Archive for December, 2006
Views of one MSNBC Saddam video = 3 TV ratings points
When a single video can pull in actual equivalents to ratings points, you know people will take notice. Such is the case with Richard Engel’s Saturday “Today Show” piece on the Saddam execution. According to a MSNBC source, it was streamed a remarkable 2.9 million times on MSNBC.com. That’s for one video, on a Saturday, [...]
Credible cellphone video of Saddam’s execution leaked
It was only a matter of time. There is now video on YouTube, Revver and other sites, purportedly of Saddam’s execution in full. It is believable. The person who shot it on a cellphone is standing below the gallows, so you clearly see Saddam dropping and then hanging. Arab television stations are showing this in [...]
The world finds its Lost Remote
Forgive the bragging here, but as I go through the links from 2006, I am awestruck by how many sites from different countries have linked to Lost Remote. I write this not so much out of bragging (OK, a little) as out of pride that people around the world share our vision of better journalism [...]
Cellphone video is first of Saddam’s body
Video of Saddam Hussein’s body, shot on a cellphone, is apparently the first to show him after his death. CNN has posted the video that is from Shiite Iraqi channel Biladi TV. While not verified by CNN or other sources, the video does indeed appear to be legitimate. (Screengrab below.)
RTNDA’s Noreen Welle dies
RTNDA VP of Communications, Marketing and Membership Noreen Welle has died. Noreen had cancer – multiple myeloma – and had been fighting it this past year. Sadly, she succumbed to the illness on Friday. We have had the pleasure of working with Noreen on many occasions. She was wonderful. Noreen edited the first piece I wrote for the RTNDA’s “Communicator,” and worked with Lost Remote on the presentations we give at RTNDA conferences. She was a strong believer in the best that journalism could be, and was a cheerleader for new media ideas. Whenever I lost my membership number or password to the RTNDA site (which was often), Noreen graciously looked it up without so much as a scolding. As you can tell by her title, Noreen had an impossibly big job and was part of the RTNDA’s very DNA. We have lost a kind mentor and dear friend. Kindly read the RTNDA’s announcement following the jump.
Saddam execution: why we need international coverage
The American networks’ mere whisper of the execution of Saddam Hussein is exactly the reason why we need better access to international news channels. Even our news channels, giving this story the time it deserves, are stuck quoting Arab news sources. We, as news consumers, should demand the ability to get news as it is [...]
CNN breaks Saddam execution, nets more cautious
CNN was first to report the execution of Saddam Hussein, with reporter Aneesh Raman breaking the news from Baghdad at 10:07 p.m. EST. Raman quoted Arab news services, which had the story first. Fox News and MSNBC also relied on the reports from the Arab channels. While I was flipping around channels, TV Newser Brian [...]
Saddam execution coverage: ghoulish?
“Is there something ghoulish about this?” Larry King asked CNN’s Aneesh Rahman who is standing in Baghdad waiting for the execution of Saddam Hussein. Yes, of course. But this isn’t just prurient interest – it’s a major international story, obviously. The cable news nets are in “fill” mode, waiting for the execution which is reportedly [...]
Wired’s predictions for 2007
There are some interesting ones in Wired’s annual list of predictions for ‘07:
DVRs get BitTorrent baked in, bringing internet video to the living room.
20 percent of all new laptops sold will be MacBooks.
A major newspaper gives up printing on paper to publish exclusively online.
HD-DVD is the clear winner over Blu-ray in [...]
Vote for a Lost Remote T-shirt title
Waaaaay back in August, we asked everyone for ideas for a Lost Remote T-shirt. Now I’m finally getting around to opening it up for a vote. Click here to vote for your favorite titles (you can vote for more than one), and the winning title will make it on a Lost Remote T-shirt. [...]
‘Everybody’s talking about MSNBC’
MSNBC is patting itself on the back with a new campaign that’s dominating ad positions on media sites like TVWeek and TVNewser. It shows quotes like, “MSNBC’s ratings are on a roll” (from the SF Chronicle) and ends with the exclamation, “Everybody’s talking about MSNBC.” Good for morale and generating some advertiser interest, [...]
Should websites be more like sitcoms?
A fascinating point from Rex over at Fimoculous:
We tend to think of websites on a scale similar to that of tv networks — large, permanent, liquid. But what if a better comparison were sitcoms — small, ephemeral, risky. Due to media hype, MySpace is perceived on a scale next to Fox (as AOL was to [...]
Nets ponder Saddam execution plans, news sites?
With the distinct possibility of Saddam Hussein’s execution appearing on Iraq TV, the broadcast and cable news networks are figuring out what they’ll do with the video. “We’re very aware that we’re coming into people’s living rooms and that there could be children watching,” CBS News senior VP Linda Mason said. While the [...]
GSN.com debuts Saddam Hussein game
That’s right, Saddam Hussein’s Hangman with the tagline, “A traditional game of hangman with a sick twist: you actually want to hang the man.” Says Game Show Network’s John Roberts, “If we are the network for games, we should be the website for games.”
CEO of video site Guba steps down
Last week two of three of Revver’s co-founders stepped down, and now Guba CEO Thomas McInerney is moving on. “The billion-dollar opportunity has kind of passed,” McInerney said, referring to YouTube. “Guba is at a crossroads, and we’re deciding whether to look for funding or to sell. I think we’re inclined to sell.” [...]
Cuban: YouTube is commercials and fake porn
If it’s not blatantly obvious already, Mark Cuban is not a YouTube fan. But in this case, I think he has a point. Cuban breaks down the list of the top 20 videos in December and discovers that most clips are commercials and fake porn. What’s fake porn, you ask? It’s [...]
Digg raises millions more funding
VentureWire reports Digg has raised another $8.5 million in funding from previous investors, Greylock Partners and the Omidyar Network, which is run by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar. “A lot of where this is going is increasing our development team and focusing on the features our users are telling us to add,” said Digg Chief [...]
Google testing online video ads
Earlier this year, Google rolled out click-to-play video ad units as part of its AdWords network (demo here). Now Google is testing in-stream video ads, a sort of video AdSense for content publishers. Here’s how it would work: Publishers upload video to Google Video, embed the players on their own sites and the [...]
‘Diamond.com’ was highest selling URL in 2006
You’d need a lot of diamonds to afford the rights to the diamond.com name. According to DNjournal, it sold for $7.5 million this past year, making it the highest amount paid for a URL in 2006. Vodka.com, which resolves to Russian Standard vokda’s site, sold for $3 million, (a heck of a lot of money [...]
CBS: No special report on Ford’s death
CBS did not break into its regular programming to announce the death of President Ford on Tuesday. The news came late on the East Coast and during prime time on the West Coast. CBS went with a crawl announcing the news rather than a full-on special report. ABC and NBC ran special reports. Katie Couric [...]
