Weblogs & Journalism – Where’s the money going?

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Glenn Reynolds, Jay Rosen and Jon Lauck discuss monopoly newspapers, reduced reporter counts and journalism quality. The Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970 and the general monopoly position of most papers has not done much, as far as I can see, other than insulated entrenched organizations from the market. Perhaps atrophy is starting to take its course.

I summarized my thoughts on Madison’s local newspaper monopoly here (along with some of the unintended consequences). There are some parallels to Microsoft’s tactics.

Checking Account Fraud

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Caroline Mayer and Griff Witte cover a growing problem with checking account fraud (helped, in part by the growth of automated payments):

When Shereen Greene recently scanned her bank statement, she found a $139 charge from a company she had never heard of — Pharmacycards.com.
The Atlanta paralegal dug out her canceled check and easily saw it was fake. The name on it was her maiden name, which she had not used in seven years. The address was five years old and her signature was missing. In its place, was a brief message: “Authorized by your customer. No signature required.”
Still, the numbers at the bottom of the check belonged to Greene’s bank account, and in the increasingly automated world of check processing, that was all that mattered.

25lbs of King Crab

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Travel can often be interesting. This evening, I sat next to a retired executive returning home from two weeks panning for gold in Nome, AK. He mentioned that he had 25lbs of king crab in the cargo hold ($4.99/lb) just off the boat….

Dining in Santa Fe

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Dave Winer is in Santa Fe. The excellent India Palace restaurant features delicious East Indian cuisine. The Fodors says:

Even seasoned veterans of East Indian cuisine have been known to rate this deep-pink, art-filled restaurant among the best in the United States. The kitchen prepares fairly traditional recipes — tandoori chicken, lamb vindaloo, saag paneer (spinach with farmer’s cheese), shrimp biryani (tossed with cashews, raisins, almonds, and saffron rice) — but the presentation is always flawless and the ingredients fresh. Meals are cooked as hot or mild as requested. Try the Indian buffet at lunch. AE, D, MC, V.
-Fodors

Local Sports Site wishoops.net makes a splash

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Jason Kiley of wishoops.net reported Friday that Madison Memorial basketball player Wesley Matthews will attend Marquette. This is interesting in several ways:

  • Local TV Station Channel 3 credited this site as the source for their Friday evening report
  • Jon Masson, Wisconsin State Journal Sports columnist referred only to a “A state basketball Web site” in his article on the subject. If the subject is worth an article, it is certainly right to link to the site!
  • The site provides a substantial amount of content, far more than the old media types. I wish them well!
  • Interestingly, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel is silent on the matter this Saturday morning.

This article, and the old media’s handling is a great example of what Jeff Jarvis refers to as the disintermediation of authority. Advertising revenues will follow over time. The Economist covered this recently (subscription required).