, this regulatory approach is flawed and perhaps even dangerous. “Indecency” is a notoriously hard term to define. Content need not be obscene to be indecent, but it must be more that merely offensive or inappropriate. The FCC defines indecency as “language or material that, in context, depicts or describes, in terms patently offensive as measured by contemporary community standards for the broadcast medium, sexual or excretory organs or activities.” This definition is as clear as mud....free password sex hack
The chilling effect that results is very real, keeping much non-offensive—and valuable—material off the air.free password sex hack
Even more dangerously, the push for restrictions on indecency will, almost inevitably, lead to calls for restrictions on other types of content. Who could, for instance, oppose restrictions on “hate speech”—as, of course, defined by regulators. And what about content deemed “insensitive” to others in society? The path to politically correct speech codes is a clear one. Even controls on political speech are possible. There is already talk of re-imposing the “fairness doctrine,” which required broadcasters to air both sides of controversial issues. The doctrine’s effect was to discourage controversial issue-oriented programming. It was not until this rule was repealed in the 1980s that talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh found a place on the radio dial....free password sex hack
Rather than impose ever-stricter limits on media content, lawmakers concerned about the quality of programming should instead promote policies that would expand the choices available to consumers. Already, cable programmers such as the Family Channel and Disney Channel offer family-oriented television. Many more are available on satellite television. And Sirius—despite its Howard Stern deal—recently announced it would offer several channels of children’s radio on its satellite network.free password sex hack
By reducing governmental barriers to new outlets, policymakers could further increase the number of choices available. Such steps could include freeing up underused radio spectrum, reducing regulations that discourage investment in new telecommunications systems, and reducing taxes on providers.free password sex hack
Ultimately, the solution to offensive programming lies not with policymakers but with individual consumers and families. Parents and others unhappy with what they see on the television have available to them weapons more powerful than has any congressman. Like other businesses, broadcasters respond to their customers. Complaints to broadcasters and to the advertisers that support them can be effective. But the most powerful weapons consumers wield are their own remote controls. The right should be fighting this because they hate regulation and big government. The left should be fighting this because they should hate government control of speech. Every American should be fighting this because we believe in the cornerstone of the Constitution, the First Amendment. free password sex hack
Amendment 1.1
: It's a dark day for the First Amendment. The House is expected to pass its indecent indecency bill raising the fine for any of us -- any of us -- who violate the very unclear rules of the FCC to $500,000. free password sex hack
The chickens in Congress -- birds of both parties -- will pass it because they're afraid of voting for smut but not afraid of voting against the Constitution. The chickens in the broadcast industry have done nothing to fight this (if they had any guts, they'd go silent for some period of time in protest, as Howard Stern suggests); the unions are squacking at last. free password sex hack
Meanwhile, the allegedly religious right is pushing for more: They want the Justice Department to go after cable. free password sex hack
Aid and comfort
: A blogger finds an al Jazeera cartoon (animated here) apparently inspired by Eason Jordan's Davos comments. free password sex hack
: I should have added the words -- "which an emailer believes was apparently inspired by..." Commenters are quite right to catch me on that. When I got email on this, I found the blog but no link to Al Jazeera and was, at first, qualifying the statement that this was on their site because I couldn't find it (I keep forgetting to go to the .net vs. the .com). Once found, in its full context, I should have added that qualification. I thank the commenters for the editing. free password sex hack
The agony of the Upper West Side Eeyore
: Kurt Andersen writes a smart -- and, for a New Yorker, quite brave -- column arguing that liberal New Yorkers should face the possibility that the war in Iraq was good: But now our heroic and tragic liberal-intellectual capaciousness is facing its sharpest test since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Back then, most of us were forced, against our wills, to give Ronald Reagan a large share of credit for winning the Cold War. Now the people of this Bush-hating city are being forced to grant the merest possibility that Bush, despite his annoying manner and his administration’s awful hubris and dissembling and incompetence concerning Iraq, just might—might, possibly—have been correct to invade, to occupy, and to try to enable a democratically elected government in Iraq....free password sex hack
Each of us has a Hobbesian choice concerning Iraq; either we hope for the vindication of Bush’s risky, very possibly reckless policy, or we are in a de facto alliance with the killers of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians. We can be angry with Bush for bringing us to this nasty ethical crossroads, but here we are nonetheless.... free password sex hack
Michael Wolff, prisoner of paper
: Michael Wolff, who makes his living trying to find new ways to make people think he's an ass, now goes after the blogs in a speech: I want to stop rambling and finish up by telling you why I don't want to write a blog. Because I don't. At some point in the '50s Truman Capote was asked about Jack Kerouac, and he said, "That's not writing, that's typing," which is to some degree how I feel about blogs. I even hate saying the word blog. I hate being forced to say the word blog.free password sex hack
When I look at that particular blog piece of software I react viscerally. I said, "Oh, I don't want this. I don't want to be part of this." There's that scene in "Doctor Zhivago" where the professionals and the intelligentsia are reduced to having to walk with the hoi polloi, and that's what I feel when I'm forced into this blog stuff.free password sex hack
So I want to take what I think of as a noble and principled stand in saying that I'm not going to be part of this blog stuff. And I'm going to insist upon this until I am washed away....free password sex hack
Well, they do have impact. Part of it is actually involved with a kind of further devaluation of information because what it sets up is this constant second guessing of information. Which is not necessarily bad but it does lower the value of all information. You undermine that authority of information. But having been around this business now for some time I've learned that nothing lasts too long. By all rights, 18 months from now we should be looking back at this and all kind of embarrassed to say the word blog -- I hope. So much for Wolffman.com. free password sex hack
Brave bloggers from Nepal
: Here's a new blog from Nepal with this chilling intro: King Gyandendra of Nepal has issued a ban on independent news broadcasts and has threatened to punish newspapers for reports that run counter to the official monarchist line. Given that any person in Nepal publishing reports critical of "the spirit of the royal proclamation" is subject to punishment and/or imprisonment, contributors to this blog will publish their reports from Nepal anonymously. free password sex hack
On second thought
: Henry Copeland catches a change in the headline on The NY Times' post-Jordan blog story: Earlier today, the NYT's headline read "Bloggers as News Media Trophy Hunters"... now the headline is "Resignation at CNN Shows the Growing Influence of Blogs"... free password sex hack
February 15, 2005
The Mob Times
: I thought we'd be moving past l'affaires' Jordan and "Gannon" today -- I'm jealous of Jay Rosen's certainty when he headlined his latest good post "Closing Thoughts on the Resignation of Eason Jordan" -- but there is more to say about this story, in part because some are trying to make blogs the story rather than Jordan or the White House or the powerful. free password sex hack
Some are trying to call blogs a "lynch mob." Here's what I said in reply to that yesterday on MSNBC:free password sex hack
If seeking truth from power is the action of a lynch mob, then all of journalism is a lynch mob and welcome to it. free password sex hack
We've also heard efforts to call this "McCarthyism." free password sex hack
Well now, that's ludicrous on so many levels, even the definitional: If anyone practiced that thankfully dead art, it could be argued it was Jordan because he as much as held up an unseen piece of paper and said, I have a list; he said he knew something we didn't. He then backtracked and backtracked again because he was questioned by people who demanded to know what he said and what he knew. If a tough reporter did that, would it be "McCarthyism" or "journalism." It's journalism, people.free password sex hack
Now here's Hardblogger calling bloggers -- fellow bloggers, it would seem by the title, no? -- the "Taliban of the American media" and the "Gang of Four." This comes from Chris Matthews' show called Hardball where the goal is to ask hard questions of power. If that's journalism, so is this, eh? free password sex hack
At home, I have an old post that William Randolph Hearst hung on the walls of his newsrooms to remind his reporters of their jobs; I'll dig it up and quote it tomorrow. For now, though, etch this in brass and hang it on the newsroom -- and J-school -- wall:free password sex hack
Welcome to the new world of journalism, where every witness to news can report the news, thanks to the internet; where every citizen can question the powerful, thanks to the internet; where every speaker can be a pundit, thanks to the internet. Journalism is no longer the closed society of the gatekeepers. Journalism can no longer just lecture; now it must listen. News is freed from the limitations of paper and schedules and reporters' pens. Journalists should welcome the help, for journalists should believe that more information yields a more informed society and that is our goal. free password sex hack
So why are some of these journalists attacking the bloggers with such spittle and spite, with the kind of invective they usually try to keep out of their columns (Steve Lovelady called us not just a lynch mob but "salivating morons," stooping to the level of intelligence, subtlety, nuance, and articulation of an Oliver Willis fuss)? Yes, it's jealousy. Yes, it's fear. But it's also truly about not understanding how this world could possibly operate. These are the people who used to control the news and they think it's now uncontrolled; they think that's bad. Listen to Lovelady after he took his meds: But it's no longer the Jeff Jarvises or the David Gergens or Journal editorial writers who drive these matters to a conclusion. It's the headless mob.free password sex hack
Some think that's a good thing, others see anarchy unloosed. As for us, we're with Gergen and the Wall Street Journal editorial writer. This one is not a case of the wisdom of crowds; it's a case of the madness of crowds. You got it reversed, my friend. The head isn't the journalists. The head isn't the politicians. The head is the people. free password sex hack
We work for the public. We serve the public. The public is our boss. Remember? free password sex hack
If you don't believe the public is capable of that -- if you don't believe in the wisdom of the crowd -- then (I've said it before and, be warned, I'll say it again) you don't believe in democracy or free markets or reformed religion or art. If you think you're smarter and better than the people, you set yourself up for a fall -- especially today, when the people own the press. free password sex hack
Are there bloggers who get so mad they issue spittle and spite? Sure (heck, look at Lovelady himself). But are all bloggers like that? Do you judge the society by its worst? There are journalists who make mistakes and even lie and cheat. Do you judge the profession by its worst? Are there New Yorkers who murder? Do you judge the city by its worst? Out of fear, you do. free password sex hack
If anyone's going too far these days, I think it is the few -- and I emphasize few -- who are still digging to destroy "Gannon" after he's already toast (I do not approve of the old-style tabloid vindictiveness going on in some of the links in the comments). They forget that their real target is not this jerk, "Gannon." It is the White House. Remember: Question the powerful. free password sex hack
In the case of Jordan, we bloggers questioned the powerful and apparently the powerful didn't have an answer; if they had, CNN would not have gotten rid of him. Where there's smoke, there's often fire -- but not necessarily from lynch-mob torches. free password sex hack
Should we bloggers and we journalists keep watch on each other to improve the quality of discourse and the reliability of the reporting? You bet. That's what these journalists are trying to do with bloggers. And that's what the bloggers were trying to do with CNN.free password sex hack
But I can't resist noting whose language -- lynch mob, McCarthyism, Taliban, Gang of Four, morons -- was the more fiery and who sounded more like a lynch mob.free password sex hack
: See also: Howard Kurtz: "The power of the blogosphere, I'd suggest, is not in raw numbers but in ideas that garner attention."free password sex hack
: See also: Charlie Madigan in the Chicago Tribune: Shut up with your whining and appreciate the fact that after generations of stagnation, something new has arrived....free password sex hack
So, they all get to climb up on a pedestal now and thump their chests and prounounce, "Got another one!"free password sex hack
This isn't going to stop and I would argue, even more uncomfortably, that it shouldn't.free password sex hack
What new media gets to do now is exactly what old media got to do back when it was new media, which is work out how it is going to be. [ via Glenn] free password sex hack
: LATER: Roger L. Simon does a Googlejuice audit. Just to be fair, the other Jeff Jarvises include a jazz musician and a tourism somethingorother in Australia. I, of course, like to believe I am the Jeff Jarvis.free password sex hack
February 14, 2005
Beyond one-from-column-A/one-from-column-B TV
: Kudlow & Company on CNBC right now has on Hugh Hewitt, Glenn Reynolds, and John Hinderaker at his "blogging heroes" on the Eason Jordan story. Interesting that they didn't feel compelled to get people from each "side" but instead tell the story. Refreshingly different. free password sex hack
Hewitt will be appearing on Scarborough Country next; he bumped me.... But he makes up for it with a plug...free password sex hack
Also, when Kudlow asked about liberal bloggers hating Bush, Hewitt came to the defense of the medium, saying that there are bloggers with whom he disagrees -- Josh Marshall, Matthew Yglesias -- who are still skilled political writers and he reads them. free password sex hack
It's not a column-A/column-B world. It's not a black-and-white, right-and-wrong world. It's more diverse, more complicated, more intelligent than that. free password sex hack
TO: Bill Keller, New York Times
FROM: Jeff Jarvis, blogger
RE: The Times' blog problems and an invitation
: I'm going to end this with an open invitation to Bill Keller, editor of The New York Times. But first....free password sex hack
The New York Times media beat reporters got beaten badly on the Eason Jordan story -- by [gasp] weblogs and cable news -- and so how do they react? By catching up their readers on what they missed? Of course not. They react by lashing out at weblogs. free password sex hack
This morning's story by Katharine Q. Seelye, Jacques Steinberg, and David F. Gallagher -- under the headline, "Bloggers as News Media Trophy Hunters" -- is another example of the disdain in which many quarters of The Times -- not all -- hold citizens' media. free password sex hack
This being The Times, many of the slaps are subtle. When they quote Edward Morrissey of Captains Quarter, who stayed on top of the Jordan story, they make a point of saying he is "a call center manager who lives near Minneapolis" Read: "He's not one of us. He's not a real journalist." free password sex hack
When they acknowledge that Jordan was forced out, they say: Some of those most familiar with Mr. Jordan's situation emphasized, in interviews over the weekend, that his resignation should not be read solely as a function of the heat that CNN had been receiving on the Internet, where thousands of messages, many of them from conservatives, had been posted. I think they mean that to be read: "The bloggers didn't do this; they can't take credit for this head; that's our job to behead the powerful; we're The Times." But I read it this way: "There's much more to the Jordan story that The Times also missed." free password sex hack
But some of the story is hardly subtle. When it comes to quoting media bloggers, they ignore the wise and balanced writings of Jay Rosen on the story and instead, quote the poison-pen letter sent to Rosen by big-media veteran Steve Lovelady: "The salivating morons who make up the lynch mob prevail." free password sex hack
And, yes, they quote me -- from the blog; they did not phone or email me for specific comment -- and they pick that quote carefully: But while the bloggers are feeling empowered, some in their ranks are openly questioning where they are headed. One was Jeff Jarvis, the head of the Internet arm of Advance Publications, who publishes a blog at buzzmachine.com. Mr. Jarvis said bloggers should keep their real target in mind. "I wish our goal were not taking off heads but digging up truth," he cautioned. And, of course, that makes it look as if I'm wringing my hands over the morals of my fellow bloggers when, in fact, I'm worried about precisely what The Times is doing here: using this episode to call us a lynch mob. Here's what I said after that line: We don't want to be positioned as the news lynch mob -- which is where a radio interview yesterday tried to go -- but as the press of the people. Of course, big media can be a lynch mob, too. But that doesn't mean it's an example we should follow. What a handy 'snip.' free password sex hack
The Times also tries to subtly keep alive Jordan's assertion on military targeting journalists with this line: Through the latest uproar, the substance of Mr. Jordan's initial assertion about the military targeting journalists was largely lost. Only problem is, they -- like we -- still do not know the "substance of Mr. Jordan's initial assertion" because we don't have the tape from Davos and they didn't even interview Jordan. free password sex hack
And there's one more subtle dig: The online attack of Mr. Jordan, particularly among conservative commentators, appeared to gain momentum when they were seized on by other conservative outlets. A report on the National Review Web site was followed by editorials in The Washington Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as by a column in The New York Post by Michelle Malkin (a contributor for Fox News, CNN's rival). Read: "Nobody would pay attention to this story if it weren't picked up by real papers." Also read: "Blogs are a conservative lynch mob." free password sex hack
But, of course, what this doesn't say is that the story was reported by the publication that used to be The Times' nemesis before citizens' media and cable news came along: The Washington Post. It was reported there by Howard Kurtz even though he had to navigate the conflict of interest of being a CNN employee. (Note, by the way, that Kurtz was also the person who brought the discussion to CNN's air yesterday and let it be known that I felt free to say anything about the story, the network, and Jordan there and it was made clear that we would be emphasizing Jordan as the major part of our discussion.) You'd think that The Times would have beaten Kurtz to the story. But they were beaten by the Post, blogs, cable news -- oh, the shame; oh, the humiliation -- and why: Because they dismissed this as the mutterings of a rabble, not the news judgment of the people. free password sex hack
Now add this to Sarah Boxer's horrendous unjournalism about Iraqi bloggers and other feature stories about bloggers without lives and many an offhand slap and it is clear that:free password sex hack
The Times has blog issues. So...free password sex hack
TO: Bill Keller, New York Times
FROM: Jeff Jarvis, blogger
RE: An open invitationfree password sex hack
Mr. Keller,free password sex hack
I propose that we hold a one-day meeting of webloggers and Times editors and reporters to discover how the interests of both groups are aligned and how we can work together to improve news. free password sex hack
The problem, Mr. Keller, is that many of your reporters and editors hold citizens' media in obvious disdain that has become all too public in your pages. This means that they are slapping the public you would serve and, in fact, your own readers: people who still read news. This also means that they are missing stories -- witness this one. They are missing the opportunity to correct stories and do better reporting -- witness Boxer's story. They are doing The Times and its reputation in this new medium and with the next generation no favors. That is not true of everyone in the paper, of course; we have seen cases of The Times getting ideas and reporting from blogs and listening to the interests of the public through them. But that is clearly not true in other quarters. free password sex hack
So let's get some Times journalists and citizen journalists together in a room. free password sex hack
The agenda is quite simple:
1. Let's spend a few hours letting each group vent at the other to get over it.
2. Then let's explore our common interests -- quite simply, informing the public, acting as the people's watch on authority, getting to the truth, and creating a better-informed democracy.
3. Finally, let's investigate the ways that citizens' media and professional media can help each other find stories and find the truth and listen to the public and extend the eyes and ears of The Times and its journalists in ways never possible before.
If we do this right, the reporters and the bloggers will learn that the "other side" is not another side at all; this isn't about monoliths and mobs but about good people trying hard to do the right thing. Times Managing Editor Jill Abramson spent a few days at Harvard in a room with bloggers and didn't seem to come off any worse for the wear; I think she and the bloggers came away, instead, with better understanding and respect. free password sex hack
So how about it, Mr. Keller? We'll bring the bagels, you bring the sandwiches. free password sex hack
: MORE:free password sex hack
: Here's Michele Malkin's roundup of dino reaction. free password sex hack
: The Wall Street Journal editorializes, making the assumption that this is the only reason Jordan is out (I don't believe we know that part of the story at all): That may be old-fashioned damage control. But it does not speak well of CNN that it apparently allowed itself to be stampeded by this Internet and talk-show crew. Of course the network must be responsive to its audience and ratings. But it has other obligations, too, chief among them to show the good judgment and sense of proportion that distinguishes professional journalism from the enthusiasms and vendettas of amateurs. free password sex hack
Eeyores
: Well, The Times woke up on the wrong side of the bed in Iraq this morning: The razor-thin margin apparently captured by the Shiite alliance here in election results announced Sunday seems almost certain to enshrine a weak government that will be unable to push through sweeping changes, like granting Islam a central role in the new Iraqi state.
The verdict handed down by Iraqi voters in the Jan. 30 election appeared to be a divided one, with the Shiite political alliance, backed by the clerical leadership in Najaf, opposed in nearly equal measure by an array of mostly secular minority parties.free password sex hack
According to Iraqi leaders here, the fractured mandate almost certainly heralds a long round of negotiating, in which the Shiite alliance will have to strike deals with parties run by the Kurds and others, most of which are secular and broadly opposed to an enhanced role for Islam or an overbearing Shiite government. Or you could call that a check and balance, not unlike most parliamentary democracies in the world and even not unlike having a president of one party and a congress of another here. When the occupation began, I seem to remember doomsayers saying that the people were sure to elect an Iranian-style hardline religoius government. Now they elected a government that will have to find a moderate middle ground -- and that's doom. free password sex hack
 Where there are gates there must be gatekeepers
: Call me a cynic. Call me a philistine. You've called me worse. free password sex hack
But I don't get The Gates. free password sex hack
Shower curtains on parade? Florida citrus product placement? Hare Krishna craziness? free password sex hack
I was early to CNN at Time Warner Center (aka Columbus Circle) on Sunday and walked to the park to see The Gates and The Tourists gaping. I just don't get it. It's one of those moments when New Yorkers, as if under mass hypnosis, ooh and ahh and act all cultural. And I, of the bridge & tunnel crowd, shrug. $20 million for this? free password sex hack
My wife asked what it's supposed to mean. I quoted the artists: Nothing. It's just art. That's the phrase my son associates with the haughtiest blather on Studio 360: It's just art, as if that explains away indulgence. free password sex hack
I wonder why the hell they didn't do this in June when the weather's nice. I wonder what the hell they're going to do with all that saffron fabric (shower curtains?). I wonder why all these people come out to walk under cloth. free password sex hack
I should have stopped off on the way home to buy a velvet Elvis painting, suburban, cynical philistine that I am. free password sex hack
As I walked up, I thought -- cynically -- that I was sure to see orange T-shirts. No, they were blue with orange script, sold alongside The Gates travel coffee mugs (all the better to sip your Starbucks under the art).free password sex hack
I've seen no one else buck the oohing-and-ahhing crowd. Someone had to.
free password sex hack
Panels, panels, and more panels
: We needed this: Rafat Ali and PaidContent give us a blog with digital media events. free password sex hack
February 13, 2005
Serfs at the news cathedral's gates
: Howard Kurtz sums up the stories that were big in blogs and not big in big media this week: l'affaires Jordan, Gannon, and Steffen. This is what we'll be talking about this morning on Kurtz' Reliable Sources at 11:30a ET. Before these kind of appearances, I also try to summarize the talking points (aka sound bites). Here are myi notes: free password sex hack
What ties these stories together is really just that citizens sought the truth without much help from the press (who used to have exclusive call on that job).free password sex hack
In the case of Jordan, we (still) want to know what he said in Davos about U.S. soldiers and the deaths of journalists. As a journalist, what Jordan said or did not say is relevant because it reveals his attitude and his network's attitude toward covering the military and the war in Iraq. It is also relevant because a journalist should not make an allegation without the facts to back it up at the ready (isn't that our most fundamental principle?). This is not to say that all the citizens knocking at his door were out for his head. We wanted to know whether he indeed said this and if he did, what did he have to back it up. As I've said and Glenn Reynolds has said in Kutz' story, if he'd admitted it and apologized, that probably would have ended it (though not without continuing grumbling). But clearly there was more to the Jordan story inside CNN, and so he is gone. free password sex hack
The blog angle: Citizen journalists are being portrayed in some quarters as the lynch mob that got him but that's both wrong and perilous. free password sex hack
In the case of "Gannon," this is more a story about the White House than him. Did the White House stack the press deck and was the President cued to pull the friendly card out of that deck? Is the White House manipulating the press in this way (too)? free password sex hack
The blog angle: A few issues here. First, it's hard to insist that "Gannon" as a partisan should not be allowed into a press conference when we opinionated bloggers -- including the activist advocate, Kos, who led the charge on "Gannon" -- are also demanding access. Second, by going after Gannon's personal issues -- his made-up name, his hinky past, made all the easier because he comes off like an intense jerk -- the bloggers lost focus on the real issue (above) and shifted the focus to themselves, getting them portrayed as a lynch mob. That, again, is perilous. free password sex hack
In the case of Steffen, a political operative used the internet to smear the mayor of Baltimore with lies and the internet helped catch him. free password sex hack
The blog angle: The internet gets to the truth quickly. free password sex hack
The press angles to all this: free password sex hack
First, journalist-priests are no longer the gatekeepers in either direction -- to authority and truth for the public, or from newsmakers to the people. Now the public can demand answers from the powerful and the powerful can avoid the press and talk to the public in new ways. free password sex hack
Second, news just speeded up and old media isn't ready for this. We used to control the speed of news because we were the gatekeepers. No more. That is a big disconnect between big and citizens' media: We want answers and we don't want the press or the powerful to take their sweet time to give them to us. free password sex hack
Third, off-the-record is dead. Now that everyone has access to a press -- the internet -- anyone you talk to could be a Wolf Blitzer in sheep's clothing.
Welcome to the age of transparency. free password sex hack
Finally, big media won't get away with portraying the citizens at the gates as serfs and mobs for long or they will storm the place. But the better way to look at it is this: Big media should welcome the voice of the people for now we can work together; now we can find out what the people want to know and help them know it; now we have more eyes and ears where news happens. Now every witness can be a reporter and every citizen a pundit and that is good for news and the democracy. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Here's Glenn Reynolds' reaction to the show. free password sex hack
: I was impressed that both David Gergen and Bill Press gave props to blogs as a very important new force in news and politics. free password sex hack
: Trey Jackson has video. free password sex hack
: LATER: The trancript is up. If only Davos could say that....free password sex hack
: At Dean's site, Joe Gandelman excerpts the transcript. free password sex hack
February 12, 2005
Pay for placement
: The FTC is not going to require that product placement be disclosed. But the industry damned well should make it a policy to disclose it or no one will ever know when to trust anything they say. Does Jerry Seinfeld really like cereal?free password sex hack
Microsofthearted
: Wonderful story in The Economist on Robert Scoble as Microsoft's chief humanizing officer and the death of corporate communications, aka PR. Well, sure. If you actually tell the truth to people you don't have to spend on spin. See this example of Scoble responding to someone who smells rot in the company. free password sex hack
The news judgment of the public
: Howard Kurtz' Washington Post story is up. He says: Several CNN staffers say Jordan was eased out by top executives who had lost patience with both the controversy and the continuing published gossip about Jordan's personal life after a marital breakup. Jordan's authority already had been greatly reduced after a management shakeup. And: As of yesterday, the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and USA Today had not carried a staff-written story, and the CBS, NBC and ABC nightly news programs had not reported the matter. It was discussed on several talk shows on Fox News, MSNBC and CNBC but not on CNN. And then there's this curious line: Even as he said he had misspoken at an international conference in suggesting that coalition troops had "targeted" a dozen journalists and insisted he never believed that, Jordan was being pounded hourly by bloggers, liberals as well as conservatives, who provided the rocket fuel for a story that otherwise might have fizzled. Not sure what he means by that. Is he saying it's a nonstory made a story by pounding bloggers? Well, major media thought so. But apparently, CNN did not. free password sex hack
I would have to think that this morning, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, USA Today, CBS, NBC and ABC ... and CNN ... are or should be embarrassed that they are reporting the dramatic climax of a story they never told their readers about. free password sex hack
The news judgment of the professionals meets the news judgment of the public. And they sure as hell aren't the same. free password sex hack
: And on Kurtz himself... free password sex hack
An unnamed commenter in the post below says: Incredibly, Jeff doesn't think Kurtz's conflict-of-interest matters.free password sex hack
Maybe the Post should let Kurtz keep his CNN job, but the paper needs to assign all CNN-related stores to other reporters. I don't understand why Jeff disagrees, especially given Kurtz's pathetic track record tidying up Eason Jordan's blunders. And I reply: Well, Howard Kurtz was the ONLY reporter or critic in big media to write about this. He may not have written about it the way you wanted -- no one will ever agree on everything -- and he may not have done it as fast we bloggers think he should have, but he did write about it and, as he (and I) say here, the other big media outlets should be embarrassed today that they are reporting the end of the story without ever reporting the beginning of it. The Post made Kurtz' relationship clear.free password sex hack
If we're going to demand transparency of journalists (and bloggers), we can't then say that you can't talk about anything with which you have a relationship. Rebecca MacKinnon said she worked for and admired Eason Jordan and yet she did very good reporting and commentary on this. Kurtz works for two media outlets but, again, he was the only one to write this story.free password sex hack
The point of transparency is that people will tell us their interests and connections and we can then judge them accordingly. You can still judge Kurtz harshly or you can be impressed that he was the one guy to report this: Your choice. And that's the point.free password sex hack
I'm not defending Kurtz here. I'm defending a position I found myself in at Time Inc. At the end of the day, it was my personal integrity that made me do the right thing in the face of corporate pressure. Because of that pressure, I left the company and the magazine I started. I gave up three years' salary, bonus and benefits because I would not sign the editors' contract that would have required me to keep quiet about my time there. Unfortunately, no one wanted to story anyway. But I can tell you the price of that transparency down to the penny. And you can bet Eason Jordan will (finally) be discussed on CNN tomorrow morning. free password sex hack
: LATER: Timothy Karr writes: The problem is that much of the story was driven by those seeking to score political points. The new and accurate information that they often uncover is just a byproduct of the witch hunt. This controversy mounted as mainstream news reporters fed off the blogs; their resulting mainstream coverage stoked the ranting pundits on the endless cable talk shows. This media storm then spun back into the blogosphere, which ratcheted the frenzy up another notch . And so on.free password sex hack
The left got their trophy head on Tuesday, now the right's hoisting theirs. Meanwhile the public cynicism about journalism grows. Perhaps the biggest victim in all of this is the credibility of those many reporters who do do honest work. As I said below, I wish our goal were not taking off heads but digging up truth. free password sex hack
We don't want to be positioned as the news lynch mob -- which is where a radio interview yesterday tried to go -- but as the press of the people. Of course, big media can be a lynch mob, too. But that doesn't mean it's an example we should follow. free password sex hack
In the case of Jordan, I don't know what a poll would show but I don't think that most people were necessarily after his head; they wanted his admission and his apology. In the case of Gannon, bloggers certainly were after his head -- that is, getting him out of the press room -- but I, among others, think the stretch into his past lives only reinforces the lynch mob image. free password sex hack
There are two followups to the Jordan story: First, again, we still want that tape. Second, someone at CNN has to explain why he's gone and I doubt it's only because of this flap alone. free password sex hack
: MORE...free password sex hack
: Michele Malkin has a good roundup.free password sex hack
: A commenter is right: I need to give major props to Rep. Barney Frank. As Kaus says: "It should also be noted that the controversy was kept alive not just by blogs, but by the refusal of a relatively liberal Democrat, Barney Frank, to sweep it under the rug in gentlemanly fashion."free password sex hack
: WHAT LIBERAL BLOGOSPHERE? I wrote about both l'affaire Eason and l'affaire Gannon. I just went to liberal blogs -- Atrios, Kos, MyDD, and - cough - Alterman -- and find nothing about Eason. Major media outlets listed by Kurtz, below, also said nothing about Eason until he quit. free password sex hack
: Micah Sifry says that even with "Jeff Gannon" out of the White House, the great American pastime there remains softball: Yeah, I'm amused/outraged to learn that this White House gave a press pass to a ringer, but what about all those so-called professional journalists who ask nothing but softball questions, too? Anybody who doesn't know what I'm talking about ought to watch a tape of the president's infamous press conference on the eve of the Iraq War, when the peacocks of the press all stumbled over their ties and red dresses in abject acquiescence, afraid to pose a hard one for fear of offending the powers that be. Just because Guckert/Gannon (who certainly didn't deserve a press pass) is out, we shouldn't assume that the other "legitimate" reporters in the press room are asking questions that aren't also subtly shaped by the power of that institution. After all, the White House press office, whether controlled by a Democrat or a Republican, long ago learned that it could tame professional journalists by offering or withholding access, including threatening to push them to a back row or out of the press room entirely or off Air Force One. So, do we really expect any of these men and women of the Fourth Estate to prove that they're not all that different from "Jeff Gannon"? : Lost Remote's Cory Bergman frets: I think media watchdog blogs play an important role, but this latest story will only lead to greater distrust between media execs and bloggers. Selfishly, it makes our jobs harder here at Lost Remote. Over the past few months, I've noticed that media execs who are not familiar with Lost Remote -- the very people we're trying to attract -- are becoming less inclined to trust us simply because we're a "blog." Back in 1999 when we launched as an "industry news site," we had trouble landing interviews because people thought we were insignificant. Now that we have a very respectable audience, we're battling a blog perception problem inside the industry. Very unfortunate. Perhaps. But I also think that you'll see more sucking up to citizens' media for two reasons: First, because media is like a fly to heat and blogs have heat. And second, because they're going to learn -- eventually -- that stonewalling and dissing will get them nowhere. free password sex hack
: Just what we needed -- the French perspective: EditorsWeblog, an odd endeavor that tries to speak for journalism coming from the world -- no small task -- has pissed me off before (when they spread the libel on Iraqi blogs without evidence or reporting or fact or the things we like to call journalism). And now they've done it again. Bertrand Pecquerie says of the questioning of Eason Jordan (his bolding): Within the honest community of bloggers, some of them claimed to be the "sons of the First Amendment", they just were the sons of Senator McCarthy. And this is very worrying to see this new wedding between self-proclaimed citizen's media and maintstream journalists scalps' hunters. Fifty years ago, it was enough to be communist to be fired, today, it is enough to raise questions about the Bush administration policy in Iraq to be denounced as "anti-American". Once again, Monsieur, you miss the essence of this -- the facts, also known as the journalism. The issue here is whether Jordan did or did not say that journalists were targeted by U.S. troops in Iraq and whether he had any facts to back that up. You quote only one person who was there. Many others said he did, indeed, say this. The only way to know is to get the transcript that Davos still refuses to release. Many of us did not call for Jordan's head but for the facts -- something journalists do, you know. We still do not have those facts. In the meantime, CNN apparently got sick and tired of Jordan and booted him. Ask CNN why that happened. Try reporting, Monsieur, before you start throwing around epithets like McCarthyism. And as for making nice with the likes of Saddam Hussein, I could throw around epithets like Vichy... but I won't. free password sex hack
February 11, 2005
Media on media
: I'm making my maiden voyage on Howard Kurtz' show Sunday. He said tonight after calling for quotes on Eason Jordan, "We'll have plenty to talk about." Oh, yeah. free password sex hack
Eason Jordan quits
: Eason Jordan resigns CNN. And I honestly don't get it. If he had been upfront about what he said from the start; if he had demanded that Davos release the tape and transcript; if he had admitted to putting his foot in his mouth and apologized and said he was wrong; if he'd done that, he'd still have a job. For a lesson, see: Dan Rather. But he released obfuscating statements and didn't level with the public he's supposed to serve and now he's slinking away like a criminal when he should be apologizing for saying something stupid. Pride goeth with the fall: CNN chief news executive Eason Jordan quit Friday amid a furor over remarks he made in Switzerland last month about journalists killed by the U.S. military in Iraq. Jordan said he was quitting to avoid CNN being "unfairly tarnished" by the controversy....free password sex hack
"I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise," Jordan said in a memo to fellow staff members at CNN.free password sex hack
But the damage had been done, compounded by the fact that no transcript of his actual remarks has turned up. There was an online petition calling on CNN to find a transcript, and fire Jordan if he said the military had intentionally killed journalists....free password sex hack
"I have decided to resign in an effort to prevent CNN from being unfairly tarnished by the controversy over conflicting accounts of my recent remarks regarding the alarming number of journalists killed in Iraq," Jordan said.... He could have called his muckety-buddies at Davos and gotten the tape and released a transcript and admitted his error and apologized for it. But he didn't. I repeat: I don't get it. Could it be that he watched the tape and saw that it was a killer? But how could it have been worse than what was reported already? free password sex hack
Or could it be that this was a final straw with his bosses, who said that he'd marched on his tongue once too often? If that is the case, then the bosses sure took a long time to decide that. free password sex hack
Oh, yeah, I used to work at Time Warner. They do take a long time to decide anything. It's not easy getting task forces to meet. free password sex hack
Here's what has always amazed me about my business: News people, who are used by PR people, are the worst at figuring out their own PR. free password sex hack
: Jay Rosen has Jordan's statement. While my CNN colleagues and my friends in the U.S. military know me well enough to know I have never stated, believed, or suspected that U.S. military forces intended to kill people they knew to be journalists, my comments on this subject in a World Economic Forum panel discussion were not as clear as they should have been.free password sex hack
I never meant to imply U.S. forces acted with ill intent when U.S. forces accidentally killed journalists, and I apologize to anyone who thought I said or believed otherwise. I have great admiration and respect for the men and women of the U.S. armed forces, with whom I have worked closely and been embedded in Baghdad, Tikrit, and Mosul, in addition to my time with American soldiers, sailors, Marines, and airmen in Afghanistan, former Yugoslavia, Somalia, Kuwait, Bahrain, and the Arabian Gulf. : Here's NZ Bear's Eason roundup. free password sex hack
: Lucianne says: "High tens to the Pajamahadeen - Let the revolution begin"free password sex hack
: At 8:20p I still can't find the story on CNN.com.free password sex hack
: UPDATE: CNN has the story up. Says it went up at 8:19; missed each other by a minute. free password sex hack
: On the air at 10:08p, CNN reports on l'affaire Gannon. I don't hear anything about l'affaire Jordan. free password sex hack
: I'll repeat what I said a few days ago: This is about the speed of news in a world of citizen publishers (which means you can't wait almost two weeks to respond to citizens' questions and demands) and about the gatekeepers losing their gates (and their control) and about the death of off-the-record (when anybody who hears you can publish to the world). free password sex hack
: Sisyphus is baffled. free password sex hack
: The delicious tags feed on Jordan. free password sex hack
More from La Shawn Barber. free password sex hack
: Kaus adds: P.S.: It should also be noted that the controversy was kept alive not just by blogs, but by the refusal of a relatively liberal Democrat, Barney Frank, to sweep it under the rug in gentlemanly fashion. ... free password sex hack
: Mark at Decision '08 predicts what some will say about blogs tomorrow: No, this one is different. This time it was the bloggers, and the bloggers alone, that pushed this man out. That will be heady stuff for some; it will scare the pants off of others...but what does it mean, really? Have we entered an era where our lives can be destroyed by a pack of wolves hacking at their keyboards with no oversight, no editors, and no accountability? Or does it mean that we've entered a brave new world where the MSM has become irrelevant?free password sex hack
I would argue that neither of those extremes is the case. What has been shown, though, is that the mass media, mainstream media, MSM, whatever you want to call it, is being held to account as never before by the strong force of individual citizens who won't settle for sloppy research and inflammatory comments without foundation, particularly from those with a wide national reach, such as Rather and Eason....
: What's the goal of these hunts? To get people fired? Or to get to the truth? I'd like to think it is the latter. If Dan Rather had come out the day after his report and said, "Thank you," to the bloggers and sought the truth, many would have still been suspicious and critical, but I think his tale would have a different ending. If Jordan had left a comment on the Davos blog as soon as the post went up and said, "Man, I misspoke and didn't mean to say that and I was wrong," people would still be pissed, but I think his tale would have a different ending. If "Jeff Gannon" had fessed up immediately, he wouldn't have had a different ending -- he'd be out of the press club -- but he wouldn't be whining about being "harrassed." free password sex hack
Take a lesson from Bill Moyers, who messed up and correctd himself and apologized like a man (and a journalist). I'm not Moyers' biggest fan but you have to say that he put the truth ahead of his stubborness. free password sex hack
Learn this lesson well: The speed of news has changed and so has the speed of scandal. You can't wait and hope something will go away. Today, that's tantamount to a coverup. Dan Rather: Remember Dick Nixon?free password sex hack
Citizens' media has turn down the stonewall. free password sex hack
: Oh, yes, and before we forget... Davos: Release the tape! You, too, can't stonewall or your little club will become known as the place where the powerful can try to lie. free password sex hack
: NEXT MORNING UPDATE: Joe Gandelman has one of his patented roundups. free password sex hack
: Rebecca MacKinnon worries: The point is, there are clearly some real tensions and disagreements about what's been taking place on the ground in Iraq - and why. As a member of the audience during the now-infamous panel, one thing was very clear to me: bad feeling between U.S. servicepeople and journalists in Iraq is coloring news coverage. No matter where you stand on the war or anything else, you have to recognize that nobody is served by letting this bad feeling fester, supported by much rumor and few facts. free password sex hack
The heroism of the Iraqi voter
: Dan Henninger in the Wall Street Journal nominates the Iraqi voter for the Nobel Peace Prize. I second that nomination: They have already won the world's peace prize by demonstrating in a single day a commitment not seen in our lifetime to peace, self-determination and human rights -- the goals for which the Nobel Peace Prize began in 1901. Formal recognition by the Nobel Committee of what the Iraqi people did on Jan. 30 would do more to ensure the furtherance of these goals, in concrete ways, than any other imaginable recipient this year. Who did more?free password sex hack
The history of the Peace Prize shows as well that Iraq's voters placed themselves squarely at the center of one of the Nobel Committee's enduring, seemingly quixotic, goals -- peace in the Middle East. : And right next to that on the WSJ edit page, Bernard Lewis -- a Middle East expert I'll take over Juan P.S. Cole any day -- says the are not only heroic but historic: The Iraqi election is a momentous occasion even in the long history of that cradle of civilizations that we now call the Middle East. This election was an achievement first and foremost of the Iraqi people, who showed both wisdom and courage -- wisdom in recognizing the meaning of freedom though it was unfamiliar, courage in operating it despite both danger and inexperience.free password sex hack
The critics have been proved wrong, both the so-called realists, more accurately denigrators, and some of the so-called friends and supporters, more precisely previous or expectant participants in the profits of tyranny....free password sex hack
The cause of freedom has won a major battle, but it has not yet won the war. Democracy in Iraq and elsewhere in the region faces a double threat, on the one hand from ruthless and resolute enemies, on the other from fickle and hesitant friends. We must stay with the Iraqi democrats, even if their choice of rulers is not what some of us would have preferred. It is their country, and freedom -- a free election -- means that the choice is theirs.free password sex hack
But our role has been, and will for a while remain, crucial. In successive phases, we enabled the peoples of Axis-ruled Europe and Asia to create or restore democracy. More recently, we helped give the peoples of the former Soviet bloc the opportunity to do the same, and some are well on the way. Now it is time for the countries of the Middle East to join the Free World, and recover their rightful place in the forefront of civilization. free password sex hack
----gate
: On l'affaire Gannon, Robert Cox of The National Debate asks: Does anyone else find it amusing that the leading liberal blogger, Kos, is among those leading the charge in attacking a guy for acquiring a press pass while writing for a partisan, advocacy web site.free password sex hack
This IS the same Kos who, as Chris Nolan noted, showed up at a "Western DNC" event wearing a press and was credentialed at the DNC, right?free password sex hack
Seems to me this is another "whose ox is getting gored" story. Hmmmm. free password sex hack
: On l'affaire Jordan (I agree with Jay Rosen that we shouldn't be ----gating everything until we know it's a ----gate), Hugh Hewitt says that Jay, Mickey Kaus, and I are bloggers from the left who are following the Jordan story. OK, thanks. But the real reason I decided to blog it is more because I follow media. I learned my lesson in l'affaire Rather, when I missed the media story because I was following the mud. Note that the media story takes a little more time to develop as we watch who does and doesn't report on the tale. That's why I was late posting on l'affaires Gannon and Jordan, but I did. free password sex hack
: Jay Rosen has a great post this morning on various media fallout clouds from the Jordan and Gannon stories. free password sex hack
: Just asking: FoxNews has covered the Jordan story. Have they covered the Gannon story? (I wish TV news were searchable, too! But it's not, so I'm asking you.)free password sex hack
CNN has covered the Gannon story. Have they yet made a mention of the Jordan story? free password sex hack
The NYTimes has covered Gannon. Has it covered Jordan? free password sex hack
Jeff Gannon on GoogleNews. Eason Jordan on GoogleNews.free password sex hack
: ABC Radio News called this morning on these stories. Their angle seemed to be that bloggers are a nasty mob going after people. I said this is about people having a voice and more voices and good (usual soundbite). They included in this the tale of the Baltimore mayor, below. I said that tale proved just how effective the internet is at getting to the truth, for in the old days, this stupid political hack would have smeared mud on an opponent in the background and here he did it on the internet and was found out for the smearer he was. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Someone smart responded to Cox (above) with some points I'd like to make. The response was made on an email list and I didn't get the OK to use his name so I'll paraphrase the points:free password sex hack
He said that the real question and the real issue is whether the White House put a ringer in the press corps. If that happened, it's a misuse of the power; it's a fraud on the public. I absolutely agree with that. free password sex hack
What if the White House did not actively coconspire with "Gannon" to stack the press deck? Motive still matters. They surely knew he came from a -- cough -- friendly -- cough -- news service. If they didn't let in someone from a service on the other side, then it's still stacking the deck and that's still wrong. free password sex hack
Next point: Kos was credentialed as a blogger and wasn't given a rare space in a Presidential press conference and wasn't called on by said President to ask a softball question. Fair point.free password sex hack
Is the only issue scarcity of seats or power of the event? Or is it consistency? Kos says he's not a journalist but an advocate but he gets press passes. In a world of opinionated media and citizens' media, I can argue in favor of that easily. But then we have to ask where is this OK and not: Is it OK to give an advocate a press pass at a political convention or on a campaign bus -- but not OK at an FCC press conference or a White House press conference? If you give such passes to advocates from one side, should you give them to advocates from the other? It's not a simple issue from either side of the prism. free password sex hack
Cox still has a point about -- what should I call it? -- hypocrisy, no? He complains about political advocate getting press access but he gets press access. I score that one for Cox. free password sex hack
But this respondent raises one more important point: There is a rhetorical trick in the air with people taking one perceived sin from one side and putting it against a perceived sin from the other side and thinking that is both equivalent and balanced. Are Gannon and Jordan equivalent and does reporting both of them make the reporter balanced? Ditto Bush's and Kerry's service records? It not only makes for fake column-a/column-b cable-news balance, it even motivates the press to go after somebody from one side when they start reporting on a scandal from the other side so it can seem balanced. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: The smart person paraphrased above is David Weinberger. Just got his OK to say that. free password sex hack
ID me
: I know some folks will squeal about this but I'm in favor of electronic ID cards. free password sex hack
February 10, 2005
  Charles and Camilla
: I have one thing to say:free password sex hack
Thank goodness we do not have tax-supported celebrities. free password sex hack
They're just celebrities as insipid as celebrities anywhere. But at least we don't pay for their obnoxious lives. free password sex hack
God bless our founding fathers. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Ha says in the comments that if you follow that link, you will see the photos above on the same page, prompting the question: "It is hard to believe that these two women live on the same planet."free password sex hack
'Gannon' speaks
: Wolf Blitzer interviews fakey White House 'correspondent' 'Jeff Gannon' just now. free password sex hack
Howard Kurtz plays a tape of Gannon asking his softball -- and innaccurate -- question of Bush (and attack on Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton). Kos gets credit for finding Gannon's real name and story. Rep. Slaughter is quoted asking whether the White House let him in as a tool of the administration and the White House denies. Kurtz says some say bloggers went too far digging into his background. Cut to Wolf. free password sex hack
Wolf asks him to explain the name thing. "It's a professional name. I used it because Jeff Gannon is easier to pronounce." Who does he think he is, Cher?free password sex hack
If you didn't do anything wrong, why did you resign? He says people have harrassed and threatened him and his family. He says people have followed him to church (nice touch). free password sex hack
Wolf asks about the sexually explicit websites he was working on. "I don't understand what that is," says Wolf. Gannon says he did it for a client and the sites never went up. free password sex hack
Wolf asks whether he was there to ask softball questions or whether he was there "as a real journalist." Gannon says Talon is a real news service. "I created the questions, nobody fed the questions to me." It's not as if anyone would have to write them for him. free password sex hack
Nothing about the other things Gannon did at the White House or his relationship with others, besides the owner of his 'news service,' Bobby Eberle.free password sex hack
Softball to the softball player, I'd say. free password sex hack
Now maybe they will do the softball interview with Eason Jordan. free password sex hack
The self-correcting medium
: Citizens' media both spreads rumors and debunks them. Citizens' media also forces mainstream media to cover stories it may not otherwise cover. There's an example of all this in Baltimore after online postings alleging that the mayor, Martin O'Malley, had an affair. Another person posting about the topic was revealed this week to be Joseph Steffen, a longtime political operative for O'Malley's political rival, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.free password sex hack
That story, and Steffen's resignation, broke in the mainstream media. But it highlights how Web sites - with their freewheeling rumors and rants - increasingly are forcing more traditional news institutions to write articles that otherwise wouldn't see the light of day.free password sex hack
Rumors of O'Malley's alleged infidelity have long circulated in Baltimore but were not printed in such daily newspapers as The Sun or The Washington Post. It took postings on the Free Republic site, based in Fresno, Calif., to bring that gossip into the local papers of public record, as part of the story of a state official's resignation for helping to spread such chatter....free password sex hack
The Web site's treatment of the O'Malley rumor and the 60 Minutes report underscores the dual nature of this new form of communication, which traffics in unsubstantiated rumors but can also serve as a check on the mainstream media. See also Jeff Gannon. See also Eason Jordan. free password sex hack
Exploding TV: The fuse it lit
: The Online Publishers Association finds growing demand for video online. Says Digital Deliverance: Its study of 27,841 Internet users on 25 of its members sites found that watching video online is becoming increasingly popular and that news videos were the most popular form of that content.free password sex hack
Twenty seven percent of those users view online video at least once per week and five percent of them view it daily. A majority of users (51 percent) watch video online at least once per month.free password sex hack
Perhaps because worktime is for work, online video viewers were more likely to watch from home than work: 35 percent said they frequently watch online video from home and only 16 percent said they did so from work. free password sex hack
Follow this money
: Fred Wilson and Brad Burnham -- two of the smartest and most generous (with wisdom that is) men I've met in this new world -- have officially launched their new VC fund: Union Square Ventures "dedicated to making early stage investments in technology enabled service businesses that are disrupting markets, particularly the marketing, media, financial services, and telcomm markets." And there's plenty of disrupting going on. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Now this is a show worth watching: Fred Wilson fisks Jason Calacanis.... And Jason responds. free password sex hack
The Angry Party
: When Howard Dean was running for President, I said that his real goals were not just to take over the White House but also to take over the Democratic Party with his army of young turks and the power of citizens' media and the lure of. Well, he failed at the first, but he's about to succeed at the second.free password sex hack
When Dean is elected by acclamation as the new head of the Democratic National Committee, I won't be one of the Democrats jumping with apparent joy. Yes, I've made cracks about the wisdom of choosing a loser to head the party. And, no, I did not support Dean as a presidential candidate. And, sure, I'll be delighted to see him try to shake up the power structure of campaign fundraising with his army of young turks and aggregated fortune in $25 contributions and experience in using the tools of citizens' media to change the world. None of that is my problem.free password sex hack
My fear is that the takeover by Dean and the Deaniacs cements our unfortunate position as The Angry Party. free password sex hack
It's not just that Dean was the angry candidate -- which, I said then, was my biggest problem with him as a candidate -- and that the Deaniacs were the angry young people. It's that the left has turned into the mad side. Our states shouldn't be painted in cool blue but in fiery red. free password sex hack
When I read blogs from the left or read comments here and elsewhere from that side (and remember that I manage to piss off both sides and so I have a basis of comparison), I hear a predominance of two tones when there is disagreement: the rage of a rabid dog or the moan of a resigned Eeyore. The blogs and commenters from the right -- who, lord knows, can be just as venemous -- sound, nonetheless, a bit calmer, more in control, more mature, even. Oddly, I don't see the exact same pattern in TV punditry: The O'Reilly's are still spitting angry. And perhaps the left is still trying to emulate that under the theory that, hey, it worked for the other side: It got them elected.free password sex hack
But there are three problems with this: free password sex hack
First, we set ourselves up as the party in permanent opposition: Our role is to be angry with the guys in power rather than saying what we'd do if when are in in power. free password sex hack
And that leads to the second problem: We're against more than we're for. Iraq: Nothing good ever happens. (See Tom Friedman -- a Democrat of my ilk -- this morning on four things in Iraq Democrats should be excited about). Social Security: Some even say there's no problem and nothing to do. These are both problems that need fixes; we've already heard the complaints. That's not a way to win elections. free password sex hack
Then there's the third problem: It's no fun hanging out with angry people. I'm sick of certain people people saying I'm not their kind of Democrat; when did we become the party of exclusion? During the recent kerfluffle between Kos and Zephyr Teachout, we were reminded of the bile of the Deaniacs. This is why they didn't win Iowa; it wasn't the hats, folks, it was the fangs. People who are constantly mad (see: Alterman) and politics is about making friends. free password sex hack
Finally, here's the fourth problem: It's about winning the next election. See today's USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll: Hillary Clinton is leading the polls (40 percent v. 25 for Kerry -- God forbid -- and 17 for Edwards). And on the other side, Rudy's No. 1 wth 34 percent and McCkain's second with 29 percent. This is going to be an election won at the center -- I hope -- and so the last thing the Democrats should be today is The Angry Party. free password sex hack
Let's hope that Dr. Dean prescribes himself and our party a few tranqs.free password sex hack
The October surprise ... five months late
: There are two scandals in today's NY Times story on just-declassified portions of the 9/11 Commission report that detail the many specific warnings about al Qaeda the FAA received:free password sex hack
The first is the dangerous incompetence of the FAA and of airport security in the months leading up to September 11th.free password sex hack
The second is that this was not released before the election. That feels, sounds, tastes, and smells like election fraud. free password sex hack
During the commission hearings and when its report was released, based on what we were told, I was one of those who said the blame for not stopping the attacks could not fall on one administration, neither Clinton nor Bush. But now we are told this: The report discloses that the Federal Aviation Administration, despite being focused on risks of hijackings overseas, warned airports in the spring of 2001 that if "the intent of the hijacker is not to exchange hostages for prisoners, but to commit suicide in a spectacular explosion, a domestic hijacking would probably be preferable."free password sex hack
The report takes the F.A.A. to task for failing to pursue domestic security measures that could conceivably have altered the events of Sept. 11, 2001, like toughening airport screening procedures for weapons or expanding the use of on-flight air marshals. The report, completed last August, said officials appeared more concerned with reducing airline congestion, lessening delays, and easing airlines' financial woes than deterring a terrorist attack.free password sex hack
The Bush administration has blocked the public release of the full, classified version of the report for more than five months, officials said, much to the frustration of former commission members who say it provides a critical understanding of the failures of the civil aviation system. The administration provided both the classified report and a declassified, 120-page version to the National Archives two weeks ago and, even with heavy redactions in some areas, the declassified version provides the firmest evidence to date about the warnings that aviation officials received concerning the threat of an attack on airliners and the failure to take steps to deter it.free password sex hack
Among other things, the report says that leaders of the F.A.A. received 52 intelligence reports from their security branch that mentioned Mr. bin Laden or Al Qaeda from April to Sept. 10, 2001. That represented half of all the intelligence summaries in that time.free password sex hack
Five of the intelligence reports specifically mentioned Al Qaeda's training or capability to conduct hijackings, the report said. Two mentioned suicide operations, although not connected to aviation, the report said....free password sex hack
The F.A.A. did not see a need to increase the air marshal ranks because hijackings were seen as an overseas threat, and one aviation official told the commission said that airlines did not want to give up revenues by providing free seats to marshals.free password sex hack
The F.A.A. also made no concerted effort to expand their list of terror suspects, which included a dozen names on Sept. 11, the report said. The former head of the F.A.A.'s civil aviation security branch said he was not aware of the government's main watch list, called Tipoff, which included the names of two hijackers who were living in the San Diego area, the report said.free password sex hack
Nor was there evidence that a senior F.A.A. working group on security had ever met in 2001 to discuss "the high threat period that summer," the report said. Now we must know who decided to classify this material and keep it from the nation before the election. Who and why? free password sex hack
Wiki this
: In a nice feature on Jimmy Wales and Wikinews, there's this incredible bit from the clearly bitter former editor in chief of Encyclopedia Brittanica. "Making a newspaper is hard," said Robert McHenry, former editor in chief of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Someone who wants to do it but doesn't really know how hasn't solved the problem by gathering a lot of other people who don't know, either."free password sex hack
Mr. McHenry was skeptical about Wikinews's ability to provide a neutral point of view and its claim to be evenhanded. "The naïveté is stunning," he said. Well, sir, the naïveté of your former company was also stunning. At the recent Harvard confab, Jimmy looked dead in the eye of the ME of the NYT and said he didn't see the business model for newspapers in the future and when that was met with skepticism he said that back when the Encyclopedia Brittanica had a $350 million budget, no one thought it would be replaced by a bunch of volunteers working for free. I'm not saying that Wikinews will or should replace news organizations -- without reporting, it cannot -- but to act as if it doesn't exist and doesn't matter is, indeed, naive. News execs should pay heed to this object lesson from one dinosaur roaring from the graveyard. free password sex hack
Eason bubbles up
: The Miami Herald does a story about Eason Jordan. Jordan's remarks -- which he says were misinterpreted -- were not reported in the mainstream media until hundreds of blogs had been buzzing about them for a week and demanding explanations from CNN.free password sex hack
''When thinking people, especially journalism professionals, say something like that -- that U.S. troops might be war criminals -- and can't substantiate it, you've got to follow it up,'' said Jack Shafer, media critic for the influential website slate.com. ``Blogs always seem to ask much tougher questions of a powerful media figure than Time magazine or The New York Times or Newsweek do.'' : I missed the Boston Globe's item on this. So so far, the story has been in some form in the Post (and a few of its clients), the Globe, the Herald, and FoxNews. Anywhere else? free password sex hack
February 09, 2005
Blogs and PR
: Congratulations to Steve Rubel for starting a new Micro Persuasion PR practice. I like and respect Steve a great deal -- and for a reporter to say that about a PR person is really saying something! Steve will no doubt do a great job leading companies -- the ones smart enough to hire him -- into this new world. free password sex hack
Welcome, neighbor
: Rebecca MacKinnon reports that Hoder -- the man who is doing more than anyone I know to spread blogging and the freedom it brings around the world -- is now a Canadian citizen, which means that he no longer needs to beg visas to come to America. At last. free password sex hack
Whose news?
: There are two stories bubbling -- as in boiling -- on blogs that have gotten little (in one case) or no (in the other) attention from major media: the Eason Jordan story (hot on the right) and Jeff Gannon story (hot on the left). Are these stories? Yes. But what are the stories? free password sex hack
On Jordan, these are the stories I can catalogue:free password sex hack
1. What Jordan said.free password sex hack
Did Jordan say that American soldiers targeted journalists? If so, that is clearly news, clearly a scandal -- a crime -- that demands to be investigated and exposed. free password sex hack
But now Jordan says he didn't say that soldiers knowingly targeted journalists as journalists. He says he was arguing with the characterization of their deaths as "collateral damage." I can argue that snipers killing the wrong person is also "collateral damage." But that seems to be beside the point. free password sex hack
If Jordan did say that soliders targeted jouranlists and now he recants, that still indicates something about his attitude toward the military. That is still a story.free password sex hack
If Jordan did not say this, then it's up to bloggers to recant. Then the story isn't about what Jordan says but what blogs said. But I don't hear anyone saying Jordan said nothing; instead, it's now about what he meant. free password sex hack
The only sure way to know what he said is to hear the tape and it's scandalous if Davos does not release it; Jordan himself should demand it be released to get to the truth. If he does not, that, too, is news. free password sex hack
2. What soldiers did. free password sex hack
Did soldiers target jouranlists? If no one is arguing that, then that is the nonstory. free password sex hack
On Gannon, I've followed it far less, but it seems that there are two stories here:free password sex hack
1. What the White House did: free password sex hack
The argument on Media Matters and Kos and other sites has been that Gannon is a ringer put in the White House with a fake "news service" called Talon and that he only pitches softball questions and only repeats the official line. If the White House gamed the press corps in that way, that's a story. free password sex hack
2. What bloggers did: free password sex hack
The bloggers went after Gannon personally, first trying to expose his real name and then his sex life. If Gannon is part of a homophobic organization and if he is gay, then that's a story about hypocrisy. But is it a news story? I'm not comfortable with outing as news, for there was a time not long ago enough when revealing someone's homosexuality was a story and a scandal and a crime when it should not have been; to use that sort of attack by innuendo for the other side -- just because it's for the other side -- doesn't make it right. So here, too, the bloggers end up as the story. free password sex hack
There are stories at least worth investigating about Jordan and Gannon. There are stories that come out of that about bloggers getting it right... or wrong. And there's another story here: free password sex hack
1. What major media didn't do:free password sex hack
Why isn't major media covering the Jordan story at all? Why is it covering the Gannon story more? free password sex hack
There could be good reasons for not covering these stories -- if reporters investigated them and, in good faith, found they didn't pan out. But we don't know whether that is happening. free password sex hack
This is why there needs to be transparency of process in news: If a story is investigated and rejected, that becomes news if the story is gaining credence elsewhere; that becomes a counterbalance. But then again, if the story is not investigated while it is gaining credence elsewhere, then that itself can become news. Why isn't it being investigated?free password sex hack
To use another example, I did not think most of what the Swifties said about Kerry was news; I thought it was mainly mud. Others certainly disagreed. But if such allegations are false, if they are not a legitimate story, then I'll concede that the best way to deal with them is not necessarily to ignore them but to reveal why they aren't true and aren't being covered. free password sex hack
In other words: Sometimes it's news when news isn't news. free password sex hack
If a news organization says, "We're not giving you stories about Jordan ... or Gannon ... or the Swifties ... or the National Guard memoes ... because we looked into it and didn't find anything to back it up," then that is news. free password sex hack
This didn't used to be the case, back in the days when news organizations were the gatekeepers, as I said yesterday: Then, news wasn't news until they said it was news. But now everyone can say that something is news and it has become one of the jobs of journalism to say when that isn't news. Now they need to say why. Now they need to be transparent in their process and reveal why they don't cover what they don't cover. Otherwise, the lack of coverage becomes news itself. free password sex hack
So one way or another, there is news in Jordan and Gannon that needs to be covered. The news is not supposed to be about the agenda, it's supposed to be about getting to the truth. In both these stories, we're not there yet. free password sex hack
: But, of course, sometimes a story isn't a story because it just isn't a story -- it isn't news, it isn't true, it isn't important. free password sex hack
The interesting challenge of this era is that nonstories can be elevated to story status simply by the attention they get.free password sex hack
: Rebecca MacKinnon says the Jordan story isn't as black and white as it seems, nonetheless, she is disappointed that the story isn't getting covered by journalists in Iraq or by CNN.
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Match made in heaven
: The star of the GoDaddy.com commercial is going to be on Howard Stern this morning. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: Punditguy finds that the guy behind GoDaddy is also the guy behind Bible programs. free password sex hack
Nepal: Another crisis for free speech
: As the King of Nepal shut down free speech, Max Magee went looking to see what is happening to speech online there. He found one Nepalese blog with this latest post: As all of you are aware of the current situation of the country and the state of emergency (that has for the time being given us no right to expression), it would be the best to follow the government directives while blogging.free password sex hack
So Please:free password sex hack
Do Not Blog About Political Matters for the time being free password sex hack
February 08, 2005
Where in the world
: Google is beta testing its maps. They're nice, graphically. I have become devoted to maps.Yahoo.com for one simple feature: finding the nearest wi-fi. [via Ubergizmo]free password sex hack
: Holovaty loves Google maps but even so has lots of suggestions. free password sex hack
Branded
: Corante expands its ever-expanding roster of damned smart media biz blogs with a new one on branding. free password sex hack
Eason on FoxNews
: Got a call from Fox for a segment on Eason Jordan. Could not do it... was on a plane. Surprised Fox did not jump on this earlier with competitive glee... or perhaps they wanted to wait until someone else jumped first.free password sex hack
The Sunshine State
: I look out my window from the hotel near Ft. Myers, FL, and it's the damnedest sight: high-rises pop up out of the palm grove and swamps like mistakes in a game of SimCity. free password sex hack
: I'm waiting to get on the plane now and there are nine -- nine! -- wheelchairs coming off, plus two walkers.free password sex hack
About?
: I wouldn't buy About. Not that I could afford it but... If you were starting About.com today, you wouldn't create a centralized marketplace of cheap content; you wouldn't hire a bunch of people (even at serf wages) to create the content. Instead, it would make much more sense to start a network of distributed media (yes, blogs): less cost, less risk, greater scale, greater diversity, stronger voice of the people.... free password sex hack
I've said this to the man who started About and the man who bought it last time and they didn't kick me in the shins. free password sex hack
PaidContent.org says The New York Times is the frontrunner to buy About. That makes sense if you're a centralized marketplace of content trying to maintain that model, if you or your owners are scared of the distributed world. But the centralized marketplace -- the channel, the portal, the conglomerate -- is the thing of the past. Things of the past often buy each other when the past arrives. free password sex hack
Party on
: It's Fat Tuesday: Time for my annual bit of bragging about my proudest professional accomplishment: Bourbocam!free password sex hack
Selling to the sellers
: At iMedia right now, Steve Rubel -- bloggers' best evangelist to the marketers -- is now doing a wonderful job teaching a room filled with ad sellers and ad buyers how to embrace consumer control, even letting them create ads. "Meet George Masters," he said as he showed this teacher's iPod commercial. The room was wowed; applause broke out. Steve said George is looking for work and I'll just bet he gets hired. free password sex hack
Prudes on parade
: Thirty-three members of Congress sent a letter to President Bush begging him to hire a real prude as the nextr chairman of the FCC. Daily Variety has the letter (it's behind a wall) but Brian Linse has excerpts from the story: The letter arrived at the White House after Bush told a C-SPAN interviewer last week that parents should play the primary role in protecting children from indecent material. "While we acknowledge the importance of parental controls over children's viewing habits," the letter said, "Hollywood and certain media companies work to ensure that children are exposed to it whether they or their parents like it or not." ...free password sex hack
"The next FCC chairman will oversee an important time in our nation's history, and they must be ready to aggressively enforce the laws that Congress has passed. We encourage you to nominate an individual of boldness, strength, and vision who will continue the work already begun. We must not let immorality become normalized nor federal laws ignored."free password sex hack
The letter originated as a collaborative effort between Reps. Joe Pitts (Pa.) and Charles Pickering (Miss.). Among others signing it were Dave Weldon (Fla.), Steve King (Iowa) and Jim Ryun (Kan.). No Democrats signed it. Get this: "We must not let immorality become normalized." That's not your job, boys. Run the government. Our morality is our business. I feel like sending them all a framed copy of the First Amendment. free password sex hack
But I'm glad to see them nervous, for Bush is more reasonable than they are; he knows that parenting is a parent's job. Sure, he'll sign the indecent indecency legislation rushing through Congress. But by this, I hope he's not ready to name Pat Robertson to the FCC. free password sex hack
This is what Bush said on C-Span: As a free speech advocate, I often told parents who were complaining about content, you're the first line of responsibility; they put an off button on the TV for a reason. Turn it off. Listen to your leader, boys. free password sex hack
When I sent them the First Amendment, I'll enclose a universal remote control. free password sex hack
: And this is the legislation these self-appointed national nannies are about to pass: The maximum fines now run $32,500 per incident but would jump to $500,000. The fine for a performer would jump from $11,000 to $500,000, and the Federal Communications Commission regulation that requires an individual to first receive a warning would be repealed. free password sex hack
Eason Jordan makes the big time - and - The gates fall
: In today's Washington Post, Howard Kurtz (finally) reports on the Eason Jordan controversy and Jordan (finally) clarifies what he said in clearer words than his various emails. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who attended the World Economic Forum panel at which Jordan spoke, recalled yesterday that Jordan said he knew of 12 journalists who were killed by coalition forces in Iraq. At first, said Frank, "it sounded like he was saying it was official military policy to take out journalists." But Jordan later "modified" his remarks to say some U.S. soldiers did this "maybe knowing they were killing journalists, out of anger. . . . He did say he was talking about cases of deliberate killing," Frank said.free password sex hack
Jordan denied that last night, saying he had been responding to Frank's comment that the 63 journalists who have been killed in Iraq were "collateral damage" in the war. "I was trying to make a distinction between 'collateral damage' and people who got killed in other ways," Jordan said last night. "I have never once in my life thought anyone from the U.S. military tried to kill a journalist. Never meant to suggest that. Obviously I wasn't as clear as I should have been on that panel." : Meanwhile, Jay Rosen sends an email to blogging friends (which I assume he'll turn into a post soon) that talks about how bloggers filled out the story with journalism while the press remained silent. (Says Jay: "That is not necessarily bad that the press remains silent. If it's a non-story, remaining NON is just fine." I agree.) Sisyphus gets the WEF to admit it has a tape of Jordan's comments and tries to get them to release it. He "commits an act of journalism in a shockingly simple way. Email the right guy." Rebecca MacKinnon gives her account and gets Jordan to tell his side (though he made it a lot clearer by the time he got to Kurtz) and sets up a delicious tag to track the story. Jay gets the account of another witness, BBC boss Richard Sambrook. Michelle Malkin gets a statement from Barney Frank and another from David Gergen, more witnesses. Yes, there was a snitfit, a blogstorm -- and until there was clarification, that's what it takes sometimes. And there was also journalism. Both were pressure to get to the bottom of the story. Are we there yet? free password sex hack
: MORE...free password sex hack
: This is also about the speed of news. Back in the day of the news gatekeepers -- now long gone, whether they know it or not -- journalists could take their time reporting a story, for news wasn't news until they said it was. And that wasn't all bad: It allowed journalists to check facts, call sources, get it right. free password sex hack
But news got faster. All in all, that's good; we're informed faster. free password sex hack
But there are certainly issues. Witness the fog of war: Breaking News! We found a truck trailer that some expert says is used to make biological weapons. Later... Oh, nevermind, it's used to make yogurt. free password sex hack
That's an issue for the public; we have to learn to judge news better, to recognize that an early report can often be found to be a wrong report.free password sex hack
That's also an issue for newsmakers: You can say something you didn't mean to say or said in such a way that it is misinterpreted and your words will spread fast and so can the storms they cause. If you want to correct or clarify, there is no time to waste. Do it quickly and directly and talk to the people who are questioning you, the citizens. free password sex hack
And, obviously, this is an issue for news organizations: You can't take your sweet time reporting a story anymore, for the citizens will get ahead of you even without your resources and access. You should still get it right and do what it takes to do that, of course. But if you care about the truth, then you'd better go hunting it faster. free password sex hack
And, by the way, you're no longer the gatekeeper.free password sex hack
: And this is about the death of off-the-record at any event citizens attend. The WEF is now trying to decide whether the event was or wasn't off the record. Doesn't matter anymore, folks; that's irrelevant. The citizens in the room haven't agreed to play by your rules the way journalists have. If they hear something, they'll repeat it. If Jordan had, in fact, said that journalists were targeted as journalists by soldiers -- which he didn't; just speaking in the hypothetical here -- then how can anyone expect the citizens, the citizen journalists, the bloggers in the room to remain silent? They shouldn't. free password sex hack
The off-the-record gate has also fallen. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: More comments and links from Kaus, Hewitt, and the king of the roundup: Gandelman.free password sex hack
: LATER: Ernie Miller asks good questions about whether it is ethical for journalists to agree to an off-the-record rule for such an event and whether it is ethical for a journalist to speak off-the-record at such an event. free password sex hack
February 07, 2005
Not-so-Super Bowl of ads
: Bob Garfield, ad critic of Ad Age and cohost of On The Media, is talking commercials with a roomful of ad people at iMedia.free password sex hack
He says that the NFL is so controlling of the game that they were behind GoDaddy.com being told they couldn't say "wardrobe malfunction." But more amazing is that they pressured Bud from dropping a great commercial that explained the wardrobe malfunction (guy in the dressing room uses the costume to open a bottle of beer; breaks costume). It was great; it was funny; it was charming; it was banned. "They're really on my bad-guy list," Garfield says. free password sex hack
: If you didn't see it yet, Wizbang has the wardrobe commercial. free password sex hack
Living a lie
: McDonald's put millions of dollars behind launching a "blog" and it's a stupid, insulting waste. free password sex hack
On the Super Bowl, McDonald's did a jokey commercial about a french fry shaped like Abe Lincoln. Fine. Dumb but fine. They put a url on the ad and it, eventually, leads to a fake blog. free password sex hack
Just this morning at iMedia, I told the publishers and marketers here that they should not make Dr. Pepper's mistake when it made a cow blog for its milk-based soft drink. free password sex hack
This is a human medium, I said. It's about people talking to people. We don't want to talk to a cow; that's as off-key as coming to a wedding dressed up like a pig. We don't want you to lie to us and think we're stupid and that we want to talk to a character a marketer made up. free password sex hack
Would your PR department have a cow or a fictional character call a reporter at The New York Times? No? Then why would you do that do your customers in their medium? Yes, of course, we are smart enough to know it's your attempt at a joke. But you're not smart enough to see that you've wasted our time. [via Steve Rubel]free password sex hack
Eason Jordan update
: A BBC exec who as at the Davos panel where Jordan spoke tells Jay Rosen that Jordan was misinterpreted. He says what I took away from Jordan's own responses: He's saying that journalists were shot by snipers so they were not "collateral damage" -- the phrase that started the discussion -- but were targeted, though he's not saying they were targeted as journalists. It's still all rather muddled and it could stand a reporter doing a good story to clear this up. That, after all, is supposed to be what reporters do. free password sex hack
Yahoo
: Lloyd Braun, the former head of ABC and the new content head at Yahoo, was interviewed by Max Robins, the editor of Broadcasting & Cable, at iMedia. Frankly, Braun didn't have much to say; he sounds like so many old-media executives who switch over to new media and spend the first months gasping about how new and different and wonderful it all is but they're still thinking in their old models. Some make the caterpillar switch, some don't. The one newsworthy thing Braun said, which Max jumped on, was this: "If I knew what I know now when I was at ABC, I would have taken half my media budget and put it here [in online]." Sure, that's self-serving for an exec of an online company. But I think he meant it. free password sex hack
Pick the sin: plagiarism or bad reporting
: The other day, another numb-nutty journalist was fired for plagiarism, which is about the stupidest sin to commit (not the accidental repetition of a good phrase -- these days, we call those memes -- but the wholesale lifting of hunks of someone else's work); it's especially stupid in this day of online news and search. Whenever somebody gets caught their their hand on the control-V keys, they get fired quickly and publicly. OK.free password sex hack
But it occurs to me that the punishment for getting a story completely wrong -- not Jayson-Blair-pull-the-fiction-of-of-your-ass wrong but wrong-headed, incomplete, badly reported, factually messy -- is nowhere near as severe. free password sex hack
The message that gives the public: The press cares more about protecting the ownership of content than about getting stories right. free password sex hack
Now that's not only heresy, it's a wrong and rather ridiculous way to state the proposition and I know it: plagiarism is obvious theft with an easy standard to identify and writing a wrong-headed or sloppy story is not an easy standard to agree to. So I'm not saying that everybody who has a bad-story day should be shown the door (in fact, we need to make reporters bolder and more transparent and more conversation, not more timid and boring and faux objective). I'm simply saying that the contrast in the press' treatment of each sin says something to the public. That's all. free password sex hack
Should Google be the citizens' ad agency?
: The Times on Friday gave front-page coverage to the incredible rise of Google's ad revenue on the back of both search words and also ad placements on content everywhere, including citizens' media. The fact that Eli Lilly, Napster, Novartis and Staples are among Super Bowl advertisers that are also regulars on Google is not the only evidence that Web advertising has come of age.free password sex hack
On Tuesday, Google, the most popular Internet search company, announced that it had passed a significant milestone by selling $1 billion of advertising during the last three months of 2004. But it makes me wonder whether we're foolish letting Google be our ad sales agent. For Google undersells the value of citizens' media: Google sells the coincidence of a word on a page when the real value of citizens' media is in its conversation, its relationships, its influence. free password sex hack
Mind you, we should bless Google for taking the cooties off of citizens' media and showing that, indeed, real people have a message and audience worth attention. free password sex hack
But now I think it's necessary for citizens' media to find its own path, its own sales agent who can sell its own value. free password sex hack
In The Times piece, Googles vp for advertising, Tim Armstrong, said, according to the paper's paraphrasing, that "advertising has become a dialogue with the consumer." Absolutely. But is it really a dialogue via Google? OK, it's a start. But can the dialogue become much richer? Of course, it can. Later in the piece: "You're seeing advertising move into advertising that people can seek out, and moving away from mass advertising," said Peter Sealey, a former Coca-Cola marketing executive who now teaches at the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. "In the context of that shift, this little niche of Internet search will be a huge beneficiary." But it's not just search. Lord knows, search is incredibly effective and efficient and powerful and rich and that's great. But we aren't just search results. We're people. free password sex hack
Ah, but we're too small, you say. Says The Times: Google, by developing a reputation for returning the most relevant search results, became the most popular search site. In December, Google's site attracted 67.1 million different American users, who each spent an average total of 30 minutes on the site, according to Nielsen/NetRatings. By contrast, Yahoo's search service drew 47.9 million American visitors, who spent an average 12 minutes in December. Well, Pew says that 32 million Americans read blogs. We ain't chicken liver. We're getting to be a medium unto ourselves. Now we need to start acting like it. free password sex hack
: LATER: Om Malik wrote about why Google as our ad agency has issues. free password sex hack
February 06, 2005
A word from our sponsors
 : I'm in Florida at the iMedia conference with top online ad clients and agencies and top online publishers (I'm giving my blogboy spiel too early in the a.m.). Tonight, ESPN.com is playing host to a Super Bowl party, of course, with wings and cheeseburgers and commercials. Ad Age ad critic Bob Garfield (also On The Media's cohost) is even here to give his expert perspective. The room is noisy; the beer is flowing; the pizza's not bad. There is the occasional whoop at any of the many interceptions. There are no whoops at the commercials (since they've all been castrated by the PTC et al: the tapiocization of American media and culture). free password sex hack
Once, just once, silence conquers the room: When the GoDaddy.com commercial plays with its mockery of the prigs and prudes of Congress and the FCC... and one big, overstretched, uh, brand. free password sex hack
Sex sells. Doh!free password sex hack
: I'll admit it: I had to ask which ones were the guys in green. I am a shame to my gender. free password sex hack
: Garfield's reviews are in the new issue of AdAge (which is not online, damn them). He gives 3.5 stars to GoDaddy.com, along with Visa's superhero commercial and a few others. He gives one star (generous) to the big-huh MBNA Gladys Knight ad. free password sex hack
: I'm delighted and relieved that the Fox guys doing the halftime wrapup talk just as fast as I do. free password sex hack
: It's so damned sad that a Beatle is now a symbol of safety. free password sex hack
Damn, I'm old. free password sex hack
This is your grandfather's Super Bowl.free password sex hack
Geeks and gamers: Help my son, please
: For his 13th birthday, we got our son, Jake, a new Dell Inspiron 1150 laptop. The problem is, it won't play some of his games and is jerky on others because, apparently, the built-in, top-of-the-line video card on the motherboard isn't game-friendly. free password sex hack
Help. Is there some adjustment we should make? Is this a hopeless laptop for games? I know nothing about such things. So please help. Details here on Jake's blog. Please leave comments with helpful advice there. Thanks. free password sex hack
: UPDATE: I'm now told the problem is that we got a Celeron instead of a Pentium. Dell is great! They agreed to an exchange with not an ounce of fuss. But before I do this, tell me if that's right. free password sex hack
Watch... if you dare....
: The good folks at Crooks & Liars put up video from segments on the FCC and free speech in which I pop up: CBS Sunday Morning here and Abrams report here. Neither is my best performance but that's life. free password sex hack
Huh? advertising
: Seth Godin couldn't figure out what this ad was about. I, too, stared at it in the subway. "Goodbye stickiness. Hello movement," it says as Scooby-Do's Velma takes off her glasses and gives a satisfied -- nay, glowing -- grin. A new 10W30 condom? Exlposive new laxative? Seth wonders, eyeglass grease? But it's from Dove. Weird. free password sex hack
Nipplegate, a year later
: So it has been a year since Janet Jackson sort-of exposed her breast amid the blood, sweat, and erectile dysfunction of the Super Bowl. We act as if the nation changed that day but, of course, it didn't. We're the same America we were before the malfunction. We still like sex. We still have a sense of humor. We still have a First Amendment (I think). free password sex hack
What changed, instead, was media's treatment of media and the nation. The religious right saw an opening for the last gasp of Puritanism in America and media helped them by making gross oversimplifications and gross overstatements of the meaning of nipplegate and the election and that stupid poll that asked people whether moral values matter. Media jumped on the story as if, overnight, we turned into a nation of prigs and prudes. free password sex hack
So in the year since the malfunction, we've seen fines multiply like pornographic bunnies. We've seen Brent Bozell and his so-called Parents Television Council doggedly pursue every use of the words "hell," "ass," and "dick." We've seen the FCC and Michael Powell lose all self-respect as they become our national nannies. We've seen Congress rushing to pass indecent indecency bills aimed at bankrupting anybody -- including you -- who dares to utter the F word because they're more scared of voting for porn than voting for the Constitution. We've seen broadcasters buckle like a wet witch in the Wizard of Oz as they pixelate cartoon butts and treat gays as offensive (when, not very long ago, bigotry was more offensive). We've seen the leading star of radio abandon it. free password sex hack
And today we're sure to see the dullest Super Bowl commercials and half-time show in history. free password sex hack
This wasn't mass hysteria that did this. This was mass-media stupidity. free password sex hack
The only hope is that in this year, it finally has gone too far and, at last -- without or without the help of broadcasters wimpering in puddles -- the courts will stand up against the prigs and pols and pundits and stand up for the First Amendment. free password sex hack
: See also Frank Rich on the Year of Living Indecently: That our government is now both intimidating PBS and awarding public money to pundits to enforce "moral values" agendas demonizing certain families is the ugliest fallout of the campaign against indecency. That campaign cannot really banish salaciousness from pop culture, a rank impossibility in a market economy where red and blue customers are united in their infatuation with "Desperate Housewives." But it can create public policy that discriminates against anyone on the hit list of moral values zealots. : This will be the subject of a CBS Sunday Morning segment today; they interviewed me, Bozell, Sen. Sam Brownback, and Opie & Anthony. I won't be able to see it since I'll be out. free password sex hack
: The National Association of Broadcasters finally spoke out against the indecency witchhunt but from the supid perspective, saying it's just not fair that they get censored and cable doesn't. The upshot of that could be, of course, that everybody gets censored. What the NAB should be doing instead is defending the First Amendment. They should be giving Congress reason to vote against the indecent indecency bill ... instead of expanding it. free password sex hack
: LATER: Remember how America was dying for a network with nothing but wholesome programming? Well, Pax is dying. So much for that. Back to Desperate Housewives!free password sex hack
: HELLO SUNDAY MORNING VIEWS: For more (for too much) on this, here's a link to my more recent posts on the topic. free password sex hack
The reviews are in. free password sex hack
The Eason Jordan story
: Still, there's no coverage in big media of the Eason Jordan story to ask whether the CNN exec said that journalists were targeted by soldiers in Iraq -- and whether they were, indeed, targeted. Either way, there should be coverage. If he said it and believes any part of it, then that is a vital story that must be reported. If he didn't say it or doesn't believe it, then he needs to clarify with the questioning of reporters and/or bloggers. Either way, this is news. free password sex hack
: Sisyphus did what any reporter and/or blogger should do and got on the horn to Davos to ask for a tape of the session. It's on the way, they say. Then we'll have what Jordan in fact said and then he can clarify in the context of the source material that started this story. free password sex hack
: Hugh Hewitt writes a memo to Jay Rosen and me telling us to cover this. I wrote about it three days before Hugh's memo. Jay has written about it, too: * I can think of no good reason for the major news media not to investigate what Jordan said, and what he meant by it. It is somewhat surprising to me that we haven't seen a story from either a journalist who was in Davos, or a media beat reporter like Mark Jurkowitz of the Boston Globe, Jacques Steinberg of the New York Times, or Howard Kurtz, who of course works for CNN. The event was on-the-record, and a tape was made. There are no obvious obstacles to investigating further.free password sex hack
* Possibly the reason we haven't seen the coverage is that they're waiting for the tape, as bloggers are. But it is also possible that Eason Jordan's comments tipped the press off to a bigger story involving the deaths of journalists, and the protests from news organizations.free password sex hack
* CNN made sure many bloggers who were posting about Jordan's comments had copies of a statement the network put out. (Many of the bloggers were startled to receive the communique out of the blue. See this.) That in itself is significant. Someone there is watching the blogs on this one. : Rebecca MacKinnon is tracking this story about her former boss. free password sex hack
: LATER: Jay Rosen has more on Jordan's job as the diplomat for the state of CNN. free password sex hack
The blog book to start all blog books
: Jay Rosen has signed with Times Books to publish his book about how blogs are changing media ... and politics ... and the nation ...free password sex hack
He goes into great transparent detail about the deal here. free password sex hack
Let's also give kudos to the agent to the bloggers, Kate Lee at ICM, who made the deal. (My transparent moments: I've become a friend of Jay's through blogging and I plan to to find ways to continue to hang out and work with him on the edge of media. I also intro'ed Jay to Kate. Now having said that....)free password sex hack
I can't wait to read the book. I've said before that I've learned a great deal from Jay about how to analyze what's happening to media and the nation. To me, he is the intellectual leader of the media blogosphere. But he's not just analyzing change, he's causing change. Others have given us very good journalistic (Gillmor) and newsy (Hewitt) and instructional (Blood) takes on blogging. I'm betting that Jay will give us an entirely new and challenging perspective.
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Alterman, one last time
: Eric Alterman still seems unable to understand why I think what he did on MSNBC was irresponsible. He's sputtering, spitting, spewing, and spinning about it. So let me try this one last time, step-by-step...free password sex hack
First, Eric, if you want to speculate about what the CIA does, be my guest. They've certainly done plenty of nasty and stupid things over the years. I'm so impressed that, as you say, you've "studied the CIA for over twenty years, written about it at length, included its history in both my Master’s degree and my doctoral studies, as well as my second and sixth books, and have even been given a guided tour of the place by agents there, (where I was proudly shown relics of Che Guevara’s assassination)." You might want to note, though, that they aren't exactly the picture of conspiratorial competence these days. They mucked up the WMD intelligence in Iraq. They mucked up pre-9/11 intelligence. Hell, read Alessandra Stanley's review of American Dad in The New York Times (can't find a link) and you'll see they're even too screwed up to be a good laughingstock: The last time the C.I.A. really seemed all-powerful and wickedly covert was the overthrow of the Chilean president Salvador Allende in the early 1970s. Since then that agency's mystique has so eroded that even crazy people who hear voices through their metal fillings are more likely to trace them to Mars than to Langley, Va. So you might want to think about finding a new boogeyman. But if you want to continue the sport of paranoid speculation about the CIA, knock yourself out. free password sex hack
Second: In this case, though, you did not just speculate about the big, faceless, evil CIA. You speculated about a very small and very identifiable group of civilians in a terrorist war zone and by doing so, yes, you endangered them. That is the entire point. Ali the blogger said in Sarah Boxer's unjournalism in The Times that even talking to an American can get you killed. One blogger has written about being attacked and he feared it was because of his blog. People who have been accused of collaborating with Americans have been murdered by the terrorists again and again; unfortunately, we have seen the video. The danger is quite real. As soon as I showed Iraqi blogs on MSNBC -- whose only apparent sin to you is being pro-American -- you started speculating about them as CIA plants. Yes, Eric, that is dangerous. You have admitted that you know nothing about any of these Iraqi bloggers -- you have admitted that you have not even bothered to read them -- and yet you issue this baseless speculation and innuendo about them. free password sex hack
Third: Let's turn this around to your perspective; maybe that will help you understand: Once you showed soulmate Juan Cole's blog on MSNBC, I could have said that he could be collaborating with al Qaeda. That's not true and I would have had no basis in fact to say that (but at least I read Cole). Still, I could have said that. I could have paraphrased your own words: You know, given the information we've gotten about al Qaeda's attempts to murder thousands of people and manipulate the media and various al Qaeda disinformation programs, I'd be really surprised if they were not using bloggers... I'd be surprised if that doesn't turn out to be the case... It's naive to imagine that the al Qaeda is not using this.... This could have resulted in the Justice Department investigating and detaining him. This could -- but let's make clear, should not -- result in mobs of angry 'wingers going after him (hell, look at the death threats and physical scuffles over Prof. Churchill). And if that had happened, Eric, whom would you have blamed? You would have squealed like a stuck pig. free password sex hack
Let me make clear one more time that I am not saying any such thing about Cole. I said only that he is one-sided. free password sex hack
Fourth: If you're such a student of history, then I'd think you'd be a little more respectful of the damage that baseless innuendo can cause innocent indivdiuals. I'll grant that the analogy to anti-Semitism is too broad. So let's try something that should still strike some terror in a leftist's heart. In McCarthy's day, people whose only apparent sin was holding the wrong beliefs or working in in the wrong industry or adhering to the wrong religion were damned by innuendo. No facts, just speculation. That's what you're doing to these Iraqis, Eric. free password sex hack
Fifth: You came to the table with no facts. You admit -- hell, brag -- that you have not read Iraqi blogs, yet you came onto a segment about them and talked about them anyway. Is that your brand of journalism, of academic standards, of media criticism? On your site, you put up a quote bragging about being "the most honest and incisive media critic writing today." Well, media critic, criticize thyself. Would you put up with the kind of factless innuendo you spewed if it were about John Kerry or Juan Cole or Hillary Clinton? Well, sir, this is the standard you have now set for yourself. The next time you criticize someone -- say, a Swiftie or any right-winger -- for issuing baseless speculation and innuendo against someone you know and admire, your own words will come back to haunt you. free password sex hack
Sixth: There's one thing we can agree about, Eric: This is tiresome. free password sex hack
February 05, 2005
Whereabouts
: Been gone today for a good cause: celebrating the entry into teenhood of my amazing son because I need to travel tomorrow. Back from the airport lounge. free password sex hack
February 04, 2005
Media on media
: Also supposed to be in a story on CBS Sunday Morning this week on the FCC a year later.free password sex hack
Media on media: The FCC
Just got the call to be on Dan Abrams' show on MSNBC at 6 tonight on the FCC and so-called indecency a year after Nipplegate. Will blog on this later.free password sex hack
How has blogging changed lives?
: Please leave comments about bloggers whose lives have changed in major ways because of their blogs (doesn't matter whether you know the bloggers).free password sex hack
A reporter from a big magazine asked me for examples of "people whose blog has negatively affected their life" (e.g., getting fired for blogging). I replied that I couldn't think of any but I sure could think of people whose lives had changed postively because of their blogs -- bloggers who now do this for a living, bloggers who became famous, bloggers who are changing the world. This good reporter convinced her editor to include this in the story. And so I volunteered to ask you all for suggestions. free password sex hack
So please leave comments with ideas. (Don't embarrass me by saying nothing!)free password sex hack
What Alterman said
: MSNBC does not have a transcript of Alterman's appearance on Iraqi bloggers, so I got out a tape and transcribed the relevant portions. (My previous posts here and here; his here and here.)free password sex hack
Alterman said that from mainstream media, he can't get the view from the ground in Iraq and perspective he is looking for and so "one place I go for that on Iraq more than anywhere else is a blog by a professor by the name of Juan Cole." Note that Alterman now says he has never read Iraqi blogs. Note also that it was Cole who first spread the tin-hat speculation about the CIA and Iraqi blogs. Note finally that this appearance comes after The New York Times also spread this tin-hat speculation. free password sex hack
In the segment -- which came a few days before the election -- I gave a tour of Iraqi blogs, showing them on the screen, emphasizing Friends of Democracy, Iraqi the Model, and Healing Iraq. Alterman then said: You know, given the information we've gotten about the Bush Administration's attempts to manipulate the media with secret payments to Armstrong Williams and so forth and various CIA disinformation programs I'd be really surprised if they were not using bloggers... I'd be surprised if that doesn't turn out to be the case... It's naive to imagine that the CIA is not using this. I replied: "If you're going to start raising this, you'd better have evidence, you'd better be journalistic." He replied: "It's naive to imagine that the CIA is not using this tool.... The CIA has a long history of manipulating..." free password sex hack
Monica Crowley, the cohost with Ron Reagan, said the side that is known to be using the web is the terrorists. Alterman said: "First of all, I don't think they're necessarily terrorists." Crowley looked ready to bust a gasket and said that al Qaeda has used the web. Alterman acknowledges them as terrorists and relents: "I thought you were talking about the people who see themselves as defending their country." Like those who blow up schools, I said. free password sex hack
We came back to the argument. Again, Alterman said he'd be surprised if the CIA isn't doing this. Again, I said, "On what basis? You're a journalist, give us the evidence. " He replied: "I've given you the evidence. The CIA has historically manipulated many, many elections in the third world... You think an organization that participates in torture is morally incapable of manipulating a blog... I don't get it."free password sex hack
Just because something could happen, that doesn't mean it does. Is that how we should fill our newspapers and TV news shows: 'This could happen; I could imagine it happening; I have absolutely no evidence that it is happening but I'll say it anyway'? free password sex hack
The man doesn't even read the blogs he's speculating about. He reads the guy who spreads this speculation. He then spreads the speculation with no basis in fact. Upon hearing this again, it's worse than I remembered: He is making every blogger in Iraq -- every citizen who dares to speak online -- a suspect in his conspiracy theories and is potentially endangering every one of them. free password sex hack
I repeat: Irresponsible. free password sex hack
February 03, 2005
Ignorance is bliss... for Eric Alterman
: Eric Alterman admits today that he doesn't like to do any actual reporting or research. free password sex hack
He starts by bragging that he didn't watch the State of the Union address. He went to see Chick Corea instead. Cool, dude, cool. free password sex hack
Then he admits that he doesn't read Iraqi blogs (my emphasis): Never have I ever accused any Iraqi blog of being a CIA front or receiving CIA funds. The fact is, I have never even looked at an Iraqi blog, could not name one (save perhaps Salam Pax, which I once red an article about, but never clicked on, and I don’t even know if it’s still operating) even if Jarvis’s friends in Langley put bamboo shoots beneath my fingernails and injected me with sodium pentothal. First, no, you didn't accuse them. An accusation might convey that you actually knew something. You did glibly, blithely speculate about a link to the CIA with -- quite clearly -- utterly no basis in fact, in reporting, in journalism, in so much as reading. Nothing. You speculated in a way that could endanger men's lives and you did so without knowing a damned thing. That's even more irresponsible than I thought. That's downright shocking. It's also shocking that you feel so free to talk about and speculate about things about which you now say you know absolutely nothing. This is your level of journalistic and intellectual curiosity and credibility? free password sex hack
Take that
: From Baghdad, Ali translates a radio report about Iraqis fighting back against terrorists, killing five of them: From Radio Sawa (Arabic link):
Citizens of Al Mudiryiah were subjected to an attack by several militants today who were trying to punish the residents of this small town for voting in the election last Sunday.
The citizens responded and managed to stop the attack, kill 5 of the attackers, wounded 8 and burned their cars. : And over at Iraq the Model, Omar reports that the terrorists used a Downs Syndrome man in a suicide attack: The suicide attack that was performed on an election center in one of Baghdad's districts (Baghdad Al-Jadeedah) last Sunday was performed using a kidnapped "Down Syndrome" patient.
Eye witnesses said (and I'm quoting one of my colleagues; a dentist who lives there) "the poor victim was so scared when ordered to walk to the searching point and began to walk back to the terrorists. In response the criminals pressed the button and blew up the poor victim almost half way between their position and the voting center's entrance".free password sex hack
I couldn't believe the news until I met another guy from that neighborhood who knows the family of the victim. The guy was reported missing 5 days prior to elections' day and the family were distributing posters that specified his descriptions and asking anyone who finds him to contact them.
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Another launch: A new RSS reader
: A new RSS reader is taking the veil off today with a public beta at the Guardian: Newspoint, from a Swiss/U.S. company called Consenda, will be distributed through newspaper companies, allowing them to handle advertising and also to offer feeds of classifieds. They've been working with the Guardian, the LA Times, and Advance Internet (my day job, which means I've given them some bad advice now and again). Go give it a try. free password sex hack
: Rafat Ali has more details. free password sex hack
How The Times covers the internet
: Remember how in grade school you found out you were getting the mean or old or bad or weird teacher and you realized you could do nothing but lump it for the year? Or think now how you feel when you get on a six-hour flight and find yourself sitting next to the talkative or double-wide or weird passenger and you realize you have to lump it for the duration. free password sex hack
Well, internet compatriots, it appears we are sitting next to Sarah Boxer of The New York Times for sometime to come. free password sex hack
That came out in the exchange over Boxer's unjournalism about Iraqi bloggers when, at the bottom of Dan Okrent's response to my complaints, NYT culture editor Jonathan Landman revealed what Boxer's job is supposed to be: Sarah is a critic (she's done art, photography & theater) with a new beat: Arts & ideas on the Internet. It's an experiment with fuzzy boundaries.... Well, we have two choices about this. We can take Boxer's story as an indication of her ability and bias -- and Landman's news judgment -- and kick and complain about it. That's what we're known for, isn't it? Or we can try to teach them. That is what Prof. Jay Rosen tries to do in his analysis of the Landman response to my complaints: He tries to show them what they are really saying about the internet in this assignment. Landman says the aim of the Boxer article was to convey a situation in its opacity. But good reporting is ordinarily the opposite of that: the situation should be more intelligible, and less opaque, when a Times journalist gets done with it. This did not happen with the Boxer piece.free password sex hack
"Sarah was trying to give a sense of the befuddling complexity of an Internet brouhaha." She was? Who told her to do that? It seems like a more appropriate place to begin the assignment. Culture Desk to Sarah: "All we have here is the befuddling complexity of an Internet brouhaha; maybe you can sort it out." That's the journalism part, isn't it? The finished report is supposed to reduce the "befuddling complexity" of the online world, not produce a more exquisite sense of it.free password sex hack
The article, according to Landman, is "saying that there are lots of wild charges flying around." It is? Well, why do we need that? "Lots of wild charges getting thrown around" is where a good reporter begins. That is not where the thoroughly reported piece is supposed to wind up.free password sex hack
Something else Boxer was trying to give a sense of, according to her editor: "the layers of potential manipulation what with astroturfing and blogtrolling and invisible dueling backers." Potential manipulation is what journalism is supposed to overcome, not be "about." That is true in cultural reporting, in arts journalism, and in every other kind I know of.free password sex hack
"Pro-American Iraqi Blog Provokes Intrigue and Vitriol," read the headline on Boxer's piece. Now I know there's intrigue. Now I know there's vitriol. When do we get to the journalism? This is journalism 101, isn't it? Why are we here? Why are we reporting? Why are we publishing? Why are people paying us? I thought we were here to inform. Landman is saying we're here to confuse. I don't need to pay a buck a day to be confused, thank you; I'm confused for free. But Landman has a defense and Rosen punctures it: Landman explains: it should have been labeled a "Critic's Notebook." But that means way more to insiders than everyone else.free password sex hack
Buzzmachine by Jeff Jarvis: now that's a critic's notebook! We can page through it and find Jeff's thoughts--good and bad, right and wrong--on just about everything he cares about, including Iraq The Model, which Jarvis has championed. And then Jay comes in for the zinger that says it all and it's a warning to Boxer's future subjects: the internet, otherwise known as us. Here's what I think: Sarah Boxer's article about Iraq the Model was really about the Net and how you can't trust anyone or anything that originated on it. Leaving the situation opaque, at the level of a brouhaha, was part of the point. (And in that context, suggesting a CIA connection served quite well.) It remains, however, a strange assignment. I hope Boxer and Landman and The Times stop and ask themselves why they're assigning and reporting and publishing the story. How does it inform? If it doesn't, should you be killing trees -- or worse -- for this? free password sex hack
Now let me make my own constructive suggestion to Boxer and Landman: If you're going to report on the internet, you have to dive into the internet. This isn't just about reading or looking at pages or sitting in a theater, people; that's the old-media way, the one-way way. The internet isn't a gallery. The internet is a conversation. You must join in the conversation to experience and report on it. You would not write a travel piece about Berlin without going there and living the place. Well, you can't write credibly about the internet without going there, either. Take it from me -- a fellow journalist, after all -- I didn't understand blogs until I blogged. So here's my advice:free password sex hack
Blog. free password sex hack
Sarah Boxer and Jonathan Landman: Start your own blogs. You want to be on the fuzzy edge, then be the first on your block at 43rd Street to put your own views. After all, you are critics. Critics are allowed to have opinions. So share your critical perspective with the audience -- and learn what comes next. It won't hurt (anymore than this). It will teach you what the internet and blogs are really about. It will give you better -- more truthful -- stories. You will learn that we are deeper than our caricature. And we will learn that you're deeper than a column of 2-D type. free password sex hack
Blog. free password sex hack
Another launch
: New big-time blogs are sprouting up like mad -- first Elizabeth Spiers and company, then Nick Denton and company, and now Steven I. Weiss -- one of the most energetic, talented, dedicated people I've met in this world -- is launching a new venture: CampusJ. Starting today with four Manhattan campuses, the project will train a young generation of Jewish journalists in the reporting styles and methods of new media, while giving them the training and opportunities to enter the journalism workforce better-equipped than many of their fellow-classmen. In an on-going recruiting process, CampusJ will be adding campuses and bloggers continually after the launch.
The site features a main blog covering Jewish campus news, and a series of sub-blogs focusing on individual campuses. In the coming weeks and months, the site will add classified advertising and other dynamic features. Steven is a good guy so give him some link love, please. He didn't ask. I'm asking. This is a guy to watch.
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February 02, 2005
The shortest State of the Union post
: I like what he says about Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Palestine and freedom. free password sex hack
 I do not like what he says about gay marriage, stem cells, and abortion. free password sex hack
I have no idea who's right about Social Security. free password sex hack
: Who could not be touched by the mother of a son killed fighting for freedom hugs the daughter of a man who died for freedom in Iraq. free password sex hack
: Afterwards, I watched Andrew Sullivan and Ana Marie Cox on CNN doing the blog boogie and then Chris Matthews on MSNBC, who led a smart and productive discussion among the net's news stars. free password sex hack
On the other hand...
: Having taken The Times to task for Sarah Boxer's story, below, let me also say that Edward Wong's front-page story today about voters killed in Iraq on election day being mourned as martyrs is wonderful. Good story, well-reported, well-written, different perspective, right play. Salim Yacoubi bent over to kiss the purple ink stain on his twin brother's right index finger, gone cold with death.free password sex hack
"You can see the finger with which he voted," Shukur Jasim, a friend of the dead man, said as he cast a tearful gaze on the body, sprawled across a washer's concrete slab. "He's a martyr now." free password sex hack
The Times responds
: Dan Okrent put up a response to my complaint about Sarah Boxer's story on the Iraq The Model bloggers. I like much of what Dan says; I don't like what the arts editor of the paper says; and it's too bad this does not address the strong complaints of the subjects of the story here and here. free password sex hack
Dan [full disclosure: a former colleague of mine at Time Inc.] tells the story of the story and then says: In surprisingly informal language, and with the repeated (and unaccustomed) use of the first person singular pronoun, Boxer explored both the charges and the defense signaled in her first paragraph. free password sex hack
The blog world erupted. Jeff Jarvis, who operates a Web site called buzzmachine.com, posted an attack on the piece (and on The Times for running it), calling it "irresponsible, sloppy, lazy, inaccurate, incomplete, exploitive, biased, and -- worst of all -- dangerous.”"Among the many readers who wrote to me, one, a Boston Globe reporter, was especially direct: “This story was, quite simply, vile. It repeats unsupported allegations that three guys in Iraq who run a pro-American blog are actually C.I.A. agents. It produces not a shred of evidence for such claims. And by giving the claims the prestige of The New York Times, the story has put a bull's eye on the heads of those bloggers. This story was beneath contempt.” And bravo to that Boston Globe reporter for pushing the standards of his own company. That is the way it's supposed to work. Okrent asked arts editor Jonathan Landman to respond and here are my responses, in turn: Anytime you write about somebody involved in Iraqi politics it’s going to be fraught. No question about it. All the more reason to be careful, eh? Iraq is a dangerous place for sure, and all kinds of innocent things can have nasty consequences. As Ali put it to Sarah, 'Here some people would kill you for just writing to an American.' When the Washington Post wrote that these guys met President Bush at The White House people got nervous and angry, saying the same thing that your Globe reporter said of us: that it put a bulls eye on their heads. Is the Washpost also vile? The Washington Post reported a fact, sir. You did not. You are both -- we are all -- supposed to be in the business of reporting facts. I specifically asked Omar and Mohammed whether they wanted news of their visit with Bush revealed. I asked them three times. They were clear that they did. That was their choice and I have tremendous respect for the bravery of it. That has nothing to do with your reporter's unfounded speculation and if you got to where you did at The Times, then I have to believe you know the rhetorical feint that is. The feint continues: The brothers' last name has been in The Washington Post, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, US News, the LA Times and The New York Sun, among other places. A press release went out on PRWeb announcing the candidacy of two of the brothers for the Iraqi national assembly. In his conversation with Sarah, Ali willingly gave her his full name. So really, the notion that we are outing anybody does not hold up. A red herring -- and one I served, too. I did make the publishing of their names an issue and I was wrong to do that because the press and my own blog and their own press release had revealed their names. But that is not the issue. Speculation in the lead about the CIA is the issue and you know it. And it sure seems a stretch to accuse us of repeating unsupported allegations that the brothers are actually C.I.A. agents. Sarah wrote that the blog had provoked a deluge of intrigue and vitriol on the Internet. She went on, 'People posting messages on an American Web site called Martini Republic accused the three bloggers of working for the C.I.A., of being American puppets, of not being Iraqis and even of not existing at all.' Surely that isn't putting the prestige of The Times behind the proposition that the guy is a C.I.A. agent. It's saying that there are lots of wild charges flying around (vitriol), of which this is one. 'Vitriol' is even in the headline, signaling right from the start that we’re talking about nastiness, not facts. Is The Times in the habit of spreading vitriol it finds in the rare tin-hat blog? Is that your job? Is that news? Is that worthy of the top of your lead page? You know better, sir. She spread that speculation in the lede -- and, as Dan points out below, you cannot assume that people would read on to see what is not fully shot down because it is not reported. And, yes, when you put such speculation in the lede of a story on the top of your section page you bet your butt that you "put the prestige of The Times behind the proposition." Until you did, it was merely the rantings of a ranting blog. Now it took on the attention of the world's leading news organization. Once you said it, the same speculation was repeated on the wires in your client newspapers, on the BBC, and by others. For God's sake, man, that is a heavy responsiblity and I shake to see how lightly you take it. See also my post below on speculation, cynicism, and journalism. Later in the column Sarah talks about one guy who challenged these bloggers based on the name of their web host, CIATech Solutions, then quickly pointed out that this stands for Complex Internet Applications, not Central Intelligence Agency. You make it sound as if she was debunking that. That's not how I read it. She was spreading it; she was trying to justify their tin-hat paranoia. We'll both read it again. Buzzmachine is run by the well known conservative blogger Jeff Jarvis who, Ali wrote in one of his Internet exchanges with critics, has helped set up blogs run by some of his (Ali’s) Iraqi friends. So Buzzmachine is possibly not the most dispassionate source of analysis on this subject. First, Dan responds below that I'm not conservative. On what basis do you say that? I voted for Kerry, you know. And just because I supported the war, that doesn't make me conservative. Did you check with me before you characterized me? Is that your standard for reporting? Or did you assume that because I criticized The Times, I must be conservative. Ergo, The Times must be liberal. I can't imagine you like that equation. But that's merely a sideshow. You mischaracterized me but at least that does not jeopardize my life. So now we're too the heart of it, sir: free password sex hack
You bet I am passionate about this. I know these men. They have become friends online and in person. I respect them for their bravery defending their nation and building their democracy. I fear for them. I bear some responsiblity for the chain that led to them blogging and all the rest. You bet I am passionate about an attack on them. free password sex hack
I am also a journalist. And so you bet I am passionate about seeing shoddy, irresponsible, dangerous unjournalism, especially when it comes from a paper I respect. free password sex hack
Dan Okrent was sure passionate when he called out a blogger for saying threatening things to a Times reporter. The Times -- including Arthur Sulzburger and Bill Keller and the editorial page -- have sure been passionate about the threat of a reporter going to jail to protect her sources. free password sex hack
Dispassionate? Of course, I'm not dispassionate. free password sex hack
But once again, that's merely your feint. That doesn't address the reporting that did not occur in this story and the slant that built it and the judgment you and your staff exercised publishing it and playing it the way you did. Sarah was trying to give a sense of the befuddling complexity of an Internet brouhaha, of layers of potential manipulation what with astroturfing and blogtrolling and invisible dueling backers. (It should have been labeled a 'Critic's Notebook' but the bug was inadvertently omitted.) You can’t do that without saying what the fuss was about and in the world in which we live stirring up a hornet’s nest. This we seem to have done. Putting a bug on it would not have cured the essential problem that remains: This had no reporting (see again the subjects' responses) and was written to spread speculation and innuendo. I repeat my original headline: For shame. free password sex hack
Okrent now continues. Although I accept much of Landman's argument, a few things about his response unsettle me. First off, labeling Jarvis (disclosure: he's a former colleague of mine) a “well known conservative blogger” is both inaccurate and irrelevant. Either his charges are justified or they are not. Second, I’ve been at this racket long enough to have learned that opening paragraphs vastly outweigh the impact of elaborated arguments further down in an article; the lead’s references to the C.I.A. and the Defense Department were needlessly provocative, and would have been just as interesting, and less inflammatory, if they’d been set up with a sentence or two on the nature of the controversy – an Internet shouting match. And though Landman is right that hanging the story from the label Critic’s Notebook would have helped explain what was going on, The Times still has a long way to go to explain to readers what such a phrase actually means, and how a story attached to it is different from a news story. Here, Dan and I split off on opposite roads. He picks up the idea that appeared in comments here and elsewhere from Michael Zimmer arguing that arts stories are different. I could not disagree more and I'll just bet Bill Keller would, too. It is still The New York Times. It is still journalism. I don't buy that just because it's in a fluffier section, the story doesn't have to be reported, factual, newsworthy, and responsible. Boxer's story was none of that. free password sex hack
Dan: I started an entertainment magazine at our former company, Time Inc., and I certainly never believed I should hold my staff to a lower standard of journalism, fact, and fairness just because it was only entertainment. You ran the online service there and I know without a doubt that you never allowed your staff to operate on lesser standards because it was only online. It's still journalism. It's still about truth and justice.free password sex hack
Dan quotes Landman from a followup message: Sarah is a critic (she's done art, photography & theater) with a new beat: Arts & ideas on the Internet. It's an experiment with fuzzy boundaries. We thought this qualified under ideas: How they are exchanged in this medium. It's a close call and I can see why somebody would argue it should be in foreign space. But the truth is, it would never get into the foreign pages. It's too foreign, you could say. So we gave it a shot. And Dan responds: There are revealing truths lurking in the phrases “experiment with fuzzy boundaries,” “a close call,” and “So we gave it a shot.” Experiments can blow up in your face; close calls will be endlessly disputed; and when giving something a shot, your aim had better be precise. Well, yeah.... especially when we're talking about real shots and real explosions and real men's lives. free password sex hack
I see in that the faint recognition that The Times screwed up. I wish they'd just say it. And I also urge The Times to now address the complaints of Ali, Omar, and Mohammed about this story. free password sex hack
: LATER... I mulled more on the way to lunch and there's something fundamental I didn't say: Landman did not acknowledge any possible error in reporting, fact, or judgment. The most he did was, upon reflection, admit to living on a "fuzzy boundary." There's no discussion here, not acknowledgment that the complaints have basis, no listening. That's a damned shame. free password sex hack
Also note that Boxer did not respond or Dan did not reveal it. I would like to hear her justification. Her editor clearly learned no lessons and saw no new perspective. Did she?free password sex hack
Finally, I just want to say this: Ms. Boxer, you owe these good men an apologyfree password sex hack
: LATER STILL: A veteran journalist emailed me this: " I had the same angry reaction in bars in Central America in the 80s when drunken neophyte journalists (all too many of those in the region at that time) would speculate out loud that anyone who did not hew to their point of view was working for the CIA. People were killed then for accusations a lot less weighty."free password sex hack
Speculation and cynicism and journalism
: In the story of Eason Jordan's shocking allegation at Davos that the military targeted journalists in Iraq, I see a few disturbing trends in my profession about the spread of cynicism and speculation. free password sex hack
First, the background -- since this has not gotten no press coverage (apart from a WSJ newsletter) or much note in my fellow media or liberal blogs: Jordan, CNN's news boss, appeared in a panel at Davos and the official blog reported: ...Jordan asserted that he knew of 12 journalists who had not only been killed by US troops in Iraq, but they had in fact been targeted. He repeated the assertion a few times, which seemed to win favor in parts of the audience (the anti-US crowd) and cause great strain on others. The blogger, Rony Abovitz, said a crapstorm ensued with some troubled by what Eason alleged and others -- antiAmericans and Arabs are singled out -- grabbing onto it as if it were truth and Jordan finally pulling back: To be fair (and balanced), Eason did backpedal and make a number of statements claiming that he really did not know if what he said was true, and that he did not himself believe it. I didn't post on this yet because I was (a) busy and (b) thinking about the larger issues and unfortunate trends we see in this. free password sex hack
First, on the issue of speculation: Bloggers are accused -- sometimes justifiably -- of not exercising the standards of reporting and accuracy that professional journalists are supposed to follow. free password sex hack
But in just a month, I can name three appalling episodes of journalists speculating about something -- with no apparent basis in reporting or fact -- and starting what we like to call a meme (what used to call a story) based on nothing. They seem unaware of their power and unconcerned about their standards and either unaware of or unconcerned about the consequences of of saying such things as journalists, speaking from the pulpit of their profession.free password sex hack
Of course, we have the incident of New York Times writer Sarah Boxer glibly speculating -- with no reporting whatsoever to back up her speculation -- about the American government affiliations of Iraqi bloggers in the lede of an Arts story and putting them in danger. (More on that shortly.) And it spreads. Next we have Eric Alterman spreading the figments of their poisoned imaginations on MSNBC. And we see it spread further via wire services and blogs. Hey, I read it in the New York Times, there must be something to it. That, after all, is the value of The New York Times -- right?free password sex hack
It's not that they said things as if they were fact -- it's that we have led the public to believe that when we say things they are fact. To use the megaphone of journalism in print or on TV to spread mere speculation is to abuse the trust of the public and devalue what we do. free password sex hack
And now we have Eason speculating about U.S. troops murderering -- what else can you call it? -- journalists. I have no facts to know whether this could be true and if Eason does, he certainly should say so -- otherwise, it's not journalism, it's not reporting, it's not truth, it's merely speculation. Yes, if it is true then, damnit, report it with the facts; that's your job. But until you do that, all you've accomplished is to spread speculation. As Abovitz wrote: Many in the crowd, especially those from Arab nations, applauded what he said and called him a "very brave man" for speaking up against the U.S. in a public way amongst a crowd ready to hear anti-US sentiments. I am quite sure that somewhere in the Middle East, right now, his remarks are being printed up in Arab language newspapers as proof that the U.S. is an evil and corrupt nation. That is a real nightmare, because the Arab world is taking something said by a credible leader of the media (CNN!) as the gospel, or koranic truth.... To me, what was said can not be put back into the genie's bottle.
: Next, to the matter of cynicism: I was always taught that it is the journalist's job to be skeptical, to ask questions, to push for the truth. I still believe that. That is why I get disappointed in reporters who do not question conventional wisdom (for example, that America is suddenly at war, red v. blue). free password sex hack
But what we see here is not about skepticism. It is about cynicism, about starting with the assumption of dark motives and missing morals from the people who run our government and then trying to prove that ... or not. free password sex hack
I fear this is the real product of Watergate and Vietnam. I came into this business in the middle of the war and before Watergate. Of course, these were to be proud moments in journalism -- and I believe they indeed were: My professional elders reported what was happening in the war and not what the government said was happening; they held a President accountable. This supposedly led to an explosion of interest in joining the trade. free password sex hack
But I now fear it also led to a cynical assumption that everybody's bad and it's our job to expose them. No, some people are good and some are bad (or turn down a bad road) and it's our job to keep them honest on behalf of the public they serve. free password sex hack
In the incidents above -- and in some much other reporting recently (read: Dan Rather), we see journalism from the wrong starting gate, from speculation and assumption, and not from facts and questions. And we see some at the wrong finish line, when they spread speculation without fact.free password sex hack
: FOLLOWUP: A commenter quite rightly asked whether we'd seen any reports on Jordan's comments elsewhere to verify what was reported on the blog. Rebecca MacKinnon, who was at Davos, posts this today:
The official WEF summary does not mention Eason's remarks, and there is no transcript or webcast. But I was in the room and Rony's account is consistent with what I heard. : LATER... I just got email from the mysterious address public.information@cnn.com labeled "official statement" saying: Many blogs have taken Mr. Jordan's remarks out of context. Eason Jordan does not believe the U.S. military is trying to kill journalists. Mr. Jordan simply pointed out the facts: While the majority of journalists killed in Iraq have been slain at the hands of insurgents, the Pentagon has also noted that the U.S. military on occasion has killed people who turned out to be journalists. The Pentagon has apologized for those actions. free password sex hack
Mr. Jordan was responding to an assertion by Cong. Frank that all 63 journalist victims had been the result of "collateral damage." First, I emailed whoever that is back asking, "Who are you?" My name is Jeff Jarvis. What's yours? Essential lesson of citizens' media: In this world, we speak citizen-to-citizen. free password sex hack
Second, I say this is a perfect case for getting to the source material: Let's all get the transcript and the video and judge for ourselves. If Jordan is misquoted, then that will be clear. If he's correctly quoted but didn't mean to say that, he can say so now. free password sex hack
Third, I would say that killing "people who turned out to be journalists" would fall under the definiton of "collateral damage." So I'm not sure exactly the point is here. free password sex hack
I tried to find a video at Always-On, which was webcasting some sessions at Davos, but it's impossible to find anything there without forking over money (which I'm not doing). Rebecca says there isn't a transcript up. But it appears the event was videotaped. So I suggest that Davos and CNN get a transcript out to clear this up. free password sex hack
: YET LATER: Jordan emailed Rebecca. I'm not sure what to make of it and still would like to see a transcript or video. ...when Congressman Franks said the 63 journalists killed in Iraq were the unfortunate victims of "collateral damage," I felt compelled to dispute that by pointing out journalists in Iraq are being targeted -- I did not say all journalists killed were targeted, but that some were shot at on purpose and were not collateral damage victims. In response to a question about whether I believed the U.S. military meant to kill journalists in Iraq, I said, no, I did not believe the U.S. military was trying to kill journalists in Iraq. Yet, unfortunately, U.S. forces have killed several people who turned out to be journalists. In several cases, the U.S. troops who killed those people aimed and fired at them, not knowing they were shooting at journalists. However tragic and, in hindsight, by Pentagon admission, a mistake, such a killing does not fall into the "collateral damage" category.... I am frankly still confused. Has it been proven or admitted that journalists were "targeted" and "shot at on purpose" by our government? That would seem to be just as serious a charge. The one case I recall was the shot at a hotel where journalists were and as I recall the soliders believed they had seen a gun. Are there other cases I don't recall? free password sex hack
: Here's another rendition of Jordan's statement on another blog and I still don't get his exact meaning. Go read it. I think he's trying to say that journalists were killed in cases of mistaken identity; because soldiers shot at them because they thought the victims were someone else, they were "targeted," but they weren't not targeted as journalists and that's not "collateral damage." I think that's what he's trying to say but I'm frankly not sure.free password sex hack
Follow the meme
: I hope some journalism/sociology/communications student is studying the birth and spread of political memes -- formerly known as party lines and spin -- in the era of citizens' media. free password sex hack
Case in point: After the election in Iraq, we first heard silence from the anti-war crew and the left and then, as if they'd all gotten the fax, we heard an echo of a line something like this: an election does not a democracy make. free password sex hack
The similarity was striking. Somebody started that line. Somebody thought it was good and picked it up. And it spread quickly, in both big media and citizens' media. free password sex hack
Of course, this happens on the right and the left. This is merely a current example. free password sex hack
I'd love to know who first said it and how it spread. How is spin spun now?free password sex hack
February 01, 2005
Parody is the sincerest form
: It's quite cool that last months' Harvard conference on blogs, journalism and all that inspired a parody. It certainly deserved parody. Too bad this isn't exactly funny. free password sex hack
Eeyores v. Poohs
: Fred Wilson has a good post today responding to the notion that the silence from much of the left on the Iraqi election is the response of Eeyores. Fred's not an Eeyore. Neither is Hoder, who wrote a similar post the day before. And here's why...free password sex hack
The problem I have with the Eeyores is that for all intents and purposes, they refused to see the positive in the election and the start of a new democracy; they refused to think first of the human rights of the Iraqi people and instead thought of their own political agenda and political anti's. That's Eeyoreism. The worst of them -- the rabid Eeyores, the Coles and Altermans -- exhibited utter disdain to the point of hate toward anyone there who dared to say positive things about their freedom and America. That is decidely illiberal to me. free password sex hack
But that is not what Fred and Hoder and others have said. They said that they are, indeed, happy to see the Iraqi people exercising this new freedom but they are concerned about what is next and how America will approach the another dictatorship, another confrontation. That is a most reasonable position. And I agree with them. free password sex hack
Reasonable people can agree. Reasonable people should agree that the exercise of freedom and democracy in Iraq is good for the Iraqi people. Reasonable people should agree that we must be cautious about intervening in nations but should also take steps to defend the human rights of our fellow man when we can. Reasonable people can disagree about this war and its aftermath and its duration. free password sex hack
Reasonable people.free password sex hack
They're not Eeyores. I prefer to think of them as Poohs. free password sex hack
Missing the beat
: The music industry still doesn't get it. free password sex hack
Universal Music just announced that it is doing the exact opposite of what it should be doing with music videos. free password sex hack
What they are doing: Pulling the videos from any online service airing them unless the service starts paying Universal a fee or revenue share. free password sex hack
What they should be doing: Opening up music videos for all to have and distribute freely. free password sex hack
Do we have to beat you over the head with this? Was the 2x4 of Napster not enough? Look at your own experience trying to prevent consumers from getting your product. You failed (but when Apple made it easy, they succeeded, remember?) Look again at the fact that Jon Stewart's Crossfireicide got at least 10 times more viewers via free distribution on the web -- via iFilm and BitTorrent -- than it got on big, old CNN. Remember, music men: The network no one owns is far more powerful than the network the big guys own. free password sex hack
What you should do is put your music videos out there as free, downloadable videos and as BitTorrents and something magical will happen: The people will distribute them for you. The people will promote them for you. The people will tell you what's hot and not by virtue of their links (something you can't learn via MTV). The people will enhance your talents' brands. The people will sell your music for you. You will gain tremendous value from our own customers -- all for free! You can even slap product placement inside the videos and make a fortune on that; hell, it's free, we can't complain. The issue isn't you giving the people stuff for free; your goal should be finding ways for the people to give you value for free, you fools. | |
