Archive for the ‘New Media’ Category

Oberle remains hopeful about newspapers

Bryan Oberle

Bryan Oberle

It is quite remarkable how two entrepreneurial new-media networks have scored major figures from media and politics for regular contributions. Last year, former Congressman Phil English began a blog on the GlobalErie.com network. Then early this year, former Editorial Page Editor of the Erie Times-News Bryan Oberle began a weekly post on ErieBlogs.com.

Oberle’s participation on ErieBlogs is particularly interesting considering he is married to an Erie media royal, Marnie Mead Oberle and continues to be a stockholder in the privately-owned Times Publishing Company.

Mr. Oberle was kind enough to share his thoughts on the state of the newspaper industry and his transition from ink to pixels in a Press and Tower exclusive interview:
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Bremner’s blog booted

Screen capture of Scott Bremner's blog on GoErie.com

In a moment of very strange timing, the longest long-term blogger of them all, WSEE’s Scott Bremner has entered his last post for GoErie.com.

This comes just a day after I highlighted Scott’s blog for my weekly ErieBlogs Post-of-the-Week on the ErieBlogs.com site. Here’s a clip of what Scott said on Wednesday on his post, “This Week is Goodbye”:

As close as we can figure it, this is the 578th weekly column written for this space, a span that began with a handshake in November of 1998 and has continued uninterrupted for more than 11 years on GoErie until this week.

This week is goodbye.

Call it what you will; a “couldn’t come to terms” or an “inability to reach consensus” or an “agreement to move in different directions.”

It doesn’t matter.

What’s important is that sometimes the greatest journeys don’t begin with the first step but rather with a swift kick in the pants, and that’s what gets the first step going.

There are currently 18 other bloggers on the GoErie site, most of them current Times News staff members, but in 1998 few were willing to write original material in a little known corner of the Internet.

That’s what led to the almost unheard of relationship of a TV guy writing directly to a newspaper website, especially one where the author had the freedom to write op-ed pieces virtually unfettered.

Scott’s “web column” (we didn’t have the word ‘blogger’ back when he started) has been recognized with awards, including being named Best in the Nation by the National Society of Newspaper Columnists in 2000.

Bremner says that he is bound to show up again somewhere on the ‘Net. We’ll be watching.

Erie man leads Raider Nation to call for Davis to hire GM

Right now, on the Nimitz Freeway (I-880) close to Oakland Alameda County Stadium, a billboard reads “Mister Davis…do the right thing…please hire a GM.”

MessagetoAl.com billboard in Oakland, CA

MessagetoAl.com billboard in Oakland, CA

This plea to the NFL’s Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis to return the hard-fighting football team to its former glory by stepping down as General Manger has been originated by an Erie man, 22-year-old Jared Staszewski. From today’s press release:

…who along with several other “disenfranchised” Raiders fans got together on an internet fan forum and decided that they would like to send a respectful message to Raiders owner Al Davis, asking him to relinquish operational control of the team to a Professional General Manager and winning coach who will not be “managed” from the owner’s box.

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GoErie.com redesign launches

GoErie.com

GoErie.com

On Monday morning, GoErie.com went live on their new design, which had been in a beta preview for the last few months.

As the most visited media website in the region, with a Quantcast-estimated 134,000 monthly U.S. people using the site, the redesign is big news. The folks at the Erie Times-News powered site are going toward a new direction:

What you see with the new GoErie is a change in focus. The emphasis now is on you, the greater Erie community: Your events, your photos, your news and other information you need to live well in our region, from job opportunities and bargains to the latest posts from community bloggers.

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Hijinxs at the National Press Club

I think that we have entered a new “silly season” in our media world. On Monday, an activist group called The Yes Men pawned themselves off as spokesmen for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and presented a reversal in the group’s position on climate change. In the middle of the presser, a real representative of the Chamber shows up and claims that the people at the podium are frauds.

Meanwhile, news agencies and wire services were duped for a moment, making for some confusing news people and amazing video. Here is the YouTube from people associated with the Yes Men group, so keep that in mind.

YouTube Preview Image

And we’re back!

Note to fellow bloggers…if anyone ever tells you that changing servers for a WordPress blog is a “snap!”, say “thanks for sharing!” and plan on a multi-hour love fest with your computer.

Allow me to vent about the 2-hour backup of the old site, the exporting of the databases, the numerous trys at getting the new databases correctly setup at the new host, the rewriting of the configuration files, and hours long trial and error to make the new upload and site work.

Let me just say that I am so thankful that’s over!

So now, lets get on with talking Erie media, beginning with a kudos: congrats to all of the local news staffers who braved the iron curtain-like security, the lack of essential tolietries, and the protesting anarchists to cover the local angle of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh this week. I think that managment made a good investement in a once-in-a-lifetime coverage opportunity.

Phil English to blog on GlobalErie

Former Cong. Phil English

Former Cong. Phil English

Local blogging is about to take a huge leap in credibility.

Peter Panepento has announced that former US Rep. Phil English (R-PA) will begin a new blog on GlobalErie.com in the coming days. Panepento says English will tackle Erie issues looking through Beltway-framed glasses:

But he remains closely connected to Erie and I expect that he will be able to provide an interesting view of how what’s happening on the Hill affects life in northwestern Pennsylvania.

English has told me that he plans to be non-partisan in his approach — so don’t expect this site to be falling into the Republican party machine.

Rep. English is now a lobbyist employed by the Arent Fox law firm in Washington. With his 14 years of experience representing this Congressional district, including occupying a seat on the powerful Ways and Means Committee, he will instantly become the highest-profile blogger on Erie issues. More than likely, he will also be one of the most controversial, as he accumulated a bevy of haters during his tenure in the Capitol.

The addition of English to the blogosphere in Erie further elevates a paradox in Erie blogging. For as strong as a Democratic foothold this area is, and with the natural bent of the blogging medium to be left-leaning, my anecdotal review of the local blog roster shows more conservative voices than liberal ones.  Is that just my perception, or are there fewer voices pounding for the progressives?