Category: Blogging

Deleting Offending Comments on YouTube

Ever since Ruby and I posted a video response to John Edwards video announcement on YouTube I’ve been dealing with right wingers talking shit. So far I’ve deleted two comments and blocked the YouTube users.

The last person claimed I was censoring him for deleting his comment. Here is my response to that:

Let me just tell ya right wingers right now… I will delete and block you if you put up stupid stuff. Just because I posted a video comment about Edwards video doesn’t mean I’m going to vote for him. Sheesh. How freakn’ simple minded can you get!

I don’t have to hold myself to your standards. Publish your own video. Write your own blog. No one is stopping you from doing that. Removing comments isn’t censorship. I won’t fall for that false bait accusation!

With all the options out there for getting your voice heard how is deleting a comment censorship? From my point of view all is not allowed on my blog and web spaces. I’m partisan and biased. We all are. Some of more so than others for sure.

If someone wants to write their comments talking smack about me or my content then go ahead. Just do it on your own site. Its easy. I’ll even help you set up a space to do it. But, I won’t be bullied by other people online! I will not publicize angry rants with my blog for Google to index!

More Local Individual Blogs

Props to Ed for giving thanks where its due, LOCAL BLOGS.

Via Ed Cone:

…the power of the internets does not lie only in building a new generation of high-traffic sites. Individual voices speaking to relatively small audiences can be powerful and useful things, and that may be especially true at the local and regional levels, where a few people can make a difference.

Note also that individual voices are important in realms beyond politics. In era of newspaper cutbacks and TV fluff, local bloggers are covering stuff that might otherwise go uncovered, adding to mainstream stories, allowing pros to tell stories that would never fit in print, and doing service journalism, too.

Hat tip to Sally Greene for the pointer. [Can I just say how much I love learning from my fellow bloggers. Ed may live 50 miles west of me but he’s still local to me.]

Open your Content: More good advice for the MSM

John Joseph Bachir adds this bit of advice for the mainstream media. See his post, Television talking to bloggers (and: I was on TV!!!!!!!!1111111one), for full context.

WNBC wants to take advantage of a more distributed information collection model. Fine. But this does not bridge the gap between old media (TV) and current media (blogging/internet). The internet is about conversation, removing degrees of separation between people, feedback…. I could go on. If WNBC is serious about participating in our world, they need to make their content accessible and usable after it has aired, allow feedback on their stories either via direct comment threads or forums on the website, and PARTICIPATE in these new tools. Have a presence on their forums. Adapt programming to the feedback… I know, I’m dreaming.

And dream on we will…

If TV stations allowed their video content to be shared, reused, and remixed that would be an excellent offering to their communities. A serious first step towards fair partnerships with bloggers and other content creators.

Put permanent links on your websites to copies of YOUR audio and video files. Encourage people to download the content and make something new with it. We’re already sharing our content. Not its your turn.

I know copyright is complicated. Creative Commons is the answer. It doesn’t circumvent the rights of Copyright holders it augments it.

Video: Building on the Past by Justin Coen

Snarky Bloggers and Why I Don't Trust the MSM

David Kirk wrote a blog post called Press Tries to Meet Snarky Local Bloggers about three people who commented on NBC-17’s invite to meet with a bunch of bloggers. My response is a bit out of context here so please go read his blog post or see part of it bellow for context. Here’s what he said about me.

iii. Uppish – Brian Russell:

7. Be very honest early on about what you want from Bloggers. We are not free labor.

8. Most important: Treat bloggers as equals and with respect. The era of consumers and passive viewers is over. Put links to us on your website…

Before we start making recommendations, should we at least sit down with them first? This is like trying to figure out who gets the kids in the divorce before the first date.

Here is my perspective.

* * * *

First thanks for the link David. This is the kind of media I like. The kind with conversations. With no disrespect intended to you, let me elaborate on how I feel about this.

I have real experiences that leads me to mistrust the media. That’s why I blog and podcast. To make my own media. I hope others will do the same. My mistrust does not prevent me from working with journalists nor hold any grudge against their profession. FAR from it.

Big picture: NBC, which NBC-17 is an affiliate, helped bang the war drum for George Bush that sent the US to war in Iraq. Over 3000 dead American Soldiers is enough to make me think twice about the trusting any media business. The New York Times and Washington Post apologized for their lack of coverage of contrary war evidence. When will the three big TV broadcasters? Not to mention Fox…

Local Picture: Local media has used local bloggers writing for profit without attribution. The biggest example is some News and Observer writers snagging quotes and beat research from OrangePolitics.org. Plus their general attitude, in my experience, has been one of condescension.

The latest dis is the recent N&O article Blogs are Changing Politics. The only reason they could come up with in their article for the large amount of politicians blogging in Orange County was “its politics tend to be more liberal.” The actual reason is lots of Orange County bloggers asked their representatives to start more transparent relationships with them by starting blogs.

I don’t hold NBC-17 accountable for the N&O’s actions. But sadly it reflects upon all of media. That’s why we lump the MSM into one big basket sometimes.

Bonus: Big media consolidation being allowed by the FCC is wrong. Local media owners are lining their pockets by exploiting public resources like physical right of ways and the airwaves.

So many more reasons… I’ll just stop here.

Should I blame NBC-17 for all this?
I don’t blame the workers at NBC-17 personally. But I’m not going to go running to their party acting like a star struck fool dreaming that they’ll listen to me and then actually change for the better overnight. I can meet other bloggers through our blogger meet ups we’ve already organized. I do a lot of media out reach/education without pay already.

What excellent opportunity do you see for Bloggers with NBC-17?serious question Please let us know how your meeting with NBC-17 goes.

* * *
Again no personal disrespect intended towards journalist and media workers. Also thank you Jason Clough for your kind note via the contact form.

Tips for the MSM on How to flirt with Bloggers

A few suggestions for the Main Stream Media on how to flirt with bloggers.

1) Hold meet and greet events with bloggers After work hours. Weekends work too.

2) Buy bloggers food and drinks.

3) Pick carefully the names for your events. Don’t use the word ‘Ascertainment’. ex. “Triangle Blogger Community Ascertainment” Have you ever met anyone who wants to be ascertained?

4) Don’t call your event a conference if it isn’t open to the whole public.

5) Important: Be as open and inclusive as possible. Don’t leave anyone out by not getting the message out. Bloggers will take it personally.

6) Don’t use e-vite. It sucks.

7) Be very honest early on about what you want from Bloggers. We are not free labor.

8) Most important: Treat bloggers as equals and with respect. The era of consumers and passive viewers is over. Put links to us on your website. (Like WRAL did.)

Hat tip to Bora and to Paul for his funny response to NC-17 weirdo blogger “Ascertainment” invite.

Analyzing Campaign Video Distro Strategies

Matthew Bernius a Visiting Professor at the Rochester Institute of Technology (I checked the RTI directory for confirmation) has written a interesting blog post about the video Edwards and Obama are using online. Its called a tale of two candidate’s video distribution strategies and it compares and contrasts the two candidates use of online video. He also links to our response to the Edward’s announcement video. Here is the part I’d like to comment on.

These examples highlight an interesting problem for candidates: while YouTube offers tools to manage posting comments, you cannot control what content your page links to. In going to “where the people are,” you leave yourself open to direct commentary from the people. Counter-commentary may be located directly beside your stumping. Contrast this to Brightcove’s promise of control, an interface that does not link directly to intertextual documents. Additionally, even when you find commentary on Brightcove, it is coming from established sources. While you might get criticized it is coming from the media, rather than the people you are trying to reach.

To me the trade off of not being able to control people’s response to your message is a fair one. The fact is the Internet and personal publishing (text, audio, and video) has radically transformed global communication, permanently. You can not stop people from sharing their opinions, online or otherwise.

Some old school campaign advisers and PR folks may think that the main stream media has the loudest final word on truth about politicians. Wrong. Perception is an important factor. Word of mouth effects perception more than traditional media. Why? Trust. People don’t trust corporate media as much as they used to.

The democratization of communication has let loose a giant amount of opinions and facts hereto unavailable to so many people. It balances and counterbalances the spin corporate media has on it. The Internet give us choice and teaches us how to be responsible media users. (previously known as media consumers)

Our future will be full of interesting “battles” between main stream media and the media maker “hordes”. If we look at the math I think its obvious that the billions of users-producers will win over the thousands of traditional media producers. Whether the content is good, bad, fair, or unfair the shear volume of content will tip the scales on who we trust.

So why shouldn’t new political candidates WORK WITH the people who will make media and vote? Working with people builds real grassroots campaigns. Right now Edwards is running a netroots video campaign and Obama isn’t. Your analysis may vary.

Hat tip to Ruby for sending me the link.

N&O, ESPN, YouTube, and The ACC

I read the News and Observer college basketball blog ACC Now. Todays post called The final 12.7 seconds contains a YouTube video of the end of the Duke vs Clemson game on ESPN. (see image bellow) Quite a nail bitter. Last minute bucket by Clemson player Hamilton tied the game 66 to 66. I really appreciated seeing this video online because I missed the cool live moment. (Plus I’m a Carolina fan and really only care about the Tar Heels.) 🙂

But this “convergence” moment by Main Stream Media intrigued me. Something happened here that would have corporate lawyers in a giant tizzy just a year or two ago. Maybe they’re still concerned about this, I don’t know.

What would concern lawyers about YouTube video on the N&O site?
The use of copyrighted material that this media player, as far as I know, does not own or have rights to. (if there is a notice of permission on the site I missed please let me know.)

YouTube video on the N$O
Click on image for larger version.

Here’s what happened with this simple blog post. The News and Observer, owned by The McClatchy Company, has a video captured by YouTube user goheels88 on their for-profit website. The video is a copyrighted product of ESPN and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Not to mention the rights of Duke University and Clemson University. You have one media outlet profiting, capturing eyeballs for ad revenue, by leveraging the copyright of two to four owners.

Is posting a YouTube video like this on the N&O site legal?

I hope it is. Its very possible that YouTube, now owned by tech giant Google, has licensed video clips from ESPN that are captured by YouTube users. Or maybe lawyers believe that any content still publicly available on the YouTube site is fair game. Bloggers do it so why can’t businesses?

If all these corporate entities have reached an agreement then I applaud them. If they have just decided its stupid to sue each other when this video promotes everyones interest then I congratulate you. Any way you look at it this is a watershed moment in the commons of information.

Please do me a favor N&O, send goheels88 a case of beer for capturing that video. He’ll need it when the Tar Heels demolish Dook in a few weeks. 🙂