CNN's Don Lemon

The Great (Late!) Brown Hope

by Danielle Belton

People will listen to a black person sing (Beyonce), watch a black person dunk a ball (LeBron), a black person act (Will Smith) and a black person be president (the O-Man), but when it comes to your average, shouty, loud, political gabfest, TV Land is often as white as pure Colombian Cocaine. Not surprising considering things only recently got all “gendered” up with additions like MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow, CNN’s Campbell Brown and FOX News’ Greta Van Sustern (the original!). Heaven’s to Besty, it would be too much to ask for post-racial America to give some minority a shot at screaming at people for an hour.

Not that a network or two hasn’t tried. CNN gave Roland Martin a shot during Brown’s pregnancy break, but that went unmercifully bad. Ratings continued to be low (and still are low with Brown back), and Martin was politely push back down to second fiddle pundit status. CNN also gave comedian D.L. Hughley a show.

I’m still trying to bleach that one from my mind.

The problem seems to be that the networks (or in this case - network, re: CNN) seem to be stuck either playing it safe or swinging for the fences an never any in-between. Everyone else, even the so-called “Liberal” network MSNBC seem anemic to the notion of minority show hosts. The closest they often come is using former MTV/NPR reporter Alison Stewart as a seat-filler for Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow when they go on vacation.

Since no one asked me, I’m just going to tell the networks who the top six minorities are who would make “good TV” and can shout just as loud as the competition. Get out your pens and pencils and get your lawyers to start mulling over their contracts … now. READ THE REST HERE

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Party On, but No Tweets

By ALLEN SALKIN

THE invitation, by e-mail, was clear.

“You are cordially invited to Protocols NYC, an off the record, no tweeting, no blogging, no photos, salon.”

What did they expect guests to do with themselves?

Protocols, held every two weeks since September in a small private penthouse in Murray Hill, is hosted by five Manhattan news media types who each invite two guests. The idea, according to a host, Michael Malice, an author and blogger, is to let invitees talk fearlessly in the present.

“We are fighting against this whole idea that everything people do has to be constantly chronicled,” Mr. Malice said. “People think that every thought they have, every experience - if it is not captured it is lost.”

In an era, when a stray gripe about your boss can land you on an industry blog, when waking up hung over can frantically send you to Facebook to untag your name from photos of the previous night’s frosting-wrestling contest, when shots of you in unflattering jeans become part of your permanent Google search results, there are signs that some are tired of living their lives on the Web. READ THE REST HERE

Twitter is one vehicle changing the face of news today. {Thanks, AP}

Over the course of these last several weeks a lot of attention has been paid to Twitter and how it has changed how the media reports on certain events from the protests and demonstrations following Iran’s disputed presidential election to the death of celebrities such as Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, and Billy Mays.

Greater use of new media tools by “legitimate” news outlets goes to show a desire to participate in interactive journalism.

Yes, believe it or not the consumers of news are the very ones impacting how the news is in fact covered from simply responding to the content offered, or contributing content of their own, the era of the citizen journalist is here to stay.

An interesting article chronicles the takeover of Twitter by the viewers of  2009 BET Awards show.

The post raises an important issue, contributions by groups frequently unrepresented when it comes to citizen journalism, could have unexpected consequences.

So how do you ensure that there is diversity amongst citizen journalists when the same question has been posed to the traditional media for so long?

Well, not literally. But to hear freelance music critic Christopher R. Weingarten tell it, it soon will kill the business of music criticism. Watch his recent rant (NSFW for language only) at the 140 Characters Conference and let us know what you think.

With Facebook and Twitter quickly becoming web user’s dish of choice, it makes you wonder if rapid-character-limited-dialogue will replace niche sites like mobile phones did landlines.

The panelist, including moderator Rick Sanchez from CNN, responded with answers for worried website owners. Here are their thoughts (with my two cents added):

• Benjamin Palmer (Co-Founder & CEO, The Barbarian Group): “If [your website] doesn’t connect to other websites, the answer is no.” My Two Cents: Facebook Connect.
• Rick Sanchez (CNN anchor): “If your website is an island you need to socialize more. You have to be apart of the conversation.” My Two Cents: Go to other sites and join their conversations — and this doesn’t mean only leaving comments to tell people to go to your site. That’s called spam.
• Chris Cunningham (CEO & Founder, appssavvy): “The spirit of transparency and honesty is much more interesting than being talked at.” My Two Cents: What makes you an expert? Share your personal experiences on your site to make people give a damn about what you’re preaching about. After that, go twitter about it!