Fandangle

I thought Kellan’s proposal for Fandangle.com was the strongest indy media pitch in the class. While I doubt this is a site I personally would frequent because I’m not exactly a big sports fan, I know fantasy sports is huge for the people who are into it as a hobby/interest — which means there is actually a need in the market for something like Fandangle, and fantasy sports followers would probably respond well to it. It’s a realistic, workable niche in the online independent media market.

That said, because I’m not into this kind of thing I have no idea whether there are already Web sites out there that are too similar to Fandangle… I have a feeling someone must have thought of this same thing already, but Kellan did do a solid job of acknowledging the competition in his pitch.

I liked his idea to make Fandangle by college students, for college students. With something like this, that so many students are already into, they would probably care to read what their buddies are predicting about Team X this week and how they’re going to do in Monday night’s game. A staff of eight people is on the high end of reasonable… maybe for its start-up, it could work with half that.

That was one thing that stood out to me about this proposal in light of all the others — it actually seems doable and realistic. It was well thought-out, and Kellan fleshed out all the necessary aspects of the pitch.

But these are MY mystery chemicals! You can't have them!

That's what Halliburton spokespeople are saying (in not so many words) to the big, bad EPA that must be intending to expose the company's trade secrets in gathering information for its comprehensive study on hydraulic fracturing — because the agency of environmental protection couldn't possibly be looking to protect the environment, right?

In the same way it is the duty of the FDA to keep record of the chemicals in our food, it is the EPA's duty to log the names of chemicals being released unto the ground in many Americans' backyards. But those Halliburton guys don't see it that way. And who can blame them? They have been exempt from the rules for some time now.

The good news: The findings of the EPA study affect Congress' decision about whether to repeal the Halliburton loophole.

The bad news: Those findings won't be available until late 2012.

Google's hypocrisy

Generally speaking, individuals don't like to admit when they're wrong. It takes a certain level of integrity to admit to making a mistake or consciously committing a wrongdoing. Maybe I'm jaded, but it seems that often a natural human instinct is to make excuses and displace fault, rather than to retract a decision and apologize.

In this way, decision makers at search engine giant Google are no different than anybody else. After ousting the small news corporation Inter City Press from Google News for its criticism of the UN in 2008, Google used every weak excuse in the book in its attempt to distract from the reality — which was blatant censorship.

Google's initial reasoning: Inter City Press was a one-man operation, which violated Google News' rule that outlets it lists must have two or more employees. According to Inter City Press' founder, Matthew Lee, the site has at least one full-time employee other than himself, plus many other volunteeers — making Google's first claim dead in the water.

When Google began to see backlash (from the non-profit Government Accountability Project, among others) for de-listing Inter City press, it offered to retract its decision and reinstate the site... but a Google representative said that would involve a weeks' long process because of a technical error; thereby placing fault on a glitch, instead of an individual, and saying in not so many words, "It's out of our hands." Anything to avoid taking blame.

But what bothers me most about this entire ordeal is Google's hypocrisy. Before the company's controversial deal with Verizon in August, Google was an open advocate for net neutrality and very much a part of the Free the Internet movement. It sold out and left that ideology behind before the ink dried on the Verizon deal. (Though Google of course dismisses that claim as a "myth.")

Yet another example of Google's hypocrisy — the company maintains that it "generally [emphasis mine] does not sign petitions or join coalitions." However, in November 2007, it announced a partnership with the Ugandan People's Defense Force (part of a UN program) but did not sign a global human rights and anti-censorship compact as part of the UN's Millenium Development Goals.

Why the double standard? Why break the "general" rules to join one coalition and not another — especially when they both come from the UN? It seems to me that Google breaks the standards it sets for itself just as easily as it makes them, and uses them to its advantage whenever applicable.

Today, Inter City Press shows up as the first listing on a general Google search, but fails to appear on a Google News search. At least now Google seems to have chosen a side, and that side is not net neutrality.

New media, new rules

All's fair in love and war — and journalism, in the age of the citizen reporter, and if the subject of that journalism happens to be a candidate for president. Or a former president, for that matter.

Public figures (especially government public figures) should always be on their A-game, saying nothing to the average citizen that they wouldn't say to a reporter — because thanks to Huffington Post's Off the Bus and other projects like it, it can be difficult to know when the two are one in the same.

I don't fault Mayhill Fowler for seizing the fleeting moment in asking President Clinton for his reaction to a then-recent (and particularly scathing) piece on him in Vanity Fair. I would not have expected her to precede her off-the-cuff question with "Hi, I'm Mayhill Fowler, a citizen reporter with Off the Bus of the Huffington Post, and I was wondering..." Had it been within the context of a sit-down interview in which time was not pressing and she chose not to identify herself, I would question Fowler's motives. But she was behind a rope line, no doubt grappling with a crowd for Clinton's attention, as he left a rally, and time was of the essence. There was no room for pleasantries.

Besides, political figures have too long enjoyed the luxury of being prompted before being questioned by reporters. All too often this leads to the revelation of half-truths, self-censorship and lies. One of the most fundamental roles of journalists is to be watchdogs of the government. How can they carry out that role if the government sometimes gets a break from being watched? Heads of state do not enjoy the same rights to privacy as average citizens — especially not on the campaign trail.

Bye, bye Columbia?

In re-examining Radiohead's independent selling of its 2007 album, "In Rainbows," by reading this NY Times article, I have to wonder why more well-known bands have not similarly sidestepped recording companies since.

Maybe they are afraid to take the risk. Because despite having already garnered the fame, capital and fan base to be equally successful as Radiohead in the independent endeavor, bands like Dave Matthews Band and Red Hot Chili Peppers, for example, may prefer to rely on a system they already know makes them millions.

But I predict that in the very near future, the recording industry will become virtually obsolete. Jon Pareles' offers the idea that maybe big independent bands can directly help new ones get their start by linking to them online or taking them on as opening acts — versus the indirect way established bands currently support green ones, through the cut the recording companies receive and use in part toward funding the "flops."

I have faith enough in musicians — and those 1,000 true fans — that this model will become the future standard. Sure, too many so-called "artists" with no talent are scooped up by an industry that treats music as a product for profit, not as art. But the real artists are out there, and so are the real fans. And they can break the status quo.

Why everyone should take Government and Media

Or a class like it. And I don't just mean "everyone" as in every student at Ithaca College, which requires the course for journalism, integrated marketing communications and television-radio majors. I mean everyone who uses the Internet, or a cell phone, or a TV. Arguably, that could be broadly defined as everyone.

Because in September 2007, communications giant Verizon blocked a text-message subscription service by NARAL, a pro-abortion rights group. "Subscription" is key here — people had to sign up for the service, so they could only receive the texts voluntarily. In its rejection, Verizon cited its policy against services that may be seen as "controversial or unsavory" to Verizon users.

But, as anyone who has taken a basic course in media law will know, unprotected speech — under the U.S. constitution — includes only "lewd or obscene" speech; not merely "controversial or unsavory."

The bigwigs at Verizon must not have felt too strongly about the issue because all it took was some reporting by The New York Times for the company to take back its ban (the same day the Times first reported on the ban, actually). Good thing, because from what little I know about the ins and outs of the court system of this country, ridiculous amounts of time and money could have been wasted in pushing a hypothetical court case all the way to the Supreme Court, just for the majority to rule in favor of the simple point I just made.

Did I enjoy waking up at 7 a.m. every Tuesday and Thursday to sit in a class and listen to a professor lecture on about media law ad nauseum for nearly two hours? Not always. Am I glad I did? Absolutely.

Don't shoot the messenger

Be critical of him always. But to shoot the messenger is only to distract from the message — and speaks more of the character of the shooter than it does the messenger.

In this case, following the leak of 40,000 classified Iraq War documents Friday by WikiLeaks, the shooter(s) are the establishment media, specifically the New York Times. The messenger, naturally, is Julian Assange, WikiLeak's founder.

It is human nature to attack when viable, logical means of approach have been exhausted or simply do not exist — fight or flight. If a viable, logical critique of the man behind the release of thousands of Iraq war logs existed, I'd like to think the Times would have found it. After all, it is the role of media to be critical, as they are of Assange. But because that viable, logical critique does not exist — the authenticity of the documents is not in question — the critique is nothing more than sensationalized, tabloid "news" regarding irrelevant matters of Assange's private life.

Corporate media have been increasingly flailing in their role as government watchdogs since Ellsberg's leaking of the Pentagon Papers, and arguably even before (though comparison with the current situation paints a rather rosy, nostalgic picture of 1971). The Times was the first to publish the Pentagon Papers, on its front page. Today, rather than publishing excerpts from the Iraq war logs and further exposing government corruption, it is in the midst of waging its own war against Assange, the man.

The outlet that ate the Pentagon Papers right up in 1971 has moved to the other side, taking down the very breed of whistleblower it once celebrated. Fittingly, the comment by Dan Ellsberg in his talk Wednesday at Ithaca College which keeps repeating itself in my mind is that the Patriot Act has made legal each one of Nixon's security breaches in his campaign to discredit Ellsberg, which were illegal in the '70s.

Also in that case, the unquestioning yet powerful establishment media are to blame.

Who watches the watchmen?

If one of the roles if an independent media outlet is to keep a critical eye on the mainstream, corporate media, who watches the indies?

Apparently, Slate.com columnist Jack Shafer does, as evidenced by his raising of this question in the Sept. 2009 article, "Nonprofit Journalism Comes at a Cost." In it, Shafer asserts that both commercial news and nonprofits "often find themselves constrained by the hidden agendas of their masters" — the "masters" being advertisers in the commercial media sector and foundations in the independent.

Shafer also writes that indies' reliance on foundations is simply substituting one flawed business model for another. Since no studies have been published on these "new" business model, there is no content analysis by which to judge its success.

Still, comparing the two means of reaping revenue is like comparing apples to oranges. I won't say its unfathomable for an independent outlet to tailor content to appease its financial supporters, but the process doesn't seem to run as rampant and obvious as it does in the mainstream.

Commercial news organizations by and large pretend to have no bias, no ideological position on the stories they report; as such, they also pretend to not align with advertisers' interests, though they cave to them.

The difference in independent media is the exposition of bias. The outlets make clear the perspective from which they report news, and the foundations that fund them do so because they have similar ideologies.

However, the independent media business model, while it is the lesser of two evils, is far from perfect. Something is wrong if ProPublica's editor makes half a million dollars annually. But this seems to be the exception, not the rule.

One MSM landscape, multiple interpretations

On Oct. 19, local conservative blogger Mark Finkelstein — of Newsbusters.org, the Ithaca public access talk show RightAngle, and his own Finkelblog — brought a perspective the independent media class that we had not yet heard.

From discussions in class, and my own reading and growing knowledge of independent media and their necessity, I had come to think that the majority of indy outlets is politically left-leaning to counter mainstream outlets, the majority of which is politically right-leaning. Naturally, there are several conservative indies (ie, the National Review) but there are many more progressive ones.

But the motivation behind Finkelstein's blogging, and the purpose of Newsbusters.org, is to counter what he called the liberal mainstream media. What an idea!

Yes, Finkelstein centers much of his MSM critique on MSNBC programming, which is (arguably) the cable news network that sits farther to the left on the political spectrum than its major competitors, Fox and CNN.

His point of view made me think; How is it that people can watch the same news channels and interpret them so differently that one person describes the MSM as liberal, while another discusses its takeover by conservatives?

I asked Finkelstein this question after class. He didn't have much of an answer for me. One week later, I don't know that I am any closer to one myself.

Hyperlocal but corporate-owned news with independent principles — could it be?

A former Ithacan editor, colleague and friend of mine, Erica Hendry '09 launched her Patch.com site in Vienna, Virginia today. I am not the first to say this, but I will say it here — Patch is the new big thing in online media. At a time when all newspapers are suffering, at least the big ones (with national readership) have made the shift to online. But it is the small, local dailies that have been slow to move content to the Web and they undoubtedly suffer for it. The scarcity of online local news creates a vicious cycle that simultaneously fails both readers and the newspaper — because there isn't much of it there, people do not turn to the Internet for their local news.

The Patch.com model offers a solution to end this cycle. Each bureau is run by an editor (like Hendry) who assigns stories to freelancers. Deputized reporting, check. There are 100-plus Patch sites across the country, and the corporation plans to hit 500 before the year is up. It recently launched PatchU, through which its sites are teaming up with journalism schools to train the journalists of tomorrow.

The thing is, Patch is an AOL subsidiary. So it's not independent, but corporate-owned. The concept sounds like an independent one to me... citizen reporters, incorporating the pro-am idea (an example of this is the Vienna bureau's being run by an editor who, though a qualified and relatively experienced one in Hendry's case, is still a recent college grad).

Though it is not truly independent, could Patch mark a convergence of two once-opposite types of news outlets, the corporate and the independent? Could the Vienna bureau and others like it serve their communities by remaining independent of power, politics and advertisers — while under AOL ownership? Or is this just the media giant's attempt to own your neighborhood?

Why Can't We Be Friends?

The New York Times' December 2009 article, "Bloggers Crash Fashion's Front Row," highlights the clash between the worlds of old and new media — fashion magazines and fashion blogs, respectively. And what a conflict it is! As the headline says, bloggers are crashing the party. They are stepping on the Louboutin-clad toes of editors of the Anna Wintour ilk, who have put in decades at their respective publications to reach the elite status that guarantees them front row seats at Chanel.

But it is in part this elitist quality of fashion magazines that provides the fuel that is rocketing fashion bloggers to the top of the industry's consciousness. As the Times article says, it is accessibility that the new generation of fashion devotees demand. Fashion: Democratized, is what they want. So, like any group of elitists accustomed to a cozy spot at the top (or catwalk-side) some editors feel threatened.

It is a natural reaction, but I wonder — is it necessary? Instead of resisting the blogging revolution and framing it as Us versus Them, why aren't the top dogs at Vogue, W and Bazaar taking advantage of the up-to-the minute content that bloggers provide, especially since it is content that the magazine staffs cannot create themselves? These kids are doing it anyway... It would be like what ProPublica provides for the Times or CBS. Just a little more fashion forward. 

Because if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

News21

I have heard it over and over again in my three years as a journalism undergrad, from professors, advisers, alumni — "You've gotta be able to do it all."

Which is why I seethe with jealousy over the work that students like myself are turning out through News21 sites based on their campuses. Do not get me wrong; I am determined to graduate in May with the skills and knowledge to create works of multimedia journalism that are just as fantastic as these, and I am confident that the resources in Park will prepare me. But the News21 project is surely leading the way when it comes to setting the standards for new media's future, and for granting tomorrow's newsmakers the resources with which to create it.

News21 forecasts what news will look like in five, ten, twenty years. Each and every project is multidimensional, relying on different media to tell different chapters of a story. The result is a series of complete packages that include interactive maps and other graphics, audio slideshows, videos, as well as written stories. It is clear that the particular use of each medium is deliberate; someone decided that it would be the best way to make the story come alive.

But News21 does not only look to the future. It takes journalism back to its core principles, through telling the stories of people often forgotten or overlooked by society — inmates, veterans, the elderly. It literally gives a microphone to people whose voices are rarely heard.

I am anxious to see what sort of innovation the News21 initiative brings in the next few years. Through distribution of student work to some of the largest media outlets in the nation, it fills a necessary niche, by providing rich, in-depth journalism that for-profit outlets cannot afford to create themselves. It is a mutually beneficial business model because it serves the students, whose work is published, as well.