Researchers have found it’s quite costly to municipalities when local newspapers close. They looked at counties where local newspapers have closed and found that local governments spend more on loans for projects than those counties who had a local newspapers.
Just wow. Fox News falls for fake story again
According to Media Matters, Fox News has fallen for a fake news story again. This time, it has to deal with Obama personally paying to keep a Muslim museum open. The problem is they got this news from a satirical news site, National Report.
Check out the news story.
It’s time that the media become more responsible in their reporting and stop trying to be sensational.
How not to use #Hashtags
So the use of #hashtags are growing out of control. It’s so bad even Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake made a great video talking in hashtags.
But it doesn’t get as bad as this tweet from a John Ferrugia below.
Let’s clean up social media for all of us. Don’t flood the space.
Why do people believe experts on tv or radio?
I was headed to the airport earlier and KFBK in Sacramento brought on an expert to talk about safety for those big Christmas presents you bought.
They didn’t want you to put those big empty tv boxes outside in the garbage because it would be an invitation for thieves.
But then she said one thing that caught my attention. She said not to put your serial numbers of your devices into the cloud through your computer because if someone stole your computer than you wouldn’t be able to have access to it.
That is the entire reason to have cloud services. It is backed up off-site, one of the main tenants in a backup strategy. You can still access it without accessing your primary computer and if something happens to it, it will still be available.
This is what Evernote does quite well.
But this so called expert was talking like this is a bad thing.
Our media needs to be more vigilant in selecting experts and we as consumers need to be more vigilant to ensure what they are telling us is accurate.
Media need to think more before they talk
I was just watching CNN and the anchor misspoke. She said that Droid has become the most popular Smartphone on the market.
The problem is that she was referring to Android overtaking Blackberry as the most popular smartphone platform.
The problem is that Droid is a phone that runs android and is made by Motorola. I’m sure Motorola liked the press, but it shows media talking about things they don’t really understand.
Last week the Denver Post ran a story with a headline that said about the Federal budget. The headline said the government shutdown was averted because the House of Representatives passed a continuing resolution.
While the body of the story was correct, the headline implied something differently.
In this day of instant news, the media needs to work harder to get the story right.
Some Random Thoughts…
Here are some random thoughts:
- TCU will surpass Boise State in the BCS standings this weekend. TCU blew out #5 Utah today on the road. They take the inside track to be the one-and-only non-automatic qualifier to make the Bowl Championship Series Bowls. Boise State stands a good chance to go undefeated and not make it. This will open up a whole bunch of scrutiny that the BCS doesn’t want but would deserve.
- The Major League Soccer playoffs get real interesting because the Eastern Conference Finals will take place in Denver between the Colorado Rapids and San Jose Earthquakes on November 13. These two teams from the Western Conference were put in the Eastern Conference after only the top two teams from the East qualified for the playoffs and then promptly lost in the 1st round. Denver come out and support the Rapids!
- Finally Keith Olbermann should have been suspended by NBC for what he did. They have it outlined for all their employees and he crossed the line. It never looks good when you give money to a politician the same day that you have them on for an interview on your show. It’s also hypocritical of him because he called out Fox News for the same thing. Yes there is his 1st amendment right, but journalists have a different ethical standard that they need to live by.
Well that is it for now. I’m getting nervous of how bad this winter will be. It’s been way to nice this fall. I think Mother Nature will make is pay soon.
CU Blows Journalism School Reorganization Announcement
Today the University of Colorado at Boulder blew an announcement about their Journalism and Mass Communications school. They really didn’t tell anyone before they sent a news release to the media and it caught its most important asset, its students, completely off-guard.
For those of you who missed it, CU announced today that they would discontinue their current Journalism and Mass Communication Program and use that opportunity to develop a new program to meet the needs of the industry today.
We all know that the field of journalism and mass communication has changed and they need to evolve the program to meet what is going on in the real world. I support that!
But the problem is that they didn’t really communicate it with the students or their advisors before they sent out a news release to the media themselves.
According to their news release they met with the staff and explained what is going on. I can’t confirm that, but I’ll take them at their word. But they didn’t tell their students. No email, call, or have a specific meeting for them.
Worst yet, they didn’t tell the student advisors before the announcement went to the media. So the students are seeing the reports in the media, contacting their advisors, and then getting no response or information. This I can confirm.
How is a student supposed to feel or react especially when all the headlines and breaking news texts going out from most local media outlets say that CU is closing the Journalism and Mass Communications Program.
They didn’t send anything out to the students until later in the day and then they only sent the news release to them.
They way it should have been handled was after meeting with the faculty and then advisors, had an email go out to all the students prior to news release going to the media. They should have received the announcement first.
The announcement should have told them what was going on and referred them to a website for the students to see more explanations on how this pertains to them. It should have also referred them to their advisor to answer their questions.
I think the CU Media and Community Relations folks need to go back to school and learn how to communicate with their stakeholders and roll out a big announcement like this. They definitely could have handled this a lot better.
CNN Being Irresponsible
I can’t believe how irresponsible CNN is being right now regarding the tragedy at Fort Hood, Texas.
They are talking with civilians and dependents on the base and they are giving away information of where they are at and what is happening on base.
During an incident, this is something that shouldn’t be happening. It gives operational information away and could harm those people still on the base.
You don’t know who is watching and what is really going on.
You need to protect the people still there and the law enforcement agencies who are trying to handle the situation.
CNN should know better and we should expect more from the media.
Maybe the Federal Police will learn that the media is part of the public – Channel 4 cameraman cited at federal building
Channel 4 cameraman cited at federal building – The Denver Post
Maybe the Federal Police will learn that the media is the public. There should not be a separate rule for the media and the public. If the general public is allowed in, than the media should be allowed in.
For those of you who don’t know, the media represents us, the public.
What is disturbing to me is that he didn’t even have his camera with him. He left it with the other media outside. If that is the case what is the big deal and the difference than a member of the public coming in?
This happens at the Denver Federal Center all the time. The public is allowed to go on that campus and roam without escort. They can get anywhere. But if the media is not allowed on without escort.
Even if they have an escort, the Federal Police can not allow them on or have them removed. This is not good.
There should not be a separation of the media and the public. Otherwise the freedoms that this country was built upon and many Americans have died for will cease to exist.
Matt Vasgersian is classless on MLB Network
I just want to say that Matt Vasgersian is a classless reporter/anchor on the MLB Network.
Tonight Brad Hawpe was beaned on a pick-off throw in the neck below the helmet. He had to be taken off on a cart with his neck immobilized. It is a serious situation.
Vasgersian was making jokes about one of the paramedics looking like a Donovan McNabb. Classless and just plain wrong. Even the color analysts thought it was pretty stupid.
An injured player is nothing to joke about, even people who are trying to help the injured player.
Vasgerisan should clean up his act, be a professional, and apolgize for his stupidity.
Mile High Soapbox 