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26 days, my darlings!

Transformation of global media - the Boston Marathon reportage

As many of you, I’m still reeling from the Boston Marathon tragedy that occurred yesterday. Once again, we see the important, and emerging, role that social media play in rapidly developing news events as the audience and eye-witnesses become citizen journalists. And we see the transformational role that digital media are playing in the more traditional venues of news reportage - newspapers, radio, television. I was struck by the videographer from Boston.com, who shot the video of the explosion as it took place, because he had the presence of mind - and the courage - to actually run TOWARD the explosion, with his camera rolling, holding it steady, keeping frame in focus, in order to capture the horrendous event, in live time. He kept his comments to a minimum, even though you could tell he was shocked and stunned, and he maintained his professional role as a news journalist, thus securing what became the most critical footage of the day. Within minutes, that video was being watched by people all around the world. The greatest invention since moveable type - the Internet and digital media - are reshaping and reordering how we gather news, how we think of news, how we communicate, how we realize that local developments are global developments. As we watch, together, these news events unfolding in real time, we are also reacting to those events in real time, sharing our opinions and thoughts via Twitter and other social media. The technology that is transforming the news media is uniting us on a global scale never before seen, as we recognize that we are indeed one world, one human race. - J

Newspaper revenues, print and digital, in free fall »

This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today
Derek Thompson, theatlantic.com

Here it is: In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. And it’s getting worse, according to a new report by Pew. In 2011, the ratio was just 10-to-1.

The digital ad revolution, always “just around th…

Scary, yes. Surprising, no. Media and journalism are being reinvented, not just getting a wash and wax. Our world will forever be changed and human communications have entered a new, exciting era. Seize it!

This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today Derek Thompson, theatlantic.com
Here it is: In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. And it’s getting worse, according to a new report by Pew. In 2011, the ratio was just 10-to-1.
The digital ad revolution, always “just around th…

Scary, yes. Surprising, no. Media and journalism are being reinvented, not just getting a wash and wax. Our world will forever be changed and human communications have entered a new, exciting era. Seize it!

This Is the Scariest Statistic About the Newspaper Business Today
Derek Thompson, theatlantic.com

Here it is: In 2012, newspapers lost $16 in print ads for every $1 earned in digital ads. And it’s getting worse, according to a new report by Pew. In 2011, the ratio was just 10-to-1.

The digital ad revolution, always “just around th…

Scary, yes. Surprising, no. Media and journalism are being reinvented, not just getting a wash and wax. Our world will forever be changed and human communications have entered a new, exciting era. Seize it!

kqedscience:

Astronomers Gearing Up for Possible ‘Comet of the Century’

“Astronomers are already getting set for the arrival of Comet ISON, which may become one of the brightest comets ever seen when it cruises through the inner solar system this fall.

NASA has brought together a small team of experts to organize an observing campaign for Comet ISON, which could potentially shine as brightly as the moon when it makes its closest pass by the sun in late November if the most optimistic scenarios play out.”

think-progress:

AWKWARD: Witness embarrasses a GOP Senator who wants to divide immigrant families. She leaves him completely flustered.

Here’s what happened.

Democratic nominee Cynthia Dill on the campaign trail in Maine for U.S. Senate 2012. Produced by BossMediaComm on Vimeo.

Justice for Veterans Sexually Assaulted in the Military

By Cynthia Dill

Civil Rights Lawyer

2012 Democratic Maine nominee for U.S. Senate

With so many victims coming forward, and so much heartbreaking evidence of sexual assault and rape in the military, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and the U.S. Congress must take urgent action to address this epidemic of violence to women, and to many men, in uniform.

These are not isolated cases; these are not cases of “he said, she said.” These are horrifying statistics that harm the credibility and mission of our military. There is a pattern of violence here that cannot be denied, one that subjects its victims to injustice, inaction, denial and retribution.

But now the silence has been broken. These brave victims have stepped forward to say, “No. Not again.” Given their courage, can our national leaders find the same strength to finally face the truth and demand a solution?

We believe the answer is yes. Now that this terrifying reality can no longer be ignored, urgent action must be taken.

Even one victim would be too many. Sadly, we know the actual numbers of women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted — and continue to be subjected to these horrendous activities — number in the hundreds of thousands.

We salute U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, new Chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, for her promise to hold an important hearing on what she has labeled this “reprehensible problem.” The hearing is believed to be the first since 1997 for Congress to take testimony from victims and military officials. That’s right; there has been Senate silence for the past 16 years.

Sen. Gillibrand has vowed to find solutions, telling the media: “We have 19,000 sexual assaults a year happening — and only a small handful of perpetrators being prosecuted and discharged.

“The committee not only can shine a light on military sexual trauma, more importantly we want to develop a response to reduce and eliminate whatever level of tolerance there is for this type of behavior.”

We agree. And like Sen. Gillibrand, we insist that real action be made to resolve this violence, to give the victims some sense of closure and to prevent future harm.

One issue often overlooked is how to fairly compensate the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have suffered the consequences of sexual assault and rape. Many have had their lives ruined. Many are haunted by their experiences and can no longer make a living due to related injuries of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other debilitating illnesses.

With nowhere else to turn for help, these victims — who proudly served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who fearlessly left behind families in service to their nation — often come to us as a last resort. They come for some kind of resolution, for closure, for help.

We are here, then, to bear witness to their plight. We are lawyers who speak for these injured veterans who tragically have nowhere else to go.

Some of these veterans call us from homeless shelters; others phone from cars that have become their homes. Some send us handwritten notes because they don’t have access to a computer. Others are driven to endless research, day and night, searching the global Internet for support and validation. Each individual story is gut-wrenching.

This is wrong. This is immoral. This is unjust.

This is not the way America should treat its warriors. This is not how America should honor those who put themselves in harm’s way, in service to our great nation and in preservation of our freedoms.

When we ignore their pleas, when we turn our backs on their tragedies, we debase the integrity of our military. In our scandalous silence, we allow a subset of predatory, power-crazed men to manipulate the system and to get away with sexual violence. And in our silence, we nurture that cruel system and allow it to destroy the lives of our military men and women.

What these veterans seek, and what we intend to bring them, is acknowledgement, justice and reforms.

Our fights are just beginning in the courts around this country. We believe a tsunami of claims is imminent as judges awaken to their duty and power to provide a remedy to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms and democratic form of government and then been ignored. Ironically, the very veterans who fought for our rights find that their own constitutional and civil rights are being systematically violated.

We must develop a strategy to redress the wrongs that have been done to these soldiers, sailors and marines. Our nation — and these male and female survivors of sexual violence — cannot afford piecemeal, expensive, time-consuming litigation. This is doubly true because so many victims of rape and sexual assault who have come forward have told us of being forced to endure endless bureaucratic battles and cultural abuse from the very government they served.

The damage is real: Their benefits are denied, evidence is lost, and the excruciating delays — perhaps done purposefully — in processing these claims allow additional crimes to be committed, with impunity.

Surely as Americans, we can figure out a way to provide some modicum of relief to these injured veterans. So many Americans have served in the military or have relatives who have fought and died in wars to defend this nation.

You know these veterans; they are members of your family. They are your daughters, your mothers, your sons, your fathers. They are your neighbors, your colleagues, your friends. We ask you to join our fight to obtain justice for them and to end this systematic pattern of sexual violence in the military.

We urge Secretary Hagel, Sen. Gillibrand and the Congress to do a few simple things, urgently.

First, issue a public apology to those who have been harmed. Second, make an appropriation to allow some redress of the financial hardships that have been shouldered. Third, establish a claims process without delay for eligible veterans who have been raped, sexually assaulted and subjected to other forms of violence.

This three-pronged remedy is not unique, nor is it unrealistic. The same model is being used to redress discrimination inflicted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on black, Hispanic and women farmers.

It’s a model that can easily be adopted to bring justice and a sense of closure for those veterans weary from battle and desperate to be acknowledged.

A public apology, reasonable payment made directly to each harmed veteran and a reform of the military investigatory system are all steps in the right direction. We now have a class of Americans, our brave and selfless veterans, who feel betrayed, hurt and ignored. But true to their warrior spirit, they remain hopeful.

This remedy also will avoid endless courtroom battles for these veterans, who honestly have endured enough battlefields for a lifetime. Let’s not make them fight again at home.

We cannot give back what was brutally taken from the veterans raped and assaulted while serving this nation. But we can apologize for what they have lived through, and we can make a deserved gesture of compensation.

Money will help these veterans get the care, education, housing and stability they need and deserve. A public apology and acknowledgment will validate their plight. And more: it will salute their bravery in coming forward with their stories and it will serve to speed much-needed reforms in our military justice system.

Our veterans deserve no less.

—-30—-

Follow Cynthia Dill on Twitter:www.twitter.com/dillesquire

Photo: Cynthia Dill's latest column: Published in today's Portland Press Herald and on Dill's Huffington Post blog:

Justice for Veterans Sexually Assaulted in the Military

With so many victims coming forward, and so much heartbreaking evidence of sexual assault and rape in the military, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and the U.S. Congress must take urgent action to address this epidemic of violence to women, and to many men, in uniform.

These are not isolated cases; these are not cases of "he said, she said." These are horrifying statistics that harm the credibility and mission of our military. There is a pattern of violence here that cannot be denied, one that subjects its victims to injustice, inaction, denial and retribution.

But now the silence has been broken. These brave victims have stepped forward to say, "No. Not again." Given their courage, can our national leaders find the same strength to finally face the truth and demand a solution?

We believe the answer is yes. Now that this terrifying reality can no longer be ignored, urgent action must be taken.

Even one victim would be too many. Sadly, we know the actual numbers of women and men in uniform who have been sexually assaulted -- and continue to be subjected to these horrendous activities -- number in the hundreds of thousands.

We salute U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, new Chair of the Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel, for her promise to hold an important hearing on what she has labeled this "reprehensible problem." The hearing is believed to be the first since 1997 for Congress to take testimony from victims and military officials. That's right; there has been Senate silence for the past 16 years.

Sen. Gillibrand has vowed to find solutions, telling the media: "We have 19,000 sexual assaults a year happening -- and only a small handful of perpetrators being prosecuted and discharged.

"The committee not only can shine a light on military sexual trauma, more importantly we want to develop a response to reduce and eliminate whatever level of tolerance there is for this type of behavior."

We agree. And like Sen. Gillibrand, we insist that real action be made to resolve this violence, to give the victims some sense of closure and to prevent future harm.

One issue often overlooked is how to fairly compensate the hundreds of thousands of veterans who have suffered the consequences of sexual assault and rape. Many have had their lives ruined. Many are haunted by their experiences and can no longer make a living due to related injuries of post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, and other debilitating illnesses.

With nowhere else to turn for help, these victims -- who proudly served in Iraq and Afghanistan, who fearlessly left behind families in service to their nation -- often come to us as a last resort. They come for some kind of resolution, for closure, for help.

We are here, then, to bear witness to their plight. We are lawyers who speak for these injured veterans who tragically have nowhere else to go.

Some of these veterans call us from homeless shelters; others phone from cars that have become their homes. Some send us handwritten notes because they don't have access to a computer. Others are driven to endless research, day and night, searching the global Internet for support and validation. Each individual story is gut-wrenching.

This is wrong. This is immoral. This is unjust.

This is not the way America should treat its warriors. This is not how America should honor those who put themselves in harm's way, in service to our great nation and in preservation of our freedoms.

When we ignore their pleas, when we turn our backs on their tragedies, we debase the integrity of our military. In our scandalous silence, we allow a subset of predatory, power-crazed men to manipulate the system and to get away with sexual violence. And in our silence, we nurture that cruel system and allow it to destroy the lives of our military men and women.

What these veterans seek, and what we intend to bring them, is acknowledgement, justice and reforms.

Our fights are just beginning in the courts around this country. We believe a tsunami of claims is imminent as judges awaken to their duty and power to provide a remedy to the men and women who have sacrificed so much for our freedoms and democratic form of government and then been ignored. Ironically, the very veterans who fought for our rights find that their own constitutional and civil rights are being systematically violated.

We must develop a strategy to redress the wrongs that have been done to these soldiers, sailors and marines. Our nation -- and these male and female survivors of sexual violence -- cannot afford piecemeal, expensive, time-consuming litigation. This is doubly true because so many victims of rape and sexual assault who have come forward have told us of being forced to endure endless bureaucratic battles and cultural abuse from the very government they served.

The damage is real: Their benefits are denied, evidence is lost, and the excruciating delays -- perhaps done purposefully -- in processing these claims allow additional crimes to be committed, with impunity.

Surely as Americans, we can figure out a way to provide some modicum of relief to these injured veterans. So many Americans have served in the military or have relatives who have fought and died in wars to defend this nation.

You know these veterans; they are members of your family. They are your daughters, your mothers, your sons, your fathers. They are your neighbors, your colleagues, your friends. We ask you to join our fight to obtain justice for them and to end this systematic pattern of sexual violence in the military.

We urge Secretary Hagel, Sen. Gillibrand and the Congress to do a few simple things, urgently.

First, issue a public apology to those who have been harmed. Second, make an appropriation to allow some redress of the financial hardships that have been shouldered. Third, establish a claims process without delay for eligible veterans who have been raped, sexually assaulted and subjected to other forms of violence.

This three-pronged remedy is not unique, nor is it unrealistic. The same model is being used to redress discrimination inflicted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on black, Hispanic and women farmers.

It's a model that can easily be adopted to bring justice and a sense of closure for those veterans weary from battle and desperate to be acknowledged.

A public apology, reasonable payment made directly to each harmed veteran and a reform of the military investigatory system are all steps in the right direction. We now have a class of Americans, our brave and selfless veterans, who feel betrayed, hurt and ignored. But true to their warrior spirit, they remain hopeful.

This remedy also will avoid endless courtroom battles for these veterans, who honestly have endured enough battlefields for a lifetime. Let's not make them fight again at home.

We cannot give back what was brutally taken from the veterans raped and assaulted while serving this nation. But we can apologize for what they have lived through, and we can make a deserved gesture of compensation.

Money will help these veterans get the care, education, housing and stability they need and deserve. A public apology and acknowledgment will validate their plight. And more: it will salute their bravery in coming forward with their stories and it will serve to speed much-needed reforms in our military justice system.

Our veterans deserve no less.

---30---

Follow Cynthia Dill on Twitter: www.twitter.com/dillesquire

Witnessing live news - without MSM

Last week people were able to witness breaking news event that were, to say the least, rather disturbing.
The first was the Big Bear, California, shootout involving Christopher Dorner. From my office in the Washington, D.C, metro area, I was able to watch, live via the Internet, the fugitive’s last stand with police.
I could hear the gun shots and the mounting tension in officers’ voices. Through audio and a live video shot of the surrounded Big Bear cabin, I was transported there, to the scene. I felt anxiety and fear during the tense minutes that extended into hours. Somehow, I was in the middle of a gun fight, thanks to social media.
It was a rather traumatizing experience. Afterward, a Twitter poster joked, “I feel like I have PTSD from that.” But it wasn’t that far from the truth. Watching dangerous news event like that unfold, in real time, can be damaging to one’s psyche.
Later that week, a meteorite fell from space. Not the one NASA was able to track and warn us about, insisting that it would miss the Earth. No, this was another one, which no one saw coming. Learning that an undetected space rock had suddenly slammed into the Earth was shocking. Turning to social media, I was able to watch live video clips streaming from Russia where the meteorite hit, injuring 1,200 people. In the background of the videos, I heard Russian pop music and I could see the Russian landscape and various cities and towns. Again, I was transported to the scene via social media.
These two news events provided bookends to a news-filled week.
For both, I used social media to track developments, and, as a result, was able to process the news events as they unfolded.
Indeed, like so many thousands of other people, I had observed these events long before they were available in similar formats on MSM.
When the news did come on, I already knew what the anchors were going to report.
What does that mean for our society?
The mainstream media — traditional TV, cable news and newspapers — continue to live in a world where they truly believe they are among the first to “break” the news. Actually, that important social position now belongs to Twitter.
By the time I read my newspaper, The Washington Post, or watch TV news, here is where I am emotionally, as a news consumer: I already have learned about the news; I already have had an emotional reaction and experience to it; and I already have shared my thoughts with other people - all via Twitter and other forms of social media.
So the newspaper, the TV, the cable? Nothing. There is no “added value” there for me anymore.
I’m not saying there couldn’t be, or that editors shouldn’t be looking for ways to harness the social media engine to develop new content venues. But the fact is, editors aren’t doing that.
Too many are acting like it’s still 1999.
I think journalism has an important role to play in this new media world - perhaps helping us news consumers better understand and digest the breaking news we are witnessing, first-hand.
In order to do that, MSM journalists would need to use social media tools the way their audience does — in real time, as news breaks. And I’m just not sure that journalists are willing to do that. Because doing so would acknowledge a seismic change in news reportage, where the audience is the message.
But after the Dorner shootout and fire and the meteorite fall, what more evidence could you possibly need to prove that social media has transformed our communications, from local news to global events?
Turn to your audience, MSM. It is far ahead of you, news-wise, and you need to adapt.

— JG