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Media Grunt: Michael Bazeley

By Michael Bazeley

Immersive videoMay 17

This is a really neat way to display video. Instead editing all three camera angles into one video, they just let them play side-by-side-by-side. I can’t think of a lot of places where it would make sense to display online video this way. But a live performance is definitely one of them. Not only is the experience more immersive, but it mimics how we watch live shows, with our eyes darting around the stage, dwelling on the drummer for a bit, then the singer, then the guitarist.

RedundancyMay 17

So let me guess. Peter Magowan is stepping down as Giants GM:

Moving onApril 12

Dave Butler is right, of course. It’s time to focus on the future - not the past - at the Mercury News. In a memo to staffers yesterday, the executive editor noted a recent photo essay by designer Martin Gee that documents the empty desks and offices left behind by recent layoffs and buyouts.

“I think we have to let go of what was,” Butler wrote, “face the realities of the business as it is today, and concentrate on what can be now to best serve our readers….Somehow, we must shake loose of these constant reminders of what was and focus on what can be.”

Indeed. I have argued and will continue to argue that papers like the Merc need to completely retool themselves for the new realities of the media world, even if that means stripping the operation down to its core and rebuilding it. The threats are that big.

But you can’t deny people their hard-earned grief, especially when reminders of better times surround them at every turn. The Merc newsroom was a haunting, depressing shell of itself when I left four months ago, and frankly I’m glad that Martin decided to capture this moment in time. He is a journalist after all.

When Dean Singleton bought the Oakland Tribune back in 1992, he moved its newsroom out of its iconic downtown building to a non-descript waterfront office building. (It wasn’t a calculat

Dave Butler’s vision for the Mercury NewsMarch 26

Executive Editor Dave Butler sent the following email to the Mercury News newsroom. There’s a part of me that wants to deconstruct it line-by-line. But I think I’ll just let the words speak for themselves.

Colleagues:

Where are we headed? What’s my vision for The Mercury News? I’ve been asked those questions many times. In preparation for an upcoming staff meeting (time and date still to be set) I thought I’d spell out a few thoughts after having been here almost 3 months. Certainly a large part of our news mission remains focused on technology and diversity.

The Mercury News continues to be THE local news source for residents of Silicon Valley and beyond. It also can be and should be the leader for our Bay area sister publications in many areas of topical content. And, we can be and should be the leaders of news experimentation on the Web - trying new ways to satisfy the varying needs of our readers.

Are we still: The Newspaper of Silicon Valley? Or should we change that motto to get beyond the “paper” part to reflect the changing world? I donno - but we ought to decide soon.

One thing stands out to me - we need to pick up the pace of everything we do, from the number and timeliness of local stories, to how quickly management makes decisions.

When I came here, many of you were happy to hear me say we needed to focus on the core newspaper - and we do.We need to make it the most-compelling, interes

Know your partnersMarch 20

I received an email from VideoEgg today telling me that they were closing my publisher account. Their FAQ says why:

As you know, resources at technology startups are limited and it is in our best interest to focus on the core of our business at this time….Once [your] video is removed from our servers, embedded video functionality will also be discontinued and a corresponding message will be displayed.

VideoEgg has shifted it business model to emphasize its ad network. None of this matters to me personally, as I never used VideoEgg for anything other than testing. But it’s an important reminder to those content creators who are currently relying on startups or other relatively new companies to host their content. The media landscape is constantly shifting. If the company you’ve partnered with or the service you’re using - Brightcove, Blip.tv, etc. - goes belly up, is sold or changes direction, are you prepared for the effect that will have on your hosted content?