Commentary

Remembering Newton Minow

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“I invite each of you to sit down in front of your own television set when your station goes on the air. And stay there for a day. Without a book; without a magazine; without a newspaper; without a profit or loss sheet; or a rating book to distract you. Keep your eyes glued to that set until the station signs off. I can assure you that what you’ll observe is a vast wasteland.” – Newton Minow at the NAB in 1961.

It was supposed to be a challenge to the industry as a way to use the most powerful medium of the time. Newton Minow passed away from a heart attack on May 6th at 97 years old. Despite being known for stating TV being a “vast wasteland”; he was in fact a TV junkie. Minow was a pioneer in television standards and was the head of the F.C.C. where he was known for “public interest”.  He was also behind developing the idea behind modern day broadcast debates of the Presidential candidates. He helped pave the way to the modern day public broadcasting.

He spoke to WGN-TV in 2017 suggesting local journalists being skeptical, hold the government accountable without being cynical.

He was alive to see this all disappear on all mediums, not just broadcast TV, but cable and never mind social media and an FCC that is selectively regulating the signals, and is not holding the license holders or the broadcasters in the same way as Mr. Minow did back in the day.

WGN-TV did this well done report, given Mr. Minow’s connections to Chicagoland, and it’s also their 75th anniversary on the air.

May he rest in peace and aspiring broadcasters to take a page of the past to implement in the future to hopefully make mass media have some credibility again.

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Broadcast Tech, Commentary

Cutting Corners, The Media Industry’s Obsession to Automation

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Economic downturns often forced profit-centered media properties to find ways to cut down costs. Not even 3 years after NBC’s parent company, RCA was sold to General Electric, they were finding every efficiency possible to make NBC be very profitable and ensure that they’d get it “for free” when GE sold mostly all the former RCA assets.

“Corporate media” that is often used to degrade the media in 2023 to me is a slur, but it was in 1985, when most of the our present media companies became more profit centered, than being a utility to inform and entertain. (the other three was Bill Paley’s sale of CBS to Larry Tisch, The Capital Cities acquisition of ABC and News Corporations acquisition of the Fox Movie studios and Metromedia chain of indie stations.)

For NBC, they did a lot of cost cutting, for instance NBC wasn’t entirely based at 30 Rock before latter part of the 80s, they were based off various offices on the Manhattan island. By the end of the 80s, virtually all the NBC operations were in 30 Rock soley.

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Commentary

COMMENTARY: On Tucker Carlson

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So I finally posted some content on my SnapChat last week in regards to Tucker Carlson’s departure at the News Channel with Searchlights. It’s unclear what the hell is really going on, but that’s not my point today…

It’s all about superficiality and parasocial relationships the Boomers and the remaining Silents (folks born before the mid 1940s.) While a number of them remain off the Internet grid, their social media is old fashioned cable, and the talent on camera.

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Commentary

Where Have I Been…part three

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I have not been doing much newsgathering of late. I’ve attempted to take a break on social media… since it seems like there really isn’t a reason to be on there if I’m only being seen and not heard. Still am a bit jaded year into wanting to get be a freelancer IRL but I’ve given up those chances. It’s not that easy to get the foot into the door. Because the doors of late are wide shut.

Commentary

No-competes, is this the reason why people are disappearing from local media?

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The New York Times had a story a week ago today, detailing the sins of local media. Ironically I found this story a week ago today as well via a Google search of “do meteorologists get laid off like journalists do?” Sadly our meteorologists in the Boston market are in awe of mini-me climate of Charleston, N.C. in the Northeast. Shut the fuck up please!

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Ideas

Advice for ALL Journalists Pushed into the Autism Beat

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The following is quoted DM sent by me to a local reporter in the Boston area in late 2021. As of 2023, the unidentified reporter no longer works in the industry, as that individual has a school aged child diagnosed with said condition. The quoted paragraph may be modified to eliminate shorthand words seen in DMs.

“I think the best way when reporting on the subject is to always come off in a hopeful tone because ‘diagnosis were [used to] bring hope’ and for whatever reason in recent years a diagnosis makes people (or the families) hopeless.

2nd you can’t please every group. A lot of the ‘self advocates’ [or #ActuallyAutistic types] are on the higher end and they can’t be pleased. You’ll always have haters on social media sadly to say. For me I understand both sides, but I cannot think it’s even morally or ethically proper to assume anyone who can’t speak is not intelligent by any means. I have been exposed to many ‘lower functioning’ autistics and I can tell you there is brain processing going in there. I think it’s important to shine that light (the journalistic sense not the Autism Speaks sense) on the individuals and ensure they get a fair voice, especially by the journalists. No matter what functionality, they should have the same right for a comment like the ‘typicals do.”

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Rebuilding Local Media with building bricks and minifigures as the subjects. Also the King of Simulating Live events in Post Production™.