You’ll recall the Guild staffers at Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News came very close to going on strike late last year. They had even set up a website they were going to use so they could still report. Well, the sides settled, but it appears the web bug has caught hold. The old strategy of making everyone go to Philly.com appears to be giving way to custom sites with custom URLs. Want a car in Philadelphia? Go to PhillyCars.com. PhillyForRent.com and PhillyForSale.com take care of the housing ads for you. NOW they’re starting to think programming instead of the giant umbrella. It’s a lot easier for me to remember PhillyCars.com than philly.com/sections/transportation/automotive/. (Not their old URL, but an example we all know too well.) Still, all is not well at the Inquirer: about 70 employees lost their jobs this month.
There are still too many news sites out there with the exhortation to “Make Us Your Homepage.” No. My homepage is Google Reader. I aggregate hundreds of headlines from around the world, catered to my own interests. I get far more information about the world than I could from your site. I’m used to scanning headlines to pick out stories that interest me. It’s much easier than trying to wade through any news site. Instead of the “Make Us Your Homepage” strategy, you should offer to be a part of my homepage. Earn a few pixels of my attention. Earn the right to my subscription. You won’t do it with car accidents and house fires, so you better have some damn good custom options. You may win me over with a good RSS reader that is catered to my local tastes, too. I’d download it if it truly reflected my interests. Your site is on the right track if you can answer this question, truthfully, to yourself: Would I subscribe to my own RSS feed?
Intrepid reporter Steve Bryant at eWeek has found out that Fox has subpoenaed YouTube in hopes of uncovering the identities of a user who uploaded episodes of “24″ and “The Simpsons.” The subpoena identifies the crafty criminal as “ECOtotal,” and seeks that person’s real name. You knew Fox was gonna get p.o.’d when those episodes of “24″ sneaked onto the web. That the shows did terrific ratings in spite of (or because of) the leak doesn’t seem to matter. This is Fox’s second scrape-up with YT this week. Cory reported earlier that Fox ordered YT to remove the clips of Paula Abdul appearing to be intoxicated while interviewed on morning news programs.
New LA Times Editor James E. O’Shea unveiled a major web initiative on the heels of a report conducted by the paper’s own journalists that found the newsroom to be “web stupid.” Among the findings of the report: lack of leadership, too few web employees (18), slow response time by Tribune Interactive to their needs and “creaky” technology. O’Shea told the newsroom that they should view the web as the primary vehicle for news, and that an increased emphasis on the web will happen without extra funding. “We will need to divert some resources to this effort at a time when no one is going to give us any more resources,” O’Shea said. “If anything, we might be looking at less.” Great points all around, and not just for newspapers.
For the first time, bloggers are reporting from a major court trial thanks to the efforts of Robert Cox, the founder of the Media Bloggers Association. (Disclosure: I am on the board.) Bob has spent much of the past year working within the system to get accreditation for bloggers at major news events. The Scooter Libby trial is the first big test. The MBA has set up ScooterLibbyTrial.com to aggregate its coverage. The MBA is partnering with the Associated Press to distribute its reports. Here’s a CNN report on the bloggers at the trial:
Both SNL and MadTV sent up the Steve Jobs iPhone speech. SNL went with a dead-on parody of Jobs, while MadTV’s take pokes fun at the often evangelical feel at a MacWorld conference. The SNL one is a bit funnier, but the MadTV skit is decidedly more biting. So it gets the embed:
So last night, I’m watching the State of the Union, which is arguably the Superbowl of Washington press events, and I was absolutely blown away that more Web sites weren’t blowing out their coverage. Given that The Politico launched on the day of the speech with much advance buzz about being synergistic and reverse publishing and all that, there was absolutely nothing going on at their site. No forums, no live blog, nothing. But they weren’t alone. I breezed around and also peeked in at Slate and Salon among a few other sites and found the lights on and no one home. WaPost politics led with Howard Hunt’s obit. C’mon Webheads, when it is go time and the whole dial is focused on a single event, you have to be there too. Rant after the jump…
The Gannett station wants users to shoot, edit and upload their own spots to promote the station. “How would you tell people what 9NEWS NOW is all about? Get crazy!” reads WUSA9.com. But not too crazy, of course. The promos “must have a positive message” and avoid slamming competing stations. And to get around music rights issues, anyone submitting a spot must pick from a list of pre-approved tracks posted on the site. Nifty. The winning spot will air on the station.
Last night, Fox News asked viewers to use their cell phones to vote whether President Bush did an excellent, average or poor job with the State of the Union speech. Fox received 90,000 text messages with, ahem, 85 percent voting “excellent.” TVNewser reports that similar text voting may become a regular feature on Hannity & Colmes.
A new development in the continuing saga of Paula Abdul’s intoxicated appearance on KCPQ-TV’s morning show earlier this month here in Seattle. RedHerring reports that Fox ordered YouTube to remove the clips, although a quick breeze through YouTube reveals plenty of the clips still up and running — one has over 2 million views. I have to ask, can Fox order the removal of clips it doesn’t technically own? KCPQ is a Fox affiliate that’s owned by Tribune, not Fox Broadcasting. I imagine Fox would argue that it owns the satellite interview portion of the video. And that’s probably the same argument it used to ask KCPQ to pull the clip off its website shortly after it aired (KCPQ complied for few days). “What Fox runs the risk of is using copyright law as a form of censorship,” said Van Baker, an analyst at Gartner Media Service, of Fox’s order to YouTube. (Full disclosure: I work for KING-TV, a competitor to KCPQ-TV.)
The cable TV channel is launching a social networking site called Oomph.net, “a destination for women to unite online and connect through shared interests.” Oxygen is also launching an online video site, SheDidWhat.tv, which will combine repurposed clips from TV along with original video. Press release after the screen grab…
Nielsen found that streaming primetime shows on the internet reaches a younger, more affluent demographic and ultimately does not cannibalize TV viewing. Gee, really?
You’ll recall the Guild staffers at Philadelphia Inquirer and the Daily News came very close to going on strike late last year. They had even set up a website they were going to use so they could still report. Well, the sides settled, but it appears the web bug has caught hold. The old strategy of making everyone go to Philly.com appears to be giving way to custom sites with custom URLs. Want a car in Philadelphia? Go to PhillyCars.com. PhillyForRent.com and PhillyForSale.com take care of the housing ads for you. NOW they’re starting to think programming instead of the giant umbrella. It’s a lot easier for me to remember PhillyCars.com than philly.com/sections/transportation/automotive/. (Not their old URL, but an example we all know too well.) Still, all is not well at the Inquirer: about 70 employees lost their jobs this month.
Intrepid reporter 
