SNL Spoofs Multitouch Screens With CNN's 'Magic Map'
Posts with tag cnn
Was the Fake Steve Jobs Health Report a Failure for Citizen Journalism?
Some jerk sent the interwebs into a tizzy and Apple stock prices into a free fall Friday when he used CNN's iReport citizen journalism site to spread word that Steve Jobs had suffered a massive heart attack. Unfortunately, the multitude of blogs that repeated the rumors of Jobs' heart trouble failed to do any basic fact checking and as it turns out Steve Jobs was not rushed to the hospital.Some media outlets jumped on false report as evidence of the failure of citizen journalism. Even some new members of the "new media" like ReadWriteWeb, a technology focused blog, claimed that false reports like this not only hurt the reputation of citizen journalism as a concept but also of iReport's parent company CNN.
Of course, all claims of the failure of this reasonably new reporting method are so glaringly out of touch with reality and reasonable expectations. The concept of citizen journalism applies the same principles to news reporting that as the open source movement and community-powered Web sites like Wikipedia apply to software and online encyclopedias, respectively. By relying on input from the public, the hope is to get quicker and more intimate access to breaking news. Of course, some will try to game the system, just as they do on Wikipedia, but these few bad apples do not decrease the overall accuracy beyond that of traditional outlets.
What failed on Friday was not citizen journalism, but plain old traditional journalism. Those media outlets that failed to take a critical eye to initial reports and outlets that sensationalized the story in the aftermath are the ones who failed. Responsible citizens and journalists shouldn't believe everything they see on CNN, much less everything they see on its "unedited, unfiltered" YouTube-like community Web site. [From: paidContent.org]
Space Station's Toilet Begins to Fail, Panic Sinking In
by Darren Murph, posted May 28th 2008 at 8:01AM
[Image courtesy of Nohoz, thanks System48]
Snow-Day Caller Tells Media to Get Back to Reporting Real News
Well it turns out Kori isn't exactly enjoying the media attention either. Following the coverage from the Washington Post and CNN Kori has been inundated with phone calls from media outlets who he says have better things to cover. "I think there are issues like Darfur, I mean there are presidential primaries going on. There's so many other things that could have this media attention."
We're apt to agree with Kori on this one. We may be reporting it, but as an outlet that purely covers technology it's perfectly reasonable that we would pay attention. Outlets like CNN have probably dedicated more time to Kori's snow day phone call in the last three days than it has to Darfur in the last three months. And speaking of Darfur when was the last time you heard anything about it? Don't even remember do you, so we'll do CNN's job and give you a quick update - It's not getting better. Government forces in Sudan recently opened fire on a convoy of peace keepers from the United Nations and the African Union, though denied the attack was intentional. And to make matters worse, the government appointed Musa Hilal, who is accused of being a leader in the Janjaweed militia and being directly involved in the atrocities in the Darfur region, to a senior position.
Now that we've got the ball rolling maybe CNN can pick up where we left off and take Kori's advice -- start reporting on issues of true consequence and leave the quirky stories of internet phenomena to the tech blogs.
From CNN
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The 'Blog' Turns 10
Back in 1997, blogging was hardly the phenomenon it is today. Some of the most conservative estimates put the number of true 'weblogs' at that time in the lower double digits. These days no one can really say how many blogs are out there. Technorati, a blog tracking service, estimates that 120,000 new blogs pop up every day. In April the site was tracking just over 72 million blogs.
The blog has morphed from its early days as a way of sharing cool finds (like Digg minus the voting), to the primary form of information dispersal on the Web. Blogging has become the format of choice in the fast-paced world of tech (like Switched.com) and politics, and has empowered a generation of new journalists. Now the New York Times has blogs, the Daily Kos is one of the most important forces in the Democratic party, and even CNN has the YouTube-esque iReport citizen journalism program. Like it or not, in less than 10 years time, blogs have completely altered the face of media.
From the BBC
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CNN Creates Second Life News Bureau
Don't expect a bevy of serious journalism here, however, as virtually anyone can submit stories to the service. One story shows a picture of people standing around the CNN I-Report center, which, apparently, is breaking news. Another includes a brief story about a Second Life character known as Loch Lommond attempting to break a bull riding record. Another, perhaps more interesting one, covers the construction of a virtual Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.
Cool stuff? Perhaps. This could get interesting around election time, as several candidates have already created presences in Second Life.
From CNN
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Presidential Debates Tonight On YouTube
YouTube, which is of course owned by Google at this point (and so will half the world soon), is elbowing in on the political scene starting tonight by hosting Presidential debates in conjunction with CNN. Questions for the debate have been submitted via YouTube, and CNN editors have chosen the best and most interesting.
It's not often that one gets an opportunity to pose questions to presidential candidates, but through the magic of the Internet, affordable digital cameras, and specifically YouTube, anyone in the country at least has a chance to be selected as a questioner.
The Democratic debates will be broadcast tonight, July 23rd, at 7pm, and the Republican forum will by held on Monday September 17th.
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It's not often that one gets an opportunity to pose questions to presidential candidates, but through the magic of the Internet, affordable digital cameras, and specifically YouTube, anyone in the country at least has a chance to be selected as a questioner.
The Democratic debates will be broadcast tonight, July 23rd, at 7pm, and the Republican forum will by held on Monday September 17th.
Related links:
