That disclosure behind us, something a lot of people don’t know about me – I’ve been watching Glenn Beck every day for the last nine months (maybe longer).

I’ve always been open to varying opinions. In fact, I seek them out. This is not me on a journalism high-horse. It’s genuinely who I am. I don’t necessarily like arguing (I’m not a comment troller that goes around picking political fights) but I like to try and understand people and their motivating factors. I think there are two inspirations for this. As a kid I distinctly remember my father would occasionally turn to the the Christian channel and watch televangelists. Part of it was him mocking their style (proselytizing is not part of the Jewish culture and I think many are turned off by it) and part of it, I think, was just to expose himself and me to the fact that other people approach the world with radically different views. The second inspiration has been the idea of a bizarro Dave. I picture somebody my age, similar height, similar loving childhood, intelligent, etc, etc, etc. We are alike in so many ways except I grew up in Los Angeles and he grew up somewhere else. As a result, not only do we have a different view of the world and our Country, but we can’t even start to converse about the differences. There is no similar ground upon which to start. I want to meet bizarro Dave. I want to understand him and perhaps selfishly, I want him to understand me.

So that’s the inspiration behind watching Glenn Beck for the last year. When I confess this to some of my other media-elite, SF, communist bastard friends, they wonder what I’ve gleaned from it all. It’s one thing to watch some of his out-takes or Media Matter clips and judge, but it’s another to immerse yourself in the world of Beck. Some observations and thoughts below.

1. He isn’t dumb and he’s very charismatic.

Glenn Beck is not dumb. In fact, he’s articulate, he thinks on his feet and is very charismatic. To dismiss him as an idiot or to assume people caught under his spell are idiots is a disservice.

2. He can be very convincing.

I’d by lying if I didn’t say that a few times while watching Glenn Beck over the months my heart started to race and I thought it was time to invest in gold and build a panic plan for the oncoming American dollar apocalypse. Luckily, I also watch The Daily Show every day and it would help remind me part of what I’m watching is a show. An entertaining show the same way post-apocalyptic movies can be entertaining. It doesn’t mean I’m about to study Mad Max for advice on how to plan my future.

When people say that he can work up a frenzy and scare people – it’s true. If you let your critical thinking guard down, you’ll be shaking your fist at everyone who “just doesn’t see” what’s happening. In terms of a media diet, if all you watch is Glenn Beck, then you’ll be convinced America is a stone’s throw away from a third world country.

3. He believes it all.

People always ask me if I think Glenn Beck is lying or if he really believes what he’s saying.

Of course nobody can know another persons’ mind, but I think he genuinely believes everything he says. If it turns out the whole thing is an act, then he deserves an Oscar, Academy Award and a Grammy just for good measure.

4. It all make sense if…..

It’s a big if, but here’s what it comes down to: Religion. The “conspiracy theories” all make sense if (and for me it’s not an ‘if’ I accept) you are a fundamentalist Christian.

If you believe, in your heart of hearts (as I think Glenn does) that Jesus is the only path to a noble and saved life, there is a Satan and that earth is a battlefield for the two – then everything that is playing out on Glenn’s show makes perfect sense. More than anything I believe Beck is a televangelist turned political pundit.

In Beck’s worldview there is little room for shades of gray. We live in a world where there is pure good and pure evil. The teachers unions, Marxists/Anarchists, Soros, etc., are manifestations of evil. At best, most liberals (and union members) are sheep being duped.

This “tricked” factor plays very well into Christian folklore. Your average liberal is being tricked just as Eve was by the snake to eat that god-damned apple. Glenn sees himself as somebody trying to warn against the apple.

I think it is this classic Christian narrative that appeals to so many people. Much like Bush, Glenn speaks the language of fundamentalist Christians. Sometimes he does so overtly and other times it’s much more coded. Many (I’d argue most) of the ideological arguments Beck makes boil down to a religious foundation. If you share the same foundation, then it’s not hard to follow his train of thought on most issues.

5. Glenn Beck as manifestation – not cause

With this understanding of Beck, I’ve begun to regard him as more of a symptom or manifestation of a certain worldview – not its cause. He doesn’t cause hysteria, but he explains why a segment of our population feels panicked. Whether it’s the war on Christmas or the war on prayer in schools, Beck is able to hone in on these fears and represent them. Then he extrapolates out further showing the same ideological underpinning that makes one side attack prayer in school (liberal satanists) and the other side want to defend prayers in school (conservative’s saved by Jesus) and connects them to other issues. In the Middle East the communists, anarchists and radical Islam elements (re: heathens) have joined forces to topple the governments and now threaten Israel (fundamentalist Christians LOVE Israel).

The point is: Beck is very good at tapping into natural fears and exploiting them. I don’t think he is the genesis. (get it Gensis!)
Will I keep watching Beck?

Probably not. I became fascinated with him as a commentator and I wanted to give him more credit than just writing him off as a loony. That’s for MSNBC to do

Instead – I wanted to take the time to really uncover just what it is that he represents. What cultural barrier was it that he was taping into. I feel I’ve come to my own understanding. And just in time for him to leave Fox.

The best explanation can be found in the video below which also has the instructions on how the Carnival of Journalism will continue as I pass the reigns to other hosts. For those that prefer text, keep on reading (but you’ll miss all the jokes I inserted into the video).

When: May 5th at 12pm PST.

Where: Publish on your blog

What: A failure in your life (personal or professional) that has lessons. It must be your failure and you must take responsibility. But this will be a safe space to discuss our failings and what we can learn from them.

The Details

We talk about ‘failure’ a lot in the online journalism community. It can be a bit of a buzzword. “Let’s fail early and fail often” is a motto I personally have adopted.

But the true value of failing is if we can share the lessons learned. We probably do this all the time without knowing it – but rather than try to condense our lessons into 140 characters, let’s create a safe space this month to discuss a failure that others can learn from.

Three rules

1. It must be a project you worked on. Let’s not turn this into a space to point fingers and lay blame on anyone but ourselves.
2. It must be your failing within that project (see above)
3. No apologizing. This is a safe space to discuss failure. In fact, I want there to be a fight at the end for the biggest failure of the lot. That person should be cheered for their honesty, insights and perhaps attempting something that none of us had the cojones to try.

This month’s Carnival of Journalism is in part inspired by Ethan Zuckerman who once discussed “Fail Camp” with me as a great platform to share lessons.

Look, none of us are perfect. Nobody expects everything we do to turn into Pulitzer investigations or multi-billion revenue streams. Everyone fails a little every day and occasionally we fail really big. The question is if we can fail well. One way to accomplish this, I believe, is if we share the failure, get it off our chest and help others avoid it in the future.

So with that – please join me for the Carnival of Fail, the failfest, failapalooza, all you need is fail. #jfail. Have fun with it.

Future Carnival of Journalism Hosts

Hopefully by now we all have a sense of how the Carnival of Journalism works. There is a host. Their job is to come up with an interesting topic and a date everyone will publish on their personal blogs. Everyone sends a link of their post to the host and the host then does a summary of what everyone said and tries to find next month’s host. Along the way – bloggers meet new bloggers, ideas are shared and the community of bloggers feels strengthened and empowered.

I’ve hosted the first four months to get things going.

But this is not a company. There is no ownership. It lives and dies if people take stewardship of it.

So email me: david AT spot DOT us if you want to host next month and let me know what topic you’d like to propose to the group. If you aren’t chosen – have no fear, you can email next month’s host with the same topic. Then both myself and the next host will choose the third month’s host. Following that the three ex-hosters will pick the fourth host. And so on and so forth until we’ve come full circle to 12 hosts.

If that happens…. well. Wow. That would really be a testament to everyone involved and how committed you are to discussing the future of media. We will then wipe the slate clean and start again with a new host. I’ll gladly do a Mardi Gras video #mardiGrasOfJournalism post.

I look forward to this and future Carnvial’s and I want to thank everyone for their time and energy. This has been a truly exciting endeavor and one that I hope continues well into the future.

Without trying to add to the preamble – This exercise (which will continue in February) is truly inspiring, humbling and I believe a great way for us to mingle with colleagues. Future hosts might not be able to summarize EVER post. But for this first few – I will attempt to try.

Let the Carnival Begin!

Yin: I’d like to start by highlighting Brian Boyer‘s post as a benediction. What happens in a sci-fi future. “What is media literacy in that world? What does journalism become, when everything is ephemeral, when the Tweets wash over your mind, neighbor to your own thoughts?”

Yang: Contrast this with Chris Wink from Technically Media. You’d be hard pressed to find somebody who loves Philadelphia as much as this guy and it shows in his post which tries to imagine what Temple University would look like now if it took on the mantle of being an information hub in its communities today.

Re-Yin: Matt Thompson, who has a voice of gold, points to an interesting future where education itself is revolutionized through the “Wikiversity.” This provides fertile ground upon which college courses can include the community in a two way mutually beneficial relationship. Josh Braun, my old Seed Magazine cohort, brings up similar issues and wonders how this future where online education takes hold might divert University attention to national communities of interest.

Re:Yang: If you’re ever in a Jon Stewart rally Andrew Pergam is a great guide through the crowd. If you want to imagine a world where universities leverage their brick and mortar space in collaboration with newspapers read Andrew’s post. “It all seems so logical: If you want to connect with your neighbors, invite them over.” Megan Taylor chimes in here as well – suggesting that certain courses be open to the community of non-students.

——

Yin: Jessica Partnow from Common Language Project gives us the history of her foray into academia as a startup nonprofit adopted by the University of Washington. “And, many meetings and classroom visits and a yearlong trial period later, the CLP’s three cofounders became full-time employees of the University of Washington in September 2010. A year and a half into our partnership, we’re finding a balance that we think could become a model for partnerships between journalists and universities all over the country.”

Yang: Dan Sinker, who I pray has not shaved his beard, gives us a candid look inside the academy from somebody who worked for 13 years at a punk magazine and is now an assistant professor. The post is filled with interesting tidbits including “things are awesome when they’re complicated. And right now, few things are as complicated as being a journalism student.”

Yin: The ever fun Kim Bui from KPCC explains her dive into journalism via the student newsroom. Her post echoes parts of Dan’s in its “best of times worst of times” assessment of curriculum. “I feel for students these days. But I also know that those requests for more knowledge come from this: We need journalists with a sense of experimentation.”

Both Chris O’brien, my virtual neighbor on Farmville, and Adam Tinworth share positive feelings about the position students find themselves in provided that universities become/remain safe heaven for students to try new things and, to be blunt, screw up from time to time.

Student Views

The indefatigable and recently graduated Suzanne Yada had a blossoming of links that give us the students view of j-school in her first post. In her second post (over-achiever) she creates a scenario for how a university program could become its own publisher.

Picking up where Suzanne left off: Lauren ‘future designer of all things cool’ Rabaino started with two questions: ‘Why’ and ‘How’ do universities play a role in our community? In a thought experiment she examined how university information was disseminated before (academic studies, journals) and how it is spread today – directly. “Everyone can find a way to give back to the community in more ways than just publishing information…..The big challenge comes in getting universities to change the way they’ve always shared information. There needs to be incentivization.”

Much like Lauren – Daniel ‘better hire me later in life’ Bachhuber started with the Why and How of universities role. This was a great post – the first four graphs are insight wrapped in clarity. This is followed by sharing specifics and learnings from the much talked about Local East Village NYU journalism project. p.s. Seriously dude, hire me when you’re basically in charge of it all.

Natalie Yemenidjian writes a no holds barred assessment of what you can get from a journalism student and tells her own true story.

Mai Hoang gives honest regrets about her student experience and some recommendations for how programs can institutionally address where it seems she got the short end of the stick. She also points to her experience with Open Journalism and the Open Web, perhaps fitting into Matt Thompson’s post earlier.

From the Professors

While on the opposite side of the academic fence (recent professor) Seth Lewis uses almost the same words as Suzanne Yada, “Create opportunities for students to fail – in a good way.” And that was just one of two direct recommendations Seth makes in his post.

Chris Anderson, also the recent professor, contributed by un-earthing a post he wrote in 2009. Two funny things stand out about this. First: Everything still holds water. Second: I commented on it back then!

Personal hero Steve Fox (at night he fights crime under the name “The Silver Fox”) focuses on media speed advocating for a slow accurate news. As his old boss said “I would rather be second and right than first and wrong.”

Meanwhile Alfred Hermida, if memory serves was an original Carnival-blogger, gave us a view of teaching from the University of British Columbia. Go Canada!

Reading Andy Dickinson always made me smile. It’s probably the delightful British accent (in my mind). This month’s topic set his mind racing, dreaming up an ideal scenario for his students and pacing back and forth about the realities of media literacy training, the benefits, who it’s for and more.

Carrie Brown-Smith has a litany of fantastic to the point recommendations. My personal favorite “consider making riskier hires of younger and digital-savvy folks with big ideas…”

While we often focus on the general big ideas Mark Berkey-Gerard wrote a post that brings to light many of the barriers in between ideas for student journalism and reality. Journalism students need room to make mistakes but the public deserves great reporting the first time around. How can we mitigate these?

Related – Charlie Beckett, a name that I love as it rolls off your tongue, shared a cautious view about the state of media literacy and the barriers that exist to achieving it. “This is not a counsel of despair or pessimism….I agree with the Knight Foundation that we should “integrate digital and media literacy as critical elements for education at all levels through collaboration among federal, state, and local education officials.” But if we do so then it has to be more than programming night schools and lap tops in elementary classrooms.”

Nicole Blanchett Neheli a professor in highlights a program in Dublin called “FOMACS” which she says can be an integral resource for a community. Perhaps it’s a program that has flow under the larger journo-education radar?

Lyn Headley who has to suffer the weather in San Diego shares some insight into the impracticality of academics but how it meets/creates and can even deflate a tension with the uber practicality of journalism.

Jack Rosenberry shares his plans to start the first community-facing student-led journalism work in his community at the University of Rochester. Good luck Jack! Hopefully some of the other posts will help your thinking.

Donica Mensing sees “journalism faculty and students acting as facilitators, connecting communities of particular needs with appropriate faculty and students in the university. In the process, greater two-way information flow will foster more applied and more relevant research and teaching.”

The outlier views

Always the positive contrarian Conor White Sullivan seems to be suggesting that the mission of universities has changed in response to how we view “learning” and what people go to college for. Tuition paying students want: a Network, a coming of age tradition, accreditation, external pressure (get outta your mom’s house) and curriculum. This leaves little room for serving a community. Ideas are shared on what it could look like, but again it requires a re-think of what we call ‘education’ if it’s to serve the broader community.

Related Lisa ‘I quote her too often’ Williams hones right in on the money of universities and frankly – how much of it they have. They’re sheltered from some economic realities. Just like Spiderman; with great power comes great responsibility.

Matt Bernius writes a brief meditation on what Anthropologists can do to increase journalistic activities. As a self-proclaimed “non-journalist” this is an IMPORTANT post for us to look at closely if we expect other disciplines to take up journalistic mantles.

Ying: Fellow Columbia J-school alum Vadmin Lavrusik made a specific recommendation that I conquer with, journalism schools should partner with real world practitioners to give journalism students real experience.

Yang: Eliot Caroom takes the Yang side of student/professional collaborations pointing to various barriers or pitfalls when you partner a university journalism program with a private outside partner.

Sally Duros wins the ‘most reported out’ blog post award. Her contribution includes several quotes from a professor at DePaul University on how growth and change is sometimes stunted within academic institution.

Jack Lail, who I met via the first COJ, shares an historical tid-bit about how in 1994 the University of Tennessee helped play an informing role for the community creating something called KORRnet (which sounds awesomely T-2ish. I’m glad it didn’t become self-aware).

If you feel like you want some visual elements check out Paul Bradshaw’s post which includes a video and slideshow. I particularly liked the section on “community isn’t post code.”

Juana Summers post doesn’t talk about universities because, as she argues, at that point it’s too late. Instead – she hones in on what is possible and should be taught re: media literacy in high-school.

Also focusing on media literacy Will Sullivan, my housemate extraordinaire, pointed to Stonybrook as a leading pioneer in the space. He also offered me a Red Bull to keep me up so I could do this wrap-up.

Finally: Several posts including one from Jason Barnett, Jake Dobkin, Ellyn Angelotti, Victoria Baranetsky and Anneke Toomey were collected in this “confetti” post.

Ryan Sholin, now twice a father (correct?) writes about Santa Cruz. “What happens when thousands of undergraduates looking for a good time seasonally invade a small California town with its ethos firmly planted in 1968 and its economy floating unabated in the real estate bubble of 2004-2007? Find out on the next episode of “Keep Santa Cruz Weird.”

—–

How fitting…. from their lives.

It’s no surprise that our Canadian friend Craig Silverman focused on a specific aspect of news literacy; bullshit detection. It’s a great read and spot on. “Bullshit, you see, is everywhere.” He finishes with two concrete suggestions – make bullshit literacy (echem… media literacy) a core course for university students and make fact-checking a core component of journalism courses. If you find an error in Craig’s post you win 10 journo-points.

Michael MuckRock Morisey cuts right to the chase with four specific recommendations including a cut of potential intern-ponzi schemes (something that I think is on everyone’s mind) to letting researchers blog directly or even share primary documents.

From Andre Natta a nugget at the end of his post which caught my eye: “The university may just become one of the most trusted voices in the community as the number of outlets continues to rise….”

Harking on this same thought Denise Cheng, who has a smile to light up the room, asks “who are you serving” when it comes to larger universities. Not be outdone her SECOND post focuses on the role of the college newspaper, how it can help serve those communities as well as the students. Take a moment and recall your college newspaper then read Denise’ piece. Makes me nostalgic #journo-nerd.

Steve Outing focuses on the innovation call for univiersities, a fitting call for him to make with his first hand experience running the  Digital Media Test Kitchen at Boulder. Also chiming in for innovation is Hans K. Meyer. “I remember the lessons from MyMissourian and Dr. Clyde Bentley: Universities need to push the journalism envelope when the industry cannot.”

Jacob Caggiano points to some of the interesting work being done in Washington (and also points to Jessica’s Common Language Project). Breaking down Knight Foundation’s specific recommendations we see how a few programs coming from The University of Washington are hitting some of them square on the head.

Michelle Minkoff’s data-driven philosophy might be the cornerstone of the preamble to her post which imagines journalism students not focusing on breaking news but in-depth explainer pieces. It could tie in nicely with both Steve Fox’s and Mark Berkey-Gerard’s questions about where student journalism can go wrong. “But data doesn’t just mean numbers. It’s the solid facts behind what makes a system work.”

Using her little brother as an anecdote Erica Zucco hits home and puts into perspective changes in the media environment children inhabit. Not to be an old grouch, but to point out just want media literacy entails now. I love the HAKAS reference!

Jen Reeves, who has more energy than most, writes about the blessings and curse of working in a newsroom. Again with great power as a journalism teacher comes the responsibility.

Do you regret the error?

Few things in life are as certain as death and taxes. One thing that is also guaranteed, there will be errors in journalism. Nobody is perfect. The future of journalism won’t be error free, but it will have a different attitude to how corrections are caught, fixed and dealt with. Some of those changes we have already observed, newspapers popularized the strikethrough, blogs popularized the strikethrough, but the changes are ongoing.

Nobody has given more thought to the future of errors than Craig Silverman. He literally wrote the book on errors.

What is the future of correcting errors? What barriers does the journalism community have to get to that future? Craig gives us his vision.

#wjchat – When Journalists converge

At ONA I had a chance to hang out with my friend Robert Hernandez. Robert made a splash this year at ONA when he asked if Patch was evil. This year, however, Robert has made a splash in the journalism Twittersphere when he co-created #WJChat, a weekly Twitter conversation with rotating hosts to discuss important issues of the week. The chats are every Wednesdays at 5 p.m. PDT. All you need is a Twitter account and to follow the hashtag #wjchat.

Here’s Robert explaining what wjchat is and how it came up out of nowhere to become a vibrant conversation.

If you’re starting a news business – what pain are you solving?

Mark is working on his latest book which is about entrepreneurial journalism. In a quick discussion at ONA Mark discussed some of the broad ideas in his book. This includes the influence of technology and Silicon Valley on news startups, such as the acceptance of failure and experimentation.

Another important point that Mark touched on was asking what the value of your startup is. This is something I harked on at my personal blog “I love journalism, but if you’re a new media startup your value proposition is NOT “saving journalism” – that is meta and only journos care.

As Mark put it.

“The key is, especially for journalists that have never had to think entrepneurial before, is to focus on what the consumer needs, what pain are you solving?…. You see a lot of journalism startups that are really abou trying to recreate the old jobs journalists had and that’s great, but it’s not the world we live in. You need to focus on what consumers want and what solution I can bring that will solve this pain….”

But you don’t have to take my word for it.

What pain are you solving?

What Should J-schools Teach?

I was in the “New Media” track at Columbia’s J-school. As a student I was immersed in and became accustomed to the “new media skill set.” I learned video, photography/photoshop, flash, html, etc.

What was touched upon only briefly, however, was the “new media mind set” which is a fundamentally different thing. This is learning to relinquish control to the audience, becoming a story-enabler instead of a story-teller, etc.

The term that this “mind set” is most associated with is “social media.” I was very excited to find out that Columbia hired Vadim Lavrusik to teach a class in social media.

There are certain journalism institutions that have nothing to fear in the current age. University programs are a perfect example because they are sheltered from economic realities (to some extent). As a result I argue they have a responsibility to pursue and push into new boundaries. But don’t take my word for it – here’s Vadim.

The Arc of a Journalism Career

I often say that if I were born 30 years earlier the arc of my career would have been drastically different. At 28 I would hopefully have graduated from a cub reporting beat, maybe covering the cops, to some other topic. My aim would be to win awards for my organization with the hope of becoming middle or upper management.

As luck would have it, and I do consider it luck, I’ve been in charge of my own career. I started out as a cub reporter covering technology and instead of staying on that route – I’ve created my own organization. The upside, I am my own boss. The downside – all responsibility and stress falls on my shoulders.

As Mavis Staples would say “I am not alone.” More and more young journalists are taking this path. In part because becoming your own boss is just as uncertain as a “normal” career path. But also because where there is chaos there is opportunity.

Meet Dan OShinsky, one of many other young entrepreneurs. Without putting words in his mouth – we are making it up as we go along. It’s like jumping out of a plane and making the parachute on your way down.  Dan’s project stry.Us not only continues the bad precedent of .us (you’re welcome) but seeks to reinvent the model by which reporters syndicate their work. He joins the ranks of Spot.Us. Emphas.is, eByline, and a host of others that are questioning the relationship between freelancer, news organization and the public. But don’t take my word for it……

The Past and Future of Public Insight Network

Publish Insight Network, from American Public Media, will be eight years old this January. In web terminology – that makes it ancient. Before Twitter, before “crowdsourcing” was a word, before “the year of the blog” and more.

So what is it, how is it still relevant and where will it go?

And finally: NewsCred.

I have  been a fan of NewsCred since the start and friends with co-founder Shafqat online. We finally met (after what feels like three years) in person last month. What Shafqat talked about is his first hand experience running a startup which includes understanding and managing “pivots.”

First: Perhaps you’ve heard of South By Southwest, a festival that I lovingly refer to as “spring break for the Internet.”

This year I’m on the advisory board for the SXSW Accelerator. Why, you ask? Because this year they are looking for, among other things, news related startups.

News Related Technologies – This category pertains to applications and technologies to support the dissemination of news and information for communities, both on the content side or on the underlying business model side (an example is advertising). This could include technologies related to data, text, documents, mapping, engagement, among other areas.

If you’ve never been to SXSW I highly recommend it. Leave your suit at home – this is not a “conference” in the traditional sense. It’s a who’s who in the technology and venture capital space. Getting a chance to demo an idea there could be huge for any startup. The rope is there – now you have to tug. Learn how to apply.

Community-Funded Reporting Spreads

Check out GoJournalism.ca. It’s for all you Canadians – eh.

It is the second international site to use our code. The first – YouCommNews.com is Australian.

There is also SpotUs.It and YouCapital.It, and the soon to launch Emphas.is. While these sites don’t use our code base – they are very similar in concept. For that, I welcome them with open arms. When I first launched Spot.Us the idea was a foreign concept. Having competition is a GOOD thing. It’s a big validation of the concept and the work we’ve done at Spot.Us.

My only regret so far is the name “Spot Us” which, as apparent in the last three examples, may have started a bad trend in website names that double as puns. My bad

Related Posts

Finally: A post I published at the Reynolds Journalism Institute blog on the “Newsroom Efficiency Index.” I may republish it in full on Digidave soon. It’s just a little experiment in my thinking about how news organizations can scale up by figuring out how to scale down first.

Tomorrow on the RJI blog I will probably write about how to “Keep your head down” when building a startup. That I will def. repost here soon, as I believe it is a valuable lesson that I can only take away after having been in the game now for two years.

Alas – this euphoric feeling always comes when I’m away from a computer (often in transit via Bart or my car). So for now – a link post.

But stay tuned – epic blogging will commence shortly. When I have my choice between pushing forward on Spot.Us or doing a blog post for my personal blog – Spot.Us wins every time. I’m hope everyone understands.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. Why not have it with us?
Does your newsorg do this?

Innovative Individuals: Richard Koci Hernandez
Richard Koci Hernandez goes again after the unconventional and amazing. Best interview ever!

Publish2 Aims to Oust the Associated Press
I’m an advisor to Publish2.com and using it to create this link post.

MediaWatch Monday: Journalists Won’t Report News Unless It Can Drive Page Views

Scary and…. true. Read to the end: “Journalists will increasingly be tempted to work with those agencies that help them drive page views. Luckily, PR companies haven’t figured out how to reliably drive traffic to a specific story beyond submitting it to Digg, etc. But that will change.”

• Leonard Witt’s blog got re-activated again. Keep an eye out here for what I think will be some exciting projects.

• Why journalists should learn computer programming. A question I asked myself about three years ago. I found the title of this post provocative since it wasn’t a question “Should journalists learn” but a statement “Why they should…” In the end I might actually disagree. I think all journalists should know how to work with programmers – but not necessarily be the programmers themselves.

• Save the News: Looks at the recent FTC draft of their intervention in journalism. As does boss Jarvis. I myself haven’t had time to really dig into it – but skimming it does make my chest tighten up.

• Will old media embrace the link? Thoughts about Danny Sullivan’s tale about a Search Engine Land story that got ripped without credit by mainstream media.

That said – I will occasionally ask for favors back. When Seth presented the result of his dissertation at the International Symposium in Austin I was blown away. Partly because it felt as though he was reading my mind (particularly from slide #6 and on). So I asked Seth for his slides. He one-upped me by adding audio to it – so I don’t have to describe a thing. Awesome. Also see his blog post.

Search, Monetize and Fact Check YouTube Transcripts with Speakertext
readwriteweb.com
My buddy Matt Miriles launched his startup. Me and Matt have late night startup chats. Was happy to tip ReadWriteWeb to the launch of his project. You’ve probably never heard of Matt Mireles and Bjorn Liljequist but with a $4000 dollar budget and an engineering team paid in iPhones, the two already have Meebo founder Seth Sternberg as their advisor and praise from VC Fred Wilson. The duo’s filtering service Speakertext will launch at tomorrow’s New York Tech Meetup and the concept is a simple one – to make video interesting.

Powerless point
whyy.org
I was at a conference recently back when a young man got up and said something liberating. He explained he was going to take the radical step of simply speaking to the audience, rather than subjecting them to a projected display of dancing bullet points. “Power corrupts,” he said, “but PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.” (I was that young man!)

The really funny part: I started my talk with that line and then proceeded to my PowerPoint. I did, however, rush through it to get to the Q&A part – which is why I use that joke, because I want people to know why I’m speeding through my presentation.

David Cohn in an Interview

YouTube
Boonsri Dickinson talks to David Cohn at Spot.Us about community funded journalism

Interview With David Cohn of Spot.Us
techstartups.com
The part of the conversation I didn’t record touched me the most. Cohn understands the hustle a freelance journalist must go through. I know exactly what he means. I feel the hustle every single day.

The Search for a New Revenue Model in Journalism
PBS Mediashift
I take a look at the notion that perhaps there is no solid revenue stream for the future of journalism.

From the Detroit Daily Press owner
The Royal Oak-based Press was on pace to lose more than $1 million in less than two months if things continued at the current pace, Stern said. He said he was prepared to float losses for some time, but not at that rate.

PayMeNow, ChargeMeLater
A staggering concept. Here’s how it works: On the left are the number of days you have to wait to get paid, on the right is the portion Time Warner will skim off the top for the service.

Texas newspapers team up for election polling
Texas’ top five newspapers announced today an unprecedented partnership on campaign polling for the 2010 elections. Joining forces for the first time on a project of this scope, the Austin American-Statesman, the Dallas Morning News, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Houston Chronicle, and San Antonio Express-News will produce a series of joint polls, kicking off before the March primaries, which will include races for governor and other statewide offices.

No annonymous comments at VOSD
There’s a basic idea behind all of these changes: We’re working hard to create an intelligent, creative and constructive conversation on San Diego’s most pressing issues. We want to provide as many venues as possible for that conversation.

How Programmer/Journalists Craft Their Own Study Programs | PBS
A first round draft pick of young journalists.

Thinking about a paywall? Read this first
If you’re thinking about charging for content, this high-quality infographic could save you from making a big mistake:

The man who may supersize non-profit news
David S. Bennahum may be able to do for non-profit journalism what Ray Kroc did for hamburgers, making him well worth watching as the hunt continues for ways to fill the journalistic void left by the meltdown of the traditional media.

Ad guys in newsroom may not be so bad
If management at the Morning News is sufficiently enlightened and disciplined to prevent the self-defeating corruption of the paper’s coverage, then maybe – just maybe – this bold experiment could be the beginning of a new kind of collaboration to create fresh and refreshing new products to reinvigorate revenues and readership. Maybe.

Next-gen journalists creating the future today
The challenge – and the revolution – is bringing that additional access and information to average citizens in a local democracy. Independent journalism startups, powered by people whose paychecks used to come from mainstream media companies, are one form that will bridge that gap. But another, possibly more exciting, form is taking shape in the student-powered projects that are popping up all over.