“I’m a lawyer” [TMZ] guy disses newspapers

The Nation Press Club Luncheon on Monday was with Harvey Levin. Don’t know who he is? Here’s his bona fides from the Press Clud website:

Harvey Levin , creator of celebrity news site TMZ.com, discussed the changing landscape in entertainment news coverage at the National Press Club.  Levin worked as a legal and entertainment reporter for several years prior to founding TMZ.

TLTR:

• Print readers are getting older and younger “readers” aren’t interested in print. We need to attract younger readers? (Tell us something we don’t know).
   
• The delivery media stystem is stale (see snark above).
   
• “What is the magic of holding a piece of paper in the air when you read it”? (Try it sometime, Harv).

• “What is it that drives professors and others to sing the praises of newspapers still when it’s not the future? (Probably not, but give credit where it’s due).

• “Yet there is something about newspapers, this holy grail that people talk about that we just have to preserve this. Why? What is it about paper, it’s not even politically correct anymore. What is it about paper that makes us so rooted in the past? And what is it that forces people to shut down when we talk about how to evolve today?

He goes on to ask interesting questions and discusses TMZ’s policy of paying. You can watch the entire speech at this link.

Tintin

Help fund a start-up [print] newspaper!

The folks Occupying Boston are looking for funds to start The Occupy Boston Globe a real-live printed newspaper!

Here are the details:

The Occupy Boston Globe will come in two forms:

1) A daily, double sided paper, distributed mainly within and around the Occupy Boston encampment at Dewey Square

2) A weekly, full-color broadsheet in both English and Spanish, distributed across the Boston area (and nationally, to those who lend their support!)

This paper will enable us to reach more of the 99%, particularly those who don’t have daily access to an internet connection.  It will be run as a community paperwith a transparent editorial and accounting process for all those who want to make sure we remain faithful to the ideals of the Occupy movement.  Anyone will be allowed to submit news articles to our staff, and we will also allow for a small number of opinions and editorials to be published weekly.

We have a great staff of volunteers writing, editing, and designing what the first paper will look like.  Unfortunately for us, however, the cost of materials, printing, and distribution can be prohibitively expensive to a fledgling newspaper.  We are asking for your help in covering these costs, and only these costs.  Any money spent on the paper will be transparently reported on occupybostonglobe.com once the Kickstarter funding period has ended. 

via kickstarter.com

Click on the link to send them some money — remember, we are the 99%.

MEANWHILE — back at the ranch: The folks at the real Boston Globe has told the Occupiers to stop using its name and nameplate. So much for upholding the First Amendment!

Flatt and Scruggs sing about a Newsie

via youtube.com

Keeping with today’s Newsies theme, here’s a Youtube clip of LEster Flatt and Earl Scruggs performing “Jimmie Brown, the Newsboy”

I sell the morning papers sir my name is Jimmy Brown
Everybody knows that I’m the newsboy of the town
You can hear me yellin’ Morning Star runnin’ along the street
Got no hat upon my head no shoes upon my feet

Never mind sir how I look don’t look at me and frown
Sell the morning papers sir my name is Jimmy Brown
I’m awful cold and hungry sir my clothes is mighty thin
Wander bout from place to place my daily bread to win

My father died a drunkard sir I’ve heard my mother say
I am helpin’ mother sir as I journey on my way
My mother always tells me sir I’ve nothing in the world to lose
I’ll get a place in heaven sir to sell the Gospel News

I sell the morning papers sir…

File this under “Who Knew” — Newsies is a cult!

via thedailybeast.com

My bud Ramin over at the Daily Beast notes that the off-off-off-so far off Broadway it’s in New Jersey production of Newsies is a hit!

Sold out shows! Singing audiences! Talk of a Broadway production! Yippee!

The big news to me is that there are Newsies groupies called Fansies (!??–really). And they compare it to “ an American version of Oliver—and Calhoun says it’s Annie, but with boys.”

No surprise that Christian Bale (who played the hero role of Jack “Cowboy” Kelly in the film) has distanced himself from the Disney flop. He always struck me as kind of an ass.

Can’t get into to see the NJ production and don’t want to wait for the Broadway show… watch this remix featuring Laddy Gaga.

— Fromt the Internets.

“Occupiers” have their own newspaper!

Occupied-Wsj.pdf

 

Twitter? Check.

Blog? Check.

Website? Check.

Newspaper? CH — Whoa there! NEWSPAPER?

Yup, you bet! The Occupy Wall Street crew has thier own newspaper. Qt least one edition came out with a broadsheet last week (I haven’t heard of it’s a daily or weekly) dubbed The Occupied Wall Street Journal.

 

Read all about it, as they used to say, here. Thanks to whomever posted it here.

 

And don’t forget to visit Occupy Wall Street.

Foreign newspapers cover Steve Jobs’s death

Steve died off-cycle for most of the overseas newspapers, so I waited until today to grab P1s from my good friends over at the Newseum.

Not going to do a kudos and not-so-kudos on theses because well, who’s to account for non-American tastes.

However, I did see quite a few P1 designs that I really like, including the first screenshot of the Diario de Pernambuco. They let their designer go wild — using just the Apple logo with the simple line drawing of Steve’s iconic glasses. Simple. Very simple, yet anyone who’se seen Steve Jobs will recogzine them. Very good work!

Several papers went with the reading-the-story-on-an-iPad/iPhone theme, which is pretty cool but some executed better than others.

I’ve included the Bild’s front page, which is NSFW. Shame on them for running THE WORST photo of Steve that they could dig up. It’s not like we didn’t know that he was sick and dying. So much for giving the man a bit of dignity.