The alchemy of media funding

A couple of weekends ago at a farm in Dodgeville, I spoke with Isthmus editor Dean Robbins, Vivian Vahlberg (the first woman president of the National Press Club), and her husband, who works for the Tribune Company.

I asked them all what they think the solution to the maelstrom of media funding was and they responded with the same answer: "You!"

They agreed that there will always be a market for information, the issue is finding the right mix of funding streams (sorry to break into ASM-ese) to support the industry.

I think the New York Times is at the forefront of trying to accomplish this. Last week it issued a survey testing the idea of a $5/month online subscription fee (or $2.50 for print subscribers).

Today, Poynter Online informed me that NYT is also considering incorporating foundation sponsorships into its financial plan.

Craig Whitney, an assistant managing editor at the Times who serves as the paper's standards editor, said in a telephone interview Friday, "We've begun to ask ourselves whether it would be possible to get the kind of support that NPR does from foundations for its journalism."

...

"Don't make it sound as though we're going to do it," he cautioned, stressing that no decisions have yet been made. "But we have to think about whether we should do it or could do it, given economic conditions."

He said the paper has "no desire to become a nonprofit corporation."

There isn't one solution to keep journalism thriving, but hopefully media research like what NYT is doing will lead to an effective balance of funding.

The Sconz

I've really been digging The Sconz since its inception a few weeks ago, especially in light of the paucity of CB posts of late. It's a refreshingly rational look at Madison politics that hits the sweet spot of controversiality without as many personal attacks. The posting consistency is just as impressive - an area I've obviously struggled with.

Keep up the good work, Jack!

Side note: your banner is a bit ominous what with the red sky and the evil disproportionate cows and whatnot, but I'll let that slide. Seriously, though, let me know if you want me to whip you up a little Photoshop majik (not that I have anything to brag about yet on this site).

For my own benefit: Holy schnike, I'm no longer the only one "following" myself on Blogger!! Thanks much, Army Hippie Chick!

Cheese paper

Have you ever gotten frustrated trying to Saran wrap a block of cheddar, only to find it ossified and moldy in your fridge a few days later?

Cheese paper is the answer.



Kind of annoying that you have to tape it up, but I suppose that's the price to pay for humidity-regulated, cheese-cave-environment-simulated queso. Having a nice design doesn't hurt either.

Also, quote of the day: "...and you will have a beautifully wrapped serving of cheese."

FYI

You damn kids!

Synopsis: College kids are so dumb and drunk all the time - and there's so many of them here! And most of them are gone now, so places are less crowded! Let me paint for you a picture of such Madison hidey-hole landmarks as "State Street" and their appeal with fewer people. And did I mention you can shop for groceries more easily now? Good thing those damn kids aren't here to funnel money into the state economy step on my lawn! When I decided to live in Madison I didn't realize it would be, y'know, a college town or anything.

EDIT: And this comment Isthmus' editorial staff deemed fit for publication. Disgusting.

I live downtown and really don't mind windowshopping the fresh crop of taut young fleshbuckets that swarm into town every year like a plague of dumb attractive locusts.
But once they've gained 15 pounds and are temporarily exterminated, there are some nice changes...

(emphasis added)

BTW Isthmus, maybe if you employed more of those rowdy college kids (who are willing to work for nothing) your front page graphics wouldn't look so shitty.

Newsroom cuts hamper the wrongfully accused

This NYT article is spooky in both the drop in journalists investigating death row cases, and in some lawyers' dependence on the media.

Now, the lawyers complain, they have to do more of the work themselves and that means it often doesn’t get done.

[Barry Scheck, co-founder of New York's Innocence Project]: "When procedural mechanisms begin to fail, the press is the last resort for the public to find out the truth."

In the past, critics including Supreme Court justices have stressed the importance of media not fulfilling government functions, e.g. the Houchins v. KQED decision:

The media are not a substitute for or an adjunct of government and, like the courts, they are "ill equipped" to deal with problems of prison administration ... We must not confuse the role of the media with that of government; each has special, crucial functions, each complementing - and sometimes conflicting with - the other.

But is that the case here? Is the fact that some legal professionals have come to expect help from the media worrisome for the legitimacy of the judicial system, the media, or both?

I've often thought about how J-Schoolers could work with UW Law students through a program similar to The Innocence Project. Perhaps by collaborating with budding lawyers, budding journalists will find their way back to the investigative fold, but more on that later.

This ain't no disco

Photo courtesy Denis Kitchen

Whether or not you're as avid about (non-superhero/manga) comics as I am, I highly recommend going to the Chazen's new exhibit, "Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix, 1963-1990." (Disclosure: heaps o' nudity/sex/drug use depicted, so not for the kiddies)

Here's an interview from the exhibit's blog with J-School prof and co-curator James Danky:

“But it is really the readers of today who will find Underground Classics to be shockingly wonderful. They have no idea how the visual freedom they take for granted when reading comics today was created, and by whom. And they will love the images, whether for a glimpse into their parent’s secret past or for the uninhibited approach to art and life.”

And here's a more profesh review.

Recommended reading/viewing:
-Any of the Best American Comics anthologies
-"Fun Home" by Alison Bechdel
-"La Perdida" by Jessica Abel
-Anything by Lynda Barry, who I first got into sneaking books from my mom's collection
-The works of Milwaukee native and comix pioneer Denis Kitchen
-"Blankets" by Milwaukee's own Craig Thompson
-Anything by Adrian Tomine ("Summer Blonde" and "Shortcomings" in particular)

And to be obvious...
-"Persepolis" by Marjane Satrapi (movie=eh)
-"Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth" by Chris Ware
-"American Splendor" by Harvey Pekar (good movie)
-"Ghost World" by Daniel Clowes (both comic and movie)
-"Art School Confidential" by Daniel Clowes (movie=eh)
-Maus by Art Spiegelman (is this a movie yet? I hope not.)
-R. Crumb (but do not see the movie "Crumb" under any circumstances)

I could go on ... if you have a hankerin' I have the Best American Comics 2006-2008 if you would like to borrow them. Brill stuff.

In other news, I learned yesterday that I will be working as the Wisconsin Student Lobby's communications director starting in July. Excuse this: Eeeeeee!!!

Dear ASM:

Learn how to count.

Sry

about the lack of updates. Shiz is getting real.

For the time being:

This is, to an extent, what I imagine THE FUTURE OF GERMANALISM looking like.

The news business “is in a difficult time period right now, between what was and what will be,” said Gary Kebbel, the journalism program director for the Knight Foundation, which has backed 35 local Web experiments. “Our democracy is based upon geography, and we believe local information is such a core need for our democracy to survive.”

This is not to say blogs like Outside.in, Patch and their ilk are an absolute beacon of hope for journalism. The problem of accuracy on blogs still exists, but as they grow in number and popularity they are also held more accountable.

The article also addresses the paradox of ad revenue - while such "hyperlocal" sites would give advertisers an ideal environment for targeting specific consumers, they don't have the scope of broader publications.

Still, said Peter Krasilovsky, a program director at the Kelsey Group, which studies local media, many small businesses have never advertised outside the local Yellow Pages and are an untapped online ad market whose worth his firm expects to double to $32 billion by 2013.

It all comes back to the Texas/Maine quandary that anyone who's taken J201 will know all too well, which was posed by Thoreau in Walden and adopted by media guru Neil Postman:

We are in great haste to construct a magnetic telegraph from Maine to Texas; but Maine and Texas, it may be, have nothing important to communicate.

The trend with NEW MEDIA seems to be a consistent broadening of butterfly effect ideals - if something happens somewhere, it has an impact on everything else everywhere.

But something's gotta give. Eventually, social exhaustion will set in for some of those trying to keep up with the news of the day - I know that's been the case for me. When everything is emphasized, important items lose meaning while trivial events/memes/etc become our culture.

OK.

What this article suggests, and what I'm advocating, is a return to emphasizing the local. This is not to detract from the significance of global events, but in recognition that we are humans, not information aggregators - we care about what directly affects us.

We can empathize with that which does not affect us, but, at the risk of sounding cynical, empathy carries little weight when not backed up with cold hard cash.

Newspaper Revitalization Act

This newspaper bailout bill proposed by Senator Benjamin Cardin, which would allow qualified newspapers to be exempt from taxes, makes me wary.

Cardin's Newspaper Revitalization Act would allow newspapers to operate as nonprofits for educational purposes under the U.S. tax code, giving them a similar status to public broadcasting companies.

Under this arrangement, newspapers would still be free to report on all issues, including political campaigns. But they would be prohibited from making political endorsements.

The bill defines qualifications for newspapers to receive the tax break:

(1) the trade or business of such corporation or organization consists of publishing on a regular basis a newspaper for general circulation,
(2) the newspaper published by such corporation or organization contains local, national, and international news stories of interest to the general public and the distribution of such newspaper is necessary or valuable in achieving an educational purpose, and
(3) the preparation of the material contained in such newspaper follows methods generally accepted as educational in character.

Senator Cardin's heart seems to be in the right place, but proposing this bill suggests a lack in understanding of the fundamental implications of government-supported print, the medium that currently enjoys the most First Amendment protection and least governmental control.

"We are losing our newspaper industry," Cardin said. "The economy has caused an immediate problem, but the business model for newspapers, based on circulation and advertising revenue, is broken, and that is a real tragedy for communities across the nation and for our democracy."

True, but consider the costs. For example, would this bill passing necessitate establishing an FCC-like organization for print? The vagueness of the language describing newspaper qualifications is another problem--how easy would it be for the government to deem a newspaper no longer significantly "educational" and take away a its nonprofit status? Newspapers should not have to choose between staying in the black and providing independent coverage.

Thoughts?

via LIB

Cardinal editor's photos in today's NYT

One of The Daily Cardinal's photo editors has some photos in a (front page!) article in today's New York Times. Having seen how much work he puts in, he definitely deserves it. Congratulations, Kyle!

The article is about the Conserve prep school in Land O'Lakes (near the U.P. border), which is shutting down allegedly in response to the bleak economy. Despite the school's $181 million endowment, its trustees (who also manage the Central Steel and Wire Company) think the school can no longer function.

Obviously, this has parents in an uproar, especially over the fact that the school's trustees hardly attempted to diversify the school's investments, instead opting to invest $131 million of its endowment in their own company! Understandably, parents are taking the trustees to court in hopes of removing them from their positions.

This suggests more than simple negligence, but corruption at its worst: jeopardizing a school, which provides financial aid to about 70% of its students, to keep its corporate underbelly plump.

Daniel L. Kurtz, a partner at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom who heads its exempt organizations practice and is not involved in the case, said that in his opinion, even if the trustees were not directed to diversify their holdings, they had certain obligations.

In his view, “the trustees have to act in the best interest of the beneficiary, which is the charity,” he added. “Holding on to a stock that declines in value simply cannot be a means of fulfilling your fiduciary obligations.”

Appealing images for an unappealing story.

100-Hour Challenge results

Most Creative ($300): Madison Style

Judge 1: Ahh, this entry represents the paradox of the uninhibited and the insular, the feminine and the maternal, it's all coming together...
Judge 2: Plus she's hot.

Most Social Value Generated ($300): Aqua Treat

Chumanov and Kuhn created a unique water filter that simultaneously creates a chemical additive necessary for sewage treatment out of several SWAP materials including a cordless Swiffer vacuum cleaner, a Plexiglas tube, a spool of wire and a No. 2 pencil.

Now that's some Macgyver shit. (Nice article, Kiera! We've come a long way from the old high school newspaper, eh?)

Most Value Generated ($300): Test Tube Terrarium (I recommend skipping to 1:48)



And, of course...
People's Choice Award ($100): The Party Enforcer 3000

Julia Sonmi Heglund

As I wipe the drool from my mouth, let me say this: Julia Sonmi Heglund's work will BREAK. YOU. DOWN. I read a post about her work on an LA-based blog only to discover that she went to lives right in this fair city, and graduated from UW in aught six with a degree in (hmm, I wonder) art. I love her style, blending comic-book cheek with the technicolor/geometric (The Basis of 1980s/2000s Hip?) and throwing in a few dashes of Native American pop culture for good measure.

She made a series of shirts for Threadless.com, my favorite being the one above, titled "Believe It." I can't get enough of this wry mysticism - wish I could conjure up lions and buffalo and wild horses in my space pyramid chamber, don't you?

Here's a video featuring her more well-known Threadless shirt, "Consumption." Julia, if you're reading this, let's be Internet friends, 'kay? Sailor Moon is my life too.



I can only hope the fancy new Art Lofts will inspire work of a similar caliber from other U-Dubsies. Anyone know any other art students worthy of being featured up in hurr?

New Media Douchebags

I would find this more funny if I didn't feel a bit like one myself already, and if I weren't required to sound like one to get at that sweet sweet honeypot of J-School scholarships. Ah well, at least I have some standards (e.g., I've taken an oath of Twitter celibacy).

via swissmiss

Bundt pans! Bundt pans! Bundt pans!!!!!!!

More words on this later, but for now enjoy tooling around the Wiscontrepreneur 100-hour Challenge entries (I like that the site shuffles the list of entries each time the page is reloaded).

The OK:
-AquaTreat water purification system
-Pins N' Balls
-Squirming Squirrels Drinko (Plinko+party games=pure, wholesome, triple-distilled fun)

The Bad:
-The Sculptured Fish Tank (Does this constitute animal cruelty?)
-The Sweet & Low Chair (Is this a Hell Ride?)
-The Puddle Pan (Hmm, wonder why they can't show the product in a gym locker... oh, maybe because coat hangers can't fit in gym lockers?)
-Biodiesel Reactor (Don't let this guy blow up your car.)

The So-Bad-It's-Good
-Wiscontrepreneur Party Enforcer 3000
-Team POWER Lamp (Make sure you're sitting down before watching this video)
-TrashWow! (Obviously riding the coattails of ShamWow!, but I like the claim that Time dubbed it one of the 50 greatest inventions of all time)
-Pitcher that pours two beverages at once (Straightforward)

The Inexplicable:
-WE CONSERVE TOO
-Dehydrator (I'm not sure if broadcasting "I grow shrooms" is the best way to get judges to deem you an innovator)
-The Arcobaleno (")
-Convelope (It's an envelope... for condoms! Wayyy overthinking it, but nice choice of host site)

ASM constitution voter turnout

In light of today and tomorrow's ASM constitution vote, here's a 2005 University of Iowa study on Voter Turnout in Undergraduate Student Government Elections (Note: must log in with UW account to view)

The only student demographic variable to reach significance is the percentage of full-time students. The positive coefficient for this variable indicates that turnout tends to be higher at schools with more full-time students.

...

Online voting appears to increase turnout, as indicated by the positive coefficient for this variable. The final significant variable, and the only election specific variable to reach significance, is the campaign advertising index. The positive coefficient means that turnout tends to be higher on campuses where student campaigns use many forms of advertising. ©Kimberly Lewis and Tom Rice, 2005

I guess two for three isn't bad... I'll put my bets at 16.4 percent.

2004 Piccolo Guy documentary

Blaze Orange is a 16-minute documentary that came out five years ago about Tom Ryan, aka "Piccolo Pete" or "the Piccolo Guy," who plays every day on Library Mall.

Did you know:
-He's been playing on Library Mall for at least 23 years
-He lives in a used U-Haul truck that he bought
-He plays in the University Band (I'm curious to know how he pays to take it)
-He has a Web site (with FULL FRONTAL NUDITY!!!) that was actually updated semi-recently
-He plays in a jazz band called Piccolissimo
-He watches Jeopardy! every day at the Crystal Corner Bar
-Playing on Library Mall is his main source of income—he makes around $12 on a bad day and can make up to $38 on a good day
-He majored in Computer Science (not specified whether he went to UW-Madison, but he mentions that after he graduated he took classes at MATC)
-Some Library Mall vendors are whiny tightasses.

Enjoy!



link

Design nerd fare

First: Kerning vs. keming

Next: A friend showed me this shirt from MySoti.



Also: KERN iPhone game demo by Jason Franzen and Adrian Johnson.



via Hello Bauldoff

Happy Friday.

(link)

Even though I embedded this, I strongly recommend watching this on YouTube in HD. Yes, it is supposed to look like that, and no, I do not smoke pot.

District 8 primary voter turnout

Here's a graph my partner made for a presentation we gave today about Tuesday's District 8 aldermanic primary voter turnout compared with turnout in past years' primaries, general aldermanic elections and presidential elections. Thanks, Paul!


Ideally, this would be scaled a bit more clearly, with percentages instead of raw vote counts and error bars and other statistical flourishes. Still, that's a discrepancy of about 6,500 votes between the general presidential election and the aldermanic primary election.

In a race where the district is 98% students and all the candidates are students, the fact that seven votes determined the runner-up is pathetic to say the least.

Can anyone help a sister out with the total number of registered District 8 voters this year/in past years?

Source: Dane County Clerk's Office
NOTE: If you want to use this graph, do NOT appropriate it without asking my permission first!

(Bi-)partisan gridlock

Nice Isthmus piece on the myth of non-/bi-/post-partisanship

During the 2007 budget deliberations, the state Assembly was controlled by Republicans, and the Senate and governor’s office were in the hands of Democrats. As months went by with the budget conference committee barely even meeting, the Capitol press corps wrote incessantly about "partisan gridlock." The sides were so far apart they could no longer even speak to each other.

The truth is that the two sides weren’t meeting because one side didn’t want to. The GOP’s budget strategy was to not pass a budget. Because they were outnumbered and Gov. Doyle had veto authority, GOP leaders decided to hold out so long that Democrats would cede to some of their demands just to stem the flow of reporters' questions about Madison’s poisonous partisanship.

It worked.

Miss Madison-Capital City Pageant 2009

Uh. muh. gah.


Is that a red velvet dress?


Why, yes it is. (Photos by Phil Ejercito)

When I asked the night's winner, Kristina Smaby, what drives a person to enter the pageant world, she immediately noted that it is "the world's largest scholarship program for young women" and cited her own experience netting thousands of dollars in scholarship money since starting competing at the age of 18.

...really? The largest scholarship program for women? Sad panda.

Brushing off the dust

Sorry about the lapse in posting, but hey, look! These guys won $10,000 in this contest for their creation of an iPhone alarm clock app that supposedly helps people sleep better.

Developed by electrical and computer engineering senior Justin Beck and psychology and neurobiology senior Daniel Gartenberg, the application serves as a sophisticated alarm clock that wakes users up during the light sleep phase of their cycle, meaning they will be less groggy and more alert during the day. In the morning, users play an easy game that tests alertness, and the software then automatically reconfigures as it learns the user's unique sleep cycle. Called Proactive Sleep, the software could be on sale in the Apple application store in the next few months.

Interesting idea, but can it live up to the Ocarina or Hammertime apps? Only time will tell.

I'm also excited for the upcoming 100-Hour Wiscontrepreneur Challenge Feb. 18-22... how's that homework machine coming along, btdubs?

Electronic newspapers(?!)

A 1981 TV report on reading newspapers on computers.



via Waxy

FlyerSide.com

Ah, how I wish I could be part of UW's media squad and write fun features like this.

Grads Joe Nelson '06 (Math) and Andrew Kramp '04 (Economics) are ramping up plans for their Web site, FlyerSide.com. The aim of the site is to compare grocery prices by aggregating local stores' sale listings. I have a lot of hope for the implications this site holds for students living on a tight budget on and off campus.

From the article:

"Of course we want to make this a nationwide service; we've had interest from nearly all 50 states," Joe says. "We also have some exciting features in the works, like incorporating recipes and forums."

Although some listings are simply unreasonable for students dependent on the bus line to get to their destination, (Really, ALDI? And what the hell is Pierce's?) not to mention self-respect, (the day I shop for groceries at Menards will be a sad day indeed) the germ of the idea rocks.

But where's Cap Centre? TJ's? I'd even like to see convenience stores like the OP show up for when I'm deciding where to buy staples like milk and brownie mix. (Aside: I doubt Whole Foods will be showing up much on the site.)

It may be more difficult to aggregate sale listings from places like this, where sales change on a day-to-day basis, but the more campus-specific stores listed, the more student interest there will be. Even Luckyites may discover what a dent groceries can make on their budgets (?), and the Campus Mall Walgreens can only take them so far.

Sonic

I'm shamefully excited about this. Although my first Sonic experience (in sunny Pasadena) was lovely, I'm not sure it has much over Kopp's, Five Guys et al. Middleton's ambiance may also be a bit lacking in comparison...

NYT's Guantánamo Docket

...and they may be there for another year.

A Clean River is a Fun River

Some nice ad work by Stir Marketing for Milwaukee Riverkeeper (via Wooster Collective).

More samples of their work (h8 flash sites):

For Industrial Ventilation Inc.
Caption: "50 years ago, a safe work environment was easier to measure."


For Kyle's Kids
Caption: "How do children learn to grieve?"


For British Auto Service, LLC (currently expired domain)

PYG + MIA = NO.

Lordy, lordy, lordy, why did Cokemachineglow have to go and ask local act Pale Young Gentlemen to cover a Top 40 hit? And why on Gaia's green earth did PYG decide it would be most apt for them to cover "Paper Planes"???

I like the band alright, especially their older, more freewheelin' material (see "Saturday Night").

Nevertheless: be forewarned.

“In the [original], M.I.A.’s voice is thin, hiding behind a lot of production and samples of gunshots, so we thought we’d go the other way and make it more organic, honest maybe,” Reisenauer explains.

(emphasis added)

Isthmus' Jessica Steinhoff lets these guys off the hook in her review--although the track may seem to "endow the song with a new story," that story is about as effective as a tribute to Do The Right Thing performed by Cirque du Soleil.

Journalism links

Having recently been accepted to the J-School, I've been experiencing the same thrills and chills as many prospective and current reporters--excitement about New Media and their ilk interspersed with anxious spasms about the survival of the field as we know it. I've been thinking about making this (non-comprehensive) list for awhile as a means to keep track of the criticisms and possible solutions for reliable, effective coverage in the future. Recommendations of other articles are appreciated, as I'll be adding onto the list.

The Survival of Journalism: Ten Simple Facts (via swissmiss):

10 reasons why newspapers won't reinvent news (via kottke): A brief but more scathing list of traditional media's inability to compete (at least in their current incarnation) in the digital age.

News You Can Lose (via Waxy)

Crowd Funding - A Different Way to Pay for the News You Want: Sites like Spot.us have been getting a lot of buzz for trying this model, wherein readers directly fund articles they want to see covered.

The Death Throes of Print? (via DesignNotes)

The New Journalism: Goosing the Gray Lady (via Waxy)

Journalism's Digital Future (via DesignNotes)

End Times (The Atlantic via Letters In Bottles) I agree with the assertion made here that bloggers are the main fuel for the Long Tail, but think they severely lack the resources and support necessary to contend with full-fledged investigative reporting.

Let's Invent an iTunes for News counters The Atlantic:

"...while there is nothing sacred about The New York Times, the experienced, and yes, expensive journalistic muscle it deploys on events big and small is not going to be replaced by a vanguard of unpaid content providers. It’s not that journalism is impossibly difficult; it’s just that it takes enormous amounts of time and a willingness to stay with the story.

'Free is not a business model,' said Mr. Moffett of Bernstein. 'It sounded good and everybody got excited about it, but when you look around, it is clear that is creating havoc and will not work in the long term.'"

(emphasis added)

Slate's Jack Shafer responds with Building an iTunes for Newspapers, endorsing paid online publications that eschew the browser format (see this 2006 article):

"Why should a customer pay for newspapers online when they can get them free via the Web? Well, why does anybody pay for a print newspaper when they can get it free via the Web? The first answer is that despite the wonderfulness of the Web, the print version still does many things better than its electronic cousin. If you read newsprint, you know what I'm talking about. If you don't, I can't explain it to you."

Well...if it can't be explained, what future does it possibly have in a generation born and bred on online news? See the comments section on the article for more points of contention.

A Revolving Door of Editors and Publishers

(A Belated) Happy New Year

monsters break down 2009's cost-benefit

via darcel disappoints