Recession Still Drawing Multimedia Crowd

If there is one main idea I’ve picked up from watching the business section of newspapers and various media formats is that there is a real concern of economy and this so called recession that is going on. I don’t like that idea. However, I don’t make near enough money right now as a student and am spending so much on college that no matter what proposal Bush comes up with, I’m not going to see crap of a difference.

The most recent story I had read was that of Warren Buffett saying the United States in “Basically in a recession.” Can’t really say I disagree with him from the studies and reports I’ve seen. This drew my attention because I’m from Nebraska, and he’s kind of a big deal around the state. He gave a speech and I thought it was covered fairly well by a couple media formats.

The first story I came across was in the newsprint of the Omaha World Herald. Pretty good coverage I thought. Accompanying the story later on in the business section there were a couple editorials discussing the current state of our economy. I thought this was a nice compliment in the media coverage.

The video I came across at CNN.com was real solid quality and gave you a better feel of Buffett’s speech. The more I look at online media, the more videos I watch and the more I think converging media is doing great things. Video just gives you the intangibles text cannot offer.

What I’ve really thought has been solid by online news sources, specifically CNN.com is the links to similar or complimentary stories at the end of stories. For example at the end of the Buffett recession story there were links to the Fortune 500 site for further analysis and ideas for what to take advantage during this state of our economy.

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=1208&u_sid=10273676 – first news story of Buffett

http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/02/12/news.harlow.021208.buffet.cnnmoney – CNN video of Buffett

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/03/news/economy/bc.ne.buffettletter.ap/index.htm?postversion=2008030309 – news story

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/berkshire_annual_report.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008030112

http://money.cnn.com/2008/02/29/news/companies/loomis_berkshire.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008022920

Multimedia Occupation Skill Set:

First and foremost you must be able to think and write clearly.

You must be able to write accurately.

You must be able to gather information efficiently.

Multitasking efficiently is important.

Must be familiar with numerous software programs such as word, Pagemaker/Indesign/Quark, photoshop of some degree, video and audio editing software, etc.

Must be organized and able to overcome procrastination.

Must be able to handle timely deadlines.

Career opportunities:

Journalist

Photographer

Camera operator – video

Radio personality, DJ, Announcer

Marketing – director and associates

Public relations personnel

Script writer

Web designer

Magazine designer/editor

Advertising

Media-related Jobs Site:
http://www.freep.com/legacy/jobspage/

Journerdism.com Jobs site:
http://www.journerdism.com/index.php

American Society of Newspaper Editors
www.asne.org

http://detroit.gannettonline.com/careerbuilder/

COSIDA — Athletics PR, Advertising, Marketing, Management

http://cosida.com/jobs.aspx

Caleb Hawley
Beat Journal week seven
NMC 301

Blu-Ray or HD DVD

Never in all of my days did I expect so much media buzz over a personal movie watching platform. It definitely was covered on about as many media formats as possible from the newspaper, to online print, to NPR and to blogs. Crazy stuff. I like DVD’s but, wow I guess I am out of the loop. I had no idea the global home entertainment market was $42 billion.

The most common occurrence between all of the different media is the discussion of whether it will be Blu-Ray DVD players or HD DVD players as the common media format to replace standard DVD’s. According to the four sources Blu-Ray has all but won. In doing so, it has prompted more media change.

Microsoft’s X-Box 360 when released a few months ago came equipped with an HD DVD player option. Now with Blu-Ray taking the upper hand, Microsoft has now developed a media center Blu-Ray player accessory. I bring this up because X-Box to me can be thrown into this theme of “new media.” The video game console has all the makings of a computer and attached to a television screen which is essentially a monitor and there you have it a personal computer. For the media guru who plays a lot of video games he or she can now get all their news they want from X-Box Live, watch videos, play music or podcasts. I think the Blu-Ray player is just another piece building on new media.

I really thought having so many different media formats reporting this news it really gave you an understanding of what is going on in the movie and home entertainment industry, especially the blog site. This had numerous angles from different sources, which all seemed to be relatively credible with some type of backing. Having more than a once source information machine I think is what really improved the coverage of this news. This is something that maybe could not have been possible in years prior to new media practices of such things like blogs and internet radio.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=19141319; Wal-Mart

http://blogs.computerworld.com/has_blu_ray_won_hd_dvd_r_i_p_and_souvenir_potpourri_2; Has blu-ray won?

http://www.4rfv.co.uk/industrynews.asp?id=71848; Blu-Ray Edges Towards Victory As Toshiba Reviews HD DVD Format.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/05/technology/05disc.html?scp=1&sq=blu-ray&st=nyt; Warner Backs Blu-Ray, Tilting DVD Battle

In light of all the speakers and discussion we’ve had in class about the converging news media about print, video, photography, podcasting and so much more, I thought I’d look a little deeper into it. Since Mark Larabee of the Oregonian was in class most recently, I took the liberty of looking at Oregonlive.com to see what is being done on the whole to bring up the hit counts on the website.

This site has a lot of content. That is a plus for me, but good golly is it ever disorganized and difficult to find much of what you are looking for. Yes, of course the daily news headlines were easy because they were front and center, but to find other media galleries that are being spoken so highly of, it was a little more difficult to spot.

Once I was able to find them, I felt they really did add a fair amount to the surfing experience. There were some interesting videos from throughout the state like the cannon’s being uncovered or an idiot drive down a subway tunnel. Just little things that would probably bring me back, but the problem is how clustered everything was in finding the multimedia.

The same goes for the podcasting. I liked the feature, that wasn’t a problem. If these things were easier to find, I really do think it would boost daily hits by a considerable margin. It is one thing to incorporate these new mediums, but it’s another thing to incorporate them in a user friendly way, and what Oregonlive.com is doing could use a hand.

I did find the blog section to be quite nifty. I mean it was easier to find amongst the mess because of the sheer number of blogs, which also link to the multimedia new stuff. Regardless, I did like the blog section, once I was there it was relatively easy to navigate to what I wanted to find. So that was a plus.

I think it’s great what newspapers are trying to do to keep readership up and keep their audience more tuned in and interested. Something I’ve always thought made sense was a little saying I’ve heard from a lot of people, “If you are going to do it, do it right.”

Caleb Hawley
Reader Response #5

EBAY!!!

What a wonderful idea this Ebay, but not really type of journalism. Freelancers have got to be pumped about this, same goes for publishers if it gets fine tuned enough to run efficiently and fairly. I think it’s great.
This is kind of turning into a beat journal for me every week in the fact of looking for ways to save the journalist. This is one way to keep the blood pumping, which kind of ties back to my previous response speaking about ideas to revitalize the industry. This is just one more thing that makes me feel a little better about an industry everyone says to be leery about.
I personally had never really thought of being a freelancer. I do know enough freelancers though that it impacts me indirectly. If this were to take off for journalism, what else could it do for the media industry?
Could we see an opening avenue for photographers? Could this be an opening for aspiring radio personalities pitching a talk show? Or may it could be a big break for some freelance video content. This could be some really good stuff for a lot of people on a lot of facets of media.
I like to incorporate PR in this is as much as possible as you know Pam. This freelance engine could do good things per se for a sports information office. Say some local fans rich in history knowledge of the programs finds a nifty story of a past player or coach and what they are doing now and pitch it to the office for some compensation. It could greatly increase the notoriety of a program as well as stimulate a career for someone else. I don’t really see a downside to this type of media engine as long as it can be run honestly.

Caleb Hawley
Reader Response #4

Optimism in a time of chaos and change

As I began reading this story, regardless of the blurb at the beginning in relation to new avenues for journalism careers I started feeling really down about my career choice. It’s like so many stories I have read recently about the dying industry and what is to become of it. Whether or not if I go into sports public relations or not, a dying journalism industry ultimately would lead to a considerably dying public relations industry.

Then just as fast as I was feeling down about future employment, I was completely revamped. No matter how much one hears about the dying industry, just like anything that is declining to survive you must evolve. This is not new to me, obviously. This has been a staple of the class… convergence and innovation.

This article, for the first time, made me believe that what I see as my career path is not completely pointless and dead end. Someday when I get into the full fledged real world I will have confidence in the fact that there will be an industry, however different it may be. It’s a little sad I’ve been feeling so low on the field that I thoroughly enjoy so much, but there hasn’t been anything of solidarity to boost my morale.

Now I feel that all it is going to take is a whole bunch of patience and some perseverance. Taking initiative to maintain and evolve will be essential and I do believe that is something that is really happening and not just being blathered about. Journalism may be taking a blow, a heavy blow at that, but it is far from down and out.

Caleb Hawley
NMC 301 reader response
1/30/08

Media are off their game response

I really liked the Bill Dwyre article in relation to “we blog it before we write it.” I not only was drawn to this because I am a golf fan and had followed this story a little bit, but I think this is the type of thing that again shows the power of blogs.

Kelly Tilghman made the notorious “lynching” reference. Then things got out of hand. Stories lit up the news. Bloggers had a hey-day with this story. I think the power of those bloggers got taken a little too far, however.

As was mentioned, it was a harmless comment. I feel bloggers misused the power in essentially crucifying this woman who made a comment about a friend. Nothing would have been said if it had been able say, Retief Goosen or Phil Mickelson because they are white. But bloggers ate it up and went crazy on it. So much as to bring in Al Sharpton.

It’s good to see that bloggers’ voices are heard. It’s just a matter of whether or not they abuse that voice in certain circumstances. If blogging can be used intelligently in a sane manner great things can come from this recent phenomena.

These blogs used so many different formats to attack this poor woman. Podcasts were made available to hear the broadcast in which it was said. Video was made available on formats like youtube. Transcribed text was made available. Then there were pictures of the golf magazine cover. All of these were links or center pieces to many blogs.

Being able to apply all of these extra platforms to a bloggers ideas is where I feel a lot of the blogs get their power. The audio visual impact is important.

Reading Response to Dan Kennedy’s Plugged in, tuned out

I definitely can attest to the lack of media consumed for my age demographic. Many of my friends read very little news, and many of their acquaintances are in that very same boat. Is this a problem?

Yes, it most certainly is. I do feel a little guilty that I have not been a better consumer of the news. I have so much information at the tips of my fingers and I don’t take advantage of it. I am really putting myself at a severe disadvantage in a lot of aspects in the “real world.”

My take on why us youngans aren’t consuming news is our incredibly active lives. School takes up an abundant amount of time for me. If I’m not in class I am reading a text book, or some assigned reading which may end up being online. After that I do more homework. Head to work five days a week. I try eat a couple times a day, maybe make some time to sleep. Once I am with all of these things, the last thing I want to do is read another couple thousand words online or pick up the daily paper no matter how entertaining or important it may be.

I do believe the digital delivery is increasing readership amongst the youth. I think as this art gets perfected, more and more youth will seek more news and readership will rise. Perhaps another method would be going beyond even the inverted pyramid story structure to about half of that. A 400 word story is more likely to be read, in my opinion, that a 600-1000 word story. If it’s really quick, and really concise I feel the likelihood of that being read is relatively high, or high for that matter.

This article seems to think blogs will help as well. I’m still on the fence with blogs and get into that more a little more on the beat journal about the political blogs.

Politics Blog Beat Journal

I am starting to come to the realization that these political blogs serve a significant purpose. Many of these political blogs give a clear account of the happenings in the primaries in a rather clean and concise manner. The posts have been generally pretty short and concise with links to further information and stories dealing with the same manner.

I really liked the New York Times Politics blog layout. It was easy to read and navigate. Headlines were easily recognizable. I knew what I was looking at and it was easy to find stuff I was looking for. Links to news stories were great following the primaries. Various charts and tabled information really added to the blog. This is the type of thing that could get me consuming more and more political news on a variety of issues. My eyes are starting to open up.

Going back to the Kennedy reader response, he had mentioned that this type of medium could accelerate the younger crowds enthusiasm or just general readership of political news and news pertinent to their lives. I am beginning to agree more and more.

The Washington Post’s blogs I enjoyed as well, but was a somewhat different format than the New York Times. Chris Cillizza’s blog had all of his post in a running fashion down the page with intermittent videos and pictures. Links to other stories were a little more tucked away on the left side and seemed to be fewer.

Various blogs definitely have their party affiliation written all over them, or at least what party they are most interested. The blogs at the New York Times and the Washington Post each had for or six of the top seven posts/stories in relation to some facet of the Democratic Party, whereas Fox News had five of the first seven posts/stories relative to the Republican Party. The commenting community tends to all be in the same boat wherever these blogs are. Several support what was going on in the story whether it be left or right and the opposite will oppose them, and sometimes take shots at their merit and character.
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Now that I have somewhat familiarized myself with blogs and have listened to the NPR interview, I feel a lot of bloggers are journalists, but obviously of a different variety. Again, some bloggers are going to be more credible than others especially in politics. I could definitely see where one’s party affiliation could get in the way of posting credibly.

As with many new technologies and media, the consumer is now the producer. Everyone has the ability to blog. Everyone is the media now. What gives this power is how much bloggers put into validation. Bloggers want to be regarded as credible.

I suppose that elections are in the hands of the people and if these blogs allow discussion on various topics and issues people with use this media to formulate ideas and ultimately may decide who to vote for. If that is the case, to me that is the power of political blogs.