A new Spidey has been chosen to replace the ever-generic Toby McGuire in whatever remakes of the Spider-Man film series Marvel Studios has decided it will unleash upon Americans in the next two years.
Eunice Kennedy Shriver passed away today at the age of 88. Sister of President John Fitzgerald Kennedy and a member of one of the most influential political families, Eunice Shriver affected an incredible amount of change without ever holding an office. Most famous as the founder of the Special Olympics, Eunice dedicated much of her life to the service and assistance of others. She played a key role in the evolution of the treatment of the intellectually disabled in American society and received several honorary degrees, honors and awards for her work in the U.S. and abroad.
She will be remembered not only for her achievements as a humanitarian, but for her ability to inspire millions of others to work to achieve their goals.
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The PJ Team is working hard to keep you informed. We come off summer hiatus on Monday July 13. Stay tuned for regular updates.
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Stephen Colbert has launched a calculated multimedia initiative to honor the American soldiers that are still fighting in Iraq and to remind Americans that there are still soldiers fighting in Iraq. Has American really forgotten about them?
The Answer: Yes and No.
Operations in Iraq have resulted in fewer fatalities while concern for international peace has shifted to areas of Afghanistan, Pakistan, and North Korea. At the same time the new President has been dealing with an economic shit storm here at home. Not to mention healthcare, education, unemployment and the collapse of the automobile industry. At some point Iraq took a backseat to more pressing social, political and economic issues.
I'm not debating the appropriateness of this hierarchy, I'm simply reiterating that Iraq is still somewhere on that list. I think that Colbert is trying to do the same, albeit with a wealth of resources and the international spotlight at his disposal.
This week Colbert is filming his show in one of Saddam's former palaces in Baghdad. The set is amazingly patriotic, the crowd is massive and the respect and humor he brings to the troops is evident in every furl of his brow.
I especially enjoy his opening monologue in which he delivers audience appropriate jokes while holding a #7 driver over his shoulder. The club plays homage to the work Bob Hope did as a USO entertainer and the golf club he famously held during many of his performances. Although I can’t imagine that hitting the links has gotten much easier seeing as how Baghdad is smack in the middle of the world’s largest sand trap.
In addition to his broadcast from Iraq, Colbert guest edited this week's issue of Newsweek Magazine. With the permission of Jon Meacham (Editor) and the help of Newsweek staff (as mentioned in "Top of the Week") Colbert crafted an issue dedicated to the unique perspectives of individuals touched by the Iraq war and how it has shaped their lives and molded their futures.
Though Stephen happily accepts all the credit for the composition of this issue, it shows great growth on the part of the Newsweek staff to think outside the gloss. NW has been undergoing big changes and its effort to respond to consumer demand is evident on both its pages and its website.
While I don't see guest editing as a frequent solution to the uncertain news media horizon I think that this issue reveals a new side of Newsweek and I enjoyed the change of pace. Above all I think that the message was well executed. Soldiers, veterans and their families are dealing with this war in ways we need to recognize and understand. The debate is no longer over the validity of the war, but the depth of its effect on its participants and how they are cared for and honored as we bring the war to a close.
I think that all sectors of the news media industry are coming to this same conclusion at different times...It's Not Enough to Just Write.
News is multimedia, film, photo, sound AND the written word and to thrive you've got to do it all.
Right now we have a bunch of journalism neophytes tripping over their own skills trying to put stuff out there on the web that looks like news. What we're missing are the principles of reliable information transmission. Tommy J. aged 21 in Sarasota, FL may have taken a few film classes and taught himself how to use iMovie or Final Cut Pro but that doesn't make him a journalist, or does it?
We've stumbled into an era in which anyone with a camera and a computer can make the news. It used to be that something would happen, local tv stations would dispatch a reporter and cameraman out to the site, they'd interview some yokel that witnessed the event and the viewers wait for the report from the newsroom to verify the facts.
The yokels have eliminated the middle man. We can get our news directly from the source. What that lacks is fact checking, complete coverage and integrity. That's not to say that all iReporters out there are trying to deceive the viewers, but that with so many means of transmission it's hard to tell which sources to believe.
At the same time traditional journalists have been clinging to the principles they learned in J-school without considering the real effect of the digital revolution. For most newspapers, I think it's too late. They didn't change gradually with their readers and now they want public pity for the fate that has befallen them. Give me a break.
However, as most should or will realize, without newspapers we lose the institutions that have upheld (and funded) journalistic integrity. With them go the online journalists that still find their funding on the outside. What's the solution?
As with all equilibriums, the two halves will have to meet somewhere in the middle. Where the two cross, I'm still not quite sure. But I'm certain that the news media revolution has just begun. The rise of the new media brings the fall of the old and in the years to come we will see it rebuild itself - who will be the leaders? who will teach the followers? We shall see. Now IS the time to seize the day!
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