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State of journalism

Today’s journalists are forced to churn out stories without time to check facts or verify sources When you think of a journalist, you might get a very traditional image: someone rushing to the site of an event, jotting down what they’re seeing, interviewing people, getting the scoop. But, these days, journalists rarely work like this. Fewer and fewer journalists are out in the field investigating their own stories. Instead, they now tend to rehash stories that were originally issued by large wire agencies or in press releases. When the University of Cardiff examined 2,207 stories from the most respected British media outlets, they found that 60 percent of these stories simply echoed previous wire-agency reports or press releases, adding hardly any new information. A mere 12 percent of stories, they found, were based on the personal research of reporters. Journalists in national media simply don’t have the time to provide in-depth investigations This is the upshot of national media corporations’ cutting costs and reducing the number of employees, leaving the remaining journalists with the burden of shouldering the work of former colleagues. Journalists now typically write around ten stories per day, which adds up to less than one hour per story on an average workday! No wonder the average reporter has little time to leave the office and investigate a story or speak face-to-face with an actual witness. What’s more, these cutbacks have drastically reduced the number of regional reporters. Journalists in national newsrooms once relied on regional reporters across the country to help investigate stories; these days, however, many local newspapers have been bought out by large, profit-minded corporations that lay off most of the regional journalists to save money. All these cutbacks have left the newsrooms with very few reporters who can actually investigate stories in the field. A typical journalist today must search the internet for reports from wire agencies, looking for material out of which to produce as many stories as possible. News agencies give preference to low-cost stories and avoid risks by being impartial Western journalists aren’t at risk of being imprisoned for speaking their minds, but they aren’t as free to express their opinions as you might think. After all, most of them depend on media corporations for their salary, and these corporations aren’t going to pay them to write things that might harm profits. That’s why news outlets go out of their way to pick stories that have no risk of producing a negative reaction, whether it be a lawsuit or an angry protest, either of which could be harmful. So, to avoid these risks and any accusations of being biased, publishers make sure they always present both sides of a story. This kind of logic goes back to when newspapers were reporting on the possible dangers of smoking. Before there was undeniable proof linking cigarettes and lung cancer, papers balanced out warnings about smoking with quotes by the tobacco industry that denied any danger. Newspapers also prefer stories that are backed up by official sources like the police or the army. By citing an official statement that suggests someone committed a crime, they avoid a possible lawsuit. On top of all this, the media continues to avoid responsibility by giving preference to stories that are easy to cover. In other words, how much coverage something gets doesn’t depend on its relevance, but rather on how much work it takes to cover. We saw this difference in action during 2005, when there were two hurricanes with comparable impacts: In August, Katrina devastated New Orleans, and in October, Stanley wreaked havoc in Guatemala. But there’s a good chance that you aren’t that familiar with Hurricane Stan since the Western media gave far more coverage to Katrina. In the following months, UK papers referred to Katrina 3,105 times; Stanley only received 34 mentions. This is because Katrina was easy to cover. Many Western correspondents were already in place to provide reports and photos, whereas, with Stanley, these resources weren’t there for journalists to rely on. Media corporations are businesses looking to sell as many stories as they can and to produce them as cheaply as possible. Naturally, this is bound to affect the quality of the reporting. What’s worse, this is great news for people out to manipulate the news, whether they belong to the CIA or a PR agency. Nowadays, all they need do is provide a juicy and accessible story and the media will be hooked.

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Why buy goods when you can rent them instead? Possession will give way to access in the future.

Why buy goods when you can rent them instead? Possession will give way to access in the future. In the not-so-distant past, possession, whether of a business or a good, was essential to engage in a commercial transaction. Today the largest provider of accommodation in the world, Airbnb, owns none of the real estate it offers as rentals. This business is part of a larger trend, in which physical possession is less important and access is more important. Businesses are seeing the benefits of providing services instead of selling physical goods. Offering car rentals instead of selling a vehicle outright means a business can accrue greater benefits from the same object. A business doesn’t even need to own the object it’s “selling,” thus requiring less capital outlay for maintenance, too. Additionally, access-based businesses are often available in real time, and therefore offer better service. Peer-to-peer taxi service Uber, for example, can offer a ride to a customer faster than can a centralized taxi service, precisely because of its decentralized workforce. Every Uber driver is self-employed and owns a car, thus allowing Uber to offer the services of multiple drivers at any time, anywhere. Accessing instead of owning is a key driver of the future. This force will enable another crucial force, remixing. More and more growth today is generated by rearranging content – even further rearranging rearranged content – instead of producing new resources. It’s not possible to talk about remixing without mentioning the transformation of people from passive consumers to active content producers. While Hollywood makes 600 feature films yearly, 100 million video clips are shared on the internet every day, and many are simply remixed snippets of preexisting movies. Now that it’s so easy to copy and remix content, the next step should be a service that offers video hyperlinks, allowing people to cite specific frames of a film or video at the click of a button. This also means that property rights will need to adapt, as most are written for a world of tangible, owned goods, not digitized snippets that are easily accessed and remixed.

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How minimalism helps entrepreneurship

How minimalism helps entrepreneurship Basic concepts of minimalism help you achieve the greatest effect with the least resources. This is aligned with winning management frameworks such as lean management and lean business canvas. Traditional business model requires you to do thorough planning before you launch. It assumes you can fully understand market requirements. Minimalism concepts teach you to do the least to get customer feedback. Rapid customer feedback allows you to alter your products with instance market inputs. For example, you can launch a cheap prototype and asked customers for their inputs, then alter your product accordingly. This is must better than developing the full product based on your research – alternative becomes expensive later. Being a minimalist helps to prioritize your tasks. Tasks takes resources, be it energy or capital. Differentiate between the most important tasks and the non-critical ones. Surviving for as long as possible with least cashflow is the important factor for entrepreneurship.

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#westernwall #jerusalem

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#westernwall #jerusalem (at Old City)

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#Jerusalem old city (at Old City)

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Humility is dependence on God for everything

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit. We must not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. (Galatians 5:22-26, HCSB)

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Hefty fees

Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, moral impurity, promiscuity, idolatry, sorcery, hatreds, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish ambitions, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and anything similar. I tell you about these things in advance — as I told you before — that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21, HCSB) Hefty fees charged by intermediaries are simply self serving and not of God.

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Dishonest scales and pride

Dishonest scales are detestable to the Lord, but an accurate weight is His delight. When pride comes, disgrace follows, but with humility comes wisdom. (Proverbs 11:1-2, HCSB)

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Strategic questions

How to play the game Has the rules of the game changed? How long will this game last?

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Culture

One extraordinary example of how company culture influences staff can be found in the bravery of the employees at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel, which insists that the guests’ interests come before those of the company’s. In 2008, the hotel was attacked by terrorists, and a number of the employees who had fled actually returned to help the guests, some even forming human shields to protect fleeing hotel visitors! Of all the people who were lost that day, half were hotel staff.

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Price breaks out of bowl shape with good volume #trading #singapore

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Stock makes new historical high with high volume. Good breakout opportunity #acromec #trading

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Breakout with good volume. Price continues to increase #technicalanalysis 价格突破 成交量也跟着增加

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1. First Breakout with good volume. Price decreases with weakening volume 2. Second breakout with good volume again, price continues to increase supported by great volume. There were two potential buy entries in this example #trading