Atlanta Media Bloggers

How seriously do you take citizen journalism?

Blogger Jailed After Defying Court Orders

By JESSE McKINLEY
New York Times
Published: August 2, 2006

A freelance journalist and blogger was jailed on Tuesday after refusing to turn over video he took at an anticapitalist protest here last summer and after refusing to testify before a grand jury looking into accusations that crimes were committed at the protest.

The freelancer, Josh Wolf, 24, was taken into custody just before noon after a hearing in front of Judge William Alsup of Federal District Court. Found in contempt, Mr. Wolf was later moved to a federal prison in Dublin, Calif., and could be imprisoned until next summer, when the grand jury term expires, said his lawyer, Jose Luis Fuentes.

Earlier this year, federal prosecutors subpoenaed Mr. Wolf to testify before a grand jury and turn over video from the demonstration, held in the Mission District on July 8, 2005. The protest, tied to a Group of 8 meeting of world economic leaders in Scotland, ended in a clash between demonstrators and the San Francisco police, with one officer sustaining a fractured skull.

A smoke bomb or a firework was also put under a police car, and investigators are looking into whether arson was attempted on a government-financed vehicle.

Mr. Wolf, who posted some of the edited video on his Web site, www.joshwolf.net, and sold some of it to local television stations, met with investigators, who wanted to see the raw video. But Mr. Wolf refused to hand over the tapes, arguing that he had the right as a journalist to shield his sources.

On Tuesday, Judge Alsup disagreed, ruling that the grand jury “has a legitimate need” to see what Mr. Wolf filmed.

READ: NYTimes: Blogger Jailed After Defying Court Orders

Attacking Citizen Journalism

Hey Jim Stroud, Didn't you recently find an article that stated that bloggers had the same rights as Journalist?

http://www.marketingvox.com/archives/2006/08/03/feds_jail_blogger/

Feds Jail Blogger

In the first known case of a blogger being jailed by federal authorities, freelance journalist and blogger Josh Wolf was jailed Tuesday after refusing to turn over video he took at an anti-capitalist protest in San Francisco and for not testifying before a grand jury examining whether crimes took place at the protest, writes the New York Times.

...But he refused to hand over the tapes to investigators, arguing that he had the right as a journalist to shield his sources

Lucasfilm "gets" the new media (obviously)

Lucasfilm has been informed that YouTube recently removed from its site several fan-made Star Wars spoofs and parodies. We would like the fan film community to know that this was not done at our request.

Apparently the action was taken by YouTube as a result of a misunderstanding of a request to remove an item containing material taken from starwars.com without our permission. We have asked YouTube to restore any works that they inadvertently removed.

 

SOURCE: YouTube and fan-made Star Wars videos

VIDEO - The Day of The Long Tail

Movie Trailer: In celebration of the publication of Chris Anderson's book, "The Long Tail," The old world of media faces an invasion from another planet. The horror. The horror. (By Michael Markman, Peter Hirshberg, Bob Kalsey; Produced for The Computer History Museum)

Funny... and oh, so true!

Josh Darn It All

Wouldn't ya know... miss one meeting and the heavies come out. We were out and about, the other day at least, with the TrueGritz cameras talking to the BBC about the future of media. The Swingin' Special Report should be of interest to you media bloggers:

http://www.truegritz.com/

It's The Content, Stupid

Finally! Somebody noticed content... whew. About time. Here's an excerpt from a recent CNN Money/Forbes.com piece about the saga at Rocketboom that points out a few things no one else bothered with. ORIGINAL content, not just cleavage, drove people to the Rocketboom site over and over and over again:

"Little noted in all the coverage however is how innovative Rocketboom has been. It's some of the best video you'll see anywhere - as much video art as news. The audio is fantastic, the writing consistently sharp, and the subject matter surprisingly diverse and entertaining.

"Eccentric, yes, but if you're interested in how crippled wheelchair-bound Kenyans support themselves by selling wireless phone calls, or if you want to see a flock of starlings repeatedly return to a tree in such numbers that they bend it over - this is the site for you. Did you know that online cartoons are becoming a huge phenomenon? Rocketboom will tell you about Diesel Sweeties and Explodingdog.

"Some shows are silly and others are completely serious, like one from June where Congdon interviewed investor and political activist George Soros. The site also articulately and humorously examines issues in contemporary technology. On her last official show, Congdon did a very funny and at the same time explanatory riff on network neutrality.

"In one episode in April, Congdon simply sat silently and looked at the camera for five minutes with a grave facial expression, occasionally moving a piece of paper on the desk. Such is the freedom that pioneers feel in this new medium."

What else could have driven so many eyeballs to the site? They said themselves that they spent not one dime on marketing or promotions and stuff like that. Story in full here:

http://money.cnn.com/2006/07/14/magazines/fortune/rocketboom.fortune/

"Make Friends With Your Audience"

Here is a rather revealing MSM interview with Amanda Congdon. From MSNBC: http://msnbc.msn.com/id/13832899/

And yet another semi-cluessless piece. This time from The Guardian: http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1818617,00.html

As Amanda says, when asked by the "talent" on what exactly is that elusive formula for success MSM could learn from New Media, "Make friends with your audience."

Blogging For Dollars #3

Blogging For Dollars by: Jim Stroud and Gnomz

Sas and Pauline get some buzz on Scobleizer as possible Rocketboom replacements

You go, ladies!! A southern twang on the short list? Why not?

Chris

Link: Scobleizer - Tech Geek Blogger � Who will take Rocketboom over?

July 5, 2006

Who will take Rocketboom over?

Well, why not start speculation about who’ll take Rocketboom over?

Will it be Bethany of RealVerse?
Or Laura and Tina of On10?
Irina of GeekEntertainment TV?
Cali of GeekBrief.tv?
Amber of TWiT.tv?
Jason and Nate of the Bleeding Edge?
Sas and Pauline of TrueGritz?

Bye-Bye Rocketboom?

I was shocked to learn about Amanda Congdon leaving Rocketboom, and wanted to spread the word. She really did something historic for video-blogging, and it is worth watching how this whole drama plays out, esp. since we have some video-bloggers in this group.

Chris

Link: Popular News Anchor Leaves Video Blog Site.

Popular News Anchor Leaves Video Blog Site

By Sara Kehaulani Goo

Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 6, 2006;  Page D01

She was no Tom Brokaw, and that was always the point of Rocketboom.com.

Internet star Amanda Congdon, known as the host of the popular video blogging Web site Rocketboom, announced yesterday that she is leaving the site immediately over differences with her business partner.

The Web site features a daily three-minute news-like segment that blends popular culture and technology news, delivered with Congdon's quirky personality to 300,000 viewers. The site drew attention from the mainstream press for its attempt at a new form of online journalism and brought fame to Congdon, who landed an on-camera interview with Sen. John Edwards (D-N.C.) and a cameo on the TV show "CSI."

But without its attractive host -- some say she was why most people watched, anyway -- Congdon's departure could spell doom for a wildly popular site that helped launch the popularity of video blogs.

[...]

Aside from its host, Rocketboom attracted a lot of attention because it showed promise in turning video blogging into a lucrative business, much in the way that Web logs such as Wonkette.com rose from obscurity to big profit. In the vlogging world, there were few others.

[...]