WGBH/Frontline & MBA Partner on "News War" Special

The MBA has created a unique opportunity for MBA members to participate in a fascinating discussion of the upcoming FRONTLINE special "News War".
FRONTLINE is hosting an online forum for media bloggers and other electronic journalism professionals, whom they are asking to weigh in on the themes presented in "News War," the four-part FRONTLINE special coming Feb, 13, 20, & 27, and March 27 to PBS. They are most interested in MBA member bloggers answers to the questions, "What are the business models of the future?" and "How will we get news?" (Although all are welcome to answer any of the questions on the preview site.)
They've started the discussion using streaming video excerpts from the film.
Here's how to join in: 1) Visit the preview site: http://www.pbs.org/frontline/newswar/preview
2) View the streaming video trailer and film excerpts related to part three of "News War: What's Happening to the News." (or another segment that interests you)
3) Post your related commentary on your own blog.
4) Tag that post with the word "MBAFrontlineNewsWar"
5) Send the URL for the category-specific feed for that tag to our web developer, Lance Dutson at lance at mainecoastdesign dot com
[NOTE: we are always going to be looking for "editors" for feeds like this one or the AP/Libby Feed; if you are interested to learn more about being an "editor" of an MBA RSS Edited Feed such as this one or willing to take on that role for the Frontline deal please contact Robert Cox at rcox at mediabloggers dot org.]
[NOTE: if you do not know how to create a category-specific feed please visit the new MBA IT Blog How to Create a Category-Specific Feed
6) Lance will add your feed to the MBA/FrontlineNewsWar aggregator: http://www.mediabloggers.org/aggregator/rss/8 . The page can be viewed here:http://www.mediabloggers.org/aggregator/categories/8
7) All posts from your blog tagged with the word "MBAFrontlineNewsWar" will be pulled into the MBA/FrontlineNewsWar aggregator and become available through the feed (therefore confine such tagged posts to the topic of News War)
8) The folks at WGBH are going to make a link to that feed available here: http://www.pbs.org/frontline/newswar/preview
9) The online forum will become a permanent feature of the "News War" companion Web site, which will include streaming video of the complete 4.5 hours, extended interviews, analysis, and more. The full site will roll-out immediately following the broadcasts.
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From our perspective, this is another opportunity to promote the blogs and writings of MBA members with a quality partner able to bring enhanced visibility to our members. From their perspective, they can generate interest in the show and traffic to their site. We are using the same technology used for the Scooter Libby Trial/AP feed. The plan is to add more and more such opportunities across a wide range of media partners. Therefore, your participation in this particular opportunity is not only encouraged for purposes of this particular news program but as part of building a foundation for future opportunities with PBS and with other media partners. For those members without any particular interest in News War, we would still appreciate some participation and/or support as it will help us tee up future opportunities, some of which may be very much of interest to you. As you can see, this Frontline special will roll out over a period of a month so there will be opportunities before and after the airing of each episode to weigh in on the topics raised by News War. We would certainly hope that those who participate will not only put up a post over the next week as part of the "preview" but watch the shows as their air and continue posting over the coming weeks.
For those who do participate and will be in the Washington, DC area on February 12th we have arranged a unique opportunity for our members to attend a special screeing party [create a separate post for the party, link here and link in the "newsletter" email
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ABOUT "NEWS WAR" In a four-and-a-half-hour special, "News War," FRONTLINE examines the political, cultural, legal, and economic forces challenging the news media today and how the press has reacted in turn. Through interviews with key figures in the print and electronic media over the past four decades -- and with unequaled, behind-the-scenes access to some of today's most important news organizations, FRONTLINE traces the recent history of American journalism, from the Nixon administration's attacks on the media to the post-Watergate popularity of the press, to the new challenges presented by the war on terror and other global forces now changing -- and challenging -- the role of the press in our society. ======================
ABOUT PART THREE NEWS WAR: WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE NEWS Feb. 27, 2007, 9 pm (check local listings) The third part of "News War" puts viewers on the front lines of an epic battle over the future of news. America's major network news divisions and daily newspapers are under siege, facing mounting pressure for profits from corporate owners, and growing challenges from cable television and the Internet, which are remaking the economics of the business and transforming the very definition of news. FRONTLINE talks to network executives, journalists, Wall Street analysts, bloggers, and key players at Google and Yahoo! who are all battling for survival and market dominance in a rapidly changing world of news. FRONTLINE also goes inside the embattled newsroom of "The Los Angeles Times," one of the last remaining papers in the country still covering major national stories. Under severe pressure from Wall Street to cut costs and to compete for "eyeballs" in a new media world, editors at the paper are urgently trying to figure out what this means for their future news coverage and their public service mission.