Kara Miller, an instructor on media issues at Babson College in Massachusetts, writes in her Culture Club blog at Boston.com about conflicts of interest in the media. Her focus is on the intersection between media coverage and sponsorship of media outlets. She concludes: Commercials, certainly, are not new to news shows. But there is something…
Online consumer product reviews have changed the way I shop. Rarely do I make a purchase without checking on the web to see what others have experienced themselves. I take into account the assessments of professionals, but I value the collective judgment of multiple consumers more. The system works when many people take the time…
When a speaker or author drops the “f bomb,” utters excretory expletives, or launches a lusty cuss word, it doesn’t add emphasis. It doesn’t make them look cool, hip, and smart. It makes them seem crass, juvenile, arrogant, and less than they are. I say this not because I’m a linguistic purist. Far from it….
Ars Technica kicked off a hullabaloo by blocking content for those who use ad blockers. The “experiment” lasted only about 12 hours over the weekend, according to editor Ken Fisher. In a blog post, Fisher argues that “ad blocking is devastating to the sites you love.”
The Boston Globe carries an interesting nugget today that has significance beyond just that one media market. Local AM radio station WRKO has decided to drop Rush Limbaugh in favor of local Republican operative Charley Manning. Donna Halper, a radio consultant and college professor, is quoted in the piece saying, “There’s just so many stations…
Perhaps moderation is on my mind because we just started a “Biggest Loser” contest in my office. Or maybe it is has something to do with hearing this weekend about a great quote attributed to Julia Child (“everything in moderation, including moderation”). Moderation again came to mind this morning as I work from home before…
I had a conversation recently with an ad sales rep for a prominent web publisher who quite bluntly pitched a pay to play scheme. While I understand that the editorial side of the publishing business is not blind to the needs of advertisers (nor am I a purist who believes that business interests should not…
MG Siegler over at TechCrunch rolls out a litany of claims about the future of news that simply cannot be reconciled with reality. It’s a target-rich environment so I almost don’t know where to begin. So let’s just dive right in. First, let’s summarize MG’s case. MG writes: “Earthquakes, the massive San Diego fires, the…
Interested in an entertaining if tortured analogy of the progression that individuals and companies can make through social media? Check out my latest column at Media Bullseye.
Here’s a good one. Wendy Davis of MediaPost says that Rupert Murdoch is “clueless” for wanting the names of Wall Street Journal subscribers on the Kindle. She rolls out the phrase “tone deaf to the privacy concerns” as it regards the News Corp leader.