All The News Fit to Browse

Peggy Drexler gives us a chilling take on the mind-set of the American journalism consumer with her McClatchy-Tribune distributed column. The gist of the Cornell psychology professor's column is that the cloud that is the media provides everything to the reader -- but not in the best of ways. It becomes incredibly easy to tune into the news that you want, rather than at times the news that you might need. Pointing to the political situation, it is easy to descend into a worm hole of reinforcing coverage to one's preconceived notions. Think Barack Obama is getting poor treatment because of race; there's a blog for that. Think Hillary Clinton is getting the shaft on gender; plenty of news coverage there. Think John McCain's getting the short end of opinion; lots of that too.

Where Drexler goes with this is a bit difficult to accept. The point is this new "mob" of media is bad, and that somehow we may be at fault. Can't agree. America's journalistic past was once dominated by the "party" press; newspapers funded by and supporting particular political groups or points of view. This is as old as our free press. The difference is the ease with which it may be started, and the low barrier to entry. From her column:

How can we blame The Media for stepping out of bounds when the lines have been washed awy like sidewalk calk in a rainstorm?

Better to say that the rain -- in the form of new technology -- has removed the artificial lines created by the professional media.

I Could Not Say It Better

This post dates to late July, and came out as a part of a news feed in early August. For those trying to understand the end of the sports journalism world as we know it, this blog entry at From the Bleachers says it all.

Titled "Exodus," it chronicles the departure from ink-and-paper some of the key sports journalists and their re-emergence (and some would say re-invigoration) in the all-digital world.

One of the focus points is Tony Barnhart. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution columnist -- and past-president of the Football Writer's Association -- is more active, timely and relevant in his on-line work for the AJC blog. Not in the FTB blog, but this was most evident as Barnhart broke details about the two huge SEC TV deals, telling many of us in the schools more about what was happening than we were picking up through official sources.

Postscript: If you didn't believe in the end of the world, not two weeks after his blog entry that focused on Barnhart -- the venerable columnist takes a "voluntary" buyout to leave the AJC.

New Media is Not a Zero-Sum Game

My favorite icon of mediathink to bash is the zero-sum game. If you allow choice, it will dilute the product. If you provide what is seen as competitive content, it will destroy the share and ratings. If we chose this method of delivery, we must exclude all others.

The new media is a firehose, and guess what NBC is now learning? The same lesson CBS figured out during the NCAA Final Four. Interestingly enough, more is actually . . . more.

This just in from NBC Universal: ratings are going up. Up for the traditional network broadcast window. Up for the ancillary network delivery. And astronomically up through new media.

This space has been harshly critical of NBC's handling of past Olympics as they sought to bring in more views by taking the sports out and putting the human interest in. Someone caught the clue that after Athens that A) the sappy, super-saccharine soap-opera approach was neither bringing in the female demo they were touting in 1996 and 2000 (no one wants to watch the whole event, just the highlights); and B) those darn internets were providing the spoiler role to time-delayed sports.

Since the internet genie wasn't going back in the bottle, NBC has embraced the horror and gone uber-geek. Their play is paying dividends. According to AP, NBC Universal has reported 1.7 million video streams off USA's frog-squashing int he 400 relay alone; plus another 1.5 emailed to friends of the same.

Why?

It's not supply and demand; it's creating demand. You can watch almost anything, at any time. TiVo, meet Silverlight. NBC figured out that given the choice, fans will opt for their HD TVs and the Nielson book over their computers or phones. But for those that need that option, instead of shutting out the other content vehicles, NBC is now seeing a half-million phone downloads the first two days. Small, yes. Fantastically beyond estimates? Oh hell yes.

And the money quote:

NBC Universal worried in past Olympics years that its decision to air much of the events on cable outlets like CNBC, MSNBC and USA would siphon interest from prime-time, which is still where the network earns the bulk of its advertising revenue. But the opposite proved to be true and, this year, the same thing has happened with the digital content, said Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics.

The takeaway lesson for college sports? Don't restrict yourself based on the old-network paradigms of zero-sum gain. Exclusive partners within a medium? Certainly. But don't let one medium exclude the other. Fan choice for interaction is driven by circumstance. Most would rather buy a ticket and be there. If not, they'll watch TV. If not, they'll watch streaming video. If not, they'll take audio by phone. And so on.

And every one of those modes serves a different audience, with a different price point. It can all generate both interest and profit.

However, somewhere, out there, the 21st century embodiment of H.L. Mencken's Puritan waits to lock down new media based on the haunting fear that someone, somewhere, might not watch the TV.

Unrelated? I Think Not

Gannett announced it was calling for 1,000-person reduction in force nationwide today. That's about 15 per editorial staff if I'm averaging the math right across the chain. Obviously, it won't fall equally on papers, but that comes a day after WEHCO, the corporate owner of the major paper in our state and others, would be freezing salaries. Those two tie together how? Aside from speaking to the trend in traditional journalism of economic woe, the last time WEHCO held the line like that? According to the current media reports, that was when they were starting their battle with Gannett in the Little Rock market back in the late 70s, early 80s.

And speaking of the late 70s, Russia is bringing back a golden oldie -- Evil Capitalist Plot To Subvert Will Of Workers. The Times (UK) has this delicious article about the party line from the Kremlin going retro for the Georgian invasion. You see, Comrades, it was really Vice-President Dick Cheney's conspiracy to prevent the election of Barak Obama. Seriously. I wouldn't kid about a Soviet, excuse me, Russian news item. Ah, for the days of Pravda.

So who is providing the Truth in Russia. Those pesky internets are at it again. Of course, the Russians launched their cyberattack on the Georgian domains right along with their tanks rolling into the country. Google stepped up to help out the Georgian government with some server mirroring to thwart the DoS attack -- and at the close of business that day GMail went missing for 90 minutes. Coincidence?

I digress. So how does this Russian load of high quality propaganda sync with the loss of American journalists jobs? Goes back to the old Citizen Media quandary. Who will pay for the journalism we need? The good news -- the media is evolving, and many of these journalists are going over the side into independent production. The bad news -- we may have fewer people to stay vigilant on the little stories. The ones that blossom into big significant ones. Like this break in at DNC headquarters. Or some FOIs. Or some missed minutes from a meeting. Why are those things potentially missed? Cause the papers are busy giving us what we want, which of course is more coverage of Angelina's twins.

For the college PR business, it will put even more emphasis on a Fan First approach. If the paper's cutting back, who will cover the volleyball team? If the TV station is consolidating staff and coverage into buying syndicated programming at 5 or 6 pm rather than local news -- forget local live event production -- it puts even more value on new media operations that can produce IPTV streams. Well, unless you sold those rights away.

A Pair of Privacy Issues

A pair of media outlets bring us two very private sets of details, but both invasions of privacy were self-inflicted.

The more salacious is today's Deadspin, and relates to a pair of athletes discovered modeling. That's nothing new, Gabbe Reese. The fact they were nude -- ah, that's new. One wonders what these Division I BCS conference athletes were thinking. That no one would notice?

The second relates to HIPPA, and the couple of very important exceptions to that reasonably draconian rule. The feds can rain down very significant fines on health care workers, and those who handle health care records. Group A that is totally immune -- the media. While it may seem an invasion of privacy, there is nothing that prevents them from printing health-related information. Group B -- the person who's health is being commented upon.

So, when The Sporting News texts directly to a BCS football athlete to confirm his torn ACL, and said athlete texts back confirmation -- nothing can be done.

Don't Let Your Mouth Write a Check Your Relay Can't Cash

NBC's swimming analyst Rowdy Gaines erupted, "Who's talkin' now?!?"

Heading into the men's 400-meter freestyle final, there was the distinct odor of upset in the air, courtesy of French world record holder Alain Bernard.

"The Americans? We're going to smash them. That's what we came here for," Bernard said.

Bernard had the race. He had the lead. Unfortunately, USA had the motivation.

"We don't say anything until it's over," Cullen Jones said.

"The Frenchies were talking stuff, and we just took care of business," anchor Jason Lezak said.

Now, Bernard goes into the history books for perhaps the most ill-advised trash talking. Ever. Of course, Michael Phelps came very, very close to his own moment -- first with his Speedo body suit hanging dangerously low, then second when his gutteral yelp of victory appearing to start with a "fffuuu," then appears in the slow-mo to quickly transition without the golden image killing consonants into a yeaaaaaahhhhh.

And, slow motion reveals all -- including the final five meter look over by Bernard at Lezak. Lezak trailed by a half second starting the leg. Lezak looks back, and it's like he's showing the Frenchman his still-beating heart before touching the wall and smashing the tricolor.

Did I Mention How Cool Silverlight Is?

For the past half hour, I've sat and watched men's individual epee. Who knew? Who cared?

Thanks to this streaming content, I'm mesmerized by watching these two guys go at each other in what seems more like barroom brawl -- the lighting is dark and spotlight. They scream. They taunt. They yell. The crowd has airhorns.

The beauty of this stuff is the cameras -- very crisp, 16x9 ratios and I'm guessing high def capture. It streams well, even for something like epee that has fast moving fine details. But, I think one of the really great things is the cinema verite of the nat sound from the arenas.

It was the same on Russia-Iran men's basketball. No overblown American announcers. Just squeaking sneakers, thumping dribbles and the occasional cheer.

Another brick in the network wall is coming down.

Kudos to NBC

The Olympics show us the future of sports media production. Silverlight is all it was hyped up to be. The key is bringing the sports to the fan and giving them the ability to choose and manage.

Today, I've spent time watching the NBC soccer and basketball channels on my DIRECTV, where I have a special interactive menu. Until figuring this out today, I was at a confused loss for what was on when. With the 12-hour time difference and the usual feature approach by NBC, I was ready to just take a pass.

Not any more. After enjoying several looks at things I'd have never watched -- who knew that Becky Hammons was now a Russian, the New Zealand team darn near didn't advance, Germany's got great women's soccer possession skills, and there's the President at beach volleyball -- I'm currently taking in the live feed of Iran versus Russia men's hoops via Silverlight.

Given the right tools -- Tricasters and broadcast cameras -- plus Silverlight, there's no reason why every school can't be its own network via IP.

Simple Explanations are Always the Best

Caller to the Dennis Miller Show this Friday:

"I had a thought, that became a rumor"

And thus, the genesis explanation of more than a few internet news items.

Rapid Response Engagement

Referencing back to the CoSIDA presentation, here is a perfect example this past week of the marriage of monitoring and engagement. This is a real world, real name situation. In the course of the relaunch of our website, it has drawn new attention to all things Razorback. Two days ago, a moderator of the largest fan board made a post around 6:50 p.m. that a link on the Razorback Foundation pointed to a former coaches' now closed website. I picked it up while reading through boards around 7:30, and forwarded a note to those who needed to know. Within 30 minutes, one of the people commenting on the board took it direct to the AD.

In the past, a letter or even an email might linger. With the speed of the 'net, that's just not going to work. By 8:40, I'm emailing this person to thank him and assure him that we were making contact with the vendor to correct it. At just after 9 p.m., a segment of my email is quoted out on the board and after that the thread petered out with generally positive comments that the department was reacting to the error.

There are a host of the old lessons within this event:
Turn the speech into a conversation -- by listening and responding, we gained positive credit.
Digital assets are incredibly portable -- as I've always tutored our athletes, staff and coaches, anything digital -- in this case an email -- is very easy to cut and paste anywhere.
Rumors move at the speed of light -- no telling how this morphs if ignored, as it was heating up within a couple of hours.
Public schools are glass houses -- every email, every call, every detail is publicly available and subject to review.

Not 24 hours later, we had an all-blog event where one prominent statewide news blogger picks up just a part of a bit on one of the statewide radio shows. He riffs on what was said, and doesn't pick up until the next day that it was a practical joke played by one host on the other. But, the first part related to our football press guide, and it launched a thread on a pair of boards. Again, fast emails to the host and the board admins discovered the truth -- the fact it was a joke -- and that got posted on the boards. This effectively shuts down the thread, and the boards move on.

The lesson once again -- you must stay involved with all of your communities: physical and virtual.

Update on the Oklahoma Hoax

About a month ago, James Conradt thought it would be a really cool idea to manufacture an elaborate hoax against two Oklahoma football players. He crafted a quality fake -- complete with the graphic look of the Daily Oklahoman, the newspaper of record for OU sports and the state of Oklahoma.

Immediately, all sides pounced on Mr. Conradt, who claimed he was really, really sorry and shucks, it was just a joke.

No one is laughing. Not college athletics. Not the media. Not the internet intelligencia.

Conradt now faces a 10-count lawsuit from the Oklahoman's corporate owners.

Tony Barnhardt at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution provided nice perspective, a good update and a quality payoff quote:

Here’s why this case is important. Because of the freedom of the Internet, some people are lulled into believing there are no rules and no accountability. Some people believe there is one set of rules for sports fans and one set of for everybody else. This case will prove that is not true and that is why I expect the Daily Oklahoman and their lawyers to make an example of this guy.

Tony is dead on. I've said here, I've said on B&B, I respect the opinion of fans, and their right to scream and yell all they want. I'd like to see a little more transparency from fans -- have the respect to put your name on your opinion -- but accusing a college student of cocaine usage is, well, criminal.

If Conradt was a "regular" journalist, he'd be on the docket for liable in a heartbeat. What all those defenders of the "satire" are missing is they are citizen journalists when they do this kind of reporting, and the rules apply to them just the same as Tony Barnhardt.

Dr. Smith, Meet Dr. Horrible

In case you missed it, last week's Entertainment Weekly carried a story about the phenomenal success of the Dr. Horrible Sing-Along Blog project. As a way to kill time during the writer's strike, Joss Whedon came up with the high-concept, internet-only story, and enticed the likes of Neil Patrick Harris to get involved.

The money quote, provided by Felicia Day, who played Penny in the "series":
"There are a lot of things that Hollywood doesn't understand about the Internet. It's kind of the reverse of mainstream media: You don't want to aim for everybody. You want to aim for the target audience, and that passionate audience is going to spread the word. Clearly, Joss got it. Dr. Horrible was all word of mouth."

This plays on so many levels. Whedon and company proved once again, quality content can go direct to the consumer. No studio. No production house. Just a great concept and solid . Think I'm making it up -- read the master plan. Tell me again, with the right equipment and commitment, an athletic department creates live game content direct to it's fan base -- that's bad why?

Pick up a copy of the Aug. 1 EW issue (Batman's on the cover) and read how the story is presented. It is nothing more than a stream-of-consciousness-meets-chat-room article. Instead of a piece of C2S paper, I can easily imagine the character's back-and-forth with flickering cursors on a flat screen. All that's missing is the comment box.

But wait -- if you read the story on-line it is six pages long (not the one and a half in print) because they have the "expanded oral history" right here. They. Get. It.

And now, who's laughing all the way to the bank? Dr. Horrible DVD with extras. Dr. Horrible movie deal. Dr. Horrible sequel. Let me think, who owns the rights to that . . . . . oh yeah, none of the studios, that would be whedonesque.com.

By the way, when it first launched on its own website, Dr. Horrible racked up 200,000 views per hour and crashed the server farm while it was free. That part ended July 20. If you want to check out the sensation, you'll have to give up a little kwan and purchase the episodes at iTunes. Again, who's profiting by giving it away? That would be Whedon.

What if a major university decided to start it's own production unit . . . .

Sports and Politics Don't Mix

After religion, the two most passionate interests of human beings are sports and politics. It can be a dangerous tail when the two mix. Anyone remember Richard Nixon weighing in about who the number one team in the country should be? I'm not saying that caused Watergate, but the facts are Joe Pa is still the head coach at Penn State and Dick was run from office.

Here's the latest entry in the bad things happen when you let the glycidyl ether mix with the curing solution -- you get an epoxy that sticks like nobody's business:

"I spoke with Matt maybe three days ago," Jaguars running back Fred Taylor said. "He's a man. Like all of us, we're all human. I'm pretty sure a few of you guys voted for George Bush. In that breath, a few of you guys are probably [ticked] off about gas prices, too. We all make mistakes is what I'm trying to say. The thing is you can't do it twice."

Let's parse that out. Fred Taylor is right about second chances and learning from mistakes. He's speaking of teammate and former Razorback Matt Jones' arrest recently. The insertion of politics in the middle, well, it's pithy. It's even clever. In the end, Taylor's politics will override his message of support for his teammate. Jones gets an unintended national bounce for his problems into a whole new group of media, courtesy of his teammate's well-intentioned attempt at defense.

My personal advice in these situations for sports figures is you can not win at politics. Sports remain one of the few places in American life where the Blue and the Red states can really become Purple. Everyone U.S. Senator wants Redskins tickets -- it's neutral ground. In an election season, commenting about your personal vote should be off limits. Don't answer that question is my advice to athletes.

I will admit that my feeling about voting is colored by personal experience. One of my high school teachers, Mr. Dunn, said it best. He was one of those inspirational teachers, so of course I remember important things he said. In Louisiana, the governor's races are off-set one year from the presidential cycle (we always had to be different). One of the students in American History ask Mr. Dunn who he voted for.

A little background. Mr. Dunn was a former haberdasher in the truest sense, and was a gentleman's gentleman in the classroom. Here's a guy who was extremely even keeled. Nothing flustered him. Picture Ben Stein as your high school civics teacher.

Mr. Dunn wheeled on the student who asked, and for the first time -- and the only time I recall -- there was fire in his eyes. "You don't ask people who they voted for," Dunn snarled. "That's personal, and there is nothing more personal in America." He went on to explain how you should never, ever give up to anyone what happens in that voting booth. That it was a sacred thing.

I've wondered in years since what make him so sensitive to the question, but on a societal level he could not be more correct. The ballot might be Australian, but there was nothing that changed American politics more than the implementation of the secret ballot. I suspect Mr. Dunn is spinning in his grave at the thought of exit polling as it is used today.

Meanwhile, back at the point -- Mr. Dunn is right. I don't know who Taylor voted for, but he's given us a pretty good indication. In turn, he's singled himself out. He's made himself a story that he probably didn't intend.

I return to my No. 1 technology advice: Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should -- and putting your politics into sports quotes certainly qualifies for that maxim.

How Could You Forget the Chiefs?

While working on some new facility pages, Maxine Nightengale reminded me of a horrible mistake. No, not the roughly 27,459 typos in the website (I kid, only 7,459), but of a social networking error. In the course of updating the profile here on the the blog, I can't believe I overlooked perhaps the greatest sports movie in the history of cinema.

I speak, of course, of Slap Shot.

Sure, I remembered Rollerball, which I find to be an incredibly powerful social commentary that speaks to us today (the Jimmy Cann original, thank you). But how could I overlook the Hansen brothers?

I grant you that for SIDs there may not be a better movie than Bull Durham. The references are now ancient for the current generation, but Nuke LaLoosh's media training at the hands of Crash Davis and the rookie's growth from mere meat to major leaguer remains the gold standard.

Back to the Valley of the Razorbacks.

Blocking Bloggers

We've spent our share of time commenting on the fact that you can restrict, but you simply will not be successful in blocking a determined blogger. There's also no better way to exacerbate a public relations problem than daring the B&B crowd.

The rules change, however, when you are a government -- oh, say China -- or if you are a media organization -- in today's case, the Los Angeles Times.

Those darn internets strike again as Slate's website hits LAT square in the face with a memo distributed to suppress the mention of a certain National Enquirer story about a certain Democratic politician. I'll be coy too; not out of fear of the editors but out of respect for the person involved.

This sets up a classic new vs. old media battle, and one that just might be inside the house. It cuts to the heart of what journalism is becoming today.

Is the Enquirer a "legitimate" media in the old-school sense?

Is it appropriate to gag your own staff?

With a multitude of sources, does the LAT do itself a disservice by not participating in the frenzy surrounding the rumors? In a business sense, a huge YES. They are driving readers away to find the story. In a reputations sense, an undecided maybe. If the Enquirer proves wrong, the LAT gets the kudos for holding back. If the rumors are true -- and other news organizations now jumping on this are finding independent verification -- it is another blow to the reputation of the LAT.

There are no Secr3ts

Kudos to the posters on Hogville and Woopig for slipping under the splash screen covers. I hope the house wasn't too messy in the last 24 hours before launch. Reminds me of the day I just walked into the open door of Starbucks in Fayetteville on the Wednesday before it opened -- here, have a cup of coffee on us.

Again, thanks to those who did a little unofficial testing (yes, we needed to fix that pre-production banner Razorback, and seriously, thanks for reminding me).

Never amazed, but some of the folks I work with wondered who leaked the URL. It was a live server build -- no real shock here.

Over the next few days, I'm anticipating lots of corrections. This was not only a complete redesign -- including some new coding in the database -- but a merger of two distinct data bases (that's a first for our vendor). It went pretty smooth, and looks reasonably clean.

In the meantime, don't be a stranger with the error reports. Let's call it, cloud proofing.

Bonus points today for the movie reference in the title.

It is Done

Note the time stamp. Last parts in that can go in before tomorrow -- strike that, today's -- launch. I'm going for a nap. With any luck, regular postings will resume Tuesday or Wednesday. Thanks for the patience of readers while we finished out ArkansasRazorbacks.com.

The Not So Anonymous Internet

This story set will lead to further posts, but I'm marking it for readers right now. In case you missed it, a Nebraska fan decided to get even with some message board posters by creating a fake story about the arrest of some Oklahoma players.

Thanks to solid Photoshop skills, the faked story and front page image of the OU student newspaper website was too good. The hoax got out of control in a hurry, and now James Conradt faces the very real prospect of legal action.

Coverage in the Oklahoma newspapers and a very solid commentary from the NCAA's blog.

As Drudge would say, developing . . .

End of Days

This week's TWIT repeats a story -- too good to perhaps not be apocryphal -- about the press room reaction to the last round of firings at the Tampa Tribune. The remaining staff was told bluntly to stop thinking of the website as the adjunct. The print edition was now the adjunct to the website.

At the Houston Chronicle, mentioned earlier with their on-line database of salaries, the writers are instructed to use their blogs to do their primary work. In other words, it's news -- the textual equivalent of 24-7 cable news channel.

You Must Find Your Own Path

Yes, Grasshopper, the path to enlightenment is the walk, not the answer. As your university decides how to engage the blogosphere, remember that your answer may be to not engage. From our good friends at WOMMA, and their on-line daily feed, comes this very good pitch from Search Marketing Gurus about not blogging.