The Webby Awards!

I guess this was inevitable. The Webby Awards are here, and public and open to the viewers and users to vote! I took a look at the nominations and they span all across the board from YouTube to the New York Times Website to Wired and plenty of other websites and internet presences from all over. I was really impressed and excited to learn that someone started this up because I feel there's a lot of great sites on the internet that maybe don't always get recognized but definitely should! The categories are Website, Online Film and Video, Interactive Advertising, and Mobile. Here is a little bit more about the People's Voice Webby Awards for any other concerns, I strongly encourage everyone to take a look and vote even!

It's funny what you happen upon when perusing news stories

I have been following the story of Roxana Saberi, the jailed U.S.-Iranian citizen who was freelancing in Iran and arrested and convicted of spying for Washington and sentenced to jail for 8 years. President Obama as well as many other figures have called for a release of the journalist and one of the judiciaries on the case has called for a re-trial *aka a trial where her attorney can be present and which she will be notified of and will last longer than an hour I'm sure*. It's definitely a ridiculous story to see how relations are a bit tense right now and conveys the state of journalist freedom in Iran. While searching various reports of this story I happened across the MinnPost.com. Their tagline is "A thoughtful approach to news" and it struck me as odd, it didn't publicize the "fair and balanced" tagline mantra that is so often upheld in mainstream media. In the about them page they detail how they are a nonprofit news organization for Minnesota citizens for " news-intense people who care about Minnesota". I highly recommend checking this site out, it is an interesting little journalistic enterprise and maybe can prove to be inspiration for our pitches! They also openly state in their about section all of their donors and the money they made and can really provide a resource for us to model our pitches after if you are looking into that sort of area, I know I am and I thought this was a very useful thing to come across. Enjoy!

Global Flow of Information

I took a course last semester on the Global Flow of Information by Kati Lustyik who is also the head adviser for the International Communications minor. If some of you are interested in filling gaps in your schedule it is something to look into. Kati encouraged us to look into various media internationally including the BBC, Aljazeera, children's media from Sesame Street to Lazy Town, entertainment media such as reality tv, and the media empires of Disney and Rupert Murdoch. Our studies of media took us all around the world to criticize many different forms of media production and also to understand concepts such as Disneyfication and Mcdonaldization. It was really interesting and I learned a lot about global media, we even had fun days where we looked at The Onion and Slate.

Lester Holt Arrives

Through the Jessica Savitch distinguished lecture series at the Park School of Communications at Ithaca College, Lester Holt from NBC came to speak to students, faculty and the community at large about the news media and his story. Jokingly Holt jabbed at how Ithaca College tends to be known for asking "tough" questions, and I feel like he went back to his hotel room last night and said... "Boy did they deliver or what?" One question was asked in relation to how corporate ownership of mainstream media like NBC can often influence stories and journalists and asked if he had ever felt the pressure from above, to which he replied, "No I have never experienced that," and moved on abruptly to talk more about how bloggers and independent media often don't report from reliable sources or check the information presented by their sources... which I can imagine is exactly how Josh Marshall developed his story to lead to the resignation of the attorney general... oh those unreliable sources! He ended his comment interestingly enough by saying that the mainstream media is held at a higher bar of standards by the general public, maybe by the general public Mr. Holt, but absolutely not by me and not by the Park Center for Independent Media. I actually felt a little slammed walking away from Emerson Suites last night, and a little sorry that Holt was really missing the big picture. Although he did note, "we have ended up chasing stories broken by bloggers," and with their unreliable sources to boot. Apart from that however he spoke a lot about the need to democratize the news and present different opinions and went so far as to outline a tagline for the mainstream media, "the truth sometimes hurts." He also noted how some people surround themselves with a certain opinion because they do not want the full perspective and that NBC news delivers that full perspective. At the same time however, he spoke about how Mainstream media has become more production oriented and uses "snappier writing," "use of graphics and music" and is about "chasing the viewers now." What I thought was the most entertaining comment however was, "being a local news anchor almost felt like being a local politician," in relation to all the public appearances he made in Chicago. I'm sure if you asked Amy Goodman if she felt like a politician... well I wouldn't want to be in the proximity for the answer anyway but it would sound something like a resounding no I'm sure. Hearing this speaker from the mainstream really claarified everything in Jeff Cohen's book for me, Cable News Confidential and right out of the horses mouth! I highly suggest maintaining an actively critical view of mainstream media and even independent media, as Holt does have a point that not always are the sources legitimate like when it was reported by ireport that Steve Jobs had a heart attack... he was 100% fine and healthy actually! But still, the general public should not be so willing to surround themselves with whatever is being spit at them, search for opinions, analyze the bias, aggregate the truth, develop your own story, not Lester Holt's story. Because even relying on the NBC version which Holt claims presents the full picture, is never enough.

Last YouTube related post

Just as a follow up to all of this YouTube discussion. I really don't understand this one.



I do not get this at all. He has over 12 million views for taking a picture of himself every day for 6 years and he is still going... why? Why are people interested in this. The music is just classical music and it is literally almost 6 minutes long of the same guy. Maybe over the time span he looks a bit more tired, but what are people looking for when they watch this? What do people get out of it other than yeah it's a bit impressive but not as impressive as traveling around the world in my opinion. If you would like to see the stills, he even has his own website where you can view the newly updated photos... if you really really want to. I may find Can I Haz Cheezburger hilarious, but with this I feel like Jeff Cohen... just plain out of the loop! *no offense Jeff!*

Ithaca Hours gets national recognition!

Few college students know of the Ithaca Hours currency that has been around for a very long time right here in Ithaca. The currency is to help keep business local rather than global and to generate a higher flow of economic revenue in the Ithaca area and establish a smaller community feel. Ithaca Hours are accepted at many stores in the local area and are passed between residents quite frequently. The websites above even list stores that accept Hours as well as maintain a blog about it! The main story however, is that Ithaca Hours and other local currency efforts have been picked up by the Huffington Post and the mainstream media that did a story on this yesterday! I think this is very interesting to have national recognition on such a small community and such a local program, but it is definitely a great model for other small towns in America to keep business local and stave off corporate greed. Personally I think Viva Tacqueria and the State Street Diner win over Subway or Moe's anyday with a relative ease about them.

The Izzies are off to a running start...

Bill Moyers, The Ithacan, Now Hear This!, Alternet, YouTube, Consortium, what do they all have in common? They are RAVING about the newest award named after I.F. Stone! Izzy Stone has had numerous awards and medals named after him since he became the focal point for independent media and a huge historical figure in the history of journalism. The newest award is planned to be a medal awarded by Harvard University through the Niemann Foundation for journalistic independence. The Izzy award however, has been calling a lot of attention to itself. The award is given through the Park Center For Independent Media run by Jeff Cohen at Ithaca College and was awarded this year to Democracy Now's Amy Goodman and Salon's Glenn Greenwald. These two figures in independent media were fantastic, their speeches, their works, everything about them radiates Izzy to the fullest and the award was absolutely deserved. A majority of the audience was from local Ithacans as opposed to the minority of star-struck college students grouping together in packs in the back of the theater. It was a great night for journalistic independence and mostly for independent media, as Greenwald acknowledged in his speech, "how can you possibly have journalism without independence?" Goodman also focused on the need for independent media, "We need a media that is a fourth estate, not for the state!" Jeff Cohen spoke throughout the night and also in an interview for Now Hear This about plans to continue giving the award and giving it to only one deserving recipient for next year. You can find a bit more from Goodman and Greenwald here courtesy of Bill Moyers: