Media

There are 262 posts filed in Media (this is page 24 of 27).

N&O ad crosses ethical boundaries

Dubious full-page ad

Tucked into the front section of Tuesday’s News and Observer was an advertisement that disturbed me. Paid for by some outfit known as the World Reserve Monetary Exchange Inc., the ad ran full-size and was made to look like an actual news story, claiming Raleigh residents could get some sort of deal on sheets of two-dollar bills. It included a color photograph portraying serious-looking “guards” and used a newspaper-like typeface. Only a tiny, one-line disclaimer at the top of the page gave it away as a paid advertisement.
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News media latches on to smoking in parks issue

I’ve always wondered why the news media constantly fails to cover the happenings of Raleigh’s parks department and its board. Parks is a huge city department and Raleigh’s abundant parks are enjoyed by so many citizens that it’s easy to assume that a reporter would be present at the board meetings. Such is not the case. In the two years I’ve been on the board, the only reporter I’ve seen at a meeting is the Independent Weekly’s Bob Geary, who was there when the board discussed the Honeycutt Creek greenway route.
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N&O mistakenly says Raleigh out of Google Fiber hunt

There was a small story in the political section of the News and Observer last month, noting that Raleigh City Councilor Bonner Gaylord’s twins weren’t named after Google’s founders as he had jokingly pledged to do if Raleigh was chosen as the site for their 1Gb Internet Google Fiber project.

Twins weren’t Googled

Raleigh City Councilman Bonner Gaylord is now the proud father of twin boys, who were born early this week. But no, they aren’t named after Google’s founders Larry and Sergey as Gaylord had previously promised – without consulting his wife – if she had boys and Google wired Raleigh with high-speed Internet. Google passed on the City of Oaks, so instead of Larry and Sergey, Gaylord’s sons are named Demetri and Mont. Overall, it’s bad for Raleigh, good for Gaylord’s marriage.

The problem is that Google hasn’t passed on the City of Oaks. It hasn’t passed on anybody, actually. The company has yet to make its selection.

A few days ago I left word on the N&O website, pointing out this error but the paper has not yet responded. Hopefully a correction will be printed, lest Google think the City of Oaks has written them off.

Secret media cabal weighs information future

Ok, not really. I was invited to participate in a roundtable discussion today about the state of the Triangle media by Fiona Morgan of the New America Foundation. The roundtable was to three general questions about our community:

1. How healthy do we consider the Triangle’s “information community?”
2. What are the challenges as we move into a digital age?
3. What are the opportunities for the Triangle and its communities?

Joining me were a number of leading media experts, both traditional and so-called “new media.” John Drescher of the N&O, Steve Shewel of the Independent Weekly, Barry Moore of the Garner Citizen (whom I last saw wearing a badge when I lived in Garner and was working closely with Garner PD), Kevin Davis of Bull City Rising, Paul Jones of Ibiblio fame, Gail Roper of the City of Raleigh, and many, many others. I felt a bit out of place in the room, as my experience with journalism ended when my high school journalism class did. Fiona has been impressed with my East CAC efforts to connect my community, so I provided perhaps a nontraditional angle to the discussion.
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No more divisions

There was a shooting last night not too far from my neighborhood. Three kids and one 18-year-old got shot, the 18-year-old fatally. Police are still working the case and haven’t released many details but they did let the neighbors know it wasn’t a random shooting and that the shooting had nothing to do with the neighborhood. The fact is, this could have happened anywhere. I followed the story as it unfolded on the local media websites, trying to assure folks that my area of town isn’t a bad one. Later this afternoon police arrested a suspect: a 24-year-old man, apparently Hispanic.

Because the shooting happened in East Raleigh, some forum commenters somehow assumed the victims and suspect were black. Out came the ridiculous comments deriding African Americans. Then when the suspect was Hispanic, even more heated comments appeared leaping to the conclusion the suspect was an illegal immigrant. Some went so far to say that if he’s illegal he should just be lynched!
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Roku player

Roku player

Our geek-owned beach house includes a Roku Digital Video Player. Formerly known as the Roku Netflix Player, this player has branched out beyond Netflix. It now has dozens of video and podcast streams that can be delivered straight to your television.

I admit I had my doubts about this modest little box, but after seeing it in action I’m convinced. We already enjoy Netflix’s “Watch Instantly” video streaming through the built-in capability of our Samsung Blu-Ray player. To my surprise, the Roku blows our Samsung away. The Roku user interface is far better than our Samsung player’s.
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Raleigh’s media sites can’t search, either

Before our area media start feeling high and mighty, I was amused to find it nearly impossible to track down today’s story on Russ’s comments about the city’s website on the News and Observer website. After searching in vain using the N&O’s own search engine, it took me some thoughtful Google searches to turn it up.

With each iteration of its website, the paper’s search engine has become less useful. What’s even worse, with each redesign all the web links to online stories have changed completely, breaking not only any links any outside sites made to stories but also any links indexed by search engines. Thus if you couldn’t find what you’re looking for after the N&O redesign, God help you because Google certainly won’t. I’m no web professional, but even I know to create forwards from old links to new ones whenever humble MT.Net makes changes. That’s Webmastering 101.
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Good luck, Ruth

I’ve taken a few swipes at News and Observer columnist Ruth Sheehan over the years, but now that she’s leaving I’m truly sorry to see her go. I will miss her point of view, regardless of whether I always agreed with it. For all the columns where we didn’t see eye to eye there were many more that helped folks who desperately needed it.

I admit, this is one corner of the blathering blogosphere that will miss her column. Best of luck to you in your new career, Ruth.