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IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul English

IVR Cheat Sheet by Paul EnglishTrouble with VOICE messaging? See this.

Evening papers are back -- online

NEWSPAPERS
For those who love newspapers -- to read them, write them and rail at
them - these are somber times. ... Newspapers are one of the glories
of modern Western civilization. They have, on the whole, probably
never been better written, edited and produced than they are today.
But their future is in doubt. So, is this the twilight of printed
news? Should the scribes of instant history be hunting-and-pecking
their industry's obituary? The answer is probably no. "I've never been
a believer that print will die," said technology writer and blogger
Edward Cone of North Carolina. "I think print has a lot of advantages.
It's a useful form. It's profitable, it's disposable, and you can roll
it up and hit the dog with it." But the nation's daily newspapers are
certainly changing fast, and to understand their future it may be
useful to glance at their past. ... Morning readers tended to prefer
their news straight-faced and serious. Afternoon readers were
different. They wanted to be entertained rather than educated,
preferring news of crime, sports and local politics, spiced with
strong opinions. The afternoon papers ran many editions, updating
stories throughout the day, getting the stock market closings and the
racetrack results in the final edition. Journalism in the afternoon
flourished until after World War II, when it was weakened by changes
in demographics, technology and the American economy. ... Now the
Internet has given newspapers the chance to compete again in the
breaking-news business. For once, the written word has an advantage
over television and radio. Most office workers would find it awkward,
to say the least, to sit around watching television or listening to
the radio. But they can read. And many with access to the Web check
the news there periodically all day. ... Web editors say readers look
for stories about crime and politics, about local neighborhoods and
communities, local sports and entertainment. In other words, they're
hunting for the kind of news once found in evening papers, exactly at
the times of day that once were the edition deadlines of those papers.
In fact, newspaper Web sites increasingly have come to resemble their
vanished afternoon brethren, albeit in electronic form and loaded with
bells, whistles, blogs and podcasts.

Source: Douglas Birch, The Baltimore Sun
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/ideas/bal-id.eveningnews27nov
27,1,4088875.story?coll=bal-ideas-headlines

----------------------------------------

Media focus on white, wealthy in missing-children cases

COVERAGE
Study: Media focus on white, wealthy in missing-children cases

For a missing child to attract widespread publicity and improve the
odds of being found, it helps if the child is white, wealthy, cute and
under 12. Experts agree that whites account for only half of the
nation's missing children. But white children were the subjects of
more than two-thirds of the dispatches appearing on the Associated
Press' national wire during the last five years and for three-quarters
of missing-children coverage on CNN, according to a first-of-its-kind
study by Scripps Howard News Service. "I don't think this results from
conscious or subconscious racism," said Ernie Allen, president of the
National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. "But there's no
question that if a case resonates, if it touches the heartstrings, if
it makes people think 'that could be my child,' then it's likely to
pass the test to be considered newsworthy. Does that skew in favor of
white kids? Yes, it probably does." That race and class affect news
coverage is a fact that's not lost on the families of missing minority
children. "But the thing about it, the ghetto mamas love their babies
just like the rich people do. And they need to recognize that," Mattie
Mitchell said of news executives. Mitchell is the great-grandmother of
missing 4-year-old Jaquilla Scales. Jaquilla, who is black and has
never been found, drew only slight national coverage in 2001 when she
was snatched from her bedroom in Wichita, Kan. But the bedroom
kidnappings of Danielle van Dam, Polly Klaas, Jessica Lundsford and
Elizabeth Smart, all white girls, erupted in a barrage of publicity.

Source: Thomas Hargrove and Ansley Haman, Scripps Howard News Service
via The Island Packet
http://www.islandpacket.com/24hour/nation/story/2926281p-11593332c.htm
l

Buzz Series

Posting to the Sequim Magazine BLOG

<embed controller="true" width="320" height="256"
src="http://clips1.vimeo.com/video_files/2005/11/22/vimeo.29712.mov"
autoplay="false"></embed><br><a
href="http://www.vimeo.com/clip=22124">View this clip on Vimeo</a>

New West Network Home

New West Network Home

Yes, Sequim has a lot of beauty.

 
 

Teens define media

Melissa Paredes, a 16-year-old in Lompoc, Calif., maintains a Web site where she posts her own poetry and pictures and shares music. So when she was mourning her stepfather, David Grabowski, earlier this year,
she reflexively channeled her grief into a multimedia tribute. Using images she collected and scanned from photo albums, she created an online slide show, taking visitors on a virtual tour of Grabowski's life -- as a toddler, as a young man, at work. A collage of the photographs, titled "David Bruce Grabowski, 1966-2005," closes the memorial. "It helped me a lot," Melissa said in an instant message, the standard method of communication among millions of American
teenagers who, according to a study released Wednesday by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, are fast becoming some of the most nimble and prolific creators of digital content online. For all of its poignant catharsis, Melissa's digital eulogy is also a story of the modern teenager. Using the cheap digital tools that now help chronicle the comings and goings of everyday life -- cell phone cameras, iPods,
laptops and user-friendly Web editing software -- teenagers like Melissa are pushing content onto the Internet as naturally as they view it. "At the market level, this means old business models are in upheaval," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew project. "At the legal level, this means the definition of property is up for grabs. And at the social level, it means that millions of those inspired to create
have a big new platform with which they shape our culture.
Source: Tom Zeller Jr., The New York Times via CNET news.com

Newspaper execs say circulation declines reflect shift to Web, less discounting

Editors and publishers at some of the newspapers hardest hit by
Monday's FAS-FAX reports say steps need to be taken to maintain
current readers while attracting new ones. But to many, the
circulation declines announced today by the Audit Bureau of
Circulations came as no surprise, given the overall industry trend.

But most say the circulation measurements are incomplete because they
still do not take into account growing Web site activity. Others also
said they had lost circulation deliberately by ending or reducing
discounted programs as their value becomes diminished in the ABC
measurements. "Circulation will continue to drop until there will be a
plateauing, then I expect a rapid decline," said Tom Fiedler,
executive editor of The Miami Herald, noting that he does not expect
circulation to increase during his lifetime, which means newspapers
must focus on the Web as a genuine delivery system. "Newspapers will
become supplemental reading for a very elite audience," he added, and
the online edition "will be where the popular press lives." "We are
well aware of it, that newspapers continue to struggle to reach their
audience," said Anne Gordon, managing editor of The Philadelphia
Inquirer, which suffered an 11,000-copy drop in daily circulation, and
about 30,000 on Sunday. "It's not a surprise." Still, Gordon was among
several who pointed to increasing Web activity as a factor that the
current FAS-FAX measurements do not address. "The Philadelphia
Inquirer has more readers than it has ever had if you factor in the
Web. We have well over one million readers." At the Herald -- which
has experienced a 4.3-percent drop in weekday print circulation since
September 2004 -- Fiedler says he sees a similar corresponding shift
online, where Herald.com has seen an "accelerated increase" of about
30 percent per year: "We are seeing that our readership is not
declining if you include online -- it is actually growing. Source: Joe
Strupp, Editor & Publisher

USATODAY.com - Senior citizen bloggers defy stereotypes

USATODAY.com - Senior citizen bloggers defy stereotypes: "Forget shuffleboard, needlepoint, and bingo. Web logs, usually considered the domain of alienated adolescents and home for screeds from middle-aged pundits, are gaining a foothold as a new leisure-time option for senior citizen"

Newspaper circulation figures show worst slump in years

The Fourth Estate is braced to get more bad news about itself next
week. On Monday, the Audit Bureau of Circulations releases its
semiannual figures on circulation -- and they are expected to show
that paying readers continue to disappear at an alarming rate during
the latest six-month period. Challenged by online rivals, a dearth of
younger readers and an advertising downturn, newspapers are suffering
through their worst slump in years. The last ABC figures, which were
released in May, were the worst for the industry in nine years,
showing that average daily circulation had dropped 1.9 percent in the
six months ended March 31 from a year ago. Indications from the
biggest newspaper publishers show many expect similar plunges for the
six months ended in September. Gannett Co., the nation's No. 1
publisher with about 100 papers, says its daily circulation through
Sept. 25, including its publications in the United Kingdom, was down
2.5 percent over year-ago levels. At No. 2 Knight Ridder Inc. -- whose
largest shareholder has called for the sale of the company -- the
daily drop was 2.9 percent. Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago
Tribune and Los Angeles Times, among others, says its circulation as
reported to ABC will be down around 4 percent. That estimate excludes
figures for Newsday, of Long Island, N.Y., which has been censured by
the ABC following a scandal in which it -- along with several other
newspapers -- admitted artificially boosting circulation results. By
mutual agreement, its circulation won't be released on Nov. 7. Not all
chains are expected to report such big drops. Sacramento-based
McClatchy Co. says daily circulation was down 0.7 percent as of
September, to just under 1.4 million copies. But it also expects
circulation for the full year to fall around 1 percent -- ending 20
consecutive years of circulation growth. The Wall Street Journal,
published by Dow Jones & Co., expects circulation to be up slightly,
because of increases in online readership. ABC in recent years has
allowed the inclusion of certain online readers in circulation
figures.
Source: Joseph T. Hallinan, The Wall Street Journal

Is There Profit In Your Digital Photographs? Spy Media Says Yes. - Digital Camera Tracker

Is There Profit In Your Digital Photographs? Spy Media Says Yes. - Digital Camera Tracker "Spy Media International, www.spymedia.com, is the first news photo marketplace for everyone. Spy Media is simple and easy to use, as users can upload and sell electronic photos from their cameras and phones in less than 90 seconds"

PC Recording of AM and FM Radio

PC Recording of AM and FM Radio: "PC Recording of AM and FM Radio"

Craigslist founder pro-community journalism | News.blog | CNET News.com

Craigslist founder pro-community journalism | News.blog | CNET News.com: "Craigslist founder pro-community journalism
November 4, 2005 2:34 PM PST

Craig Newmark wants to shake up mass media, much the way his online classifieds site Craigslist.org has rocked the world of the newspaper business by siphoning off their advertising dollars.

Newmark said he'd like to see and support the same type of disruptive technology for the mainstream media--broadcasters and print publishers. In an interview with GradetheNews.org, Newmark said that the mainstream media isn't trustworthy, nor accountable to the public any longer. And he suggests that emerging community journalists on the Internet should counterbalance the short-sightedness of publishers that kow-tow to big business or powerful political interest groups."

Test

 

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Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems - New York Times

Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems - New York Times: "Colleges Protest Call to Upgrade Online Systems" The federal government, vastly extending the reach of an 11-year-old law, is requiring hundreds of universities, online communications companies and cities to overhaul their Internet computer networks to make it easier for law enforcement authorities to monitor e-mail and other online communications.

Writing for the Web

Writing for the Web Jakob Nielsen's guide. Have a look.

US soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the bodies of dead Taliban

US soldiers in Afghanistan burnt the bodies of dead Taliban and
taunted their opponents about the corpses, in an act deeply offensive
to Muslims and in breach of the Geneva conventions.
An investigation by SBS's Dateline program, to be aired tonight,
filmed the burning of the bodies.

It also filmed a US Army psychological operations unit broadcasting a
message boasting of the burnt corpses into a village believed to be
harbouring Taliban.

According to an SBS translation of the message, delivered in the local
language, the soldiers accused Taliban fighters near Kandahar of being
"cowardly dogs". "You allowed your fighters to be laid down facing
west and burnt. You are too scared to retrieve their bodies. This just
proves you are the lady boys we always believed you to be," the
message reportedly said.

"You attack and run away like women. You call yourself Taliban but you
are a disgrace to the Muslim religion, and you bring shame upon your
family. Come and fight like men instead of the cowardly dogs you are."
[PsyOp calls Taliban "girly men". -d.c. ]

KNIGHT RIDDER buys community newspapers in Silicon Valley

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Knight Ridder
(NYSE: KRI) today announced the acquisition of Silicon Valley
Community Newspapers, which publishes eight weekly free-distribution
newspapers in the South Bay area surrounding San Jose. The eight are:
Los Gatos Weekly-Times, Saratoga News, Cupertino Courier, Sunnyvale
Sun, Campbell Reporter, Willow Glen Resident, Rose Garden Resident and
Almaden Resident. The group also includes the San Jose City Times, a
legal newspaper, and a glossy publication called Image.

The newspapers, which together comprise the assets of Silicon Valley
Community Newspapers, are weekly publications with a combined
circulation of more than 157,000. Terms of the transaction were not
disclosed.

Knight Ridder Senior Vice President Hilary Schneider said, "We believe
strongly in the importance of community journalism, which we know is
highly valued by readers. This group of tightly zoned weeklies will
help us extend our coverage of micro-communities in the Bay Area. They
serve a series of neighborhoods that are also highly desirable to
advertisers.

Greg Goff, Knight Ridder general manager/targeted publications, said,
These weeklies have been serving readers for 20 years. They provide
saturation coverage of their respective areas in the South Bay and are
a good fit with our Palo Alto Daily News Group of free dailies, which
are located primarily in the Peninsula. We're very pleased to be
adding them to our company.

David Cohen, currently publisher and CEO of the group, manages and
operates the publications and will continue to do so for Knight
Ridder. He will report to Goff. The plan is to maintain the operations
as they are now configured, Goff said.

Cohen said, "This was an easy decision, because I know that Knight
Ridder is committed to continuing our high quality, fiercely local
coverage. With the resources of Knight Ridder, we will be able to
fulfill our vision of bringing our brand of community journalism to a
greater audience.

The oldest of the papers dates back more than 120 years. The weeklies
provide coverage of local schools, youth sports, local government,
business, law enforcement, features, opinions and community profiles.

Knight Ridder is one of the nation's leading providers of news,
information and advertising, in print and online. The company
publishes 32 daily newspapers in 29 U.S. markets, with a readership of
8.5 million daily and 11.0 million Sunday. It has Web sites in all of
its markets and a variety of investments in Internet and technology
companies. It publishes a growing portfolio of targeted publications
and maintains investments in two newsprint companies. The company's
Internet operation, Knight Ridder Digital, develops and manages the
company's online properties. It is the founder and operator of Real
Cities (http://www.RealCities.com), the largest national network of
city and regional Web sites in more than 110 U.S. markets. Knight
Ridder and Knight Ridder Digital are headquartered in San Jose, Calif.

(NR)

SOURCE Knight Ridder Web Site: http://www.knightridder.com