Internet Started Here 50 Years Ago
…one small step to the web…. who knew? Fifty years ago this week, the Soviet Union gave approval for the launch of Sputnik, the first man made satellite. Although it launched in October 1957, the Politburo gave approval for...
Read moreWhat Does It Look Like?
images that once could move a nation….. In November, 1936, Henry Luce, founder of Time Magazine gave birth to a new publication: LIFE. We barely remember it now, but at one time LIFE was an American icon. People waited...
Read moreMoore’s Law, Iran and The Internet
Long before Al Gore… the Internet was actually invented here…. In 760 BC, the Great Shah of Iran had two passions: warfare and games. Thus it was that his Vizir invented something for him that combined both. He called...
Read moreThe Ayatollah and Me
Thanks AK! The release of the British hostages from Iran brought back warm memories of how my TV career started. As it is Good Friday, I thought I would share them with you. I did not start off looking...
Read moreListen Up!
Jack Hitt…. A real journalist….. Congratulations to my old friend Jack Hitt who just won a Peabody for his story on “Gitmo” on This American Life. He and I both went to Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism (’83),...
Read morePassed Over?
‘and thou shalt have one person with a camera…’ In 2000, following a speech I gave at Newsworld in Barcelona, The BBC invited me to come to the UK to talk about my ‘VJ in the Newsroom’ concept. Following...
Read moreIF PBS RAN THE ART WORLD
Can you make it more like South Park? Television, despite all the billions of human labor hours that have been spent making stuff (and that is what TV is all about, making stuff..just like painting or sculpture), has produced...
Read moreDead Man Talking
Hello? eBay? Thomas Edison was an entrepreneur. When he invented the phonograph in 1877 he also incorporated the Edison Speaking Phonograph Company. The idea was to sell phonographs – something which had never existed before. To create demand and...
Read moreThe Unforseen Consequences of Innovation
Youtube started with him. When Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1452, he was hoping for a quick kill. He was deep in debt and his idea was to print bibles faster and cheaper than Monks could write them...
Read moreThe Power that TV News Could Be
Television is the world’s most plastic medium. It is about manipulating pictures, sound, writing, graphics, storytelling, music… When we marry that power to news, it could be unbelievable. It has such enormous potential to move us on so many...
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