The premise of my new journalism as I gear up for the full launch of OurLA.org is that all politics is local and everybody's got the right to speak up so I'm putting together citizen and professional writers to tell the story of our community.
NBC revamped its website a year ago to bring together local news from a wide variety of sources and now is launching "The Filter with Fred Roggin," a mix of fast-paced commentary, satire and humor. I'm happy to be one of the commentators as you can see in these short clips from Monday's first show where Roggin, attorney Leo Terrell and I bat around some news items. (It will be broadcast regularly Monday-Thursday at 7 p.m. on NBC's experimental digital Channel 225 starting July 20 and may come to Channel 4 itself if successful.)
Every news outlet on radio, TV and newspapers is cutting staff, slashsing costs and trying to figure out how to survive in the Internet world with audiences fragmented and revenue declining sharply.
There's a lot of desperation to these efforts at reinvention.
A case in point is LA Times media columnist James Rainey, apparently under pressure to be interesting and provocative. Three weeks ago, he called for the firing of the widely-respected LA Weekly news guru Jill Stewart. As far as I could tell Rainey suffered from story envy since Stewart's reporters have been beating the Times to death on the LA story.
Then, this morning, Rainey called for KTTV's weather and lifestyle anchor Jillian Reynolds to be fired along with the 25 percent of the staff getting the axe in September because she talked about intimate details of her sex life with Howard Stern on satellite radio.
Maybe Rainey doesn't like women news people or the mayor for his affairs with media women. Or maybe he just doesn't like women news people named Jill. My guess is he's just run out of ideas.
His columns are part of an anything-goes-as-long-as-you-attract-an-audience mentality that is widely shared in the news business. Certainly that has something to do with the unbelievable hype and non-stop coverage of the Michael Jackson story, the spectacular success of Glenn Beck on Fox and a lot of other things we're seeing and reading.
Personally, I love it. Let's all try everything we can think of to attract an audience, provide value that holds them and get their participation.
For too long, the news media has stagnated and gotten out of touch with the public as giant corporations reaped spectacular profits and imposed rigid rules and standards on journalists. Rupert Murdoch, always the boldest innovator in the corporate world, put Fox TV on the map by breaking a lot of those rules.
Now, the rest of the media is trying to break the mold. I don't see how the public loses from the wide-ranging attempts at reinvention and the vast increase opportunity for free expression and the free exchange of ideas.
I thought that what was America and the First Amendment were all about even if it includes Jill Stewart's exposes of City Hall's failings, Jillian Reynolds' exposes of her private life and James Rainey's contempt for both of them.
In any case, here's a sample of what we're trying to do on the "aggregation" segment of "The Filter with Fred Roggin:"
.
NBC revamped its website a year ago to bring together local news from a wide variety of sources and now is launching "The Filter with Fred Roggin," a mix of fast-paced commentary, satire and humor. I'm happy to be one of the commentators as you can see in these short clips from Monday's first show where Roggin, attorney Leo Terrell and I bat around some news items. (It will be broadcast regularly Monday-Thursday at 7 p.m. on NBC's experimental digital Channel 225 starting July 20 and may come to Channel 4 itself if successful.)
Every news outlet on radio, TV and newspapers is cutting staff, slashsing costs and trying to figure out how to survive in the Internet world with audiences fragmented and revenue declining sharply.
There's a lot of desperation to these efforts at reinvention.
A case in point is LA Times media columnist James Rainey, apparently under pressure to be interesting and provocative. Three weeks ago, he called for the firing of the widely-respected LA Weekly news guru Jill Stewart. As far as I could tell Rainey suffered from story envy since Stewart's reporters have been beating the Times to death on the LA story.
Then, this morning, Rainey called for KTTV's weather and lifestyle anchor Jillian Reynolds to be fired along with the 25 percent of the staff getting the axe in September because she talked about intimate details of her sex life with Howard Stern on satellite radio.
Maybe Rainey doesn't like women news people or the mayor for his affairs with media women. Or maybe he just doesn't like women news people named Jill. My guess is he's just run out of ideas.
His columns are part of an anything-goes-as-long-as-you-attract-an-audience mentality that is widely shared in the news business. Certainly that has something to do with the unbelievable hype and non-stop coverage of the Michael Jackson story, the spectacular success of Glenn Beck on Fox and a lot of other things we're seeing and reading.
Personally, I love it. Let's all try everything we can think of to attract an audience, provide value that holds them and get their participation.
For too long, the news media has stagnated and gotten out of touch with the public as giant corporations reaped spectacular profits and imposed rigid rules and standards on journalists. Rupert Murdoch, always the boldest innovator in the corporate world, put Fox TV on the map by breaking a lot of those rules.
Now, the rest of the media is trying to break the mold. I don't see how the public loses from the wide-ranging attempts at reinvention and the vast increase opportunity for free expression and the free exchange of ideas.
I thought that what was America and the First Amendment were all about even if it includes Jill Stewart's exposes of City Hall's failings, Jillian Reynolds' exposes of her private life and James Rainey's contempt for both of them.
In any case, here's a sample of what we're trying to do on the "aggregation" segment of "The Filter with Fred Roggin:"
.
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
From what I know of Rainey, he's a blubbering, empty-headed hack. Jill Stewart is a real, questioning, curious, investigative, hard-hitting, don't care who it offends as long as it's the truth journalist.
Yeah, I've been wondering where Rainey has been going lately, his columns have been all over the place. Why is he on page 2 anyway? Bring back Lopez to three times a week.
I hope you will be providing some juicy commentary on the CD2 race in the weeks coming up.
How many more times is Suzanne Muchnic going to mindlessly reprint the lies of the Autry in her "culture" articles. She just cluelessly repeats false claims about the condition of the Southwest Museum, Autry's "investments," and ignores real stories like the Autry's years of falsely claiming it had a $100 million endowment. She won't be winning any press awards for such lazy coverage. I guess it will be Jill Stewart again.
New NewsMedia needs to look elseware for revenue generation. Ad revenue alone won't cut it. Also as a non-profit, you'll need to rely on donations quite a bit. But more importantly, look towards micro-payments to suppliment revenue as your readers/users will purchase goods from the newsmedia (eg. fill that shopping cart) in a impulse-buying fashion. Yes, small cost goods purchased from many, many readers are a viable source of income for New NewsMedia.
Your OurLA.org needs to create more IMPULSE-BUYING opportunities!!! You need your "star" columnists to pimp some wares, like radio personalities do so: pimp their books, coffeecups, tee shirts, tour groups and cruises, day trips, etc. This should be the columnist's "salary". Political cartoonist "columnists" can pimp their art. This should be a major component of "New NewsMedia"'s income stream, to keep it going. It's like working on commission, the columnists should be active "on the income side".
Just throwing out some thoughts and suggestions to make your new venture viably long term and income producing. And, you're right. There's nothing wrong with some columnists being sensationalists. Let the people decide if they like it or not.
The media may have slit Palin's throat, but she ran at a huge blade, twisted it and did a 360 dance. Clearly, not ready for prime time.
What continues to astound/appall me is how little input citizens have regarding their elected officials.
We are watching the results of a broken process where California legislatures are debating bovine tails while there is no consensus on the budget.
Talk about fiddling when Rome burns.
Yet, the broken process continues. Already, the candidiates for the state assembly seats for next year are far along in the process.
Citizens need to know the names of Ace Smith and Parke Skelton and the 8 or so others--the political consultants who determine who is to be nominated and then elected.
They are the equivalent of those advertising people who brought you the Apple/Ipods or Toyota Priuses.
It isn't about the views the candidates hold: it is about lining up money and endorsements; and the views carefully tailored to hit the right notes for each group talked--jobs, public safety, education, the environment--and for the right groups--affordable housing and community redevelopment.
So, while the citiznry debates and discusses ways of doing things differently, our futures are in the decisions of those 10 people, who aren't looking for something difefernt but more of the same. This feels like driving forward while looking into
the rearview mirror.
What is going on with Rainey? All he has really achieved is getting a lot of people to talk about what a good journalist Stewart is. He has made himself a laughing stock and further tarnished the Times waning reputation.
If I were the LA Times I might be thinking about firing, but it wouldn't be any Jills - it would be a James.
Rainey could always try for a job with Murdoch - he is definitely headed towards the Murdoch bombast style of "new" "burn"-alsim.
Well at least you've finally admitted what drives your own blogging and activism, an "anything goes (no matter now low and crass -- witness zuma dogg and zine and Kevin James' JonKen ETC. infantile vile name- calling on a non-stop basis) as long as it attracts an audience" mentality, combined with a tossing out the window of those pesky "corporate standards and ethics" designed to avoid slandering people and impugning their reputations with sheer rumor, innuendo and just plain sliming at whim.
(When Rainey referred to the beyond-bounds so-called "reporters" she'd hired he clearly included one zuma dogg, though he wouldn't have wanted to dignify this illiterate by naming him. It's clear to everyone who he meant and maybe one or two rivals -- and name anyone who works for her who holds a view OPPOSITE to hers.)
You're right about one thing: that in their race to match the sewers of the blogosphere's worst, there's now often little difference between the formerly respected mainstream media and them. (With some notable exceptions, including Wall Street Journal, NY Times, the Economist and a few national magazines.)
I can only hope that, as with many trends, after the pendulum swings so wildly in one extreme, it generates a response of such disgust that the backlash forces it to swing wildly back. NOT to what we had, admittedly sometimes too staid, but something back to being respected as at least making a sincere attempt to be well-researched, and fair and objective as possible given that anyone writing the piece will inevitably bring his or her own perspective and worldview to the situation, which will have to be factored in.
Of course you won't be along for that ride, Ron, long-retired by then with your SLAP people, who will hopefully be replaced too by a newer, fresh generation of people as motivated to bring their positive outlook to the world as the current crop of rightwing haters brings their nastiness.
Rainey is a smart man, and I enjoy his pieces, but he is a "journalist," in the most regrettable modern sense of that word.
Journalists aren't crass reporters that deliver news without fear or favor. Despite the desire of their stubborn readers for unfiltered news,Journalists know that newspapers exist to advance Enlightened Positions guide the masses.
Journalists favor higher taxes to be redirected by Sacramento legislators for the betterment of everyone except people who work. As modern Pauline Kaels ("Why I don't know anyone who voted for Nixon!"), they cannot understand why everyone does not feel this way. (How many times does an exasperated Skelton have to tell the impervious Masses that higher taxes are the only sensible thing?)
Journalists know that tearful articles about trangendered pedicab drivers in Morroco are more enlightening than exposing the seamy city hall's latest outrage on the taxpayers. They are more liekly to win a pulitizer too! (the unwashed readers don't award Pulitizers).
Journalists know that local news won't impress anyone at the New York Times--try to impress a colleague with a "local" interest story (that's for mere reporters).
Crusading against inflated state employee pensions would be a captivating news story--but it would undermine the endless calls for higher taxes, so into the memory hole with those stories.
Irritated readers go elsewhere--not prompting the Times to offer more news--but to set upon us with phone banks offering a subscription to what fewer want at any price. (of all the papers on our office floor in the morning, the LAT is the last one grabbed)
Like any smart, cultured and comfortable midieval cleric, Rainey resents the pressure to compete. He blames the crass readers. The internet. He'd be infinitely happier in the preFox and preNet days when a narrow band of media all agreed on the news.
Jillian Barbarie-Reynolds is a bit silly. But Jill Stewart isn't and Rainey betrays his midieval cleric's longing for a more cloistered time by criticizing her. I've enjoyed her articles as much as if not more than anything the Times has done. And but for Stewart, we'd know next to nothing about City Hall. (Keep it up Ms. Stewart!!)
Sorry Mr. Rainey. We'd all be happier if you became a real reporter and hired some. Just post Skelton's latest pro-tax screed on line--no need to keep re-running it. We all know it by heart. Use the space for what we want: NEWS!!!! (and that does not mean ore about Micahel Jackson or other celebrities)
Gaud Robert smith, well done!!!! By your definition, Ron Kaye is a journalist, too, but a very likeable one. But, both are ol' school and do not clearly see the reality of where their "liberal" tendencies lead.