Places to go...

If you're going to work in media/mass comm/PR/entertainment/journalism/online content...whatever you want to call your future work area, you should begin to read about and understand the issues that surround your future career area.

Here are some sites that can link you to news and events about your field. This is not an exhaustive list...these are just a few of the places I go for content.

Browse the websites...or better still, subscribe to their daily or weekly emails.

TVNewsCheck

http://www.tvnewscheck.com/index.php

TVWeek

www.tvweek.com

BroadcastingandCable

http://www.broadcastingcable.com/

Billboard

www.billboard.com

Mediapost

http://www.mediapost.com/

NATPE (National Association of Television Programming Executives)

www.natpe.org AND

NATPE Video Nuze: http://natpe.org/natpe/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=286&Itemid=449

National Association of Broadcasters

www.nab.org

Advertising Age

http://adage.com/

Brand Week

http://www.brandweek.com/bw/index.jsp

Any major newspaper:

The New York Times

www.nytimes.com

The Los Angeles Times

www.latimes.com

The Wall Street Journal

www.wsjonline.com

(Some of the WSJ content is available only to subscribers.)

PC=TV???

The LATimes carries a short article today contrasting Nielsen's report on computer/online television consumption.

Here's the link: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-online-tv9-2009sep09,0,3144574.story

The article title asserts, "the PC is becoming the new TV" as more people watch content online.

The article data appears to be self-reported...people have to remember how often they watch.

What is interesting: nearly 25% of the respondents indicate they watch online TV. And, the sample includes about 10,000 households. The Conference Board is vague as to actual methodology--a real problem when journalists believe the survey results are "facts" instead of responses by a group of survey participants who were selected for participation by a less than transparent means--even if the Conference Board normally gets high marks for what they do.

The two biggest issues for me: the potential end of appointment viewing TV and the possibility that programs may break through network distribution routes to find audiences among online viewers.

Here's the full link for the Conference Board article...it's more interesting than the LATimes article.

http://www.conference-board.org/economics/consumerBarometer.cfm