Serene Branson Grammy Scare

Even though the Grammy's were a couple of weeks ago, Serene Branson and her Grammy report is still a viral story on the Internet.  Branson is a reporter for CBS Los Angeles, and while she was on scene in downtown LA she stumbled over her words and could not be understood.

The video instantly went viral and soon there were YouTube videos all over the Internet with titles such as "Funny," "CBS Reporter Serene Branson Grammy lol the media is so dumb," "Grammy Reporter MESSES UP Live," etc.  Soon after, it was reported Branson may have suffered a stroke.  Some of those who posted comments about the incident removed or changed them after they found out she may have had a stroke.  For example, in an article about the video by blogger Dave Lee; he stated that The Daily Record posted, "Serene Branson was presenting for CBS2 at the biggest music bas in the world when she struggled to pout together a coherent sentence."  It was replaced with, "CBS reporter Serene Branson was last night under observation in hospital after it was feared she may have suffered a stroke live on air during the Grammy Awards broadcast."

There are many different opinions on this incident.  Some think that the incident still is funny even after the reports, and they say she was just nervous or forgot what she was going to say.  Others think the comments making fun of Branson are too harsh and should be removed; especially after she was looked at medically.

One of the critics was Nir Rosen, a journalist who held a position at New York University.  One of his tweets was, "i apologize for being insensitive, its always wrong, thats obvious, but i'm rolling my eyes at all the attention she will get."  Rosen resigned after the tweets he made about the incident. The University condoned his comments.

You can watch Branson talking about the incident and how she is doing now here.  This incident shows the impact of videos and social media today, as well as the instant news demand.  Twenty years ago, Rosen maynot have been condemned for his comments and publications would not have had to change their articles because they did not post news instantly.  Now, when comments are made online and articles are posted, the author must be ready for the possible positive or negative effects his or her comments can have.  The author must also be ready for the possibility he or she spoke too soon.

Egypt & The Media

     The conflict in Egypt has been prominent in many news outlet's top stories of the last couple of weeks.  According to the News Coverage Index, conducted by Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, Egypt was 56 percent of mainstream media coverage during the weeks of January 24 and January 31.  According to the Index, "Not only was that easily the biggest overseas story in a single week since PEJ began its News Coverage Index in January 2007.  It registered as the fourth-biggest story of any kind-trailing only two weeks in the 2008 presidential campaign and the aftermath of the January 8, 2011 Tucson shooting spree."

Photo credit: Globaltechfirm

     During the week of January 31, the story was also prominent in non-traditional types of media, such as blogs.  57 percent of the links in the blog-verse were recorded as about the conflict in Egypt. This outlet of blogs gave consumers a plethora of information as well as links to learn everything they wanted to know about the conflict.  The consumers did not necessarily have to go to the traditional news source, such as television or newspapers.
     These blogs gave readers an outlet to discuss the conflict and a chance to express their opinions on how the conflict was being covered in the media.  This shows that readers are not only using traditional news sources to get their news about international conflicts, they are also turning to the world of blogging, which has been becoming more and more prominent.

AOL and Huffington Post Combine

The biggest news in media this week is the 315 million dollar deal where AOL has bought the Huffington Post.  The ultimate goal of this AOL purchase is for both to become a content powerhouse.  In this day and age people get news from many different sources, and becoming a leader in content would no doubt boost AOL's credibility.  The content will include "all Huffington Post and AOL content, including Engadget, TechCrunch, Moviefone, MapQuest, Black Voices, PopEater, AOL Music, AOL Latino, AuthoBlog, Patch, StyleList, and other sites" according to paidContent.org.

Arianna Huffington was announced editor-in-chief and president of the Huffington Post Media Group.  The media world, as well as myself, will be eager to see if this merge will turn out to be a success.

If you would like to learn more, check out an CNN Piers Morgan interview with Arianna Huffington and AOL's Tim Armstrong here.



Photo credit: jdlasica



Welcome

Hello!
My name is Amanda and I will be blogging over the next semester for my information systems management class.  I chose to blog about the changing journalism industry as well as current industry events.
If you would like, check back in once a week and feel free to comment on my thoughts, as well as add your own!

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