Reporters rely on credible sources. It’s what makes the fourth estate work. But what happens when the line between credible news and fake news blurs – as it does now? A recent study by Pew Research Center on News Use Across Social Media Platforms (2017) shows that the number of people who rely on social media for their news is on the rise. The whole study is worth a read, and no doubt that we will be revisiting it in future posts, but for now let’s focus on Facebook. Facebook

The past month’s events provided no shortage of opinions on what is – or isn’t – free speech. Setting aside the opinions of the President and the NFL, let’s look at what constitutes “free” speech online. No one loves The Google more than we do, but if we really think about it, is Google dictating the content you consume? The short answer is – duh – of course it is! We all as consumers understand how ad dollars and SEO works on a basic level. The more dollars a company pays, t

Now that the upfront season has wrapped (where broadcasters trot out new programming and look to strike deals with advertisers), we're seeing stories that encompass everything from “There Has Never been a Better Time to Be In TV” to “Traditional TV is Dead.” So which one is right? Traditional television consumption IS changing. In our last post, we talked about how ALL media consumption is changing. But television is a different beast. There is a huge amount of money being sp

Many of us use social networks in our daily lives. But isn’t it starting to feel cluttered with junk? It seems like Facebook is the new “chain letter” and Twitter has become a hotbed of snark. While that content can be fun (no one loves snark more than me), how much value is it adding to our lives? It’s very simple to make a statement why your opposed to something - “that sucks” “you’re an idiot!” “you troll!”, etc. But how does that interaction really move the needle in ter

We all want our work to be seen. We want our stories to be clicked on, our videos to be shared, our posts to be “liked.” We all need some component of “marketing” to make sure our work is shared or experienced (if that is indeed your goal). But coming up with clickbaity headlines and unique hashtags is taking up almost as much time as creating your piece of work! Let’s talk about writers specifically for a moment. What if - and I know this seems to be scary –a story could be

We’ve all heard a version of this riddle: A father and his son are in a car accident. The father dies instantly, and the son is taken to the nearest hospital. The doctor comes in and exclaims "I can't operate on this boy." "Why not?" the nurse asks."Because he's my son," the doctor responds. How is this possible? While outdated (and blatantly sexist – but that’s for another post…), this riddle is all about assumptions. We all have them - but many of them are just wrong. What’

Social media makes it easy to be polarizing. Black or White, Yes or No, Republican or Democrat. Often, there is little room for nuance, context and thoughtful discourse. As the “virtual” iteration of who we are, social media often gives us a one-dimensional look at ourselves and our “friends.” Let’s look at an example. Sue may have expressed support for Hillary Clinton on her Facebook page. To many, that one “thing” about Sue can tell you many other things about her (she is p

Is there an actor shortage? It seems like there are an awful lot of real reporters who are making appearances in movies and TV shows. While it’s not new to see “real” reporters in the movies, in the age of fake news and “post truth” (the unfortunate choice for the “word of the year” from the folks over at Oxford Dictionaries), all of the sudden it feels icky to see our trusted sources of information shilling for the latest Batman movie (a la Charlie Rose). Sure, it’s fun to s