• home
• About
• browse ↓

August 2009

The Archives

• 08.30.09
  One final postscript to the BBC and the House of the Written Word; linking to ‘our’ video content might open another can of worms… General, Journalism, MFW | (0)

  As Murdoch Jnr's speech appears to be flavour of the month web-wise this weekend, I thought I might just add a little side-bar to yesterday's post... http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=317 ... about the so-called 'link economy' on whose foundations we all, somehow, hope to rest. As mentioned before, I don't do video. I am strictly a house of the written word. Podcasts, I like. Don't mind being Radio MyFootballWriter; quite good fun. But I'm never going to be MFW TV. That's not what I do best... in my 'umble little way, I've always thought I'd try to link to the rest; even offer someone my words in ...

  Tagged: BBC, MyFootballWriter
  
• 08.29.09
  It’s when the BBC morphs itself into a Factory of the Written Word.. that’s when Murdoch Jnr hits a large nail on the head. General, Journalism | (7)

  As you watch the tide of indignation that threatens to wash over the Murdoch clan this weekend, I can't help feeling a touch of sympathy for James Murdoch. Because in certain aspects, he is right. And some of what he is saying is long over-due. And, I think, the danger is that we can get too carried away in our defence of all things Auntie; as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. Equally, because Murdoch Jnr's speech was made at a 'TV' festival, it is easy to assume that the two sides of the argument can be encapsulated by casting the division ...

  Tagged: BBC, James Murdoch, MyFootballWriter, The Guardian
  
• 08.25.09
  What do Write Em Cowboy, Jack Of Diamonds, Colin Tattum, Chris Lepkowski, Chris Lakey, Dave Prentice, et al all have in common? The right to earn a living from their passionate, niche labours. General, Journalism, MFW | (0)

  This took us down a familiar path... http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/greenslade/2009/aug/25/charging-for-content As, in fairness, did the original... http://www.allmediascotland.com/spike/4493/24082009/Brian_McNair_Writes_About_Charging_for_Journalism It's all interesting stuff; and coming at a highly-charged time, too, as Rupert Murdoch leads the head-long charge towards building walled garden after walled garden around his content and TrinityMirror swallow hard and contemplate taking The Birmingham Post to a weekly and the Mail to a morning. All of which prompts Mr McNair to ponder just what, exactly, would he pay for online, journalistically? And the answer is opinions. Ideally the opinions of the opinionated. For that he would pay. 'Those who buy one newspaper, but find an article on another’s online ...

  Tagged: BBC, BirminghamPost, Rocky Mountain News, Rupert Murdoch
  
• 08.16.09
  When a windfall is, indeed, a windfall. And when a ‘windfall’ is no more than Big Media talking big again… General, Journalism | (2)

  For reasons that ought to need little or no explanation, this caught my eye last week... http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/138/get-me-rewrite-hyperlocals-lost.html It also caught the eye of (hopefully) a good pal across the water; Tracy Record of www.WestSeattleBlog.com fame. http://outwithabang.rickwaghorn.co.uk/?p=252 What was interesting - perhaps, even telling - was that having trod the same rocky path over the last few years, we both picked up on the same line; and drew the same conclusions. It came in the bit where the author, Michael Gluckstadt, was looking at the numbers behind www.Patch.com - the Tim Armstrong-stroke-AOL, hyper-local baby that has sprung out of Maplewood - a 'small, affluent, New Jersey ...

  Tagged: addiply.com, AOL, Patch.com, TheLichfieldBlog.co.uk, WestSeattleBlog.com
  
• 08.04.09
  Whilst we all fiddle and wait for the BBC to recognise that a link economy is a two-way street, so Rome and all its media works continue to burn… General, Journalism, MFW | (0)

  In amidst the general pantomime of my life, consciously or not this blog has ended up taking something of a back-seat over the last two weeks. In part, there's a lot going on. Tis the start of a new football season for www.myfootballwriter.com/norwichcity and www.addiply.com continues to take us all on some interesting, if time-consuming paths. But in other ways, I'm increasingly beginning to think that there's not a lot going on. Anywhere. Other than some deep and discomforting navel-gazing amongst some pillars of the global journalistic community... http://blogs.pressgazette.co.uk/wire/5408 ... all of which might explain why Mr Rusbridger was quite so keen to emphasize ...

  Tagged: BBC, FT.com, Sly Bailey, The Guardian
  

recent posts

• If we are, indeed, to let 1,000 Personalised Newspapers bloom perhaps there are better ways of monetising My #Loddon Daily
• This weekend, all eyes are on BBC vs Sky; round two. Maybe more eyes should be on STVLocal. That’s interesting…
• The Children will indeed inherit this digital Earth of ours; ‘TV’ will be a play thing in the palm of their hand…
• If Starbucks are building localised doorways and channels through their coffee shops, can’t we do the same into rural communities?
• OK, as austerity bites ever deeper into our daily lives lets go round this block again: planning application or lollipop lady?
• The genius that is Google is not in doubt; not up for debate or question. But ‘It’s complicated…’ as FaceBook would say.
• Give people the tools and they will build… if Cameron’s ‘Big Society’ is to be made flesh, we have to look to the heavens. To the wifi clouds above our head.