"TedsTurnovers.com.... TELL A FRIEND!
Hello All-
Allow us to begin with a heartfelt thank you to all of you
for your support, your ideas, and your criticism. Since last Friday (April 27),
TedsTurnovers.com has received more attention than we ever
imagined it would. As many of you may know, our server
collapsed for a time, and our email inbox was overflowing
with correspondence. We believe we responded to every one
of those, and thank you for your time, and consideration.
Something we have received plenty of in the last week, has
been suggestions that we take this interest and transform
it into an alternative news site for our 'viewers.'
Interestingly, it's a concept we have been considering for
some time now. The recent popularity of TedsTurnovers.com
has lit a fire under our collective butts in this regard.
But before we get to that<sum>
TedsTurnovers.com was originally conceived as a place where
former CNN employees could gather, keep in touch, share job
leads, and if they chose, vent. We NEVER anticipated this
kind of mass appeal. As such, recently some of our content
has been both applauded, and abhorred. We have no problem
with either response. As we have tried to convey, the
emotion and enthusiasm, for better or worse, impresses
us - lately it seems, there is an absence of both in much
of the way today's mass media offers the news. We will
never cease to be amazed at how the same stories, most of
which have been deliberately lifted by TV news producers
right off the front pages of the newspaper, pass for all
the news. Sure, to an extent this is a necessary evil,
however, these same six or eight stories are not the only
items interesting to people whom are the "consumers" of
news. Besides, we feel, if you're reporting it at the end
of the day, is it even news anymore?
Anyway.
What we would like to do is divine a collaboration of sorts,
in an attempt to offer the stories that SHOULD be reported,
but for whatever reasons, rarely are. The confines of
a 22-minute newscast make it impossible to report everything.
However, too often the selection process that determines
what is and what isn't newsworthy doesn't always - maybe
even, rarely - satisfy the end user. At best, we get an
abbreviated version of what news execs have determined
is significant on a given day. Every news organization
(CNN, FOX, MSNBC, ABC, NBC, and CBS) brings their own bend
to what they decide to cover. It's not news that FOX and
MSNBC are on the verge of displacing CNN as the "world's
news leader" for no other reason than its presentation
of the news. The question of impartiality rages on between
fans of these organizations - and it's getting more heated
with every day that passes.
Regardless of where you go for news, the question is, are
you getting the information you want? Most, it seems,
say 'no'. Which brings us back to the point.
The idea is this<sum> you become the reporter. By contributing,
you create a news source where those overlooked or dismissed
topics have a place. You contribute to the content of a
news site that collects the news from around the world, and
offers it to our viewers, and, challenges the media to
consider them significant. Perhaps being reminded that
what they're reporting may be out of touch will jog
something inside them. Perhaps.
So our question is this - would this kind of alternative
news collection interest you? And if so, would you be up
for contributing to the content? Please understand, what
we're NOT pitching here is a forum for disgruntled news
watchers to sound off at the networks over what they're
not piping into our living rooms. Rather, an alternative
news service. As gatherers of news, you determine what
is of interest, what should be considered, and why it is
important. You write the copy, provide the background,
offer the web links, and cite the sources - the works.
Whether it's a controversial topic from Middletown, USA,
or an inspirational tale of human achievement from,
say, Greenland<sum> it's all on the table.
At the risk of sounding campy, we have the opportunity to
actually make a difference and influence the standard
dispersal of what is dubbed news. If hearing the same
stories regurgitated in the same fashion over and over
again by the usual outlets satisfies you, then we say,
"Bless You." If, however, you have another idea of what
you'd like to see reported, well, we'd be interested in
hearing from you - your thoughts, ideas, and of course,
suggestions.
In the short term, we'd like to ask for your response in
this way. Since at this time we are doing our best to keep
up with emails, perhaps you could respond in a manner that
would allow us to gauge interest in a timely fashion. To
do that, drop us an email at TedsTurnovers@Yahoo.com in
this way.
On the "subject line," type:
Yes-C if this idea interests you and you COULD contribute, or,
Yes-N if this idea interests you but you could NOT contribute.
We'll tally up the results and see what we can see about
moving this effort forward. We appreciate your
consideration in this matter, and once again, thank you for
all your correspondence and support.
Please DO NOT send story ideas at this time. We are just
monitoring the potential interest for now - if it is there,
we will alert those interested that we are open to story
pitches.
Perhaps we can do something a little different here - together.
Sincerely-
Ted"
I thought this was an interesting way of exercising free speech and thought the web site looked interesting.
--Mary (aka dantecristo) |
