Saturday, March 21, 2009

President Obama On The Tonight Show






I missed this but thanks to YouTube, I'm able to see his performance. I give him an A- minus and that is only for a comment I almost missed on the Special Olympics, but it was a throw away line. He did not disparage it, or say anything against it, and really it was just the two words regarding what was a self-deprecating comment. Now, I'm surprised no one got after him about his Hollywood comment. I do think people tend to really micro-manage stuff, and Gov. Palin has so many gaffes she's got no reason to talk at all. Can you imagine if she were Vice President? Yikes!

Friday, March 20, 2009

Obama Chic: Inside the White House Cocktail Parties

FOXNews.com - Obama Chic: Inside the White House Cocktail Parties - Celebrity Gossip | Entertainment News | Arts And Entertainment

I love a good cocktail party. The idea is to get to know people, which then tends to make other endevors that much easier. What the problem with the Obama party is, I do not know at all. Makes no sense to me. I'll take a Manhattan!

Barack Obama Interview With Jay Leno On The Tonight Show (Teaser)

The President's Message to the Iranian People

From the White House - [with Persian captions] President Obama's special video message for all those celebrating Nowruz, or "New Day." This year, the President wanted to send a special message to the people and government of Iran, acknowledging the strain in our relations over the last few decades. After committing his administration to a future of honest and respectful diplomacy, he addresses Iran's leaders directly. (this video is public domain)

President Obama offers new start with Iran

france24english - IN THE FIELD: Iran has welcomed US President Barack Obama's offer for a fresh start, while calling for concrete action. EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana voiced hope that Obama's video message will mark a "new chapter" in relations with Tehran.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

Newspaper Managers Don't Understand New Media

Newspaper Managers don't understand New Media at all. It's the key reason why papers all over America are failing. As more media outlets - webs, blogs, video - have been established, there's less money to go around per outlet. That coupled with the credit crunch and newspaper manager's failure to understand New Media is what contributed to this problem, and it's a big one.

I remember 2006, when I approached my friend Oakland Tribune Columnist Monte Poole with an idea of something called "The Monte Poole Show" -- http://themontepooleshow.blogspot.com/ -- which combined the sports columnist's columns with video presentations and then took that video and used it for television. So Monte would be on TV, in print, and in online video, expanding sponsor exposure. But Tribune Editor Martin Reynolds was having none of the idea, even as the head of KOFY TV 20 San Francisco was interested in it. Martin claimed "Monte's under contract with the Tribune" which had nothing to do with the issue at hand.

That is but one example of how the Mainstream Media does not "get" New Media and is at a loss to work effectively in it. Newspapers will continue to fail if this happens again and again.

The Financial Times Launches Newssift

More at TC: “The Financial Times Group, which is owned by the British publisher Pearson, is not exactly the place you’d expect to find the latest search engine. But a startup deep within the bowels of the organization called FT Search is launching one at 8PM ET tonight called Newssift. It is a semantic search engine that sifts through business news, and it is not half bad, especially for bigger companies and broader topics.”