Ah...the glare...

Betsy expected that kicking off the show with a Part Two of last week’s bombshell announcement about the imminent demise of All Things Critical (which generated some negative – albeit repetitive – feedback directed at Mr. Wagner himself, it should be noted) would take all of 5 minutes.

What more do you need to talk about a site that had been in existence for 20 days before it’s creator walked away from it?

Well, plenty, as it turns out – ’cause Robert was on a tear once Betsy started the airing of the grievances. (It’s a rant well worth listening to, FYI.)

So while Betsy and Robert touched on Felix Salmon’s new Counterparties (Betsy really likes it/him, FYI), hit the high points of the latest Yahoo stumble and talked AOL/TechCrunch in particular and tech blogging in general (as practiced on both a regional and national level) – well, they didn’t hit on 3/4th of the stories referenced in the posts below. Ah, well…

Well, that’s why Betsy puts those preliminary show notes together – so you can still follow up on your own!

Join us next week, won’t you? (Click that little ‘subscribe’ button while you’re at it…)

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So Betsy had this nice, tidy show agenda planned for today (the first day back in the studio after a brief hiatus.)

And while they managed to touch on issues like Zite’s sale to CNN, the ongoing state of mainstream media implosion (as evidenced by coverage of Hurricane Irene, overpayment of big fat management bonuses to failing news organizations and the like), well, Robert caught Betsy off-guard with the news that he’s backing away from All Things Critical – the effort discussed a mere 28 days ago (shortly after it launched) on this Redoing Media show, no less.

And the conversation took a quick hard right turn into what technology organizations (or traditional media organizations, for that matter) need to do in order to not only survive but thrive -and why Robert believes he’s never going to see a Portland company ever, EVER follow that path. So he’s looking at different, more fertile opportunities now, it seems.

Lessons to learn for both technology startups and future media moguls? Yep. Taken right from the playbook of Mr. Steven Jobs? Yep, again.

Betsy’s still trying to figure out what’s going on here – and Robert’s not talking about any of his future plans. Yet, anyway…but it’s safe to say that All Things Critical won’t be one of them.

Does this mean Betsy has to stop calling Robert a journalist? To quote the best oracle around (Mr. Magic 8 Ball): “Answer unclear. Ask again later.”

Perhaps all will be revealed on another future episode of Redoing Media? Betsy can only hope…

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Betsy’s in a blah media mood lately – but thankfully, Robert’s able to fill in with topics, ranging from Britain’s David Cameron’s misguided attempt to ban social media channels in the wake of riots in London to the rise of DIY content creators on YouTube (links below courtesy of listener @sarahkeech on Twitter – thanks, Sarah!).

Betsy managed to wake up long enough to contribute to a discussion of Amazon’s new Kindle Cloud Service & why it matters (hint: those seeking to avoid the 30% cut Apple takes for content provided via an App.)

The bottom line? It’s August. Everyone’s on vacation. And we’ll have stuff to talk about next week…

• Ray William Johnson’s YouTube channel
• Actors in Smaller Studios, Making Pictures for the Smaller Screen

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Ladies and gentlemen, we’d like to re-introduce you to Redoing Media co-host Robert Wagner one more time: His bio might reads “Podcaster, blogger, man about town.”

But Betsy would now add “journalist” to that bio as well.

(Over Robert’s protests, naturally – he doesn’t have much appreciation for the ‘view from nowhere’ journalism as practiced by some.)

Why? Because Robert launched All Things Critical today – an unvarnished look at what’s happening in Portland’s technology scene now. What’s ATC about? From the site itself:

When it comes to the Portland tech scene, other blogs give you the glossy sales pitch, we’re here to speak the truth. We welcome your stories, suggestions, gossip and whatever else you want to send our way.

What’s he going to do next? What’s in it for him? Why should you read it? Who’s going to make money from it? What can you expect?

So many questions.

Guess what? You’ll have to listen to the show to get the answers now, won’t you?

We can promise you this: it’ll be full of attitude, backed by substance. And it’s definitely what this ‘somewhere’ needs. Go see…

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Betsy and Robert had a rip-roaring time parsing out the decline of the big-box book buying days (buh-BYE, Borders), talking about the economics of big media types still wanting to charge big dollars for antiquated content no one cares about any more (Time magazine, they’re talking about YOU), and efforts to build a new shiny widget (powered by YOU in yet another Kickstarter campaign) when it’s not yet clear what the widget will DO.

Robert got to pontificate. Betsy got to be much more snarky/critican than usual. And they both had a hysterical fit over the Newspaper Association of America’s new slogan, meant to encourage you to read- or advertise in – newspapers: Smart is the new sexy.

(Ahem…said slogan is brought to you by the same folks who build brands for Geico, FreeCreditScore.com and WalMart, no less)

At least Robert was finally able to pronounce ‘Read Write Web’ by the end of the episode!

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Yes, it’s another new show!

• Is Aggregation Evil? And why is curation okay where aggregation isn’t? Where does amplification fit in? Betsy & Robert discuss the evils of aggregation along with the pitfalls of properly labeling content, using recent examples from the Huffington Post vs. AdAge and the Oregonian News Network vs. Willamette Week. Fun times…
• Is Murdoch Evil? In the wake of bribery, collusion & even more illegal acts, (and after being called out by Great Britain’s government), News International a) shuts down News of the World, b) causes massive Twitter implosions and c) will probably get blamed for causing brain cancer at some future date. (Warning: one of these three elements may be a slight exaggeration…time will tell.)
• Spotify is most definitely NOT Evil. Both Betsy & Robert give Spotify two enthusiastic thumbs up (Betsy even canceled her premium Rdio account 15 minutes after using Spotify for the first time…)

What do you think?

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Let’s review the (ahem) media entities* in the news this week:

• Dead, dead, dead (no matter how hard you try to revive them): Newsweek, Princess Diana
• Mostly dead: Myspace (even with Justin Timberlake’s endorsement/investment)
• Alive & kicking: Twitter (NBC’s Chuck Todd now calls it his ‘primary source’ for breaking news
• Just born? Google+. Both Betsy & Robert really, really like it. Especially after watching Google’s previous flat-footed attempts (Buzz, Wave) at ‘being social’.

* Don’t think Google, Myspace or Twitter count as ‘media entities’? Think again…

Comments? Questions? Criticisms? Stunned and surprised that both Betsy and Robert agreed about something in a positive way? Bring it…!

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Betsy & Robert welcomed a tribute-toting* Jon Mitchell to this week’s show to talk about media literacy & how organizations like NewsTrust work to encourage responsible media consumption. They also briefly touched on Jon’s work at Neighborhood Notes, his WOW > LOL theory, and why Jon Stewart really didn’t top Fox News in Nielsen’s recent survey.

Of course, they couldn’t talk about the day’s news without getting in one more round of Weinergate cracks in response to Rep. Weiner’s resignation. (It’s the story that just won’t, um, go flaccid…)

Then Betsy got all serious & read a letter from her Vancouver friend about the riots in response to the Vancouver Canucks’ loss in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Robert had a unique response – why not require a social media license, and really enforce the age restrictions already put in place by COPPA, for example?

Good idea? Bad idea? You tell us…

* Would you like to be a guest on an upcoming Redoing Media show? Follow the lead of previous guests and consider bringing a tribute to your hosts....!

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Yes, we had ourselves a real humDINGER today (and that’s even after we dispensed with further updates on Weinergate).

The show’s worth listening to just for Robert’s trenchant analysis and subsequent dismissal (oooh, big words! Look them up. We’ll wait…) of all the “beautiful” news from WWDC. Or for his clear, articulate, not sales-y definition of cloud services – developed years before all the hype began.

And that set the tone for the show – both (sleep-deprived) Betsy and Robert don’t miss any opportunity to pile on AOL’s Patch, AOL as premier newsroom or lament the loss of local journalism as we knowknew it. And of course, they both had great fun poking at the latest crop of ‘social media gurus/rockstars/ninjas/douchebags’ out there.

Join both Betsy & Robert next week, when Jon Mitchell joins them to talk about the dying art of media literacy in this new world – and how that skill is needed even more these days as the media firehose kicks into high gear.

Questions? Comments? Brickbats? Bouquets? Leave them below, please…and thanks for listening!

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Robert shares his dismal view of local television news coverage (at least as it’s done in Portland, Oregon), where Betsy shares her own disgust with Jonathan Franzen’s much-discussed opinion piece in the New York Times.

And then they had an (ahem) ‘reasonable discussion’ about just what makes ‘news’ news (inspired by the recent Twitter debate started by The O’s Mike Rogoway in response to Ben Jacklet’s piece in Oregon Business Magazine – Google PR, disguised as news.)

(Would love to hear your take – either email Betsy at betsy@redoingmedia.com or comment below….)

Then, they took the show down a notch or two. Yep, both Betsy & Robert had great fun cutting the whole ‘Weinergate’ story down to shreds.

Or, in summary: yes, almost the entire show is about white dudes. Old dudes, young dudes, clueless dudes, cranky dudes. Which is which? You listen – you decide…

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