Some passing notes gathered from the journalism, new media, advertising and PR landscape-
To get this off to a humorous start- Skittles ads just get stranger and stranger. Funnier and funnier too. You don’t have to be a cat lover to like what’s unfolding.
This video “Lick the Rainbow. Taste the Rainbow,” comes courtesy of BBDO Toronto.
CoJMC graduate Rachel Anderson is a multimedia journalist documenting the Libyan revolution.
CoJMC graduate makes us proud- Rachel Anderson, a multimedia journalist who graduated from the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is breaking new ground. Rachel’s documenting the Libyan revolution through a series of weekly broadcasts to be shared with donors. One Day on Earth, a multimedia organization dedicated to sharing stories from across the world, helps post and produce Anderson’s weekly videos. The goal is to turn her photos and video footage into a longer-form documentary.
As Mashable.com reports, Anderson is also partnering with Small World News, a media company that helps train and provide tools to citizen journalists. Click on the photo to the right to see Rachel’s video pitch from the Middle East. Anderson dedicates about 10 hours a week to teaching a class of 15 Libyan men and women how to report on the revolution around them. The group functions as a make-shift newsroom, responsible for finding, videotaping and editing original stories. The goal is to create a self-sustaining citizen journalist movement that continues reporting after Anderson and other Western journalists leave Libya.
This just blew me away- Click on the video link to the left. A project called Condition ONE may give us an opportunity to digest news and world events like never before. Mobile video footage from the Libyan war is an example of how Condition ONE is working to reinvent the way we view war with a new immersive virtual reality experience that brings us directly to the front lines in Libya. Photojournalist Patrick Chauvel brings us this immersive video from the rebels’ front lines. “It’s a very sad story,” he says. “These guys are students, they’re hairdressers, they’re bakers, bankers, philosophers, teachers. They are no military.”
Talk is cheap. Money speaks: PaidContent.org is out with it’s inaugural list of America’s 50 most successful (profitable) digital media companies. Google tops the list with $28.2 billion in estimated digital ad revenues last year.
The latest Internet World Stats are out- Thanks to InternetWorldStats, they include the latest Internet indicators on usage, penetration
rates, population and country size. In short, 29 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people are connected to the Internet.
Nielsen Releases Ethnic TV Trends Report- Broadcasting and Cable reports on Nielsen’s release of its State of the Media report Wednesday. The report breaks down viewing trends by ethnicity.
Sorry Rupert: Even fans of “The Daily” don’t want to pay for the iPad newspaper– MediaPost.com reports the initial reaction to the high-profile launch of The Daily, News Corp.’s long-awaited newspaper app for the iPad, focused on technical glitches and the lack of rapidly updated content. A conventional news magazine pushed to a tablet, at best. A new study from brand research firm knowDigital suggests a split decision among iPad owners: tech-savvy news junkies had little use for The Daily, while less avid news and tech consumers viewed the digital newspaper more favorably. But, unfortunately for News Corp. neither camp showed much interest in actually subscribing (subscriptions are 99 cents a week or $40 a year.) Click here for Forbes take on the venture.
iPad slapdown- It’s so cool. It’s so easy to use. Multichannel News reports Time Warner Cable has received at least one cease-and-desist letter from a programmer demanding its networks be removed from the MSO’s recently launched iPad streaming video app — a reaction the operator was not expecting.
Speaking of iPad- Mashable quotes a senior Dell executive who says Apple’s iPad is not fit for enterprise customers because of its high price (when you account for peripherals), and will eventually be outpaced by Android tablets.
Oh no! No Mad Men!- (Update:‘Mad Men’ Creator Signs Deal with AMC Extra TV ) AgencySpy reports that AMC’s Mad Men deal is on the brink of collapse. Inside sources claim AMC is asking series creator, show-runner, executive producer and head writer Matthew Weiner to save money by adding product placement into the series, cutting two major cast members and cutting two minutes from each episode to allow for more advertising. AMC issued an official statement: “AMC has officially authorized production of season 5 of Mad Men, triggering our option with Lionsgate. While we are getting a later start than in years past due to ongoing, key non-cast negotiations, Mad Men will be back for a fifth season in early 2012.”
Map this!- The Washington Post has a great article about census time and newsrooms across America that are using mapping tools to explain changes in population and demographics shown in the newly released census data.
In this first in a series of 2010 Census briefs released this month, Population Distribution and Change: 2000 to 2010, the Census Bureau analyzed the nation’s population change for the United States as a whole, as well as its regions, states, metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas, counties and places.
The U.S. population over the past decade increased by 9.7 percent, surpassing the 300 million mark to reach 308.7 million, but at a rate slower than recent decades. Since 1900, only the 1930s experienced lower growth than the past decade, which saw growth similar to the 1980s (9.8 percent).
America’s most popular local TV Facebook page- TVSpy reports on Cleveland’s WJW-TV Facebook page. It’s became the most popular TV station page in the country. WJW’s Facebook page has more than 165,000 fans and counting.
Project Thunderdome? – Jim Brady visited our college last fall and only hinted at where he would go next. Now the Nieman Journalism Lab reports on Brady’s new gig at the Journal Register Company. Brady — formerly of AOL, washingtonpost.com, and TBD — is now of Journal Register Co. That’s big news — and not only because it had been an open question where Brady would land after he left TBD in November.
Judge Judy has a bad day on the bench, “I need to stop” she tells audience- Radar Online reports that an incoherent Judge Judy Sheindlin told shocked audience members she “needed to stop” one of her made-for-TV cases because she was “not feeling well.”
Kindle, Nook Gain In E-Reader Race– Online Media Daily’s Mark Walsh
reports that shipments of e-readers led by Amazon’s Kindle and Barnes & Noble’s Nook hit 5.1 million worldwide in the fourth quarter, up 90% from the prior quarter and 116% from a year ago. Both gained market share at the expense of rival devices offered by Sony, BenQ and Hanvon
Recently departed RealNetworks CEO Bob Kimball
RealNetworks Abruptly Loses CEO– The Seattle Times reports that RealNetworks CEO Bob Kimball abruptly resigned on Monday. “Kimball was in the process of restructuring and rebuilding Real, which has zigged, zagged and lurched through several management changes over the last two years,” The Seattle Times reports.
10,000 Words- Five things I’ve learned in four years of blogging about journalism. [Video] Mark Luckie shares wise words about journalism blogging.
The Google Art Project- Google does a lot of projects and things besides search technology. For example the Google Art Project.
Oprah is tweeting for viewers- The New York Times reports Ms. Winfrey and others were tweeting about “Behind the Scenes,” a reality show about the final season of “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Sunday marked a new night and time slot for “Behind the Scenes,” which had previously been on Friday nights.
TVNewser – These are not good times for the CBS Evening News. It experiences the lowest first quarter ratings since 1992. The numbers for Q1 2011:
| NBC | ABC | CBS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| • Total: | 9,810,000 | 8,650,000 | 6,430,000 |
| • A25-54: | 2,940,000 | 2,430,000 | 1,980,000 |
JournalCetera 
That Skittles ad made me go “eeewww”.