Traditional Media Can’t Seem To Reinvent Itself For Survival

Newark, New Jersey-- New Jersey’s biggest newspaper, The Star-Ledger of Newark that also boasted being one of the nation’s largest is preparing to jettison 167 workers including 40 newsroom staffers. 

This paper attempted to transition into the Internet age with a website and addition of video reports. Obviously the problems with the newspaper’s bottom line were not cured. 

Traditional media as we knew it is on life support everywhere in the world.  Broadcasters and newspapers have billions invested in presses and broadcasting equipment that has become a stone around their necks.  Anyone can acquire adequate equipment for a few thousand dollars to send quality pre-packaged or live video around the world. 

Our new large television screens are rapidly making the transition to bring us web content along with traditional broadcast equipment.  It’s only a matter of time before TV broadcasting towers come down everywhere.  Cable providers are rapidly losing out to wireless providers. 

There are still those people to ignorant or otherwise trapped in a technology bubble, that rejects or otherwise has no access to computers.  Those that can read newspapers, listen to radio or watch television.  Those offline folk’s numbers are shrinking every day and soon they will have t accept the changes.   Internet navigation has never been easier and is getting simpler every day.

Broadband his improved and reaches nearly everyone.  A large segment of the population is satisfied to get their news on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.   They have abandoned the traditional sources.

The most difficult part of this media meltdown is the derailed careers, missed house payments and divorces ahead for unemployed journalists.  How do people that invested more than ten years in a career deal with an industry depression?  Those that are lucky to remain employed have shrinking paychecks and benefits.  

Twenty or more years ago the people unable thrive in a newsroom went to work for government agencies as public information officers.   Now solid reporters and TV anchors are begging for those PIO positions. 

The only good news here is that the singular Leftist lockstep slant of mainstream media is dying too.  News and opinion has become democratized by technology.  The problem is most of the bloggers are working for free or next to nothing.

Matt Drudge the granddaddy of bloggers made millions by aggregating news from multiple sources.  He created a single one-stop international news page with a Conservative flavor.  

Some bloggers have found lucrative careers like Alex Jones by over-sensationalizing every conspiracy theory to a hungry audience of believers.  Others that cater to a specific audience like firearm aficionados have built audiences and appropriate advertisers.

The greatest journalist in the world won’t succeed on the Internet with out learning web promotion as they navigate in a world of catchy buzzwords and meta tags. 

Who will pay for hard-hitting investigative news exposés of corruption, fraud and conspiracies?  Correspondents must travel, stay in hotels to get interviews and gather records and information for stories that sometimes just don’t develop. 

Breaking a huge news story is a waste if you don’t have an audience to appreciate it.  As other news providers learn of a big scoop they will plagiarize it and make it their own.  Copyrights are almost impossible to enforce on the Internet when the offenders are either off shore or don’t have deep pockets. 

The whole media thing will somehow shake out but where it ultimately goes is anyone’s guess.

Why Every Demand For More Gun Control is Backfiring on the Political Left

Los Angeles, CA—The heavy populated urban areas of this not so Golden State dictates state law.  The majority of lawmakers in California come from the extreme Left Wing.  They make law after law designed to ban guns.  They never allow the U.S. Constitution get in the way of their Fascist-Marxist agenda.

Since around 1967 the Left has been on a tireless major campaign to demonize gun owners, guns and our Constitution.   They succeeded in getting media assistance with massive misleading propaganda. 

Those on the Left fabricated damning statistics out of thin air and gotten millions of people to compromise away their rights to keep and bear arms. The media harped until congress, legislatures, and city councils enacted ban after ban.

The last big and somewhat successful push was under the Clinton Administration.   They were somehow able to redefine military fully-automatic firearms to include hundreds of common semi-automatic rifles and pistols because of simple cosmetic factors.  The new evil term was "Assault Weapons."

In 1994 they succeeded to pass an Assault Weapons ban by a single vote in the Senate and a narrow majority in the House.  It was signed into law.  Two years later the voters removed sores those that voted for the ban in moderate political areas from office.   Politicians learned the hard way that they were misled by the media that greatly exaggerated the level of gun control's  public support. 

The banned weapons were actually only involved in about 1% of homicides and the law expired after a decade and has not been renewed.  The now expired law actually had zero impact on crime while it was on the books.

Radio stations across the nation found that politically Conservative talk radio was incredibly popular and more importantly profitable.  Finally the other side of the gun control argument found a voice!

The shrill Leftist propaganda  major mainstream media machines finally found competition and mixed opinions.  The truth was exposed that guns in civilian hands saved far more innocent lives than were ever taken! 

Since 1994 every state has been impacted by repealed gun laws and nearly complete reform of Concealed weapon laws!  People are entitled not to just have a gun in their homes but in their cars and on their person for self-defense.

Each new push for a gun ban has backfired on the gun rights haters.  They still are passing various bans only in the few areas controlled by the extremists but the courts have finally stepped in overturning these bans one at a time.  The Constitution is still the law of the land. 

The Internet moved forward over the next two decades and blogging was born.   It’s slowly become a powerful form of media that could not be bought by he Marxists like the mainstream media.  Democracy came to to message.  Unlike TV, radio and print media the Internet bloggers could effectively publish text, photos and broadcast quality video.

Wonderful video equipment and editing software was suddenly affordable and Internet providers quickly are beginning to rival broadcast and cable television.   YouTube and other similar sharing sites have made posting video content to the masses a snap.

Making watchable video is an art form.  Broadcasters spent years polishing their, on-camera presence to sound smart and credible.  TelePrompTers can make anyone sound brilliant and now they are affordable too! 

Slowly the bloggers are learning the power of video  and have polished their delivery skills like popular TV news personalities.

Just how does this combat anti-gun rights propaganda you ask?  The lies of politicians and mainstream media hacks no longer remain unchallenged because of media monopolies. As the lies are told they are quickly taken apart by talk radio and Internet content providers.

Facebook has exploded in political discussion and gun control groups have recently been shot down in efforts to ban postings related to pro-Second Amendment discussion.  

Think about that for a moment.  The people wanting to ban guns don’t want anyone to publish anything on Social Media expressing a different point of view!   Not only have the attacked the Second Amendment but now the First Amendment too! 

The bully pulpit of the Mainstream media that enabled them to tell us what public opinion was and should be about gun control is now all but neutralized.  Its influence is no longer controlling thought in America.

For each demand for a new gun ban or registration scheme, voices from all over America are now heard.  That old saying that he who controls the message controls the world. 

People are becoming educated as to the failure of gun control to curb crime and the nefarious motives of those advocating surrendering our rights to defend families, nation and ourselves.

The only way that people not despots will control us is by shutting down or censoring the Internet.  Many Nations run by criminal regimes have done just that.

All American should be ready use force and violence to prevent the taxation, censoring or any effort to block free speech on the Internet. Freedom is not free you must fight for it.

Trial Jury Internet Misconduct is Widespread and Pervasive in America!

Los Angeles, CA—When an American jury is empaneled they are admonished to avoid all print, broadcast or Internet related materials involving the case they are deciding.  Do they follow the rules when the juicy gossip is only a few mouse clicks away?  The answer is NO! 

Before I indict all jurors let me suggest that a small percentage do obey the instructions.  Perhaps it is only because they are not computer literate.  The rest are a bunch of undisciplined folks that do what they damn well please.

It is apparent that our jurors allow themselves to become influenced by illicit outside information. 

My blog gave me a real window into a jury in action on a Hollywood Attempted Murder case that began in December of 2005.   Alexander Terminassian shot and wounded an assailant, Marco C. Fuentes.  I remain convinced that the charges should have never been filed!  It was a clear act of self-defense.

I was outraged by the excessive bail and felony charges for Terminassian, a cab driver.  I doubted that he get a fair trial because of the gun rights debate and the extreme La La Land prejudice against guns and lawful self-defense. 

I was convinced that jurors would never learn about the criminal record or illegal alien status of Terminassian’s attacker in the courtroom.  I conducted my own background investigation on the state’s star witness and so-called victim.   I posted the results verbatim on my blog direct from L.A. County court records.

The theory is that the jury would never see that material but I was convinced at least a few may Google the names involved and learn the truth.

I have a web counter on my blog that tells me the Internet service provider’s number and domain.  It shows how they found my articles along with the search terms. It also give approximate locations of the visitors along with the amount of time they spend. 

I use my web counter to see what my visitors are interested in and look to exploit the information to increase my blog traffic.

The Terminassian story was popular in the L.A. region and among gun rights groups.  But after a few months of the incident there were very few visits to that story.

Fastfoward to 12 months later in 2006 and I noticed a small cluster of hits on the Terminassian stories from the L.A. area.  Why the sudden interest I wondered?  Something was going on!  Perhaps a news article provoked the attention?  Googling the unusual name Terminassian only generated my stories.  I kept digging.

There were exactly 14 hits and I saved a screen shot capturing the ISP numbers.  I investigated the reason for the hits and discovered that Terminassian’s trial had begun and they just picked a jury of 12 with two alternates!  Could the newly empaneled jury be breaking the rules by doing Google searches?  

For the next couple of weeks the same blog visitors returned again and again!  Somewhere between three and 10 hits from the same ISP numbers.  Suddenly I got a comment from a man that claimed to be a juror on that case.  I checked his ISP and discovered he had been on my blog continually from the first day the jury was picked. 

I asked that he contact me and he did by e-mail and phone.  He told me he was the foreman of the jury and that he was surprised to learn about Fuentes’ background on my blog.  He pretended to not have seen it until after the case was over.   I played along with his game and did not snitch, until now.  Of course the Statute of Limitations now prevents any punitive action against him over his transgressions.

After the trial the traffic stopped on my Terminassian stories. 

What I’m suggesting is that the Internet has proven to be a real game changer in American Justice.  Today juries must be sequestered if they are to be shielded from outside influence. Because of search engines like Google insignificant web sites can influence juries and their verdicts even more than traditional media outlets. 

Judges are going to hate dealing with this issue and sequestering every jury would shut the entire system down in gridlock.  The cost of transportation, meals and hotels would be staggering to taxpayers.  What is the solution?

Below is a link to the stories and be sure to read the comments.

http://www.crimefilenews.com/search?q=Terminassian

This story repeats on that link to be ignored...

Dutch Actress Carice Van Houten and Social Media Promotion

Carice van Houten

Amsterdam, NL—The incredibly delightful actress and singer Carice van Houten manages to stay close to her fans and distant friends through Social Media.  

Van Houten is the product of terrific parents that raised their two talented daughters with the arts in one of the better places on earth, Holland.   Aside from being absolutely gorgeous she is an incredibly gifted actress.  The younger sister Jelka van Houten, also a real looker has her own promising career going as an actress and singer.

Van Houten really understands and interprets music through her singing.  She’s not a classic soprano but a songstress that knows how to sing well with the voice she was given by our creator.  Van Houten’s personal favorites come from a wide range of music that transcends all ages and categories.  

Recently van Houten released, SEE YOU ON THE ICE, which is a compilation of original songs in English.  It’s available on iTunes and I play it tirelessly and enjoyably in my car.  My favorite cut is called Particle of Light that is a great duet with a UK, transgender singer, Antony Hegarty.

I really envy Van Houten’s language skills.  In Black Book she acted in English, German, Dutch and Yiddish!  She has worked so hard making her accent unnoticeable to native speakers.  Of course when acting she employs a dialect coach. 

I understand the effort involved since I learned to speak German after spending 18 months in Germany as an Army medical corpsman.  Today I’m still fluent however I’m not at the level I was back then.   Americans are generally really weak with languages and too often even in their native English! 

American audiences have seen van Houten in Valkyrie and that popular HBO series Game of Thrones.  Van Houten won the role of a lifetime playing a heroic member of the Dutch Underground in Director Paul Verhoeven’s  WWII thriller, Black Book that was based on a true Story.  That film is a must see and is available on Netflix.  Black Book is my all time favorite film.

Van Houten has a manager who is also a first rate promoter and photographer, Janey van Ierland of Nummer19 in the Netherlands.  She has a sharp agent at Creative Artists Agency, Tracey Brennan in L.A.  I do hope they get her into some blockbuster American films where she belongs.   Even with top-flight representation, van Houten seems to have a gift for effective self-promotion.

Van Houten is set to play Greta Garbo in a biopic she will be co-producing.  She also has an amazing resemblance to the very private Swedish film star.   Van Houten oozes absolute elegance just like Garbo did. 

Recently in L.A. van Houten agreed to be a guest on a live-streamed Internet video show with host David “Nuzzy” Nussbaum.  Considering he was simply a follower/friend on van Houten’s Twitter account, catching her was quite a coup for his show.  Now, if only I could score her for a video interview for this blog.

Vine.com

Van Houten is a huge fan of the animated TV show, THE SIMPSONS and got herself invited to a taping session with the voice-over actors during her last trip to L.A. for the premier of Game of Thrones third season.

Van Houten has a precious gift for her world and the blood, sweat and tears she has put into her work so we can enjoy it with her. 

Vine.com

Van Houten regularly contributes to Twitter and loves to produce delightfully clever, intimate and tasteful six-second videos on her iPhone for Vine.com.  You can follow Van Houten @caricevhouten on Twitter.   She will direct you to her latest video, favorite music and her very lucky little Teddy Bear named, Edward, XXI.  

Criminal Defense Lawyers are learning Social Media can Help or Kill Their Clients!

Los Angeles, CA—As a cop and private eye with a career that spans 40 years I’ve seen more trials first hand than most lawyers.   I never went to law school but have learned a lot in the, Monkey See Monkey Do School of Law.   Along the way police academies and in loads of seminars filled in a lot of information blanks.  I have worked with lawyers from the woefully inept to the very gifted and greatest.

Many lawyers have built great reputations along with their egos over decades of success.  Unfortunately many of the old warhorses have not embraced computer technology or the incredible power of the Internet and Social Media.  Instead they delegate any computer assisted litigation efforts to secretaries and law clerks.  That’s a huge and sometimes deadly mistake.  

For most lawyers exploring the uncharted area of Social Media seems simple enough but actually making contributions to the mix present frightening tactical gambles along with new and unknown ethical issues. 

We’ve watched high profile trials that were Social Media nightmares like Jodi Arias and that of Casey Anthony.  As I write this article the verdict from the George Zimmerman trial is ready to actually explode across America.

All criminal cases begin with some event involving a loss, injury or death.  The event itself may not be a crime but rather an accident or the result of a justifiable use of force.  The police have the responsibility to investigate.  That investigation’s results may be brought by prosecutors before a criminal jury to decide if it’s a crime and the guilt or innocence of the accused.

In the very beginning swift action to get helpful facts out in a high profile case may stop a misguided effort to indict a client/suspect.  If the defense can get solid information out to the Social Media before cops and prosecutors have made their charging decisions that effort may well stop a wrongful prosecution in it’s tracks by making it politically unpopular.

Nothing prevents defense investigators from soliciting the public for defense witnesses and information relevant to a client’s case using Social Media.  Additionally nothing prevents the posting of the criminal record, immigration status and other derogatory information about the prosecutor’s so called “victim” or witnesses assuming libel laws are not broken. 

Much of this kind of information is withheld from juries by the courts but trust me jurors never miss opportunities to break the rules as they use and abuse the Google search engine! 

If helpful and timely material is dumped on the Social Media in a way that reveals new and unknown information the regular press will suddenly be all over it like a cheap suit. 

Today cops, prosecutor, judges and news reporters often scour the Internet to find information on person’s of interest or suspects.  If you move fast enough helpful and self-serving information can be posted for these decision makers to consider.   The defense must exploit every effort to make prosecution of their suspect/client politically unpopular! 

Of course in the George Zimmerman case, it was self-aggrandizing provocateurs such as Jessie Jackson and Al Sharpton that created a nefarious Social Media storm. Their efforts even involved the Whitehouse and the nation’s Attorney General.  That abuse of Social Media caused a routine self-defense/justifiable homicide to be transformed into a wrongful murder prosecution. 

The Zimmerman prosecution was brought for purely political purposes rather than tangible evidence.  In fact, one prosecutor has already been indicted for presenting false information to the court in her zeal to please the powerful provocateurs.

There are now two fronts in the War for Justice, the Court of Social Media and the Court of Law.  If you can win in the Social Media Court that may entirely end the controversy.

As a defense investigator I now must use the Social Media at every step of each case along with other computer assisted investigation efforts.  I also have this blog where I cover high profile criminal cases.  I quickly learned the incredible influence my postings have on prosecutors, judges and even jurors!  Jurors are not supposed to research their cases but I have seen first hand that the vast majority of jurors can’t wait to break the rules!

I have a web counter on my blog that allows me to see the ISP, approximate location, computer and browser type of my visitors. I routinely see the ISP of prosecutors, courts and police agencies looking at my stories that are under their review!  I won’t publicly expose just how I learned that jurors do this but I do have solid evidence. 

When it comes to jury selection Social Media has changed that task dramatically and forever.  It’s often incredibly easy now to learn the views of potential jurors.  Any defense attorney in his right mind would exclude those demented followers of media trial advocates like HLN’s Nancy Grace.  However many posters routinely use fake screen names so additional efforts must be made to weed out those trolls.

The way to investigate and handle criminal defense case has changed forever.  Lawyers need to embrace the technology or retire. 

Needless to say I’m available to race with my video gear anywhere I’m needed. 

I will leave you with two examples of Social Media YouTube postings I created that influenced the direction of the case of man involved in a justifiable homicide.  My client was arrested and held on a half-million dollar bond for some six days.  The Grand Jury refused to indict him.  Of course it helped that my client was actually innocent.   A trial murder trial would have taken my clients assets and destroyed him even if a jury acquitted him.

Both of the stories below were followed up by similar stories by the most of the  local media!   Would they have bothered is they had not seen these two?  Did this material help the case that never saw a courtroom? 

Jodi Arias Trial Is a Groundbreaking, Government Sponsored, Social Media Lynching!

Phoenix, AZ—American Justice has taken a shameful turn here with the murder trial involving a troubled young woman.  Jodi Arias is on trial for her life but throngs of has been television pundits along with a Social Media lynch mob have been allowed to seriously corrupt our trial process.

With today’s technology the vast majority of jurors can be counted upon to break every rule to avoid media and get their verdict guidance from all the wrong places.

A public criminal trial was never an invitation to turn a metropolis into a worldwide entertainment event.  Aside from a celebrity prosecutor mugging for photos with his new fans while signing autographs this inquisition extravaganza has been out-of-control from the beginning. 

Cries of Justice for Travis Alexander, the young murder victim seem to suggest he will somehow be resurrected after the hanging of Jodi Arias.  Millions of young women have injected themselves emotionally into this trial and are demanding the jury reach a guilty verdict and death sentence.  They all want to watch a public execution.

The government here has sponsored this Roman Coliseum style event and should at least have opened a box office to collect money from the worldwide lynch mob.  TV rights, advertising placards on the courthouse and the court personnel and witnesses should wear logo tee shirts.  The shirts worn by the defendant and her lawyers could defray the defense costs.  Absurd?  No more absurd than what they have already created.

Trial must be public but live broadcasting; tweeting and curbside television studios outside the courthouse are beyond over the top. 

They way to end these freak shows is for a higher court to invalidate any convictions obtained as they set the accused free.   Doing that would cause suicides among these pathetic true crime swine, court viewers that must watch these trials because they don’t have lives of their own.

One thing for sure the jury has plenty of guidance from the fine people sending them important thoughts on Twitter.

UPDATE!!!  The jury has announced that they have reached a verdict.  It will be read at 1:30 PM Phoenix time.  Perhaps they should call in Nancy Disgrace from her HNL street studio and have her read the verdict!  

THE VERDICT:  The jury voted Guilty of Capital Murder as the huge bloodthirsty lynch mob cheered outside.  Disgraceful to say the least.  

APPEAL? It will be automatic with a litany of disasters that robbed this woman of a fair trial.  Decades and million of dollars will be wasted trying to kill this woman...