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Dave Winer

June 6, 2002 by Michael Boyle

Dave Winer

has published an interesting DaveNet today, “Is it marketing or journalism?” Of course this question has been central to journalism for years, going back at least to the days of Hearst and Pulitzer’s yellow journalism. But though the question seems to have been sleeping for a while, it has definitely revived in the past couple of years.

As far as I’m concerned, Winer is pretty directly taking on the Telecom Reform Act in a piece like that. At least that’s my interpretation. By concentrating ownership of the media, the Act led directly (though it wasn’t the only thing that led us here) to the point where there is a lack of competition in the marketplace: competition that would (and traditionally did) keep journalists honest. Think of baseball. The owners always scream about keeping free agent salaries down, about controlling their environment. But with 30 teams, someone (usually Steinbrenner, it seems) always defects and refuses to toe the line and signs the big contract. That competition no longer exists in journalism. There aren’t very many players left (at the money end of things), so it’s less likely that someone will defect from current practice (i.e., not questioning the boss or money) and thus in effect keep them all honest.

Again, with feeling: the CDA was a smokescreen! It was the rest of the 1996 Telecom Reform Act that was really offensive. It vacated accountability in the media through the removal of competition. The effect this has had (with other influences) is undeniable.

Tags: ALA, EFF, Environment, Journalist, Marketing, Media, Scripting News, Wine

Macfixit has published

December 20, 2001 by Michael Boyle

Macfixit has published

its annual Year in Review which does a good job of balancing news from the Mac world, the world of technology, and the world at large. It was a big year in all three overlapping worlds. Luckily, the year has been mostly excellent where Macs are concerned.

Tags: ALA, Review, Technology

Very important

June 25, 2001 by Michael Boyle

and very good news today from the US Supreme Court: Free-Lance Beat Media Cos. in Court. This is just as important as any music-related decision, and the problem has been evident for much longer, as media companies of all sizes have either republished work (for profit) without additional payment to the freelancers or bullied them into signing (still valid, alas) contracts that severely limited their rights. But the Court held that publishers may not so brazenly disrespect authors rights – if they want to republish an article, they can pay for the right:

The Authors and Publishers may enter into an agreement allowing continued electronic reproduction of the Authorsf works; they […] may draw on numerous models for distributing copyrighted works and remunerating authors for their distribution.

Tags: ALA, Media, Music

I’ve neglected to comment

June 24, 2001 by Michael Boyle

on a whole bunch of stories lately that I think are important and/or interesting – chief among these being the Smart Tags feature that’s being deployed in new versions of key MS software. Some disagree, but I am of the opinion that this feature hugely oversteps the boundaries of what’s appropriate or acceptible for a software company to do, particularly in the browser where the software is responsible for presenting other people’s writing.

As one would expect, the gang at ALA have published an excellent analysis of the feature by Chris Kaminsky. To link or not to link, and to what, is an editorial decision, period. And the decision to do so rests with the people involved in the editorial process, and nowhere else. I don’t get what’s so hard about that concept for some.

Tags: ALA, Analysis, Browser, Software, War

It’s the most beautiful

June 10, 2001 by Michael Boyle

weekend yet this summer here in Montreal, but alas I’ve been pretty much tied to my desk, other than meeting with a friend of mine for breakfast this morning. The choice came down to the following question: do I do the work that’s been languishing in various folders on my machine all at once and get it done, or do I put it off in favour of a great weekend and then fret about it for weeks or months, possibly ruining a good portion of the summer? So I came down on the side of the future, I voted for the potential of the entire summer rather than one glorious weekend.

Tags: ALA, Friend, Montreal

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