Tag: media

The News is NowPublic

Post ImageToday has been a pretty restful day, which I think is good to have once in a while. Tonight I did some reading, and as a result, I found NowPublic via Scoble:

It’s open source news, and even in its infancy it’s richer, faster, more powerful than the infotainment it replaces.

We invite you to join this revolution. Take control of the news. Make it deliver information about your community, your interests, your life. It’s time. The news is nowPublic.

One of the big topics of Gnomedex was that we’re taking back our media. Adam Curry very proudly proclaimed this in his closing keynote address. So while the idea of “open source news” isn’t completely new to me, this was the first time I had ever seen it really implemented. I gave NowPublic a shot tonight, and I must say, it’s kind of neat!

Take a look at the footage I posted about Gnomedex to see how it works. Once you’re a member of NowPublic, you can add news stories, footage, and blog posts. I can’t see how the blog is useful, as I suspect that almost everyone who contributes to the site will already have their own blog somewhere else. Other than that however, I think the site has pretty good potential.

I suppose I can already be considered a “reporter” simply by posting on my own blog, but there’s something uniquely intriguing about being part of a bigger, community run news site.

Read: NowPublic

Today's Citizen Media

Post ImageThere was obviously lots to talk about in this session hosted by David Geller, John Battelle, and Dan Gillmor, but I took one specific thing away from it. Dan Gillmor, in answering a question posed by Darren Barefoot about how the average citizen can become important enough when big media is around, said that what we’re talking about is “mass media” and NOT “mainstream media”.

For some reason, that statement really resonates. Mainstream is quite relative when you think about it. If you read a dozen different publications every day, that’s mainstream for you, even if no one else reads the same publications. Mass media is a much better way to describe the organizations that normally come to mind – the big newspapers, television and radio stations, and websites.

When you think about it, the defintion makes a difference when you try to figure out how joe average can make a successful podcast. It doesn’t matter if that podcast becomes “mass media”, what’s more important is that it becomes “mainstream media” for a group of people. If you’ve got something you’re passionate about and something you want to say, and there are people who want to listen, I’d define that as success.

Podcasting will almost definitely become another technology used by mass media. What will truly decide whether or not it has staying power, is if podcasting becomes mainstream media too. And based on the growth we’ve seen so far, I think it’s a safe bet.

Read: Gnomedex

A Newspaper Revolution

Earlier today I wrote a somewhat comical entry about how young people are no longer interested in the six o’clock news. Well, there was some seriousness there too – young people really are having an effect on news outlets of all types, from television to newspapers. So I thought it was especially appropriate that I’d come across a post from Jeff Jarvis where he talks about Rupert Murdoch’s speech today to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in Washington. For those of you that don’t know, Rupert Murdoch is top dog at News Corp.

According to Jarvis, the speech included lots of props to the Internet and specifically, to blogs. From what I read, Murdoch seems to have done a great job in providing some background to what he’s talking about, explaining how newspapers enjoyed a virtual monopoly until the radio was invented. Now, the time for newspapers to change has come – “The trends are against us,” Murdoch says. He’s not saying that news is dead however, just that it needs to be delivered differently:

The challenge, however, is to deliver that news in ways consumers want to receive it. Before we can apply our competitive advantages, we have to free our minds of our prejudices and predispositions, and start thinking like our newest consumers. In short, we have to answer this fundamental question: What do we – a bunch of digital immigrants — need to do to be relevant to the digital natives?

Talk about hitting the nail on the head. They are indeed “digital immigrants”, what an excellent way to describe the average newspaper editor. If there is anyone who could give a “call-to-arms” speech to the newspaper industry and have it be heard, I can’t think of a better man than Rupert Murdoch. He is so important, and so highly regarded. Let’s hope the editors listened.

I hate almost everything about newspapers. I don’t like the size of the paper. I don’t like the way it makes everything black. I don’t like that every page has to be jammed full of stuff. I don’t like that the pages are not full color. I don’t like that once I find something interesting, I can’t do anything with it (like send it to a friend, or blog about it with a link, etc). Please newspaper editors, hear Murdoch’s call, and bring the newspaper into the digital age!

Read: BuzzMachine