Female musicians build following . . .

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

You Tube Stars Rake in 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 a development deal from HBO)  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.

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 be 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 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 the victims 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 anti-consolidation ad 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." Was it "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 CollegeInsurrection.com in August.   

Cartoonist Tom Tomorrow....

... syndicated his This Modern World cartoon to alternative weeklies in different parts of the country.  But when an "alternative" weekly chain cancelled his cartoon, he was financially hurt. (Luckily, he was soon asked to do a Pearl Jam album cover.)

Formulaic News

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