We Want Media

Magazines are a fragile, fragile medium. In the young year that is 2006, Cargo, Celebrity Living and Elle Girl have all bit the dust and more (SPIN I'm looking at you) might be on their way.

Tonight, the latest in reality television is debuting on TLC. Honey We're Killing the Kids examines the bad eating habits of children and families across the country. It's complete with the nutritional expert, so-called "hyper and unruly" kids, and even simulations and images of what the kids could be like as adults should the continue their bad habits.

It seems that Major League Baseball just can't avoid controversy. Bud Selig, the commisioner of MLB, has appointed former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to head the internal investigation of steroids in baseball.

Just when you thought media’s attitude on ethics left a bad taste in your mouth, The New York Post’s Page Six came along and dosed a spoonful of arsenic.

The blog-obsessed will no longer have to type in multiple URLs. LexisNexis is incorporating blogs into its databases in a venture with Newstex.

After learning that the New York Daily News was starting its own blogs with its own writers through some ads in its print edition, I was both excited and skeptical about the idea.

Did anyone else see this article in amNewYork on Wednesday? Summary for lazy nonclickers: Some rental listings on Craigslist offer reduced rent to a female willing to provide sex.

For a very long time, media companies have been fighting against ownership restrictions. And for the most part, they have been successful. But now, the FCC is trying to lift the ban on ownership of newspapers and broadcasting by one company in the same city.

Claria Company, a marketing and personalization software company, will soon be releasing PersonalWeb, a tracking software that will tailor web pages for internet surfers based on their online viewing habits.

There has been so much commotion about the upcoming film, United 93. The family members of the deceased have given the filmmakers their consent, yet some people say it’s too soon. Frankly, I can’t say I’m entirely opposed to the film.

Bob Baker has the right idea. So did George Orwell in Politics and the English Language. They both recognize that some writers aren’t even thinking about the words they write anymore.

Let's list some things that Google's been heading into so far: video downloads, desktop search tools, instant messenging. They're looking to create an online storage service. And now reports are circulating that they're heading into the iPod-dominated arena with their own online music store.

Amanda Congdon of Rocketboom fame paid our class a visit. She discussed a variety of topics, from an odd encounter with an Amish fan to her sleeping pattern over the last year (not much). Most interesting to me was her vision for the future of video blogging.

So apparently Rosie has a blog. In fact, she has has one since 2004, but only recently it was moved to a new location and given a makeover. In addition to the usual (y'know, mani, pedi, foils, waxing), a set of "Guidelines for Commenting" are included. Some highlights are....

It’s that time of year again--auditing time! For the first time in 2006, the Audit Bureau of Circulations will conduct its biannual circulation reports. Most major papers and periodicals go through this process, so of course they have some tricks up their sleeves.

In the age of information explosion, it becomes that much harder to set yourself apart from the rest. Creativity seems to be the key, and you need all the publicity you can get. Recently, Chevy tried just that with a Write-Your-Own-Ad-Approach.

The success of MySpace, in my estimation, is predicated on three things: idiocy, hormones and free time. All things that old folks don’t have and all reasons why MySpace Version 2.Old will not work.

The question of the future of newspapers seems to be constantly coming up, and digital news (and, well, digital everything) could just be thismuch closer to edging out the old-fashioned papers.

It's true. In the same way that controversy sells, bias sells. Look at Lou Dobbs. Someone brings up immigration, and he flips out O'Reilly style while bringing his ratings up. It works, and kudos to the guy for finally figuring it out.

Yeah, I fell for it. eBaum's World, a popular site that hosts funny videos, Flash cartoons and games, and other dirty material, effectively executed their April Fools joke, claiming the Internet Regulation and Legislation Bureau (IRLB) passed a law for websites to censor content, putting "ratings" on videos and pictures.