Josh Marshall: Awesome on Bill Moyers Journal.
By Fred.
Bill Moyers Journal did an incredible profile on Veracifer’s Josh Marshall and his Talking Points Memo blog’s unveiling of the Alberto Gonzalez affair and the firing of federal prosecutors. I think you’ll agree the segment captures the essence of what makes Josh’s vision powerful, and just right for this moment in time. The TPM reporters and the reader/reporters who make up their community are committed to routing out the news behind the news. They grab the thread and pull until the whole suit comes unraveled, or until it turns out to just be a random thread. The natural contrarian in me loves the idea that wherever the mainstream news media goes chasing, TPM goes elsewhere.
For those of you interested in the anatomy of the reporting on the scandal, scroll down the page and see what a great job BMJ does of tracing the email trail from the Administration, the TPM posts on the story, and more of their posts on the Jack Abramoff Lobbyists scandal of 2004 and 2005.
All of here at Next New Networks are very proud Veracifer is the network home of TPM TV. Josh and his whole team deserve all the attention Bill Moyers has given them. Bravo!
May 1st, 2007 at 2:21 am
He was excellent — and it’s wonderful that Moyers has burst out the gate, upon his return to TV, gunning for the mainstream media and their complete abdication of journalistic responsibility. First “Selling the War”, now the “new media” represented elegantly by Jon Stewart — bearer of real “fake news” and Josh Marshall, pioneering a new form of citizen media — finally moving past the blogosphere to the TV medium — where real influence begins.
I’m impressed with Josh — and his organization — as they guide the building of the TPM brand.
The one thing I would appreciate finding out is — what are all these 1st-degrees-of-separation: We have the TPM youtube channel… but those are just video clips of news segments… Then there’s Veracifier’s youtube channel — which I’ve just now seen to be where Josh actually posts his commentaries. I had been wondering where to find them. Now I know.
But what does Veracifier have to do with TPM and Josh. Is Josh the user named “Veracifier” on youtube? And Veracifier.com is a property of NextNewNetworks — 1 of 101 new micro networks? Okay, that much I can see. But it is unclear to me whether veracifier.com IS TPM’s emerging TV network — or if Veracifier is simply starting with Josh Marshall and TPM as its initial contributors — with other progressive “original reporting” to come — perhaps with Marcy Wheeler? or epluribusMedia?
I’d like to understand all of this with 100% transparency — since that is what the theme of that segment with Moyers was about, in many ways.
I am a big proponent of bottom-up media — and was involved with the Dean campaign,creating the short-lived DMT Network — Dean Media Team… So I’m really excited about seeing a really serious effort now to push out a new form of news & commentary. Thanks for filling this critical need! And best wishes.
May 1st, 2007 at 8:44 am
Quicksite, thanks for your comment. We explain some of it on the Veracifier blog, but Veracifier is a property of Next New Networks, and TPM TV is the first show on Veracifier, with new episodes Monday through Thursday. We’ve also added a second show, Alive in Baghdad: Uncut, which you can watch on Fridays.
As for the multiple points of distribution — we want people to be able to watch Veracifier and its shows however they want, whether it’s on the website, on YouTube or iTunes, or embedded the TPM website and other blogs and online communities. It does make for some head-scratching as to where user comments and discussion should best live — we’re working on ways to make sense of that — but the convenience outweighs that for us, and we’ll be putting the network in even more places in the future. Comments like yours help us better understand how we need to communicate all this…
Also, noticed you have a YouTube account — please feel free to upload videos to our site or send us a link to any you’d like to see on Veracifier…
May 1st, 2007 at 2:18 pm
Thanks, that helps with part of the confusion. Since you said it is helpful to hear where the confusions are, let me tell you what is still not clear . (I’m a filmmaker - and information designer, so many crossover areas…). And yes, I understand very well the idea of multiple venues and distribution platforms. It’s all the more complicated in a hyperlinked, embedded video world.
And I completely get it that you’ve just launched and are reeling things out a piece at a time.
( If my Q’s are out of line on this blog, please email me — as it is, I am “off-topic” regarding Josh’s great interview by Bill Moyers. I don’t have any problem with your deleting these comments since they are not on-topic. )
It’s really a question of branding confusion — and who’s bringing me what. I was completely baffled by the behind the scenes Colbert report segments — which were wonderful. I still don’t get it. Part 1 is embedded video at TPM, but part 2 is embedded video at Veracifier?
Just to illustrate the confusion — let’s pretend there was an error in a voiceover on that video segment. Who produced and is responsible for the video and its accuracy? And who is simply the distributor? And why is one part on one venue, 2nd part on another?
Maybe it’s as simple as you’re all in a partnership — and trying to figure this stuff out in real time… seeing what works.
But regarding branding, and how it helps people identify roles and content flow, I understand the branding & property relationships of GE, NBC, MSNBC, Universal Studios… how source material for NBC News flows to MSNBC.com. And how a TV series produced at Universal may end up on NBC network, but could easily air on CBS or ABC instead.
Could you please relay it that way? Which are the vertical relationships and which are the horizontal ones?
(1) NextNewNetworks is parent entity building out micro networks.
—— A -
—— B-
—— C -
—— D -
—— E - Veracifier is one of those micro networks — one of your first.
———————–Content Provider 1: TPM TV, produced by TPM Media
———————–Content Provider 2: Alive in Baghdad, produced by xxxxxxx.
Is “Alive in Baghdad” produced by a separate entity from TPM Media? And it’s just licensed as programming package on your network?
The reason I’m asking these things is because I believe that to penetrate the heartland — and I assume you’d like to go there, but maybe not if this micro-focused — i think these things need to be clear, so people come to know who is the trusted source, if that makes sense.
As far as I have been able to tell, mainstream America has yet to come to trust any emergent media foe journalism… but part of that is a function of not even knowing it exists.
A a related thought, since I’m laying out a landscape regarding user acceptance of new journalism, in terms of new Brands entering the media space, I find it puzzling that Current.tv either failed — or has yet to be guided into an extendable cross-platform brand. Granted, it wasn’t/isn’t journalism per se, but it’s partially a seed-project to cultivate more participatory journalism and reporting of our world.
And finally, regarding uploading videos to Veracifier.. that’s baffling to me — only because I don’t know what your requirements are, or what the standards & practices are. For example, I cut together a video essay commenting on the too-close relationship between David Gregory of NBC News and Karl Rove, questioning the reliability of Gregory as a genuine news reporter. It’s not journalism — but it’s about journalism. So, not clear on what Veracifier wants to be
(throwing in the kitchen sink: a number of people asks “what’s up with that pacifier as part of the logo. If it means we’re giving you a new kind of satisfaction to keep you occupied and tantrum-free, based on truthful reporting, hmm, there’s a tonal problem there in my view. It gives me the feeling you’re cramming something up my mouth to shut me up. )
May 1st, 2007 at 2:28 pm
(i can’t type) That was “emergent media form of journalism”
May 5th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Agreed re: Josh, but unless Veracifier is trying hard to obscure its brand, it would be a great idea to put an “about us” link there. It looks weak if a media company cannot communicate what it is.
May 6th, 2007 at 12:29 pm
Agreed, Bruce. We’ll be adding that on all of our sites. Consider us in “alpha” until then.