Public Eye
May 14, 2007 4:21 PM

Across The Media Universe: "CBS.com/nobodycomeshere."

By
Brian Montopoli
Topics
Across The Media Universe
(AP)
Rolling Thunder: Having concluded that forcing viewers to come to CBS.com isn't working, "the company plans to pursue a drastically revised strategy that involves syndicating its entertainment, news and sports video to as much of the Web as possible," reports the Wall Street Journal. ABC, NBC and Fox are all going in the other direction, trying to build up their own go-to portholes, but CBS is instead partnering with Web companies like Joost and Veoh to distribute content. "We can't expect consumers to come to us," Quincy Smith, the president of CBS Interactive, told the WSJ. "It's arrogant for any media company to assume that."

Choosing Sides: Reports Eric Deggans: "An investigative reporter with more than 10 years covering a controversial case leaves journalism to work for one of the guys at the center of the story." The reporter in question Michael Fechter, who long covered terrorism accusations against Muslims for the Tampa Tribune before joining the staff of antiterrorism crusader Steve Emerson. Emerson College professor Jeffrey Seglin says the move raises red flags. "The real problem is the perception whether or not all along you were jockeying for the position," he tells Deggans. But Fechter makes no apologies. "I understand the concern and I understand the perception ... (but) in the end, we're going to be selfish and look out for ourselves," he says.

Blogging The War: The military might not like soldiers' blogs, but the folks at the Lulu Blooker Prize sure do. Colby Buzzell's "My War: Killing Time In Iraq" blog, which was shut down by the military after eight weeks, took the Prize today. "His uncompromising style, peppered with profanities and misspellings and inspired by authors such as Hunter S. Thompson and Kurt Vonnegut, gives readers glimpses of military life that rarely emerge from official sources," notes AFP. Here's a short sample from a post about a street battle: "I kind of lost it and was yelling and screaming all sorts of things, mostly cuss words. I fired and fired and fired and fired at everything."
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