Deep Background for November 2011

Here’s a tribute for the newspaper carriers.

These sleep-deprived adults from all over our area awaken at 2 AM and drive their ink-stained vehicles to one of the district distribution centers for the Erie Times-News. There they will do by hand what machines used to do just a few months ago; assemble each newspaper they will deliver, merging the pre-printed features sections and ad inserts with the fresh news sections that just arrived from a two-hour trip from Butler. From there they will load 200, 300, or more papers in their vehicles and begin their run. The papers still have to be delivered by 6:00 no matter the weather, even with all the extra labor, and even if the truck is delayed.

But the Wednesday after Election Day, that 6:00 delivery deadline won’t be met, because the newsroom is staying up late to publish the election returns. Late to Butler means late to your front step and news stand. But don’t blame your carrier.

We sound off on all things media in this open forum through your comments, e-mails and tweets @pressandtower.

Embrace the chaos!

Poll: where do you fall in the spectrum war?

When we last polled our P&T readers, we asked about your online video usage. A plurality said that they never watch local news video online, while over a third would occasionally do so. Just under a third would watch full newscasts or live video streams if offered.

There is much talk in the trade press about the looming spectrum crisis, with wireless broadband operators such as AT&T and Verizon screaming for more bandwidth, especially in the UHF “beachfront property” bands where signals can penetrate buildings better and have less dropout. That just happens to be where for the past 60 years your local television stations operate, and they are not giving up their “seed corn” without a fight.

The National Broadband Plan has called for an additional 500 MHz to be allocated to the wireless operators, a big chunk of which would come out of broadcasters’ spectrum “behind.” This proposal is coming after the spectrum that TV stations abandoned with the digital TV conversion.

So which side are you on; does the need for spectrum to operate smartphones and tablets and whatever next-generation technology is out there trump the outdated free TV model? Or is the highly-efficient, locally-responsive, and free one-to-many model of TV stations an inherent right of citizens in a representative democracy?

Where do you fall in the spectrum war?

  • With the TV stations: keep free TV available in all markets (72%, 21 Votes)
  • With the wireless operators: we need more spectrum to keep up with consumer demand (14%, 4 Votes)
  • I don't have a horse in this race (14%, 4 Votes)

Total Voters: 29

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Jobs passes; a generation reels

Steve Jobs with the Apple II

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

The national media was ready for this; Apple’s founder Steve Jobs didn’t have much time left so the news agencies prepared for it.

But the nation wasn’t.

When Apple’s website made this simple announcement Wednesday evening, it came as a world-wide shock:

Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being. Those of us who have been fortunate to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor. Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple.

The phenomenon of social media that has flourished under Jobs-inspired platforms like the iPhone and iPad came alive over the news. Techies and average Joes expressed their feeling of loss, posted and tweeted quotes from Jobs, changed their status and profile pictures.

It occurs to me that the loss of Steve Jobs has a huge impact on Generation X in the way losing John Lennon was to the baby boomers. Think about it.

Let’s say you are a 40-year-old, born in 1971:

  • All throughout elementary school, you had an Apple II in your classroom
  • Your high school had a lab full of Macs
  • You were writing term papers on a color Mac in college
  • You may have heard “You’ve Got Mail!” from that original America Online dial-up account on a Mac
  • You bought your first iMac to surf the web before you were 30
  • About seven years ago you dumped all of your CD’s into iTunes and started walking around with your iPod.
  • You waited in line four years ago for the first iPhone
  • Last night you commiserated with your high school classmates on Facebook using your iPad.
Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs: 1955-2011

By putting technology into everyday people’s hands that is so simple to use, Jobs rose to be a cultural Pied Piper. “What’s the next insanely great thing you thought of, Steve? We want it!”

For media folks, Apple is ubiquitous. From the video editing suite, to print and web layout, to viewer video from iPhones, and reporter’s copy on iPads, our industry’s productivity and quality have been revolutionized because of these products.

Some of us have never known a world that didn’t have Steve Jobs rolling out a new life-altering gadget on an 18-month product cycle.

So we mourn.

Deep Background for October 2011

I don’t know about you, but September was kind of a lost month for me. It is traditionally the busiest month of the year at work for me, and it went super-fast.

Meanwhile loads of change occurred on the Erie media landscape in the past few weeks. We will try to get to most of it, but meanwhile you can weigh in on whats on your mind through this open forum.

It’s easy to join in by leaving a comment in the box below, e-mail me, or tweet @PressandTower.

Embrace the chaos!

12 News joins Education Nation

Last year at this time I expressed my disappointment, and the P&T community had a lively discussion over the lack of special coverage in Erie and other local NBC markets during the network’s Education Nation week. This year, I’m excited and congratulate Lisa Adams, News Director and the WICU/WSEE reporting team for taking advantage of this event and hugely important topic.

Here’s coverage from Sunday:

The stations are planning on stories throughout the week on education issues. That’s the power of media as a force for good, and our community’s future depends on getting our schools right.

9/11: media remembrances moving

All this week, media channels in Erie and around the globe have been filled with stories and special programming marking the 10 years since the devastating events of September 11, 2001 in New York City, Washington, DC and Shanksville, PA.

MSNBC: Men secure a flag over a World Trade Center beam prior to transportation to Erie, Pa., for construction of a memorial to remember the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

For me it is very easy to jump back a decade to that profound sense of horror, pain, and loss; not only in the immediate wake of the attack, but of the accumulated loss over ten years of wars, decimated economy, and internal national strife.

Those of us who were media producers on 9/11/01 instantly recall our efforts of getting the news out to the community, the hours on end radio and television news broadcasts, the extra edition of the Times-News, back-office staff filling roles where needed so that the organizations would meet the challenges of that horrible day.

Perhaps the most rewarding culmination of those extra efforts was United We Stand, the historical combined remote of all the Erie radio and television stations, well covered by the newspaper to raise funds for the American Red Cross and the victims of the attacks on September 20, 2001 at the Millcreek Mall. That sense of unity of purpose was unfortunately soon lost, and so our sense of loss in remembering is multiplied.

There has been some excellent reporting this week, with specials still planned on Sunday. Don’t miss this local content:

Poll: your online news video usage

In our poll last week about the media navel-gazing over their Hurricane Irene coverage, the majority of readers of P&T participating in our poll thought that the level of coverage was appropriate. Of course, that whole conversation died down when people saw the video of the real inland flooding damage in places like Middlebury, VT and Patterson, NJ.

Here’s a quote I recently read on my Facebook news feed:

I can’t believe that in the 21st Century I can’t watch the news (I) choose.

Well, actually, you can; kinda. Both WJET/WFXP and WICU/WSEE offer online video versions of certain stories. WICU/WSEE will also produce an online news headlines cast a couple times a day. GoErie will offer Web Extra video packages with big newspaper stories. Right now, no one locally is live streaming their news casts, nor offers an online archive of their casts.

How do you use local news video online (you can choose up to three answers)?

What is your online news video usage?

View Results

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