Heaven is Other People
My dad was a big believer in connecting with other people and helping them. And often that help came back to him in unexpected ways. I just helped a few strangers out with some computer-related stuff and we started talking. They reminded me that justice is possible and that some fights are worth fighting. Especially when it comes to protecting the weak. Thank you random strangers for the unexpected morale boost!
I see that the AP is now beating down on bloggers using copyright. I've seen this story before, heck I LIVED a variation of it. As is the corporate MO, they go after the people they think they can bully first. Corporate bullies. Maybe there is a category for companies. "The biggest corporate bullies." somehow I don't think Forbes or Fortune will run that list.
One theme that I picked up at the Media Reform Conference was that some media companies will use their power to prevent anyone from challenging them. We as a people NEED good media for a healthy democracy.
Personally, I try to help good journalists do their work in spite of the pressures put on them by their management. And when you wonder about the source of some of the mainstream media's problems I say, look UP to the money, not sideways to other media or down to the people for the problem.
(Hmmm, why did I say to look UP to money? Why should the money be UP? I guess I've been trained to think in that fashion too.)
I see that the AP is now beating down on bloggers using copyright. I've seen this story before, heck I LIVED a variation of it. As is the corporate MO, they go after the people they think they can bully first. Corporate bullies. Maybe there is a category for companies. "The biggest corporate bullies." somehow I don't think Forbes or Fortune will run that list.
One theme that I picked up at the Media Reform Conference was that some media companies will use their power to prevent anyone from challenging them. We as a people NEED good media for a healthy democracy.
Personally, I try to help good journalists do their work in spite of the pressures put on them by their management. And when you wonder about the source of some of the mainstream media's problems I say, look UP to the money, not sideways to other media or down to the people for the problem.
(Hmmm, why did I say to look UP to money? Why should the money be UP? I guess I've been trained to think in that fashion too.)
1 Comments:
The media stomp-down is what fuels the whole MPAA/digital rights fight.
Old media (in the form of the pump-'n' dump music promotion/business model) seeks to defend its space against online music sharing.
So we (as my homeland is busy trying to enact laws that are possibly worse than the Millenium Digital Copyright Act) get a thorn bush of ridonkulous law and people ignore it for a decade or two until the old business either converts or dies.
I'll miss newspapers. But unless they start competing more effectively, they're going to lose out.
Me, I need newspapers and journalists, and so does the world. Otherwise all we'll have is a thousand stations of bloggers, none any better or less-biased than FOX ... well maybe not that bad, but I really believe the free exchange of ideas will suffer.
And that's a pity, because I think some newsies are spending their moral credit like drunken sailors.
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