Today's Money

So I have been thinking lately about this so called economic crisis we are in.  Will someone please explain to me what kind of crisis we are in when a professional athlete this off-season got signed to a $100 million deal.  And for what I say next, God forgive me, my main man in sports 3B for the Atlanta Braves Chipper Jones just got a 3 year extension for up to $61 million.

Now I understand that sports have their place cemented into American history but someone please explain this to me.  I see President Obama on TV trying to scare America into action, then I change the channel to ESPN and see a player being signed to some mega-million dollar deal.

What gives???

The FCC's Personal Enforcer

$56 thousand in fines was issued to Fox for showing indecent scenes on its reality TV show "Married by America" during the FCC's indecency enforced time slot of 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

The Justice Department backed the FCC by issuing the fines the same day Fox requested the fines be dropped, which the FCC denied.

In 2004 the FCC levied fines on 5 stations owned by Fox and 3 owned by Baltimore-based Sinclair Broadcast Group for a scene in which partially nude males and female strippers where walking around a bachelors party with plenty of pixilation.

The FCC has released a statement stating that they have an obligation to protect the children in each market. Initially there where 169 fines of $7 thousand each issued to the Fox affiliates who aired the program. That has since been reduced to thirteen stations in which there where formal viewer complaints.

Is it in the Justice Department's best interest to be getting involved with the FCC's battles with Fox? Is this something similar to congress getting involved with baseball's issue on steroids?

Fox has failed to accept responsibility for its actions and the battle has come to require some form of outside enforcement. Four stations have paid their fines and one was dropped since no formal complaint was submitted, leaving 8 stations left fighting the FCC, and now the Justice Department.

Justice Department Sues Fox

All Eyes on China

China is slated to host the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing with high hopes of showing the world its progress with human rights.

As of late the Tibetan region has been blocked off from journalists and even internet sites trying to report on the large protests in Tibet. CNN was stopped hundreds of miles away and turned back, the BBC has been denied access and YouTube has been blocked from access across China.

China has gained incredible control over access to particular internet sites by creating what has become known as the "The Great Firewall of China" or the Golden Shield Project. An extremely effective, well-funded endeavor made by China to control what is being reported out of Tibet and Taiwan and other sensitive regions, onto the internet.

One sided coverage has become the tactic used by the Chinese government to try and control protesters, airing hour after hour of violent protests, riots and burned down shops. Not one clip was aired of peaceful protesting, pulling out all stops to prevent a Tibetan uprising.

With at least 25 journalists being forced out of these regions and the end of media permits being issued to foreign correspondents, China's once positive steps towards freedom of movement for foreign media is now being drawn back to prevent the truth of what is happening in Tibet to be made clear to the world.

The Summer Olympics are fast approaching us and the keen eyes of the world watching what is taking place in China, what are the Olympics going to be like? With foreign media being held out of certain regions, what kind of coverage will the Olympics have this year?

China has tried to use the Olympics to their advantage to show progress in their nation, now it only appears that the world will see regression among human rights.

The Whole World is Watching: China's Media War

The Next Fad: iReporting

The newest hit of the internet in 2008: iReport.com. CNN has created a YouTube-like website for users to upload breaking news to the internet for others to watch and some clips make it onto CNN or CNN.com.

While CNN intends to start small and see the direction the site goes, there are quite a few ethics issues I see involved with this. The idea of iReporting was initiated in 2006 by CNN and there have been clips users have sent in that have been aired on TV. However these clips were checked for creditability before being shown nationally.

iReport.com's domain name was purchased for $750 thousand last month and was recently launched, allowing for any and all content to be uploaded as news. There will be no prior investigating of the content and that creates an issue of iReport.com users believing anything and people falling victim to false claims that may be out there.

This kind of defamation and misleading media is already an issue on YouTube, which does not cast itself as any sort of news website. What is going to happen down the road when people upload clips of false news and create a disturbance about something that has no factual backing.

iReport.com is a great idea in terms of getting the nation involved with the news but this will also create to many Bill O'Reilly wanna-bes and there is going to be an issue of ethics involved in the site if it makes it mainstream.

CNN launches iReport.com

Sony and Superballs

Sony has a new line of televisions out called Bravia, an acronym for Best Resolution Audio Visual Integrated Architecture and Sony has turned advertising for this new line into an aspiring art. From dropping a quarter million Super Balls to exploding 70 thousand liters of paint, Sony has masterminded awesomeness in advertising.

Their most recent ad (recorded but not yet aired) has Sony filling the streets of Miami in bubbles. TV's and bubbles??? No idea the connection but after watching 70 thousand liters of paint explode in such beautiful fashion (below) I felt inspired to go out and buy a flat screen TV, so someone in the advertising department deserves a raise.

Does creating a commercial that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual product make any sense on the profit side of things? Who knows but after watching the commercials you will not forget Sony or Bravia.

I think Sony has artfully remastered techniques in advertising with simply creating super-sweet ads that will keep Bravia stuck in the back of your head. I can not think of a Toshiba or Panasonic commercial that completely defined "wowness".

Sony Bravia: Quarter-million Super Balls

Sony Bravia: 70,000 Liters of Paint

Advertising As Performance Art

Newspaper in Your Pocket

Apple has recently released its new brain child, the i-Pod touch. Similar to its big brother the i-Phone, minus the phone, the i-Touch will connect to the internet (and surf at high-speed) through any wi-fi hot spot in the area, using Apple's Safari browser.

With the revolution of having access to the internet at all times, newspapers next step is to figure out out how to adapt to these new high-tech devices, according to Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger. "The world of newspapers will shudder on its axis and journalists will have a responsibility to have our editorial offering in a shape that will readily adapt to whatever comes along next."

For the last decade, newspapers have been scurrying around trying to find a way to keep print (and the newspaper itself) alive with todays instant accessibility to any and all news through the web. The New York Times has taken a step out into using new technology for its paper by coming to an agreement with Microsoft to use its on-screen reader to flip through the pages of the Times just like you would if you were holding it.

Perhaps with the i-Touch, newspaper's savior is here, if you can access the paper from the web, and the web is in your pocket, perhaps newspaper companies can find a way to adapt media with new technology rather than forcing technology to work with old media. If editors and journalists can find a way to adapt with the ever changing technology, the newspaper still may have a fighting chance.


The i-Pod moment has arrived for newspapers

FOX News: Condeming Our Patriots

On January 26, serving as a guest on Fox News, TV talk show host Montel Williams bashed all the media outlets and Fox News for all the attention on a single death previously in the week rather than the continuously mounting deaths in Iraq.

Heath Ledger had passed away on the 22 of January and as Montel Williams was introduced onto the show, the commentators for Fox where discussing this tragedy. Upon Williams introduction he was asked to express his feeling on the actor's passing. After briefly sending out his condolences to the family he went on a 3 minute tangent bashing the networks lack of coverage on the 28 deaths that have occurred in Iraq since January 1 and more on the untimely death of a young actor.

One of the hosts cut Mr. Williams off to break for a commercial, stating "We will have more with Montel in just a moment." Following the break, Williams was no where to be found on the set and four days later he was cut from his job as host of "The Montel Williams Show" after 17 years. Fox had decided sealed the deal for Montel and his show when they opted not to renew for the 2008-2009 season.

Williams may have known this before airing his distaste for the collective media outlets in America or maybe the comments pushed him out the door. What ever the case Montel Williams has done something that I have seen very few celebrities and even fewer TV personalities do, voice thier disgust for all the mindless media coverage in America when we have soldiers dying for the democracy we enjoy every day.

Williams had served in the the U.S. Marine Corps and Navy for 22 years, reaching the level of Lieutenant and serving on the USS Sampson during the U.S. invasion of Grenada. Williams should be respected and feel proud for what he said backing this nations soldiers while most the media wants to cover mindless incidents involving the ridiculously rich young stars of America and not the selfless hearts of America fighting in the trenches.

YouTube Video: Montel turns the tables on a Fox Morning Television show

Montel Williams Loses Job after Defending Troops on Fox News