Indy musicians build following . . .

. . . through Facebook, reported NPR's Laura Sydell in 2010. The report discusses cellist Zoe Keating and singer-songwriter Suzanne Vega.

Early You Tube Stars Get Big Bucks

What the Buck? Here's Michael Buckley's "My You Tube Story." According to a Dec, 2008 New York Times report, Buckley earned over $100k in the previous year (plus an HBO development deal) from his YouTube video-rants about celebs.

YouTube star Lisa Donovan or ""Lisa Nova"has talent for sketch comedy and parodies. Like Tina Fey, she liked to play Sarah Palin, including in this famous McCain/Palin rap. Now she heads a company that promotes hundreds of YouTube video producers.

Cory Williams and his smpFilms hit the bigtime with "Hey Little Sparta" (aka "The Mean Kitty Song" -- almost 70 million views). He told the NYT in 2008 that he was earning over $200k per year, partly from (ugh!) product placements in his videos.

For years, my 16-year-old daughter's favorite YouTube star and main source of daily news has been Philly D (of "The Philip DeFranco Show"), who offers his take on current events and celeb news. Should I have been monitoring my daughter's online activities better?

Become a YouTube Star and appear in a hugely popular music video with Weezer or the earlier one from Barenaked Ladies.

"Where the Hell is Matt?" became so popular, the guy has had his world travels paid by corporate sponsors for years.

Web Censorship/Persecution in China

After Yahoo provided info to China's government that led to the imprisoning of two Chinese dissidents in 2002 and 2004, the families of victims (Wang Xiaoning and Shi Tao) sued Yahoo. As a result, Yahoo announced in 2008 that it was establishing a fund for people jailed in China for posting human rights views online. Too little, too late?

In response to demands from China's government, Google agreed in June 2010 to quit automatically switching its users in China to Google's uncensored Hong Kong search site. But there's a tab users can click to be switched. Should Chinese citizens feel safe to hit that tab?

Web Censorship in the USA

The media reform group Free Press highlights media and telecom corporations caught censoring web or cellphone traffic.

Inner City Press, a monitor of Wall Street and the United Nations, temporarily is delisted from Google News. The de-listing happened soon after Matt Lee of Inner City Press challenged Google over its commitment to free expression.

In 2007, consumer rights groups mobilized to tell the Federal Communications Commission: "No More Media Consolidation." CommonCause was blocked from placing an ad against conglomerated media on My Space, which Rupert Murdoch had bought in 2005 (and later sold at a huge loss). The banned ad featured a photo of Murdoch and the caption: "This is the face of Big Media." "My Space" or "Murdoch's space"?

Guest speaker William Jacobson

Cornell law professor William Jacobson is a conservative political blogger with a national following. He launched Legal Insurrection.com in 2008, and much smaller CollegeInsurrection.com last August.   

Cheezburger.com gets (semi)serious about politics

Make the politicians wear the logos of their corporate funders on their business suits (H/t Steve D).

Mainstream News Can Have Standardized Content , , , AND FORMAT

A BBC correspondent lampoons and deconstructs the sameyness (and cliches) of  mainstream TV news reports.

Bloggers' Rights to Access

In March of last year, a Massachusetts court ruled that blogger deserve the same privileges in covering courts and trials as traditional media. (H/t former student Bianca N.)

Can Pay Walls Around Online News Content Save Newspapers?

No, says Arianna Huffington in May 2009 U.S. Senate testimony. And here's "Life After the Pay Wall" nightmare scenario from Advertising Age.  (A former indy media student complained about Boston Globe's paywall around the Globe's editorial.)

Singer/songwriter Jill Sobule . . .

. . . raised $75,000 in small donations from her fans in 2008 to pay for professional recording fees to produce her next album. Here's one of her semi-hits, "I Kissed a Girl" (not to be confused with Katy Perry song that came out a dozen years later).

Pre-financing of independent media/artistic/service projects

Spot.Us involves the community in funding watchdog journalism, and was founded in 2008 by David Cohn.

Kickstarter.com is "a funding platform for artists, designers, filmmakers, musicians, journalists, inventors, explorers..." A key aspect of Kickstarter and similar funding platforms is "All or Nothing funding."

On Kickstarter, a project must reach its funding goal before time runs out or no money changes hands. Why? It protects everyone involved. Creators aren’t expected to develop their project without necessary funds, and it allows anyone to test concepts without risk.

Here's a film project on newspaper cartoon artists that's already surpassed its funding goal on Kickstarter. Here's a local charity project being pitched at present.

Pre-financing of "Iraq for Sale" documentary.

This documentary was funded mostly by small donors BEFORE the movie was made -- an example of grassroots pre-financing of a work that had real impact.

Will a few companies come to dominate the Web -- like they dominate TV, book publishing, magazines?

According to Compete, a web analytics company, the 10 most-trafficked websites are far more dominant than just a few years ago: The top ten US websites accounted for 31% of page views in 2001, 40% in 2006, and 75% in 2010.

"The Internet Is My Religion"

Dazzling speech from Brave New Films' Jim Gilliam (who was raised a conservative Christian evangelical) discussing how the Internet offered him salvation -- and literally saved his life.

"Bloggers Bring In Big Bucks"

This Business Week slideshow in July 2007 discussed some of the most (financially) successful blogs at that time, whether covering technology, fashion, celebs, politics.  Almost all are still successful or more so today. (Here is the intro to the slideshow.)

Ramparts magazine of 1960s

One of the most explosive indy magazines of the 1960s, Ramparts, published photos of the impact of U.S. napalm (a chemical weapon that eats away human flesh) on Vietnamese civilians in Jan. 1967. Martin Luther King, Jr. credited those photos with being the spark that got him to break his silence and speak out loudly against the Vietnam War a few months later. MLK became the most prominent critic of the war. Besides investigative journalism and scoops, Ramparts was known for its cover art.

Journalists, Cops and Occupy Wall Street Movement

HARASSMENT OF JOURNALISTS COVERING OCCUPY MOVEMENT: Citizen journalist with video camera tapes himself apparently getting shot by police rubber bullet while covering a seemingly peaceful lull Occupy Oakland (CA).

At Occupy Nashville, a reporter for the long-established weekly Nashville Scene was arrested for violating a curfew imposed by Tennessee's governor (a night judge questioned whether that's legal), was threatened with a "resisting arrest" charge, and was later charged with "public intoxication." Here's a report on the arrest from Nashville's big daily.

Between Sept 2011 and Sept 2012, more than 90 mainstream and independent journalists were arrested while covering Occupy protests in the U.S. -- as tracked by Josh Stearns of the media reform group Free Press.

Acts of police brutality -- recorded by citizen journalists and ubiquitous cameras & cellphones -- led to more sympathy and activists for the movement: for example, in NY City and at University of California, Davis.

"THE MAYOR'S AFRAID OF YOU TUBE": In October 2011, hours after New York City authorities made a last-minute decision NOT to clear the Occupy Wall Street protesters out of Zucotti Park/Liberty Plaza, Michael Moore said this to MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell (begin 2:54 for context):

"One cop down there actually today. I asked...'Why don't you think the eviction happened?' And he said, 'Cause the Mayor's afraid of You Tube.'...The power of the new media, the media that's in the hands of the people -- that those in charge are afraid of what could possibly go out."

Harassment of indy journalists in recent years

Since the 1960s when the FBI and local police engaged in violence and continuous harassment against "underground weeklies," repression against dissenting U.S. outlets has deceased but it has certainly not ended. Example 1: The 2008 Republican Convention in Minnesota. Three years later, the journalists' suit against the police was settled, with $100,000 in compensation being paid by the St. Paul and Minneapolis Police Departments and the Secret Service. The settlement included an agreement by the St. Paul police to implement a training program aimed at educating officers regarding the 1st Amendment rights of the press and public, including proper procedures for dealing with the press covering demonstrations.

Example 2: The 2010 election for U.S. senate in Alaska. An online reporter was handcuffed and detained for asking questions of the Alaska Republican senate candidate, Joe Miller. The reporter -- a well-known journalist in the area and founder of Alaska Dispatch -- was handcuffed by Miller's security personnel after a dispute over his questioning of the candidate about his role as a former part-time city attorney. Here's Alaska Dispatch's version of the detention. The critical reporting on Miller's past -- and this heavy-handed incident -- contributed to Miller's stunning defeat in the November election.

1960s sex/drugs columnist "Dr. Hip" . . .

...paved the way for "Savage Love"  column by Dan Savage in today's alternative weeklies.