And no, it’s not your father’s media anymore.

Major topics include:

• How to pick the best blog name
• What blogs really cost
• How to register for search engines
• Blog traffic, ads & profits
• How pay-per-click really works
• Blogs and viral marketing
• Key design concepts you have to have
• Plug-ins & widgets
• How to write effectively for blogs
• How to handle comments
• Things never to say

14,000 Words (Approximate)

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Technorati Tags: blogging, blogs, copyright, design, fair use, free, libel, premium, registration, search engines, SEO, theme

Whether one agrees with Helms or not, his proposal raises complex issues.

Was, or is, CBS News liberal? If so, what is “liberal?” If by some standard we can describe “liberal,” and if CBS News is “liberal,” how exactly are news judgments effected? Would news stories be more “biased” or less “biased” if CBS News were “conservative,” assuming someone could explain what “conservative” means? What would it take for TV news to be “objective” and who is to define that term? How, in practice, does “objective” differ from “liberal” or “conservative?” Would it be okay if 1 million “liberals” bought stock in the News Corporation, the owner of Fox Broadcasting?

Media History In The U.S.

Throughout American history there have been avowed political publications and in a sense the Helm’s effort to take over CBS follows in this tradition. As examples, William Lloyd Garrison (1805-1879) published the Liberator, a paper opposed to slavery. William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951) used his papers to encourage the Spanish-American War. Today websites, programs and publications favoring a variety of political, social, economic and religious viewpoints are available in every community.

At some point in every field there must be a person who makes decisions, who has responsibility. We have judges who review laws, doctors who recommend treatments, and also we have journalists who define what’s news and what isn’t for a particular website, publication or program.

No one argues that the decisions made by journalists are perfect or can be perfect, however one defines “perfection.” News reporting is a subjective field where many views are possible, one reason we have — and should have — so many media outlets. But journalism should be left to journalists, however imperfect, rather than business tycoons, political theorists or other vested interests. One may not always agree with the judgments made by independent reporters, but at least such decisions are not made with other obligations in mind.

Technorati Tags: bias, conservative, Garrison, Hearst, liberal, Liberator, media, objective

Perhaps the best way to test the news value of a particular story is to paraphrase an ancient question: What makes a person, event, product, idea, or organization different from all others? Information without distinction is data, not news.

“News,” in the most basic sense, is simply information you didn’t have before. When you first hear the local football team is ahead 21 to six in the third quarter or that your favorite hardware store was robbed, that’s news.

New News Versus Old News

But if it’s true that “news” is fresh information, it’s also true that some news is both known and aged. On New Year’s Day, you can find any number of “year in review” reports telling you things you already know. Weekly and monthly magazines routinely recount “old” news, albeit with information and perspectives that may not have been available at the time of the event. Reporters rewrite old information and create background pieces so breaking news (new news?) can be seen in perspective. A given event can produce ten different stories, each with a different spin oriented toward a specific audience. Commentators take old information, add their opinions, and create columns and editorials. These commentaries, in turn, may themselves evolve into news by raising new ideas and perspectives. On the Internet, everything that isn’t old now, this instant, is old news.

Whether old or new, news is also information tailored to a specific audience, or “public.”

Suppose a plane crashes at a major metropolitan airport. Instantly news sites and blogs will report the event. The information will make the local paper’s front page the next morning. The same accident could also create a business article detailing the finances of the plane’s corporate owners; a regulatory article discussing how governmental agencies are responding — or have responded in the past — to the type of problem that caused the crash; an airline safety feature in a major national magazine; a review of airplane claims processing in an insurance magazine; a first person account in a monthly magazine; a feature on airport disaster services in a medical journal; ongoing daily and weekly broadcast accounts as the accident is investigated over time and a discussion of how the media covers crashes in a journalism review.

So now we can define news as new information, old information, re-packaged information, expanded or condensed information, information that’s the subject of commentary, personalized information, time-sensitive information, information placed in context, entertaining information, information oriented toward a specific audience and information that for one reason or another is considered unique to a particular audience. In essence, the concept of news is so wondrously elastic that almost any information is news somewhere.

The catch is that with so much potential news there must some way to sort through the many possible items which might appeal to various publics – and that’s why whether online or off we need reporters, columnists and editors.

Technorati Tags: new, news, packaging, placement, publics

In Europe during the Middle Ages it was felt that there were three estates or classes — the nobility, the clergy, and the common people. The press didn’t really fit into any of the existing classes and so in the 1800s the term “fourth estate” came into use as a short-hand expression for journalists.

Today government has replaced the nobility and the press has become the “media.” Still the concept of the “fourth estate” applies: The media is separate and apart from the rest of us.

Technorati Tags: clergy, common, estate, fourth, media, nobility, people

In general terms it’s okay to express an opinion. If you think the food at Joe’s Dinner is miserable, you have the right to say so. If you’re a food critic and say that Joe uses too much butter, and in fact Joe only uses margarine, then there can be problems.

Libel is usually seen as printed information which is untrue, defamatory and harmful. There are obvious libels (libel per se) such as a false claim that Smith is a convicted arsonist, and indirect libels (libel per quod) where, for example, it might be said that Jones associates with “known” mobsters, the inference being that Jones too is a criminal.

To show libel it’s usually necessary for the plaintiff to at least prove that a report is untrue. There are exceptions for “public figures” such as actors and politicians, where malice must also be shown in many cases. Knowing that actress Jones loves animals and accidentally burned her cat is unlikely to be libelous. Saying that Jones purposely stuffed her cat in an oven, and didn’t, would undoubtedly result in a libel suit.

Truth

There are some situations where it is possible to publish something which is both true and libelous. Saying that Green is a homosexual, even if true, has traditionally been seen as libelous if it holds Green up to public ridicule and causes economic harm. Truth, then, is a mitigating defense against a libel claim and not necessary an absolute defense.

As an example, suppose an Army sergeant — someone who is not a public person like an actor or politician — is publicly identified as gay. Under long-time military regulations, the sergeant can be separated from the service and thus lose pay, benefits, and future job possibilities. In this example, the mere act of publication can hurt an individual’s well-being. Whether such publication is libelous or not libelous is a complex matter that may ultimately be decided by a jury.

Opinion

Matters of opinion have traditionally been protected against libel suits, but in at least one case an opinion was ruled libelous because it was based on information which the Supreme Court said was “false and defamatory.”

Courts

In most instances individuals who are libeled do not bring suit against a publication and even when a suit is brought, most plaintiffs fail.

Rather than a court battle, people who feel they have been libeled typically ask for a retraction or the publication of a letter to the editor, something publications normally give if they are wrong. Even when a libel suit goes to court, and even when libel has been committed, plaintiffs traditionally are apt to collect small awards because it’s often difficult to prove economic damage.

However, in recent years, there have been a number of multi-million dollar awards. While such awards are often reduced on appeal, there is nothing appealing about the threat such awards represent or the costs of litigation.

In many situations when a libel occurs a hurt party will greatly prefer to forget the entire matter. The reason is that retraction or a libel suit will just bring more attention to the false statements, something many plaintiffs wish to avoid.

Slander, by the way, is nothing more than an oral version of libel.

Technorati Tags: defamatory, false, harmful, libel, mitigating, per quod, per se, slander, truth, untrue