June 2009

Still Too Many Secrets

[Commentary] President Obama announced the formation of a task force to review government policies that keep certain information out of public reach. He proposed the creation of a National Declassification Center to facilitate, when appropriate, public disclosure of once-secret information. In a memo outlining the task force's objectives, the president reaffirmed his commitment "to operating with an unprecedented level of openness." Yet, at the same time, the administration is supporting legislation that could increase secrecy. The Justice Department filed notice Thursday of its intention to challenge in the Supreme Court a New York federal appeals court ruling that ordered the administration to make public photographs allegedly depicting the abuse of terrorism suspects in US custody. In taking a step aimed at protecting the country's service members, President Obama runs the risk of taking two steps back in his quest for more open government.

A Revolution in Prime Time, but Will It Work?

On Monday night, when Conan O'Brien officially takes over "The Tonight Show" from Jay Leno, it will mark an unusually peaceful transition of power in Hollywood. Then comes the revolution. NBC's decision to move Leno to his own talk show at 10 p.m. in September is not only the signature television event of this season, it may be among the most pivotal changes since the network evening newscasts were expanded to 30 minutes, from 15, in 1963. If successful, "The Jay Leno Show" at 10 p.m. could reshape prime time by leading other networks to move to less expensive shows, pushing more programming to cable and rewriting the financial underpinnings of entertainment production. If it fails — as skeptics, including many rival network executives, predict — then NBC will be left scrambling to find fill five prime-time hours a week.

Starting NewJerseyNewsroom

Public libraries have become substitute offices for the recently disenfranchised, so it wasn't unusual that 40 bright, talented and unemployed people found themselves in a conference room on a dreary day at the Montclair Public Library last January. But they had something else in common: they were all refugees from The Star-Ledger, which had required deep layoffs to stay in business. And while journalism seemed to be done with them, they were not done with journalism. Less than three months later, NewJerseyNewsroom (newjerseynewsroom.com), a Web site owned and operated by journalists, is up and running. Last Friday, the site was topped with an article by Tom Hester, a longtime State House reporter, deconstructing the decision by the New Jersey Supreme Court. It upheld Gov. Jon Corzine's decision to upend a 34-year-old formula that pushed the most public school financing to the poorest districts. Sitting last Friday at the same public library where the enterprise was conceived, Hester, 65, talked with wonder about the ability just to push a button and find an audience, bypassing the editors, printing and trucks that used to convey his work.

Assessing Napster - 10 years later

When 18-year-old Shawn Fanning released his Napster file-sharing program on the Internet 10 years ago this month, little did he know he was unleashing a digital revolution that would continue today. The teen simply saw a better way to share good music among friends. But within months, millions of people around the world were hooked. Although the original Napster was buried long ago by a copyright-infringement lawsuit, the program hastened the Internet's role in becoming a primary conduit for digital entertainment. It also dragged traditional media companies into a new era of changing consumer habits.

Marketers try to capitalize on Social Media

Marketers are getting on board the social-media trend with their own networking sites for brand aficionados. They may also attract critics, but it's a risk marketers believe they need to take. The branded sites won't rival mega social sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which already have millions of users, but complement them. Marketers spent about $1 billion to advertise their brands on such sites in 2008, according to eMarketer. The next step is creating destinations that people can leap to from those ads and form user groups about the brand.