MMMM # 507 -- 3 stories: One Future President, One Robot, and how Long is Too Long?

•     How long it too long? When it comes to a TV News story?  Or an online video?

    The "sound bite" average is down to :07 seconds. But a report in the "journalists resource" website indicates the average online news video if just over 4:00, and is watched.
    There is a certain absurdity to journalists arguing over whether 2:00 or 4:00...or somewhere in between is what the length of a story should be, but  careers are built or torn down based on stuff as arcane as this. Watch the report if you are that deeply into TV and online News.

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•      Robo-journalism is advancing. The BBC reports on a computer program that "writes" (assembles?) sports stories.

     I can just hear the comments of Clyde Bolton, who once described modern computer-obsessed newsrooms as akin to insurance offices. 
     Don't miss a story in The Atlantic about computer authors.

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•      And those of you who followed the story of future President George Bush in Alabama serving in the Air National Guard, and the CBS news story that followed may remember that, as the LA Times reports:

"...the story questioned whether Bush benefited from any favors regarding his service. Read on-air by Rather, the story quickly dissolved amid allegations of forged documents and faulty reporting, leading to Mapes' termination and Rather's resignation as CBS News anchor."

A documentary about the story and the outcry is making the rounds of the film festivals.

Bush lived in a rented house on Felder Avenue during his time here in Montgomery, not far from my home, though I have never gone to the extent if identifying which house it was.

[The Monday Morning Media Memo is a longtime regular feature of www.TimLennox.com ]