I’ve been experimenting with a variety of strategies regarding media devices and so-called social networking media like blogging, youtube, facebook, myspace, UWIRE, twitter, Current TV, et. al., so that, one, my classroom instruction, and two, my professional interests/goals, can try to keep up with the burgeoning technological advances in communication, i.e., the dissemination of news and news-like information.
I’ve been doing this as D:F/M gurus seem committed to D:F/M being as far behind innovation and creativity as an academic department can be during these robust times. I also have been experimenting with new forms of news-narrative-storytelling, such as in my feature writing class for the last few semesters (though the course should be named in-depth reporting or something even more imaginative).
So, my interests plus my experimentation, even though I consider myself a new media novice, have encouraged me to make what I consider informed comments, such as, for example, about the mainstream news media’s recent explosive interests in the social networking media that have been streaming images of the Iran crisis into the world’s collective news conscious because the regular mainstream corporate news apparati have been stymied and thwarted by the Iranian Powers That Be.
I believe everyone should remember that the mainstream news media have been cutting back for years on its overseas bureaus in order to save money for its money making enterprises (like entertainment), essentially suborning American journalism. That might sound harsh but others (here and here and here just a few) have expressed the undermining of journalism essentially by the profit imperative of corporate America.
I think viewers of CNN and others interested in staying on top of what’s going on over there should email CNN, et. al., questions like, QMfE, “So, are you planning to reopeon or beef up your news bureaus in the trouble spots of the world or continue to rely on amateurs.” This thought needs development, and I’m working on it.
Nevertheless, much of my monitoring of CNN has been tapering off because much of the discourse over the past days has been boring and repetitive: Talking heads talking about images over and over again even though many of the images seem old by news standards. So, I plan to comment. Here is my first.
CNN producers at some point (I’m speculating) decided that the ennui was about to set in and so started bringing in informed guests to improve upon what they various anchors were doing since the cable network was able to deliver real news. So, just one day ago, I saw Sreenath Sreenivasan and Clay Shirky, the latter who use to teach in D:F/M (via the former D:F/M chair Stuart Ewen’ who was promoting the department’s fledging Internet attempts as ready to compete with the likes of NYU and Columbia and the New School as many were anticipating the Internet boondoggle (bringing to mind those images of the old California gold rush days) — until the dot-com bubble crashed and burned.
So: I rate Sreenivasan’s appearance (he’s AKA Sree): ***** out of five even though the CNN show seemed shaky. I rate Shirky * out of five.
That’s it for now. But I’m working on “it.”
– The WORD: http://hunterword.com
– Its blog: https://blog.hunterword.com/
– http://www.youtube.com/user/thehunterword
– http://www.facebook.com/people/Hunter-Word/766173277
– The WORD is an UWIRE.com Affiliate
– Current TV: “theWORDonline”
– Twitter
– The WORD at the 2009 Presidential Inauguration
– The WORD at 2008 Democratic National Convention
P.S.
Now, it’s true that Shirky and I clashed what seems a millennium ago over, of course, the WORD as it was growing and gaining strength and there are some who may insist that, therefore, I can’t be objective in my evaluations. But I say this: My personal and professional experiences and accomplishments in D:F/M have heightened incredibly my acumen about the Academy and journalism education and journalism. There was this heavy promotion that the department, as mentioned earlier, was ready to rock and roll in the dot.com rush yet the WORD (founded by this instructor and several students serious about journalism as well as funded by the College) was the only D:F/M project demonstrating Internet potential so, of course, there were attempts, vile, just as in the California gold rush days, of opportunism and carpetbaging, trying to rip off, so to speak, the true gold prospecting of true innovative adventurers (including students).
Tags: Clay Shirky, CNN, Current TV, D:F/M, facebook, myspace, social networking media, Sreenath Sreenivasan, Stuart Ewen, twitter, UWIRE, Youtube