December 2006

TV vs Video

Here's a comment that sums it all up:

Jake Wolf said (as a comment to a Blog Entry that Jeff Jarvis posted):

"TV is made by deep pocketed networks who pay for FCC licenses and come into homes via radio waves or wires. Video is what individuals have control over and they can get it from any source they want."

Jeff Jarvis started by saying:

"She [Amanda Congdon] said she didn’t want her stuff called TV; she said it’s something new, it’s a video blog. I argued, in turn, that the definition of TV is up for grabs and that she should grab it..."

I don't think Amanda should grab anything. We (individuals) must now do everthing we can to own Video, before the Googles of the world buy up all the YouTubes of the world and commericalize it, just like they did to the Internet. Of cousre, we the people may already have lost the battle, as this OpEd piece in the San Jose Mercury News tells us.

Don't Forget What Business You're In

Just like the people who ran the great railroads at the beginning of the 20th Century forgot that they were really in the transportation business and not the railroad business - don't forget you're in the news business (not the TV news business.)

Keep in mind that Yahoo (a company that gathers no news of its own,) is still the number one source of news on the net, and the net's where under 30's go to get their news.*

So when you're asked to file a web or digital subchannel story - do it or you'll become an over-the-air dinosaur.

Still don't get it? Read Jeff Jarvis' blog entry "TV is dead; long live reinvented TV."

(And just to emphasize how important Yahoo News is - just follow the lead of ABC News.)