Wash. Post worries about reporter/reader dialogue

Washington Post management sent a memo to its reporters regarding social media/twitter, saying (if I can understand the memo) they should "embrace social media [to] increase audience engagement with Post content" without answering reader criticism in any way it might go public. (Mashable.com published the memo in an article -- with interesting reader comments.)

Sports blogosphere ruining sports journalism?

Screechy 2008 debate between traditional sports newspaper journalist Buzz Bissinger and editor Will Leitch of the popular, sometimes raunchy sports blog/website: Deadspin.com. (H/t to Mead L.) I just went on Deadspin and saw this at the top of homepage: "Watch The Giants' Championship Parade...Watch it here, but beware of Commies, pinkos, gays, dopeheads and Brian Wilsons." How edgy.

Is "Gasland" a country we live in...

...yet rarely see reflected in US corporate media? Oilman T. Boone Pickens gives big bucks to TV networks & stations to run his energy ads, which include advocacy for transition away from oil . . . to gas.

Big Bucks to YouTube Stars

What the Buck? Good question. Could Michael Buckley really have earned over $100k in a year from YouTube videos. . .and then gets a development deal from HBO?

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or "LisaNova" has real talent IMHO. Like Tina Fey, she's made a career out of playing Sarah Palin, including in the famous McCain/Palin rap. I wonder who she's hoping will run for prez in 2012.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (better known as "The Mean Kitty Song", nearly 40 million views!). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements within his videos.

PhillyD is my 13-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star, offering his take on current events, tech and celeb news. That's where my girl gets her news. Shouldn't I be monitoring her better?

Become a YouTube Star and appear in a hugely popular music video with Weezer or the earlier one from Barenaked Ladies.

"Where the hell is Matt?" became so popular, the guy has long had his travels paid by corporate sponsors.

Malcolm Gladwell: "Stop going to journalism programs."

Top journalist Malcolm Galdwell ("Tipping Point," "Blink," "Outliers")gave this advice to young journalists in an Oct.'09 Time interview:

The issue is not writing. It's what you write about. One of my favorite columnists is Jonathan Weil, who writes for Bloomberg. He broke the Enron story, and he broke it because he's one of the very few mainstream journalists in America who really knows how to read a balance sheet. That means Jonathan Weil will always have a job, and will always be read, and will always have something interesting to say. He's unique. Most accountants don't write articles, and most journalists don't know anything about accounting. Aspiring journalists should stop going to journalism programs and go to some other kind of grad school. If I was studying today, I would go get a master's in statistics, and maybe do a bunch of accounting courses and then write from that perspective. I think that's the way to survive. The role of the generalist is diminishing. Journalism has to get smarter.

IC grad wins Online News Award

IC grad Kate Sheppard and colleagues at Mother Jones just won an award from the Online News Association for "Online Topical Reporting/Blogging" about the BP oil spill.

Media Corporations Unite!

To prevent their corporate tax breaks from being repealed by California ballot Proposition 24 (in a state facing huge budget deficits), companies are donating big to the 'No on Prop 24' campaign. Of the nine biggest donors, six are media corporations, reports Brian Stelter in the NYT.