Everything changed in 1833 when the first mass-audience newspaper, the New York Sun, pioneered the use of advertising to reduce the cost of news, thus giving advertisers access to a wider audience. At the time of the launch America’s bestselling paper sold just 4,500 copies a day; the Sun, with its steam press, soon reached 15,000. The penny press, followed by radio and television, turned news from a two-way conversation into a one-way broadcast, with a relatively small number of firms controlling the media.
Now, the news industry is returning to something closer to the coffee house. The internet is making news more participatory, social, diverse and partisan, reviving the discursive ethos of the era before mass media. That will have profound effects on society and politics.
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Saturday, July 16
Phone Hacking on Long List of Journalism Scandals
There's a shameful history of reportorial misdeeds of which the defunct News of the World and other News International properties are now a part. The mushrooming scandal in Britain involves accusations of bribery and Murdoch's newspapers illegally obtaining confidential information about crime victims and even former Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
Many previous episodes involving reporters and editors were relatively isolated incidents, with one or two people deviating from accepted professional codes. "Here we have a pattern of scandalous behavior."
Fake news reports reach back even to America's Revolutionary War, when a Philadelphia newspaper reported in 1776 about a ragtag contingent of American colonists beating experienced British forces in battle. It turned out the American force was much bigger than reported, and the British soldiers far less experienced.
Read more here
Many previous episodes involving reporters and editors were relatively isolated incidents, with one or two people deviating from accepted professional codes. "Here we have a pattern of scandalous behavior."
Fake news reports reach back even to America's Revolutionary War, when a Philadelphia newspaper reported in 1776 about a ragtag contingent of American colonists beating experienced British forces in battle. It turned out the American force was much bigger than reported, and the British soldiers far less experienced.
Read more here
Wednesday, July 13
Apple's got its eye on mobile games
"We are 12 to 24 months away from being able to disrupt the living room with experiences that you might be playing on an iPad version four, but projecting … to a TV in your living room," he predicts. It'll be "every bit as good" as the experience of playing a high-end console game today, he adds.
With more than 200 million devices running Apple's mobile operating system — and 100,000 games available — Apple has transformed the traditional mobile-game marketplace. Spending on mobile games is expected to account for 15% of all spending on game software this year, rising to 20% in 2015, research firm Gartner predicts.
IHS/Screen Digest expects the sale of games in Apple's App Store to approach $2 billion worldwide in 2011, up about 75% from 2010. The closest mobile-games rival, Android Market, is forecast at $170 million for 2011, the firm says.
To be sure, console games played on systems such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 remain the dominant force in video games, accounting for about 40% of the projected $74 billion to be spent globally on games in 2011, Gartner says.
Hit video games still sell very well. First-person shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops has earned Activision Blizzard more than $1 billion in sales since its November release. But sales of console games have plateaued in recent years, with mobile and online games supplying most of the industry growth.
Read more here
With more than 200 million devices running Apple's mobile operating system — and 100,000 games available — Apple has transformed the traditional mobile-game marketplace. Spending on mobile games is expected to account for 15% of all spending on game software this year, rising to 20% in 2015, research firm Gartner predicts.
IHS/Screen Digest expects the sale of games in Apple's App Store to approach $2 billion worldwide in 2011, up about 75% from 2010. The closest mobile-games rival, Android Market, is forecast at $170 million for 2011, the firm says.
To be sure, console games played on systems such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 remain the dominant force in video games, accounting for about 40% of the projected $74 billion to be spent globally on games in 2011, Gartner says.
Hit video games still sell very well. First-person shooter game Call of Duty: Black Ops has earned Activision Blizzard more than $1 billion in sales since its November release. But sales of console games have plateaued in recent years, with mobile and online games supplying most of the industry growth.
Read more here
Data Visualization: Journalism's Voyage West
Stanford has used data from the Library of Congress to illustrate the spread of all kinds of newspapers across the U.S. from 1690 to 2011.
Check it out here
Check it out here
U.S. Cable Network Ad Spending Forecast to Exceed Broadcast Nets for First Time
U.S. advertising spending on cable networks will for the first time trump spending on broadcast networks this year, according to the latest forecast from media buyer ZenithOptimedia. For 2012, Zenith expects broadcast spending to drop 1 percent to $17.2 billion despite the return of the Olympics to NBC amid a projected increase in online and cable viewing for the games in London, compared with an estimated 9 percent gain to $19.6 billion for cable.
Read more here
Read more here
Monday, July 11
Microsoft Strikes Search Deal With China's Baidu
Microsoft has inked an agreement to provide its Bing technology to China's leading search engine operator. Google pulled back its official search presence in China last year after a dispute with authorities over Web censorship. Still, it's estimated that Google accounts for as much as 20% of Chinese searches as many Internet users in the People's Republic continue to access Google through proxy servers and other means.
Read more here
Read more here
Sunday, July 10
Watching Cable TV Online
Cable TV executives are constantly talking about "TV Everywhere" - shows and movies available anywhere at any time. With varying degrees of success, the biggest cable operators have tried to develop TV Everywhere offerings on their own. Cable systems typically let subscribers access reruns and movies via websites or mobile apps, but they don't offer first-run shows or live broadcasts such as football games outside the home. And content providers aren't eager to share potential mobile revenues with the cable companies.
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