Activists Getting Serious!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/08/bill-oreilly-activist-umbrella-ambush_n_1136834.html?ref=media

This time I decided to publish I video I found on the Huffington Post, it is a very short video but I think it says a lot.
Basically what's happening here is that  an activist spotted Bill O'Reilly leaving the hotel where republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich was holding a fundraiser in Washington DC. The activist follows O'Reilly asking him over and over again if he was attending Gingrich's fundraising event until he is hit by O'Reillys umbrella. Bill O'Reilly is known for his talk show The O'Reilly Factor on Fox News, he is a hardcore republican conservative and his talking points are often times blunt, radical and offensive, at times they don't even make any sense. I have to admit this is somewhat of a personal point of view concerning republican talk points. However, it is obvious that during the last couple of years, people grew sick of his rhetoric and arguments.
It is very rare to see him in public and this time an activist was on the spot and did not think twice before trying to talk to him, O'Reillys reaction was clearly over the line. This shows a couple of interesting things. First, this means that people are no longer ready to listen to ridiculous talking points and not react, moreover, it shows that talk show hosts like O'Reilly understand what is happening, they have the feeling that what they are doing will no longer be accepted in the near future. I believe that this video will circulate some more and make a fuzz, and I hope it does.
Whatever happens regarding this incident, it is now clear that talk show hosts are under the radar and will have to change, even if just a little bit or they will not survive. This is important because not only will they be discredited, everything they stand for will be discredited including the Republican party and corporations. This is a great thing happening, the will of the people is starting to gain so much popularity that it might get to talk show hosts that enjoyed complete hegemony and no accountability for years.
I am hopeful for the future!

Digital is the way to go!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2011/nov/18/guardian-news-media-printing

This time I decided to use an article  from The Guardian, which actually concerns The Guardian newspaper and it's parent company Guardian News & Media.
In this article, it is shown that Guardian News & Media decided to make significant cuts to it's printing sector.

This obviously means that there will be layoffs and closures, in fact, they have stated that only the factories in Manchester and Stratford will be used in the future for printing. The article also emphasizes on their objective to go digital in the future. Although the Guardian is confident that printed Newspapers are still viable in the near future, it is made clear that the future of the Newspaper lies in the digital world.

Besides the cuts and layoffs, I believe there is a more important message in this article that applies to virtually any other written news outlet. It not only shows that the news is going digital, it shows that the news has to go digital in order for it to survive. This goes back to the documentary The End of Print and the debate/discussion we had in class.

The Guardian is not a small local Sunday Newspaper, it is a very respected Newspaper that is is trusted and read regularly by a large number of people. If a news outlet as important as the Guardian had to let go of print and jump into digital, then I strongly believe that this is the case for most of the other news outlets available. But hey, is this really an issue? Although digital platforms don't have the authentic feel of a physical newspaper, they are more practical in the way they are used.

So People grab your tablets, the end of print is near!

Fox News leading in Polls.

http://www.politico.com/blogs/onmedia/0911/Poll_More_prefer_Fox_News.html


This is an article from Politico that shows the results of a Poll done recently in the United States about News Channel preferences. I think is article is very interesting because as we know, different channels have different political affiliations and can greatly influence the views of the people, and that is especially crucial in politics because often times, this news channels will influence voters, thus they have a role to play in electing the leaders of a country.

In this case, the most popular cable channel was Fox News, owned by Newscorp, a Murdoch held corporation. Fox is known to have a very strong conservative right wing position. Although they do not want to admit it, it is very easily seen through there programs and the way the present the news, especially when it has to do with politics.

This is not just my personal view, a lot of analysts and intellectuals agree on the fact that Fox News is often misleading in the way the information is delivered, even the polls show that the people who believe wrong information usually watch Fox News. What is impressive here is that this shows that Television has a very strong reach and can influence people in making some serious decisions such as voting for the President. Television actually has an important role to play in important nationwide aspects. However the problem is that they do not need to be the best, they just need to be the most convincing, so marketing and communications techniques to be as persuasive as possible.

For me, this is a serious concern because I think that when interest is mixed with the News, it can lead to a disaster.