Well, I've now found periodic WiFi at the locations I'm at in Europe. Unfortunately, they're looking for almost 20 Euro / day for 24 hours of access. Kind of ridiculous, frankly. If only I could get it to work in my hotel room.

Anywho, continued light blogging for a few more days as I'm still traveling. Hope to be back in action full time soon.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer has made a pretty slick move recently, and one that should make those in the Internet/blogging world happy - they started a conversation. It's not anything earth shattering, and is actually quite simple. The paper's Editorial Page Editor, Mark Trahant, describes the move, which entails one addition to the P-I's website.

We've started an experiment. From now on, if you look at nearly all Seattle Post-Intelligencer editorials on the Web, you will also see a reader poll.

So easy, and yet so very interesting. The paper has shown that they are not only interested in what their readers are thinking when they read op-ed pieces, but they want readers to know what their fellow readers are thinking.

Posting may be a little bit sketchy for the next few days, as I'm traveling in Germany and my access to WiFi is less than perfect, it seems.

The Denver Post's Will Shanley describes an event that took place in the Colorado city on Thursday, where the topic of media consolidation was argued during a panel discussion. Both sides were well represented, with the Post's publisher joining a television station executive, a consumer advocate, a U.S. Senator and a university professor.

Mark Koldys snags a quality FOX News vidcap with Linda Vester doing what was presumably supposed to be an interview with Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth. It's not even necessary to describe - check it out here.

On Tuesday, the World Association of Newspapers issued a letter to the President of Yemen in response to the charges and subsequent jailing of a Yemeni journalist, Abdulkareem Al-Khaiwani. Al-Khaiwani has been held because of critical comments against the country's government - and is only one of a few journalists who have had similar run-ins in recent times with the Yemeni state.

[via Armies of Liberation]

Netjak has an article Thursday by Rick Healey that discusses the "birth of video game journalism." Interestingly enough, I find that those critiquing the subject have the same complaints as do both sides with regard to almost any other topic, from politics to mathematics. Those who are "in" any industry have always complained that the journalists covering them have no idea what they're writing about, and the journalists always defend themselves by saying that they know enough about the story to write it.

Which leads to today's world - in a place where everyone lots of people play journalist/commentator on the Internet, does the chicken come before the egg?

Via Steve Rubel, I've just heard about Susan Mernit's post about the Associated press (quietly) putting RSS feeds up on their website. I've got to say that not only am I really psyched about this, but I think it has a lot bigger of an impact than we're immediately thinking.

This comes shortly after Business Wire launched "customized" RSS feeds for their PressPass subscribers, and on the heels of Bloglines being purchased by Ask Jeeves. What does it mean? Well, it means the new distribution method has officially been named, more or less. Not that we had any doubts, but Dave Winer et al definitely get a round of whatever brew they want from me, next time they're in town.

When the Business Wire thing came about, my thought was that not only were they making their content more readily available to journalists, they were ensuring their survival for the time being. Obviously that topic didn't come up while speaking with the company, but that's what I was thinking nonetheless. Business Wire needed RSS in order to keep journalists up to speed with what their clients were saying and doing, and this was the only way to do so. Obviously the technosavvy are already all over RSS, but surely it's not too far away that the rest of the journo-population are doing similar things, right?

When I caught Jeff Jarvis' post on the subject, it furthered my already sneaking suspicions about the AP's move - it actually changes distribution of news - at least for bloggers. No longer are you "slave" to other news sources who may or may not have news feeds. You're effectively "on" the wire. While it's never going to be any story (okay, never say never), it's a significant portion of whatever stories the AP is delivering to its members. And. You. Now. Get. Them. All.

After quickly firing off an email to Jarvis, I bounced this around on IM a bit (thanks, Jason), and thought it was worthwhile to share. Here's a quick excerpt:

As those who are web savvy (bloggers excluded, for argument's sake) grow up to be journalists, they're going to know RSS as the way to go for everything - web surfing for a 15 year old right now is probably very different from what a fifteen year old in 1998 did. AP *is* the news source, and pleases not only us, the blog readers and writers (among others) with these feeds, but other news organizations as well - but they still distribute to members through their own channels - which perhaps have evolved into RSS. A wire service, which could be boiled down to information distribution for $600 or whatever, can't get the word out to same journalists, bloggers, and readers without keeping up with the Joneses - which RSS does. It's about survival for some, while "making it better" for others, as AP would be classified.

With regard to the AP, the next question is, do bloggers altogether stop referencing news sources if they're going to be pulling significant information from RSS feeds - and do the news sites that previously got traffic from bloggers - hell, from Drudge - now get hurt by the lack of eyeballs viewing their advertisements? This is momentous, in a way.

Now I in no way meant to demean Business Wire, PR Newswire, or whoever else in that space - just trying to make a quick and dirty generalization for the sake of argument. Which brings us to the final point - is this the 'killer app' move that the AP has done to actually change how news is distributed? This can be simply articulated by using bloggers as "today's" example:

Old way: News came out on the wire, and various news sites / outlets picked it up. You, the reader, went to "News Station X" on the Internet, linked to the article, wrote your comments, followup, or whatever, and that was that. "News Station X" benefited (hopefully) from the readership of anyone cruising through your blog and going to read the full story you mentioned/linked to. "News Station X" can claim yz number of readers for the month, and can sell advertising as such.

New way: News came out on the wire, and various news sites / outlets picked it up. You, the blogger, have a subscription to the feed, and your reader automatically snags any article that has to do with a topic that you cover on your blog. You click on the link through the RSS feed, are directed to the AP.org website, and go from there. Blogger Y links to the AP.org website, therefore removing "News Station X" from the equation, readership declines for "News Station X" (as much as can be argued that bloggers deliver traffic), and advertising rates do not increase over time.

Now perhaps I'm being overly simplistic, but consider mass-trafficked blogs such as an Instapundit or a website like Drudge Report. I'm sure MyWay.com or Yahoo! News is more than happy to take the 1,000,000 visitors that Drudge sent them for the article about the three headed love child of some government official. But that might not be the case forever, if this continues as it seems like it could.

Just my two cents.

[update] Rafat Ali has more on the situation and my speculation (though not so wild, really). It looks like the AP's feeds will ultimately lead readers who click on the feeds to an AP member's site "closest" to wherever they are located through geotargeting. What's not clear if you'll be able to "choose" a member site which you prefer, much like you can through their site when you are looking for a local member now. I can't say for sure I would always choose the most local paper to wherever I was - and what about while traveling abroad? Just wondering. Long-term, I still think the AP is taking a bit off the top of what its member sites are doing - people are pulling feeds from the "source," which leads to less people going to the news sites on a whim to visit, whether or not those sites have feeds in the first place. But at the least, this is positive with regard to the concerns I expressed above.

Need a job?

Bloglines is hiring.

Towards the bottom of this column by the Village Voice's Jarrett Murphy is some skinny on The Week, which sounds a lot to me like a magazine that does what blogs manage to do for readers - do all the filtering so that the blog's readers don't have to spend a ton of time doing so. My whole problem with publications that are less than daily (and even that's a drag, to be honest) is that they just seem like oddities to me. If I want to read about newsworthy events, I'm never going to rely on the print version of a publication for reporting - editorial, sure, but not reporting. It's "old" to me if I get it at the end of the week or whatever. As I'm sure this isn't the case for most Americans - yet - I can see how such a pub would be helpful. But I still don't get it.

Also, make sure and check out the story about Jason Leopold, a writer who was called out for using unconfirmed information related to the Enron scandal in a 2002 item at Salon.com - and how he's looking to unleash his whole life and times drama in a new (maybe) book.

As discussed in mid-January, the Seattle Times is set to cut about 100 positions this month. On Wednesday, the Associated Press reported additional details, pointing out that 23 of the 99 jobs currently slated for the cut belong to newsroom staff.

Crain's has the story about a joint venture by The Deal and CNET News.com to start a new publication, Tech Confidential.

The St. Petersburg Times' Vladimir Kovalyev comments on the announcement that "independent" RTV International, a television news station currently available to Russians through satellite subscription service, will soon join the ranks of free television - through satellite - for citizens of the country. Kovalyev points out that their company line is "The Only News With No Censorship from the Kremlin," which should be a welcome relief, considering some other situations that have come up in recent times at Russian news outlets.

The Charlotte Observer's Mark Washburn wrote in Wednesday's paper about an unnamed producer at WBTV who was fired this week after it turned out that two out of the three lines in a story read on-air were "copied verbatim" from a newspaper story from the day before.

IntelliTXT is rearing its head again, this time at a major newspaper - the New York Post. It's unclear when the Vibrant Media technology arrived on their site, but none of these ads were coming up for me earlier this week in the minimal time that Internet Explorer was in use - just the pop-unders that defy toolbar action.

Considering some of the reaction that the IntelliTXT ads have faced by bloggers, including here at TMD and at PaidContent, among others, it's surprising that a major publication has gone ahead with this service. Perhaps the click throughs really are that high of a rate and some of us are missing something, but I'm not likely to believe that. It's not normal, not contextual, and isn't something that positive comments have been thrown around about, at least from most Internet-savvy folks.

So, the question remains - should we be concerned? Is IntelliTXT really going to be a major factor in the world of advertising, or is this just another dry run from a publisher looking for some revenues?

As of the time of this article, the New York Post has not yet responded to a request for comment.

[ed: again, typically my browsing is done exclusively in Firefox, but there are certain locations where I am limited to IE for various purposes - so if this isn't "new" news, forgive me - but it's still worth discussing. Cross-posted at AdJab.]

[update 2/24] The New York Times' Nat Ives wrote about IntelliTXT on Thursday, and mentioned AdJab as being on the story about the Post first!]

Forbes carries The McKinsey Quarterly, which this time around focuses on newspaper format changes, specifically a flip from broadsheet to tabloid. They've weighed in on online media and other news sources have devoured a lot of the readership of our beloved dailies, and what can be done - quickly - to help the problems.

Well, it's offical. Jason Kottke has quit his job and is officially a full-time blogger. Check out his post for all the nitty-gritty. He's doing a three-week fund drive at the moment, which will hopefully get him to some sort of critical mass so he can get his creative on for the next however long this lasts.

Good luck to Jason as he jumps into this exciting, challenging situation. Should be a lot of fun - plus, for the selfish of us out here, it means more Kottke to read!

It'll be great when he files next year's tax returns, with "freelance - blogger" as his job description.

[update] Red Herring's Irina Slutsky follows up on the story, with comments from Steve Rubel and Anil Dash on Kottke's move.

Robert Feder reports in today's Chicago Sun-Times that if you're a program director, Chicago might be the place for you right now, as five (at least) radio stations in the area are looking for someone to fill that role.

The Chicago Sun-Times' Eric Herman details the Tribune Company's decision to slightly increase CEO Dennis FitzSimons' salary year-over-year but cut his bonus by more than three-quarters, from $1.2 million to $260,000, citing cashflow and the refunds to advertisers for circulation scandals at some of the company's newspaper properties.

Hiphop-Elements.com points out the story about a feud of sorts in Los Angeles, where some personalities at Emmis Communications-owned Power 106, a rap and hip-hop station, have allegedly stated that any music artist who records a promo for Power 106 competitor KDAY 93.5FM "will be immediately removed from Power 106 rotation." Hiphopdirectory.com has not released any further details on the story, and it has not been independently corroborated elsewhere.

Emmis Communications and Power 106 did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

I was saddened to hear last night about the death of "gonzo journalist" Hunter S. Thompson last night after returning home from a weekend out of town. Thompson, 67, apparently shot himself on Sunday at his home near Aspen, Colorado. Love him or hate him, you've probably read something he wrote - or at least you've seen "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," which starred Johnny Depp.

While not necessarily agreeing with everything he had to say, he was always an interesting read to me. I was further exposed in recent years by Thompson's presence on ESPN's Page 2, where he had been a fixture since 2001. Page 2's front carries a message on Thompson today, "Goodbye, Good Doctor."

Interestingly, as I key this in, I'm thinking that he wouldn't want everyone to be hemming and hawing about the situation. He lived his life the way he wanted to, and would expect the rest of us to do the same. He left on his terms, so I'll just keep it short and say Goodbye and Thanks.

E&P details the upcoming Opinion Forum in Washington, D.C. on March 8, an event that will feature various panel discussions, including one with op-ed columnists discussing their trade and how they relate to the public-at-large.

WISN-TV out of Milwaukee has the story about the passing of Milwaukee journalist Mattiebelle Woods, 102, who died Thursday evening.

At the beginning of the year, word came out that Orbit, the satellite service in the Middle East, Northern Africa and parts of Europe, had dropped CBS News programming from its schedule in favor of shows from the FOX News channel. At the time, users on Orbitforum.net were up in arms at the displacement of the CBS News programs, and there was no real word from the company as to where things were going.

This week, I've been informed that the Orbit News channel has now removed FOX News from its schedule, and have replaced the bulk of the slots with MSNBC, NBC, and ABC programs. No further details are available at this time, although the 'TBA' slots on this weekend's planned programming should yield results soon.

The Vanderbilt Hustler has a story by Meredith Casey on Friday about a visit to the school by CNN political producer Sam Feist earlier this week. Feist was on hand to talk about media bias and how political media works. Casey reports that Feist "sees the media as a check or watchdog for the government as a whole," which is an interesting thought, and not one I'd disagree with - but as the "new" media evolves nowadays, we will begin to find patterns of coverage and behavior as administrations change - which probably explains the massive attention that media bias has garnered in recent years.

[ed: Oh, and the article's last sentence made me laugh, just a bit.]

On Thursday, San Francisco-based Business Wire quietly launched two new features in their online service, both related to RSS feeds. PressPass users now have the opportunity to receive the latest stories in "My PressPass" via an RSS feed, which is available after logging into the system and scrolling to the bottom of the page - each individual's RSS feed will be different, based on their subscriptions to Industry and Subject selections.

Additionally, an RSS feed is now available under the "Photos & Multimedia" heading, at the bottom of the "Smart News Releases" section. This feed is exclusively made up of releases that contain images or audio and video.

Business Wire's closest competitor, PR Newswire, has had an RSS feed for about a year now, but it appears to be limited to "Today's News," not any subscriptions that a user may have. In September of 2004, MarketWatch.com columnist Frank Barnako wrote that "BusinessWire [sic] doesn't get it" on his weblog, which he was probably right about - then. At the time, PR Newswire was indeed the only one of the two sites to have a feed. And yes, it appears that the individual at Business Wire that he traded e-mails with did not know what an RSS feed was. Fortunately, they quickly caught on, publishing five industry-specific feeds in November, and progressing to the point they are at today. As of today, Business Wire does get it - the only question remaining is whether they're moving at the pace that today's media needs to receive information. Early reports would say yes. So, as they say on the playground - "Tag, you're it!"

Laura Sturaitis, Business Wire Vice President, New Media Development explains the strategy behind the further adoption of RSS, stating, "Business Wire is committed to using the best technology tools for the job in our effort to serve the media and get them our members' news in the fastest and easiest way they can use it on deadline, so naturally we wanted to make RSS part of that mix.

Business Wire's strategy towards making RSS a part of their business was to get it right the first time, hence the aforementioned launch of five industry feeds in November and the evolution into what exists today. Those five (Automotive, Entertainment, Health, Sports Business and Travel) are set to grow into the eighteen individual industry categories that are available to PressPass users under the "News by Industry" option - Communications, Construction & Property, Consumer, Education, Energy, Government, Manufacturing, Natural Resources, Philanthropy, Professional Services, Retail, Technology and Transport.

Also included in this week's launch are RSS feeds for "Hot Topics," which are located at the top of the left-side menu bar. These are determined based on "what's going on" in the news at the time, such as "Politics" during election season. Currently, feeds exist for Tsunami and Nanotechnology topics.

Sturaitis also informed TMD that the "Smart News Releases" feed was created in response to journalists' requests for an quick and easy way to find news releases that contain photos, graphics, logos, slideshows, or A/V content. She confirmed that Businss Wire is committed to help PressPass subscribers successfully manage the news and information in a manner they are not only accustomed to (through e-mail and the website) but also through this new transmission method, on their customers' terms - RSS.

[editor's note: this post was updated Friday, 2/18 to include comments and additional information from Business Wire's Laura Sturaitis]

The New York Times Company announced in press release Thursday afternoon that it is set to purchase About.com from Primedia, Inc. for $410 million - in cash. This move creates a significant online footprint for the NYTCo, and expands the eyeball grab of the company, with an additional 22 million unique visitors per month - more than the entire current network that the Company is receiving, on average.

Primedia president and CEO Kelly Conlin seems to be pleased with the move, saying "The sale of About.com is a material deleveraging transaction that significantly strengthens Primedia's balance sheet." At the same time, current About CEO Peter Horan followed up by saying that "About.com will grow even stronger by being affiliated with such a strong, innovative media company." Does this mean Primedia wasn't innovative enough?

Rafat Ali has more here and some commentary here. The full press release can be found here via BusinessWire. Check here for the Times' coverage.

I'm in Ali's camp on this one - search visitors to About have to be legion, and the Times could probably work some wonders around that, and it could be just the boon to advertisers as the world of print media continues to decline. The newsgathering will continue as it is, but circulation will drop - it's only a matter of time. This keeps the "blood flowing" in the company, for the time being. On your toes, people, on your toes.

[Thanks, Joe!]

The New York Times Company announced on Thursday that their website traffic for January was a record, with 553 million page views -- 2 million more than the previous record, November of 2004, during the Presidential election. Specifically mentioned were 4.5 million pageviews originating from the Times' RSS feeds and a 23% hop in unique visitors, to 16.4 million, from the previous year. The 'multimedia' sections of the site, which include slide shows and A/V, experienced a screaming 671% surge from the same period in 2004. (BW)

A Knoxville News-Sentinel staffer found himself in an odd position on Wednesday when a bomb squad detonated a newspaper coin box after it was reported as "suspicious" because of wires that were exposed. Robert Wilson reports that the newspaper coin box was located in a place where it was not "normally installed," leading to concerns that the device was potentially dangerous. After assessing the situation and being informed that copy editor Keith Harville believed it may only have been a coin box, the device was destroyed for precautionary reasons.

Lalit Jha writes in Thursday's Grand Forks Herald about a $250,000 donation made by former student and longtime journalist / editor Charles Johnson that, in Jha's words, is "expected to assist in re-establishing accreditation" for the University of North Dakota's journalism school.

SPORTSbyBROOKS has a story up about ESPN College Gameday guy Lee Corso's appearance on a Dallas area radio program recently, only to have it end in a very strange fashion. During the show, one of the hosts, Dan McDowell, said something about Corso posing nude for a magazine, making a quip about Corso's college roommate, Burt Reynolds, who really did pose nude for a magazine way back when. As the story goes, Corso quickly became aghast, and walked off the show - but the hosts state that he gave them the "thumbs up" later on in passing. So is Corso just kooky (gee, surprise!) or was he really ticked off?

City Pages' G.R. Anderson, Jr. gives Clear Channel Communications a thorough runthru in this article on Wednesday, from how the company showed up in Minneapolis just a few years ago and has grown into a huge part of the entertainment industry in the area.

"No single business has had a larger cultural impact on the Twin Cities, ever--let alone in less than 10 years.

That's not to say that everyone is pleased with the company's presence - but it shows that as "bad" as many people believe Clear Channel to be, they have had positive financial impacts in some places. But it leads to a question - when is competition not really competition?

Last night, I had an opportunity to correspond via email with the author of the Radio Free Nepal blog. What I received was some more information about the situation going on in the country, especially regarding the media. Questions and answers below. [Note: any adjustments made in editing the responses are in "[]" brackets]

TMD: To start, can you explain a little bit about how you've been corresponding over the Internet for the last weeks? I know there are times when outbound communications are shut down, and I would expect that dial up Internet access creates for frustrating situations when trying to get information out there. Are you being monitored while on the Internet at all, or are there certain times when you are able to be online, uncensored?

RFN: At exactly 10:00am on Feb 1, the King's address to the nation was broadcasted by the state-run radio and television. And, by the time, the half-an-hour speech ended, all the inbound and outbound calls were closed. Later I heard that army personnel went to each ISPs and shut down the servers and told them not to run it until further orders.

The telephone was open for a few minutes everyday at random time but with out international calls but no internet. The internet and phone started running as usual after a week and since then working fine without any problem. I don't know if its being monitored or not but my query to the ISP was answered in negative.

During the time, the only way to communicate to outer world was the satellite phones which very less people own. And embassies and UN offices let journalists (I don't know about others) to use internet using their V-SAT.

TMD: Also regarding the Internet, are you able to read most websites, but not have access to self-publishing tools such as blogs and whatnot?

RFN: Internet is working fine. I can do anything on the internet, there [are] no restrictions besides in some websites which were banned before the coup like www.cpnm.org which is of the Maoists.

TMD: How about telecommunications - are outbound and inbound telephonecalls up and running at all times in Nepal at this time? Are there restrictions placed on these, as well?

RFN: Telecommunications are running well. There are no restrictions [on] inbound and outbound calls.

However, cellular mobile services have been closed downed and landline telephone service of private telephone company, United Telecom, has been down.

TMD: Is there any information about yourself (yourselves?) that you might be able to share? Based on the writings on the Radio Free Nepal blog, I thought perhaps you were involved in journalism or some form of writing. Without obviously giving away too much information, can you confirm this? Are you currently working at the job that you had before all of this happened with the sacking of the PM and last cabinet? If so, what has changed? If not, what are you planning to do, or are you doing?

RFN: About me, I am a professional journalist associated with a reputed media in the country. I currently hold my job but many of my friends have already lost their jobs and are in situation to lose it. There have been talks about lay-offs but we don't know as yet how many will lose the job. Most of the publishers are in 'wait-and-see' strategy for two-or-three months before finally making the decision but they have already made it clear that there will be lay-off if situation doesn't improve.

TMD: Can you share any more about the public-at-large? Are they all fully aware of what has happened and what the rest of the world knows, which seems to be different from what was originally reported in the news in the days after the "bloodless coup," as some are calling it? How is general morale in the country?

RFN: People in Nepal are largely unknown of the consequences of the takeover. As most of us are uneducated and poor, we have less to do with the politics. And, besides, the ongoing Maoists war and the political instability during democracy have frustrated many. Just after the takeover, many believed that there were no alternatives for Nepal. Now with the information isolation and all they are starting doubting the King's intention.

And, to add here, King Gyanendra is not a popular king. Many Nepalese believe he had hands in the Royal Massacre that saw all but Gyanendra's family killed. King Birendra who was killed in the incident was very popular king. And the current crown prince Paras is more known for his antics – fighting in casinos and reckless driving.

The people are still confused about the whole thing. They know democracy is gone. And, they believe they have no choice either – they believe democracy is good but that failed to their test in last 14 years. They know the King is not doing well, but don't have any other principle to hold on to protest the move. Besides, the King is trying to be popular with price slash in LP Gas and kerosene.

TMD: I've been posting this week about stories saying that over 1,000 journalists are probably going to lose their jobs, if they haven't already. Is that looked at as permanent? Do these news organizations plan to tow the party line or are they planning to just dissolve?

RFN: Since all FM Radio stations who used to give news a top priority have been ordered only to broadcast music, the job of the journalists working there are in danger. I haven't heard anyone being fired but everybody is concerned and are taking their job as gone one despite their employers are using same 'wait and see' strategy. It looks like the King is not in the mood to let them broadcast news anytime in future as the state-owned daily carried a news title, 'No fm station in the world broadcast news' a few days ago. If that happen their jobs will go for forever.

FM Stations, I have heard a dozen or so among 56 operating have been not broadcasting.

TMD:Do you have any idea how many journalists have been arrested for speaking out at this time? Reports are spotty in this country as to what has actually happened. Do you know anyone who has been arrested or censored by the government, or stopped by soldiers for whatever they were doing?

RFN: I have no idea how many journalists have been arrested because news are very hard to come by. The general secretary of Federation of Nepalese Journalists (FNJ) Bishnu Nisthuri have been arrested and the FNJ are planning a peaceful rally against media censorship and the arrest. The president of FNJ Taranath Dahal is said to have been inside UN (which may be true because his interview appeared in the newsmagazine yesterday). What I can confirm now is no one from mainstream dailies has been arrested so far.

I know a lot of people who actually faced the censorship. They told me that the army were not harsh instead were polite but nevertheless did their work sincerely.

Additionally, I asked whether there was anything else this blogger wanted to get out there or that we, the community, could do to help. I received one sentence in reply: "What you can do for Nepal is spread words about need [for] democracy in Nepal because USA's view will make a lot of differences."

The Miami Herald's Christina Hoag writes Tuesday about the format flip that went on in the area in the last few days, with Clear Channel moving its 94.9 WZTA to a Hispanic format. This was quickly followed by a switch yesterday on Cox's Party 93.1 from dance to rock music.

The Chicago Tribune announced on Tuesday that Jim Kirk would take on the role of associate managing editor of business news. Kirk has been working as business editor since October of 2004, and a staffer of the Tribune since 1997, when he joined as a marketing and advertising writer. [PRN]

This morning, I came across a blog*spot site that appears to be a blog written by someone in Nepal who has "liveblogged" what has amounted to a bloodless coup in that country earlier this month. You can read it at freenepal.blogspot.com. There are a few posts up now, starting from February 1, which was about the time that outside Internet access and mass communication was blocked to all citizens and the media. I have read that there are various "openings" for Internet access and outside communication, and would presume that this was posted sometime during those opportunities.

More background on the situation here, here, here and here.

Jason Clarke, editor of Moorelies.com and fellow Media Bloggers Association member has launched a new blog this week, Network Landscape. It's pretty slick, if I do say so myself, and I'm looking forward to Jason's expansion from all things Michael Moore into "citizen’s media, emerging technologies, entertainment, and content," as he describes it.

Plus, you get an extra special bonus interview with yours truly, all about the launch of AdJab, the latest addition to the Weblogs, Inc. family.

Congrats on the new blog, Jason, and good luck!

Just catching this now as I read up on what I've missed today. FOX News Radio's Tony Snow has come out to say that he has colon cancer. More here at the Tony Snow Show website.

Thanks, James, for pointing this out. Well wishes go out to Snow and his family from me as well.

On a side note, what's up with this? One article, and it's not even the hed?

[update 3/27/2007] If you're looking for new news on this story, you can go here.

The Journalists Network informs about the accidental death of Diana Seale, an editor for the English edition of Kathimerini, a paper from Athens, Greece. Seale, 31, was mountain climbing in a group when they were caught in an avalanche.

Fort Worth Star-Telegram reader advocate David House offered some insight on Sunday into what goes on "behind the scenes" at a newspaper to get any and all information and newsworthy items into the paper on any given day. In this case, the example is about readers who complained about the newspaper's coverage of the Iraqi elections on January 30, specifically with the use of the word "trickled" when describing the voting public's entrance to the polls. At the time the newspaper was being written up (think 10-11:30 p.m. in Forth Worth), it was still early morning in Iraq. The wire service stories, at that time, appear to be accurate. But because a reader gets his newspaper (typically) sometime around 6-9 a.m., this might not be the case anymore, as they could see plain as day on the morning news. Unfortunately, it's been another 6-9 hours or so since the original stories were written. Newspapers aren't written on speculation when reporting fact (okay, stop with the gnashing, you know what I mean) - so even though many of us knew that there would be a huge turnout to the elections, it hadn't happened just yet, hence the "trickled." I'd say the same could be said for many voting districts in the U.S., in the 6-7 a.m. timeframe, so this shouldn't be seen as overly biased or, as one reader told the Star-Telegram, "worthy of al Jazeera."

If you don't agree, that's fine, but keep in mind that just because you're reading the newspaper with your coffee and donuts in the morning doesn't mean it was created fifteen minutes ago. That's not to say that it is "old news," but in a way, things can change significantly from the point you see the paper and when it was printed. This is one of those cases.

Unfortunately, this is one of the things that bloggers need to be more careful of - indicting publications and the media on things that are uncontrollable, before checking their facts. It's way too easy to start a storm these days, and if those citizen journalists want to keep any credibility, they need to do a little due diligence first, not jump the gun every single time. We're about to end up in a place where people start tearing up every single line of every single news item just looking for any sense of something that that person doesn't agree with or sees as biased, whether it is present or not - and it's very frustrating to see everything boil down to. Bloggers who are surprised when "mainstream" media is quick to condemn should look at this as a reason why.

Watching and blogging (when it's worth it) tonight's Grammy awards on CBS.

[20:00]Black Eyed Peas "get it started" along with Gwen Stefani and Eve. A little too much gold on this set for me, but they are lookin' great. Love the 'old English' "G&E" om the stage.

[20:04]BEP are back, and tip off to Los Lonely Boys, who are most exquisitely on a post in the middle of the audience.

[20:06]Maroon 5 wins for "band that you liked almost a year ago (yes, I still like them) but isn't that super popular anymore by the time the awards roll around."

[20:10]Franz Ferdinand begin the close with "Take Me Out" - twas good. Interesting medley with these groups together.

[20:18] Los Lonely Boys take the first award of the night, "Best Duo or Group with Vocals" - pretty cool that they beat out the rest of the crew, considering how "on fire" Maroon 5 was when they hit the mainstream scene.

[20:25] Alicia Keys is in dressed-up mode for this event. If there's any fashion enigma out there in the music world right now for me, it's her. [20:29] She brings up Jamie Foxx and Quincy Jones. Foxx promptly starts off with Ray Charles' "Georgia On My Mind." Nice shirt, Quincy!

[20:33] Best R&B - I'm going for Brian McKnight, but it's going to be Usher. Okay, not even close. it's Prince.

[20:45]U2 just not doing it for me tonight. Mark McGrath, Penelope Cruz and Pharrell Williams give Led Zep a Lifetime Achievement award, and the boys from the band get to wave from the audience. Right before Green Day gets the nod for "Best Rock Album," I swear Williams got "Star Trak" blurted out on the air.

[20:54]Wizbang is liveblogging as well. Check it.

[20:56]This J.Lo Marc Anthony A) better liven up a bit if we're going to be talking about it in the morning and B) is clearly TMI, as I don't want to see either of them in the bedroom, frankly.

[21:00]Matthew McConaghey is actually wearing clothes.

[21:02]Gretchen Wilson just doesn't do "Freebird" any justice, sorry. How many Keith Urban discs go off the shelves tomorrow to the teenage girls that haven't seen him yet?

[21:06]What's with the "announcer in the sky" bringing in Tim McGraw?

[21:29]That Quentin Tarantino sure is cool. Wow, Billy Joe apparently sings live - what a concept.

[21:31]Fire! Fire!

[21:33]This Ricky Martin -- he sings?

[21:34]Alicia Keys takes the Grammy for "Best R&B Female" - just noticed that her dress actually has no back - and is slit up the sides - and she doesn't look like she's all flaunt. Good choice, very classic.

[21:43]Kanye's "Jesus Walks" sounds just like my album version, but I'm not sayin' nothin. Interesting move with the white sheet.

[21:48]Looked like the Blind Boys of Alabama were singing off Kanye, but he appears to have returned. Alright, maybe he's on point with his rap. Let's see how much flak he catches for that ending.

[21:50]Well, that ever-difficult Ludacris-to-Kevin Bacon six degrees just got a lot easier.

[21:52]Kanye starts it all off after winning his Rap Album award by saying that the music should get all started, since he'd be awhile. They proceeded to not cut him off, and he didn't take that long, at all. Good to see Kanye take that one - you know the presenters would have been worried to have King Ad Rock, Mike D and MCA up there on stage.

[21:59]Kris Kristofferson robbed the "Blade 9" set while dressing for tonight's gig, I'm convinced.

[22:02]Not only is it absolutely effing brilliant to put the Janis Joplin tribute at the top of the hour, but Joss Stone and Melissa Etheridge absolutely rocked. It would appear that Etheridge is doing pretty well - this is the first time I've seen her in public in awhile. Contactmusic.com reports that this is her first appearance since she announced she was fighting cancer in 2004.

[22:11]Billy Bob Thornton's so...not cool tonight for some reason. What was Angelina seeing in him again?

[22:13]Tim McGraw's song, obviously about his father, Tug, is pretty darn good.

[22:17]"Best Country Album" - I'm voting Loretta Lynn. Yes, she wins! Good joke about Tim McGraw....she's telling Jack White what to do - good to see, although he looks a bit uncomfortable.

[22:26]Rob Thomas is still alive?

[22:27]John Mayer's lyrics always kill me in this song "girls become lovers who then become mothers." Probably up there in that thought process of why guys get super protective when they finally have daughters. Did I just say that out loud?

[22:30]Lisa Marie Presley may have actually tripped on the stairs on the way up, right? WTF happened to her? Oh, and U2 wins for "Vertigo."

[22:32]Does Adam Clayton ever get to speak?

[22:38]Anthony LaPaglia from CBS' "Without a Trace" introduces "Across the Universe" by the Beatles, being performed by Velvet Revolver, Stevie Wonder, Bono, Norah Jones, Steven Tyler, Brian Wilson, Alicia Keys (and more, still going), Billy Joe, Tim McGraw (who'd I miss?). Gotta love Scott Weiland's purple/red/pink mixture hair. Yeah, yeah, you can get it on iTunes.

[22:45]"Song of the Year" - Stevie Wonder's checking the braille on the award envelope. John Mayer wins. Wow, surprised am I.

[22:49]As cool as some of the other spots are, this Saab campaign is pretty good.

[22:53]Queen Latifah has gone with the purple digs to introduce Usher, who I actually can't see in the smoke. He's definitely got the MJ moves going on tonight.

[22:57]Wow, James freaking Brown! Latifah was wrong - this is the performance we'll be talking about in the morning. And the one that's going to hurt the most in the morning - at least for James Brown, that is.

[23:01]The music kicks in as a producer on the Ray Charles and Norah Jones track is speaking, and before Ray Charles' manager got to speak. Thankfully, they let him say a few words.

[23:06]Remember when Sheryl Crow hadn't had her plastic surgery yet? Naw, me either.

[23:09]The recording academy guy gets up and makes a plea for tsunami relief, also mentioning 'owning' and purchasing music. Now if only the "equal treatment" he mentioned about longtime stars and up and comers was true. Again, it comes up - again, I ask that artists actually get paid for music that they've signed on to perform.

[23:13]Yeah, they recognized ODB!

[23:15]Bonnie Raitt is absolutely made of wax, she must be. Hasn't she looked like this for a decade?

[23:16]I still think adding Lil' Jon to the Brown/Usher duo would have been fantastic. YEAHHHH!

[23:24]Gary Sinise and Bonnie Raitt are up to announce the "Album of the Year" - I say it's either Usher or Alicia Keys. Okay, I'm totally wrong. I understand there's sentimentality here, but was it the best album of the year? Oh well, I'll give. Ray Charles definitely took the cake tonight, with Usher rolling up second and Kanye doing his thing. I hope we don't start tossing out lifetime achievement awards like they're pennies at Halloween, though - it'll look like an NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

In Sunday's "Inside the Times" column, Seattle Times executive editor Michael Fancher describes what an internal committee at the newspaper has defined as "plagiarism" and what they recommend to their staffers as a way to completely avoid falling into its trap - and proving to readers, up front, that their work is their own.

In response to the recent across-the-board censorship in Nepal, members of the country's Journalists Federation have asked that their fellow journalists draw attention to the oppression in Nepal.

Should a media critic be "allowed" to write a piece - even one that's positive - about another publication in his or her employer's fold? The answer seems simple (yes), but according to what went on at the UK's Spectator last week, it's not quite so cut and dry.

Index on Censorship informs about the resignation of Spectator media writer Stephen Glover, who was in the middle of writing a piece about layoffs at his magazine's sister publication, The Telegraph. Fellow UK pub The Independent has a quality rundown on the situation, including some excellent feedback from Glover himself in this article.

Contrary to my title, I'm not sure I'd consider it smart journalism. The moment that politics starts overtaking common sense, there's an issue. (Otherwise known as the "if you have to ask" rule)

Antonia Zerbisias details the announcement by CanWest that they have installed managing editor Doug Kelly in the Editor-in-Chief spot at the National Post. Outgoing EIC Matthew Fraser is reportedly shifting to an "unspecified planning job" at CanWest.

The Kansas City Star's Michelle Burhenn writes about some statements made by the Washington Bureau chief of the Wall Street Journal, Gerald Seib, while at an awards event in Lawrence, Kansas on Friday. While at first I was a little at a loss for why Burhenn's coverage was so short here, but after reading the primary point Seib made, I had my "nuff said" moment - you might, too.

FishBowlDC informs that New York Times Washington Bureau correspondent Christopher Marquis passed away Friday from complications related to AIDS.

Just read over at LGF that CNN News exec Eason Jordan has resigned after recent statements he made about journalists being targeted by the American military overseas went public, causing a furor on the 'net.

Here's the AP story.

Wow.

[update]

Michelle Malkin: "How brave of him to hand in his resignation on Friday night."

She also points out that CNN hasn't picked it up yet. Their search yields nada as of 8:04 p.m. Eastern. This item has a dateline of 3:45 p.m. Eastern, however. Then again, do we really expect them to cover it as news right now?

Jay Rosen has the statement from Jordan/CNN.

Jeff Jarvis: "For a lesson, see: Dan Rather." Read the whole thing.

My feelings on this are that I believe that Jordan has to, at least somewhat, believe his statement about the "targeting" of journalists to have said it in the fashion that he did. He's just of too high up a level in a news organization to not realize that - off or on the record - what he said would be construed exactly how many people have portrayed it as. I can't believe that this couldn't be seen as a result of such a comment.

Am I surprised that he has resigned at this point from CNN? Yes, I definitely am. Do I expect Jordan to turn up elsewhere in the news industry? Absolutely.

However, I think this is another moment when triumphalism, especially by bloggers, might get a little overboard. I've already seen "scoreboards" on two different website comment sections, and one would presume that there are more. Let's all continue to realize that this isn't just a way to "take down" people that some people may disagree with. The last thing bloggers want to be known as is for being good at writing hit pieces.

Oh, and make sure and check out memeorandum's roundup.

The Star-Ledger's Ralph Ortega writes about how a New Jersey-based Christian radio station went from small potatoes to the bigtime by switching from strictly preaching and other religious programming to primarily Christian pop music. Their listenership effectively doubled, Ortega reports, when a new antenna kicked in alongside the format adjustment during the summer of 2003.

The Cedar Rapids Gazette has the scoop about the theft of more than $10,000 of equipment from the University of Iowa's new School of Journalism and Mass Communication building.

In today's Washington Post, John Kelly has a little fun with his explanation of how to read the newspaper - and not the online version, thankyouverymuch. Worth a read, and he'll be online to chat with readers (!) today at 1 p.m. Eastern here.

The McClatchy Company announced Thursday that it had named Rufus Friday, the VP of circulation at the News & Observer, as the new publisher of the Tri-City Herald. Friday had been at the N&O since 2003, and had spent the previous 11 years as circulation director at various Gannett newspapers.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer sportswriter John Hickey was asked about blogs while in a chat with Seattle Mariner fans on Thursday. Check out his response.

Reuters' Jeremy Pelofsky writes about the FCC's vote on Thursday not to force cable operators to "make space" for more than one of the channels that broadcasters will have the ability to populate as digital television becomes the norm.

XM Satellite Radio announced on Thursday that it increased its user base by 1.8 million subscribers in 2004, along with $244.4 million in revenues, up from $91.8 million the year prior. While the company had a loss ($642.4 million) that increased, the company's cost per customer acquisition dropped from $137 to $100. This factor should be expected to decrease additionally, especially as XM makes its way into the shopping habits of the mainstream population.

The Bay City Times has a story about arrests of three Michigan newspaper employees for selling cocaine - including at least one time at the publication's facilities. The three men were all working at The County News, a paper out of Lapeer, Michigan.

This week, the National Mental Health Association announced its 2005 Media Awards, to be presented in Washington, D.C. on June 10. Considered are journalists who cover mental health issues and stories, with awards being given to those who provide excellent reporting and knowledge of said issues when conveying information. You can find out more about the contest - and the NMHA - at nmha.org.

The deadline for entries is April 1, and a PDF application can be downloaded here.

The Albany Business Review reported this week that Clear Channel Communications would be shifting its Albany operations - seven radio stations - from two locations in the city to one by June. No staffing changes were announced, and appears to be a steamlining of just Albany-related businesses.

The Australian reports that British journalist Kate Peyton, on assignment in Somalia, was shot twice and later died during surgery to repair the damage. She was 39.

The Charlotte Observer's Mark Washburn informs that popular afternoon radio personality Adam Smasher has left Kiss 95.1FM's airwaves after a contract impasse. Smasher's page, while empty, was still up on the station's website under "Personalities" as of the time of this post.

[Thanks, Mark!]

After reading [via Doug Fisher] about the situation at Marquette University, where the administration is planning on not keeping the student newspaper's faculty adviser Tom Mueller on board, I was caught completely off guard. A higher education institution believing that the students who are working at a functional, regularly published newspaper shouldn't be working as journalists while they are still in school? Yep, that seems to be the case. The Capital Times ran an op-ed Wednesday on the subject, and I couldn't echo the sentiments of the writer(s) any more, frankly.

In Wednesday's Toronto Star, Rick Westhead writes about CanWest's plan to launch Dose, a free commuter daily, to readers in Toronto and four other cities at the beginning of April.

Best quote from the piece, from an ad exec who had looked at the upcoming publication: "This isn't going to be another 24 Hours or Metro. It actually looks pretty slick."

The Detroit News' Joel Smith covers the announcement about the naming of the interim President and CEO of the Detroit Newspaper Agency. The Agency is the facilitator for the Joint Operating Agreement that the News and Free Press work under in Detroit.

Reuters AlertNet informs about how journalists in Kyrgyzstan have been "instructed" to cover the country's upcoming elections at the end of February, noting that "glowing coverage of pro-government candidates is mandatory, while the rest should receive minimum media attention."

The press censorship situation in Nepal looks to being taking a toll on radio jobs, rediff.com reports Tuesday. According to a Kathmandu Post story, the new guidelines set forth that disallow any news and information reporting on the air have put approximately 1,000 journalism jobs in jeopardy

The Australian's Brendan O'Keefe has the scoop on a move by universitygoer Michael Hislop to create one big student-run newspaper that could be distributed to the hundreds of thousands of the country's university students. The paper, The Student Leader, is set to go online in less than two weeks - and is a possible solution to legislation that looks to be coming down from the Australian government that would change the financial aspects of backing a newspaper, among other student clubs and organizations.

This week, a few bloggers have been a little skeptical of the kidnapping of Italian reporter Giuliana Sgrena on Friday. Tuesday morning, reports are surfacing which state that Sgrena has been executed - but have not been confirmed.

In what appears to be further confusion (or not!) in the situation, Jawa Report posts about a report that Sgrena is indeed alive and well as of today. The worst thing here is that even if she is released and is just fine, whether she was kidnapped and threatened "for real" will continue to be questionable - and possibly with merit.

Mediaweek's Katy Bachman covers the announcement by ABC Radio Networks about their upcoming Hispanic radio network, the Hispanic Advantage Network. This will be the first time a network has been put together around a Hispanic format, Bachman reports.

And no, ABC Radio has not yet registered hispanicadvantagenetwork.com yet.

Editor & Publisher's Jennifer Saba details a Q&A with new Tribune Publishing President Scott Smith, who took over that role at the beginning of 2005. Included in the discussion were growth plans for both readership and revenues, and most prominently, the one model we've all been waiting for - online subscription fees.

Says Smith:

We are also implementing an online subscription fee. We believe most people use online sources differently than their printed newspaper. It's a hybrid approach.

While some publications already have a fee-based online model, including some "smalltown" newspapers, a major publisher doing so would most likely lead a wave of change in that manner. It's probably not the move that many bloggers are hoping to avoid - one that would "block" readers from blogs from reading current news, for free - but it shows a realization of the online distribution system becoming a priority on the supply side.

The Vineyard Gazette announced over the weekend that it had been chosen for the George Speer Newspaper of the Year award for its circulation category, as given by the New England Press Association. This was one of seven awards taken home by the Martha's Vineyard paper.

It's with great pleasure that I'm able to announce a new blog that I'm working as a part of, the newest addition to the Weblogs, Inc. Network - AdJab. You'll see my short and sweet advertising reviews and commentary over there from now on. But don't fret - the longer "marketing theory" type things will stick around The Media Drop.

Tonight, we'll be all over the Super Bowl spots as they come through. Check it out!

David Shaw writes in the Los Angeles Times about the difficulties currently being experienced by writer for a student newspaper, most specifically how censorship and poor treatment of the students is "at an all-time high."

In Sunday's Cincinnati Enquirer, John Kiesewetter details the situation at local radio station WLW-AM, whose staffers have been informed that they can make no mention of any television station personalities - or stations at all - that compete with WLW owner Clear Channel's WKRC-TV. Nor will ads for the "competition" make the airwaves.

Radio stations not discussing other radio stations - or TV stations doing the same isn't too uncommon. But one format not being able to report, or discuss, another seems a little over the top - and the only people that lose out are the listeners. Now, WLW listeners will never know if WKRC is being discussed more often because it's in the news, or because Clear Channel has affected what's going on internally.

The Lexington Herald-Leader's Cassondra Kirby writes about the career of Guy Hatfield, publisher of multiple community newspapers in Kentucky. Hatfield, 54, died Friday after fighting diabetes for most of his adult life.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Dan Richman and Todd Bishop report Friday that both the P-I and Seattle Times will be raising their daily newsstand price from $.25 to $.50 as of February 28. For those not familiar with the newspapers, they exist under a Joint Operating Agreement (JOA), one that the Times believes is damaging its ability to stay afloat. At the same time, the Times has made drastic changes to its paper, including laying off staff and taking out stock pages on Sundays. So at a time when the newspaper is only able to offer less, it is necessary to raise the price.

This begs the question: Would you continue to purchase your daily newspaper, if you bought it at the newsstand, if the price went up - or doubled - as it has in this case? What is the news worth to you? Finally, is it possible that this is only the tip of the iceberg, as newsgathering economics have changed drastically in recent times, especially with newsreading on the Internet becoming more of the norm.

Asia Times Online features a story by Satish Pandey that offers more details on the media censorship situation in Nepal. Earlier in the week, Nepal's King Gyanendra effectively shut down all outside communications for news organizations, keeping the people completely uninformed about what was really going on in the country.

Pandey writes:

Not only have phone, mobile and Internet networks been disconnected since Tuesday, but also all media outlets have been given stern warnings not to report or write anything against the king's takeover. Additionally, army officers have been stationed in all newspaper offices and radio stations - including the national broadcaster - to keep a watchful eye on the news.

What is kind of scary is to think that the people of Nepal actually know less about what is going on in their country than the rest of us, even half a world away.

On Wednesday, it was reported that Worcester Telegram & Gazette sportswriter Ken Powers had been "called back" from his duties in Jacksonville where he was covering the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl. This came after the paper found out that Powers had allegedly passed off writing by Sports Illustrated's Peter King as his own in a recent column. Thursday evening, Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp followed up on his original story, informing that Powers had been fired after "further investigation has revealed that this was not an isolated incident and that he has previously used the work of others without proper attribution," according to a statement by the newspaper.

Earlier, Boston Sports Media Watch posted about comments on Boston's WEEI radio station stating that King allegedly called the Telegram & Gazette to ask them not to fire Powers.

[update 2/4 9:43am] Boston Sports Media Watch is, yet again, all over this story. More here and here.

The Press Trust of India printed a story Wednesday about the change in government control in Nepal earlier this week, when King Gyanendra removed the Prime Minister from power and a "state of emergency" was put in place.

Press censorship was imposed with the suspension of the right to information and foreign news channels were off the cable networks.

The King suspended several provisions of the constitution, including freedom of the press, speech and expression, peaceful Assembly, the right to privacy, and the right against preventive detention, a statement from the royal palace said.

The India Times has more, including a timeline showing the history leading up to today's Nepal.

This isn't even a situation where citizens could come to the direct forefront in news publishing, as Internet access continues to be blocked.

Well, I've been (deservedly so) called out via email for non-mention of the situation regarding CNN chief news exec Eason Jordan's latest comments about journalists (American and otherwise, it appears) being "targeted" by military forces currently serving in Iraq. In all honesty, I have been reading about this for the last few days, but haven't had the "wherewithall" to put together a solid item for your reading enjoyment. But since the ammunition is all sitting in my inbox and bookmarks, I'll share what I've got.

Recently, Jordan made statements to the effect of what is mentioned in the graf above while at the World Economic Forum in Davos. The Forum's own blog discussed the situation on January 28, and is probably best viewed as the closest transcription of what actually went down. Jordan seemed to flip around a bit on the topic, in what was described as wavering "back and forth between what might have been his beliefs and the realization that he had created a kind of public mess."

So what's the deal? Surely Mr. Jordan would not stand in front of a group of individuals at a high profile forum as this and make this kind of statement with either a) some proof or b) some belief that this was the case, right? It appears that the proof isn't really in the pudding. I've seen numerous places where mentions of press being part of "collateral" deaths in the region - to be brutally honest, this wouldn't be surprising, considering the proximity of members of the media - foreign and otherwise - to the fields of war. But it's a pretty damning statement to even suggest that soldiers are actually trying to kill reporters, directly or otherwise.

To me, as someone who follows as much media (let alone the stories the media is covering) as I can, it's amazing to note that rarely - if ever - was any news regarding this statement picked up in the last few days. Think about it - if someone had proof, irrefutable proof, that soldiers were killing members of the media, wouldn't that be big news? Perhaps there's a reason for it not being big news - it isn't happening.

Now obviously I'm not in the head of every soldier fighting in Iraq right now, so you can never say never in a case like this - but with the prevalence of mass media in the area, doesn't anyone think that this would have "gotten out" if it were indeed going on? Hell, wouldn't someone have been captured on camera doing so by now? I'm all for conspiracies when they have merit, but this looks like someone spitting out some mumbo jumbo, then trying to hide under the desk when he realizes that people actually want to hear about what has just been spewed forth. [And yes, I mean spewed.]

On Thursday morning, John Hinderaker at Power Line wrote about the latest on this situation, including a harkening back to 2002, when Jordan stated that "...in both places journalists are not only being killed but they're being targeted. There are combatants in both of these conflicts who are trying to kill journalists, and that is unusual and a very nightmarish situation." That specific 2002 incident is pretty clear after reading this post by Captain Ed at Captain's Quarters - a journalist getting killed while in a warzone is a very different situation than one being killed in a warzone on purpose.

So what is it? Do we really believe that journalists are being targeted and killed because they are journalists? Are we talking about people in Iraq who are working as journalists by day but are terrorists on the down low? Are we talking about journalists being systematically "taken out" by the military for some unknown purpose? I don't know about you, but it's amazing to me that someone with a level of prominence as Mr. Jordan would be going on about such things, with nary a comment from the major media outlets in this country - and I'm not talking about commentary shows, mind you.

If you're looking for some really comprehensive coverage of the Eason Jordan situation, and any future fallout, definitely keep your eyes peeled at Captain's Quarters - the site is all over the story and is a wealth of information on the subject. [Thanks, Matthew, for the heads up]

Okay, voting has re-opened for the Business Blogging Awards. There's a wide variety of categories, and TMD is a finalist for the Best Media Blog category, with some serious competition.

So go forth and do your blogvoting duty!

[Thanks, Steve, for the heads up]

The Rocky Mountain News' Dusty Sanders details the move on Denver's Channel 7 for Jane Pauley's talker, "The Jane Pauley Show," from 10 a.m. local time to 2:05 a.m. local time. We'll see if changes start to occur in the other affiliates the show is featured on.

WPTV out of West Palm Beach, Florida has the story about the murder of Daniel P. DeStefano, a newspaper carrier for St. Lucie County's Tribune, an E.W. Scripps Co. publication. DeStefano was shot early Tuesday morning while on his route, and died while in the hospital a little less than 24 hours later.

I've got a stack 'o' Gmail invites for the taking. Drop me a note if you're interested at themediadrop _at_ gmail _dot_ com.

Editor & Publisher's Joe Strupp has details on the "recall" of a sports reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette from his post in Jacksonville to cover the New England Patriots at the Super Bowl. It turns out that a recent piece that ran on Ken Powers' byline contained "substantial portions" of a column by Sports Illustrated's Peter King from a week earlier. Strupp reports that an investigation is underway and that Powers is on leave from the paper at this time.

[update] Bruce Allen at Boston Sports Media is all over this story, with a side-by-side (top-by-bottom?) comparison of Powers vs. King prose. It's pretty....damning.

[update 2/3, 7:52pm] Powers has been fired by the Telegram & Gazette, Strupp reports Thursday night.

Bowling Green's student newspaper, the BG News, features a column on Wednesday by the paper's Small Animal Issues Correspondent, Jamison T. Squirrel. It seems that Squirrel is upset about the anti-squirrel (small 's') sentiment in the media and on the Internet. He even points out that the "new fangled 'weblogs'" have missed bias here, with irrefutable evidence that they have done so in the "only 6,300 results" found in Google for "squirrel appreciation day."

The Washington Post has a story Wednesday about Leo Meidlinger, an ABC News senior producer, who died Friday at 61.

On Tuesday evening, USA Today's Peter Johnson reported that CBS News correspondent and "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer is "all but certain" to fill the anchor role at CBS after Dan Rather's departure - at least temporarily. While the multi-anchor format still appears to be in play, it's curious that they wouldn't just stick with Schieffer long term, solo.

[update] RatherBiased has the story, including the press release from CBS News. It's official.

On Tuesday, a story hit the newswire about the supposed capture of an American soldier in Iraq, including a photograph of the soldier in front of a sheet or fabric with Arabic writing on it. At first glance, the photograph looked sketchy to most, which I would absolutely attest to. But somehow it still hit the wire, with stories like this one being floated around.

While the Associated Press had never confirmed that the photo was "John Adam," as the terrorist website attributed his name to be, the image was included in multiple runs of the story for just under two hours. You can see the AP's latest here or here. Before even arguing about how this type of situation could occur, I have to take issue with one line from the bottom of the latest AP item:

If proven a fake, Tuesday's posting would not be the first hoax associated with kidnappings in Iraq.

If it's fake? While the "hoax" may prove to still be a move by actual terrorists to cause alarm by the American people, military and media, the photo and "soldier," are, by all accounts, fake.

Over at A Small Victory, Michele has some words for the situation, stating the same thing I thought:

You mean to tell me not one editor at any of the 2,000 or so AP sites this showed up on found that picture at all suspicious? I looked at it for two seconds and knew it was an action figure.

While I know that the newsworthiness of a story can cause "fake" things to hit wires and newspapers here and there, this is a case where the average set of eyeballs was on the mark - weren't you when you first took a gander at the image in question?

The Command Post has a ton more, including all the blogs covering the situation.

The timeline of how this story evolved in the afternoon can be found below.

12:30 Original NewsAlert: Iraqi militants have claimed in a Web statement to have taken a U.S. soldier hostage and have posted a photo of a bound man in desert fatigues.

12:40 6-graf story, ending with a line saying the claim could not be independently verified.

1:29 10-graf story, with military spokesman saying we have no info, but we're looking into it in graf 4, claim could not be verified in graf 9.

1:49 Same story, adding a graf of background about the marine who went missing and is now accused of deserting.

2:17 "The claim's authenticity could not be confirmed" is now part of the lead.

2:23 A Photo Withhold goes out:

Please refrain from publishing or posting online AP Photo LON128, transmitted Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2005, due to questions being raised about the image. The image was purported to be from an Islamic Web site that claims the subject is a captive American soldier. The Associated Press is currently researching the validity of the image and will advise as soon as possible.

2:56 The claim's authenticity could not be confirmed is in the first graf; the photo is described in language that suggests it's fake-looking; 'its authenticity could not be confirmed' is in the second graf.

3:30 NewsAlert: U.S. military says no American soldier has been reported missing in Iraq, after Web site claim that soldier was kidnapped.

3:34 Advisory: Questions have been raised about the authenticity of a Web statement and photograph purporting to be a kidnapped U.S. soldier. A toy maker says the image of the soldier is strikingly similar to a military action figure.

3:38 The lead is that the Army says no soldier has been reported missing after a web statement that one had been kidnapped. Fifth and last graf notes that a toymaker says the figure in the photo looks a lot like one of theirs.

As of 6pm Eastern, the Associated Press has not responded to a request this afternoon for comment on the "soldier" image.

RatherBiased.com rounds up some of the forum discussions on the topic, making a great point that "it was online message boards that found the evidence." The fine folks at Fark, among other places, appear to be responsible a lot of the research.

BusinessWeek Online features a commentary this week by Catherine Yang about the future of the FCC after Chairman Michael Powell's departure next month. Yet again, I'm surprised to find a piece that mentions Powell leaving, commissioner Kevin Martin possibly taking the top slot, but failing to mention the expected loss of commissioner Kathleen Abernathy later on this year. It's no small potatoes that two of the four individuals leading the FCC are on the way out at a time when issues such as media consolidation, VoIP, and other Internet-related topics are on the front burner. There might not be as much press related to the replacements for these positions, but be assured that the impact may be close to the importance, at least for the 4-8 year timeframe, as whoever is chosen as the new Supreme Court Justices.

The Knoxville News's Carly Harrington reports that Horne Radio Network has taken a different tact gone in a new direction [thanks, Doug] in its radio management plan - selling off "standalone" AM stations, specifically four Knoxville area ones at this time, and looking to run AM/FM combinations out of one operation in other markets.

Due to the fact that the same comment spammers who have been successfully blocked from commenting here through both TypeKey and other efforts (they were effectively DOSing this site) have moved on to Trackback spam, that functionality will be disabled until further notice - hopefully not more than a day or so.

Thanks for your patience and understanding on this. If you have a link that you'd like me to make a note of or check out related to one of my posts, feel free to send it to me via the "tip" link at the top of the page or via email.

While on the "Imus in the Morning" program on Tuesday, Nancy Grace, Court TV and incoming CNN pundit of all things legal, uttered something that made the I-man a little uncomfortable. The two were discussing the start of jury selection in the Michael Jackson child molestation case in California, and Grace was talking about how some in the media are uneasy with details from the courtroom. She stated that "the allegations don't taste good going down," which of course got a groan from the studio, but she kept on going with her commentary.