by cameron | Feb 11, 2007 | media 2.0
Richard Sambrook is the Director of BBC Global News and on his blog “SacredFacts” he is trying to suggest that there isn’t a power struggle going on between “old media” and “new media” but that
It’s about integration, not subsititution…
Richard, what is your rationale for saying it isn’t a power struggle? I can only think of three reasons why you would say that.
1. You don’t believe there is a desire, on behalf of audiences, to have more power over the media they consume.
2. You don’t believe any “power struggle” will succeed because “old media” is just too big, politically protected and cashed up for “the people” to take power away from it.
3. Or… You do believe people want it, you do believe they will try succeed to taking it… but because you work for the old guard you’re just hoping that if you keep your eyes closed, and say “Kansas, Kansas, Kansas” over and over again while clicking your heels, it will all just go away?
I think the RIAA tried that over the last ten years but maybe they didn’t have the right fairy dust?
Trust me when I tell you, Richard, that there is a power struggle going on. We, the people, want more control over our media than we currently have. That is a power struggle. We are going to take it (control) away from big media companies. Whether we take it partly away or entirely away remains to be seen. But ten years from now, you will have less power and we will have more. Unless you are willingly going to give it up, I’d say that meets every definition of a struggle.
Meanwhile, over on Mark Fletcher’s “Australian Newsagency Blog”, my radio sparring partner from earlier this week, James Farmer, is trotting out the tired old rationale that:
theage.com.au is the number one News & Info publisher in Victoria – the smh.com.au in NSW. The vast majority of people come to a few sites to get their media fix, listen to a few radio stations, watch a few tv channels and read a few publications…
The problems with this line of thinking are multiple.
1. Australia newspaper circulation is in massive decline. See my earlier posts on this for the facts. Even if the owners of these papers have been able to begin to translate their old print readership into online traffic, it is well known that they don’t make nearly as much money online as they on from print. So their revenues are going to take a battering. As their revenues decline, they have to continue making cut-backs, as Australian print, TV and radio news networks have already experienced over the last decade. As they cut back their news staff, they rely more and more on Reuters and AAP feeds which are undifferentiated everyone else’s. As their unique content declines, do will readership and revenue.
2. What empirical data do you have, James, to suggest that “The vast majority of people come to a few sites to get their media”? Have you asked the majority? Did you poll them? Or are you just assuming that is what they want to do because that is what they have always done? That’s like saying people of 18th century Europe didn’t want democracy because they had always had Monarchs.
3. Even if you are right and people *do* want a few sites to get their media from, what Darwin-Given right does Fairfax or News Corp or Channel Nine have to be the sites they get their media from? Why won’t they want to get their media from Google? Or from TPN? Or from Gnoos?
We have not yet begun to fight.
by cameron | Feb 10, 2007 | media 2.0, Podcast
This article on the new Samsung “iPhone killer” F700 has this interesting paragraph:
… the F700 offers 7.2 Mbps download capabilities through High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) connections. Once the 7.2 Mbps HSDPA network is completely deployed around the country, F700 users will be able to download a 4-MB MP3 song in roughly four seconds, according to Samsung.
So by my reckoning, a 20Mb podcast would download in about 20 seconds. Radio is DEAD.
by cameron | Feb 7, 2007 | media 2.0, Podcast
Welcome to anyone visiting here for the first time after hearing about podcasting on Jon Faine’s show this morning. Take a few minutes to check out some of the shows, listen to the other shows on The Podcast Network, and leave a comment, send me an email, whatever. Welcome to the future of media.
The show was fun. I’ve been down to the ABC/JJJ a few times now and I thought Jon was probably the most balanced of all of the interviews I’ve done on radio. Traditional radio jockeys and mainstream journos usually love to turn their noses up at “citizen media”, with an air of snotty superiority which is the pride coming before the fall. Jon wasn’t too bad though. After the show he commented that the ABC seems convinced that podcasting is the future and they aren’t throwing any more money at “this” (he waved a finger around the studio). I told him that he’s the last of an era. That seemed to get his back up a bit and he protested that more people than “EVER” will listen to the radio in the future and I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he’s dreaming.
James is a great guy. He was telling me afterwards over coffee about his recent launch of EduBlogs Premium, a commercial service he’s just launched for educational institutions that want to run their own blogging service. I’ll get him onto GW soon to chat about it in more detail. So much for James being the “anti” new media guy. 🙂
Jon’s big red button:
More photos here.
by cameron | Feb 5, 2007 | Brisbane, media 2.0, Podcast
Chris Saad is one of the whizkid whippersnappers behind Brisbane-based start-up Touchstone. He’s also one of the founders of the new Media 2.0 Workgroup which (according to their site) is
… a group of industry commentators, agitators and innovators who believe that the phenomena of democratic participation will change the face of media creation, distribution and consumption.
Of course, they haven’t (yet) invited me to be part of the group so I don’t know how authoritative it can be. After all, I *am* Media 2.0. Look it up in Wikipedia and you’ll see my sunnies. ANYWAY…
Here’s some of the links mentioned in the show:
uTorrent
Joost (aka The Venice Project)
Tangler
Here’s a picture of what Joost looks like for those of you who aren’t on it yet:
And because not everyone is on Tangler yet, I have set up a new forum to discuss Media 2.0 further. A place to talk about how media is changing, your favourite podcasts, internet TV, torrent sites, media center devices, etc.
If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you don’t miss future episodes by subscribing to our feed.
The G’Day World Theme Song is “Save Me†by The Napoleon Blown Aparts.
by cameron | Feb 5, 2007 | media 2.0, Melbourne, Podcast
James Farmer and I will be debating the future of citizen media on Jon Faine’s top rating ABC radio show this WEDNESDAY morning. James used to be a great blogger… until he sold out and took a job with Aussie media dinosaurs Fairfax in the middle of 2006.
Nah, only kidding. Well about James that is (Fairfax are definitely dinosaurs). I’m just trying to get into the BATTLE frame of mind for Wednesday’s event. James is a top bloke although he has become a bit of an apologist for tree media since he went on their payroll (link).
To pre-empt the usual questions:
1. no, I will not be recording it.
2. yes, ABC do podcast some of Jon’s shows but I don’t know if this one will be or not. You can find Jon’s site here.
