About a month ago, I connected Katie Couric and Brian Solis for a conversation about Katie’s push into new media which started in 2008. What ensued was a discussion about the challenges, the opportunities and the areas of exploration they both think about when it comes to the convergence of “new” and “old” media. What I like to call – present media.

I hope you enjoy – and as always I can’t wait to hear your ideas and feedback.

Social Media and Real-Time Journalism

“I miss that…kind of connection, that engagement that I had with viewers at NBC. And in a way I feel like I’m revitalizing that through social media.”

Fact-First Journalism and Digital Identity

“There still has to be some of the standards that traditional media…that we have followed through the years. I want them to live on. We can’t let accuracy become a casualty of immediacy.”

Privacy and Personal Branding

“For me anyway, (social media) has to be a reflection of my authentic self.”

**In the third clip at the 9-minute mark, you will hear Katie talk about me. At CBS News, I work with Katie Couric’s team on her webshow (@katiecouric), her social media profiles (Twitter, Facebook and YouTube) and with the CBS Evening News team.

Thanks to these folks for linking to the interview:

• Harvard’s Nieman Lab – “Preventing Accuracy from Being a Casualty of Immediacy”
• Lost Remote – “Couric Connects with Viewers via Social Media”
• John Boitnott – “Turns our Couric Understands Social Media”
• Social Media Today – “Katie Couric on Social Media and Real-Time Journalism”
• Fast Company – “Katie Couric on Social Media and Real-Time Journalism”
• Jess3 -  “(R)evolution’s interview with Katie Couric”

My version of family dinner happens anytime after 9pm – on a weeknight, with food or without food, at my quiet NYC apartment. Sitting in front of my roommate’s flat screen TV. Matching silver laptops in front of us and on the coffee table – a pair of iPhones. Eyes dodging back-and-forth between browsers and broadcast. Browser and broadcast. Browser and phone.

Tonight I decided to type BrianSolis.com into my browser. I guess I wanted to know what was happening in his world. I like Brian because he is smart and savvy and really dedicated to sharing new ideas and information. I would say that’s why Brian is one of my digital educators. A person who bends my mind to think about what changes in technology mean to our society, our lives, our industries. And tonight I got just that when I read this line.

“In this episode (of BrianSolis TV), Michael Fertik, founder and CEO of Reputation Defender, joins the program to discuss privacy and the reasons why you and everyone who matters to you, will be unfairly, but forever judged by what’s online.”

The statement, in that very instant, made me think about and question to what extent people might unfairly judge me.

Read the rest of this entry…

National Press Club: This Friday Professional Development Series

Originally uploaded by ericaamerica08

This Friday, I will join a group of journalists on a panel about how to “pitch journalists in the digital age” at the National Press Club.

Hosted by the Adfero Group, the delightful Cindy Boren (Washington Post), myself, and others, will talk about how we interact with folks who have story ideas. From my perspective, it isn’t so much how people “pitch us,” but rather, how we can better listen and crowd source ideas and issues that matter to our key audiences. That is, if you follow the maxims of new media.

I’m definitely the most hybrid of the group, having worked in both digital strategy PR and placed my own content through CNN and MTV. I hope I’ll be able to make some insightful contributions as to what’s worked and what hasn’t for the group that attends!

Ranking Member Orrin Hatch (R-UT) Shakes Hands with Roberts

Originally uploaded by ericaamerica08

There is a mega media merger on the horizon – and Capitol Hill is tuned in. Last Thursday the CEOs of Comcast and NBC Universal came to Washington to testify before a subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee and make a case for their joint $30B merger. Comcast is the country’s largest cable provider and NBC Universal is television’s top-rated network among the 18-49 age group. As reported by MSNBC, NBC Universal also includes “a major movie studio; a television production studio; a handful of cable TV channels including USA, Sci-Fi, CNBC and Bravo; and a group of 29 television stations.”

You can watch the entire webcast of the hearing here or watch Senator Franken’s style of questioning below. Finally, the Hill’s Kim Hart did a few posts on her blog here.

Helen Thomas on San Francisco Chronicle

Originally uploaded by ericaamerica08

Every week the online news team at the San Francisco Chronicle publishes Helen Thomas’s weekly column. The Chronicle, or SFGate.com, is part of Hearst News Corporation, who Helen works for.

Today I decided to email one of the Politics Blog writers, Mr. Michael Collier. The reason? If SFGate.com’s audience is receptive to Helen’s columns, why not publish my video interviews alongside? We’ll see if Mr. Collier gets back.

This is my second to last day at Spectrum. I am leaving with a six-month nest egg, two job leads and one burning desire to stitch journalism up – from the inside.

A few of my trusted confidants, including my Dad and Helen Thomas, advised me throughout 2009 to stick with my day job and ride the recession out. Well, I took that advice, and as a result spent twelve months packing away knowledge and pennies, creating digital case studies for my portfolio and simultaneously starting the process of graduating my brand from “EricaAmerica Citizen Journalist” to “Erica Anderson, Network Producer/Reporter.”

I have a driving instinct that now it’s time to put 100 percent into this ambition to help rebuild what I believe to be the most important industries to the health of our imperfect nation – journalism.

So stay tuned for what’s next; who I target and who I meet with, how I used social media to land opportunities and what the outcome will be.

One thing is for sure, now, more than ever, it is time to step into the fray and make the future happen.

Last Thursday Comcast was on my mind.

For obvious reasons, one might assume this was because Comcast acquired NBC Universal. In fact, Comcast’s purchase of NBCU gave the Philadelphia-based company control of about $30 Billion worth of media assets, including dozens of broadcast TV networks, online cable channels and a movie studio. It also gave Comcast and 89-year-old Founder, Ralph Roberts, a news and entertainment legacy as American as apple pie, and one that General Electric had owned since 1986: the iconic NBC News brand.

For reasons not so obvious, that morning the merger wasn’t on my mind. Instead I was thinking about the details of my trip to the Comcast service center later that week. But by the end of the day, and on the eve of one of the largest and perhaps most ambitious media mergers, I had a different kind of encounter with the largest cable provider in the country. I had the opportunity to talk with David Cohen, Executive Vice President of Comcast, and inspect with questions the blueprint of the deal.

Cohen, who was in Washington for meetings and media appearances, sat down with five DC-based bloggers, including myself, to field questions. Here are some of his answers.

On NBC News | MSNBC | CNBC
We made a commitment to preserve the journalistic integrity of all the news assets on the cable and broadcast side…and we’re very serious about that. I think professional journalists need to feel they’re allowed to be professional journalists, and there isn’t someone looking over their shoulder saying, “What did you say that for?”

On Hulu.com Read the rest of this entry…

So why publish my never-before-seen essays that landed me a job with MTV News? Paired with these essays and an intensive interview process, I somehow stood out in a pool of hundreds of applicants and was made their Washington, DC election correspondent. I guess that’s cool, but here is the part I like: I got to spend 12 months as a social media, digital news incubator, I had an interpretative job description yet straightforward guidelines: Tell untold stories. Pick up MSM’s slack. And apply all of Journalism’s Code of Ethics, without excuse.

As I look forward to 2010, I can’t help but revisit where my head was when this all began. True to MTV’s judgement (thank you Liz, Kristin, Ian), I provided in no uncertain terms why I have the potential, and now experience, to help guide journalism towards an inevitable reconstruction. Without further delay, here are my never-before-published essays. 24 months later, I still agree with them…so much in fact, consider it my manifesto.

1. What are the top three issues you care about?

I care about our foreign policy in the Middle East, affordable healthcare, and an open and honest dialogue between our President and the press.

If we were more proactive in applying America’s intellect and imagination to find alternative energy solutions, the U.S. would not be in the current conflict in Iraq.  Not addressing alternative energies has created complex problems. I want to push the next President to address the misleading rhetoric of this Administration, and work to fix internal shortcomings before waging war.

In terms of healthcare, it is simply not affordable. Pharmaceutical companies, weighed down by the cost of R&D, charge so much for drugs citizens are forced to choose between groceries and antibiotics. Generic drugs should be readily available, regulations on consumer ads should be strengthened, and children’s health insurance should be mandatory.

I also care about the issue of ethics and honesty, particularly in the Administrations interaction with the press and public. I want the President and the appointed administration not to degrade the media’s questions, or imply they are “unpatriotic” for questioning a war that has killed thousands of people and tarnished our international reputation.

But most importantly, I care about being lead by a person of character, humility, and selflessness. We need a candidate who can admit when they are wrong and will always have the best interest of the American people at heart.

2. What makes you uniquely qualified to cover your state (or District)? Read the rest of this entry…

Sarah Burris, a very active youth blogger based in Kansas, took my post ‘The Truth, I Need It,” to a new level last night. I received a Tweet that read, “Sarah Burris has responded to your post with…“The End of an Erica.” At first, my stomach dropped. The title seemed dire. Then, upon reading it, I realized this.  I, we, are not alone.

And with that, the support for “The Truth” started to pour in. From @EvanSummers, a young political activist wrote:  “That seriously is one of the most direct and scathing insight on the state of the industry that I’ve read in a long time. Well done.”

From a web producer and social media guru working inside mainstream media, I got a simple, “F*ck Yeah.”

From a DePaul University (and a Suma Cum Laude in the Journalism school), Molly Horan, I saw that she linked to me and urged her Facebook followers:  “YOU NEED TO READ IT.”

But perhaps the best conversation came late last night, from a talented freelancer in Washington, who G chatted me to say she valued the piece. We agreed the conversation was one we “need to have” but that, with the recent loss of Walter Cronkite, we are both reminded that for them, there was at least a path. For us, we are searching for a way forward without much support from those before us.

It reminded me of this. Something Helen told me right before I went to the RNC last August. “This is the most difficult time I have ever seen for a young person to enter the business.”

All I could do was let silence fill the room, and then I asked, “How can that be? Even compared to what you went through?”

“Yes. Even more.”

It is true. We have our challenges ahead of us, but as I told my friend over G Chat, the greater the challenge, the greater the opportunity and reward. So let’s do this and fix this problem together.

It pains me, but  I have taken a serious hiatus from blogging. Why? It’s hard to say. My day job has drained me. The fate of journalism scares me. And it feels impossible, without giving up absolutely everything, including a personal life, to seek original content in my spare time, not just spin what’s already been spun. I think you all, the people who visit my blog, deserve some original stories. Not more spin.

Since MTV ended, I have had a ton of offers to write/produce for free. I get it. I’m young in my career. I should be willing to work for free or little cost. But seriously? It degrades what I’m trying to do: prove that real journalism, real information, can’t be found solely at the keypad on my computer.Sure, I can build sources, I can research, read other perspectives. But I can’t go out there, attend a hearing, get reactions at a rally…get a soundbite that actually informs the direction of a national dialogue or changes the perspective of a student, a voter, a President.

While working full time for free, hustling for stories and uploading all the time to iReport, HuffingtonPost and TrueSlant  sounds great, I am a pragmatist. And I’m not about to jump ship, leave my day job, without knowing who is steering us to a better place. To a journalism that doesn’t deny the possibility the Internet brings. To a journalism that admits many jobs will be lost but many more created.  To a journalism that wants to embrace web 2.0 to inform the public to make better decisions. Why, with all that is at stake, are we not there yet?

One of the first times I interviewed Helen Thomas, I told her I considered her the first “blogger” in the White House. I don’t think she was expecting the words that had come out of my mouth. As background, this was back in 2007, when Bush was still in control, and the word “blog” was a sure shot to get my mouth washed out with soap in the wrong company. But Helen listened, and then she asked, “what do you mean?”

I went on.

“In a way, you are. You aren’t trying to kid anyone. You are going for the facts, but you are also going for reactions – and you are putting yourself in the question. Your peers are totally shocked. They don’t know what to do with it,” and thought to myself, “except ignore you.”

A while later, I was at a happy hour with a bunch of people who worked at ABC, NBC, CNN, etc. A senior White House producer from one of these major networks asked me about Helen. I answered by asking her why people in the Press Corp didn’t follow up on Helen’s questions, the ones that were so OBVIOUS, like, Mr. President, are you certain Iraq has WMD? Why do intelligence reports contradict? Do we torture? You know, the basics.

The Producer’s answer? “She makes us all uncomfortable.”

Uncomfortable? What a waste of a press pass. Someone who seeks the truth makes the Press Corp “uncomfortable.”

Why does this matter?

As important as the niche, bulldog blogs have become inside the Beltway, mainstream press is still mainstream press. People from Indiana to Idaho are still busy, focused on raising families or farms, paying bills or the doctor. They don’t have time to do their homework. So they turn to comfortable brands, like network and cable news. The same places that proved in the run up the Iraq war, that they were comfortable reporting what they were told, and uncomfortable looking for more.

But we all know what asking tough questions in recent years has brought Helen. Animosity from her peers. A cold shoulder from a President. A status as a “has been.” Between you and me, she does care that people attack her work. But she also tells me this, “You don’t go into this business to be popular.”

Perhaps that is what we are all afraid of. Not being liked. Or even better, not being rich. Honestly? I’m past it. This democracy is in need of truth. It is in need of a financially vibrant system of press. One that can be trusted, competitive, and open for debate. And above all else, run by people who get the fact that the Internet and technology will make journalism better off. More informed. More conscious. More like Helen.

If you haven’t been paying attention – here is the skinny. Over the weekend, Iran held presidential elections. The incumbent, supreme leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, pulled out a landslide victory. Or so it looked. Massive amounts of people organized in a visceral reaction to Ahmadinejad’s second-term victory, claiming his contender, Mir Hossein Mousavi, had been cheated. Mousavi almost immediately demanded the election results be annulled.

One U.S. blogger, Andrew Sullivan, described President Ahmadinejad’s leadership and said he is dedicated to “conflict abroad,” manipulative of “rural, religious voters,” and engaged in other abuses of “the state.” Even perhaps more illuminating, Sullivan asked whether Iranian voters can “trust the process” when they have a President who “pulls tricks” like Karl Rove.

Back in Iran, tens of thousands of Iranians took the streets in opposition to Ahmadinejad victory. Citizen journalism video reports and the use of micro blogs and hash tags(#iran #iranelections) broadcasted a raw and emotional look at what Iranian organizers, press and activists were going through in the capital of Tehran.

One YouTube user, theamirzare, who apparently just signed up on the video sharing network to post this video, sent a simple message:  ”Ahmadinejad is NOT my President.” In just two days, the video has over 23,000 views.

Back in the U.S., activist bloggers chased the story with original content created by on-the-ground reporters from the New York Times, CNN and others. Tracy Viselli, a blogger at Care2, pulled together a well-organized summary of key highlights as well as a few videos from the ground. Below I posted my favorite, which is from CNN’s Chief International Correspondent, Christiane Amanpour. Her cameras caught one woman shouting, “People in Tehran hate Ahmadinejad! People in Tehran hate Ahmadinejad!”"

Finally, on Sunday night, as hundreds, if not thousands of U.S. bloggers watched the chaos unfold, some decided to start a little chaos of their own. TechPresident broke the news that a group of cyber strategists had temporarily shut down Iran’s state-run media web site, www.IRIB.ir. The effort was lead by D.C. political consultant and new media authority, Josh Koster, who leveraged free web app called Page Reboot, to bring the site down. The customized anti-IRIB link was passed around through Twitter and list servs until finally, at 9:24 PM EST, @joshkoster proclaimed, “(PLS RT!): We just brought down Iran’s media site. 2 More: http://tinyurl.com/m42b65 http://tinyurl.com/lmgzmf #iranelection (PLS RT!)

Oh, democracy. Aren’t you fun.

The need for Watchdogs in Washington is more important than ever.

I recently had a conversation with a progressive news organization. They intrigued me by explaining how they are expanding their political coverage online. But employees, for the time, are to be based in New York City. Don’t get me wrong, I am currently wearing a tee with those exact letters strewn across it. But leave Washington at this moment in history? It would feel so wrong.

It is a natural concern for all of us, as newspapers collapse and resources constrict, that American journalism is about to suffer. In an article in The New Republic called “Goodbye to the Age of Newspapers (Hello to an Era or Corruption),” Paul Starr wrote:  

“One danger of reduced news coverage is to the integrity of government…” He went on, “…corruption is more likely to flourish when those in power have less reason to fear exposure.”

Does anyone else think it is ironic, and completely illogical – that at a moment when the news media is finding it financially impossible to do their job, the government has more power and influence than ever before? Read the rest of this entry…

I feel guilty for not spending much time on my own blog, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been reading yours and yours and yours.

In any case, I am always reading what other blogs put together – so I have for you all my top posts around Obama’s First 100 Days.

• 100 Days of Barack Obama’s Facebook Feed, courtesy of Slate.com
• Obama’s 100 First Days: What Did He Do for Women? compliments of Jen N. at Women’s Rights
• Obama’s 100 Days of Progress, a comprehensive compilation from Think Progress

ThinkProgress reports:

Al Jazeera’s Nazanin Sadri reports that Iran is considering a new law that would allow the death penalty for “offensive” bloggers:

Under a strict interpretation of Islamic law, Individuals can be sentenced to death for two main categories of crime. The first is murder. The second is known as ‘fasad,’ which means spreading mischief or undermining the authority or stability of the state. What that constitutes is open to interpretation. In the past it has been applied to rape, adultery, drug-related offenses, and homosexual behavior. Iran now wants to introduce the death penalty for bloggers who write about and promote illegal activities.

There is no doubt the four-days of events for this Presidential Inauguration will be a shit sandwich. Well, let me rephrase. Pack light and don’t drink liquids. With 2 million people (plus locals) – do you really expect a place to pee?

All kidding aside, this post is for you, for us: citizen journalists. Come hell or high water we are determined to bring gear and capture the moments. Watching Obama on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial – pinched between hundreds of thousands of people en masse before him. We will witness a political awakening in our neighborhood, on our steps, in our country. And the world will be watching.

Thanks to the Citizen Media Law Project and the ruthless research of the one Harvard Law Student, we have the Guide to Documenting the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. This legal primer has been put together with information from (1) the Secret Service, (2) DC Metro Police, (3) U.S. Capitol Police and (4) National Parks Service.

Here are some highlights from the report:

You should have no problem if you bring small, handheld equipment and carry it in a small bag (but not a backpack). 

Tripods, backpacks and large bags (exceeding 8″x6″x4″), including camera bags, are not permitted.  A non-exhaustive list of additional prohibited items is available at the website of the Joint Congressional Committee on Inaugural Ceremonies and the Secret Service Presidential Inaugural webpage.

Now, where does it say anything about a flask? Get the full report here!

Happy documenting!