links for 2006-08-07

• Spot-On: Chris Nolan: You Still Can't Get There From Here
  "When we talk about changes in the media business, we're not really talking about "blogging." The changes in the Big Media universe are changes being wrought by the Internet..."
  (tags: blogs journalism media internet web2.0 WEBCRED)
• Weblogsky: Journalism 2.0
  "I would argue that social media is evolution, not revolution. Dinosaurs may resist evolution, but eventually they get what the mammals are trying to tell them, and become birds."
  (tags: journalism internet blogs web2.0)
• WordsInEdgewise.tv
  Robert Cox: "Lemann is in such a great position to be a force for good in the development of citizen journalism and instead uses his bully pulpit to find fault and tear down."
  (tags: blogs internet journalism web2.0 WEBCRED)
• PressThink: The Pros Gonna Blog You Under the Table
  "Journalists about to replace bloggers? Nonsense, says our roving critic."
  (tags: journalism blogging web2.0 WEBCRED)
• » NuJournalism | Rational rants | ZDNet.com
  Mitch Ratcliffe: "..funding stories instead of people is as dangerous a perversion of media as any crimes of modern mass media, because money will determine not only what gets covered, but also how it is written."
  (tags: blogs journalism web2.0 WEBCRED internet)
• IMproPRieTies: Battle of the NY J-Schools: Rosen vs. Lemann
  "...if reporting as a profession is a mere 150 years old and the offshoot of an evolving capitalist framework, why should folks like Dean Lemann be so entirely resistant to the fact... that that entire framework is continuing to evolve"
  (tags: journalism blogs internet web2.0 WEBCRED)
• Listics - Frank Paynter’s Voice and Vision… » Nick Lemann bites monkey ass
  "If you’re a dean at Columbia, you get space to betray your ignorance and narrow views in The New Yorker."
  (tags: journalism blogs internet web2.0 WEBCRED)
• gall and gumption: Holey, Holey, Holey
  "If journalism is a priestly vocation then that means a certain section of New York's Upper West Side must be Vatican City. Seems reasonable enough."
  (tags: journalism internet blogs funny)
• …My heart’s in Accra » Wikimania: Brewster Kahle’s Big Goal
  Ethan Z. summarizes Brewster Kahle: "Universal access involves challenging a late 20th century idea - “Information is Property”."
  (tags: wikipedia information internet copyright)

Comments

[Tom Grey]

Congrats on Univ Hong Kong new gig.
I hope you consider podcasts, maybe video logs of your lessons; possibly Webinars.

However, what I miss most in your analysis (as in Jay Rosen's), is that most news is "infotainment". It's entertainment first, disguised as information.

It's entertainment because it speculates on the future -- and today, only today and the past are factual news items. What will happen tomorrow is speculation.

The language of this speculation should be probabilities of various possible outcomes (eg. 10% chance Iran gets nukes within 10 years; or 1%, or 50%). But honestly admitting that what audiences really want is "future news" = speculation, seems too much of a leap.

Thanks for good work. Global Voices is really good.