Media Curmudgeon

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August 26, 2008

Watch the Conventions on CSpan

Guest blogger and Pulitzer-Prize-winning reporter Nick Kotz writes:

"Watching the Democratic convention, my wife and I have found peace of mind and intellectual clarity by ONLY watching on CSpan. On any other channels or networks, including the better ones, the endless chatter by the talking heads, demagogues, alleged experts, partisans, and even fine analytical reporters ignores what is going on the podium and shows just how horrible television news has become.

Watching CSpan we can decide for ourselves whether what we are hearing is stupid or brilliant, boring or scintillating, enlightening or just propaganda. I recommend that anyone who is a media analyst or just a citizen trying to keep informed try my little experiment: Click around the channels and then watch CSpan and think for yourself."

Posted by Charles Warner at 5:25 PM | Comments (0) | Print |

Media August

I have not blogged in August because my mind has been on vacation. However, my eyes and ears have been relatively active, reading e-mail, blogs, The New York Times, the Economist, the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, and watching videos of Democratic convention speeches online; watching some of the Olympics on television; listening to ESPN and the Yankees on radio; and listening to four books on my iPod. Here are some impressions.

I was somewhat surprised that the FCC approved the merger of XM and Sirius, which I had predicted wouldn’t happen. The approval probably says more about my ability to predict the future than it does about the FCC. Actually, I’m pleased about the merger because a good friend works at XM, and he’ll probably keep his job.

Sirius-XM CEO Mel Karmazin wasted no time in bolstering the content offering of the combined satellite services by hiring Chris “Mad Dog” Russo from WFAN-AM, New York’s top sports radio station (tops in the older demos, but NY’s ESPN Radio is creeping up in the younger male demos). The Mad Dog has a huge following and his program will certainly enhance Sirius-XM’s sports offerings and give it another talk channel that can carry revenue-producing commercials, of which the huge array of music channels are devoid.

The Olympics on NBC drew the largest television sports audience in history and made NBCU over $1 billion in advertising revenue. The coverage was a critical success, but for me the studio anchors were pretty bland and dull – too much Costas, Collingwood, and especially, Lampley. The architecture of the Beijing Olympic buildings was as good as the performances of Michael Phelps and Usain Bolt – a perfect name for a perfect performance – and he has a right to be a showboat.

However, putting aside my horrid record for predictions, this will be the last summer Olympics without universally available live coverage. The next summer Olympics will be available live online, and, hopefully, the Web presence will be much better than NBC’s Olympic Web site. ESPN has already promised to cover events live if it gets the next summer Olympics. Let’s hope so because ESPN’s sports coverage is far superior to NBC’s in every respect, especially studio personnel.

The Democratic Convention is being covered well online – a medium ideally suited for viewer-choice coverage. The New York Times’s Web site has videos of major speeches as does CNN.com, but I prefer the coverage on MSNBC.com because it’s a more attractive and easier to navigate site.

On the Web we can see Obama rising (hopefully), the Kennedys declining (sadly), and the Clintons exiting (thankfully), and don’t have to watch it all on the big screen interrupted by pandering commercials.

The Obamas rock, the Web rocks, books on an iPod rock, my summer rocked, and the Yankees suck. Four out of five isn't bad.

Posted by Charles Warner at 1:53 PM | Comments (1) | Print |

Helene K at August 27, 2008 2:17 PM writes:

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