March 29th, 2007
Ever behind the times (pun intended), the New York Times has published an article on some of the best of the online alternatives to radio, such as Pandora, Last.fm and Slacker (check out my last.fm profile to see what I’ve been listening to recently). The article only briefly touches upon the royalty/copyright issues, especially the recent ruling concerning the changes to fees for online broadcasting (something terrestrial radio does not have to pay), but fails to really address any of the overall issues with government regulation, copyright and technology issues and controversies currently playing out in the United States.
Categories: internet, radio . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 27th, 2007
Network World is reporting that Life Magazine is dead print-wise for the third time in its storied history. Initially killed in the early 70s because they could not sustain themselves on their already high advertising rates, Life was brought back from the dead a few years later, only to be closed a second time in 2000. This April will be its final issue as a periodical in print. Life will, however, be sustained as a Web-only publication.
Categories: magazine . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 24th, 2007
Editor & Publisher filed this article on the myriad of news organizations that mistakenly reported that presidential candidate John Edwards would end his bid due to his wife’s latest cancer scare based on one incorrect story that got its information from one incorrect (and unchecked) source:
Outlets falling for it ranged from MSNBC to the Washington Times, which headlined its story “Report: Edwards Suspending Campaigning.” This appeared shortly before his scheduled noon announcement. The Los Angeles Times and Newsday were among many others which also headlined the “suspension” on their sites.
The source for many of the reports was a blog item on Politico.com. The author, Ben Smith, later admitted it was based on a single source and he apologized.
Categories: politics . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 15th, 2007
Some editor at WNBC (NY) made a big oops when he or she decided to include imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman a celebrity on a feature article on blind celebs. Oops.
click to enlarge to full size
Categories: WNBC, celebrity . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 8th, 2007
The New York Times reports that three teenage girls were suspended from their high school for:
“using one of the title words from “The Vagina Monologues†at a school event.”
“Monologues” is an evil, evil word and must not be uttered around children or anal-retentive adults!
Categories: education . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 6th, 2007
According to their graphics department. Via DailyKos.
Categories: news . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 6th, 2007
BMG Music (owned by Bertelsmann), had been subject of a class action lawsuit by one Eric Stelk:
The Action was filed on August 20, 2004. The complaint alleges that Defendant engaged in deceptive, misleading, and unfair marketing and sales practices in regard to its shipping and handling charges and its advertised cost to consumers of its CDs and cassettes.
Recently BMGM began sending out emails to those who signed up to be a part of said lawsuit. You are now entitled to purchase CDs from BMGM for an 80% discount with free shipping and handling. In other words, participating in this by purchasing music at a loss for them, you’re now giving up your valuable updated personal information, which makes the results of this class action a win for them after all.
Categories: music . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 5th, 2007
News media and politicians are up in arms because conservative pundit Ann Coulter indirectly called Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards a “faggot” during a PAC meeting. Interesting how they’ve no problem saying the F-word, but if you print the word “niggardly” you’re bound to get tar, feathered, drawn and quartered and damned for the rest of your life.
Categories: news . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
March 4th, 2007
Rejournalization is not a fan of Paris Hilton, hating the fact that we have to constantly see her in our myriad of news feeds. The revered Associated Press, apparently, isn’t too fond of her, either. Last week they opted to not publish any story about the dumbfounding heiress celebutard:
It turned out that people noticed plenty — but not in the way that might have been expected. None of the thousands of media outlets that depend on AP called in asking for a Paris Hilton story. No one felt a newsworthy event had been ignored. (To be fair, nothing too out-of-the-ordinary happened in the Hilton universe.)
The reaction was to the idea of the ban, not the effects of it. There was some internal hand-wringing. Some felt we were tinkering dangerously with the news. Whom, they asked, would we ban next? Others loved the idea. “I vote we do the same for North Korea,” one AP writer said facetiously.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled no Paris news.
Categories: celebrity . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .
February 28th, 2007
From Powerplay Publishing comes the first ever style manual for gaming journalists.
Categories: gaming . Author: mist . Comments: No Comments .