Lawrence Siulagi » Media

Associated Press to distribute nonprofit news

Lawrence Siulagi — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 16:45:09 +0000

Jeff Jarvis on his What Would Google Do? Facebook page comments on the AP distribution of nonprofit news

Distributing Investigations

I’m delighted that the Associated Press is going to distribute the reporting of four nonprofit investigative news organizations: the Center for Public Integrity, the Investigative Reporting Workshop at American University, the Center for Investigative Reporting, and ProPublica. That will get their work seen in many more print outlets. Print.

Except — and I hate to have another exception with the AP — online that isn’t necessarily the best service to the work. In a search-driven ecology, the better thing to do is to send all traffic to the reporting at its source so that can rise in search. It also means that as stories are updated, readers can get the latest. And it gives these centers the opportunity to raise money with readers who care about their work. So I hope that the papers that print these stories online also link to the source.

You can also read Jeff Jarvis’ blog for more news about changes facing the news media.

News anchor’s life catches up with him

Lawrence Siulagi — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 15:51:00 +0000

Sometimes the best stories arrive by accident as The Oregonian’s television critic and reporter Peter Ames Carlin discovered when Jeff Alan, former news director of Portland’s KOIN-TV, a CBS affiliate, filed a wrongful termination lawsuit and exposed a larger-than-life character with a past. You know, things like

Jeff Alan wasn’t his given name
His Social Security number wasn’t his
He left his wife and daughters in Los Angeles in 1986
His ex-wife declared him dead in 1993

Oh, and did I mention he was present at the Ambassador Hotel when Sirhan Sirhan shot Robert Kennedy; had a thriving career in television syndication; reinvented himself as a TV news anchor and executive; wrote two books; taught broadcast journalism at the University of Pittsburgh; and appeared on CNN and MSNBC as a media expert?

Does it sound over-the-top? Sound too good to be true? Sounds like it’s time for a sequel for Catch Me If You Can.

Read the entire series in Carlin’s three-part special.

Google Church Sign

Lawrence Siulagi — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:13:34 +0000

Signage in front of the Baptist Church in my neighborhood. A possible response to Jeff Jarvis‘ book, “What Would Google Do?“?

Looks like someone's been reading Jeff's book.

You know the Economy is in trouble when…

Lawrence Siulagi — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 18:26:47 +0000

…the New York Times online features a story about Trekkie love for Kirk’s captain chair on their home page.

Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a command-chair building machine!

Good news for APIs

Lawrence Siulagi — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 01:32:05 +0000

Good article discussing the Guardian going the API route by Jeff Jarvis. Truly insightful and worth reading if you’re into the future of content distribution.

I really think he’s spot on. The current news media companies, especially in America, are slow to this delivery method. Hopefully, they’ll wake up in time but I remain doubtful.