The list started like this:

1. Start a blog and post at least twice a week
2. If you already have a blog, write a post that gets retweeted 20 times
3. Shoot 100 amazing photos and post them on Flickr
4. Friend at least 50 journalists on Twitter who in turn follow you back
5. Become a part of a crowdsourcing project

and ran up to number 30.

I liked his suggestions — a few are ones I’ve told my journalism students to pursue — and shared his post with one of the journalism listservs I’m on.

“You can quibble with the details,” I wrote, “but I generally think this is spot on and will pass it along to my students.”

The first response was positive:

That is spot on and some points we should probably all learn! Thanks for the to-do list!

The next response, not so much.

Before I get into it though I think I can safely say that our mainstream brethren aren’t quite the shining stars we might hope them to be. Off the top of my head I can think of today’s Washington Post pay to play snafu (Charles Kaiser sums up its repercussions nicely); NPR’s banning the word “torture” from its coverage of Bush era interrogations; and Fox’s Glenn Beck continued journey to looneyville when he apparently agreed with a guest that “the only chance we have as a country right now is” for bin Laden to “detonate a major weapon” in the US.

Really?

So, yes, I agree with Luckie that our graduating journalists have some independent training to do. Hopefully they’ll apply it to new, independent news operations that start to show what real journalism can look like.

Slate’s Jack Schafer is right when he writes that digital disruption will improve journalism. We — and our graduates — just need to practice and take advantage of what this technology is providing.

Without further ado, here’s the back and forth.

Wow. Is this what journalism has sunk to? “Start a blog and post at least twice a week.” Is the author taking it on faith that all these new journalism grads just automatically have something to say that is so pressing and relevant they have to broadcast their thoughts twice a week?

Perhaps they do, perhaps they don’t. I know a 2008 grad that got his current “mainstream” gig because he did have something to say, and said it well. Without the blog, the hiring editor never would have come across him.

However, think of a blog simply as a platform. It doesn’t necessarily have to include opinion or “thoughts” as you imply above. I’ve told my students in the past, if you graduate and want to cover City Hall but haven’t been hired to do so, start a blog and start reporting. Get your ass down to City Hall and break news.

You don’t have to wait until Newsday comes calling. Better, do it with a partner and report as fiercely as you can so you make a name for yourself. You’ll eventually get noticed.

That’s what i think of when someone says, start a blog. The blog, as a public platform, lets us pursue what truly interests us if we haven’t been fortunate enough to be hired for the beat we really want. Use it.

And that they’re all such skilled photographers that every one of them can post “100 amazing photos” that other people besides their friends will actually care about?

If you’re not skilled enough to begin with the only way you’re going to get there is to practice. So i tweak the “take a 100 photographs directive” and say, take thousands, but you can only have 100 up on Flickr/your site at any one time. That way, you learn to edit yourself. You learn to develop and eye, you learn a variety of skills, including editorial judgment, that will come in handy.

Or is he/she assuming that it’s OK to produce content for the sake of producing content?

Well, is it not ok? Athletes practice. So too artists and musicians. Should journalists not lift a finger and perfect their writing, shooting, editing, etc. unless they have an actual, honest to goodness signed, sealed and delivered assignment from an editorial desk? I’d rather have that budding journalist do it publicly where he or she can get actual feedback from those who see, hear or read their work.

How else do you propose people get better?

Nowhere in this post is there any mention of actually, say, reporting. Why not instruct new grads to spend time in underrepresented communities and find the stories that mainstream media is missing?

Well, I agree with you there and hopefully my tweaking shows that reporting is part of the process in the recommendations. And yes, go take those pictures and write pieces that aren’t covered in the mainstream media.

We don’t need thousands of new journalists who know how to use Photoshop and Twitter. Any child can do that. We need journalists who actually know how to report and write, and who pay attention.

We do need journalists who know how to report and write, and who pay attention. And we need them to be able to produce that content in and for a medium that most people are now using to get their news. That’s the web. Photoshopping required. Which, apologies to any of my former students on this list, is not something any child can do.

Final thought. The author who posted the original list recommends following 50 journalists on Twitter. I disagree.

Leave the echo chamber and follow 50 people in the beat and subject matter you want to report in and on. Immerse yourselves in the links and knowledge they’re sharing. It will do you well.

Now, she did conclude her rant with, “We need journalists who actually know how to report and write, and who pay attention.”

And this, of course, is absolutely true.

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Now that we have it, register to attend our next live video webcast, a sit down interview with Betsy Morgan, former CEO of The Huffington Post and Avner Ronen, the opinionated founder of Boxee, a fast-growing media aggregation and social networking startup.

This free video webcast is on Wednesday, July 15th.

Register now to get in on the conversation.

You can watch past episodes of Naked Media here.

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I recently received an Ikan V8000 HDMI Video monitor from ProFlixSales. Not a big fan of instruction manuals, I immediately pulled the monitor out of the box and pretty much figured it out in about 10 minutes.

When I started my search for a field monitor, I was looking for something that is lightweight, easy to carry around and can work with our Sony EX1 HD cameras. We do a lot of work with the NYPD and FDNY, so I wanted something that can withstand the rigors of chasing the Bomb Squad or Aviation Unit around the city.

While I will most likely get a Zacuto rig to mount the monitor and other gear, I like the fact that the Ikan easily mounts on the camera by using the hot shoe adaptor that is included in the box. The monitor doesn’t add much weight to the camera, so I can still go hand-held without much effort.

The monitor can display 16×9 1080p hd footage from the Sony EX1. It can also work with the Panasonic DVX, which is our Standard Def camera of choice. It displays 4×3 in addition to 16×9 and has title safe and action safe guides.

I connect the EX1 to the Ikan monitor via component out from the camera. The monitor also has S-video and composite inputs for the Panasonic DVX we have and HDMI, which is a standard that is being adopted by many consumer cameras and, I suspect, will be supported by higher end cameras in the near future.

The battery mount on the back of the monitor is a great feature. You can purchase the monitor with a battery plate that mounts many common camera batteries. For example, knowing that we have about 10 Panasonic DVX and HVX batteries lying around, I opted to get the monitor with a Panasonic battery plate. It snaps onto the back of the monitor. I can then mount a Panasonic battery to go mobile.

The monitor also has video outputs. So I can send a video signal from the camera to the monitor and then from the monitor to another device. The monitor has component, composite and S-Video outputs.

Next up, we’ll bring the monitor into the field for a TV pilot we’re producing. I’ll try to film the production of the production to show the monitor in action.

I may even be inspired to enter the Ikan short film competition and bring home the $5,000 grand prize

From Ikan:

Features

• High Definition & Standard Definition
• HDMI Input
• Component, S-Video, & Composite Inputs
• Video Pass-Through for all analog Inputs
• Built-in support with various DV battery plates
• Built-in support for V-mount and AB batteries
• Horizontal and Vertical Flip
• Safe area guides for 16:9 and 4:3 aspect ratios
• On-Screen Display Control
• Multi-System NTSC/PAL
• Battery Strap

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All the hyperbole laced marketing copy in the world can’t compete with a video that shows the features and functionality of a product AND case studies of how the product can be used.

For example, we’ve produced some videos for various companies in the video production space such as Wafian, Bogen Manfrotto and Datavideo.

More companies are starting to realize the power of video to help tell their story. One would think some of the first brands to jump on the online video bandwagon would be companies that manufacture video production equipment. They do, after all, sell gear to people who produce video for a living. And they certainly know how to shoot, edit and light a video.

It is finally starting to happen.

Ikan is one such company that has started to produce videos that appear on the Ikan web site and are made available to retail partner sites that sell Ikan equipment.

In my case, I stumbled across Ikan product videos while I was recently looking for video monitors that I can use in an upcoming TV pilot we are producing.

The marketing collateral brands deliver to their retail partners to help people like me make my purchase decisions includes marketing copy, product details / specifications, photos and, finally, video.

Technical specifications and marketing copy are great, but nothing shows a product like a video.

I watched the following video on the ProFlixSales site, which helped me to make my decision when I was looking for a new video monitor:

We recently received our Ikan V8000HDMI-P 8″ High Def 16×9 HDMI LCD Monitor from ProFlixSales.

Product videos are a win for everyone. I asked Shimon Hirschhorn, VP Sales & Marketing at ProFlixSales, to comment on how video provided by vendors helps him in his sales efforts.

“I think that a video is a much easier and user friendly way of explaining to a customer how a product works. I recently had a customer who asked me about a sun hood for the Ikan v5600. Instead of trying to explain to him how the sun hood attaches and acts as a screen guard verbally, I sent him a link to a product demo. Having seen the product demonstrated for him, he bought one.”

We are, however, in the early days of companies producing product videos. “They are the exception, rather than the norm”, Hirschhorn told me. “Very few companies provide me with good videos. I would ideally like a 30 second commercial that briefly calls out the products high points and a longer 1-2 minute clip that answers the 2 or 3 top questions and lets the customer see the product in use. Until then I use the online chat to answer pre-sales questions.”

The retail site can display a video that helps me, the prospective buyer, to take a lot of the stress out of a purchase decision. Most of my stress comes from concern over buying the wrong product.

For example, in my scenario, I was looking for a small, portable monitor that can work with HD cameras such as the Sony EX1 and SD cameras such as the Panasonic DVX.

Digging deeper, I talked to Clint Milby, Director of Marketing at Ikan. We had a back and forth email conversation that went a little something like this:

When did you start producing online product videos?

I’ve been producing videos online since 2002 when I won a short film contest sponsored by Rob Zombie. Since that time, I’ve been keenly aware of the power of online video content both professionally and in the realm of social media networks. At ikan, we have successfully used streaming video to not only promote our products but to demonstrate how to use them, as well as sponsoring our first user-generated short film competition.

Where do they live (e.g., on ikan site on product detail page, vimeo, do you also push to youtube and other viral video outlets to maximize possible reach through search)?

We felt Vimeo users were more representative of our potential and current customer base. We followed the lead of our friends at Zacuto and invested in our own channel on Vimeo.

What has the response from people who have watched them (production people who buy / use gear and distributors who sell your products to those production people)?

This has been very successful not only as a promotional tool but also as technical support for our dealers and end-users. It’s a lot easier to watch a person showing us how to do something rather than just reading. With streaming video we can create a stronger relationship with the people using our products.

Are videos now (going forward) a part of the core marketing assets you plan to deliver to retail outlets that sell your products? e.g. ProFlixSales, where i watched this video.

Streaming video is definitely a huge part of our marketing efforts. Currently, we are promoting our own short film contest, the “Wish I had an ikan” short film contest, where we will be offering over $5,000 in cash and prizes for the contestants who can make the best video featuring either the ikan name or the product in a clever narrative short film.

We’re doing this for several reasons. First, it gives people an incentive to get to know our products. Second, it’s one thing for me to tell you how great our products are, but it’s another thing to hear it from your peers and colleagues. User-generated content is a necessary part of any strong marketing effort.

Beyond the media we are producing in-house, we are trying to keep an active record of the vast sum of media that exists on the net. For instance, we just found video of J.J. Abrams being interviewed by a shooter using the 5D Mark II with an ikan monitor. If I merely told you this, you might not believe me, but if I can send you a link and show you JJ Abrams investigating the rig and wanting to know more about it… well, that carries real weight.
http://tinyurl.com/jjabramsikanv8000hdmi

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Brands are slowly but surely allocating a greater percentage of their marketing budgets to online initiatives. Even in a tough economy, when marketing budgets are shrinking across the board, a larger percentage of those budgets is going to online campaigns such as viral videos, short form marketing videos, web site and online video sponsorships, social media widgets, Search Engine Marketing, iphone applications, and online game sponsorships, among others.

Brands that started by dipping a toe in the water are now jumping in the deep end of online marketing with confidence. The opportunities available to brands are so varied online, which presents a challenge, as new opportunities pop up on a monthly basis that must be evaluated, tested and mastered. New metrics have to be defined and put into place to measure the relative success of, say a facebook widget campaign versus a search engine marketing campaign.

One brand that is allocating more of their budget to online initiatives is Audi. And as a brand that has fared relatively well compared to the competition, Audi is doubling down on their marketing efforts to gain market share from their struggling competitors.

I first took note of Audi’s online efforts during the Presidential inauguration. At the time, I was clicking from news site to news site, such as NYtimes.com, MSNBC.com, WashingtonPost.com, CNN.com, and noticing that many of them were streaming the inauguration live to their home pages.

More often than not, I noticed that Audio was the sponsor, not just on one site, but on multiple sites.

Intrigued, I called up Jeri Ward, General Manager of Marketing and Strategy, Audi of America to talk about their online strategy.

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Today on Naked Media, guests Roger Black and Rich Antoniello found it surprising when I cited figures that showed the Economist’s Web traffic fell from 2007 to 2008 (even as the magazine, and the company’s revenues grew). The Economist’s Web traffic is down, but as a business it does better. The other news mags gain Web traffic, but their businesses do worse. Not sure what conclusions to reach: Perhaps there isn’t one and the fact the mag is doing better is divorced from the website’s performance.

But here’s the link to the Pew project where I got my info.

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The one-demand version of the show — Rich and Roger talked about making magazines work on the Web, as well as new projects they’re working on — will be available soon at Naked Media.

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Here’s the script for today’s Shallow Thoughts, airing on Naked Media at noon ET, then later on demand.

Our guests are designer Roger Black and Complex Media CEO Rich Antoniello. More details are here, where you can sign in to watch and ask questions.

And here, from Peter Kafka is a more serious take on what Comcast is doing and the possible implications for TV networks and consumers.

The script:

OK, SO NEXT MONTH COMCAST IS GOING TO START A NEW SERVICE TO LET THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS GET CABLE TV PROGRAMMING ONLINE.
It’S PART OF WHAT THEY’RE CALLING “COMCAST ON DEMAND ONLNE” OR, SOMETIMES, “TV EVERYWHERE”
OTHERS ARE CALLING IT THE “ANTI-HULU.”

BUT WAIT, DIDN’T COMCAST LAUNCH A SITE CALLED “FANCAST” THAT HAD A LOT OF FREE PROGRAMMING FROM HULU, ALREADY?
AND CAN’T I ALREADY GET A LOT OF CABLE PROGRAMMING ON HULU FOR FREE?

AND DON’T THE TV NETWORKS THAT PROVIDE HULU’S PROGRAMMING ALSO PROVIDE A LOT OF PROGRAMMING ON COMCAST?
AND DIDN’T THEY SAY THAT TIME WARNER IS IN AN ALLIANCE WITH COMCAST TO TEST THIS NEW SERVICE?

AND DIDN’T COMCAST SAY THEY’RE GOING TO USE FANCAST TO LAUNCH THE NEW SERVICE FOR 5,000 OF THEIR PAYING CUSTOMERS?

SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT: COMCAST AND TIME WARNER ARE GOING TO LAUNCH A SERVICE TO COMPETE WITH HULU USING THE PLATFORM COMCAST USES TO PLAY PROGRAMMING FOR FREE THEY GET FROM HULU.

GOT THAT?

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Elsevier Health CEO Michael Hansen joined Executive FaceTime host Hal Espo to discuss the future of health care publishing and Elsevier’s evolving business model.

Within the healthcare electronic information industry broadly, what is the role of electronic medical records (EMRs) and what is the broader play for all manner of content companies within the space?

The competitive landscape changes as one moves up the value chain from content to software application/workflow tools. How does Elsevier Health see itself playing in the sandbox of such non-natural competitors?

Healthcare practitioner workflow tools require innovation. How does Elsevier Health transform itself into being a leader in innovation?

How will the economic downturn accelerate Elsevier Health’s strategy of improving healthcare outcomes by accelerating content integration into the customer workflow?

Biography
Michael Hansen serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Elsevier Health Sciences. Elsevier Health is a global publisher of books, journals, magazines and on-line resources for physicians and healthcare
practitioners serving users in 20 languages.

Prior Hansen was President and Chief Executive Officer of Harcourt Assessment at the time the global education brand of Reed Elsevier Group plc (NYSE: RUK and ENL). Reed Elsevier is a world-leading publisher and information provider operating in the science and medical, legal, education, and business-to-business industry sectors.

Before joining Reed Elsevier Hansen was Executive Vice President at Bertelsmann AG, a $20 billion global media company. While at Bertelsmann AG, Michael led a company-wide restructuring effort focused on significantly improving under-performing business units.

Michael also spent 10 years at The Boston Consulting Group, the leading strategy consulting firm, the last five as Vice President & Director, Co-Chairman: e-business & Media Practice.

Hansen has a Master of Law degree from the University of Bonn, Germany and an M.B.A. from the Columbia Graduate School of Business in New York.

Hansen is also a member of the Board of Directors with John’s Hopkins’ Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS).

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Are they all impatiently looking at their watches, tapping their feet and willing her to get on with it?

Some snippets:

“What a sad, incredible … you couldn’t write this,” said a nonplussed Larry King on CNN, describing how his planned show on Fawcett was “blown out of the well” with Jackson’s death. He sensed immediately what most news organizations did, that the Jackson story was bigger, because of both the surprise factor and the magnitude of his stardom.

ABC had planned an hour on Fawcett’s death, a Barbara Walters special that had initially been scheduled for Friday but had been moved up earlier this week when word came that her condition was grave. NBC News, which last month had presented a show on Fawcett’s fight against anal cancer, announced shortly after her death that it would do its own Fawcett special.

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