Getting Back on Script

TV viewership dipped during the long writers strike, but there is now
some evidence that viewers are beginning to come back to see new
episodes of scripted shows. What this means for the near future of
television is the subject of this NPR story.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #34

A Record Blunder...

Blender magazine has named the major record labels' war against Napster in 2001 as
the worst recording industry blunder of all time, even worse than the talent scout who passed up signing the Beatles after an audition in 1962. The major labels drove the file-sharing service Napster out of business at what would have been an opportune moment to figure out how to make money off of music downloads. Instead, when Napster shut down, downloaders scattered to many other services and recorded music sales have been sinking ever since.

This medianote was presented to MWF classes only.

From No View to Review

Maxim, that updated version of Playboy for young men, should think about ditching its music section. Not only is it arguably out of date by reviewing CDs, it apparently reviewed on album that its review never listened to, according to this National Public Radio story.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #33

e-Wallets and the End of Privacy

It will soon be easier than ever to track your whereabouts through your cell phone, according to David Lazarus in a recent consumer column in the Los Angeles Times. RFID technology, which is largely unregulated, will soon be incorporated into cell phones in order to turn them into e-wallets. The technology will allow consumers to buy things with wave of their phone. Down side is that those cell phone users will be digitally tagged, which could open the door to invasion of privacy.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #32

Fiction That's Just Unreal

The Los Angeles Times Book Review recently had an article about authors who fake their identity--race, social class, and general background--to make their stories seem more real. Fans and publishers sometimes react strongly to these deceptions, and careers are ruined by them. However, MC101s who discussed this generally didn't see much of a problem with the practice.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #31

They Put WHAT On the Front Page?

Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda became a First Amendment battleground recently after the student newspaper placed a textbook drawing of a human vagina at the top of the front page. The 15-year-old editor said the action was inspired by the play, "The Vagina Monologues." The principal termed it disruptive and had copies of the paper rounded up and impounded. The Los Angeles Times covered the controversy. But according to some Mass Comm 101 students the real controversy is over the principal's actions, not the editor's.

Old Media and Fast Money

A recent National Public Radio story described possible big changes at the venerable New York Times, where hedge fund investors are agitating for more emphasis on the paper's online operations. This is all very New Millenium type of thinking, but it begs the question of whether quick-profit capitalists and world-class journalism mix.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #30

Trial by Camcorder

A recent Los Angeles Times story highlighted the exploits of Oklahoma City's Video Vigilante. Brian Bates tools around the city streets in his SUV toting a camcorder, which he uses to shoot video of men soliciting prostitutes. He puts the videos on YouTube! and licenses them to tabloid TV shows. Public humiliation is his business, and it's starting to earn him some real money.

Gabcast! Club MediaNote #29