Media

There are 262 posts filed in Media (this is page 14 of 27).

Mr. Quarles, tear down this wall

As promised, today is the day that McClatchy implements paywalls on its newspaper sites, including the News & Observer. While I will most likely always be a newspaper subscriber, I don’t see myself linking to any more N&O online stories because paywalls break links. One of my pet peeves is when sites break links. News sites especially.

In a time when newspapers are seeing their readership flocking to online news sources, McClatchy seems bent on turning them away. Tell me how that makes any sense?

Amplifying murder

Thinking more of Roger Ebert thoughts about the media’s role in mass murders, I have to agree that he’s right. The media perpetuates this behavior. If the media was more responsible in its coverage there would be less incentive for these mentally ill individuals to kill.

Mass murders are terrorism, plain and simple. A terrorist’s goal is to promote fear. Promoting fear requires the attention of the media. If terror isn’t spread by the media or other means, the terrorist fails.
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Media glory

In the wake of yesterday’s horrendous mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, I have avoided most of the associated media coverage. I did find this quote from film critic Roger Ebert to be insightful (courtesy of Boing Boing):

Let me tell you a story. The day after Columbine, I was interviewed for the Tom Brokaw news program. The reporter had been assigned a theory and was seeking sound bites to support it. “Wouldn’t you say,” she asked, “that killings like this are influenced by violent movies?” No, I said, I wouldn’t say that. “But what about ‘Basketball Diaries’?” she asked. “Doesn’t that have a scene of a boy walking into a school with a machine gun?” The obscure 1995 Leonardo Di Caprio movie did indeed have a brief fantasy scene of that nature, I said, but the movie failed at the box office (it grossed only $2.5 million), and it’s unlikely the Columbine killers saw it.
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Raleigh to begin planning Dix park

I was quoted in Saturday’s Midtown Raleigh News about the planning process beginning for Dix Park.

“We’re going to see design talent from all across the country competing for this opportunity,” said Mark Turner, chairman of the city’s parks and greenways board. “You’ve got this land next to a large city. It’s going to attract attention.”

Turner said he would not rule out any possibilities, including an extension of Pullen Park or a spur that would allow the Pullen Park miniature train ride to cross Western Boulevard and enter the Dix campus.

“It’s the public’s park, and the public should get to decide,” Turner said.

While I think the idea of connecting Pullen and Dix is intriguing, logistically it would be difficult to do. I guess at the time I was interviewed I had gotten caught up in the euphoria!

via Raleigh to begin planning Dix park – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

FCC readies for new LPFM stations

Yesterday, the Federal Communications Commission cleared the way for new LPFM stations to apply for licenses. This “window” is scheduled to open in October 2013.

Little Raleigh Radio is on its way!

The FCC has just announced that it is prepared to implement the Local Community Radio Act — a bill that aims to give local community groups the opportunity to broadcast on low-power FM stations beyond small rural areas. The bill was signed into law in January, 2011 by President Obama after a decade of advocacy from supporters, and allows low-power stations to be created within three radio dial clicks of a major station.

via FCC order enables creation of thousands of new non-commercial local radio stations | The Verge.

What is flying over Denver?

What is flying over Denver?


A man approached KDVR in Denver recently with a claim that a strange aircraft was flying regularly over an area north of the city. The aircraft moves impossibly fast and appears to take off and land near a neighborhood:

DENVER – It’s a mile high mystery in the skies over Denver.

Strange objects caught on camera flying over the city and nobody can explain it.

We first learned about these sightings when a metro area man, who does not want to be identified brought us his home video. He captured the images on his digital camera from a hilltop in Federal Heights looking south toward downtown Denver.

He said, “The flying objects appear around noon or 1:00 p.m. at least a couple of times a week.” The strangest part is they are flying too fast to see with the naked eye, but when we slowed down the video, several UFOs appear.

I watched the video several times this week and get more and more curious with each viewing.
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NeighborWoods shifts focus to tree maintenance

I was quoted in today’s Midtown Raleigh News about NeighborWoods:

With fewer subdivisions being built amid the slow economy, NeighborWoods organizers said they are spending more time searching for new areas where they can offer trees.

The revised approach will put greater priority on pruning and maintaining trees that were planted since the program began in 2003, said Zach Manor, the city’s tree planting coordinator.

A greater emphasis on maintenance makes sense, said Mark Turner, chairman of the city’s parks board.

“I know of several NeighborWoods trees that did not thrive for whatever reason,” Turner said. “Having the opportunity to focus on keeping trees healthy should result in a better outcome.”

Incidentally, I haven’t heard whether the Midtown Raleigh News will also be going behind a paywall, since it gets distributed across the city for free. Thus, I expect to still be able to link to it.

via NeighborWoods shifts focus to tree maintenance – Raleigh – MidtownRaleighNews.com.

NBC News picks up on the Hacked by Mitt Romney story


NBC News’s Red Tape Chronicles blog mentioned the Hacked by Mitt Romney Facebook page in its story this afternoon on political social media fakery.

There have even been claims by hundreds of Obama supporters that they were somehow tricked or hacked into “liking” Mitt Romney on Facebook, as evidenced by the “Hacked by Mitt Romney” page. Facebook says there’s a much simpler explanation than hacking; it’s fairly easy to accidentally like a page on Facebook, making that the likely culprit.

What’s ironic is that this issue is gaining legitimacy largely due to the growing numbers of Facebook fans that the Hacked by Mitt Romney page is attracting.

via On social media, fakery muddies political discussion – Red Tape.

Miami journalist Hacked by Mitt Romney

I found this interesting Tweet from Hannah Sampson, business writer for the Miami Herald:

Hannah Sampson ?@hannahbsampson

@mkramer I like no candidate on Facebook (per my newspaper’s policy) but someone decided I liked Mitt Romney and hacked my page to say so.

Journalists are often prohibited by their media employers from publicly displaying their political beliefs in order to maintain nonpartiality (or the illusion of it, anyway). That Sampson would have made herself a fan of Mitt Romney’s Facebook page is quite unlikely indeed.