Lessons of Sago Disaster–For New Media and Old

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Editor & Publisher just put up an op-ed of mine* about the media lessons of the twin disasters at the Sago mine in West Virginia. Again, I think what I say here applies to all forms of media. MINE RESCUE LESSON: JUST SAY 'DON'T KNOW' By David D. Perlmutter/Editor&Publisher.com (January 05, 2006) In the wake of the Sago mine disaster, perhaps a new category of Pulitzer Prize should be created to honor the journalists or news managers who caution that a story is not ready for prime time or publication. We must re-evaluate how journalism produces and delivers the "first draft of history." "Journalism," claimed former Washington Post publisher Philip Graham, "is the first draft of history." But when I set my students, as an exercise, to factually verify initial media reports of major news events they are shocked. From the Tiananmen uprisings and government crackdown to the flooding of New Orleans, they find the same sad tale. The first draft is full of...
Read More

Perlmutter Speech at the Society for Scholarly Publishing

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
David Perlmutter gave the Keynote Speech at the Society for Scholarly Publishing Top Management Roundtable Conference, Philadelphia, PA, September 4. The topic: " How Blogging Is Changing Our World: The Lessons from Politics. Some links: http://beyondthebookcast.com/btb-61-from-ssp-a-look-at-authors-ascendant-episode-1/ http://ssptmr.wordpress.com/ Originally posted September 16, 2008 at PolicyByBlog ...
Read More

Perlmutter Speaks about Medical Blogs to New England Journal of Medicine

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
While political blogging gets lots of attention, there are many kinds of blogging that are equally or more popular. I have posted here in the past about the types of medical blogs and even suggested a "Hippocratic Oath" for medical bloggers. I had the opportunity to twice speak on the subject for the New England Journal of Medicine. David D. Perlmutter. Featured speaker on "Medical Blogging: Challenges and Opportunities for Health Professionals," New England Journal of Medicine New Horizons Conference, Wellesley, MA, October 24-25, 2008. David D. Perlmutter. Featured speaker on "Building an Online Community for Professionals: The Lessons of Political Blogging." Massachusetts Medical Society & New England Journal of Medicine Committee on Publications, Waltham, MA, October 22, 2008.   Originally posted October 29, 2008 at PolicyByBlog ...
Read More

A Slow (or Bright) Blog Manifesto

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
It ought also to be said that he was immensely painstaking. [When he made] Broad and powerful statements...they were no mere assertions, but the product of countless hours of research into the minutiae of the subject. Even by the usual scrupulous standards of comparative philology, Tolkien was extraordinary in this respect. His concern for accuracy cannot be overemphasized, and it was doubly valuable because it was coupled with a flair for detecting patterns and relations. 'Detecting' is a good word, for it is not too great a flight of fancy to picture him as a linguistic Sherlock Holmes, presenting himself with an apparently disconnected series of facts and deducing from them the truth about some major matter. He also demonstrated his ability to 'detect' on a simpler level, for when discussing a word or phrase with a pupil he would cite a wide range of comparable forms and expressions in other languages.* I have been thinking lately about these words written...
Read More

Mumbai Terror, Citizen Journalism and New Media

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Online Social-Interactive Media affect all aspects of life now--and death. Famously, journalism was called "the first draft of history" by Washington Post publisher Philip L. Graham. But now, with cell phones and pocket still and video digital cameras, OSIM and internet access, the initial reports from news scenes (especially breaking news) tend to be from citizens on-the-spot, not reporters.* We first witnessed this phenomenon's power in video from the South Asia Tsunami and stills from the London Bombings. In politics, recall the stumble of the George Allen Senate Campaign over the "Macaca moment," and then in the 2008 primary Barack Obama's "bitter" comments. Politicians know (or should know): everyone in room is a potential journalist (or at least recorder and uploader of information) and nothing can truly be off-the-record. As a consequence, pols are more guarded than ever--this was true in the New Hampshire primary, typically a time for folksy engagement. In such a light, some media tech notes from the Mumbai Terrorist attacks: TERRORISTS USED GOOGLE...
Read More

Twitter Rules

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
I was interviewed for separate articles on the Twitter phenomenon that appeared on the McClatchy News Service and in the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper. I talked about the origins of Twitter, how much it has caught on, and its effects. I further noted how Barack Obama's Twittering will have a downballot effect on other politicians running for office who want to emulate him. Some quotes: "There's definitely tech envy," said Perlmutter, author ofBLOGWARS, a book about how political blogging changed elections. When politicians hear about their peers successfully using other media, he said, "you're going to want to try it yourself." "When I first heard about Twitter, I couldn't possibly come up with a use for it," said David Perlmutter, professor of journalism at Kansas University and author of the book "Blog Wars." "I thought, 'Why would I want to alert everybody that I'm having a tuna sandwich?' It seemed like something you didn't need technology to do." But Perlmutter is amazed at how Twitter has become...
Read More

Texting Ourselves to Death?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
 [Image: Scott Frederick Starrett]   I hosted a conference and co-wrote the report for a summit of experts on the TOP TRANSPORTATION & ENERGY ISSUES FACING THE NATION* sponsored by The University of Kansas Transportation Research Institute (KU TRI), presented by The Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics and theUniversity of Kansas School of Engineering, and funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovation Technology Administration & Federal Highway Administration. Our main point was that America has tried many times to create a national transportation policy over the last century, with the latest and most comprehensive attempt in 2000-2001. None of these ventures was conceived or executed at the presidential level save possibly President Eisenhower's "National Defense Highway System." Now humankind confronts interrelated crises of energy and transportation in a rapidly changing world where we must deal with spiking petroleum prices, decaying bridges, growing congestion in all modes, an aging and inattentive driver population, a shortage of adequately trained transportation engineers, and the diverse ramifications of global climate change....
Read More

The End of Geoprivacy

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Ever have the feeling that someone is spying on you? Today, it's more likely that you are broadcasting enough information thatanyone can spy on you. In the most recent issue of Wired magazine, freelance writer Mathew Honan recounts his "I am here"adventures of a "3-week experiment of living la vida local." Using all the new technology (software and hardware) especially iPhone apps, he demonstrates how easy it is to be constantly monitoring your environment electronically as well as for everybody to know where you are. For example, with the program WhoseHere, you can send your latitude and longitude location and instantly get responses from other people in the area. The responses, needless to say, range from "I'm looking for sex" to "Really great coffee shop." Other interesting revelations: "Because iPhones embed geodata into photos that users upload to Flickr or Picasa, iPhone shots can be automatically placed on a map." In other words, people will know exactly where you were when you took the picture. Interestingly,...
Read More

Darryl (From “The Office”): Everyone is a Paparazzo?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
On this site and in my classes, we have talked a lot about the changes inpolitics and other parts of life and labor that easy Internet access, online social-interactive media, and the cell phone (with its picture, sound and video capture and upload capabilities) have occasioned. In politics, we know that the personal appearance is different because a politician never knows who in the audience might get them on video or record them in some other way and YouTube a quote or a rant or just a funny picture. Celebrities of other kinds--like athletes and entertainers--have always faced the dilemma of being "outed" while in private by paparazzi. Now in the same way that everyone is a potential journalist, everyone is also a potential paparazzo. What are the privacy rights of individuals anywhere--OUR GEOPRIVACY? Should ordinary fans or witnesses know or care? At a minimum, it is pretty clear that if a celebrity like, say, a star of a TV show, appears in...
Read More
12