mediashift

Mediatwits #83: WaPo's 'Sponsored Views' and Pay Wall; Snowden Reveals Himself as PRISM Leaker

Mark Glaser — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 18:57:05 +0000

Washington Post joined the 450 other daily U.S. newspapers with pay walls this week and also now offers “Sponsored Views” below its editorials. We’ll talk to Forbes media columnist Jeff Bercovici about the advantages and disadvantages of pay walls at the Post and beyond. We’ll also talk to CNET’s Declan McCullagh on new developments in the ongoing controversy surrounding NSA collection of private data from Internet companies. Finally, the digital music industry is changing as Apple hopes its new iTunes Radio will compete with Pandora, which also hopes its new terrestrial radio station will help lower royalty rates. MediaShift’s Mark Glaser will host, along with regular Andrew Lih of USC Annenberg and American University.

Mediatwits #82: NSA Snooping with Help from Tech Titans; Sun-Times Fires Photo Staff

Mark Glaser — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 19:18:36 +0000

Government snooping has been a recurring theme on our podcast, and this week the biggest revelation of all came out: The National Security Agency has had unfettered access to servers at Microsoft, Yahoo, Google, Facebook, PalTalk, AOL, Skype, YouTube and Apple (but not Twitter) since 2007, according to an inside government source who was horrified by the collection of private data. The source shared a top secret presentation about the PRISM program with the Washington Post and Guardian. The tech companies so far have denied being involved, but government officials have defended the program as important to track terrorists abroad. Plus, photojournalists were up in arms when the Chicago Sun-Times fired its entire staff of 28 photojournalists in favor of reporters using iPhones and freelance photographers. We’ll talk to UC Berkeley assistant professor Koci Hernandez, former photographer at the San Jose Mercury News, on the implications of this decision on the Sun-Times and on journalism as a whole. Then, we shift to the future of political reporting. While politicians are avoiding reporters and reaching out directly to constituents, Politico is expanding with new hires and new missions. We’ll bring on former NPR Congressional Correspondent and DecodeDC founder Andrea Seabrook on the role of political journalists in the shifting digital age. MediaShift’s Mark Glaser will host, along with regulars Ana Marie Cox from the Guardian, Andrew Lih from USC Annenberg and Monica Guzman of the Seattle Times and Geekwire.

Mediatwits #81 Yahoo Snags Tumblr; DOJ Investigates Fox; Ben Huh Talks Cats

Mark Glaser — Fri, 24 May 2013 20:36:43 +0000

With Yahoo’s $1.1 billion purchase of blogging platform Tumblr, this week’s podcast will focus on the future of the two companies and how, or if, they’ll survive the transition. Will Yahoo become the youthful information hub it struggles to be, and will Tumblr finally become profitable without alienating its users? Then, in the wake of the Justice Department’s acquisition of AP phone records, newly revealed court documents show that the DOJ investigated Fox News Chief Washington Correspondent James Rosen as a “co-conspirator” in a case against a State Department adviser accused of leaking classified information. We’ll follow up on our conversation from last week on the balance between the First Amendment and the need to ensure national security. Finally, we’ll chat with our special guest, Ben Huh of Cheezburger, on why cats dominate the Internet. The roundtable will be hosted by MediaShift’s Mark Glaser, with regulars Ana Marie Cox from The Guardian, Mónica Guzmán from the Seattle Times and GeekWire, and Andrew Lih from USC.

Mediatwits #80: Feds Spy on AP, Bloomberg Spies on Feds; Future for Broadcast TV, Radio?i

Mark Glaser — Fri, 17 May 2013 19:32:45 +0000

Who’s snooping on whom? First came the news that Bloomberg reporters were using the company’s terminals to find out when federal officials were logging into the system. Then came the news that the Department of Justice was secretly obtaining phone records of up to 20 journalists at the AP. While both cases were not connected, they point to a blurring of boundaries in the digital age, when digital spying and cyber-security grow ever more important. Special guest Declan McCullagh of CNET joins us to talk about our lack of privacy and what we can do about it. Plus, special guest Brian Stelter of The New York Times will talk about how broadcast TV networks are struggling against cable, streaming competition and even upstart Aereo. And our third special guest Joshua Johnson, a newscaster at San Francisco public radio station KQED, will rebut a survey from Stitcher showing that 57% of Americans believe AM/FM radio will fade away in five years. The roundtable will be hosted by Mark Glaser, with regulars Ana Marie Cox from The Guardian and Andrew Lih from USC.

Mediatwits #79: FBI Reads Emails Without Warrants; Henry Jenkins on ‘Spreadable Media’

Mark Glaser — Fri, 10 May 2013 19:39:13 +0000

Have we reached the point of a Big Brother state online? It sure seems that way with the recent revelation that the FBI and Department of Justice routinely read private emails, Facebook messages and Twitter direct messages without a warrant — flouting the Fourth Amendment. We’ll discuss that and more on this week’s episode of the Mediatwits, with special guest Henry Jenkins, professor at USC and co-author of “Spreadable Media,” looking at how media spreads and why. We’ll ask him why he hates the term “viral” media, and talk about his favorite fan-created media. There’s also been a brouhaha about “open interviews,” with Gittip founder Chad Whitacre saying he will only do interviews streamed publicly online — which led to TechCrunch refusing to participate. Should journalists do interviews in public? Our roundtable includes host Mark Glaser, Seattle Times’ Monica Guzman, Guardian’s Ana Marie Cox and USC’s Andrew Lih.

Mediatwits #77 Ad Deluge Coming @Twitter ; Lessons from the Boston Manhunt

Mark Glaser — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:39:01 +0000

There's a lot of business to attend to on this week's podcast. First, the business of microblogging grows up, with Twitter inking a massive ad deal with Starcom Mediavest Group worth "hundreds of millions of dollars," according to FT's Emily Steel. Steel broke the big story and will be joining us as a special guest; she is the media and marketing correspondent for the Financial Times and previously was a top reporter and social media editor at the Wall Street Journal. We'll also look back at the Boston manhunt and how it changed the way we will follow breaking news in the future -- for the good or bad? And the New York Times is in the business news for differing reasons: 1) a new plan to offer tiered pricing for tiers of content; and 2) a scathing Politico article about the tough leadership style of top editor Jill Abramson. We will obviously be taking care of business on this show.

Mediatwits #76 Social Response to Boston Bombings; Pulitzer for InsideClimate News

Mark Glaser — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 19:07:33 +0000

It's been a rough week on many fronts. At the end of the Boston Marathon, two bombs went off, killing at least three people and maiming dozens of others. The news quickly spread on social media, with crucial updates and offers of support. But there was also people spreading misinformation, and the media blundered by reporting that a suspect was in custody when that wasn't the case. The Mediatwits will discuss the situation in-depth with special guest Gabriel Florit, data visualization specialist for the Boston Globe. Mark Glaser will be hosting the podcast from Austin, Texas, site of the International Symposium for Online Journalism, along with roundtable regulars Monica Guzman, Andrew Lih, Ana Marie Cox and Felix Salmon. The discussion will also touch on InsideClimate News winning a Pulitzer Prize and what that means for non-profit investigative journalism, as well as the rise of mobile ads and soaring mobile usage by teens.

Mediatwits #75: Fox Threatened by Aereo; Cass Sunstein Makes Government 'Simpler'

Mark Glaser — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 18:58:41 +0000

This week's Mediatwits podcast includes a former Obama "regulatory czar," a cornered Fox, a Tumblr of layoffs, and a ray of hope for -- yes! -- newspapers. Special guest Cass Sunstein was the former head of OIRA for Obama, helping to set, slim down and remove various rules at agencies. He'll be talking about his new book, "Simpler," where he describes the process of making government work without cutting it to the bone. Our roundtable includes host Mark Glaser, Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, Seattle Times' Monica Guzman and USC's Andrew Lih. News Corp. execs are threatening to pull the Fox network off the airwaves because upstart Aereo (backed by Barry Diller) has been winning court cases and lets people watch broadcast shows on demand without having cable. Plus, Tumblr eliminated its editorial staff of four, and the Newspaper Association of America cleaned out newspapers' couches and found $5.5 billion in change lying around! Who knew?

Mediatwits #74 Special Edition on Rise of Native, Mobile Ads

Mark Glaser — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 18:34:31 +0000

This week's Mediatwits podcast is a special edition focused on the evolution of advertising, as a cap to our week-long special on MediaShift. Our special guests are BuzzFeed VP Jonathan Perelman and MediaShift's Terri Thornton, along with Mark Glaser hosting and roundtable regulars Ana Marie Cox, Andrew Lih and Monica Guzman. Perelman will have a lot to discuss, because BuzzFeed has been at the vanguard of the "native ads" movement, creating sharable content for sponsors that looks very similar to typical BuzzFeed posts. Plus BuzzFeed just launched a native ad network, and is surprisingly the new template for the House Republicans' revamped website. We'll also talk about the rise of mobile ads -- will they get past annoying us?

Mediatwits #73: Yahoo Buys Summly! ; Douglas Rushkoff's 'Present Shock'

Mark Glaser — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 19:42:16 +0000

This week's Mediatwits podcast includes a Yahoo, a shocking book, an academic appointment and a D.I.Y. magazine kit. Our roundtable includes Mark Glaser hosting, along with Seattle Times' Monica Guzman, Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, Reuters' Felix Salmon and USC's Andrew Lih. Our special guest is author and digital thinking Douglas Rushkoff, whose latest book, "Present Shock," looks at our overloaded, overmediated lives. We also wonder what Yahoo is doing, buying the Summly app and its 17-year-old CEO for $30 million, and considering a purchase of Dailymotion. Plus, Columbia appointed its new dean, Steve Coll, who took flak for not having tweeted, and Flipboard 2.0 lets anyone create their own digital magazine quickly and easily.

Mediatwits #72 Sad State of the News Media; Reuters' Social Editor Indicted

Mark Glaser — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 18:30:15 +0000

This week's Mediatwits podcast takes a walk on the dark side. We have our usual roundtable with Mark Glaser moderating, along with Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, Seattle Times' Monica Guzman, USC's Andrew Lih and Reuters' Felix Salmon. Plus, special guest Amy Mitchell from Pew's Project for Excellence in Journalism will break down the massive State of the News Media report that was released last Monday. It's full of bad news for legacy media, but does offer some glimmers of hope for digital media, with the rise of native ads, mobile ads, video ads and targeted ads. Is the glass half full or empty? Plus, we'll discuss the strange case of Matthew Keys, indicted for allegedly providing passwords for Tribune Company servers for the Anonymous hackers who defaced the L.A. Times' site. Meanwhile, print pubs continue to struggle with the Boston Phoenix shutting down, and Washington Examiner and Daily Variety going weekly.

Mediatwits #71 Facebook's New Look Newsfeed; SXSW on The Verge

Mark Glaser — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 20:48:57 +0000

This week's Mediatwits has a Southern flavor, with a preview of the coming South by Southwest confab in Austin, as well as a look at Facebook's latest rootin' tootin' revamp of its newsfeed and what it means for media folks. Our special guest is Joshua Topolsky, co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Verge, who will be down in Texas as a SXSW keynote questioner next Monday. Our roundtable also includes Mark Glaser moderating, along with Seattle Times' Mónica Guzmán, Reuters' Felix Salmon and surprise special guest Staci Kramer. Other topics include the state of affairs for freelance writers, who often get paid less (or nothing) to write online. Plus, Time Warner decided to spin off its magazine unit, Time Inc., rather than sell it to Meredith.

Mediatwits #70: Social Media Backlash to #Oscars; Work-at-Home Yahoos Bashed

Mark Glaser — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 20:15:04 +0000

This week we have Mark Glaser moderating, along with the Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, Seattle Times' Mónica Guzmán, Reuters' Felix Salmon, and USC's Andrew Lih. Special guest Kara Swisher will be joining us as well. Our topics this week include the severe backlash on social media to Seth MacFarlane's offensive jokes during the Oscars telecast. Did he go too far, or did the reaction go too far? And Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer laid down the law to work-at-home Yahoos: come in to an office or quit. That's led to criticism of that policy in Silicon Valley, where most tech companies give more allowance for work-at-home employees. Plus, Cablevision is suing Viacom over bundling cable channels, and Groupon CEO Andrew Mason was fired from the struggling company.

Mediatwits #69: Boston Globe, Time Inc. for Sale; Guy Kawasaki on Self-Publishing

Mark Glaser — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 20:06:23 +0000

This week we have Mark Glaser moderating, along with the Guardian's Ana Marie Cox, Seattle Times' Mónica Guzmán, Reuters' Felix Salmon, and USC's Andrew Lih. Special guest Guy Kawasaki joined us as well. Our topics this week include the New York Times putting the Boston Globe up for sale, as well as Time Warner looking to sell most of its Time Inc. magazines. Special guest Guy Kawasaki talked about his latest book, "APE," about how to self-publish your book and do it right. His recently wrote a story for MediaShift about how authors can use social media to their advantage. Plus, Google is pushing its wearable Google Glass eyewear.

Mediatwits #68 Watching State of the Union Online; Andrew Sullivan's Leaky Pay Wall

Mark Glaser — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:42:47 +0000

Our topics this week include the State of the Union and how many people followed Obama's speech on social media and at WhiteHouse.gov, and the rise of instant memes such as Marco Rubio's water break. Plus, special guest Andrew Sullivan talked about the success of his experiment going independent and charging for content. And we discuss the Knight Foundation paying $20,000 for disgraced plagiarizer Jonah Lehrer to speak at a conference.

Mediatwits #67: Bingeing on 'House of Cards'; Print Mags Hit by Postal Service

Mark Glaser — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 20:26:27 +0000

Our regulars for this show are Mark Glaser moderating, USC's Andrew Lih, Seattle Times' Mónica Guzmán and Reuters' Felix Salmon (Guardian's Ana Marie Cox can't join us this week). Our topics this week include the new Netflix original "House of Cards" and its fictional Washington Herald newsroom and the rise of digital on the show. Plus, Netflix released the entire season at once for "binge viewing" -- how do you review that as a critic? We also discuss how the Postal Service's move to drop Saturday delivery is hurting print magazines, and mags' push for digital editions. And what about the Super Bowl ads and how they played out on social media? Finally, NBC News announced it was shuttering EveryBlock, a hyper-local pioneer.

Mediatwits Relaunch Test: The Atlantic/Scientology; Netflix; NYT Hack; Vine App

Mark Glaser — Fri, 01 Feb 2013 20:35:09 +0000

The Mediatwits is returning for 2013. This test run includes regular roundtable participants Mark Glaser (PBS MediaShift), Ana Marie Cox (Guardian), Monica Guzman (Seattle Times), and Andrew Lih (USC Annenberg). Topics include the Atlantic's native ads fiasco, Netflix's "House of Cards" original show, Chinese hackers hitting the New York Times, and the new Vine app for sharing 6-second videos.

Mediatwits #66: Special Roundtable on Future of Print Books and E-Books

Mark Glaser — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:44:11 +0000

Our last show of 2012 is a fascinating one, an in-depth discussion on the state of the book publishing business, the future of print books and how e-books might evolve. Our guests are O'Reilly's Joe Wikert, Movable Type Management's Jason Allen Ashlock and BiblioCrunch CEO Miral Sattar. How can traditional book publishers and literary agents survive in a digital future, and will print books become endangered?

Mediatwits #65: The Daily Shuttered; Drones in Journalism; NASA.gov Revamp

Mark Glaser — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:31:40 +0000

The big news is News Corp. shutting the tablet-only publication The Daily, which was losing millions and not gaining enough traction. What did they learn from that experiment? Our show is largely about science, with a look at unmanned airspace vehicles (UAVs) or drones coming to journalism. And then there's the wildly popular NASA.gov website, with photos, videos and interactive features for space buffs.

Mediatwits #64: Regulation Coming for U.K. Press?; Cool Mashup of Instagram, Google Earth

Mark Glaser — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 21:18:54 +0000

the biggest story is the release of the Leveson Inquiry's massive report after nine months of testimony, considering new press regulation in the U.K. after the phone-hacking scandal. We talk to MediaShift correspondent Tristan Stewart-Robertson, who says that the Inquiry only wants regulation of mainstream press and is not considering blogging or the rising digital media in Britain. Plus, we've been wowed by a new mashup called The Beat, taking photos from Instagram and placing them where they were taken with Google Earth images.

Mediatwits #63: Digital Literacy for Online Tracking; Ford Foundation Funds Newsrooms

Mark Glaser — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 20:42:31 +0000

Who's watching you online and what do they know about you? A lot of people are tracking you and they know a lot. Even the former head of the CIA now knows that emails don't exist in the ether. We talk about the ramifications of the Gen. Petraeus scandal, as well as living our lives online. Then we turn to the Ford Foundation, which made headlines this year with large grants to the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post to help them hire more reporters to boost coverage of important issues.