Chopping Up Truth In Media Since 2009
Thanks Shakespeare, you gave the proper weight to what President Trump has done to his country.
High treason is not a joke!
Not something to be ignored because some will get tax cuts.
We sugar coat it.
Who cares if someone running for office undermines our democracy?
Who cares – as long as he secures our borders and keeps Mexicans out?
No.
Please watch:
2019 is going to be my “Year of Blogging Dangerously” – because America is in a bad place right now.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
There is absolute proof that Donald Trump said he was FOR the Iraq War in 2002:
“Are you for invading Iraq?” Howard Stern asked him, and Trump answered, “Yeah, I guess so.”
No matter how you interpret “Yeah, I guess is so…” – it definitely doesn’t mean “NO.”
But in the first Clinton/Trump debate September 26, 2016, (and many times before that) he categorically denied it.
He Tweeted climate change was “created” by and the Chinese in this tweet:
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
But he categorically denied it.
It went on and on like that in the debate and has gone on and on like that throughout his campaign.
And he gets more and more popular.
How is that even possible?
This clip from “Lenny” starring Dustin Hoffman (directed by Bob Fosse – and one of the great movies of the 1970s) perfectly encapsulates Trump’s strategy of denying no matter the proof and his followers acceptance of the denial as fact – because they WANT to believe him:
I haven’t been blogging regularly for a while as I’ve working on a book and upcoming podcast about the history of Manka Bros. Studios.
I hope starting in the next couple of weeks I can balance both projects and get back to writing about the business of media.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
The internet is blowing up today on the news that “Community” will be exhumed and given a 15 episode Season 6 on Yahoo!’s video streaming service called Yahoo! Screen.
This, I suppose, is a big get for Yahoo! because now people have heard of Yahoo! Screen.
It’s also, obviously, a real life saver for many “Community” fans who, apparently, have been walking around the Earth like the cast of “The Leftovers” after the Rapture.
Don’t get me wrong, I consider myself a dork for many television shows and would be upset if they were cancelled but this spontaneous ejaculation of joy today is on par with the Brazilians reaction to winning the shoot-out against Chile in the World Cup.
This news also creates an interesting scenario in that most of the rabid fans that love “Community” so much hate Yahoo! equally as much.
It should be a fun experiment for Yahoo! (they have nothing to lose and a boatload of cash coming from the Alibaba IPO). And it could just be another nail in the coffin of Broadcast TV.
I just hope Dan Harmon and company are up to the task. It’s one thing to make an announcement on Twitter – it’s another thing to sit in a writer’s room and realize – “Ah, shit, we’re doing this on fucking Yahoo!”
There are insanely high expectations going into this streaming video show (it’s no longer a TV show).
Sucking could result in a mass suicide.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
Nearly every major online publication (and print for that matter) are sending at least one reporter to Las Vegas for the Consumer Electronic Show (CES) – and no one, except those reporters, actually cares what comes out of the show.
It’s all the same – year after year.
Reporters write up an elaborate post about “What to expect from CES this year!” –
– then they go to Vegas
– they do a decent write up of Day 1
– then they party hard the first night because they have been so focused on the build up of CES that they just want to unwind
– and then they write a lackluster Day 2 report (because they are hungover)
– party some more
– and then sort of disappear until it’s time to drag themselves home.
Believe me, if CES were held in Fresno, even the Tech reporters wouldn’t show up.
Because it’s not about “new technology” (the gadgets are really just variations on themes from the past 10 years), it’s about “Vegas” and being able to get drunk on the company dime.
The same goes for the legions of companies that attempt to break new products and show off their brilliant innovations.
It’s a snow job – everyone is reprinting the same press release and then heading to dinners and cocktail parties to talk about the press release.
99.99% of the world’s population really don’t care to read about a $150,000 4K television, or a self-driving car or wearable tech – they might buy it once it hits the market if the products are good – but to read about it from hundreds of tech reporters and bloggers? Not so much.
But 99.99% do care about Vegas. So just write about your debauchery (like this CEO from last year – CES After Dark) and forget the gadgets.
No one cares.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
5/12/14 UPDATE: AT&T to acquire DirecTV! Lock the doors – it’s scary out there.
2/12/14 UPDATE: Holy Crap, 2014 just got a whole lot uglier (and it was already hideous) with the announcement of Comcast acquiring Time Warner Cable!
ORIGINAL POST:
It’s coming.
Holy shit is it coming.
Millions are getting pummeled with a horrible winter but brace yourselves further, because you are in for a shitstorm of job cuts in 2014.
It will not be pretty.
It seems that media company CEOs are hell bent on proving to Wall Street that their companies can be growth companies.
Unless they fire every employee and start a new company by themselves in a garage, they cannot be growth companies the way Wall Street would like.
20% margins just will never happen again in the movie, TV, print, or music industries – so deal with it.
But these CEOs are guys (all guys) who think they can do anything.
But they will fail.
And then they’ll CUT.
And… it will not be pretty.
Tribune got things started.
My company’s CEO has called 2014 “The Year of the Hammer.”
No one will make it through unscathed.
First to go will be the packaged media folks. Those who support the production and distribution of DVDs and CDs and magazines, etc.
Gone.
Next will be the slow growth businesses – like movies and Broadcast TV production (serious like a heart attack).
Slates will be slashed, storytelling risk-taking will cease to exist.
Since no one can seem to do comedy anymore on Broadcast, they will be relegated to the epic mini-series format like “Under The Dome” and live Sports to stay afloat.
Then, finally, the low margin businesses will be hit – like console games. With the exception of a few huge titles, it’s a tough business and it certainly doesn’t help these overly-ambitious / delusional CEOs hit their targets.
So what’s going to be left? TV production for cable and Over-The-Top (OTT).
Why TV gets ownership of Internet content production is baffling to me. But they do.
By the end of 2014, giant media companies with their film studios, broadcast networks and massive real estate leases will be much MUCH leaner and the quality of the product will be much MUCH worse.
Hey, but a point of margin here and a point of margin there adds up to… 2 points.
But lighten up, Spring is coming.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
Hey, there was a new survey by the Pew Research Center about what people like to watch online.
Turns out – people like to watch pretty much everything…
Comedy: 58%
How-To: 56%
Educational: 50%
Music: 50%
News: 45%
This is a silly survey because it says 28% like to watch Animation; 27% Political; and 27% Sports.
People just like to watch what is interesting. To stick it in genres is pointless.
Does that mean now more people will try to create comedy? Or educational videos?
No, there will still be just as much crap and just as much good stuff on the internet.
Silly survey.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
Really sad.
The people who created this show really thought they had another “Friends.”
Oh, well.
Next time – be more funny – and stop trying to write for the idiots who you believe are not as smart as you.
Chin up, maybe Basic Cable or Netflix is ready for your groundbreaking style.
Gone are the dreams and dancing.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
P.S. – If you’re wondering what’s up with this bullshit post – read this.
If other blogs didn’t steal my stuff years ago, I would have said R.I.P. Journalism – but “R.I.P.” as a way of saying a something is dead is also dead.
So, what do I mean by “Journalism Is Dead?”
Very simple. Journalism is dead. I’ll prove it.
The online media “information” space has been taken over by the Press Release. Companies issue press releases or send emails to blogs like Deadline.com or TechCrunch and that becomes the news of the day. No one is actually out in the field unless you consider a guy with a camera in the face of a drunken celebrity at TMZ real journalism.
Very few – VERY FEW – are actually digging up stories, creating news – trying to right the wrongs. It’s all controlled by someone other than journalists.
So here’s my experiment…
I didn’t really write over the summer because I was working on a book – so my numbers were pretty terrible on this blog. I was doing pretty well when I was constantly writing about how Facebook sucks. But now it’s terrible.
Last month I had very few eyeballs on this site because I really wasn’t around and only posted one time. Pretty sad.
In September 2013 – OnMedea had 1,167 hits. A real low for the site – but my own fault. In October, I am at 574 hits for the month – mostly because of the old Sean Hannity story – but really terrible.
Now I’m mostly going to do what others “media” blogs do for the rest of the month (Press Releases, hearsay, etc. – with my own little comments here and there) – whatever takes the LEAST amount of time – and give updates on how my numbers change.
Should be an interesting experiment.
Jill Kennedy – OnMedea
