the Newseum tries Elvis

The Newseum, a $450 million dollar monument to news industry leadership, currently features an Elvis exhibit: “Elvis! His Groundbreaking, Hip-Shaking, Newsmaking Story.”  In the business crisis facing the news industry today, something has to be done to raise revenue and support quality journalism.  Maybe Elvises (a good investigative journalist could find a lot of them) … Continue reading the Newseum tries Elvis

new media?

Sacred to Commonweal was this net design’d To pierce the heart and humanize the mind. But if a hitless Blog, the Blogger’s curse, Shows us our Thoughts and Reasons lose their force Unwilling we must change the nobler scene, And in our turn present you Celeb-queens; Quit Poets, and set Journalists to work, Show gaudy … Continue reading new media?

traditional news: an academic style

The rise of interactive media has directed attention to differences in communicative style.  “News is a conversation” and “conversational marketing” have become rallying slogans for new-media news reporting and advertising initiatives. Conversation uses words and grammatical constructs in characteristically different ways and frequencies than does traditional news reporting and public relations releases. Experts in corpus … Continue reading traditional news: an academic style

learning from history: Armageddon Week on the History Channel

While having some dental work done last week, I had a TV screen stuck in front of me.  It was showing Nostradamus: 2012, from Armageddon Week on the History Channel. In this intellectual investigative report, a solemn, authoritative male voice objectively narrates what some scholars believe and what other scholars believe.  Particular scholars appear as … Continue reading learning from history: Armageddon Week on the History Channel