Schreiner’s Media Landscape

July 30, 2009

Dan Rather Asks Obama to Save the Corporate News Media; America Asks “Why?”

Filed under: 9/11, America, Internet, Obama, journalism, media, television, video, weather — Ken Schreiner @ 9:06 am

I personally encourage the president to establish a White House commission on public media.

- Dan Rather

I don’t use the word “media.” I don’t use the word “news.” I don’t think that those words mean anything anymore. They defined publishing in the 20th century. Today, they are a barrier. They are standing in our way, like a horseless carriage.

- Chris Anderson, Wired editor

In the closest thing yet to a call for a bailout of American journalism, former CBS anchor-monster Dan Rather has called for the White House to form a commission on saving the corporate news media. With all due respect to a man who was a great reporter and dedicated public servant- fogeddaboudit.

I’m more aligned with the “wacky” ideas of Wired magazine editor Chris Anderson who believes that professional journalism is virtually dead (choked on its own vomit) and has been replaced by involved citizens, wonks, cranks and voyeurs taking advantage of the Internet, their cell phones/cameras and other gizmos to inform the world of what they’ve found out about something- whether it’s pix of their kids or last night’s city council meeting.

While Rather may be well-intentioned, he’s way too late. And if the federal government gets involved with the public news media on the level he suggests, it opens the door for government control of the corporate media which, as we saw after 9/11, is a dangerous and self-defeating proposition. The future of news dissemination in America and perhaps the world can be found on YouTube, Twitter and the other countless communication websites who are proving that, while they are not the money-making machines corporate media once were, they are the new chosen forums for news junkies, community activists and the similar others who are the only ones really interested in “news” instead of merely the obits, sports, and the classifieds: the things most people used to read the newspapers for.

As for TV news, if it’s not on fire or holding a hostage, nobody cares. I can get video of a seven-year-old driving a car and Michael Jackson on Break.com and the weather on my phone. Fox News is the babysitter for the over-60 crowd who misplaced their crossword puzzles. So note to Dan Rather: Get an iPhone, sit back and enjoy retirement.

July 28, 2009

Total Lack of Celebrity Deaths Means Next Week Could Get Ugly

Filed under: Hollywood, Internet, journalism, media, television — Ken Schreiner @ 4:01 pm

Michael Jackson, Ed McMahon, Farah Fawcett, Walter Cronkite and probably a few other famous people we haven’t noticed yet recently died just a few days apart. The line of star-studded coffins seemed backed up all the way from 30 Rock to Ventura Boulevard. But since then, the Los Angeles County coroner’s had his feet on his desk. No one famous has died this week. Why?

In checking the website Celebrity Deaths, I was reminded that one of my favorite actors, Karl Malden just died at 97. A woman who tried out for American Idol was hit by a car. Gidget the Taco Bell chihuahua also succumbed. The old saying goes “they always come in threes.” If you believe Celebrity-Deaths.com, they’re coming in threes all right. Every three minutes.

Why people who are not famous seem so interested in the lives and deaths of famous people has always perplexed me. When I was young and even thicker than today, I was lead to believe from adult behavior that it was because famous people were better than people like me and my family. When I got into the news media as an adult, I came to believe that non-famous people liked seeing famous people die because it was a form of cosmic equalization. “Ah, ha Mister Einstein! Let’s see your fancy speed of light theory save you now!” When I got fed up with the news media and ultimately got out of it, I had settled on the belief that it is the news media who are obsessed with celebrity deaths, not people in general. It wouldn’t be much different if the American news media were obsessed with food stories. If a new pie was invented and the news media attacked it with the same ferocity as the demise of a former guest star on “Bewitched”, we’d all be glued to our screens waiting for the recipe.

Celebrities have proliferated with the number of venues for them: TV, the Internet, feature films, amateur porn sites. So it seems that our daily TV newscasts and newspapers have become steroid-injected obituaries. This has been a quiet week for famous death. You know what that means. With the law of averages and human mortality being what they are, next week looks like it’s going to be tough for celebrities on- or in- the bubble. Patrick Swayze, Elizabeth Taylor and others in their “brave final days” better get their hospital rooms ready for their closeups. Of course, a “bad week” for celebrity deaths really depends on how famous you are.

Given how summer viewership ratings are usually in the toilet, I’ll bet Celebrity-Deaths.com and the network news operations are praying for a really “bad week.”

July 23, 2009

Evaporative “Swamp” Coolers Work; Western Heat Wave Proves It Again

Filed under: Environment, Power Grid, Solar, Utah, air, conservation, pollution, renewable, water, weather — Ken Schreiner @ 6:37 pm

They typically use between three and 10 gallons of water per day. That’s equivalent to a
few toilet flushes or, on the high end, a short shower. For similar sized units, the annual utility costs for an air conditioner are three times those of a swamp cooler (water & electric).
- AlternativeHeatingInfo.com

swampcoolertemp72309Longtime followers of this blog will tell you I’ve sung the praises of the so-called “swamp” or evaporative cooler as an air conditioning device many times in the past. I never had the chance to use one until I moved to Salt Lake City in 2006 when our new house was equipped with one as well as two central air conditioners.

When we first experienced the 100-plus degree heat of Utah summers, we fell back on the big, loud, costly central AC units. They did the job but, like they are everywhere, proved expensive to operate. And they do contribute ozone (R-22 refrigerant which has been outlawed). Given that, and that neither of us is a big fan of that cooped-up, refrigerated feeling you get from standard central AC, we decided to give the swamper a try.

When I first checked it, our rooftop unit (which is where you usually put them) was in a state of disrepair due to lack of use. But because it’s so simple, it took literally an hour with a screwdriver, pliers and handyvac to whip it into shape. When I was done and fired it up, it worked beautifully. It knocked 15 degrees off the outside temperature. When I made more tweaks later on, it was even more efficient.swampcooler

Today, it hit 100 for the first time this year at our house. And as the pic of our weather gauge (above) shows, Swampy (right) kept the indoor temperature around 20 degrees cooler than outside. Granted, you must have humidities below 25% to accomplish this which is why evaporative coolers don’t make much sense for areas outside semi-arid climates like Utah’s. But I ran it overnight last night (which we almost never have to do because the temp drops around 30 degrees) and even though it was above 25% humidity, it still kept the indoor temperature about ten degrees below outside.

It’s now been almost two years since we ran our air conditioners at all. It’s nice to know I’m not pumping a lot of ozone into the air like central AC units do, not using much water or electricity, and keeping myself and all my valuable computer equipment cool. And of course, it runs off our solar panels so the sunnier and hotter it is, the better it is. It’s a tired cliche but it actually applies here: Swamp coolers ARE really cool.

My Company Gets a Makeover; Catching the New Economic Wave, Learning to Spend

Filed under: Education, Obama, Salt Lake, Schreiner Productions, Utah, video — Ken Schreiner @ 9:28 am

I was pretty grumpy the last few weeks. The great year I was having came to an abrupt halt in June. The old clients suddenly didn’t have anything: budgets were frozen, bookings stopped, the brakes were officially on. I knew it was coming. But what bothered me most is that I saw recovery coming in the third quarter (July-September) but I had no idea what to do to get a jump on it.

I’m notoriously cheap. So it was a great leap when I hired someone my wife recommended from her business marketing class at University of Utah to help me. Jeff did a lot of research and last week, brought me a PowerPoint showing me what I’m doing wrong and, most important, what I need to do right. In the six years of Schreiner Productions, I never spent much time thinking about marketing myself. The good news is, because I concentrated on developing my products and services first, I now have the money to afford to have someone else do it who knows how to do it.

Now, I’m creating a new company and name (Schreiner Productions will still exist but in a different form), redoing the website, and taking advantage of the downtime this week to do all the work it takes to accomplish such a major renovation. Of course, as soon as I do that the phone starts ringing again. Suddenly, I’ve got a couple of new clients and August is shaping up to be my biggest month this year. I’m not complaining, believe me. But when you’re cheap, you’re always wondering where you could’ve saved instead of spent.

It’s more proof that one of the curses of being in business for yourself is that it requires working all the time on EVERYTHING involved. If you become successful, you grow whether you like it or not, spend more, bring in more help and pretty soon you’ve got even MORE EVERYTHING to do. But truthfully, I wouldn’t trade it for anything. Thanks to my wife and Jeff, all my great and loyal clients- yes, I’ll even throw in President Obama, Mayor Becker, the state of Utah and Business Week magazine- I’m living a dream. But only in dreams does magic happen without change or a lot of work. And yes- spending money.

July 22, 2009

Rick Astley with Nirvana: Getting Rick Rolled Is Fun For Some

Filed under: Internet, media, music, video — Ken Schreiner @ 8:48 am

The late 1980s-1990s are widely considered a sort of dark age of popular music. Dominated by samplers, rappers, posers and producers, it’s pretty grim to look back and see that the most popular “musician” of the era was Britney Spears. But one of the great things about this music is that it’s so pretentious it’s funny- especially when it’s twisted together like this video.

It’s a product of the Internet phenomenon known as getting “Rick Rolled”. It involves the duping of an Internet user to follow a link which ultimately takes them to a video by former British pop singer Rick Astley. The craze has gotten so hot that someone made a video mashup up Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up” with Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  The resulting spoof is so pervasive it’s setting off a “controversy”: such mashups being critiqued by bloggers and sensitive fans who feel they’re crass, inappropriate and poorly made. Which is true. Which is just another reason why this one is so funny and currently Number 2 on the Viral Video Chart.

July 21, 2009

Jackson Browne Slaps Down Republicans Who Are Really “Running on Empty”

Filed under: Bush, Cheney, Education, Hollywood, Obama, media, music, politics, television — Ken Schreiner @ 8:49 am

The Republican Party not only got a hard lesson in political payback in the 2006 and 2008 elections. Thanks to musician Jackson Browne, they also hopefully learned what happens when you steal someone’s property, then audaciously use it for your own gain by attacking someone the property owner supports.

In another case, we might call that “balls.” In this case, it’s just plain stupid. In defense of the GOP (Gross Out Party), when you’re out of touch with reality, it’s probably difficult to understand copyright law.

July 20, 2009

CBS Keeps Cronkite’s Intro to Katie Couric’s Evening News; Considers Using His Hologram to Anchor the Show

Filed under: America, journalism, media, television — Ken Schreiner @ 4:31 pm

You know the reason CBS reversed its decision to drop Walter Cronkite’s intro to the network’s evening news. The CBS Evening News stinks and needs the ghost of Uncle Walter haunting the airwaves just to rattle a few chains and hopefully attract some attention. But what CBS didn’t figure in was that almost no one under 49 years old even watches network news, much less CBS’.

Most of them probably don’t even know who Walter Cronkite was and the new viewers CBS is still struggling to steal from the other guys either never liked Cronkite or CBS or don’t know who he was. All they’ll say in reaction in “why don’t you get rid of that old man introducing Katie every night?” What CBS needs more than anything is to do everything differently. But then again, doing things differently is not how American TV works. You must do everything just like everybody else.

Why? I don’t know. That’s why I left.

Walter Cronkite Exemplified TV News’ Golden Age as Corporate Criminals Plotted Its Demise

Filed under: journalism, media, television — Ken Schreiner @ 8:47 am

Like a lot of kids who eventually got into TV news, I idolized Walter Cronkite. I didn’t even know during the 1960s when I watched him that he was a World War 2 correspondent, I barely knew who Edward R. Murrow was and I thought throwing pictures through the air and catching them in a little electronic box was just everyday magic.

But it wasn’t until the world started unraveling again during the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the civil rights movement, hippies and the like that I stopped idolizing him and started really listening to and respecting “Uncle Walter.” His influence on me, along with Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, Dan Rather, and other contemporary TV news anchors and reporters can be easily measured in my commitment to that industry for most of my life.

The news of his passing is neither surprising nor sad. What IS surprising and sad is how TV news went so quickly from being the news of choice for a generation to a 24-hour-a-day circus of celebrity sleaze, shouting matches, and endless scenes of violence, death, misery, sex and, for comic relief, weather and sports. But we do know WHY it happened.

As TV station executives and sales departments noted the loyal and and focused audiences for newscasts, they saw just another opportunity to make a boatload of money- even though they were already making a tanker-full of it. They didn’t see “journalism” or accurate, unbiased information as being an essential element to an informed and involved community. They didn’t see the need for it to be above reproach and independent of governmental, commercial and ideological institutions. They hired creepy consultants to manufacture the evidence they could use to justify their meddling, collusion and corruption. Greedy station owners sold out to even greedier corporations.

They couldn’t see what was going to happen if they did that. Which is exactly what happened.

Now as TV news’ credibility vaporizes, the television industry collapses under its obese corpse, the revenue and jobs disappear, the image of Walter Cronkite is not only symbolic of a better day (which it sure didn’t seem like at the time) but a sad reminder of what is and will be because we only watched instead of listened.

July 16, 2009

“The Sentimentalist”: Web Comedy Videos Take the Lead in Satire

Filed under: Hollywood, Internet, media, television, video — Ken Schreiner @ 9:01 am

 

It’s a struggle to laugh when you feel like screaming. But I still believe that laughter is the antidote to anger. It’s why I love satire- I know, what a surprise. Finding humor in things that should make you angry is a true art form. But as America gets dumber and loses what’s left of its sense of humor, good satire is getting even harder to find. Once again, the Internet to the rescue.

The troupe Pudding Canyon has produced a number of great satirical videos. But “The Sentimentalist” is my favorite for obvious reasons. Television, my longtime career, has long been a ghetto inhabited by cops, murderers, doctors and athletes. The flailing promotions of TV’s networks pumping up the uniqueness of the latest “quirky detective” are funny already- at least, to me. BTW: at what point, after there are 100 shows featuring them are detectives no longer “quirky?” But this video should serve not only as a hilarious reminder that television is still a vast trough of swill, but also as a warning that you are probably watching next season’s new “breakout” hit.

July 15, 2009

Addicted to Anger: Tim Kreider NYT Essay Hits Me Right on the Head

Filed under: 9/11, America, Bush, Cheney, Obama, dualism, journalism, media, politics, television — Ken Schreiner @ 8:35 am

When I scan the daily headlines of prestigious publications like (the New York Times), I’m semiconsciously seeking out stories that will provide fodder for the sadomasochistic pleasures of outrage and vindication, of being wronged and proven right. Currently my very favorite story, the one I can’t seem to read enough iterations of, is: “Republicans Still Writhing.”  – Tim Kreider

I couldn’t explain what’s been bothering me. Lately, I’ve been really edgy, sensitive, lacking confidence, and withdrawing from people. This isn’t new. It could be that my father was usually angry- not even at us- over government, the world, the Democrats, and an endless stream of things that didn’t even affect him and he had no control over. Maybe it’s because for most of my adult life (a result of my childhood training?), I worked in a business where the objective was to find as much misery, violence, and corruption as possible and turn it into a daily TV show for the amusement of an anger-hungry audience. But I found what might be an explanation this morning in an op-ed piece written by political cartoonist and writer Tim Kreider for the New York Times.

I could be “addicted to anger.”

During my TV news career, I was able to channel the outrage and absurdity of the world by busying myself turning them into “stories.” But just because I’m out of that sad trade now apparently doesn’t mean I don’t need the anger and outrage. I think, like Kreider, I need anger to feel normal or even good. Maybe that’s normal for some people. But it doesn’t feel normal to me- not anymore anyway. The problem is that over the past eight years of Bush-Cheney, 9/11, the Religious Right, Fox News, etc., etc., etc. THERE’S BEEN SO MUCH TO BE ANGRY ABOUT that anger addicts like me never felt better.

Now, as Kreider writes, we don’t have a convenient, daily source of outrage feeding our angry impulses, I and my fellow acrimony junkies are suffering serious withdrawal. In fact, we are turning on each other. Since Bush’s ironically long-awaited departure, America’s anger addicts are now getting their fixes off each other by seeking out and ingesting news about, among other things, how angry people are buying more guns to protect themselves from other angry people. BOY, that makes me angry.

See? I feel better already.

Almost as enlightening as Kreider’s article are the comments on it. They read like the transcript of an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting: a succession of other anger addicts standing up before the audience to either acknowledge their problem, defer to higher power (Obama, Oprah, Frank Rich?), or yell “bulls**t” and storm out of the room- in anger of course.

Heck, I almost wrote a comment. But all I could think of to say was “Thanks. I needed that.”

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