When Old Media Buys a Community

MSNBC, owned by MSN and NBC, has bought Newsvine, a sort of citizen journalism, blogging and news-sharing site. But who stands to lose from the deal, and what does it tell us about the equity of Web 2.0? One commenter on the page that announces the news hits the nail firmly on the head: In … Read more

The Real, Sad Lesson of Burma 2007

Reuters I fear another myth is in the offing: that Burma’s brief uprising last month was a tipping point in citizen journalism. Take this from Seth Mydans’ (an excellent journalist, by the way; I’m just choosing his piece because it’s in front of me) article in today’s IHT: “For those of us who study the … Read more

The Future of News

This is the latest despatch from Loose Wire Service, a sister service to this blog that provides newspapers and other print publications with a weekly column by yours truly. Rates are reasonable: Email me if you’re interested. Jeremy Wagstaff discusses how the Internet has redefined journalism and the emergence of “hyperlocal” news The Jakarta Post … Read more

When a Country Goes Dark

Ministers’ homes at the new capital, Pyinmana Burma has shown us that we’re not as clever, or free, as we thought we are. It’s a sign of how the Burmese generals don’t really understand things that it took them so long to cut off the Internet: Reporters without Borders and the Burma Media Association reported … Read more

Beginning of the End of TV as We Know It?

Noddy does a noddy shot (photo from five.tv) The Guardian reports that Alan Yentob, the BBC’s creative director, has performed “noddy shots” on TV interviews that he did not personally conduct for his arts series Imagine. Noddy shots, in case you don’t know, are those silly cutaways to the interviewer reacting, or not reacting, to … Read more