Evolution of the species

Sorry, creationists. NickColemanonline is further proof of evolution.
One of the best of the old-style, free-swinging newspaper columnists, this former Star Tribune columnist was always at his best unbound and unbowed, and on his own blog, he calls the shots.
And his aim is true.

Headline News

President Obama is in Minneapolis today to give a major speech on health care, the most hotly debated issue in the United States.

This is the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the so-called "Newspaper of the Twin Cities":






Can you find any news about the Obama's speech in Minneapolis?

Go ahead, magnify it. Anything?

This is supposed to be the newspaper of the Twin Cities. Not the sports paper of the twin cities.

Are they trying to carry out their desire to continue "management’s successful efforts to change the widespread image of the Star Tribune from a strongly liberal paper to a strictly non-partisan news source"? Do they think that covering a President who is a liberal might interfere with management' image-changing plan?

You tell me.

Great Minnesota Get Together

That's what PR people call the Minnesota State Fair. And every possible angle has been worked by every media person in town, me included

For media outlets like Minnesota Public Radio, KARE11-TV, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and Twin Cities Public Television, I've created all kinds of pieces with all kinds of funny and the occasional dab of serious.

But I'd never done a live broadcast from the Fair. 'Til now.

Last Saturday, we broadcast the Fresh&Local Radio Show live from the AM950 booth at the Fair, and it was fun, cold fingers and all. I was jazzed at the idea of having a live audience, although at 8am, the few fairgoers on the grounds were searching for breakfast. (We'll get'em next week with baked goods.) We had lively, well-informed guests: Mary McGuire Lerman from the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, who was a fount of information on late season gardening; Tom Forti of Hibbing's Sunrise Pasta; and, LizMcMann, an expert canner. They had such useful information, and that's what people want, online, in print, on the radio, through whatever channel it comes.

We're doing it again next Saturday, September 5, and our lineup should be equally useful and entertaining. ana Sofia Joanes, the director of FRESH, the movie. Tracy Singleton of Birchwood Cafe. Hmong grower Shur Yang of Morning Fresh Farms. And,finally, Lee Zukor of Simplegoodandtasty.com with the most useful information of all: how to eat Fresh & Local at the Fair.

So before you set off on your State Fair foodapalooza, join us 8am Saturday for some old-fashioned radio at the Great Minnesota Get Together. You'll find us across from the EcoExperience at the corner of Cooper and Randall.

MishMashup

Now this is a mashup; a strange combination of old and new, sweetness and sorrow, past and present.  Fourteen years ago, I had a miscarriage.   I wrote a piece about it that appeared in newspapers (old media).  It then appeared in a book  (more old media.)   Life went on. Technology went on.  I went on to have a healthy child and other writing.

Today it came crashing back in new media; the loss, the memories, the old sorrow, the old life writing for old media; in Spanish, no less.  Someone kept that book alive.  It was translated, marketed, posted, tagged, search engine optimized.    And today, after trolling for my name with Google blog search, I switched back to web search, and there I was, along with Pipik, in the middle of a Spanish url.   

Pipik is another story, for another day.  I don't even know if he exists in new media in English.   But I remember.  Aveces se gana, aveces se pierde.

Obama Presser: New and Old Media React

Never has the case for real journalism, new or old,  been so clear.

Last night the newly elected President of the United States, charged with steering the country through its most dangerous economic crisis since the Great Depression, gave us critical news: without stimulus, crisis would become catastrophe.   And new media guy MNHEADHUNTER twittered  to his 1300 followers, "find annoying the tennis match he always has between teleprompters".    Meanwhile, old media's Chuck Todd , political director and chief White House correspondent for NBC News, showed his ignorance by asking the President how the stimulus will work when customer spending got us in the mess in the first place.  

MNHEADHUNTER is an expert on using social media for recruiting.  Chuck Todd is an expert on U.S. politics.  Neither is an economist.  Neither is a journalist with an understanding of economics.  And so once again we see the need for real journalism; sourced, edited, vetted reporting by knowledgeable experts.  Put it in print.  Put it online.  Just do it right.