State of the MJ funeral

In addition to being a cultural moment for the world, Michael Jackson's funeral is like a status update for the tech and media landscape. We see Hulu teamed up with Fox, CNN with Facebook, USTREAM partnered with CBS and Twitter, and MySpace rolling solo. And I must say, MySpace has the clearest and largest picture, the cleanest sound, and the freshest stream. Could be because they're based out of LA, or because their stream isn't tied to a media dinosaur, but they're really cleaning up on their own turf. It's nice to see MySpace own it where they should be — music and pop culture.

It's also a reminder of what basic Internet service is now capable of: I've got four live video streams coming through my cable connection, hardly any of them hitching. MySpace has crystal clear picture and real bass. I'm watching live tweets and status updates and texting another friend about the service.

And as my friend texting points out, you really can't help but notice that no other entertainer compared to Michael. He was like the Secretariat of entertainers — no one even came close.

Everybody loves Fox News

... for its overtly partisan infotainment, not for its news coverage.


The Democratic Party has allowed Fox to host a Democratic presidential primary debate this summer in Nevada. Now I'm all for fair and balanced, but anyone who watches Fox knows that they're a parody of their own slogan. Watch their "coverage" of Barrack Obama, their "scoops" on his middle name, his father's religion, and the fact that he smokes. And then sign this petition to encourange the Democratic Party of Nevada to have anyone else host the event:

http://civic.moveon.org/foxdebate/?referring_id=-3375554-xa2HwG&taf=1

Smart Kitty has summoned me for mass media exposure

The good blogger Smart Kitty has asked me to answer five important questions for publication on her blog, which is considered "The preeminent record of achievement since 1889 ... and now a powerful online database ... with over 1.3 million biographies ... the most trusted biographical research tool."¹

Despite the liberal helping of ellipses, I'm excited. Sounds pretty big to me. You can follow this influential soubrette here:

http://smartkitty.blogspot.com/2007/01/five-random-things-rob-getzschman.html


¹Well apparently this is not a review of her blog, but marketing copy for "Who's Who" -- but it's close enough.

This is about sex, because power is an aphrodesiac.

My peeps,

If we could talk about something really sexxy for just a second, I'd like to discuss ... public broadcasting. Yes, it's hot stuff; caliente. But please, read on. It gets even sexier.

Corporate media's goal is to get you to watch ads. That's a great motive to fund shows like the Simpsons, The Daily Show, The OC, but it's not great for news. Whichever way these networks lean politically, they all lean economically towards profit.

PBS and NPR are the only outlets in the media landscape that stand distinct from all other media outlets, which exist to make money. Public broadcasting exists to inform, educate, inspire and engage. The critical idea here is that PBS provides an essential alternative because America is a democracy. Without public broadcasting, all of America's airwaves are run by corporations.

Now hard enough to believe, the party of power in Congress is seeking to eliminate funding for public broadcasting, even after a public outcry stopped it last year. I'm not big on online petitions, but I'm big on keeping the media landscape level. If you care about keeping the media landscape even marginally democratic, please sign the petition at this link.

http://civic.moveon.org/publicbroadcasting
thank you,

rob

Also, read the Boston Globe story on the threat to NPR and PBS.

Also, the C.S. Monitor is a rare privately-funded media source that serves up reliable news.

Also, my band Analog Jetpack will be playing in DC this month and New York City next month.