As the Net Turns
Web Serials Find Their Niche vs. TV
Everyone’s a producer — or so it seems with the availability of video-making tools for just about anyone these days. With the arrival of cheaper, more compact equipment and the rapid of advance of technology in this area, it’s possible to shoot a pretty good quality video with a...continued...
Digging Deeper
Semi-Pro Journalism Teams Give Alternative View of U.S. Elections
Elizabeth Gotsdiner got Joe Biden’s errant spittle in her mouth. Shantel Middleton got to ride on a Ron Paul blimp. Mayhill Fowler was following Obama canvassers and ended up helping them carry brochures for the candidate. Each of these folks represents a new class of semi-pro journalist tasked with...continued...
Digging Deeper
Gadfly 2.0: How One Investor Used Social Media to Shake Up Yahoo
If you’re following the twists and turns of Microsoft’s hostile bid for Yahoo, you can’t escape one name that keeps popping up in the media: Eric Jackson. As an activist shareholder in Yahoo, he has become the voice of the opposition, calling on Yahoo to accept Microsoft’s takeover bid...continued...
Best Use of the Medium
5 Videoblogs That Do It Right
Lately, it seems everybody’s a video producer. From YouTube to BlogTV to Seesmic –- it’s as if everyone’s doing something with a videocamera. Last year, I wondered if the transition from blogger to video producer and host might not be the best route for everyone. It seemed that bloggers were...continued...
Digging Deeper
BusinessWeek.com Pushes into Aggregation, Video, Participation to Stand Out
Business news is often about numbers. And when you check the audience numbers on the various top financial news sites online, the portals such as Yahoo Finance and MSN Money come out on top, followed by a jumble of online magazines such as Forbes.com, wire services such as Reuters,...continued...
Fake Profile Alert
The Benefits and Pitfalls of Using Social Media for Reporting
Because we live in an age when social media sites are our daily bread, it seems natural to turn to them as resources for writing a story. When I wrote a piece about the popularity of Facebook all over the world, I went straight to Facebook to get the...continued...
Digging Deeper
Anti-Piracy Dragnet Could Hurt ‘Fair Use’ of Copyrighted Video
All the lawsuits and rhetoric around people uploading copyrighted material on video-sharing sites such as YouTube make it seem like a black-and-white situation: either you’re shooting your own original video or stealing it from someone else. But what’s lost in that simple either-or interpretation is the more gray area...continued...
Year in Review
10 MediaShifting Moments of 2007
As the year 2007 sets in the distance, we can take some time to consider the year that was. I’m not a huge fan of year-end lists, but sometimes they help us get a grip on what transpired — and ponder what’s to come. What’s perhaps most amazing about...continued...
Digging Deeper
When Will Google’s ‘Big Project’ YouTube Bring in Profits?
In its brief 22-month history, video-sharing site YouTube has become a cultural phenomenon. The Iraq War has been called the “YouTube War” because of the videos that are regularly uploaded by soldiers and insurgents. The upcoming U.S. presidential race has been called the “YouTube Election” with its own “YouTube...continued...
Digging Deeper
TechPresident, 10Questions Put Spotlight on ‘Voter-Generated Content’
Just as the Internet and technology have shifted the playing field in media, allowing bloggers and podcasters to help set the news agenda, so has the realm of politics been disrupted by technology that gives voters more power to inject their own issues into the fray. And in the...continued...
The List
California Wildfire Coverage by Local Media, Blogs, Twitter, Maps and More
The last few days have shown that online resources, social media, and collaboration on the Net can make a huge difference in a natural disaster. As the wildfires have spread in Southern California, the evacuees and local residents have utilized the Internet not only to connect and get updated...continued...
Breaking Government Blockades
YouTube, Flickr Become Forces for Cultural Change
The term “social web” brings to mind images of people around the world interacting with each other without borders or barriers. With the arrival of more and more sites that help us connect, express ourselves and share media, it seems like we’re advancing toward a more open Internet, in...continued...
Cross-Platform Static
Bloggers Make Jump to TV Shows — But Should They?
It wasn’t that long ago that I was marveling over the fact that mainstream media was paying attention to blogs, particularly for culling public opinion on hot button political issues. I remember being shocked when CNN started featuring a segment quoting bloggers on “The Situation Room” — shocked and...continued...
Digging Deeper
News21 Improves Multimedia, Still Lacks Audience Involvement
The News21 initiative had grand designs to provide fellowships to 44 bright journalism and political science graduate students, and have them create innovative, cutting edge — and sellable — work. In the first year, the Northwestern University fellows broke ground with a Flash-based story on Digital Data Trails and...continued...
Your Take Roundup
Internet Offers Unlimited Time for Presidential Debates
One of the complaints most people have about televised politics and debates is the prevalence of the sound bite. There’s never enough time for candidates to discuss issues in-depth or argue their point for more than a minute. Instead, we are stuck with the tyranny of zingers and one-liners,...continued...
EverythingTube
Online Video Sites Scratch Your Niche
In my post about online television a few weeks ago, I wrote about why I don’t enjoy watching television on the Internet. One of the reasons is that a big video-sharing site such as YouTube has thousands of different kinds of content jumbled together in one place, making it...continued...
Cheney Video Hunt
The Tangled State of Archived News Footage Online
A couple of weeks ago a video of Vice President Dick Cheney from 1994 came up on YouTube, with Cheney saying that invading Baghdad would invite a quagmire. I investigated this on my own and discovered that, while I could find it today via the C-SPAN archives, it wasn’t...continued...
TVShift
Is the Future of Television Online? Not Yet
Late last month the BBC announced that it would be offering up a large part of its television content free of charge on its website. And back in May, ABC announced it would stream some of its primetime shows in HD online for free. As networks begin to put...continued...
Your Take Roundup
YouTube Video Ads Should Be Relevant, Brief
Video-sharing phenomenon YouTube has built up its online business in classic dot-com fashion: Get the eyeballs first, then figure out how to make money. You can say “Web 2.0” all you want, but this is classic Web 1.0 thinking. So now that Google has sunk $1.65 billion into buying...continued...
Your Take Roundup
Mixed Feelings on NBC Showing Cho Video Online
The folks at NBC News debated for hours what to do with the video they had received from Cho Seung-Hui, who killed 32 people on the Virginia Tech campus. Eventually, they decided it was prudent to show some of the video on TV and post some snippets online. After...continued...
Digging Deeper
Your Guide to Presidential Campaign Videos Online
From time to time, I’ll give an overview of one broad MediaShift topic, annotated with online resources and plenty of tips. The idea is to help you understand the topic, learn the jargon, and take action. I’ve already covered blogging, citizen journalism, the digital divide and various other topics....continued...
Digging Deeper
Will Video Kill the Audio Podcasting Star? Not Exactly
All the media heat these days is around online video and the YouTube phenomenon. Presidential candidates are sparring through YouTube. Google pays a bundle to buy YouTube, and then Viacom sues for $1 billion. It all makes the online audio phenomenon of podcasting feel like yesterday’s news. Audio fans,...continued...
March Madness on Demand
The Quirks, Dunks and Crashes of Live Streaming Hoops on CBS Sportsline
The camera pans into the crowd lazily, catching the sight of the painted faces of college basketball fanatics. It then cuts jerkily to cheerleaders getting ready to do a routine. The audio is off, and then suddenly comes to life. The scene cuts to the tunnel below the stadium...continued...
We Want Video
Viacom, YouTube Legal Tiff Irrelevant in End
Judging by the sturm und drang roiling the blogosphere and media circles, you’d think that Viacom’s $1 billion lawsuit against Google’s YouTube is the epic confrontation of old media vs. new, of suits vs. hipsters, of DRM vs. free love, of greed vs. good. It may well be all...continued...
Open or Closed?
Viacom’s YouTube Conundrum
The heavyweights of the media world are lining up in opposition to YouTube, and supporting Viacom’s recent removal of all its clips from the video-sharing service. That removal followed a back-and-forth last fall when Viacom initially asked for clips to be removed, and then went into negotiations with YouTube....continued...
Digging Deeper
Talent Agencies Evolve to Show Clients the Digital Money
Everything about the Ask a Ninja videoblog phenomenon smacks of a new form of entertainment. Two guys in Los Angeles produce a series of simple, low cost video clips where a ninja character answers profound and ridiculous questions. The comedic series gets popular as a video podcast through iTunes,...continued...
Digging Deeper
Can Brightcove Solve Net Video for Pros, Big Media?
While YouTube has been the darling of video-sharing sites online — letting anyone become a video star — Cambridge, Mass.-based startup Brightcove has quietly been working in the background to become the go-to video services company for professional content owners and media companies such as Dow Jones, Newsweek and...continued...
Digging Deeper
YouTube Explains the Mystery of Home Page Picks
Mark Day, a friend of mine in the San Francisco Bay Area, has been trying to break into stand-up comedy for the past year. Recently, he got a big break by having one of his brief video comic bits — The Smiley Intervention — featured on the front page...continued...
Futurama
Big Media’s ‘OurTube’ to Dominate Online Video Realm
NEW YORK, November 31, 2008 /PRNewswire/ — The heads of the four major U.S. televion networks today announced the long-awaited unveiling of “OurTube,” a new online video-sharing service where people will be able to legally upload and share any video approved by the media companies for sharing. The service...continued...
The Word
Fake Anchor Colbert Gives Best Take on YouTube Takedowns
The last week has been a surreal one for fans of fake news. TV shows such as Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report” have had huge boosts in their popularity thanks to online communities, who share video clips and summaries from each show. But the corporate...continued...
Open Letter
Stephen Colbert: Don’t Love and Leave YouTube
An Open Letter to Stephen Colbert, star of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” We in the Colbert Nation are sickened by the recent news that heavy-handed trial lawyers at Viacom, representing Comedy Central, have asked YouTube to force its users to remove video clips from “The Colbert Report,” “The...continued...
Crazy, Crazy, Crazy?
Google Spends $1.65 Billion for YouTube
It’s deja vu all over again as an unprofibable Internet startup, barely 19 months old, was bought for $1.65 billion yesterday. But the startup in question, video-sharing phenomenon YouTube, is not just any startup looking to cash in on hype. YouTube is the eyeball catcher of all eyeball catchers,...continued...
Digging Deeper
Can Witness, Global Voices Make Human Rights Video Go Viral?
There is an impulse when we see quirky videos we like on YouTube to email them on to friends or co-workers. When those catchy videos start accumulating viewers, marketers say it’s gone viral through word-of-mouth popularity. So what if you could take videos shot by citizens of human rights...continued...
Digging Deeper
Associated Press, MSNBC Video to Support Macs, Firefox
There is nothing more frustrating for Macintosh users or those who use the Firefox browser than going to a video site and hitting a wall demanding Windows and the Internet Explorer browser. But when the Associated Press’ Online Video Network first launched last spring in conjunction with Microsoft, the...continued...
Lonelygirl15 Outed
Matt Foremski’s Sleuthing Leads to Jessica Rose
Ladies and gentlemen, it appears we have a winner of the MediaShift Your Blog Here Contest. I was a bit flustered trying to figure out the mystery behind the Lonelygirl15 series of videos on YouTube, so I started a contest to see who could solve this mystery — and...continued...
Your Blog Here Contest
Help Solve the Lonelygirl15 Mystery
My head is spinning, hurting. I’m not sure which confounds me more — figuring out who YouTube star-of-the-moment Lonelygirl15 really is or figuring out why so many major news organizations have taken the bait and played along. I’m hoping that you, dear MediaShift readers, will take my pain away...continued...
Your Take Roundup
Watching Shows on Computers Supplements Your TV Viewing
Let’s be clear about one thing. Watching TV shows and movies on computer screens — as they exist today — will not replace watching TV and movies on much bigger screens, in much more comfortable environs. Of course there are computers that can function as TV sets, and TV...continued...
Digging Deeper
Your Guide to Soldier Videos from Iraq
If the first Gulf War put cable news and CNN on the map, the second Gulf War in Iraq has put video shot by soldiers in the spotlight. I first wrote about these videos in January, focusing on the ones that proliferated at the video-sharing site YouTube. But now,...continued...
Your Take Roundup
True Gritz Videoblog a Comic Fave Among Friends
So this is how you win elections in the South. I asked MediaShift readers to name their favorite sites for comic relief or work breaks, and the True Gritz video blog won in a landslide of 11 votes. But upon further review, two of the votes came from the...continued...
Your Take Roundup
Everyone Has an Opinion on Future of Rocketboom
So what’s up with Rocketboom, the popular video blog that lost its longtime host, Amanda Congdon? When we last left the he said/she said soap opera, Rocketboom honcho Andrew Baron was readying a replacement for Congdon, while Congdon was upset about being “unboomed” from the show. While I was...continued...
Rocketboom Drama
Is Amanda Congdon Replaceable?
When I lived in New York City in the late ’80s, I thought I was a hotshot DJ. I spun records (yes, vinyl) at a restaurant in Queens that had a special dance night catering to flight attendants. More people started showing up, the owner started charging for entry,...continued...
Sleeping With the Enemy
NBC, YouTube Cross-Promotion Off to Crass Start
When I talked to my sister yesterday, she said she had been thinking of me when she saw a report on “NBC Nightly News” about the video-sharing service, YouTube. “I thought that story might interest you, because of what you write about,” she said. OK, true enough, and I...continued...
Your Take Roundup
Sports Video on Cell Phones Works in Right Situations
It’s easy to ridicule the idea of watching a World Cup soccer match or baseball game on a tiny mobile phone screen. Where’s the ball, who’s on first, how’d they score that goal? But for the rabid displaced fans of any sport, having the tiniest video highlights in town...continued...
Your Take Roundup
YouTube Just the Start for Video Sharing
It’s easy to lose yourself in all the video at YouTube. You watch one music video, which leads to a spoof video, which leads to a stupid pet trick, which leads…who knows where. Before you know it, it’s time to leave work. Free time just evaporates when you’re immersed...continued...
Digging Deeper
YouTube CEO Hails ‘Birth of a New Clip Culture’
There is a simple truth about video-sharing site YouTube, and an enigma. The simple truth is that this web startup has bottled up the viral video idea and made it eminently drinkable by anyone — you go to the site, find the video clip you want to watch, and,...continued...
Fighting for Open Standards
Cox Newspapers Says No to AP Video
Since launching MediaShift in January, the one post I’ve written that has received the most vehement response so far was about the Associated Press’ new online video service requiring Internet Explorer and Windows. And I even followed up on that with a blacklist and a whitelist of other online...continued...
Dear CBS Sportsline
Close Down Live Streams of Tourney for Our Own Good
Open Letter to CBS Sportsline Dear Keepers of the March Madness Tournament Flame, We the college basketball-loving public appreciate all you’ve done for us. You offer satellite packages with all the games in the men’s college basketball tournament. We can go to Las Vegas and watch and bet on...continued...
Open Source Reporting
The Whitelist: Video Services That Play Nice
Since last week, I’ve spent a lot of time ferreting out online video sites that don’t play nice with a huge number of web users. These sites don’t let you view videos with the popular Firefox browser, or on Macintosh computers. First, I wondered why the new AP Online...continued...
Digging Deeper
TV Critics Eye Online Content Reviews
Anyone who has spent an afternoon at a site such as iFilm Viral Video or YouTube can attest to how addictive online video can be. Some of it’s funny, some of it’s stupid, some of it’s classic. But the problem is finding the good stuff, as the most popular...continued...
Open Source Reporting
Which Online Video Services Require IE?
Last Thursday, I wondered why the Associated Press was launching a new video network online that required the use of the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser. The AP’s Sue Cross says that the news cooperative is working on a solution to the compatibility problem, but many readers pointed out that...continued...
Millions Not Served
AP Video Requires Microsoft Browser
Most people don’t realize just how important the Associated Press is. The news cooperative — owned by its U.S. news organization members — has been around since 1848, and now supplies 8,500 subscriber news outlets with text wire stories and photos, and 5,000 radio and TV outlets with audio...continued...
The Military Responds
Soldier Videos Don’t Violate Policy
Last week, I wrote about the video-sharing site YouTube and discussed some videos there that appeared to be shot by soldiers in Iraq. The videos are well produced, and show soldiers in the field of combat, with gunfights, explosions and the like all edited to heavy metal and rap...continued...
Digging Deeper
YouTube Offers Soldier’s Eye View of Iraq War
The American public’s interest in the War in Iraq has waxed and waned over the years, from intense debate to complete disconnection. So too has the media’s interest, as Iraq goes from the front page of the newspaper to someplace buried deep within. But there’s one viewpoint of the...continued...
